Monday, October 31, 2022

Sunday Notes

10/16/22
  • Christ is not critical of us, He doesn't tell us we're being bad people; He encourages us by loving us
  • Start taking prayer notes
10/23/22
  • Letting God prevail in my life (or having Christ written in my heart) means that He might have a different plan for my life than I do. I may have to let go of some things to make room for other better, more important, more substantial things. 
  • This week: evaluate what is written in my heart and see if it lines up with my values and having Christ as the center of my life. 
10/30/22
  • Ministering and now, the new For the Strength of Youth, is more revelation based -- not giving so many rules or so much structure, but giving guidelines and letting us receive our own revelation as to how to accomplish this. 

Friday, October 21, 2022

36 Things I Love About My Life

  1.  Jack has a cute face and the prettiest green eyes
  2. Jack's cute car pictures (he drew one for my birthday) 
  3. Lifting weights
  4. The sea turtle pillow cases mom made for all of us after Hawaii. After seeing them so much in Hawaii, sea turtles are for sure among my favorite animals
  5. How the mountains look during the fall -- ablaze with colors. Reds of all variety, yellow, green. They looked especially amazing when we were at BYU last week.
  6. My amazing wonderful friends. I got, like, 7 texts before 9am from friends (and Julie) to wish me happy birthday. 😭
  7. Homeschooling my girls (hopefully Jack can join us for next year) 
  8. Being able to travel so much the past few years
  9. Having Cornbelly's passes this year. We love being able to go whenever. Sawyer especially gets so excited when I tell him we're going to Cornbelly's. He says, "corbeeyy's?" So excited. 
  10. Sawyer -- he is the cutest 2 year old. He just brings me so much joy
  11. Cake for breakfast. Brooke made me breakfast for my birthday present: leftover birthday cake, cinnamon sugar toast, and fruit smoothie. It was very sweet. 
  12. Eating healthy -- getting in my green smoothies, vitamins, lots and lots of water, and bowls -- and feeling so good
  13. My sweet Camille, always wanting to be with me and snuggle with me and hug and kiss me
  14. Thai restaurant for dinner tonight
  15. The girls set up the sweetest spa for me for after we got home from dinner. They had set up everything in their bathroom: decorations, candle, supplies, and the bath filled up a few inches with warm water (and rocks, because according to Brooke, "it looks more natural.") I sat in a chair with my feet in the water while they gave me lotion for my hands, painted my nails, brushed and braided my hair, and read a book to me. They are such thoughtful little creatures. It was so cute. I loved every second. 
  16. We've been able to travel so much in recent years. I've loved seeing new places. 
  17. The color orange -- it's really been growing on me. I blame Jack's influence -- it's his favorite color. 
  18. The rainstorms we've been having so much of this summer
  19. Living close to Daniel's family and so close to Brian's family
  20. Daniel's hard work and good job that provides so so well for us
  21. And the fact that I don't have to work and can stay home and take care of our kids
  22. Movie nights with the kids
  23. Bunco nights with the girlfriends 
  24. Proper romance novels -- I've been reading a lot from this genre this year
  25. My red plaid shoes -- it's time to retire them, sadly. I've never been so sad about getting rid of a pair of shoes. I've been wearing them basically since Daniel and I got married. I think I bought them that first year of marriage. 
  26. Mom and dad being able to visit us so much
  27. When the mountains turn pink
  28. The mountains in general -- I always love them. I'm definitely more of a mountain girl. The mountains in Alaska and Hawaii are incredible as well! 
  29. Black sunflowers -- so cool looking. I didn't even know they existed until the Sunflower festival this year. 
  30. My sisters -- I miss them
  31.  All the fun I've had with my family: swimming days, mom dates and mommy time, hikes, bike rides, playing outside, going to the park, trips, visiting family, dates with Daniel, Cornbelly's, late nights for the kids. We have a lot of fun. 
  32. Nieces and nephews -- I'm glad my kids have lots of cousins to love and play with
  33. Brooke's cheerfulness -- she's such a delight to have in my home
  34. The Book of Mormon has been bringing me so much peace and joy the past few months
  35. Dreams for the future
  36. Daniel
I live such a charmed, full life. Maybe not the kind of life people think of when you say "charmed life". But it is nonetheless. I recognize how blessed I've been, and I recognize God's hand in all the things I love, and I love Him and praise Him for it all. 


