I guess this is what I get for complaining...

Photo by Misty Alger

So, in my church we don't have paid clergy. It is all volunteer. Incredibly dedicated and selfless members donate their time, sometimes LOTS of it, to keeping my church running and moving forward. We are given "callings" to do specific tasks, to hold specific positions. We believe that these callings come from God, that our leaders (volunteer) are inspired to call us to the areas where we can help, and more importantly, where we need to grow personally. I have had people who are not members of my church tell me that we are asked to do too much, that it just isn't fair to ask us to do so much. What is sometimes hard to explain are the spiritual rewards we gain for our service. It is often hard to articulate how our families become stronger, how we become closer to God, how we feel God's love for us more acutely, how our spirits become refined, how our spiritual reserves are built up, and most importantly-how we learn to emulate Jesus Christ through our own lesson in Charity. Anyone, mormon or not, would tell you that they become better themselves when they give service to others.

That being said, it is not always easy. It is a natural tendency that we as humans have to be selfish. I have certainly dealt with my own selfishness more than I care to mention. For example, for the last year or so Ray has served with they youth in our church, specifically the young men. I have been known to complain a time or two about how much time this takes. He is gone every other Sunday before and after church for a couple of hours, every Wednesday night for a couple hours, a weekend here and there for a camp out, a Thursday night once a month for a scout roundtable, and the list goes on. I have really tried to be supportive because I know he will be blessed personally for his service and our family will be, and has been, blessed for our sacrifice. But...I struggle with my human selfishness. In this wicked world in which we live, I know how important it is for our youth to be focused on what is right and to have good, strong leaders who they look up to. Ray is perfect in this role. I KNOW that. I pray that when my kids are adolescents they will have church leaders as strong and dedicated as Ray. But still, on Sunday morning when I am getting the kids ready for church all by myself, not always nicely I might add, I struggle.

Well, I guess that my Father in Heaven must know about some inner strength I have that I have yet discovered because yesterday Ray was given a new calling. He was called to be the Elders Quorum President. Wikipedia defines quorum in this way, "A quorum is a group of people ordained or endowed with priesthood authority, and organized to act together as a body. The concept of a quorum continues to have significant meaning in modern LDS denominations. Quorums are expected to act unanimously, if possible, and are chaired by one person who is designated as the president or presiding officer." See here for a more in depth definition. That would be Ray. His responsibilities are many, and include both spiritual and temporal things. This is a huge responsibility that I have no doubt he will completely master. He is completely capable and qualified for this. I know we will be blessed beyond measure if he works to magnify this calling. I heard once that every calling you get is a call to repentance. Well, I think that Ray's calling is MY call to repentance. I need to work on mastering the "natural man" in me that has a tendency to be selfish. I will try my darnedest to be supportive, I will pray for the strength I need to get through those times on my own when Ray is serving others. (I may refer back to this post a time or two ;)). I am grateful to be married to a man who is worthy of this. Who so willingly wants to serve others. I know that there are good things in store for us.

Brownie Heaven

Boy Golly, these brownies are good!

Paula's photo, not mine :)

I made these brownies for our church Christmas party last night. Grace and I saw Paula Deen making them on her show yesterday. I use this word sparingly, but I would call them decadent. They are pretty much not low fat, (is anything Paula makes low fat??) and they just might cause a heart attack with all that butter, but man oh man they are good! I only got to eat one, that's a good thing, right?!

Creme De Menthe Brownies

Ingredients:

1 cups (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
11/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 (10-ounce) package Creme de Menthe baking chips (recommended: Andes)
Shaved Creme de Menthe thins (recommended: Andes)
Chocolate frosting

Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1/3 cup cocoa
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan.

Using an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla, mixing well.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, and baking powder. Gradually stir into butter mixture. Fold in mint chips. Spoon into greased pan. Bake for 35 minutes (I baked mine for about 42 minutes, but my oven is old and temperamental).

While brownies are baking, prepare frosting. Combine butter, cocoa, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and milk in a large mixing bowl; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until dry ingredients are moistened. Beat at high speed until spreading consistency.

Remove pan from the oven and allow brownies to cool in pan on wire rack. Spread with chocolate frosting. Top with shaved mint thins.

ENJOY!! yummmmm

The Season To Be Jolly

'Tis the season to be Jolly!

We decorated our tree before we left for Thanksgiving. Naomi was in bed, but the rest of the kids had a great time!

Don't you just love this picture of Elliot (totally posed ;-))

Maggie just can't get enough of the tree. She L.O.V.E.S. it. She is always taking the ornaments off, but puts them right back on when asked.

Yep, that's as good as it's gonna get as far as smiles go!

BE JOLLY!

We went to Pocatello for Thanksgiving and had a great time, besides Maggie throwing up for 24 hours and Naomi getting an ear infection. I forgot to take pictures most of the time, surprise, surprise. I got to see "New Moon" with mom and Abby. We laughed loudly in the most inappropriate places, it was great. Ray, David, and dad got to go shooting, yes with guns. We had what we will affectionately call the Christmas tree debacle of 2009, when we got our permit to go cut down our own tree but failed to find any Christmas trees after driving for a really long time! We did get to partake of some really beautiful scenery, though! Thanks for the great Thanksgiving, mom and dad!!

