A Lesson Learned... Again

Yesterday I felt like I had one of those bummer days where you don't feel motivated
and you don't get much done. I realized a big reason for feeling like this was because
I didn't read my scriptures until just before bedtime. (Although I believe reading your
scriptures at night is totally fine, and that used to be my routine for a long time).
Yesterday, however, I was about to read many times but did something else instead.
I believe I didn't actually do much because I was less able to focus and feel motivated
because I hadn't read yet. Even though I put if off for some "good" or "better" reasons,
I could have done better and chosen what was "best." For example, we had breakfast,
and then I did the dishes. By then I realized I had to leave immediately if I was going to
make it to water aerobics. Obviously I had to shower after that. Then I wanted to get
the bread started and some things ready for dinner. And so on. If I had realized the time,
maybe I should've done dishes later. If not, I could have read soon after I showered.
This is a lesson I have learned many times and will be taught again and again.
I know reading scriptures daily and putting God first is critical and brings us true joy.
It doesn't matter who you are or what your struggle is, reading the scriptures daily will
bless you more than you know. Even if we don't have anything that we need "help" with,
it makes our day more happy and fulfilling. Who doesn't want that?

Smart Kid

I was just looking through my journal and found a funny story.

The other day at school I let the kids pick a prize if they got all 5 stamps.
Some of the prizes are pencils and I suggested that to [Bob], but he said,
"I can't have pencils because I stick them in the furniture."

Third Trimester!

In this picture I'm about 28 weeks and sporting my new $6 maternity khakis
from the DI. Sorry it isn't a great picture... :) Baby is about 2 1/4 pounds and 14.8 inches
long as estimated by Baby.Center.com (or likely somewhat smaller). I still get comments
and disbelieving looks after I tell people how far along I am, but I am very used to it now.

We are super-excited and have been enjoying my being pregnant. The other day she had
a major dance party in my belly. Her movement had never been so consistent for so long.
It had also never been so many strong movements for such a long time. I felt her on both
sides of my belly at the same time several times too - that was my favorite.

Occasionally I think of all the things we need to do, get, learn, etc. and I feel a little
anxious. But I've been writing things down that I need to do, get and learn (especially
because I forget even more now) and working on it here and there.

Some of my mom-friends have given great advice and suggestions and I have really
appreciated that. If anyone has something to share, please do. I'm in collecting-info
mode so I can sort it all out and figure out what works best for me.

Isn't President Monson Great?

Nathaniel came across this story from the May 2005 Ensign. It was from
President Monson's talk given during the General Young Women Meeting.
It gave us a good laugh so I wanted to share:

"May I share with you an experience which took place several years ago
when Sister Monson had been hospitalized because of a fall. She asked me to go
to the supermarket and purchase a few items. This was something I had not done before.
I had a shopping list which included potatoes. I promptly found a grocery cart and placed
a number of potatoes in it. I knew nothing of the plastic bags in which purchases are
normally placed. As I moved the cart along, the potatoes fell out and onto the floor,
exiting through two rather small openings in the back of the cart. A dutiful clerk
hurried to my aid and called out, “Let me help you!” I tried to explain to her that my
cart was defective. It was only then that I was told that all the carts had those
two holes in the back and that they were meant for the legs of children.
Next the clerk took my list and helped me find each item..."

Bonus!

We were sad to leave our garden in Logan but were happy to move in and
have grapes growing all over our backyard.

This picture is taken from the underside of some of our grape vines.
Can you see the bunches of grapes everywhere?


Here are some of the grapes I froze.
I really enjoy frozen grapes and fruit- especially when I'm pregnant.


Here are 3 LARGE bowls full of grapes that we picked on Saturday.
We have picked AT LEAST 4-5 times as much as this and have another few
bowl fulls still hanging on the vine. We were also blessed to get those two boxes of
apples for FREE! There is a house/business nearby that we pass on our
way to church. We were always sad to see the spoiled apples all over the ground,
so Than went to ask if we could pick some. They had gotten what they wanted and
said we could take all we want. We might go back for more.


The Orem Library is a 2-3 minute bike ride from our house. I have still
been busy with projects and haven't gotten back into reading much yet,
but I have listened to the several books on tape in the last few weeks.
I listened to "The Work and the Glory" 1 and 2, "The Old Man and the Sea"
and have almost finished "The Scarlet Letter."

Nathaniel and I like to get General Conference on DVD and listen to one talk
each morning as we get ready and eat breakfast. We often end up listening to all the
talks 3x (which is great) and still have time before we get the next set. So we'll go back
and listen to some of our older ones. Now with the library so close we can check
them out from a large variety while we wait for the next conference. I got the
April 1984 session on tapes the other day just for fun -
we were both born in 1984. I love it!


I have had those ugly-ish pink slippers for ten years or so. I hope I have
sufficiently used them up, wore them out and made them do. They are now VERY
dirty black and quite sticky on the bottoms, thus they leave marks on the
kitchen floor. So I decided to start looking for new slippers and got
the very warm and comfy slippers for $1.06, a savings of over $21.00! Hooray!


Last but not least, we went to Olive Garden for my birthday. We don't eat out very much-
especially at more expensive restaurants- so I don't know if this is common or not,
but we were SOOO impressed with our service there nonetheless. Our waitress was
happy and patient and brought me a sample of a dish I was considering. She checked
up on us and made sure things were great. When we asked for to-go boxes
she asked if we would like an order of breadsticks and another re-fill of my
raspberry lemonade to-go (we splurged and bought a drink). We left with about
2 more meals worth of food in a handy Olive Garden bag.

Some pictures...

I finally got the camera out...

Here are some pictures of our new place before we moved in.
Some of them aren't the best - I was in a hurry.

Front room (taken from front door)


Front room (taken from dining room)


Kitchen without our black fridge (taken from dining room)


Dining Room (taken from kitchen)


1 of 2 small upstairs bedrooms. Sorry for the terrible picture.
I really should have taken a picture of the closets - we have closets!


Master Bedroom - sooo much bigger than our last one! And it has a closet too!


I guess I didn't take pictures of the bath and laundry rooms...

Help, we need HEPA

Does anyone have a vacuum with a HEPA filter that we can borrow?