Thursday, October 20, 2022

Things I Love About Camille

 It's Camille's 8th birthday today! I'm feeling such bitter sweet feelings right now -- I can't believe how big she is, but it's so fun watching her grow up. She's such a wonderful little person, and I love her so much. Here are some of the many things I love about Camille: 

  • She loves primary songs. She often reads through the lyrics of the songs in the primary song book to learn the songs in it better. She can be heard singing primary songs around the house. In fact, just now, Daniel and I could hear her in the bathroom and her bedroom singing, "I will go, I will doooooo the things the Lord commands. I know the Lord provides a way, He wants me to obey!" It makes my heart just break with happiness. It brings me so much joy to hear her (and my other kids) sing and love the primary songs so much. She, more than any of my other kids, loves the primary songs. A few weeks ago, she asked me to print off the music to one of the songs they were practicing for the primary program -- I Will Walk with Jesus -- and she taped it up on the wall in her room so she could sing it and practice it. That's her favorite song right now, I think. 💕
  • She's so snuggly. She loves to hug and kiss and snuggle with the people she loves. 
  • She's not shy. She's pretty confident talking to almost anyone. Sometimes I have to tell her that Brooke or Jack are talking to the doctor or Sister Frei or something. 
  • She still loves playing with dolls, even though her sister has kind of grown out of that. Emily came to dinner last week and gave the girls her American girl and all the accessories to go with her. She's been wanting to play with her all week. 
  • She's creative. She comes up with the cutest, cleverest little crafts, art and projects. 
  • She adores her big sister and is always saying how cool Brooke is and how she wishes she were Brooke (to which I always say that I'm glad she's herself). She loves to play with Brooke. She also OBSEESSES over Sawyer, and is always squeezing him and kissing him. He hardly ever likes it, though, which means he screams at her to stop, and I always have to intervene and tell her that when he makes that sound, it means he doesn't like it. The one she's really hardest on is poor Jack. It's a constant struggle to get her to be kind to him. 
  • She's started being so funny about things, like for example, she has started taking a shower almost every morning. I keep telling her she doesn't need to shower every day, but she likes it because "it refreshes me and helps me wake up."
  • She loves books. But she nearly always comes out of the library with more books than she can read. And often when we take them home and they sit in our house for a couple of weeks, she's lost interest in them anyway. She just loves the idea of reading so many books, and all the books look amazing to her. She loved reading Harry Potter last month. 
  • She's so brave about getting shots every day. And she's growing so well on growth hormone. She doesn't even really register that she has to get a shot every day, she's so amazing. 
  • She's enthusiastic about almost everything. She loves going places and doing things, getting together with people and playing new things. I love that she always seems ready for a new adventure. 
For her birthday, we, of course skipped school. I spent some time making a cake that afternoon while she played with her siblings. She wanted a vanilla cake with blueberry frosting on it, so, flying by the seat of my pants (of course), I did what I could. I decided to add mashed blueberries to the vanilla frosting I had already made, which made the frosting way too runny. 😅  Sooo it didn't look pretty. But it did taste pretty good. And Camille was happy, which was all that really mattered. She did want wolves on top of the cake. But I didn't get any wolves in time, and the wolf toy we already have is pretty... dirty and well loved. 

For her birthday activity, she wanted to go to Cornbelly's. So after Brooke went to soccer practice, the other kids and I went, and Daniel met us there. I think Brooke was a little sad to miss Cornbelly's on Camille's birthday. But the other kids had a good time, and they did things that Brooke wouldn't have loved doing anyways.

