Sunday Sentiments - The Path to Scholar

When it comes to gospel study, I don't follow the same routine everyday, but it usually goes something like this - an actual scenario from last week:

I have 12 tabs open in my gospel library app that I move back and forth between.

I decide I want to jot down some notes about Isaac and Rebekah. 

I grab a notebook from the bookshelf, drop it on the couch, then go into the kitchen to fetch a pen. The pen is purple. 

I go downstairs and get the freshly laundered sheets out of the dryer. I take them upstairs and put them on my bed.

I decide I should wash our pillows, and in prepping them for the laundry, I start to wonder whether I should replace two of them. I do a few online searches to see if the store still carries the pillows I like.

I remember that we have Halloween pillow cases for our kids, so I get those out and give them a little douse of Febreze so they don't smell like stuffy, old linen closet (not that I even have a linen closet - it's one of my house's biggest flaws).

I haul the pillows down to the basement for a wash. 

I go up to the kitchen and decide I want to listen to a Janet Jackson song. 

I tell Alexa to play the song. 

I jam to the song as I walk in the living room, where I see my notebook sitting on the couch and remember that I was going to write down some notes about Isaac and Rebekah. 

I can't find my purple pen. I get a different pen.

I jot down two bullet points before it's time to go pick up my girls from school.

Three hours later I find my purple pen sitting on the dryer. 

I'm pretty sure this is how gospel scholars are made.

The Church Traditions I Miss

The other day I saw a social media post asking “What church traditions do you miss?”

(Pretend there is a picture of a church here. I might come back and add it later, but currently my laptop is unavailable, and for the past year I haven’t been able to add photos to my blog posts on my phone. Something is corrupted, and I haven’t been able to figure out how to fix it).

I was curious what responses people gave, so I scrolled through the comments a bit. The two most popular answers were road shows and gold and green balls. I’ve heard of road shows (though never participated in any - I’m not sure when they fizzled out), but I’d never heard of gold and green balls. 

Other answers included pageants, scout-related activities, and sports programs. As I read through the comments, I didn’t see anything that I miss all that much, but there are three traditions or former practices that I miss that I didn’t see mentioned:

1. Singing hymns in Relief Society (or other organizations)

I have always found this to be a strange elimination since music is such a big part of worship, and some people get far more from singing than from a lesson or discussion. Also, we have all these new hymns, yet we sing less. When I was a teen, music was a huge part of my spiritual development, and I’m sad my teens don’t sing in their youth classes. 

2. Farewells/homecomings 

I understand some of the reasons for this change, but overall, I feel it’s a huge disservice to missionaries and their families (plus, we basically still do them, we’re just sneaky about it).  

3. Personal Progress

After six years of implementation as a parent and a leader, I think the new youth Personal Development Program is extremely lacking. I don’t even bother to encourage my kids to participate. I loved Personal Progress. I don’t mind changes and updates to the program to accommodate the needs of our youth, but I think we took a loss on this one.

Also, up until recently, I would have said that I miss having Relief Society every week. Don’t confuse that with missing three hour church (because I can’t even believe we used to live that way), but I felt a sense of disconnect while we were rotating between Sunday School and Relief Society (or whatever classes we were to attend for our callings). So I’m glad for the new schedule. It suits my technology addicted attention span better, and I get to be with my Sisters more often. 

Name three things that…

Make you smile…

Dogs with their heads hanging out of car windows.

Certain theme park rides

Babies

You can’t buy with money…

Creativity

A sense of accomplishment

Good friends

You want to achieve this year…

(I’m running out of time)

Do a low spend challenge where we use up what we have and put some money away for Christmas

Fit into my winter pants so I don’t have to buy new ones

Make an appointment with the neurologist

You want to try out as hobbies…

Nothing. I am not seeking new hobbies at this time.

You can improve about yourself…

Spend less time on my phone

Say (and think) nicer things about people

Exercise more

You would never do…

Bungee jump

Scuba dive

Run a marathon 

Make you sad…

Cancer

Divorce

Abuse

You always do in the summer…

Get depression

Sweat

Grow a garden

Make you avoid doing your work…

No energy

Distracted

Don’t want to

You are afraid of…

Traumatic brain injuries

Shifty toilet seats

Choking on food - particularly carrots 

Signs That Kids Live Here

A skeleton taped to the ceiling. 

