Monday, September 15, 2014

And the Rebellious Shall be Pierced with Much Sorrow

Sorrow...



The Rebellious Shall Be Pierced With Much Sorrow
One of the most significant lessons I have ever learned is involved with the story of a prize Holstein heifer calf who got into the alfalfa, and bloated because we could not build a fence which would hold her. One day after dad had built a particularly strong fence to hold her in, I remember thinking to my self that I still hoped she would get out somehow. At that time I admired her independence and wanted her to assert herself against the best efforts of my dad. Well, she did get out and ate green alfalfa, and despite the best efforts of dad to save her, it cost her her life. I remember my feelings the next day when her body was being hauled away in the by-products truck. Her rebellion had cost her her life.
Sometimes our rebellion against authority can cost us dearly. The very things that seem to restrict our freedom are the things that ultimately assure our freedom. True freedom only comes from obedience.
D&C 1:3, And the rebellious shall be pierced with much sorrow for their iniquities shall be spoken upon the housetops, and their secret acts shall be revealed.
—Jack R. Kapp
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Received from Sue Farson Kapp on 2 June 2013 for posting on FamilySearch.org.

**I came across this interesting story on FamilySearch. I left all the information of the Author and source on the posting to cite proper ownership.



Monday, September 1, 2014

Family Ups and Downs

Family Changes:

 

I love these people more than any others in the world!!! I am so grateful for them. We've been through a lot together, and we continue to go through a lot together!!

So many of the trials we are experiencing, I never dreamed we would be experiencing. But here we are, in the middle of some heavy stuff that I won't go into!! I know The Lord is helping to make my burdens lighter. I know that He helps me when I turn to Him, and when I position myself to receive His help by choosing the right. If I don't make good choices, He can't help me as much, even though He wants to.

 

 

 

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Update


Brief Update



Our house

We finally found a house in the same area as the house we were renting.  It was a foreclosure, so we got a good deal, but have spent all of the 4 years we have lived here fixing it up!  Lots of time and money!

Kyle is feeling much better than 4.5 years ago when he got suddenly extremely ill with life threatening liver problems.  Laren's company won the next phase (to the North) of the I-15 project.  It's called "the point" project.  He has also done a lot of traveling to Kansas for a dual freeway interchange project there.

The kids are growing up!  Kayla is 17 and a Senior in High School now.  Alyssa is 15 and a sophomore, Kyle is 13 and in 8th grade, Rilyn is 11 and in 6th, Tyler is 8 and in third grade.  and Ashton hangs out with Mom at home, but we usually hit the gym on most weekdays where he hangs out in the gym daycare for Mom can sweat and forget about her troubles for a bit!  

We love Utah, and we are so glad we decided to move back here 5 years ago now!

Meet Ashton and a brief Update

Meet Ashton

And an Update


Ashton Jay Livingston
Was born to our family September 30th, 2010

Ashton has been such a delightful addition to our family!!  Though we weren't necessarily counting on another baby, we are SO glad we got him!  And he is almost 3 years old now!  I haven't blogged in 4 years!

                  Ashton being silly in the kitchen on a recent Sunday morning before Church.





Thursday, August 20, 2009

I'm Back!

I'm Back!

Update

I haven't blogged in a long time! Life has been busy and good. We had a fun summer and spent a lot of time at Seven Peaks. I also had a good time exercising several mornings a week with some gals in my ward hiking to the Mount Timpanogos Cave. I don't believe I've ever had better exercise for my heart and lungs! It is a strenuous but fulfilling hike! We hope to take our kids soon, and actually tour the cave!

We did, however, take our kids to hike Y mountain in Provo a few weeks ago. That also was a strenuous hike, but our kids did great! Of course we did give them the motivation of donuts once they got to the top.

Alyssa went to Clear Creek Summer Camp for a week this summer and Kayla, Kyle and Rilyn went to Grandma Vala's in Montana for a week with Grandma and some cousins. Tyler got to stay home with Mom and Dad.

Laren is working as busy as ever with his job, which he has now been at just shy of a year! That is hard to believe!! He still enjoys it very much. He works with good people and the work is interesting and intense. He has lots of meetings, in fact I can rarely get him on the phone or cell phone most days so I've pretty much quit trying until he comes home. And last night he didn't get home until about 8:30 or so!

Aside from Girls Camp, I also went with the Youth to Youth Conference up to Camp Williams North of Lehi for 3 days. These youth in our ward are a fantastic bunch of kids! I enjoy all of the time that I spend with them!!

A couple of weeks ago we had a Mother/Daughter Enrichment Activity up at Mutual Dell, a campground/Lodge that our stake owns up American Fork Canyon. I have been busy attending BYU Education Week this week, and I finally got my Utah Drivers License (had to take a written test for that, even though I've been driving 20 years - pretty crazy!), and today our kids started back to school!!

I cannot say enough GOOD about Education Week! It beats out Women's Conference by a mile. The classes are more diversified (different subjects) and very informative and educational, unlike Women's Conference where many of the talks are about being a wife and mother and not to belittle it, because it is great, but almost every class has the same topic with just different stories and a different presenter(s).

So far here is a list of the classes I've taken at Education Week:

Mental Wellness: What is it, How to get it and How to Keep it (No matter what hits you!) by: Carrie Wrigley

Coping With Adversity Through Prayer
by: Barbara Barrington Jones

Filling Your Heart & Home with the Irresistible Light of Christlike Love: Enriching Your Marriage
by: Gary and Joy Lundberg

The Plan of Salvation: The Great Plan of Happiness
by: David J. Ridges - the guy who wrote The Book of Mormon Made Easier, one of my favorite books!

