Priorities and the Temple

[print_link]  I have been contemplating priorities over the last few days.  It is difficult for me to understand how active members of the church see things so differently.  One of these is temple attendance.  It seems there is a wide degree of difference among members as to what is expected of us concerning temple attendance.  On the one hand you have my mother who works at the temple one day a week and attends the temple another day a week.  She has failing eyesight and the drive is generally 45 minutes away.  To me she has her priorities straight; she has plenty of time, but failing health makes it difficult for her but not impossible for her to attend the temple regularly.  There are many challenges that keep us from the temple; children, distance, cost, time, etc.  No matter what stage of life we are in Satan tries his best to keep us from attending the temple.  Everyone faces this challenge in one way or another.  How do we overcome it?  What is expected of us?  Is it okay to attend the temple once or twice a year?  What does attend the temple regularly mean?  I often run into those who say that the cost and distance to attend the temple makes it almost impossible (we live 4 hours from the temple), my concern is that often I see these same people with cell phones with data plans or eating out or other accessories that are nice but not necessary (at least in my opinion).  Granted it is costly to attend the temple - gas, food, etc.  I remember when we were a young married couple living in Provo, UT.  We had a desire to go to the temple regularly (at least monthly) - but our funds were very limited.  Distance wasn't a problem but paying for babysitting, renting our clothing, often kept us from going as often as we felt we should. 
  I guess the point of all this is what do you think the Lord expects of us concerning temple attendance.  I understand that the answer will be different for each of us.  Our stage of life, economic circumstances, distance from the temple, etc. all come in to play.  Do you feel that we will be judged according to how we have made the temple a priority in our lives?  Are there other ways to make it a priority without attending?
  Personally I feel its a matter of priority.  If we make it a priority we will find a way to attend as often as we can and we will be blessed in other ways for that attendance.

Month of May

  So May was an extremely busy, crazy, fabulous month.  It doesn't get much better than having all my girls visit and Trevor doing fabulous at state and even getting to watch Spencer in a play!  I am so behind on posting so here it goes.

May was Track every weekend out of town. After the first weekend in Alamo, I picked up Chelsea and Gavin to spend a week in Ely with us.  Selina and Bobby drove up that day as well for Beau Bennett's mission farewell.  After that Bobby went back to Arizona to work and Selina and kids came to stay and play with us as well.  The weather wasn't great, but we enjoyed playing games and hanging out, it also included a quick trip to the duck pond.

 Thursday we headed to Vegas to see my sister Nancy - I decided to pickup Jayden and take him as well, so he could have a little time with cousins - especially Richie.  Chelsea, Selina, and kids all stayed at Grandma Reid's for a couple of days, having tea parties with Aunt Nancy and even a fun trip to the park - Oh Trevor was with us too.

 We dropped Trevor off at Divisions in Boulder City, and parted ways with Nancy, Grandma and Chelsea.   I was only able to see the first event - which Trevor's relay team won!!!  After that Selina, Richie, Kamry, and I headed to Flagstaff for her graduation with her Masters in Elementary Education from Arizona State University.  Trevor received a 1st in the 300 hurdles and 2nd in the 400 as well as his relay - qualifying him for State.

It was a quick trip to Flagstaff and then Jayden and I headed back to Ely by way of Caliente.  By the time I got home at 11:00 pm Saturday night I was pooped - it didn't help that I ran over a dead ELK in the middle of the road - luckily the Suburban was not majorally harmed and I was able to drive home.

The following Friday Ken and I headed to Las Vegas for State Track.  Spencer headed North to Elko for a seminary 2-day activity.  When we arrived in Vegas we were surprised to find James, April, and Everett hanging out a Grandma Reid's house (not really we knew they had flown in from China earlier in the week).  The five of us headed off to the track meet where Trevor had two events on Friday.  He participated in the 4x800 relay receiving 6th place out of 8 for a best team time (not too bad) and then he ran the 400 meter which he received 5th place with a personal best time.  He had hoped for better but felt good about what he accomplished.
On Saturday we headed back and were able to see my niece, Mallory race at the beginning of the day, followed by Trevor racing in the 300 hurdles a little later.  Trevor went in to this race with the top time in the State for his division, but only be a foot or so.  So it was expected to be very close.  Enjoy the video - he starts out in lane 4 and soon takes the lead.


