Baptisms for the Dead with Mallory-- June 10th

.  Mallory and I went to the Ogden Temple to do Baptisms for the Dead for some of our ancestors.  We tried to take a selfie while looking into the sun-- which didn't work out so well. What a great day to be in the Ogden Temple and to be there with Mallory!!

Personal Progress

Tonight I finished my Personal Progress!!! Three days late but that's alright (I set a goal to finish by Mallory's birthday). I need an interview with the bishop to finalize it all. Yeah!!

I really learned a lot about myself while working on Personal Progress! I I can't wait to start again. My 10-hour projects I chose were really life altering for me. Here is a list of my projects for each value:

Faith: Memorized "The Living Christ"

Divine Nature: Memorized "The Family: A Proclamation to the World"

Individual Worth: Worked on my blog

Knowledge: 40 Day General Conference Challenge October 2015

Choice and Accountability: Organizing Projects (house, girl's school papers, cleaning schedule)

Good Works: Five endowment sessions in five weeks with family names

Integrity: Keeping Christ in Christmas

Virtue: Reading the Book of Mormon again

Here is my overstuffed Personal Progress journal. It is filled with a lot of thoughts and things I learned. I found a really neat organizer someone had made which really helped me organize the things I needed to do to accomplish each goal. These pages sat on my dresser where I saw them every day to remind me of what I was doing and what I needed to focus on that day. I loved the little places to add a check mark if I accomplished the goal for the day. I wasn't perfect but I made great gains. 

Here is another sheet I folded and stuck in my journal-- I even stapled pages to it to record what I did each day to accomplish my goal!

I am looking forward to starting Personal Progress again with Mallory!

The Little Things

This beauty came in the mail today! January cannot get her soon enough so I can use my new planner. When I was in high school, I carried a Franklin Planner with me everywhere I went. It was my life! I used it almost hourly to write where I need to be and when, what assignments I had and when they were due, and everything I needed to accomplish! I love getting a new planner filler each year for Christmas from my parents. I was very busy in high school and my Franklin Planner helped me stay on top of everything. I used a Franklin Planner all through high school, college, my first years teaching kindergarten and for several years after Scott and I were married. Scott talked me into trying a Palm Pilot for a few years and I hated not seeing exactly what was written (there was a little dot on the calendar that I needed to click to see what I had going on but it didn't give me a good overview of my day, week, etc.).

The past 7 or 8 year I have been using a desk calendar. For years, my desk calendar hung on our fridge so the entire family knew what was going on. Many people have told me I need to use the calendar on my phone. I tried it for awhile but found it wasn't working for me-- I still wanted to see a physical layout of my day, week and month. I have found over the past few years that I needed a planner I could put in my purse and also have it lie open on my desk. Sometimes I have been away from home and I schedule dentist appointments or haircuts, just to get home and realize I have double booked myself--then I have to call and reschedule something. Well, I have been looking at this planner for a year or so and I finally bit the bullet and bought one. It is a Mormon Mom Planner (http://mormonmomplanner.blogspot.com/). I am excited to use it because everything will be in on spot!! There is a monthly spread and weekly spreads. There is a planning page each month just to plan Family Home Evening Lessons too! There is a place to record my monthly visiting teaching and a place to menu plan each month plus areas to set goals for the month, make to do lists and even plan birthday parties. There is a space to write the Sunday School lesson for the week and Relief Society Lessons (or Primary or Young Women--depending on your current calling). Anyway, I am very excited for my new planner. I haven't written anything in it yet-- I need to start adding birthdays and things on a day when my handwriting is good so it still looks pretty! haha

(I was not compensated at all to write this blog post--I am just sharing my excitement!)

My Thirty Something Birthday

This morning, I woke up and made lunches and got Scott off to work. As soon as Mallory, Hayley and Brittney woke up, they made me go get back in bed. They have secretly been planning to make me breakfast in bed all week for my birthday (I kindof heard their plans on more than one occasion--they don't always use a whisper voice;)). I jumped back in bed so they could serve me my breakfast in bed!! They were so funny to listen to as they prepared my special breakfast! After about 5-7 minutes, they brought me a small cookie sheet with a bowl of Oreo Ice Cream and a glass of red Kool-Aid that they had made. After delivering my tray, they all scurried downstairs to dish themselves up a bowl of ice cream too! (I'm sure there teachers at school had second thoughts about my mothering skills when my girls went to school and announced they had ice cream for breakfast!!) Mallory, Hayley and Brittney all joined me on my bed to eat our bowls of ice cream for breakfast! They also brought me a box of 20-30 pictures and cards they had made for me throughout the week! I am so lucky to have such three wonderful little girls who made my birthday so memorable!

I really didn't do anything on my birthday that I normally do (like laundry, dishes and cleaning--I saved it for the next day). I watched "The Biggest Loser" episode from the night before while Brittney was at preschool and read a book for awhile too. I received many "Happy Birthday's" from friends and family on Facebook. I have wonderful friends that dropped by little gifts that made turning Thirty Something not quite so bad!!

I also received the beautiful family pictures we had taken in November for my birthday!! I love them and am so glad they are part of my birthday gift!!

Scott brought home an ice cream cake on Friday night for an additional day of my birthday celebration!!

Me, in bed, eating my wonderful breakfast of Oreo Ice Cream and red Kool-Aid (You have to love the "I just woke up 20 minutes ago" look)

My tray!! (I really ought to scrub that cookie sheet!)


Hayley and I eating our ice cream

Hayley loves the idea of eating ice cream for breakfast

Brittney and Mallory taking a picture of my Birthday Cake with their own cameras

Brittney, Mallory and Hayley taking pictures with their own cameras!!

So silly!!