Abi is 12!!

It's Abi's Happy Birthday today. Abi is usually the one in charge of the birthday festivities around here. So last night I jokingly told her "Do you want to go put up the birthday decorations for yourself?" She said she would, and that she did last year too, and made her own cake, which I don't remember, but I believe it. It reminds me of the beginning of the movie "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" where he makes his own cake and decorates it "Happy Birthday Me..." lol. So Abi put up her decorations last night, but she only put ABI, so this morning I got up and I fixed it to say her whole name, and then I ran to the store (opens at 6am) and got donuts and ice cream - and I made it back in time to set it up before waking her up.

No one up to party with her yet, but that's ok, we'll celebrate with you after school!! And I also got her a box of chocolates and some brownies to take to school to share with her friends. :) Then I went on a walk and found two caterpillars on a neighbors' milkweed, cute little hungry babies!

And I also had one more come out of it's egg last night - an egg that I found at my parents' house yesterday in their neighbors yard (was just over the fence) after we got back from Colorado. So yay, 3 more babies!! If these 3 survive That will make this year better than last year, yay monarchs!

It was a busy day at home. I had a lot to do but didn't get as much done as I wanted - Peter didn't nap well or cooperate much. But I'll count my wins - got Sophi's baptism program done and the RS newsletter out. Didn't write to Joseph yet, will do that first thing in the morning. After the kids came home, we all had cake and ice cream.

Some ambiance...

And making a wish...

Wesley tried out a different Clayton group called "Celebrate" tonight. He liked it better, everyone was more his size, so that's good. And the last thing we did tonight was go to Costco, cause we were out of potatoes.

I took SEVEN kids to Costco, and honestly it wasn't that big of a deal. Cause I'm a true mother warrior!

Corey usually does come back with muffins, which is why I'd rather face the frontlines myself. I was made for this battle!

Ok, well, Abi and Lily helped... We got there at 7:50, were on our way home at 8:40. After we got home, we unloaded and were going to do violin, but didn't make it tonight cause the final birthday event arrived. A birthday is not a birthday without Iveth and Diego coming by! Happy Birthday Abi!!

Maria drew a picture for Abi (I think it was a portrait of Abi) that Abi is now keeping on her wall. It was cute. Then we all talked too late and now I can't fall asleep so I'm going to write Joseph a letter and then go to bed if I can. I think Abi had a good day, she is a doll.

Heaven Is Here

I'm not a Twi-mom, but I did read the first book. And I saw the first movie. Even with that limited exposure to Twilight, like most people I am well aware of Edward's reputation for being the most perfect man ever.

Well, I just finished reading Stephanie Nielson's book and let me just say, Edward doesn't hold a candle to Mr. Nielson.


You want a perfect gentleman, husband, father, just an amazing salt of the earth guy who knows what life is about and lives his life as evidence that he knows it, read this book. He is inspiring. Page 276-77 made me cry ~ Stephanie is amazing, and Christian is right there with her, a match made in heaven. (I also know all about matches made in heaven cause I'm blessed to be in one myself~) They are amazing.

"We're doing great, you're doing great. We're going to be OK. ~ We have each other. We were both hurt in this accident, you know what I've been through and I know what you've been through. We can do this as long as we are one. Christian, if you're next to me, I can do anything."

Yup, Bella and Edward's romance doesn't have anything on this TRUE LOVE STORY - with emphasis on that word true. It is a true story!!! These are real people and this really happened! I just have such a hard time caring about fiction books or make believe sitcoms when there are so many amazing TRUE STORIES out there to lift and inspire us, and it's real.

So, I stayed up late Tuesday night and have avoided the majority of my homemaker duties the past two days and just finished reading "Heaven Is Here" and let me just say ~ wow. I have several competing thoughts, I shall now attempt to communicate one of them.

One thought I have that I've had to fight out of my heart as I read this is some envy. Maybe it's not envy, more likely I'm just a little frustrated with myself. (btw, here's an amazing talk about jealousy from General Conference - read, watch, or listen to it HERE - Yes, Stephanie is another amazing person, go down another quart of pickle juice!) So, I've got a natural man tendency that needs to be put down cause I'm a little jealous that Stephanie just seems to know how to do it ("it" meaning being a mother and homemaker), and I don't. Even AC (after crash) she's probably doing it better than me, and I don't have all the challenges she does.

