“. . . the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation . . . and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy⁠“

— Pres. Russell M. Nelson

Latest Posts


  • Firsts and other fun times

    We have been pretty busy this past while, because I have been trying to make sure we don't waste away the summer, and so I have too much to post about, but oh well . . . On Thursday our… Continue reading

  • “Underestimating the Sneakiness”

     Derek is so hilarious – I know I always say that, but it is true.  He is especially good at sneaking into places or running away from me.  For example, the other day as we were walking to the mailbox,… Continue reading

  • In Other News . . .

    There is so much I have been meaning to post about, that I decided to lump it all together into another list of adventures, so here goes: *Last Saturday we were all ready to go swimming, but when we got… Continue reading

  • Photo Field Trip #2 – Help!!

     Well, I need help deciding – especially since I was not nearly as happy with my results this field trip.  Maybe it is because I didn't have a good grasp on what we were really doing.  I don't know.  Our… Continue reading

  • Still at it, but just a little bit smarter this time . . .

     I don't know if you will remember my ingenious little boy using the laundry basket as a chair so he could play the piano. Well, he is back – and is smarter and stronger, which means this time he used… Continue reading

  • Change

    We had some big changes take place at church this week, as they realigned our ward boundaries.  For those of you not familiar with ou church, we are devided into “wards” based on population distribution of the members.  Well, because… Continue reading

  • Fun stuff 🙂

    It has been a great week, and a few things have really help make it even better: *Lily calling me her "hero" after I fixed the sound on a computer game she was playing.  It was the cutest thing ever!!… Continue reading

  • My Man in Uniform

     Kevin doesn't often let me brag about him, even though there are always reasons to :), but this time he gave me permission.    You see, Kevin can speak both Arabic and German, and he just won a competition for Linguist… Continue reading

  • A little note . . .

    So I know I have three other posts today, but I wanted to keep them all separate, and so I am sorry for inundating you with a bunch of stuff at once :).  I also wanted to mention that my… Continue reading

  • A Wedding in the Woods

    Yesterday was a road trip adventure to South Carolina.  We were going to my cousin Wendy's wedding – she is the daughter of my mom's favorite cousin, Laurence.  Being the only family in the area to represent my mom, and… Continue reading