a special day

Today's the day we get ready for Sunday at our house. okay, at least we really try to. When we don't put it off until the end of the day then we do alright with it.

We have 11-2 church this year. My goal is not to slack off on Sunday responsibilities prep until Sunday. Then I can enjoy the Sabbath morning without the rush and stress. Hard to feel the Spirit when I feel rushed and stressed. This I found out last week. :)

What's your favorite time for church and why?

This might not look like it is an Apple but it really is. We are both a lot better off when the kids know where their shoes are. :)

decide.

If you decide to do something, the chances of you doing it are higher than if you didn't decide.

We learned this on Christmas. We visited both our families. We just didn't decide when we were going to leave my parents house to go to his. Yeah, we stayed at my parents longer than we should have but we never decided on a time to leave.

Thinking about this we had to say, "huh, it sure would have helped if we'd made a decision.".

Is there something you and your spouse want to do? have you mentioned it to each other and haven't decided how you're going to get it done? want to go on a great vacation? go to the Temple more? date night every week or month? family prayer and scripture study?

Answer these questions:
who is in charge of planning?
who gets the sitter?
who calls the family together?
what time?
what day?
when do we start?

Write it down! Put it on the calendar! Do it!

Deep breath.

"your future is as bright as your faith" -President Thomas S. Monson

Watching THIS clip is a wonderful reminder to me of what is most important.

I am grateful for a New Year, a new day to start again. Starting over with a fresh attitude is like taking a deep breath, looking around me and feeling grateful for the many opportunities I have to do good.

My apple for the day is: sit down with Zach, discuss his goals and how I can help him to reach them. Then talk about mine and how he can help me. I think we'll do a puzzle while we talk. We have one that's started down stairs. The longer it waits...the sooner we'll have missing pieces.

Having each other is so great!

Happy New Year!

"A Walk to Remember"

Have you seen this movie? This is one of those I watch every now and again when I am folding laundry.

I watched it the other night. They got married. Sorry if I just ruined it. :) Then she dies. Oh man! Sorry. It is still worth watching!

He says something like "we shared more love in that one summer than most people do in a lifetime."

This got me thinking. Why was it so wonderful? Well if you've seen the movie it is totally teenage love, but kind of mature in a teenage sort of way.

What I like about it is they are all about the other person. She has her list of dreams and he helps her fulfill them-even before he knows she has cancer.

She encourages him to think beyond the here and now and decide where he wants to be. She believes in him.

Yeah I know, it's a movie. But seriously, we can have an anxious concern for our spouse and believe in them and help them reach their goals. Because their success is totally ours too. We can work hard and celebrate right a long with them!

The apple: make a list of things you want to do with your life. encourage your spouse to write one too. read them to each other. then see what you can do to start checkin' em' off!

...the people perish!

Growing up one of my favorite things to do with my dad was building a snow slide. He would pile up the snow in the backyard and make an awesome slide for us to play on to our hearts content. I did. I. Loved. It.

I have had a good time doing the same with my kids. I do wish that I was as strong as my dad and making the slide wouldn't take me as long..:)

Anyway. To the point. I started building a slide one day while I was shoveling the drive way. I didn't look where the slide would have ended up, I was just piling up the snow...

Well, after piling for a bit, I looked up to see that this end of the slide was totally headed straight for that tree. You know what thought popped into my head?

"Where there is no vision, the people perish"! I honestly laughed out loud.

Lately I have tried to be better at creating a vision for my day and getting things done. Interesting though, the other day I had done some great things with the kids and it was only 9:30! I relaxed. Next thing I know it is noon and time to go get Ben. I accomplished just about jack! What happened? I hadn't decided what I was going to do with the rest of the morning so I sat down in front of the computer. Periodically I would get Josh and Sarah something else to do and went back to the computer. How embarrassing to admit this.

It is nice for me to be able to post about these things because I am able to process what is on my mind better.

