Sunday Lessons

Today was fast Sunday. Rick and I attended the ASL branch and were asked to be the interpreters for sacrament meeting. We then stayed after church in order to get our temple recommends renewed from the Stake. The Bonnys were in town and it was fun to visit with them. Betty Jones was also there and we hadn't seen her in a long time. We gave her a ride home after.

We came home and hurriedly finished dinner before the ASL sister missionaries arrived. We had marinated chicken and several salads. The missionaries did a fun activity with our family and then taught a little lesson and challenged us to look for God's miracles this week! Later that night we had our Come Follow Me lesson with the grandkids taught by Jenna. She did such an awesome job! 

She showed Evan and Eli the object lesson where you have a bunch of pepper in a bowl of water and then dip a finger with dishsoap into the bowl and watch the pepper scatter to the edges of the bowl. This shows how with the help of the holy ghost you can be "in the world, but not of the world." She talked about the things of the world compared to the greater gifts that Heavenly Father has in store for us.  

She told the boys that they could either have a treat now (a little marshmallow), or if they could wait a whole five minutes then they could have a big treat (no bake cookies). At first Eli (age 3) wanted the marshmallow, but Evan (age 4) knew better and said they would skip the marshmallow and wait for the "real" treat. 

We went outside and she had two pathways written in sidewalk chalk on the back patio. The said "Son of Man," and had a picture of an entryway to a path with bright colors, rainbows, and candy. The other path said, "Son of God," and had a picture of an entryway to a path with a few rocks. Then she asked Evan and Eli which path they would want to walk. Of course they chose the enticing colorful pictures. 

But then she had them look through a rolled up paper, that looked like a paper telescope to see what was at the end of each path. On the cement wall at the end of each pathway was a picture. The entryway with the picture of rocks had a picture of Jesus at the end. The other picture had someone who looked like he was in chains. The pathway with the colorful images had different steps such as parties, temptations, addictions and so forth. 

The pathway with the rocks had steps such as baptism, studying scriptures, going to church, and going to the temple. That pathway led to Jesus and the other pathway led to misery. She explained that it was easy to be enticed by the bright, colorful things of the world, but if we kept our eye on Jesus (as shown when looking through the paper telescope) then we would stay on the right path of making and keeping covenants. Then we went in at ate her yummy no-bake oatmeal cookies! Great lesson, Jenna!! 

Family History Presentations, Church Lessons, and Seminary Council

Janelle got called to meet with a member of the Stake Presidency this morning along with her parents. So we went and she was called to the Seminary Council for next year! She is very excited! She knows a few of the others who have been called and they all happen to be in her friend group. She has a great group of friends!

Today Rick had the Come Follow Me lesson. He assigned each of the kids a chapter from today's lesson and said that some time today they had to come up with an art project depicting that chapter. He assigned it as follows: Jaiden -- Mosiah 25, Janelle -- Mosiah 26, Jenna -- Mosiah 27, and Josh -- Mosiah 28. They came up with some great work! Here is a picture of each of their art work:

Jaiden (Mosiah 25): 

Janelle (Mosiah 26):

Jenna (Mosiah 27): (The angel appearing to Alma and the four sons of Mosiah)

Alma with his parents...

Josh (Mosiah 28): (The sons of Mosiah refusing the throne and then preaching to the Lamanites)

The other homework they had for today (the kids had a busy day today) was a "Family History Presentation" for Memorial Day. Each of the kids were asked to research an ancestor and present it to the family Sunday night. They looked up pictures and histories on Family Search and put together a Power Point presentation on Google Slides. In between all of this we skyped Janika and Brandon and had a delicious dinner of barbequed salmon, squash, broccoli, beans, rice and salad with ice cream for dessert!

We then had the presentations! Jenna did her presentation on my Grandma, Lucille Erskine Westra Burgener. Josh did his on my grandpa, Joseph Ate Westra. Jaiden did hers on Grandpa Jensen's Grandma and Janelle did hers on Louelle Mcgee, my mom's grandma. We decided to invite Grandma and Grandpa Westra to join us through a zoom call for the presentations. They turned out great and even Grandma and Grandpa learned a few new things about their parents/grandparents! It was also nice that my mom and dad could clarify and correct any missing or ambiguous information. It was a fun activity and nice to be able to see and visit with Grandma and Grandpa!

Then we watched all of the Mother's Day Tea and Father's Day Flee videos through the years since Rick has been working on them all and adding them to our YouTube Channel. So it was really a "family filled" day!

Flu Shots, Christmas Shopping, and FHE

I scheduled all of my kids for flu shots today this morning. Then I ended up with an appointment of my own and so I asked Rick if he would take them. I knew he wouldn't be thrilled about that since he has had negative feelings about flu shots ever since the entire Sunburst Singers (his college group at USU) got sick after getting the flu shot. But that was 20 years ago when they used the live virus. I hear that story every year when the subject of flu shots comes up. And I usually don't bother with the shots for our family. But last year all of us got really sick with the flu and our kids ended up missing about a week of school because of it. I can still see them laying all over the couches feverish and miserable. So this year I thought that at least some protection would be better than nothing. 

My appointment this morning ended early and I was right by the hospital and so I called Rick and told him I was coming over to meet them. I wanted to take Janika Christmas shopping when they were finished. It was a good thing I came over. Rick was getting frustrated because they were out of the shots and only had the mist. He was ranting and raving about how the shots were out and the mist was a live virus and now everyone was going to get sick and he didn't know if our Insurance Company covered this anyway and what about Janelle and Jared who were already coughing -- sick kids couldn't get the shot could they? Then as if to emphasize Rick's point, Jared gave a couple of fake coughs.

I told him that I would take over here and he could leave with the two youngest (who had their shots last week) to go get the car fixed. I called the Insurance company and they cover the mist. My pediatrician assured me that they were fine to get the mist (unless they have asthma which they don't) in spite of having a little cold and that it wouldn't make them sick. Janika volunteered first and then they each volunteered in order of age. They did just fine and luckily no one panicked when Jared faked a little coughing and pretended to pass out on the floor. Really, he probably shouldn't do that in a doctor's office. What a nut. 

I met Rick and passed off all of the kids and then had some mother/daughter bonding time with Janika (shopping and lunch)! We went to Bath and Body Works and Jani had to spray every empty inch of skin on both our arms and keep sniffing to see which perfume she wanted to buy. She walked away with three different kinds. We hit several stores in the Mall and then went to several more after that. We were gone a long time but had fun. She got most of her stuff for Christmas and Birthday and I was able to get a lot of Christmas shopping done for the other kids as well. We came home to dinner on the table compliments of Chef Rick. I feel satisfied that I was able to get a big chunk of the shopping done in one day -- yeah!!

Tonight Jaiden did the lesson on modesty. She did a great job telling a story about modesty from the Friend magazine. Jaiden is only six, but will sometimes come out in costumes or dresses that are tank top in style and I have to have her go put on a shirt underneath. Just yesterday she was wanted to go put on a swimsuit because she said she was hot (in the middle of October). So it was a good lesson for her to give. Jani and Janelle are always strict when it comes to dressing modestly. Janelle will insist on wearing a shirt underneath anything that dips down a little in front even when it isn't necessary. I am glad she is so strict though. It is has been a nice Fall Break. Back to busy school days tomorrow...