Helping Your Husband Preside in Love and Righteousness
by: John Bytheway

Kitchen Organization: Help Your Kitchen Help You
by: Marie C. Ricks

Listen to a Prophet's Voice: The Process of Personal Progression
by: Scott Anderson

Coping With Clutter
by: Marie Ricks ...LOVE these classes by Sister Ricks. She has a great website on helping with all sorts of housekeeping chores, menu planning, budgeting, etc... Her website can be found here.

And a few pictures...


Our puppy Molly, who is now caught up on her immunizations until she is a year old! She has brought a refreshing joy to our family!!

Laren and I at the "Y" on Y Mountain a few weeks ago.

The kids and I resting on the "Y", the kids eating their donuts and me, my rice crispy treats. (Love those Creamery Rice Crispy Treats!)


At the top of the hike to Timp Cave with my hiking buddies!

Laren finally replaced his wrecked Camry with a Nissan Maxima.

Alyssa and Tyler at Temple Square this summer.

Kyle, Rilyn and Kayla at the airport headed to Grandma and Grandpa's!

Alyssa returning from Summer Camp at Clear Creek.

Citrus Chicken Teriyaki, a newfound dinner. Our dinner Sunday night.
This summer I started doing Deals to Meals, a program where recipes are created for you based on the grocery store items that are on sale. It has been fun for our family to try new recipes and get out of our eating rut!

Smothered Chicken, a dinner we had last week.

Me going to get my Utah Drivers License.

Most of the kids and I attempting to hike to the Timpangogos Cave, but we were too early - the trail doesn't open on the weekend until 7:30 am. It opens during the weekdays by 6:00 am. So this is us about 1/4 of the way up, before the gate.

(Front-Back, l-r) Alyssa, Rilyn, Cara, Kayla My daughters and a friend at Mutual Dell a couple of weeks ago.

And finally me helping Rilyn to paint her block up at Mutual Dell.
I hope you all had a great summer too!!


Monday, July 6, 2009

Our new little pet

Meet Molly!

Our new little Shih Tzu pooch.

My second oldest daughter Alyssa and I were going to the store to get a few essentials for our Fourth of July festivities the next day and took the opportunity to peer at the pooches for sale. We shouldn't have because we fell instantly in love. Alyssa called Laren pleading. He asked me what I thought, of course my opinion was biased toward the dog. (Which is unusual because I am not a huge animal person.) Then we decided no. We hung up and started to do the shopping. Alyssa was in tears. Laren called back, back peddaling. Even he was thinking twice and he had not seen her. That was all it took. We went in the store and bought a can of pet food, got some cash back and went to see about getting us a new puppy!

Now my house is filled with all the neighbor kids on our cul-d-sac, all wanting to hold and play with her. We are trying to potty train her and train her to her kennel at night - doing all those things that dog owners have to go through to have the joyful, cute little pet! We really think pink is Molly's color! After waiting quite a few years, my kids finally have a pet other than a bunny and fish.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

5 Temples in 4 Days


Five Temples in Four Days

On our trip to and from Idaho for Laren's Class Reunion, we stopped at all the temples along the way that are North of Salt Lake, since we are a short distance from the temples South of Salt Lake. It was a fun little excursion, and hopefully memorable (in a good way!) for our children.


Our family in front of the Logan Temple.

The temple where Laren took out his endowments. Right before Laren's mission he lived in Nibley, UT - just outside of Logan, with his Mom. He got a job there working for a farmer. And so he took us around to where he lived and worked at that time in his life. It was interesting to see where he'd been. And I had only been to Logan once before, but wow! what a beautiful place and surrounding area that is!!


Our family in front of the Idaho Falls, Idaho Temple (acrossed the river from it, actually).

We took this picture on Saturday Morning, just after the evening part of his Reunion. We stayed the night at the Red Lion Inn since that is where the Reunion was the night before and it is just right next to the river and the temple in Idaho Falls. So when we checked out of the hotel, we got a photo op, with all of the ducks, in front of the temple.

Laren and the kids in front of the Rexburg, Idaho Temple.

What a special place this is for me because when I was a student at Ricks College (back when it was called that), I would go up to a church building not far from the temple and sit in my car overlooking all of Rexburg and pray. It was my "secret" place of prayer. And this temple is just acrossed the street and up the hill a little from the apartments (Hillcrest) that I lived in at Ricks College/BYU Idaho.

The kids and I in front of the Ogden, Utah Temple.

There is a picture somewhere of my Mom and Dad in front of this temple, close to the time I was born (early 1970's). So I had an interest in seeing this temple. My parents were never sealed in the Temple, they had just stopped to visit the grounds and pose for a picture. I was quite surprised by this temple, as it is in the middle of downtown Ogden (or so it seemed) and the area around it was deteriorating with some newer buildings there. The temple has a fence that goes all the way around it and busy streets on every side except for one, where a church building stands. Because of that, we took this picture in the parking lot of a vacant building across the street.


Us in front of the Bountiful Utah Temple

The last temple on our way home (before we got to the Salt Lake Temple) was the Bountiful, Utah Temple. I see it from the freeway as I go and visit my sister in Kaysville. It has the same outside architecture as the Mount Timpanogos Temple (our temple, now). But the Bountiful Temple sits high on the hillside/mountainside in Bountiful. And you will notice, it even sits pretty high above this sidewalk that runs in front of it. As we pulled up to get this picture, a man dressed in a suit approached us and told us they were doing a fireside for the primary children but that we were more than welcome to stay. I think it was his kind way of letting us know they wanted us to park elsewhere or something like that. :) Our kids kind of wanted to stay, after they heard they were serving refreshments, but we got our picture and headed for home.