Always a New Adventure

         This time of year, I think that everyone's thoughts turn to being thankful. As a child, my family always had a tradition (and it's still continued at home), where we would write 1 thing we were thankful for on a paper feather each night and paste it up on a laminated picture of a turkey on the fridge. As our family grew, it was fun to see the brightly colored turkey covered in feathers of all shapes and sizes, and reading all the different things each person in our family was thankful for. Our fridge always ended up looking something like this.          Even though I'm not home this year, my mom has still continued the tradition. She asked Jamal and I to email her a list of all the things we were thankful for, and then she posted them on the fridge. It's neat to think that we're there in spirit even if we can't be there physically.         Tomorrow I am going to have my students make a thankful turkey. As I toyed over all the different activitie

     Today in Relief Society, we had a wonderful lesson on service. We started by viewing this message from President Monson.       We next talked about a women in the ward who has a little daughter who has suffered from a pediatric stroke which has left her with a lot of health problems. She has just undergone surgery to help repair some of her nerves.        At the Super Saturday activity yesterday, we made a quilt for Lexi (the little girl). We also wrote notes to her mom. To read more about her story or to donate, click here .      After talking about Lexi, we talked about examples in our lives when people have served us and what it has done for us. It reminded me of a story that happened to my family that I won't ever forget.      As a child, my family had some family friends that were struggling financially. For years, at Christmas time, each of us kids would spend some or our allowance to buy a gift for one of their children. As a child, I sometimes resented thi

              A very popular fall tradition in my house growing up was making caramel apples. We'd buy the caramels, unwrap them, microwave them, and then dip our apples and enjoy. We would always do this activity as part of our evening when we carved pumpkins for Halloween.         This weekend at Super Saturday, I learned how to make "real" caramel apples. It's super easy and tastes SO much better than the caramel from the store. Here's what you need: 1 stick of real butter (no margarine) 1 cup of light karo syrup 1 can of sweet and condensed milk 2 cups of brown sugar 2 tsp of Vanilla       On medium, heat the first four ingredients to a boil. Continue boiling until at 235 degrees (soft ball stage). While it's cooking, get your apples ready. One thing I learned is to wash your apples in a mix of vinegar and water. It takes the wax off the apples that help preserve them. If you don't do this, then the caramel doesn't stick and slid

          Lately, I've been realizing that I need to start appreciating the small things more. Life gets crazy busy and often we're wrapped up in our jobs, in school, in all the worries and concerns of life. The weekend is our time to take a break, forget about life, and help us realize once again how we enjoy the time we spend together.          Yesterday, Jamal and I decided to do the laundry. I put in 2 loads while he was out running some errands. When he came home, he switched the loads from the washer to the dryer and then put in the final load. As we were folding laundry last night, I realized that an undershirt of mine had been put in the dryer. I was upset because they always shrink and now it was going to be small. I expressed my frustration to Jamal who told me that it'd still fit. I didn't believe him. He said, "Here, babe, let me try it." He then proceeded to put on the undershirt and prance around our bedroom. I couldn't help but burst out la

     So lately, I've decided to try and fit more of the stereotypical "housewife". Just kidding. Actually, I've gotten the opportunity to be in charge of some activities for our ward. This opportunity has allowed me to channel my inner "craftiness".  I have always wanted to have one of those plaques in my house, you know the one that says your last name and established... Something like the following.          Unfortunately, although this has been a great desire of mine, I haven't done it because of time constraints and the lack of know how to get started. However, when I started this new opportunity, I learned some great resources. My new favorite store is the "Habitat for Humanity Restore" store. They have locations in Provo, Orem, Salt Lake, and many others. More information can be located at this  link,  http://www.habitatsaltlake.com/restore.php . The store front looks like this:         It is seriously the coolest place. People a