I know how to be a wife pretty well, and I can be a mother to babies - babies are easy, just kiss 'em and change their diapers, and they come with their own food supply - piece of cake. (I'm so happy Stephanie and Christian just had another baby) But besides that, or attempting to do that with all the other 7 kids and a house of messes on top of it, sometimes I just don't know how to do it.

I maybe do it one day now and then, but I usually feel like I just can't find my rhythm and don't have a "motherhood 101" book to help me know the steps and keep on target, I feel like I just ad-hock it all the time. I need and want to love cooking for my family. I guess I do it cause everyone here is fed and alive, but I wish I could thrive at it. I do love art and decorating, I want to know how to make/find the time for it, wish I had about a thousand bucks in the bank to just go and buy everything and anything I want. Patience, you can have it all, you just have to have it one at a time.

So the other thought that comes along when that frustration/envy rears it's head is that I am doing okay and I'm figuring it out, and Heavenly Father will keep helping me. Sure, I don't have a lot of beautiful cake platters and I still don't seem to know for sure what traditions our family has, I don't have an organized laundry room and my desk is a wreck, I could go on... but then I remember that I might be comparing my rotten apples to Stephanie's freshly squeezed orange juice, right? Also, my story is different from hers. Your story is different from mine. We all have different stories, different plans of things that we want to do, and different things that God needs us to do, we all have different gifts, desires, talents, sympathies, etc. We've got to stay focused on what we have, not what we lack. If we focus on what we lack, we'll probably keep lacking and drawing negative energy to us, but if we are grateful we draw blessings and abundance to us. Little bit of philosophies of men there, but I think there is some truth in that Secret stuff.

We still have not bought a home in our 13+ years of marriage... "and that's... okay!" (cue Stewart Smalley or Khalil from Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie - watch 1:11-1:21 "I am a caterpillar! Well, that's only half true. My mother was a caterpillar, my father was a worm. But I'm okay with that now.") lol :)

Yes, I'm okay now with being a renter, it's actually worked out great for us, unless I let myself think that for some reason it's just not right to rent and then I attract negativity to myself and our home. If we had just bought a place and settled down, I would have had a chance to accumulate lots of cute homely things and I wouldn't have had to start over again so many times. But no, I've got to get my story straight. We haven't bought a home, and I've had to pack up our life several times and start over, but how lucky we have been to live in Virginia, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Chile!

I sold and gave away lots of stuff that I didn't want to, but it's what we needed to do, that's how we've moved forward in the story of our family. Graduate school with 5 kids living in a 700 square foot apartment is part of our story. Going to Brazil for 4 months. Our story also included living in a huge 4000+ square foot rambler where, ironically, I feel like I was the most upset and unhappy and ungrateful as I'd ever been. Then we went to Costa Rica and Chile for 9 months so I could try to learn again what I should have learned in Brazil. ( I'm hoping I got it down this time!)

We all have our own stories and things we need to learn, people that we need to meet and let bless us, people that we can influence and bless. It's exciting to think of what is ahead and what is in store. We're all in this together, so be kind, do good, love one another ~Life is Beautiful.

Sweet Little Bird

Today is trash day. I went out the front door to take some garbage out to our bins that were in the street, and as I walked back inside. I noticed a little baby bird on our driveway.

You cute little thing! What are you doing here? He didn't look injured, he just looked like a baby bird who doesn't have long enough feathers to fly yet. I was really glad that Corey hadn't driven over him when he left for work! I first went to hide him in the bushes right in front of our house, but then I thought about where he come from... hmm, it was really windy last night and this morning, he must have been blown from the trees between us and our neighbor, so then I took him over there. ISN'T HE SO CUTE!?