I left Cornbelly's early to be home for Brooke when she was done with practice and to start dinner. Camille wanted hotdogs (and veggie dogs for us vegetarians), cucumbers and bacon. And I think we had a watermelon that needed to be used up that I added in. It was funny, because while we were eating, Camille said, "I don't really like hotdogs." And I was like, "What?!?" And then I proceeded to explain to all the family that when I say they can choose whatever they want for birthday dinner, they can pick something they really like. If they don't like something, don't request it!! I was baffled. She kind of said she didn't really know she didn't like them. But I think that's just silly. We had plenty of hotdogs over the summer. I don't know why she picked hotdogs. 😂

We unwrapped presents and ate birthday cake that evening after dinner. She got narwhal and Jelly books, a bunch of homemade things from Brooke, a sketch book and gel pens and colored pencils. I think she was happy and had a great birthday. 

Brooke made her this cute little crocheted kitty cat. It was adorable. 





Monday, October 17, 2022

 Last weekend, Camille was sick with a cold, which meant 2 things: 1) I missed out on quite a lot (we both did); and 2) Camille and I spent quite a lot of time together.  

On Friday, I stayed home with Camille and Sawyer (who I put to bed), and sent Jack and Brooke to the ward Halloween party with the Freis. Camille and I had some leftovers for dinner, and then we watched a movie together -- the 2nd Ariel movie. Camille loved it, and was in a bit of an Ariel phase for the next week. And I loved spending time with Camille. 

The night before that, we took Claire with us to Brooke's soccer game. It was at this fun park super far away. Brooke played and the kids went back and forth between playing in the playground and watching Brooke. It was such a nice night, and we had fun. 

We rushed back home, and I passed off kids care to Daniel, and I ran off to bunco at Sarah's house. It was so fun to get together with my bunco girls. I love doing it every month. It's a nice little time to get out of the house and do something on my own. And I tied with a friend for highest points, which NEVER happens! It was very exciting. We did a roll off, and I lost, so she got the prize. But I was still thrilled. 

On Saturday, the kids had primary program practice in the morning (which Camille missed), and we did some stuff around the house. Daniel took the other 3 kids up Cody's dad's house for a little goodbye party for them. They ate good food and watched the BYU game and the kids played with each other. They had fun. 

And while they were gone, Camille and I went on a Mommy-Daughter date. We rode our bikes to Cubby's for dinner (a salad for me, fries to share, and a cookie and drink for Camille), and then rode home. We read some Narwhal and Jelly books together, and then somehow got sucked into watching painting videos online. We had a nice time. 

Sunday was the primary program, which Camille and I missed again. I was quite mad about it. I insisted Daniel go to sacrament meeting, because we were planning to switch places for 2nd hour. I was teaching young women's that day. I was trying to be nice, but kicked myself afterwards. I should've just gone. It meant more to me than him; he even told me he was having a hard time staying awake! The nerve! I wanted to see all my cute little primary kids singing, and I missed seeing my own kids do their thing. I was irritated a little with Daniel, but more mad at myself. I regret not going myself. A chance to enjoy sacrament being with less distraction... how often does that come around for me? Plus the primary program. Ah well. Can't blame my good husband too much. Of course if I offered, he would jump at the chance to go to church by himself. 

My lesson in young women's went fine. I teach the younger class, and they are so quiet all the time. It's hard for me to get them to say anything at all. I worry about all the youth, actually. They don't seem very engaged in living the gospel. We give them challenges, we ask them to do things, but they don't do them. They seem unconcerned with spiritual things. 

Monday is laundry, shopping, library day. We came home, had a quick dinner and a quick fhe. And then I ditched the family for a girls night at Cornbelly's with my friends. We did the corn maze, we played games and did some of the puzzles, we waked through some of the scary things, got treats and found a spot by the fire to eat and chat. It was so fun. This is a yearly tradition now; we've done it I think 4 years in a row, now. And it's always so fun. 

