~~~Food 4 Thought Friday~~~

Welcome to Beacon of Hope's:

Food 4 Thought Friday!

A little feast without the calories!!

Feel free to play along for some yummy fun! I will post a new one each Thursday night for those that are on a different time zone. JOIN IN!!!

Food 4 Thought Friday ~ This week's questions:

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Breakfast What are top three favorite smells (scent)?

Lunch How late do you usually stay up? What time do you usually arise?

Dinner What is something you learned this past week?

Midnight Snack What was the funnest thing you did this week?

Recipe of the Week (instead of your recipe for life what is it just for the week?) ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
MY ANSWERS
Breakfast What are top three favorite smells (scent)? Rain, newborn baby, toss up between movie theatre popcorn or brownies baking.
Lunch How late do you usually stay up? I am rarely in bed before 11:30 p.m. or midnight. Right now it's 11:55 p.m. and I'm still up. What time do you usually arise? Usually about 6:30 or 7:00 a.m.
Dinner What is something you learned this past week?I went to my friend Lisa's house and she taught us how to make the cutest make-up bags! They are so cute!BUT, I also learned that I should stick to my rule of never taking off my rings. I never do! Unfortunately I did during my bread demo and put them in my pants pocket and only one out of three was found in the pocket. I am sick. I think the others must have come out when we did the jump photo. I am missing my original wedding ring and my mother's ring. SO sad. I think I will take a metal detector out there and try to find them that way.
Midnight Snack What was the funnest thing you did this week? That is a tough one if I have to choose just one because this whole week has been a blast. My SIL's are here from Arizona and Vegas and we have been playing non-stop. We have been shopping, going to lunch, planning our Sister's Fling, rehearsing our talent for it, and just hanging out. I also had a lot of fun at my friend Lisa's house this week where I went and taught my friends how to bake bread (including grinding the wheat) and Lisa taught us how to sew make-up bags. It's also been a fun week because summer has finally arrived! I also got to go up to Aaronic Priesthood Camp for the white shirt dinner and testimony meeting. That was fun too!













At Mamma Mia!


































Teaching how to grind the wheat.
















The cute bags we made!







This is the photo where I undoubtedly lost my rings. =(
Recipe of the Week (instead of your recipe for life what is it just for the week?) Usually when someone treats you unkindly, it's because of their issues, not yours. Just let it go.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Friday Fill-Ins






There was not one posted for this week so I played the one I missed the week before.
And...here we go!

1. I remember when I first heard my first baby take his first breath. Life has never been the same since. What a special moment I got to repeat four more times.

2. This spring it has been showering down non-stop!.
3. Most humans are truly good deep down.

4. Mamma Mia, here I go again! ♫ My, my, how can I resist ya?...sound familiar?

5. I was inspired by one of my dearest and oldest friends this week to be a better person. She is amazing and at everything she does and so kind and sweet and talented.

6. My wedding ring is who knows where!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to our annual Sister's Fling complete with talent show and trip to the DI to pick out shirts for each other we have to wear to dinner - heehee, tomorrow my plans include trying to find my wedding rings in my friend's lawn in West Point, cleaning, hanging out with my cute niece Mackenzie, and driving to BYU to go watch my son Taylor's basketball games and Sunday, I want to enjoy getting to listen to the Sunday School lesson instead of teaching it, visiting with my SIL's and fams, attending a fireside about the Brigham City Temple, and eating something really gooey and fattening!

To play go HERE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Friday 5: Summer Blockbusters
1.What transformation do you undergo on summer Fridays at midnight? I am not sure I undergo a transformation, but I do love staying up late watching a movie before I fall asleep.
2.What super power do the kids in your neighborhood seem to have? Super Screaming Power... not a lot of children in my neighborhood, but one is pretty loud!

3.Who (or what!) is your nemesis in these warm summer days? The mosquitos! They are in over abundance this year because of all the rain. They are everywhere!!!

4.What is your trustiest weapon against the evil heat monster? Fruit and popcicles (the real fruit ones~~~mmm!), and of course it doesn't hurt to turn on the AC!

5.What seems to be invading your life lately, and how will you fend it off? Besides the mosquitos, it is being crazily busy! I love to be busy, but I also like having some down time too. But, that is part of summer and so I have decided to just go with it and enjoy it while it lasts and be grateful for each wonderful moment!
To play go HERE

~~~Food 4 Thought Friday~~~

Welcome to Beacon of Hope's:

Food 4 Thought Friday!