I think he looks a lot like the little red finch babies from 4 years ago. Look at the third picture here - same kind of bird, right? The neighbors behind us and right next to us, where I set this one, both have cats. I think right next door he might be an indoor cat cause I don't see them prowling around in the trees here, so I hope he'll be safe, unlike one of our babies from 2017. I took this cute little guy inside for a second and called to the kids to come see my little friend. No one answered. I hollered and called out names one by one, but nothing. I didn't want to take him inside cause I didn't want the mom to worry or lose track of him, if she was watching. But I want to show the kids. Most of them were still in bed, but Natalie and Owen were playing legos in the basement. I took him upstairs to quickly tell Lily and Sophi. "You guys! Get up and come see this little bird I found!" I showed them the bird in my hands. They came outside with me and wanted to hold him. Sophi holding him here:

Lily holding him. He peed on Lily. It's ok Lil, that just means he loves you the most! 

We put him in the talk grass close to the trees. Last time we had a little lost finch, it's mother was watching and knew his whereabouts, she just was waiting for us to get out of the way. So we all went inside trusting that she'd come take care of him. 

Natalie had a ballet rehearsal today and pictures, so we got her ready with makeup and her hair up in a bun (no easy task with her short hair).We checked on the bird again before she left. Lily and Sophi were already outside watching him and let me know the bird was still there. They picked him up. He peed on Lily again. We petted him and said how cute he was. Daniel wanted a turn.

Daniel, you are being so careful! Good job!

The bird was very calm and super sweet when we passed him around.

I was holding Peter as he slowly reached out his adorable little hand to softly pet the bird's feathers...

We put the bird back and then I took Natalie to her rehearsal. She had to be there at noon. I went to pick her up at 1. We stopped by Walgreens to get some photos for Sophi that she needed for a Father's Day gift that she was making at Activity Days at 2. Natalie asked if we could stop somewhere to buy a treat. This is her I'm-trying-not-to-beg-but-I'm-begging-inside face. She's a pretty girl.

For Natalie, driving in the car seems to mean that Wendy's and a frosty is just a moment away. I told her no treats this time. But then I did let her pick out something at Walgreens. When we arrived back home, we check on the bird and he was gone. I think, hope, and will believe and tell myself that his mom found him and he kinda jumped and flapped his way back under the trees to safety in the shade. I heard lots of birds in there, so yeah, that's what I'm going to tell myself. I'm not going to go crawling around under there looking for him, and I told the kids not to either, cause he's so camouflaged that we'd risk stepping on him. So, that was super fun though to hold the cute little bird. I hope he has a happy life in the bushes and that we see him fluttering through the tree branches someday. And here's a lovely rose from today - I love these roses.

Here's a few more pics of the other roses from today. 

What else from today - Owen and a neighbor made a mess in the backyard, but I'll talk about that in another post. I did laundry today for 90 minutes as I listened to my older sister's divorce court proceedings. I think most of my siblings and my parents watched as we were all texting afterwards. We're all glad that she has good legal counsel and we're praying for her, her ex, and her kids to all be able to move forward with hope and to find happiness. Abi is still having fun at EFY and eating a lot of food, as most of the pictures she send are of her and her friends eating. 

and that's about it. Oh, wait, one more thing, I cancelled my membership in the program with the nutrition coach that I joined (end of this post). I had already locked my card like a week ago thinking that I didn't want to keep paying for this. I joined this without telling Corey, same as when I joined the Sculpted Vegan, and that one was a bigger mistake cause they sent me to collections, but this one it didn't say anything like that, just that if payment wasn't made within two weeks I'd be kicked out, which is what I wanted, but I just thought I'd save us both a little bit of time by being upfront about it. So I sent her an email but never got a reply, and I just thought it would be best manners to be upfront, rather than have them send me a message in two weeks saying "hey, your payment didn't go through" and I'd be like "Yeah, I don't want to be part of your program anymore. That's also why, you might have noticed, why I haven't been doing the work or submitting things..." so I sent her a message and said I'm walking away from here, and she wanted us to process it, and she reminded me that one of the reasons why I joined was to help me stop dabbling in different diets and programs, but in my defense, the idea of being a dabbler was one that she dished out. "There are three kind of people: stressers, dabblers, and achievers. Which one do you think you are?" Well obviously the one you want to be is an achiever, but I wouldn't be here if that is who I was, so I'm one of the two lousy choices, so I said I was a dabbler. But I'd never called myself a dabbler before, so this was her introducing that to me, and I don't agree that you have to keep doing something if after you try it a bit, if you can tell it's not what you're looking for. And I tried doing things she suggested for three weeks but yeah, this isn't want I'm after. She asked why I didn't reach out for help or why I didn't modify it and make it my own, and so we had a bit of back and forth like that, so I feel a little bad, but it's ok. And I told Corey that I do want to join Laura Dixon's program, which has been changed so now it's not crazy expensive ($6000) price tag to have her as a personal coach, but "only" $1000 to join her program and have access to it for life, and it's a money back guarantee: "you either lose the weight or you get your money back." So Corey wants to learn more about that before he signs off on my joining, but I'm giving myself a month, and I'm going to re-listen to her podcast and try and coach myself before I do any emotional eating, but if my weight doesn't budge this next month, I'm signing up. 