As you can see he won the race and received his best time ever - almost beating the school record (a goal for next year).

1st place on the podium

Here you can see a few of Trevor's fans - Melanie and Nick joined us for the day as well!

After that Trevor was in the 4x400 Relay and his team received 3rd place - though they were slated in 8th place.  Trevor almost caught the 2nd place team, just needed a few more yards.  All in all it was a good season, but he found he had to work harder than he had in the past to get in shape.  Now he knows what it takes and will be ready to have a fabulous Senior year {I can't believe he only has one more year at home :(}

Gold Medal Winner

After that we headed back to Ely to enjoy having April and family with us for a little while before they head to Maine to see James' family.

Last full week of school and lots of things to do including attending Spencers play which was the final for his Humanities class at Lund High School.  The play was "Jungle Drums" and he was one of the leads.  He did a great job and I'm sorry to say we didn't get any video.  Here are a few pictures to give you an idea.  He did well at projecting his voice and his diction was excellent.  I was really proud of him.

The Love Triangle

Guess Who Won

And yet we are not done yet, the last weekend of the month was Memorial Day and we decided to head down to Caliente for a picnic.  Nick and Melanie said there was a great spot just a few miles from there home and it literally was an oasis in the desert.  It was green with grass, a cemented wading pool, a playground, volleyball pit, and some beautiful hiking.  We ate dutch oven chicken and potatoes, had a fabulous volleyball game which my team lost 19-21, and Grandpa even had fun teaching Jayden to play horseshoes.  It was the end to a fabulous, amazing month.

My sweet grandbabies only a month apart - can you tell which is the oldest?

Well if you made it through this, you are probably as tired as I am making it through the month.  June will be filled with catching up on my classes and getting the boys summer jobs.  Life is good and family makes it the best!!!!

Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade

Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade

Yield: 6-7 cups

Ingredients:
For the strawberry syrup:
1 heaping cup chopped strawberries
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. cold water
Pinch of salt

For the lemonade:

1 cup very hot water

2/3 cup sugar
1¼ cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
4½ cups cold sparkling water or seltzer

Directions:

To make the strawberry syrup, combine the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, water and salt in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds, pressing down to extract as much liquid as possible.

To make the lemonade, combine the hot water and sugar in a pitcher. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Mix in the lemon juice and water. Stir in the strawberry syrup.

To serve, rub a wedge of lemon or one of the spent lemon halves around the rim of a glass and then dip in sugar. Fill with ice if desired and then lemonade. Garnish with sliced lemon or strawberries. Serve immediately.

Printed from Annie’s Eats

Slacking Again

Life has been busy as I have been trying to keep up on working and school work.  April was filled with attending track meets and keeping up with family.

Trevor attended Prom with Miranda Herder at the end of April.  The theme was red carpet and they had an enjoyable time with each other and socializing with friends.

Also at the end of April Melanie and I attended Women's Conference at BYU.  We had a wonderful time and received lots of motivation to do better.  Many women from all over attend.

Melanie and I made a few service projects such as crocheted burp clothes, felt flowers, and autism caterpillars.  These are used by autism kids as they like to feel weight on them.

The weather was not very cooperative and it snowed most of June with a few beautiful days.  We are looking forward to more warmth in May.  We are looking forward to visits from Selina  and Chelsea in May. 

By the way Alex has less than 100 days to go before he returns!  I can't wait.

Home Update

So just an update - Trevor did very well on his ACT received a 29 he thinks he should be done, but I'm encouraging him to take it one more time.  He is still struggling to get straight A's with the new 4 point grading system, especially in English, but hopefully he can pull it off.