A little feast without the calories!!

Feel free to play along for some yummy fun! I will post a new one each Thursday night for those that are on a different time zone. JOIN IN!!!

Food 4 Thought Friday ~ This week's questions:

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Breakfast What are you relieved about this week?

Lunch How is this week different than last week?

Dinner What is something you have mixed emotions about right now?

Midnight Snack What is weighing you down right now?

Recipe of the Week (instead of your recipe for life what is it just for the week?) ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
MY ANSWERS

Breakfast What are you relieved about this week? That my talk for sacrament meeting is over and I survived! I got the AMI National Convention blog post done. I didn't have to teach Sunday School. My IT band is starting to feel better. I am done shopping for Father's Day. My SIL can go to Mama Mia with me!

Lunch How is this week different than last week? Well last week I spent three days at USU at my boy's basketball camps watching them play games from morning til' night and this week I haven't had to really be anywhere except for my AMI meeting in SLC. It is also sunny for a change and MUCH warmer. First time all year we have felt we needed the AC on.

Dinner What is something you have mixed emotions about right now? Now that the AMI National Convention is over, so are the meetings to plan it. I loved being a part of the National Convention planning committee. We had our last meeting this week and almost every single woman cried when it was her turn to report on how she felt convention went. What a blessing it has been for me to work with such amazing women. I love each one so much. The mixed emotions come because it was a ton of work, which I won't miss too much, but I will miss the fun and the associations with those women.
Midnight Snack What is something unique that happened this week? Hmm... I guess it would be that I was selected as a finalist in a local paper weekly contest called Caption Cal. I submitted a caption for a cartoon and as one of three finalists, the public now votes for which caption they like best. Right now I am in the lead to win! The prize isn't anything great, just the original cartoon, but it's been kind of fun! My son McKay is always telling me to enter it and so I finally did. Now he really wants us to win.

Here's the cartoon:

The caption I entered said:

"Sorry dear, I thought you knew my mother was joining us on the honeymoon.”
The other finalists said: “Isn’t this exciting!! At death we actually ‘don’t’ part!!” AND “That’s alright, Honey. Things will be better when we move in with my mother.”

Recipe of the Week (instead of your recipe for life what is it just for the week?) Happiness is an inside job.

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Friday Fill-Ins

And...here we go!

1. One of my favorite birthday presents was the surprise party my friend Brooke gave to me last year. She went all out! It was amazing! She had us plant a tree in a park (complete with purple shovels!) in honor of my son Tyson that passed away and had a beautiful plaque made with his picture on it to be placed along side the tree. She invited so many of my friends and it was just the most amazing gift anyone has ever given to me. I will forever be indebted to her.

2. I want to go to Hawaii on my big birthday this year, it is as simple as that.

3. The moon is most fun to be near when it's full...just like me! =)

4. Motherhood includes a lot of sleepless nights and many worrisome days, but it's all worth it.

5. I was tempted by the chocolate - of course!

6. Go to the beach, eat at lots of fun restaurants, listen to the ocean, visit interesting places, spend time with my family, read, relax, and just chill are some of the things I like to do on vacation.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to going to the Broadway play Mama Mia!, tomorrow my plans include going to Mama Mia AGAIN!!! Long story. I had tickets for Friday to go with my one SIL and my other SIL wanted to go too and so she found great seats on Saturday for all three of us. We are going to make it a girl's day out and go shopping and out to eat and just have tons of fun! Neither one of them live around here and so it will be fun to be together again for a while, and Sunday, I want to teach my lesson, go visit my Dad and Dave's dad for Father's Day, and have some good food for the celebration!

To play go here

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FRIDAY 5
1.Of the products you use just to keep yourself clean and presentable, what seems to be the most overpriced? Shampoo, conditioner, hairspray, make-up, beauty products... sheesh, what isn't????

