Traditions...

It is raining outside, and the weather seems just a little cooler. This always seems to happen on Conference Weekend. I love this weekend, and look forward to it every six months. As a my kids get older, I have tried to make it a special weekend. I have tried to make it a weekend of tradition. I want it to be full of great things for my children to remember. I wanted to share with you some of the fun things that we do:
On Saturday morning, we make "Skinny Pancakes." We always make Skinnies(crepes), but on Conference weekend in the fall they are special because we make them look like pumpkins. My kids love this for breakfast.
Here is the recipe:
1 C. flour
1/2 C. milk
1/2 C. water
1/4 C. butter
1 t. salt
1 egg
Mix all the ingredients together, and then pour 1/4 of a cup on a warm skillet. Roll the skillet around until it fills the pan, and is a skinny circle. Cook on both sides. Fill with fruit, whipped cream, and powdered sugar;or syrup and powdered sugar.( I add food coloring to make them orange.)

On Sunday morning, we make my favorite Pumpkin Pancakes with Apple Cider Syrup. I got the recipe from my sister-in-law, Lorinda. I don't think she will mind if I share it.

Beat 2 eggs, and stir in 3/4 C. Pumpkin
2 T. Sugar
1/2 t. each ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, soda , salt
1 1/4t. Baking powder
1/4 C. oil
1 1/2 C. Flour( I use Whole Wheat)
Stir in 1 1/2 Cups of milk
Cook on the griddle

Syrup:
Mix in a saucepan:
1 C. sugar
2 T. Corn Starch
Add:
2 C. Apple cider or juice
2 T. Lemon Juice
Boil one minute, serve over pancakes

After breakfast, we get dressed in our Comfy clothes. We spend the whole weekend wearing something that is comfortable. It helps make the weekend relaxing for all of us.

Then we prepare for conference by talking with the kids about the activities that they can do while they listen. I usually have worksheets ready. I always explain them all before hand, and then I prepare in the most valuable way; I always have M&M's on hand.

Among the activities for the kids, I usually have a little stack of projects for myself. I try to have a few things that will not distract me. I am putting pictures in albums and pictures frames this weekend. Then I take notes of important topics.

Our last tradition... is my husbands favorite by far. Tomorrow I will make Homemade cinnamon rolls. We will enjoy these after Conference. Each family member is responsible to share their favorite talk as we savor the yummy rolls.

Preparation and Tradition help our family enjoy and get the most we can out of such and important and special weekend.

I am thankful for the blessing of Conference. I know that it is a gift. I also believe that listening to our leaders and following their counsel is as valuable to us as the scriptures. They both have great purpose and meaning.

I hope you have a wonderful Conference Weekend also.

Oh Isaac....

The last few months have been very trying for me with our little Isaac. I am sure many of you have heard my complaints. Needless to say he is much different then our first two. We like to call him SPUNKY!! Spunky he is. I find myself only sharing with our family and friends how annoying it gets when he screams, and believe me he can scream. It made me reflect about all of the other things that I love about him. I don't want to remember him as a screamer at one, so I am taking the time to write down a few of my favorite Isaac Characteristics, and some of the great things I want to remember about Isaac at one. Even though he screams at me most of the day, I still love so many wonderful things about him.

Isaac at One...

I love when Isaac hugs me. When he needs a snuggle he will wrap his arms so tight around me neck. It is the sweetest thing. He also lays his head on my shoulder when some one talks to him and he wants to be bashful.

I love how he adores Jex and Stella. When he sees them he laughs, and tries to get as close to them as possible. Just the other day, he walked(with his hands along the wall) to go and hug Stella. It was a precious moment.

I love how he values his sleep. He goes to bed early, and wakes up early.(okay, so this can be annoying at times) However ,it is so nice when he is in bed at 7:00. He also takes two (2 1/2 hour) naps.

He is such a good eater. He will eat whatever it is that we are having.

I love his smile. It could light up an entire room. He loves to be friendly with people. He will smile at them and say "Hi."

He loves to tease. He will look at you with a big grin on his face when he is not supposed to do something. When I say "Isaac, NO!" He will just look at me and laugh. I know this is not a wonderful characteristic, but is shows his spunky personality. I have a hard time not laughing myself.

I love that he is so curious. He wants to figure out how things work, and how to do it. He loves buttons, and turning on and off the lights. He is always busy, and sometimes he is just to busy to do what you need him to do(like change his diaper.)

