Who won????

Drum roll please......

Congratulations Jennie!!

She has won the book "21 Days CLOSER TO Christ" by Emily Freeman.

Thanks to all who left comments! I have great friends!

Another Giveaway!

Ok... so it has been longer than a couple days... forgive me?

I know I promised another giveaway back in November... well here it is!!

This giveaway will be an autographed book by Emily Freeman. She is the best selling author of several books including - "The Ten Virgins", "21 Days Closer to Christ", "God Bless Your Way" and most recently "The Woman at the Well". She has another book coming out in the Fall that is incredible! Depending on how many comments I get I may throw in 2nd book!


Emily speaks all over Utah & Idaho at Young Women's New Beginnings, Young Women in Excellence evenings and Relief Society Enrichment nights. I have attended the presentations for the "The Ten Virgins" book and "21 Days Closer to Christ" and both were fantastic! She recently started presenting with the Time Out for Women tour this year and her presentation is AMAZING! You can read more here.

Here is a clip from the Question and Answer portion of Time Out for Women last month. If you are still unsure about going to an event. Hopefully, this will give you a little taste of what it is like. When you have Emily, Kris and Hilary on the stage together, you know it will be funny and uplifting!





Emily lives in our ward and I have had the opportunity to get to know her the past 2 1/2 years. She and her husband Greg were actually one of the first couples we met before moving into the ward. We went to church about a month before we moved in to check things out. That Sunday I sat by another dear friend Julie who talked me into signing up for dinner groups that month and she promised to make sure we were in the same group. About a week later, (I had forgotten that we signed up) I get a call from Emily letting me know we had been assigned to her home for dinner and would I mind bringing a salad (I think). She had been told we were new to the ward and let me know Julie had requested we be in the same group. We had a great time that evening getting to know Emily and Greg better and they did a great job helping us feel welcome!


Now as kind of a side note... when my sister-in-law Monica found out we were moving to Lehi she said "I think one of my high school friend's lives down in that area. Her name is Emily Freeman." Come to find out 2 of her brothers were also in the ward and Brad knew them growing up as well. Small world eh?

Anyway, after that first meeting, Emily always made a point to say "hi" and check in. A few months after we moved in, Emily was called as the Relief Society President in our ward and served for just over a year. Which worked out perfectly, because right about that time I was in need of an assistant camp director. Our current camp director needed to attend to her family and was unable to finish up the last minute details. So with 3 weeks until camp, Emily was called and pulled everything together with the help of our YCL's. Here is a picture of some of the leaders at camp. She is the camp director again this year and everything is coming together nicely! I will save the fun camp stories for another post! :-)

Emily, Josephine, Mindy, me and Trish

Brad and I have really enjoyed getting to know Emily, Greg and their wonderful family. They have always helped us feel included and have been great examples of how we want to be as parents. Emily has an amazing testimony of her Savior and is one of the best examples to me of seeking guidance from our Heavenly Father in all that she does. She knows the scriptures and understands how to liken them to any situation. She is also a great friend, as I have sought advice or comfort she always knows the right thing to say. I have seen her in action on many occasions within our community, neighborhood, ward, etc... and I always know I can count on her. She gives of her time and talents to all those around her and places the needs of others above her own. Brad calls her Wonder Woman - if she can't do it- no one can! We have learned great things from Emily and Greg and are grateful to call them our friends.

Now in order to qualify for the drawing you must make a comment on this post by Wednesday May 13th @ 10PM. I will announce the winner(s) the next evening. If you make a comment on this post and have (prior to today) made a comment on one of the previous 2 posts you will be entered twice!

HAPPY MONDAY!!

I promised a 2nd giveaway back in October and I hope to have that posted in the next couple of days. Until then enjoy the following ...

Here is a portion the most recent parody by Hilary Weeks from the TOFW events for 2009. (just posted on YouTube.) There are 2 other parodies from this year which you will have to go to an event to see! HAPPY MONDAY!!!

Laundry!



In case you missed the songs from previous years...

2007 "My Favorite Things"


2008 Ultimate Mom "TO DO" List


"He Is" if you are not familar with Hilary's music.

Month in Review...

Since I have been absent from the blogging world for over a month I thought I would do a quick recap of what has been going on.


BABY BLESSING
Maya's baby blessing was this past Sunday. It was great to support a friend and her family. I wish I could have went to her home afterward but we had a family dinner to get to.


STATE OF PLAY
Also, this past weekend we went to see a movie. We hadn't BEEN to a movie in the theater for a while, it was nice to go on an official date. We decided to see the movie State of Play. It was a surprisingly good movie and we both enjoyed it. It may have been the low expectations we had before going but we weren't disappointed.

MY BROTHER
I did a post on my brother Lance last year about his struggles with drug addiction. And while he was unable to stay clean during his last release he was able over this past year to complete his sentence for good. He was released last week and is not longer on parole. He is finally in a place where he really wants to change his life and start his own family.

He agreed to go to a drug rehab in Long Beach California and has been there a week. So far he is doing great! He has been drug free for a year and they are working with him to stay that way. He has a girlfriend named Ashley who is super supportive and they seem really happy. Lance wrote me yesterday and he is running on the beach every morning, they are taking him body surfing today and he want to an Angels baseball game 2 nights ago. The goal of this rehab is to help the clients learn to have fun with out being high and to learn life skills that they haven't mastered yet. They will help him get a job locally and if he wants to go to school help him with that as well. I am excited for this new chapter in his life and our family is praying for his success!

