Good reads

Since my mom's passing, I've had more time to read (and do other things and yet so much still doesn't get done) and these three books have been such a comfort and inspiration to me. Since Sam is a late sleeper, I relish my time each morning after the big kids get off to school but before the little kid wakes up. It's such a good way to start the day, eating breakfast in peace by myself and reading good books that teach me about Jesus Christ and His gospel.I wish wish wish I could remember and apply all of the Christ-centered principles taught in these books! Looking back over the notes I've taken, I'll share a few ideas from these books with you here, in complete random order:

• "When filled with God's love we can do and see and understand things that we could not otherwise do or see or understand.  Filled with His love, we can endure pain, quell fear, forgive freely, avoid contention, renew strength, and bless and help others in ways surprising even to us." (Elder John H. Groberg)

• God loves us all the time, however, our ability to feel His love comes and goes.

• Focus your efforts on what you have been called to do, not on what you feel qualified to do.

• Don't define yourself or others by temporary tendencies.

• If we do the right thing at the wrong time, we can be frustrated and ineffective.

• If we are becoming new creatures, we will be consistently practicing--whenever, wherever.

• We can ask the Lord to help us open our heart so that it is softened, filled with His love, reaching out, non-judgemental, positive, kind, affirming.

• We must try to teach our children to do their duty, do it well, and enjoy the process.

• Any message we hear---at church, a conference talk, and Ensign article---is personalized by the Holy Ghost to our exact, immediate, and individual needs.

I've also been listening to past BYU devotional addresses, which are all archived online. I didn't know this until recently but in the app store you can subscribe to the BYU Devotional podcast and listen to the audio of recent and older BYU devotionals. They are amazing! Most of them are about 30 minutes long, perfect for listening to while counting down the minutes on that (stupid) treadmill. Thanks for letting me share. 

 

And birthday week continues! Sam has had a paper chain in his room counting down the days, eagerly taking a link off each morning. And somebody else has their big day tomorrow.  So far it has been a super fun week filled with small but meaningful-to-me events that have reminded me that God loves me in my completely imperfect state and is aware of me. What more could an almost 39-year-old ask for?  Here's to my last day of being 38....

Cougs, Jazz, and Kings

We had us some volleyball fun at the BYU Men's home opener. Gotta love those pass-of-all-passes! We were thrilled to watch BYU beat Hawaii easily, enjoyed some stale fruit snacks from the concession stand, and congratulated ourselves for getting out of the house in the barely-above-zero-degree weather.

Evidently the volleyball action was so exciting we somehow barely had time to catch this wonderful portrait. Not sure if the red cheeks were from the stale fruit snacks or the sub-freezing temps, but I sure love my red-cheeked friend, who somehow thinks he is turning FOUR this week.

Since the volleyball game was such a hit we thought we'd try a Jazz game too. We were really stoked about the amazing deal we got on tix until we actually found our seats, at which point we realized why they were so heavily discounted, but hey, it's still a Jazz game, and they still won.

Of course ice cream at half-time makes up for the worst seats in the building.

Also, I'd like to make a public apology to the people sitting right by us at the Jazz game: I'm sorry we had to leave our seats 17 times that night and walk over and around you and step on your toes. That's how Sam rolls, and we're with him.

We're in full basketball mode at the King house:

In an attempt to really focus on and improve my photography skills this year, I forced myself to take in manual mode at the boys' games on Saturday, not an easy feat considering the horrible lighting at the legacy center and Lehi High School and the fact that you can't use flash as it distracts the players.  But it ended up that I was greatly encouraged with the results and really happy because I learned so much. I set my ISO to between 2500 to 3200 and used a 1/200 shutter speed, although I tried multiple settings and am still not sure which ones I like the best. I have so far to go, but at least I'm going, right?

(On a side note, Ben scored 17 of his team's 27 points in Saturday's game, even though they lost. He's number 15.)

And what else you ask? It's birthday week around here, and Sam and I are so excited. Here's to presents, cake, more and better pictures, and celebrating in lots of big and small ways.

Awesome

This was going to be a post about my lengthy list of unrealistic resolutions for the new year, but lucky for you I found this instead. I think this is going to be my theme for the new year. Anybody else in?

Christmas Day 2012, and a few end-of-the-year-thoughts

(Even though they are a necessity of life, "forced" pictures like the one above are not my favorite. Oh well.)