Another Violin Student

Yesterday I found a cute 1/4th violin on the classifieds, so I took the little kids with me and we drove out to West Jordan to get it. There was no bow. The lady said her son had ruined it, and that it's prob $60-ish to re-hair (?) it, but that new bows cost bout that much anyway, so yeah, she was just selling the violin. Cost $50 bucks, sweet! Natalie, are you excited to learn the violin?!?

She will be the next musician in our family. But there might also be another up and coming musician close behind her, which is me. Cause I'm going to have to be her and Sophi's parent teacher, since our currently hired parent fill in is Melodie, and she's leaving for college next month. So yeah, I bought myself a used violin on Monday too so that I can try to figure things out that I'm supposed to be coaching her with during her practicing at home. My violin was $85, and it came with a bow. Seems ok, but it's metallic colored, which I didn't really like. I kinda don't feel like I could be taken seriously using it, not that I know how serious I am about this, but just in case I am... I bought another used violin today. This one was from one of the first round of texts I sent out to different sellers. It looks more legit. The guy said it was a Russian or Romanian violin I think? It is wood but doesn't have a bow, so I guess I'll use the bow from the first one and try to resell that metallic violin.

What else. Abi has been working hard on legos. She made a Marriott hotel on Monday... (Sorry you're blurry Abi)

Notice the check in counter, revolving door to the lobby... just like the Marriott at Park City!

Very well done. And since vacationing was on her mind, her next project was a cruise ship, which she finished today.

Sailing in the blue waters of a blanket. Pool on the top deck of the ship...

One of the cruise suites.

They've been in the lego zone for a few weeks, which is good. Kid's town lasted for like 2 days, then it's been lego building for the rest of the play time this summer. It's a huge mess down there in the basement, but that's their creativity area. Atleast I usually don't see it.

Daniel and Owen down for their naps today.

And last but not least, Mr. Peter has been a plank-ing MACHINE!!

Work those abs, baby!! Oh, the burn, he needs a break...

But not for too long - up again!!!

He's so cute! It's amazing to see babies go through the phases each month, they learn the new things that they need to learn like clockwork. It's like their programmed or something (divine design, perhaps?). Peter is like a little caterpillar that know to eat, molt, make a silk pad, then a j-hook... caterpillars, like babies, just come with all the programming they need to become the amazing miracles they are. I sometimes say Peter is my squishy caterpillar. He's gonna be crawling then walking before we know it!!

A Supreme Creator

Ok, this is a long post, sorry.

I had a brief dialogue with someone who commented on this article about Karen Santorum's statement that she felt it was God's will for her husband to run for president. (I have no problem with that, I don't think she was saying it's God's will that he win, just God's will that he run...), so I replied to this lady's comment because she claimed there is no God because why would God care about politics and not help people who suffer, thus he is either evil or not powerful (although claiming he's either evil or not powerful doesn't prove he doesn't exist...) Something like that. Here's my brief conversation with Scunnered:

Scunnered - Gaawd. And my overly religious friend just told me "god" helped her heal after a boob job. If "god" gets involved in boob jobs, sports and politics whilst ignoring the suffering, hungry, abused and neglected then "he's" either evil or not as powerful as "he'd" like you to believe. Right?

Tiffanie Hibbert Wride - Incorrect. Read "There is No Death" by Sarah Menet, she talks about why people suffer with hunger, abuse, neglect, etc. Sarah was severely abused by her father, was an atheist for the same reasons you share, but after committing suicide (unsuccessfully), she learned by experience to think differently. She talks about your question, start on pg 99 and pg 115

Scunnered - Incorrect??! Tiffanie, please! No wait, as there is no way I'm purchasing the said book, could you please enlighten me? How does she justify (because that's really all she's doing) her god ignoring those in need yet scurrying to the aid of my friend after a boob job? Please share!