I had a pretty good week last week, as far as energy levels and all that. I didn't exercise at all, and saved my energy and I felt better. I thought maybe eating differently was helping me. But this week, I started working out again, and I struggled with fatigue again. I've been praying for help and to know what to do, and I asked Daniel for a blessing Tuesday night (he and brother Bodine). He blessed me to have strength from Heevenly Father to meet this challenge and to make the change... what change exactly that is, I don't know. 

I went to the temple next day, Wednesday afternoon. Sarah and I are doing another kid exchange this month, so I took my kids to her house right after Jack got off the bus. I did initiators again -- it's quicker, mainly. And then went to the celestial room afterwards. I prayed and thought about my current problem. It was so nice to feel at peace in the temple. I didn't get any super specific answers to my query. But I read through the Word of Wisdom, and concluded that I will not stop exercising due to my fatigue and that I will continue to change how I eat to be more healing, raw food, and carry on and hope that things clear up eventually, if I keep caring for myself well. 

I went to see my doctor about the fatigue early Thursday morning. She asked me a bunch of questions, and then had my blood drawn to test for any vitamin or mineral deficiencies. Later that day, I read some articles about vitamin b12 deficiency and I had most of the symptoms listed. Sooo, I haven't heard back yet, but I think that's what it is. 

My kids started fall break Thursday, which was nice because it meant fall break for me too. No school!! I didn't make any fun plans, really. So it turned out that we've just been doing boring, necessary things with our time. Things like deep cleaning bedrooms. Dejunking. Going through my closet and getting rid of things I don't need. Switching the kids clothes from summer to winter. Cleaning out and sweeping up the garage. 

Brooke still had soccer practice Thursday and Friday afternoons. 

Sarah and I took our girls to Cornbelly's Thursday night, which was fun. Brooke hasn't been able to play with her friends much since soccer started, because their schedules were exactly opposite. It made me kind of sad for her, she hasn't had much of a social life since school started. By the end of this month, soccer will be over and she'll have more time to play, but it's been hard for her. Anyway, I wanted to give my girls a chance to play at Cornbelly's with their friends. 

We had fun! We played games and the girls did the zip lines and obstacle course. We waited in line for them to do a spinny ride, and they went and explored some of the fun houses. They tried going through one of the scary things, but they came running out soon after. They didn't like it. 😂

We also watched part of the lights show and fireworks. That was my personal favorite. The fireworks were right overhead and the finale had these amazing white bursting ones that just lit up and sparkled the whole sky. So pretty! 

We ended the night getting treats and snacks, and then letting the girls have one turn on the big slide. It was such a fun night. 

My kids had dentist appointments on Friday morning. No cavities! Hooray!

Daniel took Camille to Cornbelly's for a daddy-daughter date that afternoon. They had a good time together. 

Saturday, after doing a little cleanup at home, we loaded up our bikes and ourselves into the van and went to Provo for our now-traditional family BYU date. We rode our bikes to the creamery for a late lunch/ early dinner, and then rode around campus, stopping at the Eyring Science Center, the library, and the Harris Fine Arts Center (they're tearing it down at the beginning of next year, and it's such a big part of our family history; so we had to visit it one last time and say goodbye 😭😭😭). I love our family BYU dates, they're so fun. And we are doing our best to brainwash our kids about BYU. 😂😂😂 It really is such an amazing place to go to school. Daniel and I loved our time there. 

All the work and fun had me wiped out when we got home that night. We put the kids to bed, made ourselves some food, and then watched an episode of the Rings of Fire together before going to bed. A perfect day. 😊

Last night, we had Emily over for dinner. She's going through a really rough time -- she and Adam are contemplating divorce, which makes us so sad. So she's trying to figure out how she's going to provide for herself. And it's so hard because she hasn't really prepared herself for that. She's sad and lost and scared. And it's hard to see. Daniel and I conclude that she needs the gospel in her life. But she doesn't want anything to do with it. It's sad. Nothing but living the gospel, keeping our covenants, having faith in Jesus Christ and loving God will bring true peace and happiness in this life and the next. 