Origami frog in the wreath. 

Socks hanging from the ceiling. 

A candy corn that we aren’t allowed to eat or get rid of because it has wings and looks like an angel.

This entire wall. 

Chewed PopTart remnants on the furniture.

Burn rings in the table from someone pouring fingernail polish remover into shot glasses.

Dirty socks on the table next to the aforementioned burn rings. 

Origami frogs on the wall decor. 

Origami frogs on the TV console. 

Halloween garland in disarray.

Okay. Fine. I wouldn't have it any other way.

But I'm still rolling my eyes. 

Sunday Sentiments - Precious Cargo

Back in August I wrote a little bit about what a blessing it is to have other people love and serve my children. This has been on my mind again this week as I have been thinking about some of the things Nicky is experiencing on his mission (he's gone through a bit of a rough patch which began the day after I posted this update, which means I probably caused it somehow). 

When we were getting Nicky ready to leave for Puerto Rico, we stopped at the Distribution Center to get him some temple shoes so he could serve as a temple worker for a little while. One of the employees was asking about his mission, and she told me that when her children served missions, she had to adopt the mentality that they were in the hands of the mission president (and Heavenly Father), and everything would be okay. That’s a bit of an overwhelming task for a mission president to be responsible for so many young people (in addition to everything else they have to worry about), but there’s some truth to it. There is a person (with various helpers) who presides over a mission and looks out for the missionaries. That brings me some peace. But not full peace because, again, there is so much a mission president has to do! 

Just a few days ago I was telling my friend that I’m worried that Nicky is not being nurtured, and how I hope there is someone out there supporting him and fostering his development and saying, “There, there! You are loved, and you are wonderful!” Perhaps a senior missionary (though I’ve never heard of Nicky interacting with any senior missionaries, and I’m not even sure they exist) or a little abuela. 

Today our Relief Society lesson is on Elder Stevenson’s talk, “Lost Luggage, Redeemed Souls.” In the address, Elder Stevenson discusses the rate of lost luggage in airports (33 million bags were mishandled in 2024). Yet, in the Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan, not a single piece of luggage has been lost in 30 years. “When you hand off your luggage at the Kansai Airport, you get a sense that they are saying to you, ‘We have your precious belongings. We are responsible for them now. We will return them to you.’” 

Right now I definitely feel like I have sent precious belongings out into the world - my son! My highest valued cargo. “The feeling is recognizable: entrusting what is precious into the care of others - and longing for its safe return… years of teaching, preparation, and prayer culminate in a moment of placing [your] cherished possession into the care of others - trusting conscientious stewards to care for [your] son or daughter through the duration of their journey until [you] are reunited.”

Precious Cargo

Elder Stevenson encourages us to be “thoughtful and intentional handlers of His precious cargo,” referring to our responsibility to love, care for, and serve one another. As a mother, I plead for the help of others in ministering to my children. Our loving Father has the same request of us for His children. This week I am reminded that, as I pray for people to care for my precious cargo, I need to do the same for those around me. Even when it’s one-sided. Even when it’s not reciprocated. Even when it’s not appreciated.

“Beloved and blessed are those who care for and nurture others.”

It's a great day for McDonald's (and ten other random facts)

Fact #1: I don’t know what my tongue does during dental cleanings. I feel like I can’t control it or even discern where it is in my mouth. Does it move to and fro wildly? Is it flapping all around the place? Cuz I feel like it might be. 

Fact #2: This week Nicky was transferred to the Commonwealth of Dominica (or just “Dominica” - pronounced like “Dominique-uh” - not like “Dominican Republic”). It’s another Caribbean island in his mission - it’s its own country. 

Fact #3: Dominica is approximately the size of New York City. It has one of the highest concentrations of active volcanoes in the world. They have two places of LDS worship (not quite churches - but designated meeting places with signage nonetheless). They speak English and Creole (so as with his time in Antigua, Nicky’s Spanish will go by the wayside). 

Fact #4: Nicky doesn’t know that we know he’s in Dominica, so everyone act surprised when he tells us on our Monday phone call (wink, wink).

Fact #5: I didn’t take any photos of Daisy for homecoming, but some eventually rolled in. Here she is with her date (just her ex boyfriend’s cousin - no big deal):

Fact #6: She bought her dress for $6 at the DI, and her shoes were $8. She’s not a dressy shoe girl (neither was I).