He is so full of life and personality. He is doing so much with his language. He says a lot of words, and tries to repeat things that you say.

Why play with toys?, when emptying moms cupboards, pulling toilet paper off the roll, fishing in the toilet, and banging pots and pans is so much funner. He seriously never plays with his toys.

I find him in his room reading books all the time. It is one of the only quiet activities that he does.

I love his pointer finger. He points at everything. It is part of his curiosity.

I love that when he drinks his bottle he still lets me hold him like a newborn. He is so snugly.

In the morning when he wakes up, he can hardly wait to drink his bottle. He makes the cutest little pucker face while he waits(most of the time, not patiently) for you to give it to him.

He is just starting to take a few steps, and it is so fun watching him.

He loves being outside, and has figured out how to climb the playhouse all by himself. He was out there yesterday, and I ran inside to bring in our dishes from our picnic. I was only in one minute. When I looked out there he was 3 steps up. DANGER DANGER!! I ran out there, and stood behind him. He finished the rest. Then he will slide down the slide on his tummy. WOW! He has so much more adventure then the other two. Here is a couple of videos of his new task. They are about 2 minutes a piece so watch them if you would like.

I love this little man. Even thought he is so busy, and keeps me on my toes. I enjoy watching how his little mind works. Now if we could just get rid of the screaming life would be great. (watch for the scream in the video, you may want to plug your ears.)

Personal Revelation

As General Conference draws near, I have been thinking about the wonderful gift we as church members share. That is the gift of revelation; personal and from our Heavenly Father through our prophet. I am excited to listen, and ponder on the revelation this next weekend.

However, my mind had been focused on the wonderful gift of personal revelation. Today, I wanted to share with you my feelings and testimony of this wonderful blessing.

Yesterday, at the General Relief Society meeting, Sister Beck said, "We can do the Lord's work if we seek, receive and act on personal revelation. We must heed all revelation. We must be still; revelation takes serious mental effort."

As sisters of the Relief Society we all have a responsibility to organize, teach and aspire all. I am thankful for personal revelation to assist me in this effort.

I would like to share a few things that I have learned about personal revelation. Elder Robert D. Hales said, that prayer is the firm foundation for revelation. We should then study it out in our minds. Revelation comes on the Lord's timetable, so we must move forward with faith.

Please note: I am paraphrasing from his talk. When it is a direct quote I will note.

President James E. Faust also taught that the church has flourished because of the divine direction that is given to all individuals. This direction is to help lead us to eternal salvation. I am so thankful for this wonderful blessing to help lead me. I am now working on using it, and listening to it.

How do we use it? Personal Revelation does not extend beyond our own Stewardship. This includes revelation for us, our family, and our calling.

Where does the revelation come from? The Holy Ghost is the revelator.

How do we recieve personal revelation?
I will tell you in your mind and in your heart. (D&C 8:2)
By the Still Small Voice (1 Kings 10:11-12)
A still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul
(Helaman 5:30)

We really must listen if we expect to hear personal revelation, because most times it is a very quiet voice that whispers what we should know. I have often times had revelation when I am on a walk, in the shower or just quietly minding my own business. I will receive a thought in my mind, and it is often later on in the day that I recognize it as personal revelation.

President Faust gave us a few guidelines to follow when seeking revelation.
1. Keep the commandments
2. Be spiritually attuned
3. Ask in a humble prayer
4. Exercise your faith

Our responsibilities as members is to seek after revelation for ourselves, and listen to the responsibilities given to us. Just the other day I felt prompted to call a friend. I am so glad I did. She was in the hospital, and had just given birth to a new baby. I was able to wish her congratulations, and tell her I care about her. I am thankful I acted on the prompting to serve.

I have also had moments of revelation when I am reminded of the blessing I have been given. Almost as if, the Lord is telling me, "I gave that blessing to you to bless your life for this purpose." I love recognizing those thoughts, and knowing that they are put there to strengthen my faith. It also reminds me that I am loved by our Heavenly Father, that he knows me, and recognizes my needs. I know that it is through the small and simple acts of faith that miracles are wrought.

I want to close with this thought from Elder Robert D. Hales. He said, "Miracles will usually be tender mercies gently bestowed through impressions, ideas, feelings of assurance, solutions to problems, strength to meet challenges, and comfort to bear disappointments and sorrows."

I hope you can recognize the gift of personal revelation in your own life. I also pray that you can remember the blessing of Latter-Day revelation as we listen to our prophet this weekend. As one last reminder, President Wilford Woodruff said, "The church could not live 24 hours without revelation."