Today -- another boring fall break day. Cleaning, the kids playing a bit, I'm going to the dentist... boring, but necessary. As I told my friends, I can't always be fun. Sometimes I need to take time to get caught up and get some things done. My to do list is slowly dwindling. Hooray. 

Sawyer wearing my new hat and looking so cute. 



Monday, October 10, 2022

  • Because I've been not feeling great this last month or so, and the kids know I've been really low on energy, they did the cutest little thing: they created a "Mom spa" in their bathroom. They set up a chair with a pillow, had a selection of nail polish on the counter, a coloring page for me to color while waiting, and were ready with a puppet show for entertainment. They had even created their own puppet stage with a cardboard box. The curtains were panels of cardboard and they had attached strings to them so that they could pull the curtains open and closed. It was so adorable. I can't even remember what the puppet show was about, but I think it was very silly. It was just the sweetest little surprise. 
  • I couldn't enjoy the spa for very long, because our babysitter came after about 20 minutes. Daniel and I went to the BYU game with Cody and Liisia, and other old friends from BYU. I was super worried about not having enough energy to last the whole game and be able to enjoy myself. And there were a few times when I felt like I needed to lean on Daniel for a few minutes. But I did better than I thought I would. Especially considering how much walking we did. After we got there, Daniel and I got dinner at the BYU creamery before the game started. It was a very exciting game! The other team scored just a few minutes into the game, and then there was a lot of back and forth, and in the last quarter of the game, we pulled way ahead and won. It was really fun. 
  • The girls and I have been doing a geology science unit for school. We've been loving it, it's so interesting and we've been learning so much.  We've also been doing a lot of fun projects. Once we made rock candies, and another time we opened geodes. The kids loved it. The kits came with little science Eyewear, and after we were done with our project, Jack took the goggles to play with them. He became Scientist Jack, complete with goggles, walkie-talkie, and tools. It's so fun. He often transforms himself into different things depending on his mood. Usually he's a police officer or some kind of animal. And he likes to find or make things to go with his uniform. It's so cute. 
  • Sawyer has been getting more into reading books lately, and I love it. Sometimes, after I get the girls started on their schoolwork, and I have a minute, I'll sit on the couch and tell him to go get some books. Sometimes he brings me library books, and sometimes he'll go find a truck book from the basement. It's fun, because I'm reading a lot of the books I used to read to Brooke and Camille and Jack when they were little. Plus, I just need that time with my baby man. Sometimes I feel bad that the girls got so much of me when they were younger, and the boys not as much. 
  • General Conference weekend was wonderful. We got to watch every session, which feels unusual these days. Sunday, we had Brian and Sammy's family for breakfast and the morning session. And then Cody and Liisia brought their boys over for afternoon session so they could go to the conference center for the last session of conference. It was pretty hard to pay attention on Sunday because of that. But we loved having everyone. Cody and Liisia stayed for dinner that night. It was so nice to visit with them. 
  • At the end of September, we went to the Spanish Fork Cornbelly's for the Sunflower festival. We got Cornbelly's passes this year (first time ever), and both locations are included. The Spanish Fork Cornbelly's is much smaller and less involved than the one here in Lehi. We met Sarah and her 2 youngest there, and my kids had a great time. We played in the obstacle course and slides and corn pit, and we walked through the sunflowers and we cut our own flowers. The flowers were beautiful. I love sunflowers. I was especially loving the dark red ones and black ones. They looked so cool. It was quite a drive down there and back. But we had a good time, and we enjoyed our sunflowers for weeks afterwards. 
  • Daniel and Chris had made plans to take the kids camping the last weekend of September. Buuuut, the weather was supposed to be really rainy and stormy. So they adjusted their plans to just spend some time with us. We met them at a park, where we played with Grampa Holbrook's new hovercraft thing (blanking on the name), and then we went to an indoor climbing place. The girls loved hanging out with their cousins and climbing. Daniel and Chris and Grampa belayed, and I mostly just hung around and watched the little boys. They came back to our house for roasting hotdogs and marshmallows over the fire for dinner. We love living close up family. I love that my kids get to be good friends with their cousins. 
  • So much cardboard creativity in this house lately. The girls, and even Jack, have been keeping cardboard boxes and turning them into things: puppet stages, trucks of all variety, cell phones... I don't even know what all. One day for mommy time, Jack had me help him build a haunted house out of a cardboard box. It's been a big thing lately. 
  • Sawyer is the sweetest, cutest little boy. He's started saying "cuse me" (excuse me) and "taent to" (thank you). The other day, I was making dinner or putting dishes away or something, while he was playing in the sink (like usual). I need the water for something for a second, so I just took it from him. He said, "Hey!" And then he just looked at me and put his hand on my back and kind of rubbed my back and shoulder, or just held his hand on my back until I was done and gave him the water back. It was so cute, and had my chuckling in delight. 
  • We decorated together as a family for family home evening the first Monday of the month. Daniel was working late, so I just put Sawyer to bed early and did a short lesson with the kids. Then we turned on our Halloween playlist and decorated. The kids loved it. 
  • I keep waiting until my girls get old enough to read some of my favorite kids books with them. Well, I decided the time was right to read Ella Enchanted. They loved it! And I had fun introducing it to them. Afterwards, we started reading Halloween books: the Worst Witch, and the Best Halloween Ever.