Santa was sooo good to us this year! We awoke to this note:

He filled our stockings (video games and candy, what more could you ask for?) and left B two movies, C a white board, G a video camera, and S a digital camera. Who knew the King children were on the nice list? 

We have always done Christmas Day at our house, but this year we changed things up and went to Rich's parents house. We love their house with all its space and more space. Here, some highlights:

We had fun this year making some presents for each other, hence the pool-noodle lightsabers (BIG hit, pun intended) and Rich's notebook from Cassidy entitled "Smokers Never Quit: Rich's Tips for Smoking and Grilling." There were many more favorite gifts, too many to list. The kids might not agree, but we adults enjoyed watching our loved ones open our specially thought-out gifts just as much or more than opening our own gifts from others. (That being said, I still do love me some presents.)

"Before"

"After" (un-posed, of course)

I love having an 8 year old. It makes me smile!

It was a wonderful Christmas. I feel so grateful to Heavenly Father for so many things!

A few odds and ends.....

This Christmas Eve I went with my family to dinner and the movies. After that we went home, got ready for bed, read Christmas stories and tucked kids in bed and awaited the magic of Christmas morning. Last year I went to dinner and the movies with my family and then spent the rest of Christmas Eve in the ER with my mom.Some of Christmas Day we spent at the hospital with her.  The next 9 months were spent in a whirlwind of doctor appointments and cancer treatments and cleaning out and selling a home and every emotion it is possible to feel and then some. We really missed Grandma Casey this Christmas! She loved Christmas, loved especially giving gifts to us, her family.  I hope somehow she still got to be with us.

Christmas Party

Each year we excitedly anticipate a warm and fuzzy Christmas party with this cute family, the Knoxes. We are so grateful for their friendship, so grateful they put up with us! We sorely missed my mom at the party this year. She wouldn't have missed it for anything. I was reminded of a year ago at this time, when my mom first had symptoms but had yet to be diagnosed. Lots of things change in a year's time.

 There are some festive guarantees at the Knox/King Christmas Party:

1. Lots and lots of sillies...

2. Lots and lots of presents...

3. Lots and lots of musical numbers...

4. And lots and lots of kids, including and introducing baby Troy..

Special special thanks to my wonderful in-laws for hosting a beautiful dinner and psycho night full of noise, kids, and craziness. Merry Christmas!

2nd Grade Nursing Home Field Trip

In the midst of all the school parties, singing programs, teacher gifts and secret santas in December, I had the wonderful opportunity to go with Garrett and his 2nd grade class to the Charleston Assisted Living Center in Cedar Hills. It was such a wonderful activity to be a part of. The children sang Christmas songs to the residents there, recited Christmas poems, read Christmas stories, and presented each resident with a fringed fleece blanket made by 2nd graders.

Here Garrett and his friend Hunter are trying to read to John. I'm pretty sure John's hearing gave way long ago, but he didn't seem to mind, and the boys didn't mind, either. 

The whole experience was very Christmas-spirity. So glad I got to be there. So glad to have a second grader. Especially glad that said second grader is Garrett.

December

This December has been so much fun. I love love love all the parties and outings and advent calendars and treats and stories and neighbor gifts and videos and music and movies and traditions and especially the story of little baby Jesus who came to this world so humbly and perfectly and makes the whole season and really, our whole lives, feel meaningful and special and wonderful. I love Christmas.

We've had so much fun this month doing little things together as a family. There was a trip to temple square and window shopping at City Creek followed by an amazing dinner at Cheesecake Factroy. The picture below is of the Oreo cheesecake we ordered. Yum!

(Photo courtesy of Garrett P. King Enterprises)

There was also a FHE at Thanksgiving Point, visiting Santa's reindeer and waiting in line for a really long time for really bad hot chocolate but hey, still fun and (mostly) no fighting:

Then last night we had fun working on a small service project together that involved making bookmarks and pom poms (big hit, check out Ben's white and purple one) and talking about service and how when we give of ourselves we really give to the Savior. It was simple, but everyone participated, there were good attitudes around, and we capped off the evening with Krispy Kreme donuts that some kind friends dropped by serendipitously. 

May I just say....I love my family. We are laden with challenges big and small and we are so far from the ideal BUT, I love them all and mostly I love US together, bad attitudes, laziness, orneriness, selfishness and all. We've got a long way to go, but hey, we've also come a long way. Love you!