Resources:
Communion with the Holy Ghost by President James E. Faust
Personal Revelation by Elder Robert D. Hales

It's been a while...

Well, it has been a while since my fingers were typing up Swenson Family news on our blog. The last few weeks have gone by very quickly and have been very busy. I am happy to say that my lack of blogging has been for a really good reason.

WE HAD MORE VISITORS!!! YEAH!!

We were so lucky to have the Moes's stay with us while they waited for their power to come back on in Houston. I am sure it was not the best circumstances for them, but we were so happy for the visit.

They stayed with us for almost a week, and it was wonderful. We had such a great time. Our family feels so thankful to have such great friends. We also know that Heavenly Father has blessed us to live near them at this time in our life. It is so nice to know that we have someone to rely on that is only a 7 hour drive away, versus the 21 to our family in Utah. What a blessing!!It was wonderful to welcome them in to our home, and just enjoy their company.

Many of you know that Krysta is my best friend, so I am always so happy to have her here. Having a friend that you can trust, rely on and understand is an amazing gift, and I treasure it everyday. I think it is an even greater gift to have husbands and children that get along as well. I love her children like my own. I think you can relate it to how you feel about nieces and nephews. Jonathan and Casey are wonderful friends. Krysta and I value, and can see what wonderful husbands we have.

We had a whole week to play and have fun, so here is what we did:

Casey was able to set up shop and work from home. He had his own little office in our house, so that worked great. During the day, we would play with the kiddos, and enjoy our little chats. In the evenings we enjoyed dinner together, and dessert. One night we had apple crisp in the backyard. The kids always wanted a baseball game with the daddies. They would stand outside and chant "Baseball game, Baseball game." It was so funny.

The kids loved every minute of playing in the playhouse that Casey and Jonathan built back in June. It was nice to see them using it together after their daddies worked so hard on it. They even spent a whole day cleaning it, and decorating it.(yes, they do belong to Krysta and I) They all colored pictures, and then they hung them up all over the playhouse. It was so cute(I wish I had a picture of that, what were we thinking?)

On Friday night, when the kids didn't have school, we let them watch a movie and have a sleepover. I have to say it went pretty well. Once the kiddos were in bed each night, we did the typical Moes and Swenson activity; GAME NIGHT!! BOYS against GIRLS... girls won!!!(I think) It was so fun to laugh, and remember old times. (we used to play cards like this before we even had kids.)

On Sunday night, Krysta and I were way to tired to make dinner so... we had Brownies for dinner. The kids thought it was so cool. We got The mom's of the year award that night.

We also crossed a few things off our to-do list(blogging wasn't one of them.) We made hair bows for the girls out of flowers, a wreath for Krysta's door, and we had a Moes kid Photo shoot. I fell in love with Krysta's camera while she was here, and I kept snapping pictures. It was the perfect opportunity for me to play with it some more. The pictures turned out great. It was really fun for me. I can't wait to save my money and get a Fancy camera. (Christmas is right around the corner.)

On Saturday, we took a trip to Hot Springs because we had never been there before. It was a nice day out of the house. Hot Springs it a fun town, full of charm. While we were there we went to the car show, and BBQ cook-off. We also spent some time at a nice park and had a picnic lunch. We let the kids roam around, and run off some energy. (I had some fun with the camera again.)

Hot Springs had some fun shopping, I can't wait to go back and check that out. Maybe with the next visitors(who's next?)

After Hot springs, we went and enjoyed a nice dinner out. I guess you could call it nice, Isaac spent a good share of it screaming at me. We ate at a BBQ place called Corky's. We took my parents there when they came for a visit, and we enjoyed it. It was a nice day.

I am so thankful for my week of fun with the Moes's. Now it is back to business, and back to my normal routine. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Tune In!!

Tomorrow night on the food network, they will be showing the island of Saba. Jonathan and I lived here for two years. Alton Brown is traveling around and tasting some of the local flair on these Caribbean islands. Tonight, he was on St. Kitts(an island we visited while living there, and then St. Barths(the island we dreamed of visiting, but never got too)

Lets just say after watching it tonight... I am HOMESICK!!! I am a little worried about how I will feel after watching it tomorrow.

Anyways, if you would like to see a little taste of where we spent two years of our life, tune in!! It is on the Food Network 9pm central time, Sunday night. The show is called Feasting on Waves.