Brooke made gnocchi for a school assignment one day. We had it for lunch and also dinner. 😍






This is the day I took the kids to Cornbelly's... but Camille couldn't come because she got into trouble. She stayed home with dad. 


Sawyer got to sit in a police car!! The boys were so excited. 




Camille made Mickey Mouse Clubhouse out of play dough. It's cute. 

This is the nail polish from the Mom Spa. I'm the shape of a heart. ❤️

Jack's fox face mask, he made himself. 

Scientist Jack 

Scientist Jack, showing off his geode.

Camille and I had a Mommy Time and played dolls together (because Brooke won't play with her anymore). Mostly she introduced me to all of her people and the things they have. I was astounded again at how creative my little girls are and all the stuff they made for their doll's house. They have so many fun, cool things for their dolls: desks and dressers, rugs and blankets, clothes and hangers, baskets and toys. So cute. I also just had so much fun with her. She was funny and cute and clever, and I found myself laughing quite a lot. I had just a delightful time with Camille. 


Sunday, October 9, 2022

Weird Health Problems

 A few day after Daniel's birthday, I started having weird health issues. They were very subtle and hard to explain. I was really fatigued, and I had a bad brain fog. It was hard to think and concentrate on anything. My body and mind were so sluggish, and I had a hard time making it through the day just doing basic things like school with the girls and dishes and laundry. I was also starting to feel depressed and to struggle with anxiety. But those were my only symptoms. It was like having the fatigue and foggy head of a flu or bad cold, but without any fever or chills or cough. Daniel suggested I might be sick, but it was going for quite a long time. Weeks. It was really hard to do much and to be the kind of mom I wanted to be. I was very snappish with my kids, and I didn't want to take them to do anything fun. The very thought of taking them to Cornbelly's or the park just exhausted me. It was so weird and discouraging.

I Marco Poloed with Wendy about her health problems before going vegan. She gave me some resources she used and videos to watch. I haven't been reading very strictly vegan basically since Jack was born. I do mostly plant based, but when we go out or to someone's house, I would eat whatever I wanted or whatever was served. I also ate eggs a lot and had little things here and there at home: a few chicken nuggets, part of a quesadilla the kids didn't eat, any kind of dessert with milk or eggs in it, etc.

I started following Dr. Goldner and watching her classes, and decided to change how I was eating. She has this protocol that she calls "hyper-nourishing", which is just about flooding your body with a massive amount of healing nutrients and minerals. Last week, I started making huge green smoothies and drinking the whole thing in the morning, and then just doing raw fruits and veggies for the rest of the day, plus nuts and seeds. Everything raw. I wanted to see if eating this healing food would help me feel better. 

