Good, Better or Best

A couple of weeks ago, our ward held an adult fireside in which our old Stake President and his wife came to talk to us about marriage. Now marriage is a topic that is close to my heart because I treasure mine so highly. I know without doubt, that a good marriage can bring a great deal of joy and fulfillment into one's life. I have always felt that I had a good marriage, and it gets better every year, so I really appreciated what they presented to us that night.

The first thing they told us was that in order to appreciate marriage you have to know what it is for, why it is important. One who does not  understand the importance of marriage will likely never enter into it, or if they do, they may treat it as a temporary situation. As for me, I always wanted to be married so it never crossed my mind to live any other way.

Then they talked about the quality of our marriages. The thing that sticks out in my mind the most was a visual presentation that our Stake President's wife gave. First she showed us a cupcake.

She told us how good of a dessert a cupcake makes. It's tasty, doesn't take a lot of time to prepare, it looks nice, it's relatively inexpensive and if you use a mix it only takes 4 ingredients to make! In fact, if you were given a cupcake you might think that you have a pretty good dessert option. Then she told us of a dessert that their family loves even more than cupcakes. A chocolate torte...

 She told us of the time and care that went into the preparation of this dessert. She talked about how she had to plan ahead when she wanted to serve it. It required specific items on the shopping list and extra time for preparation. She told us about how they savored the dessert when they ate it and how eating it with ice cream or whipped cream made it even better! Then she told us of how this represented marriage.

With the cupcake you have a pretty good dessert. It doesn't take a lot of effort or expense. It is quick and easy to make, looks nice, and is enjoyable. It is easy to believe, if you have a marriage like a cupcake, that you have a great marriage. However, with the torte, which requires more effort, time and energy, the overall dessert experience is more satisfying. It involves more of your senses. A marriage can be like a torte. In fact, if you have a cupcake marriage, you may not have been aware that it could be better, richer, more satisfying and filled with contentment and peace! To have a torte quality marriage it takes more time and energy. It takes selflessness, love, service, thoughtfulness, kindness and forgiveness. It takes a weekly date night - time spent together, just the two of you. It may even take a little sacrifice. But it is worth every investment as it yields a rich palette of flavor and enjoyment.

I have been so blessed to have a torte quality marriage. It seems that the flavors and textures are constantly getting more delightful and rich. I know that marriage is a blessing to all those who invest themselves in it. I have seen marriages at all levels, and so many in today's world are less than even cupcake quality. Don't settle for a spoonful of sugar when you can have a cupcake, and don't settle for a cupcake when you can have a torte, and don't settle for a plain old torte when layers of love and experience together can add richness and flavor such that you could never dream of it's equal. Being married is such a joy. I look forward to eternity with my best friend, my greatest support, my love, my cheering section, my helpmeet, ... my husband.

The Trees

This fall I had the privilege of helping Chad with the last roof job of the season. Myles had just put his neck out and was unable to assist and with the kids in school anyway, I volunteered for the job. The job was located quite a ways south of where we lived, and the area was quite remote and peaceful. As many farms do, this one had a healthy row of strong trees to the west for a windbreak. I love trees, so when I was waiting for the next assignment I would often observe the trees.

I noticed that while they were all pretty close to the same height, none of them were the same. It intrigued me to think about it. After all, they were all close enough together to have experienced the same winds, storms, and changes in weather. No tree was ugly, they were all tall and strong, but each had developed differently.

Often, we are like trees. Especially when you consider families. We grow up with the same teachings, parents, siblings, and basic environment and yet each family member will learn and remember different things from similar experiences. That doesn't mean that one is more correct or better than the other. Instead, like the trees, each is tall, strong and beautiful. Each develops strengths that help to withstand the winds of adversity that life always guarantees, and yet, when family members stand together, the winds of adversity are diminished in their strength in much the same way as trees create a wind block for the farmhouse we worked on.

In addition to the marvelous trees, we had a lovely view of the Sweet Grass hills just south of the border. Having injured my arm only the previous month, it wasn't easy doing a roofing job. In fact I wasn't allowed to do much... my good husband made sure of that. However, I am so grateful for the opportunity it gave me to enjoy the area, the beauty and the peace that nature always offers me. 

July 2014 at a Glance

I love the green, warm days of summer. I love that we don't have to wear coats, and that I can be outside as much as I want to be. I also love to take pictures especially of my children. It has taken a lot of years for our yard to mature and fill in, but it is becoming easier and easier to find lovely little places for pictures, projects, games, relaxation and more.

Here are Charity and Breanna with big smiles under the trees.

We also love and enjoy the rain storms. That light gentle rain that is so fun to be out in and play in. Sometimes it's not so light. As you can see in July, last year we had some fun playing in the rain.

Beth and Melodee love the summer because it gives them more opportunities to spend time with their horses. You can see how much they love their horses from the pictures below.