Track started a couple of weeks ago and their first meet in Laughlin seemed to be a dissappointment.  Last week they went to Elko.  Dad, Spencer, and I attended and it was very cold, snowing, and very windy.  Tough day, but Trevor did fairly well.  2nd in the 300 hurdles and the picture is of him attempting the Triple Jump.  They were competing against higher division schools in bad weather, so it was all pretty good.

This picture is of Spencer's whiskers after having been sick and not shaving for a week.  He seems pretty proud.

Otherwise we are keeping busy with the same old things.  Continuing to look for other housing, but will stay till we get kicked out or find something better.  Definitely looking forward to spring weather as we continue to have snow.

I'm trying!

Currently I have the privilege of serving as the Stake Relief Society President.  This is not a calling I ever imagined having or really understood.  I was called back in October and I am still trying to get my bearings on what is involved in the calling.  We just finished all the ward and branch conferences for the year, and that has been very helpful.  We were able to get around and meet all or most of the sisters serving in Relief Society.  I know as I have served in different capacities in the wards; I didn't really feel a need to have assistance from Stake leaders.  We were happy to see them when they visited our wards, and appreciated the training they gave at auxiliary training meetings.  But is that it?  Is that all there is to this calling?  I think about the Stake President and all of his responsibilities, and I think about the General Relief Society Presidency and all of their responsibilities.  How do I serve in a way that my service will have a purpose or help those who I have stewardship over?
Well this calling is usually a three year calling, so hopefully by the time it is finished I can report back and see where I was able to serve the Lord and the sisters of the Ely Nevada Stake.  I will be attending a training in Salt Lake next week, so I hope to glean a few things there, and I have started a Stake blog, to hopefully keep in touch with more sisters.  (it's in its infant stage and will go out to the sisters in a few weeks with spotlights of the new presidency and then soon other sisters throughout the stake http://elynevadastakereliefsociety.blogspot.com/) If anyone has any suggestions as to how I can better fulfill this calling - please let me know.  The only other time I had a Stake Calling was as a Women's Sports director, and I loved it, because I was able to get to know sisters outside of my immediate ward - this is one of my major goals this time as well - although I find it out of my comfort zone to introduce myself to others and sit by people I don't know, but I'm trying.
I do love Relief Society and have served in various callings there.  I have been a teacher, Homemaking Leader, Enrichment Leader, and Meeting Coordinator (all the same calling - but called different things, different times), Relief Society chorister (my first RS calling back in 1982), counselor in the presidency, once as 1st couns., and twice as 2nd counselor, Relief Society Ward President, and now Stake Relief Society President.  I have served in almost every capacity, except Visiting Teaching Supervisor or coordinator, and secretary - who knows one of those might be next.  I have learned to love Relief Society through my service and am grateful to see my daughters also having opportunities to be in Relief Society and to develop a love for it.
I know this is kind of a strange journal entry, but as I have read things my grandmothers have left, I have been interested to see where they have served in the church.

Tender Mercies

Today in sacrament meeting I bore my testimony on the tender mercies of the Lord.  I feel that its important for us to recognize the blessings the Lord gives us in our lives.  Some of them are very small; and some can be life changing.  For instance this last week we received notice that our rent was going to be raised - the tender mercy was that we also received notice several days before that, that we were receiving a bonus and a raise very soon.  So to me the tender mercy was that we received the positive news before the negative.  Also April and Everett found themselves stuck in Hong Kong because of passport difficulties and saw several tender mercies, first she was able to reach and old companion who took her to church, and then a kind bishop took them in and helped them apply for a temporary visa as well as careing for them for several days.  We never know how certain events in our lives will be a blessing to us later - such as April's mission.  Another sister in the ward told today how she was unable to get pregnant the first 4 years of her marriage, and what a difficult time it was, but later she counted it as a blessing that she was able to finish her education and in later years when she became a single mom she had a career that she could fall back on.  Sometimes it may be difficult to recognize the Lord's blessings in our lives, when they don't seem in line with our plan - but when we turn things over to the Lord and we let it be His plan we will be heading in the right direction.  For now be sure and notice the small tender mercies of the Lord in your lives.