The trouble with family scripture study...

"WHORE? Mommy, what's WHORE?"

1 Nephi 14:12 And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters; nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw.


"Whore? Oh, no...you mean HORROR..."


Hope your family scripture study is also...enlightening...

I'm buried here in end of the semester paperwork and meetings as the girls get ready to clear out for summer!
We may be scarce for a few days!

Surfing...

Had a loooooong day today, trying to wear the kiddos out so I could get some cleaning and organizing done while they napped.

What instead happened was that they wore ME out and I fell asleep trying to get them to settle down (thankfully, they also fell asleep.)

When the Mister got home, he took one look at me and the house and said, "WHOA! What happened here?" and then, "You look like a crazy person..."

I felt like one too....


Anyway, ended up not getting as much done as I hoped and did a little web surfing instead.

Tabs and bookmarks from my surfing:

Unclutterer : : : "If it's not important to you, don't consume it"  (This might be my new phrase to live by.)

Our Best Bites : : : Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

e-Mealz ...really considering this because I am terrible at meal planning and know if I were better our budget would stretch much further....anyone have experience with them?

The Language of Breastfeeding--An interesting article about the language we use and how it affects mothering....

Help!

This is our hall closet. It is the only accesible place I have to keep my fabric and yarn.

It's a disaster.

Everytime I open that closet, I want to scoop out my eyeballs with a spoon.

The real trouble is that I need to get to the things in there. I need to be able to see the fabric I'm after (without causing permanent back strain from lifting one basket off another). There are also other things that NEED to live in that closet because we need them to be accessible because we use them often. Only a portion of my fabric is in there. Any longer-term fabric (ie, fabric that is not slated to be used in the immediate future) lives up in our storage unit on the opposite end of the apartment complex.

I need suggestions for how to straighten this place up...on basically a zero dollar (yeah, $0) budget and not many exciting resources to speak of. So...if you have any great organizational ideas, I REALLY want to hear them!

Things that need to live in that closet and be accessible:

Two boxes/baskets of fabric (about 10 different cuts/colors at a given time)
2 camp chairs we use in the courtyard regularly
My bag for church (used only on Sundays)
Some (not all) of my yarn for crochet projects (the stuff on the docket or for the project I am currently working on)
The umbrella
Laundry Supplies (soap, bleach, stain remover, etc)
First aid items and kids' medicines
Box of craft items for things I do with the kids

You can see that although I am TRYING to simplify my life and un-clutter...it still really is my kryptonite. And my utter lack of organizational skills isn't helping...so now I need your help and suggestions. Pretty please?




P.S. Don't you love Squirrel in the corner, posing? Because obviously, every picture I take must be of her! :)

{A Lesson in Environmentalism}

Overheard as we loaded into the car today:

Squirrel: Daddy, it is hot in this car!
Mister: Yep, it sure is. Do you know why it is so hot?
Squirrel: Yes. You tell me.
Mister: It's called the Greenhouse Effect. All the hot sunlight can get in through the windows, but the heat can't get out, so the car gets warm.
Squirrel: Ooooh, the green house....


As we waited in the car for the Mister to get back from grabbing something he forgot:

Squirrel: Mommy, do you know why is so hot in here?
Me: Why is it so hot?
Squirrel: It's the Green House.
Me: Oh, the Greenhouse Effect? What's that?
Squirrel: That's the green guy in here. He is really hot, but he is trap-ed. He is too small to open the doors by hisself, so he gets the car hot.


I can just see her disputing with her 7th grade science teacher..."No, ma'am. It isn't light that gets trapped. It's the little green guy." Here's to saving the planet by letting that poor little green guy out...

{Our 4th of July Weekend}

Saturday:

{Walking to the flag raising ceremony and breakfast at the church}

{Parade-gazing}

{The Mister's ROOT beer for those wondering... :) }

{Then we needed to head home for a nap...}

Later...

{Picnic and play time at the park}

{Feeding the ducks in the pond}

{Blowing on the world's LARGEST dandelion fluff...seriously, can you believe the size of that thing?}

{Dropping grass in the stream}

{Sharing ice cream sandwiches and kisses}

{The rodeo: National Anthem....also, Squirrel asked if she could be a cowboy at the next rodeo...I think she was pretty impressed with the mutton bustin'}

{Fireworks}

And we all slept HARD....

Happy Independence Day. 

God stay His hand on this glorious land...

Happy Independence Day!

"...the only true America is a country where you are at liberty to pursue such a mode of life as may enable you to do without..."

{Bear World}

"...to wave over the bear, the moose, and the caribou..."

A couple of weeks ago, we took a rainy day to see Bear World, a nearby attraction that caters mostly to Yellowstone visitors. It's a drive through park featuring the animals that are native to the area. It was fun to get a little closer than usual and actually see the wildlife. It might have been more fun if the Mister didn't possess the strange ability to ONLY stop for animals just after he has driven past the place where anyone in the vehicle is actually able to see it. But, hey, the kids enjoyed it, especially the petting zoo at the end. And if it gets my kids excited about animals so that I can start to teach them about saving them and protecting their habitat, I think it was worth the Mister's crazy driving...but I'll drive next time...