2.Where in your house is a reliable place to get a few quarters? I have a container in our room that is just for silver coins and one just for pennies. Dave used to collect pennies (he would never spend one) and now I am the one that collects them IF I find them on the ground or street, etc. as a special heavenly hello from my son Tyson who passed away. I also have a special jar for just those coins I find.

3.A rare yes-or-no question on Friday 5: Have you ever dropped your cell phone onto your face? I wouldn't put it past me. Today while I was on the phone talking to my Mom, I was looking all over for it only to realize I was on it!

4.What did you last take out of your freezer? Yeast to make my homemade bread.

5.How many rolls of wrapping paper do you have in your house? More than I would want to count. Infinity and BEYOND! I LOVE wrapping paper! To play go HERE

Thoughtful Thursday

1. Prayer is not a “spare wheel” that you pull out when in trouble; it is a “steering wheel” that directs us in the right path throughout life.

2. Do you know why a car’s WINDSHIELD is so large & the rear view mirror is so small? Because our PAST is not as important as our FUTURE. So, look ahead and move on.

3. Friendship is like a BOOK. It takes few seconds to burn, but it takes years to write.

4. All things in life are temporary. If going well enjoy it, they will not last forever. If going wrong don’t worry, they can’t last long either.

5. Old friends are like Gold! New friends are Diamonds! If you get a Diamond, don’t forget the Gold! Because to hold a Diamond, you always need a base of Gold!

6. Often when we lose hope and think this is the end, GOD smiles from above and says, “Relax, sweetheart, it’s just a bend, not the end!

7. When GOD solves your problems, you have faith in HIS abilities; when GOD doesn’t solve your problems HE has faith in your abilities.

8. A blind person asked St. Anthony: “Can there be anything worse than losing eye sight?” He replied: “Yes, losing your vision.”

9. When you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them; and sometimes, when you are safe and happy, remember that someone has prayed for you.

10. WORRYING does not take away tomorrow’s TROUBLES; it takes away today’s PEACE.

Taylor National Football Foundation Award

Why Didn't I Think of That?!?!

One sure fire way to know summer is really here at my house, is by the number of drinking cups in the sink, on the counter, on the end table, outside, in the car, in the bathroom, in the bedroom, in the basement...yes, even in the sandbox. The number can be astronomical!

So to save my sanity when my boys were younger and I had all five of them (plus five friends each it seemed!) around all summer long (oh -how I MISS those days!), I tried everything to prevent getting that sink overflowing with cups and running the dishwasher full of nothing but cups and glasses 45 times a day in the summer! I tried buying them all a special cup, putting their names on them, buying novelty cups, even using nothing but paper cups. When we built the house, I even had a drinking fountain put in the mud room to help alleviate this problem. It was a great novelty at first, but we were too poor at the time to put in a refrigerated one and so the lukewarm water wasn't too appealing when it was 90 plus degrees out. I tried giving each one of the boys a colored cup that they were supposed to only use that day. It was to be used each and every time they needed a drink and rinsed out and put back in the designated place. It worked pretty well for a while, but those cups also ended up where they weren't supposed to be much of the time.

Oh, I was so close to a great idea! Just not quite close enough!

But someone else was. And here's the solution! A genius idea! One of those, "WHY didn't "I" think of that??!!! ideas!
Magnetic cups!














They each have a hidden magnet inside and so when you are done with your drink....back on the fridge it goes! We each have a different color. If I find someone's some place other than the fridge, then they get an extra day of dish duty. Hopefully that will help them STAY on the fridge. I don't think it will be a problem because it's actually kind of FUN to put them back on the fridge and see them stay there. We throw them in the dishwasher once a day and back on the fridge they go for another very busy day of use.

SERIOUSLY!
WHY. DIDN'T. I. THINK. OF. THAT????!!!!














That is the where the magnet goes. Best part of all is they are dishwasher safe!

If you are interested in getting some of these sanity savers go to: http://www.convenientcup.com/ or call 1-888-693-1186.

Or if you live by a Quilted Bear, you can get them there as well.
Try it, you'll like it!!!

Motherhood Elevated!