Tiffanie Hibbert Wride - Right - also, in view of all the world's problems, why would God heal a boob job because of prayer but not protect two children from being burned alive, which is the story of Josh Powell's kids that's been in the news recently - would people agree that those things are evil? My answer - absolutely yes. If we believe in evil and that some things are wrong, then we are both appealing to the same "moral" standard defining right and wrong, but who is behind those morals and defining them. Who says killing is bad? Can someone murder and say "well, that's just your opinion?" No, it's truth, it's God's standard and God's truth. It's an eternal truth.

We are all free to choose things that are evil/wrong/bad or to choose things that are good/right/true, and this life is where we experience some of the consequences of our choices, and after this life is over, death is inevitable, we'll continue to receive the blessings and peace or the punishments and misery of our choices and actions here on earth.

Don't know if your library has the book. Happy to continue this discussion here. You can read my review on amazon for that book if you want to hear more of my thoughts

Scunnered - I'm not talking about Josh Powell, I'm talking about young victims (his and others). Is it 'gods will' that they be raped, abused and tourtured while praying and nobody comes to their aid? How about Fraulein Friesel who prayed to 'god' for 30 years to help her...was THAT gods will with the promise of a better life after death??!!! Why did my friend deserve his aid after her boob job more than Fraulein Friesel??

We now know that there are multiple universes with multiple earth-type planets...why do you think everything is all about us? Also, can't you see the ugliness in people raping, killing, every single day....we are no different than animals. Why do you think after a life of drinking beer and watching tv that there is a better place 'in the sky' for humans? Sorry to tell you this but just like every other living thing: When it's over, it's over. We go back to the earth.

Tiffanie Hibbert Wride - If we are just like every other living thing, then your argument becomes meaningless because there's nothing to get upset about and nothing "morally" wrong about killing, rape, or any supposed "ugly" action. It's not ugly, it just is. People suffer too cause that's just how it is. Animals suffer way more than humans. Lions will kill their cubs, crocodiles kill wildebeests, and seems like there's nothing to be upset about then if there's no God, cause that's just how just is. Right? Or am I missing something in the logic there?

People who believe in God have to explain why people suffer - People who don't believe in God have to explain everything else.

Wind and rain didn't carve the Rosetta Stone, there's a human idea, plan and designer behind a physical computer, and there's a Designer with a master plan behind each body, world, and galaxy without number.

There is a Supreme Creator
(That's a good youtube video, watch it)

~ ~

So that's that. I don't think it helped her at all, but it does always help cement my own beliefs to have a discussion like that and hear someone else's point of view (especially when it makes absolutely no sense). Also in the comments, an atheist Ralph goes off about how there is no God but there is just no logic in his argument.

It's long, but I'll post those comments here too:

Ralph - Christians believe God planned the days of your life in advance, choosing the exact time of your birth and death." Let's examine one simple implication of this statement. What this means is that God pre-planned every abortion that has taken place on our planet.
If you think about this implication for a few moments, you will begin to realize how impossible "God's plan" is. If the concept of "God's plan" is true, you can first of all see that God wants us to be aborting children.
Every single abortion is planned by God, so God must be doing it for a reason.
Second, you can see that both the mother who requests the abortion and the doctor who performs it are blameless. Since it is God who planned the abortion of the child (God chose the "exact time" of the death), the mother and doctor are simply puppets who are fulfilling God's plan.
You can also see that all the Christians who are fighting against abortion are missing the point. They are actually fighting against God's plan, and their fight is completely futile. God is the all-powerful ruler of the universe, and his plan is for more than a million children a year to die in the United States through abortion. Each one of those abortions was meticulously planned by God, so fighting against abortion is a totally wasted effort.
If you are a Christian, what you are thinking is, "God does not intend for us to perform abortions!" But if you believe what the Bible tells you, then you are obviously incorrect. God is actually the direct cause of every abortion on earth. If you find that notion to be uncomfortable, I would agree with you. Unfortunately, that is the logical outcome of God's plan.