Beautiful Arbon Valley, ID

(See any Christmas trees around here? Yea, me either.)

Dancing Queens

Grace went to a little dance camp last weekend, put on by the Ferris High dance team. She had a lot of fun. They performed this cute little routine at the end. She did pretty good for never having taken formal lessons!! (sorry for the shaky camera work :))

Grace and her friend Aria

SNOW!!

A tree in my backyard...taken with my sweet new camera!!

A Riddle - On Snow

From Heaven I fall, though from earth I begin.

No lady alive can show such a skin.

I'm bright as an angel, and light as a feather,

But heavy and dark, when you squeeze me together.

Though candor and truth in my aspect I bear,

Yet many poor creatures I help to insnare.

Though so much of Heaven appears in my make,

The foulest impressions I easily take.

My parent and I produce one another,

The mother the daughter, the daughter the mother.

-James Parton

New Moon...

Unfortunately, this is the only "new moon" we've gotten to see around here. Can't wait until next week to see the actual movie with mom and Abby! (you can come, too David ;))

Was It All a Dream???

We have been back from Hawaii for a couple weeks and it feels like it was all a dream! I still have not heard about our camera, so I am just assuming it is gone, and I'm moving on. The great thing about the internet is that you can find a picture of virtually anything in the world. So I searched the web to find pictures of all the places we went. In doing so, I was temporarily transported back to Maui, back to the 85 degree weather, back to the relaxation. I want to go back!!! Anyway, following will be a bunch of pictures with no one in them, but I feel like I need to do this so I can always remember our amazing trip.

Day 1: On Saturday we arrived in Maui around noon. We were so tired! We went to the hotel and hung out by the pool until our room was ready. I started reading The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, on the plane and could NOT put it down. I HIGHLY recommend these books (it is a trilogy) to everyone. It was SO GOOD!! I finished it that day.

Day 2: On Sunday we went to church at the Lahina 1st ward. It was so great. The people were so sweet. I love how when they get up to talk they say "Aloha!", and everyone in the audience says it back :) When we got back to the hotel the Boise State/Hawaii game was on TV, so of course we had to watch it. Boise killed the Warriors-Go Broncos!!. I was fine with watching the game because I had already started reading Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins-the second book in the Hunger Games Trilogy. Again, I could not put it down! Can't wait for the last book to come out! After the game we hung out on the beach for the rest of the day.

Ka'anapali Beach, where we stayed, so beautiful *sigh*

Day 3: On Monday we went on a hike to the Swinging Bridges of Maui. It was in a beautiful rain forest. I loved this hike because we only saw 1 other group of people the whole hike. It was so serene, beautiful, and relaxing. At the end of the hike their is an old spillway with a pool at the bottom. We jumped in to cool off, of course!

One of the 2 swinging bridges we crossed

Day 4: On Tuesday we drove up to the volcano, Haleakala. We drove through and above the clouds to get there. The summit is over 10,000 feet!! I think that is the highest I have ever been. One of the things that I really loved about Maui was the diverse ecosystems on the island. You have the rainforest, the beach, dry desert areas, and the high arid desert up on the volcano. It was very cool. We hiked down into the volcano about 2 miles. The windy, twisty road to the top was well worth it!

I love how you can see the clouds down below in all these pictures

This is where we got to hike down in to the volcano

After the volcano we went Hana Botanical Gardens. It was so beautiful.

Day 5: On Wednesday we drove the road to Hana. It is a twisty highway that goes all along the eastern coast of Maui. It is highly recommended in all the literature on Maui. I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the scenery was breathtaking, we saw some really amazing things. There is so much to stop and see. On the other hand, once you are at the end of the road you have to turn around and go back...all 3 1/2 windy, twisty hours of it (we did see a wild boar in the road on the way back!). It was a very long drive, but I'm glad we did it.

Our first stop on the Road to Hana was a little hike to the Twin Falls.

We actually saw about 4 different water falls. They were beautiful!

The last stop on the road was at the Seven Sacred Pools (above).

We got to go swimming here. The pools empty into the ocean (below).

It was so beautiful.

Day 6: On Thursday we went to breakfast at a really fun place called " The Gazebo", right on the beach. We had to wait in line for a while, but it was well worth the wait! Then we just relaxed by the beach the whole day. It was so relaxing, a perfect way to end our amazing week.

The Gazebo

Above is the beach front of our hotel.

Below is the beach...**sigh**

Day 7: On Friday we got up, got ready to go and flew home! I think we were there the perfect amount of time. I didn't really miss my kids, but I was anxious to see them. It made me realize how lucky I am to be their mom and being away from them renewed my desire to raise them in a happy home. I really think it is so important to spend time alone with your spouse, but that gets so difficult in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. It was so great for Ray and I to be together in paradise, to reconnect and remember why we fell in love all those years ago.