This last summer we had a new experience. It was a lot of fun to go with Alisha as she tried on wedding dresses in preparation for her big day. Some of the dresses she tried on were a definite no! The one she chose in the end she had liked very much in the beginning. It was simple yet beautiful and suited her wonderfully.

This one was a top contender. It was a beautiful lace dress that she liked very much.

Here she is in the dress that she chose. What a lovely bride she was preparing to be.

Back at home, everyone else was preparing to enter as many items in the Pivot County Fair as they could. I don't remember how many entries we came out with in total, but they were pretty determined to get the award for the family with the most entries in the fair (which they did by the way!)

As usual they did very well in receiving awards. The Pivot County Fair is a wonderful way for the kids to develop and share their talents. Not only can they do that, but they always find huge returns on their investments.

Here they are showing off their favorite exhibits and ribbons. Beth's overall favorite was a photograph of her horse. She had some beautiful photography entries as you can see.

Melodee also loved her horse picture. Another of her favorites was her pinata. She got a lot of prizes and was very happy with the results again this year.

Myles worked very hard on his exhibits. This year he created a wooden gun and some crossbows made with paint sticks and such. In this picture you can see him also displaying some of his artwork, a scratch art piece that he had done over the last year.

Myles enjoyed creating his wooden gun for the fair so much, that he decided to make another one. Before the month ended he had another one made. Here he is showing it off. The trigger moves and has a clip in it for elastic bands. What an amazing device.

Charity had some awesome photography that she entered as well as a sequin bird picture she had made this year. She was very pleased with her awards and prizes.

Naomi has been taking an art course in school by distance. She entered her favorite art piece in the fair, a collage with a time theme which was her favorite entry this year. She did a beautiful job. She also had many other entries including photography where she placed first.

Here they are with their total accumulated ribbons. They did silly face pictures this year, it's almost like they forgot to smile, but whether the photo shows it or not, they were very pleased with their accomplishments.

At the end of the month we celebrated our second phase of Chad's birthday. The first phase was celebrated a week early in the mountains. This time Naomi surprised him, coming home with another gift and a delicious ice cream cake after her new job orientation. We have such sweet and thoughtful children. We decorated the room and made it ready to have a wonderful celebration. The gift was a game set for outdoor games and was quickly put to use and enjoyed. 

Naomi

Beth

Charity

Melodee

Myles

Breanna

July was a month where we were incredibly blessed to have so many family projects and activities to enjoy together. There is so much that we love to do.  It was a happy, productive and enjoyable month. I think the days spent with my family are the best part of summer. It really doesn't matter how much time I get to spend outside, how many flowers I grow, how many projects I complete or anything else. The best parts of my summer are ALWAYS without doubt, the days and moments that I spend with my family.

The Temple Quilt

This is a project that I had anticipated taking a couple of weeks and in the end it took about five weeks to complete. With a wedding to plan, I wanted to be sure to have a temple quilt made for my daughter and her soon to be husband. Right after they announced their engagement, they picked out the colors they liked, then they chose a pattern, and I sewed it up during the month of June. 

In order to put it together I first had to create the temple panel. I painted the temple using fabric paints and then proceeded to piece the quit together.

By the first week of July, it was ready to go on quilt frames. We set it up at the church so that we would have lots of space to work on it and also to make it handy for those who wanted to help us with the quilting to be able to come whenever they wanted to do so.

Among those who helped were ladies from the ward, Alisha's siblings, and even Alisha and Brandon came down and spent a day quilting on their quilt with us. It was fun to have them come and work with us. Brandon had never quilted before, but he was game to try, and did a pretty good job too. Alisha has quilted before, but it has been a while. I know that they can probably pinpoint the section that they quilted, now that they have it to enjoy.

The quilt was finally finished and we brought it home around the 10th of August. I still needed to finish the edge of it, but had so many other things to do, that I put it off for a bit.

In September, I decided I'd better get the binding on the edge of the quilt. I got it all sewed onto the back and just needed to fold it over and hand-stitch it down on the front. It was then, that I fell and broke my shoulder. However, the day I had my shoulder x-rayed, I didn't know it was broken, and so I hand stitched around the edge of the quilt, finishing, only to find out the next day that I had done so with a broken shoulder. Thank goodness that my shoulder wasn't very painful. I was very blessed to be able to continue to do so much to prepare for the wedding despite my injury.

The quilt was displayed at the reception as part of the decor. I am grateful for all the help that was given in helping to get it done. There are many hours of love stitched into this quilt. Lives are so much like quilts. In fact this quilt reminds me of a little wall-hanging I made a number of years ago.

With that quote in mind, how appropriate for them to receive a hand-quilted quilt in celebration of the formation of a new family unit. I LOVE the temple. I am honored and blessed to have children who also look to the temple and the Savior to guide them through life. He is the way. It is our challenge to continue to weave the fibers of life together with love and unity in all things so that our lives become beautiful works of art in the hands of the Lord.