What I've learned is that I need to clean up my diet. I have more energy again and the brain fog is mostly lifted (it'd be even better if I was getting enough sleep this week). I also learned that eating raw is super unfun. Sometimes it's hard to get what much green smoothie down; I even gagged and threw some of one of. It was real bad. And at this point, almost a week later, I'm so tired of eating raw veggies. 

I think I'll do one more week of trying to eat mostly raw so that my body keeps getting better. And then after that I'll start adding in cooked food. Eventually I'll kind of go back to eating vegan like I used to. Not perfectly healthy, but also eat more raw fruits and veggies. My health is really important to me; I need to be able to live the way I want! But I also want to enjoy food.

I'm glad I'm feeling better. And I hope I keep feeling even better this next week. 

Sunday, October 2, 2022

General Conference Notes

 J. Annette Dennis

  • Judgement of others is a burden, you can let it go, it's not your job or responsibility -- that belongs to the Savior
  • If someone I love falls away from the church, just continue to love them; it is not my place to judge them, just as I wouldn't want to be judged for my faith
Gerrit W. Gong
  • The blessings of repentance begin once we start to repent -- what do I need to repent of??
President Nelson 
  • Obtaining rest through Christ, overcoming the world
  • Daily repentance, frequent temple worship, calling down the powers of heaven
  • We need to become a more righteous people, a people prepared to receive the Savior at His coming
  • Felt like President Nelson was saying goodbye in his last talk of this conference. 😢 I hope not. I love President Nelson. 

Saturday, October 1, 2022

General Conference Notes

Dale G. Renlund
  • Working within the framework of the gospel allows the Spirit to unleash all kinds of revelation; outside of that framework, we can be deceived and led away.
  • Only the prophet receives revelation for the church; we receive revelation for our own lives. 
  • Our revelation can only work within the doctrines of the gospel; we cannot receive revelation that is contrary to what has already been revealed. 
  • Recognize what God has already revealed to me personally; if He has already answered and the circumstances have not changed, then God’s answer has not changed
Rafael E. Pino
  • In cultures, keep those things which line up with the gospel
  • For a new normal, make increased spirituality your new normal
  • Take a look at our customs and weed out those things which are not doing us good. 
Ronald A. Rasband
  • Read an unmarked copy of the Book of Mormon -- Marking the book of Mormon while reading, looking for passages that testified or talked of Christ -- kind of like what I'm doing now, marking the names of Christ in purple (the color of royalty).
  • Open the floodgates with President Nelson and share the Book of Mormon with the world. How can I do this in my own circle? 
  • Should I send one to Mary??
  • Wow, I just got really emotional at the end of this talk. The Book of Mormon is true and can change lives!! Whose life can I change? 
President Russell M. Nelson 
  • Talking about abuse of any kind to anyone
  • Satan's tactic to blur the line between what is true and what is not -- the internet and social media have made this much worse
  • God is the source of all truth
M. Russell Ballard 
  • Do not lose a sense of urgency to keep the commandments... Satan wants us to get casual in keeping the commandments. 
  • Our challenges are no less difficult than what the early saints experienced -- just different
Kristin M. Yee 
  • We are asked to forgive for our own benefit; the Savior can help us on our path to forgiving others
  • Forgiveness of others changes and cleanses our hearts, as it allows God’s love to fill our hearts
  • He desires my healing and happiness 
Paul V. Johnson 
  • Life changing power of the Atonement, and the miracles that come through Christ
  • Humble yourself, put your trust in God, and the Lord can change your heart
James W. McConkie
  • We as disciples of Jesus Christ have the responsibility to bring others to Christ; each of us has a roll to play in the work of God, none of us can give up
  • How much we need each other to come unto Christ, both to help carry others, and to be carried when we need it. 
Jorge F. Zeballos
  • Talk about fasting, seems really great, but having a hard time listening
  • Fasting helps to strengthen us and make us more resistant to temptation 
D. Todd Christofferson
  • UNITY -- Zion