I know that the devil is a master at distracting. Recognizing this is important because then we can figure out what distractions are affecting us and do better.

Back to the tree. Some things that we do daily literally lead us to a dead end and even will cause us harm. I think I do these "things" sometimes because that is what "everybody" else is doing.

Times are getting crazy people. We have to be able to think for ourselves and create our own visions. We hear this a lot from our church leaders. We need to take time to ponder-allow ourselves quiet time daily. During these quiet times we learn how the Spirit speaks to us. We can pray, we can ponder, we can ask for direction.

The apple for the day is: make time for yourself to think-without distractions. If there are things you feel are getting in the way of your progress, make steps to remove them or completely reposition yourself so they aren't a problem. Talk to your spouse about your goals. Things you need to do to make sure you get there and do it!

Monday's Moment

Elder Maxwell has said "moments are the molecules of eternity".

It would be inconsistent to think that if we are regularly irritable, ungrateful and unhappy that eternity would be any different.

Write down what you would like eternity to be like and then write about how you can make your moments more that way.

I recognize we aren't expected to be perfect right now but President Monson has said "that without a goal, it is like running with a ball up and down the field and never scoring a touchdown. "

So, at least write down a vision and set some goals. You probably have a lot on your mind since listening to Conference this weekend. I know I do. We are so blessed!!!

what was your favorite talk? i would love to hear!

"Always Building"

Okay, okay! It has been forever but I have NOT given up! :) I am ready to post baby!

We just got back from a lovely time at our family cabin! This cabin was built by my mom, my grandparents, her siblings and all their spouses. I have heard her say more than once that they have never stopped building it. They are always working on something!

I lay there one night looking at the wood walls and thinking about how carefully they planned and started to think.. There are five kids in her family. What if they all had a different cabin in mind and they all just did what they wanted? They all agreed on the style, the plan and then worked together to accomplish it! What a wonderful recipe for a successful marriage!

My grandparents set a goal to build a cabin for their family. If they had not set the goal it would not have happened. I can not even begin to explain the type of blessing this has been to our family! It is a breath of fresh air to be there! They did more than set the goal, they acted on it!

What are your goals? Which one are you working on?

Apple of the day? Talk to your spouse about this! Write em' down, hang em' on your wall! Start working on one! Have fun! We should always be building!

Hit a tree, or ski!

My senior year in high school a couple of my friends took me skiing at Alta. I had never been before....and haven't been since! :)

I was quite nervous about the undertaking to be honest. I think I told everyone I talked to that I was sure I would hit a tree!

No one was super shocked to hear that I did!!!...along with fall off a cliff and almost hit the side of the mountain, covered in rocks! I got stitches in my armpit too!

About a year after this happening I was carpooling to Weber State with a friend who is in a wheelchair and is nothing short of amazing! She was the one driving us to school. She ski's too. Well, we were talking about skiing and since I had only been skiing once, I only had one story to share. I told her that I knew I was going to hit a tree that day and she said, "if you think you will and you focus on it, you'll hit it". She has taught me more than one lesson about goal setting since then, and her point is very valuable. I was set on having a difficult time skiing that day and I did. I decided to hit a tree and I did!

In our lives, something is going to happen, lets choose positive things we would like to see happen and work towards them!

The apple for the day is: think about the mountains you'd like to climb, the things you would like to do and talk to your spouse about them. Set some goals and begin working for them...together!

Sweet success!

"Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."  This is from The Family, A Proclamation to the World

The apple for the day is to pick one of these areas to work on.  Think about how you can improve in this area and focus on it all of this next week.  

faith-in Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost.  Each other.

prayer-personal and family prayer (companion prayer)

forgiveness-has something been bothering you?  work it out and let it go.

respect-are you being nice?

love-show it

compassion-ask yourself what your spouse might truly need from you.

work-is there a project you could work on together?

wholesome recreational activities-start a new tradition.  

Well, if these things are what successful marriages are based on...that is pretty sweet to have specifics to focus on!  What ides do you have?