I have been fortunate enough for the past 20 years to belong to the amazing organization of American Mother's Inc. It is a national organization but very strong locally. This wonderful support group is the reason I survived medical school with three young and very active boys while trying to cope with what I called being a "single" mother. No disrespect to those of you who are truly single mothers, but those many years of having no husband around due to his marriage to the hospital and books were definitely challenging. I respect those of you who do it on your own on a daily basis. The local chapters I belonged to and organized were such life savers to me. From the monthly chapter meetings, listening to wonderful speakers, to the Summer Survival Camps for Mom we put on each year, AMI saved my sanity! Over the past 20 years I have been very involved locally, on the state level, as well as nationally. It feeds the passion I have for motherhood!

Our purpose is to be a dedicated force to strengthen the moral and spiritual foundations of the family and the home. We are an inter-faith, non-political, non-profit organization. We are the official sponsor of Mother's Day and founded the Mother of the Year award. The first National Mother of the Year was presented by Honorary Chairman, Sarah Delano Roosevelt in 1935 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. AMI has a rich history. For more information on that go HERE.
Sometimes that "Mother of the Year" title scares people away, because they somehow think that means we are an organization of "perfect" moms. Far from it! Those women which that title is bestowed upon are selected on the basis of being someone who could best represent their state to promote motherhood. We are an organization of moms helping moms be better moms! We are not trying to choose the best mom, because each mom IS the BEST mom for her child. No one knows better than a mother that there is no such thing as a perfect mom.

This year, I had the awesome privilege of being a member of the National Convention Planning Committee. The convention was being held in Salt Lake City this year, something which has not happened since 1994, the year I represented Utah as the Young Mother. Planning a convention of this magnitude takes a lot of organization and foresight and the women I got to work with were AMAZING! I want to be just like them when I grow up! We started to plan about a year and a half in advance and met monthly to make sure everything came off without a hitch. For the most part, it did. For the most part. haha Of course there were little glitches here and there, but for a convention of nearly 400 women, that is to be expected.

The amazing committee I got to serve on.

Top half: Helping at the registration desk. This was more fun than work!
Bottom half: We stuffed over 300 of these bags! And then re-stuffed them a few more times!

(In order to read captions, you may have to click to enlarge)

I was reunited with an old friend from 17 years ago when the convention was last held in Salt Lake. Sondra Anderson was serving as the Young Mother from the midwest somewhere, and I was representing Utah. We spent a lot of time together back then and haven't seen each other since, so it was fun to see her. I also got to see Linda Eyre again. I got to know her a bit when she spoke at our very first Summer Survival Camp for Mom. She represented Utah 30 years ago as the Young Mother. Her daughter Shawni was attending this year representing Arizona. Little did we know at the time this was taken that Shawni would be selected as the 2011 National Young Mother of the Year in a few days.

So grateful to good friends Julie and Brooke who would come and support me and help with greeting those registering. I think they had some fun while working! ☺













XANGO was one of our sponsors and so we had a supply of the stuff. It was bottled so pretty and we had some good laughs with those cool bottles!











Always a bustling hive of busy bees!




















Me and Cecelia with Don Aslett, my hero and author of Clutter's Last Stand and 48 OTHER books!
















With Emi D. Edgley (Utah's YMOY 2011), her mother Elaine Dalton, and Diane Weese.

















Sally Olsen (Utah MOY 2011), Linda Eyre, Shawni Eyre Pothier, Emi Dalton Edgley, Elaine Dalton, Diane Weese, moi.

We filled almost 100 of these balloons with helium and lived to tell about it. The convention theme was Motherhood Elevated and the theme for one of the lunches was UP with Motherhood. Luckily we didn't float away!

Governor Herbert welcomed mothers from across the nation to Utah and to our convention.












We had some awesome workshop presenters! The women that weren't from Utah really loved John Bytheway. Well, the women that were did too! He was so funny, he had tears rolling down some of their cheeks!













John Gray keynoted one of the banquets.













The Young Mother of the Year banquet where Shawni was announced here as the new National Young Mother. A big job, but she will be fabulous!














