Cereal For Dinner

If I go all out cooking a nice meal for my kids sometimes I get a small gesture of appreciation. But when there is cereal for dinner I am the mom of the year in their eyes! Go figure?!?

Thais Makes me Laugh!

My bedtime conversation with Thais last night:

Thais: Mom I am really scared to be in my room all by myself
Me: Don't be scared Thaisy, Heavenly Father will protect you and you will be okay
Thais: No mom he won't
Me: Why do you say that?
Thais: Because he has to go to bed too. Heavenly Father will be sleeping and he will not be able to stop a bad guy from getting me.
Me: (suppressing a gut laugh) He won't sleep Thais, I promise he will protect you.
Thais: Yeah right mom. Heavenly Father, Jesus and the angels all have to get sleep too!

Our Family Mantra

TEAM MONSON
Be True. Love Even More. Always Improve. Make It Happen


For family night a couple of months ago, we decided to make a family mantra; something that defines our family and lets our children know what we stand for. We refer to our family as Team Monson, because we are teaching Thais and Sky that we really are in fact a team. We have to work together, treat our "teammates" with respect, and cheer each other on along the way. I think the team analogy works well for kids because everyone wants to be part of a team, and with sports and other activities they are doing it resonates well.

We also decided to use the letter in the word TEAM to further define our family values.

T= True. Be True. I love the quote by Pres. Hinckley "Be true to who you are (a son or daughter of God) and to the family name you bear!" We also use this as a way of teaching our kids to tell the truth. Instead of telling Thais to simply tell the truth when a lie has been told, we say, "Thais, Monsons are True!" It seems to sink in deeper with kids when they are trying to stay in line with what the whole family does, rather than what they should do alone.

E=Even. As in Love EVEN More. I love the Eyres idea of LOVE MORE and we decided to tweak it to love EVEN more. Wouldn't our families and our world be better if we all just loved even harder?

A=Always Improve. We don't want to set a precedence in our home that our children have to be perfectionists or perfect for that matter; but they can ALWAYS be improving. They can improve in their studies, improve their talents, improve their testimonies, improve their ability to serve...whatever it may be we can always work to be better.

M=Make it happen. I love this one. Jordan grew up with the philosophy that the impossible just takes a few more minutes. We want our kids to work; to learn the value of doing something hard.
I absolutely adore it when Thais does something she has deemed difficult, because to see the joy and excitement she emits afterword is priceless.


So there you have it. Small miracles have been taking place in our home since putting our mantra into action. I highly recommend trying one for your family...I'd love to hear what they are!

My Confession...

I don't know why this is so hard for me to admit... maybe it makes me feel like I am not an official adult or something but here it goes: I don't like politics. Yep, it's true.

I have tried in semi-earnest to catch the bug. But here are some of my dilemma's:

1. I find talk-radio and many "mainstream media" stations to be incredibly cynical and border line depressing. It's all just saturated with negativity and bias and after a good while I think, 'who cares what we all think. The world is going up in flames any darn second'. I am a peace maker by nature. In my experience politics and peace are not friends. Political conversations are often passionate and loud and usually produce lot of furled eyebrows... It's one of the few topics where people feel SO threatened by those who believe differently. There isn't room for a whole lot of tolerance.

2. I don't think political parties stick to their core values. In theory I know what a Republican is and in theory I know what a Democrat is, but the way these parties actually run and the people who represent them always seem to be in some sort of weird grey area. Voting trends, words, and actions are just not consistent enough for me. I used to think I was a republican because I am conservative, but that just isn't always the case anymore. There are many liberal republicans and even many conservative democrats; what's more is I both agree and disagree with each side. I suppose that makes me independent but again, I am not sure.

3. I don't trust politicians. Enough said.

4. Staying informed just takes effort. I have opted not to vote in some local elections because I have neglected to take the time to be informed. I feel like I could do more harm just voting for someone because they are affiliated with a certain political party. I need to be clear about where our Representatives stand.

This all being said, I want to improve. I want to feel a little passion for my political beliefs. I need some good resources so I am going to get started by reading, "A Conflict of Visions; Ideological Origins of Political Struggles" by Thomas Sowell (recommended by my father-in-law) and then we'll take it from there.

Any suggestions?

A Change...

I don't know how many of you follow the blog 71 toes, if you don't...do! It's a gem. One of the things that I love is she does this focus report where she picks a "focus" for the year and then one for each month. So for example, she picks things to work on like being a better listener or spirituality and some months it's family meals, or laundry. I love the idea of being focused. It changes how you go about your days/weeks when you have a specific goal in mind. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed when I think about all of the ways I want to be better and it helps to make a list of all of these ways and then "focus" one thing at a time.