NHConstitutionalist - Your deductive reasoning would be correct. In which case we can do away with the premise of free will. Every vile act that has been committed is no ones fault, an Interesting concept. But, that leads to the question; why do Christians believe in original sin, baptism, and the the reason Jesus died and was resurrected if individuals are not accountable for sin, given it was already predetermined what actions they would perform?
Since I don't follow those beliefs, I guess I'll simply have to take responsibility for my actions.
That aside, I'm inclined to believe God is not responsible for our behavior nor is He involved in politics as it is that is considered to be what is rendered to Cesar. If I believed in the devil I say it was more his realm. Oh 7734 I'll say it anyway, given the condition of this world I'd be inclined to think he certainly has his hot bony fingers in it.
Thanks for your insight, I had to smile ... The devil made me do it.

Ralph - If you believe in "God's Plan" then everyone is a puppet..God and his pan knew and sanctioned the abortions.
BTW..where are the Christians who are Christ-like and were ordered by their God to sell all their possessions and give the money to the poor?
Have you sold all you own to feed the poor? About 30,000 children die from hunger every day!
Where is your God? Sleeping? Where are God's followers????
Your religion, like your God are frauds!

onthethirdrail - If you are an atheist - there is no objective morality. So not only are abortions acceptable but also infanticide.
If a new male lion takes over a pride he will kill the male babies since they are not his offspring. The logical implcation is that it would be ok for the boyfriend of a divorced woman to kill her children so that his genes will be the ones passed on.

Ralph - Your God is the master of infanticide...read the book of Exodus.
In the book of Exodus chapter 12 verse 28, God writes about one of his early massacres:
So the people of Israel did just as the LORD had commanded through Moses and Aaron. And at midnight the LORD killed all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn son of the captive in the dungeon. Even the firstborn of their livestock were killed. Pharaoh and his officials and all the people of Egypt woke up during the night, and loud wailing was heard throughout the land of Egypt. There was not a single house where someone had not died.
Here the death of the children is directly at the hand of God.
In Isaiah chapter 13, God paints this word picture:
Anyone who is captured will be run through with a sword. Their little children will be dashed to death right before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked and their wives raped by the attacking hordes. For I will stir up the Medes against Babylon, and no amount of silver or gold will buy them off. The attacking armies will shoot down the young people with arrows.
They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for the children.
What a lovely image.

onthethirdrail - Master of infanticide... but Ralph atheists are fine with killing hundreds of thousands of babies each year... so what's your beef with God?
You see Ralph, you have no moral ground to stand on. You want to say baby killing is wrong but your all for it - you cut your nose off to spite your face.

Ralph -You will find men like him in all of the world's religions. They know that we Atheists represent reason and science, and, however confident they may be in their beliefs, they fear that we will overthrow their gods. Not necessarily through any deliberate act, but in a subtler fashion. Science can destroy a religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets. No one ever demonstrated, so far as I am aware, the nonexistence of Zeus or Thor, but they have few followers now.

NHConstitutionalist - Ralph ... I don't believe it. I'm just thunder struck. We Thor followers hold monthly meetings or as the gods allow. But it's good to know, now we can claim minority status and get our special privileges.

onthethirdrail - Ralph, You *believe* you use logic and reason but in actuality your believe are just as faith based as anyone elses. Tell me how do atheist prove:
1) the law of non-contradiction
2) The uniformity of nature
3) Cause and effect
etc...
You can't - you have to take it on faith.
The only rational position for someone who rejects God is hyper-skepticism

Ralph - You insult me if you think I would worship an invisible mass murderer called 'God"

onthethirdrail - Hmmm... Interesting response. It sounds like your just emoting. Logic and rationality - not so much.

~ ~

So, what do you think?