My Mom was able to attend on Saturday with me. Brooke and Julie came as well.


















It was held at Little America and of course the food was FABULOUS!




















Above with Linda Eyre and Shawni Pothier and their new book called "A Mother's Book of Secrets". If anyone has some good advice and secrets on motherhood, it's them. I think I have read every single one of Linda's books. My favorite was, "I Didn't Plan to Be a Witch!"
Bottom with Emi, Hilary Weeks, and Georgia.


At the GALA BANQUET



















Our table had some of the people I admire most.
With Susie and Marilou. Marilou was our committee chairman and I loved getting to know her! What an incredible example she is.
Dave and I


































With Sheri Dew. It was such an honor to meet her.


Click to enlarge


















Check out the cute cute bunnies! Our committee was in charge of decorating at most of the meals. It turned out beautiful.















After with Sister Sheri Dew and some of the National Committee.














I LOVE all of these women!!!!


















We are showing off our shoes and nylons that we had to borrow from each other due to forgetting them! Thank heavens for good friends!!!

This banquet was very high class. The Mother's of the Year were announced in a processional lighted candle ceremony. Sheri Dew was the keynote speaker and gave an outstanding talk. She was the only speaker at the convention that received a standing ovation. Ernestine Allen was named the new 2011 National Mother of the Year. She is from the Washington DC area.






















Dave snapped the photo on the right before I hid these roses for Ernestine (so passerbys wouldn't knock them over.) I WISH those were mine! I can always pretend!





















Two of my favorite women on the planet. Dave with Ruby Washington. She is an incredible woman. She was National Mother of the Year in 1993. She had three biological children, four adopted, and over 200 foster children! She is currently opening a home for un-wed mothers. What a remarkable woman. I have loved her since I met her at the 1994 convention. She really liked Dave. =)
And Cecelia. What a sweet, smart, funny, amazingly talented, and kind woman. She has to be one of my top 10 favorite people in the world. Love her!


With Ernestine Allen. The roses are now hers! hee-hee




















WE SURVIVED!!! We might not look like it, but we did! Break out the XANGO!!!!





















A special thank you to this man, to whom I am very grateful for allowing me to be such a big part of American Mothers. It has changed my life and I will forever be grateful for it and for him for holding down the fort while I was gone for three days in order to attend this convention. He also missed a big meeting in order to attend the banquet with me. It was sure fun having my own photographer there though. =) Over the past 20 years, he has been so supportive of all the talks, meetings, conferences, parades, time, expenses, mini- conferences (he helped set up for 10 years), and all the other wonderful things this organization has brought into my life. I am so grateful to be a mother, and if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be the mother of the five most wonderful sons on the planet. Thank you!

It was so exciting having the National Convention in my own neck of the woods. I for one left elevated! I know it won't happen again for probably another 17 or more years. But odds are, even then, I will STILL be involved and loving this wonderful organization! I can only hope!

Here are a few links to other stories about convention, inlcuding excerpts from Sheri Dew's talk. ENJOY! ***********************************************
Key Points from Sheri Dew's Speech at Saturday's Gala (where the National Mother of the Year, Ernestine Allen, was announced), titled: The Influence of Mothers
Insights with Jon Du Pre TV interview from BYU: Mothers of the Year

Utah's American Mother's Blog: AMI National Convention

LDS Living Magazine ~ LDS Women Among National Honored Nominees

Deseret News Article ~ Utah Hosts National Celebration of Motherhood

Deseret News Article ~ Latter-day Saint Named National Mother of the Year Posts from Andrea, State President of American Mothers in Texas:
Gems from the Mother of the Year Speeches

A few highlights from the Young Mother of the Year speeches:
Summary of Young Mother Speeches
Shawni Pothier's reaction to being announced as National Young Mother of the Year from her blog 71 Toes:
"My Weekend"
Shawni's 3 minute speech she gave at National convention
Shawni's Speech

Linda Eyre's article in Deseret News column about her daugher Shawni being named National Young Mother of the Year : "Whiney, Worried Child Becomes National Mother of the Year"

From the PR Web: American Mothers, Inc. Announces 2011 Executive Board, Mother and Young Mother of the Year