WICKED!!
The highlight of this past month was going to see WICKED here in Utah. They are performing here for about 5 weeks. We stumbled upon an opportunity to get tickets with our dear friends Tim, Hilary and 3 of their darling daughters. We had a great time!

I know the show is sold out but if you have the chance to go DO IT! It was amazing! Even better than when we saw it in New York. Glinda's voice was incredible and she was so witty and clever with her portrayal of the character! We laughed almost the entire time. Even Brad gives it 2 thumbs up for the 2nd time.

EASTER

We had a fantastic Easter lesson for the YW by Brother Dallon. He did a great job helping the girls (and leaders!) understand the true meaning of Easter and why our Savior did it all for us. He really explained things in a simple, yet meaningful way and we all left filled. He has an incredible testimony of his Savior and were blessed to hear him teach.

We then headed to my parents for Easter dinner. We loved having the traditional deviled eggs and my mom's YUMMY strawberry pie!! Of course, with my brother's release a few days later my mom forgot we were all coming, so we had hamburgers and hot dogs! We still enjoyed ourselves and the food as well as conversation was fantastic! Love you mom and dad!

FAMILY DINNER

We had a family dinner with my cousin Troy and his family (minus Holly) and my parents. It was conference Sunday and we had a great time. We have so much fun with his family and we can always count on lots of laughter and great stories!

Well more to come! I am hoping to post a new video for the first time wish me luck!

WHY?

**disclaimer - I stole this post idea from Laurel ... Thanks Laurel! I had actually been thinking about doing something like this since I previewed the book a couple weeks ago... :D















I have been working in the youth program in our church for past 6 yrs, most recently as the YW President. My husband and I had the opportunity to preview this book a couple weeks ago and I have to say it is the perfect resource for youth ages 12-18, their parents and leaders! Especially since the most common question from a teen... or ANY child for that matter is - "WHY?"

This book was co-authored by John Hilton III and Anthony Sweat . It will be in Deseret Book stores next month but you can pre-order today here. I have had the opportunity to hear John speak a couple of times and have spoken with him about the youth of today and the struggles they are having. He is an amazing teacher and really connects with youth of all ages. You will love this book! They have a website set up with posts and content from the book as well.

Features answers to more than 100 questions, such as:

• Why do some people who break the commandments appear happy?
• Why shouldn’t I just “try” alcohol, just so I can see what it tastes like?
• Why is wearing two pairs of earrings such a big deal? Or is it?
• Why is it wrong to steady date someone if we both have high standards?
• Why is 16 the magical age— is it all that different from 15?
• Why is pornography a big deal if it doesn’t hurt anybody?
• Why shouldn’t I wear flip-flops to Church?
• Why do some people who pay tithing still not have a lot of money?
• Why should I talk to the bishop about certain sins?
  

Check out this video!

Also, John Hilton III has another fantastic book out that helps youth and adults alike with studying their scriptures.

Enjoy and if you have any thoughts about either book please share!!

HAPPY ST. PATTRICK's DAY!!

Ok... so I am part Irish and felt it my duty to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here are some corny St. Patty's day jokes for your enjoyment! Have a great day!


1. What is out on the lawn all summer and is Irish?
2. What do you call a fake stone in Ireland?
3. Why do frogs like St. Patrick's Day?
4. When is an Irish Potato not an Irish Potato?
5. What does it mean when you find a horseshoe?
6. Why did the elephant wear his green sneakers instead of his red ones?
7. Why is a river rich?
8. What does a leprechaun call a happy man wearing green?
9. Knock Knock Who's there?Irish! Irish Who?Irish you a happy St. Patrick's Day!
10. What do you get when you cross a pillowcase with a stone?
11. Why did St. Patrick drive all the snakes out of Ireland?
12. Have you ever heard of the 6-leaf clover? ?I haven't either!
13. What happens when a leprechaun falls into a river?
14. What do you call a diseased Irish criminal?

Answer key:
1. Paddy O'Furniture.
2. A sham rock.
3. Because they're always wearing green.
4. When it's a FRENCH fry!
5. Some poor horse is going barefoot!
6. The red ones were in the wash!
7. Because it has two banks.
8. A Jolly Green Giant.
9. Knock Knock Who's there?Irish! Irish Who?Irish you a happy St. Patrick's Day!
10.. A sham rock.
11. He couldn't afford plane fare submitted by Berta.
12. Have you ever heard of the 6-leaf clover? ?I haven't either!
13. He gets wet!
14. A leper con.

HOPE YOU ENJOY THE DAY!!

New arrivals...

Here are the updates on Linda and Melissa. You may remember me talking about Kim, Linda and Melissa all being pregnant and due within close a time frame of each other...see this post.


Well, the day has arrived. All babies have now entered this world and are all healthy.



Linda and Dan are the proud parents of Maya Isabella she was born at 4:09 am Feb 26th, 2009. She weighed 7lbs 9 oz. She is darling!

Melissa and Scott are the proud parents of Madeline Loran. She was born at 8:40am today March 2nd, 2009. She weighed 7lbs 13oz and is 20 1/2 inches. Super cute with tons of black hair!

CONGRATS to both sets of parents - Linda and Dan as well as Melissa and Scott!!