We watched the movie "The Conspirator" on Saturday with the kids (Hyrum is into President Lincoln right now) and I don't know for myself all the true facts behind what the movie presented, but I liked the part where the lawyer Frederick Aiken had to defend Mary Surratt, but didn't want to cause he felt/thought she was guilty, so a mentor told him "Prove her guilt then" so as he went to search for proof that she was guilty he rather found reasons why she couldn't be guilty.
Same thing with God, I think if people listened to their reasoning, they'd realize that things that they want to use for proof of their case don't have any ground to stand on WITHOUT there being a God. They don't have proof, their facts don't stand up to scrutiny. CS Lewis was an atheist, but he was logical about it and a great thinker, and he was able to realize that by his saying "God is unjust" because people suffer, that statement proves God exists cause you are appealing to a moral standard, thus there are morals, cause if there aren't morals you don't have a case! Does that make sense? He explains it in his book "Mere Christianity", the first couple chapters set up the reasoning that logically there is a God since there are things that are good and bad. It's an excellent read, a little deep for me, I have to read it slow and piece it apart and put it back together, but I love CS Lewis, he's an amazing thinker.

One more thing - Melodie is doing a paper on Helen Keller, and last night we looked for a memorable quote she said, and when I read this I thought THAT IS AWESOME and thought it was another tally for "There is a God" side:


"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it." - Helen Keller

Isn't that awesome! Amen I say! Yes, there is suffering! So do you want to be one of the people who sits around in the suffering and complains about it, or are you going to rise above it?
Also this one:

"I do not want the peace which passeth understanding, I want the understanding which bringeth peace." - Helen Keller

So, if anyone doesn't know if there is a God, they could look at Scunnered's arguments, but to me a big red flag is that she sounds angry and bitter, she doesn't have peace or sound happy... I don't want to be like that. Seems like those beliefs she has aren't serving her very well right now in my opinion. And since "right now" is all she thinks she has, I'd like to suggest to her that she change her Belief Box asap and try to find peace. If she does in face have peace then I'm happy for her.

As for me, the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings me peace. I know there is a God, I know that Christ lives and is the Son of God! I am so grateful for the gospel. Ok, one more thing, as we read the scriptures with our kids last week and we talked about Nephi, my 8 year old Hyrum said "Well, how do we know that Nephi was real?" which is a question we just loved! We talked for a good hour with the kids, then as we kissed goodnight, Corey said "You can know if it's true through prayer and by asking. ...but until then, I want you to know that I know it's true. AND I want you to know that without the gospel you would have never been born. Goodnight!" Kinda funny way to send him off into his dreams, I laughed.

Having kids is hard work, but it is soo worth it. We're grateful for that commandment to have a family, there is no greater joy, it's given me joy that I didn't know I wanted or needed.

Not Getting Much Done

Hi. Still not getting a lot done around the house, as is to be expected with a newborn. The kids have coughs and I've gone to the elementary school to pick up a kid everyday so far this week - They go in the morning and are okay - they are taking turns (probably would have picked up someone yesterday too had it not been cancelled) Today I picked up Sophi just a half hour before it was out anyway, kinda lame, but when they call saying to come get your kid you gotta do it. They already missed quite a few days from staying home coughing, and then they'll play legos and won't really seem that sick, so I hesitate to have them stay home too much even though the cough does sound bad. Plus they missed school for St. George. So, I'm trying to keep Peter safe from their germs and have said they can't hold him if they're coughing. So they watch as their siblings hold him...

I'm also trying to keep blankets clean and telling them to not use the blankets I use for Peter. Luckily they have other baby brothers to love and play with. And look at this - they'll even pretend to be really little babies for you! Aww, look at itty bitty baby Daniel!

I guess he's wanting some baby of the family attention. Or maybe the car seat is just really comfy. It probably is a comfortable place, especially with the visor down to make it a little space for a little boy. You're cute Daniel. What else - I did make my bed today, yay, and a bigger win was that I cleaned the toilets. And with that we'll call it good and say it has not been a wasted day.

Melodie is 22!

Happy Birthday to Melodie! It was fun having her here to celebrate her special day. We toyed around a bit with the idea of going swimming, but when it was 11 and we still hadn't decided, we figured it was a bit late to get in a full day, so we're saving it for another time. So we decided to go out to lunch. Corey stayed home with the boys, Katharine joined us. Her sweet little baby face!

We went to Bandits. I like Bandits. I got my usual Farmer's Harvest Salad with shrimp. Mel got that too. Good stuff. 

They brought Katharine a high chair - Katharine killed time by tasting the chair. 