Fact #7: So far, we haven’t had to do the bouquet trend for school dances, and I’m glad. It’s creeping up on us though. I don’t understand it. What do they do with the bouquets? They pose for pictures and look like a wedding party. Then what? Leave them on the seat of the car? At least you can wear a corsage to the dance. This is what happens when you get old. “Kids these days!”

Fact #8: I am in the height of my PMDD symptoms right now, so I hate everyone, and I feel like the world is ending. 

Fact #9: Yesterday I mentioned that I went to Cedar City last weekend (it’s about three and half hours south of where I live). That was for the Shakespeare Competition at Southern Utah University. For the past three years I’ve gone with Laurel so we can watch our kids compete. It was fun to get away for a few days, and the people watching is always top notch!

Our team performing a scene from Richard III

Fact #10: I bought Laurel and me some matching jammies, and it kind of made us look like we escaped from a loony bin (and with the PMDD, I definitely feel that way).

I am but a wee lad

The Food Strategy

Call me crazy, but I really enjoy meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking. I like finding ways to use what I have in my garden, my pantry, and my freezer. It taps into a creative part of me and often gives me the same high as a successful round of a strategy board game does (nerd alert). I still have days where I don't want to cook and where I use any excuse I can think of to get a pizza or go through a drive through, but overall, I find joy in managing the food in our family (aside from the mess - I make huge messes when I make food, and if I were to employ a helper in my home, it would be someone to follow me around and clean up after me).

This week has been quite triumphant in food. I'm probably going to sound like a braggart, but you know what? I'm excited and passionate, so I'm going to tell you about it.

First off, I went on a trip to Cedar City last weekend, and on the way home, we stopped at Rowley's Red Barn in Santaquin because they had strawberries for $1 a lb (remember when that used to be "normal?") I bought 8 lbs of strawberries, and then Sunday night, I bottled a double batch of jam. 

Now that the weather has "cooled" a bit, our garden has sprung back to life. On Monday I picked about 25 green peppers and two gallon-sized buckets of tomatoes. Scotty and I chopped up the peppers, bagged them, and froze them. I also froze some cherry tomatoes, which I use in the winter to make Chicken Margherita Skillet (which will make Cyndi happy because she introduced me to that recipe). Then I made a double batch of tomato soup (with fresh tomatoes instead of canned), which I froze in individual portions for grab and go winter lunches (we also sampled some for lunch for quality control). 

My friend Julie brought me two boxes of apples from her tree (she is heaven sent - she even washed them!), so every day this week, I've prepped a bag of sliced apples (soaked in salt water to prevent browning) for everyone in the family for lunch/snacking. Then last night, Scotty and I made two batches of dehydrated apples, and I have two more batches drying as I am writing this (with six apples to spare). 

We had baked potatoes with last night's dinner, so I baked six extra potatoes because Zoe has been begging for Loaded Baked Potato Soup. Personally, I'm sick of that soup and won't want to eat any, but it's so easy to make when you have extra baked potatoes, and Zoe loves it, so I promised her I would make her some (despite it being 85 degrees today). 

Also on the agenda today, I will be browning 4 lbs of ground beef to prep sloppy joes, taco meat, and spaghetti sauce for an upcoming trip. They will be frozen, packed in a cooler, and then heated in a microwave in a hotel room. 

Tomorrow is our annual Dip Night - which will bring together three of my favorite things: food (DIP!), friends, and strategy board games. 

I will be trying out three new dip recipes:

Creamy Pork Pulled Pork Dip (strategy-wise, I have a batch of pulled pork in my freezer already, and I have all the other ingredients on hand and didn't have to buy anything - WIN!)

Easy Fried Pickle Dip (I also already have all the ingredients for this - WIN!)

Pumpkin Dip (I might not have pumpkin pie spice, but I feel like I can fake it - WIN!)

Chad's plate from our last Dip Night

His plating techniques needed to be documented

Today when I check the garden, if it's time for another mass tomato picking, I will be making taco soup to freeze.

(Update: there will be soup). 

But first, I need to pick up my grocery order from Smith's where I will be attaining 4x fuel points and getting $30 off a $75 purchase (which gives me the same rush as taking out an opponent in Risk).