Idaho Falls Temple

Let me apologize for saying I would finish and then taking a break- I got into my "redecorate everything right now" mindset.
None of the pictures have been photo-shopped (just so you are aware)
 The last things we did on our trip where in Idaho falls  Rexburg and The St. Anthony Sand Dunes.
In Idaho falls we had a great time with Mitchell's Parents. We went to Red Robbin (a  Hill family favorite) and the Candy Cottage. Jon loves sweets I think he enjoyed taking the kids there. Mitchell and I went Window shopping at one point and then in the Evening we went to the Idaho falls Temple Visitors Center. For more information about LDS temples click here.
We had a wonderful experience with our kids there it was wonderful to teach them more about the Savior and watch them learn. A sister missionary gave us a short tour and she had the kids touch the prints int he hands and feet of the Christs Statue, we talked to the kids about how much Jesus loves us.
It was truly special.

Mommy-ing

Being a mom is the hardest and most rewarding job I have ever had.

there are days though, when it strikes me a comical. You see this (stay at home mommy-ing) was what I always wanted to do when I grew up.

So it’s funny that I have days that are so frustrating, where I feel so unhappy with my accomplishments I guess what I pictured it in my head was a little bit of a fantasy. The fantasy included a perfectly clean decorated house and perfectly clean dressed children and perfectly prepared meals. (And of course I would look perfect too)

I (maybe you but not me) will not have my house perfectly clean with dinner on the table every night. I have plenty of messy house and frozen food dinner days.

It’s okay though. When I give my kids a goodnight hug and talk to them it’s clear to me that the person who cares the most about all those to do lists is me. As long as I am trying my best and looking my kids in the eyes and saying “I love you” my family is pretty darn satisfied with what I do. So I should be too after all being a mom is about the kids ;)

Weekend wonders

Yesterday was my grandpa's birthday! To celebrate we took a trip to the park. Always fun times. Its wonderful to see my children play with their cousins and second cousins and make memories similar to the wonderful memories I have of family gatherings.
Those are the types of memories that make me feel positive about life!

 I am so grateful for having a family!

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Saturday I went yard sale-ing with a good friend of mine. I had five bucks in my wallet and on the 5^th stop I found a large side table lamp for …. You got it $5. Pretty sweet deal, I could not resist.

My Pinterest board is full of pictures of lamps and they usually look like this:http://www.potterybarn.com/products/warren-pulley-metal-task-table-lamp/ or This:http://www.potterybarn.com/products/glendale-pulley-task-table-lamp/?pkey=e%7Clamps%7C113%7Cbest%7C0%7C1%7C24%7C%7C11&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-%3Fcm_sp%3DMyRecs-_-LeftNav-_-Search%7CLamps

But for 5 dollars it will certainly work as a temporary fix. Eventually I hope to be able to carry out my design plan. It is really a creative and artistic thing to decorate a room, a well-appointed room is art (to me at least). I so love to make a beautiful and comfortable home that works perfectly for our family.

So without further ado here is the 5 dollar lamp.

 -coming soon an incredibly exciting (or unexciting) lamp shade recycle/update!

Color and dishes

Remember yesterday when I mentioned my mismatched colorful clearance isle dishes?

Here they are! (Well three of them-the rest are tucked into the cabinets).

I love the color that a few patterned dishes add to space. Like flowers after winter it’s so exciting and stimulating.  

Aren’t kids wonderful?! I get to be with mine all day-and a lot of the times I am up with them at night too. Somehow the moments of shear exhaustion at 2 am become the most precious memories.

Its those memories that standout in my mind like colored dishes in a (mostly) white kitchen.

(I know, I know,  I wrapped those two topics together pretty smoothly didn’t I?)

Happy Wednesday world.

Layers of Jello

Have you ever had a big day that seemed to form in layers? That's how mothers day was, I felt like it was not one day but 3. The part of that day before church, the time at church and the evening after church. All good layers but a distinctly different flavor.
Well... hers me moving on.
Was your mothers day good? I hope so! We had a great day, the highlight was really the 2 Skype calls we had from my brother who is on a 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and my sister who is also serving a mission for the LDS Church..
To learn about the Mormon missionarys follow the link here. Or go to www.mormon.org.
It was so exciting to see and talk to both of them over Skype I am so grateful for the modern inventions that make that type of communication possible!
I made sure we got a picture together just like we did last year.

 Also I made these adorable flowers for my mommy for a mothers day gift. The real gift I will give her (at her request) is for me to help her clean and organize her garage and craft things. I wanted to bring her something sweet for mothers day like I did as a child so I made her some paper flowers in yellow because that is her favorite color. I want to mention here that My Hunkcules*  made me a crafty gift for mothers day but I think it will get a post all its own another day.

The other big highlight was my dads layered jello. When I was young every fast Sunday ( In the LDS Church that is the first Sunday of each month) we would sit back and enjoy a tasty Sunday dinner, the kids really only helped with one aspect of dinner and that was the layered jellos cups, We would each pick a flavor and help stir it and  (best of all) add ice to help it chill faster, and remove the ice and suck the jello off of the ice. Yes as a child that was the BEST treat ever. So in case you have never tried this simple and easy desert for yourself or with your children I highly recommend it. There are "quick set" directions on the back of the jello box basically you make one layer at a time adding them on top of one another while they are firming.

* Hunkcules- what i sometimes call my husband from the disney Hercules "Hercules honey you mean hunkcules"

This weekend is Mothers Day

...Take a moment to reflect on your mother.
I wanted to share this video about mothers with all of you today.

Have a great mom day

The masterpiece.

The masterpiece.

Do you remember that show?  Probably not, it was an old VHS movie that my mom had when I was young. It was one of those seminary movies (seminary is an LDS class for youth often taken in the morning) . It was about a dying girl who said she would not live longer then the winter struck leafy vine outside her window. And the elderly artist upstairs saw the night the leaf died and fell, wanting the girl to wake up in the morning and see her vine and leaf still there; He went out into the winter night and painted a leaf onto the wall, it was so lifelike that the girl  (who spent her entire day looking out the window at that vine) could not tell that it was just a painting. She was so excited that the leaf withstood the winter and felt that she could too. The painter saved her life- I always cry at the end because it’s so sweet; and then cry some more because (of course) the elderly painter died (probably from age and exposure-you know standing on a ladder at night in the winter to paint). I know now that you are all crying with me over such a touching story beautiful summarized (I know:) Lets focus on the good moral of the story.
There are two:
Ready? Well one moral is of course that we can all bless the lives of others. Its also about the preciousness of life.Selfless service, and about how we can use our God given talents to bless those around us.
It got me thinking.

I thought about the beautiful influence art can have.

*Sigh* -I think we should all pause right here and picture a great work of art

… Go ahead….. Think of something….. or if you cant come up with anything  just google The Last Supper by Divinci or something……Got it?   Okay  great.  I Hope that gave you an uplifting moment.

My kids and I painted this morning and I am sure that the art they made is a masterpiece –at least to me, their mother.

Happy Friday-before-Mother’s Day to everyone.

*Note: To learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Often we are called Mormons-Click here to go to our information website where there are Frequently asked questions and information about our beliefs. You can also go to our church website here.

www.lds.org

www.mormon.org

Another side note this show is NOT on youtube.