I put the logo Always Improve on my blog header because that is my focus during this 30th year of mine (I like going by my birthday and not always the new year). Always Improve is part of our family mantra (I will post more about that later) and I like that it makes the statement that we don't have to be the best, nor do we have to be perfect, but we can always be improving. I have not decided how I want to do this, whether I want a monthly or weekly or even daily focus, but I am going to use this blog partly to report my progress. According to my tracker thingy I only have 8 followers on this blog-so I am sorry to say my dear 8 followers, this may not be exciting (not that anything else I post really is) but I kind of have this feeling that I am going to come out all the better. Some things I want to improve on are:

Beautifying the home

Piano

sewing

photography

motherhood

working out

politics

spirituality

family fun

perspective

organization

following through

being intentional

friendship

yikes! I know, I know. I have my work cut out for me. It's a good thing life is long time....

Wish me luck!

The Princess and Her Frog

I found this little guy hopping around the tennis courts and knew he would have an adoring fan if I brought him home. Here's to hoping her kisses are reserved for frogs until she's at least 16...

I Believe In Mothers!

I hope my sister doesn't mind ( I will check with her before I post this) but I need to vent about an experience she shared with me yesterday. I will spare many of the details, but her experience was something to this effect: Yesterday my sister attempted the impossible... Costco with five kids. Her youngest is just 3 months old and cries in his car seat, so moms you can just imagine what a crazy venture that can be. My sister has a spirited three year old and at one point she wandered away, still within just a few feet from my sister. When my sister went to retrieve her little girl she was approached by a couple who apparently had a few things they needed to get off their chest. Here were some of their words, " The bible says children should be seen and not heard... You should have stopped at one child... You are disgusting... My two children would have never made noise..." My sister said that at one point the man was three inches from her face, as he hurled insults at her. You can imagine how this made her feel. I was proud of how she handled it, but when she finally let herself tear up about the encounter, she wondered how someone could express seemingly pure hatred toward herself and her children. After all, we live in a world that is cankered with numberless evils and atrocities so how does someone use the word disgusting when referring to a young mother and her children? Needless to say, I am very sad that my sister had to have this experience...But I am even more sad at the very personal and tangible attack that is being placed on the family and more specifically mothers. One has to wonder why the adversary has such a personal vendetta against motherhood? If the world is constantly undermining the significance and importance of motherhood, why is Satan fighting so darn hard against us?

Innately, of course I know the answers to these questions. Mothers are more significant and important than most truly understand. I recently read an article by a mother who quoted an on old saying I haven't heard in a while, "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world" William Ross Wallace (1819-1881) I think the significance of this statement needs to seep deep within all of us. Think of what our world would be if every nation's leader, every politician, every teacher, every cranky DMV worker (no offense) would be like if they were all raised by upstanding mothers. Where would we be if each and every mother bought in to Satan's lies and quit mothering because she decided that she was insignificant and unimportant? Russell M. Nelson said, “Because mothers are essential to God’s great plan of happiness, their sacred work is opposed by Satan, who would destroy the family and demean the worth of women.” I am so grateful that we have Prophets and leaders in our church who fight for mothers and the family. I find great hope, when like an old transistor radio, I tune into their voices amidst the static that is in the world around us. A quote I love is by David O. McKay which says:


“[The] ability and willingness properly to rear children, the gift to love, and eagerness … to express it in soul development, make motherhood the noblest office or calling in the world. She who can paint a masterpiece or write a book that will influence millions deserves the admiration and the plaudits of mankind; but she who rears successfully a family of healthy, beautiful sons and daughters, whose influence will be felt through generations to come, … deserves the highest honor that man can give, and the choicest blessings of God” (Gospel Ideals [1954], 453–54).

Similarly, I love the thought by James R. Clark who said, “Motherhood …is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels.”

I know that often times these words sound great in theory, but sometimes it's hard to feel like your service is next to angels when you can't remember that last time you had a solid night sleep, or when you feel like your abilities as a mother are being scrutinized, or when you feel like you've literally spent an entire day just cleaning up messes (it's hard to picture angles scrubbing crayon off of the walls.) Despite these hardships, I have found that sometimes just a quick prayer and some mind over matter, helps me keep perspective in all that is required of me as a mother. When I turn to a loving Heavenly Father with the desire to know if my work matters, the voice of heaven is loud and clear: Yes! The work of a mother matters. A lot! Sheri Dew has said that, "No woman who understands the gospel would ever think that any other work is more important or would ever say, “I am just a mother,” for mothers heal the souls of men.” When I teach my daughter to tell the truth I am shaping an outstanding human being. When I teach my son to be kind to others; I am forming the ingredients of a better society. When my husband and I call our children to family prayer-we are literally calling upon a power that can change the world.

So to you, Mr and Mrs Costco couple...whomever you are, you are free to spend your days feeling disgust for large and thriving families or hurling insults at young mothers who are doing the best they can; but you will not win. Your words only make us want to fight harder. You may live by the principle that, "kids should be seen and not heard" but mothers live by the principle that we are, "healing the souls of men!" We have the hands that rule the world!

Jenna, my sister, I love you. Don't let unkind words slow down your purpose..I believe in mothers!