She also tried slapping the table to call the waiter to serve us. That didn't work, so then she played with the little black papers from around our napkins. She found that to be pretty entertaining.

Mel and I were both just adoring her the whole time. Babies are so beautiful. It's so fun. Mel adoring Katharine again this evening after she got her to sleep in a chair in the front room.

Mel was painting her fingernails! Haha, Katharine holding the little nail file - so fun. She's our favorite!

So, my mom didn't come by today, and that was ok - she thought Mel was down at school. But I didn't get a cake, cause I kinda don't like cake, and Mel didn't mind cause we had already had a nice meal together. But the little kids said we needed cake. Daniel took matters into his own hands with some playdoh. Presenting Mel's birthday cake!

We sang Melodie a song - 

And she posed with the cake - 

Daniel was so pleased with himself and that his cake offering was so graciously received. 

And Melodie was getting a big kick out of  it. Such a sad little cake!

Sorry Mel, I guess I could have/should have gotten you a birthday dessert. 

Happy Birthday Mel! I think taking college kids out to eat for their birthday might be a good "gift". Corey already got Joseph something for his birthday (a bike rack) so we'll let him have that as a gift but then it might just be dinner date gifts. Corey also wants Joseph to forgive us/never mention again that we gave him our old piano as a birthday present. ...that was my fault. We were ready to get rid of it, he said he'd like it, then I said "hey, can that count as your b-day present?" so that was tacky, and he's never let us forget it. But honestly, we do and have done so much for them anyway, do we really "owe" them a gift every year? We don't expect or demand anything from them, we're still raising 8 more kids at home... go easy on us. We're hoping to have enough money to retire someday! Ok, we'll Mel, thanks for being so chill and mellow for us, we appreciate it! You're the best.

BYU Tour and Naps

Corey gave a lecture today for Dr. Dyer's business strategy class at BYU and invited Mel and Ethan to come with him. They took a tour of BYU and now Mel officially has senior-itis. Ethan is excited too, cause after Corey's class lecture there was no quiz and they just had a discussion - with excitement he declared "College is gonna be a breeze!" Corey's glad they are both pumped about being cougars. Now they just need to be accepted!

He took them to lunch at the Skyroom Restaurant.

Mel should hear back next month, and then Corey will officially turn all his attention to getting Ethan ready to launch

Here are a few pictures of what my day looked like - Owen right before I woke him up from his nap:

Sweet Peter snuggled in for one of his many naps -

Natalie slept a lot today too - she fell asleep this morning before school, and then layed down on our floor after she got home. She feels a bit warm, I think she's sick.

Tonight I was feeling frustrated as I simultaneously got dinner ready (rice bowls), and tried to get kids to clean up a bit. Dinner was served, but the cleaning up part went unsuccessful. I feel like we need some "how to run a home and teach kids how to work" tutorials or lessons from someone, cause so often I feel like I don't know what I'm doing or how to teach them what to do. Sigh. Here's a funny picture of Peter, looking how I feel - like he's exasperated with all of us!

We just keep doing our best. One kinda funny multitasking moment for me: After dinner I was sitting on the couch nursing Peter and had Daniel came up at my side and proceeded to drive a toy car up my left arm, down my leg, back up onto Daniel's head...

...that while on my right side I'm helping Sophi with her reading list/power words/speed timer.

I hardly get a moment to do any physical work around here (laundry, dishes, clean room) cause I'm trapped with a baby on my chest or in my arms. And many of my sitting down moments look like that. It's tricky figuring it out. Hard sometimes, although I'm much happier to have the baby out than in. After Mel got home from work (Costa Vida) she helped me by holding Peter -

thus I am very pleased to report that I did clean up our bedroom (floors only) AND was able to vacuum it, so that's a big win.

Mel is one of the few kids that I don't worry about her holding Peter and him being happy and safe with her. I think he can tell she's a natural mother (she's had the most practice with her younger siblings). Her snuggling with our little sleeping pill ended as it usually does when the kids hold babies around here ~

While I was cleaning a, Corey was helping Hyrum in our room to work out his registration for school next year. Owen and Sophi were laying close by, making sure Corey didn't get far from their reach. I felt Owen and he seems a bit warm with a fever too. Winter sick bugs are making the rounds around here. We'll see how tomorrow goes with that.