Camping in Camdenton

On Friday I took half of a day off work and went camping with my friends the Blacks. We drove to Camdenton, about 2 hours a way, and were surrounded by water on all sides. It was really relaxing and fun. We ate foil dinners and hot dogs, made smores, played on the playground, sang around the campfire, ate yummy pancakes and bacon for breakfast, and played in the water, and stayed up past midnight talking. It was what I needed, it was great time and so nice to just be away from Columbia for a while.

A couple recent projects

Recently I have a need to create things and do something besides work, school or my dissertation so I have created these two things. These are my "Spring" letters - I think they came out cute and were easy. I think I will make some for other holidays as well.


These are my moss ball collection. I saw the idea somewhere but was not willing to pay for them or how much they thought I should pay for them. So I found $1 glass containers, cheap foam balls and the moss that was on sale. It still wasn't super cheap (the moss was a little pricy) but I think that they turned out better than the ones I saw.


I am grateful that I can look at something and make it mine and do it cheaper than the picture I see - I try not to let that talent go completely unused even though it is hard to find the time and money sometimes to do them.

I think that I got my itch to create after hearing Elder Utchdorf's talk again about being creative.
Click here to watch a YouTube video created about the talk - it is really great.

Easter Sunday

What a wonderful day it has been. I am so very blessed. I went to Stake Conference this morning, it was a broadcast from SLC, and so I settled in to watch. It was amazing - I felt like it was GC all over. We heard from a 70, Elder Cook, a general primary presidency member, Elder Oaks and then the prophet! In all my life I have never had two Sundays in a row where I got to hear the prophet speak - what an awesome thing. All the speakers were incredible and I felt immensely spiritually feed this weekend.

After conference the primary presidency and their families meet up at the Black's home. We ate and ate and talked and then ate some more. We were volunteered by Denise Black to provide the music next week in sacrament so we practiced and then ate dessert. The kids had a egg hunt while we had a short meeting to fill the primaries revolving door problem with callings and then called it good. The collage is of some of the cute kids.
There is a short article in the Ensign that touched me today. It is called "The Voice of the Good Shepherd" - an illustration of hearing the voice of the shepherd or the Savior. My thought was am I doing everything I can to really listen so I can hear. Anyway it is worth the short read and I would suggest it.

Happy Easter!!!

HAPPY EASTER everyone! What a glorious day we celebrate today. I am truly grateful for a Savior who died for me, no matter how flawed and very human I am. He loves me and did it for me - I know that to be true. HE Lives and what a amazing gift he has given us all. This week as I have prepared for today and thought about this ultimate and infinite sacrifice I have once again been touched by his love and forgiveness.
I love you all, I love my Savior and know that He lives and loves us. He has a plan for each one of us and He directs His church today.
I hope that you are able to take some time today and ponder the resurrection and the atonement and what it means in your life. There are some great articles in the Ensign this month about the atonement and the last week of the Saviors life (my Stake President quoted the later article several times in Stake conference last night) - if you need to get online and read them!
I am always reminded of Michael Penard of Muskegon Michigan that taught while I on my mission. He had a massive stroke when he was 30 and lost all abilities. Through hard work and determination he regained many of his abilities but would always be paralyzed on the left side of his body and as he walked drug that part with him. He was amazing. As we sat and taught him of the resurrected and that all would be restored to its proper frame the Spirit was so incredibly strong and tears streamed down each of our faces. The need for that promise had never been so profound in my life before. Mike is a humble man of faith and love, I hope to be more like him and my Savior one day.

Passover and Recipes

This week I celebrated Passover (a site that explains passover and how to do it) with my friends Alison and Eva and Lauren. We had a great time. The reading we were using was aimed at children and so my understanding was very good, although my Hebrew is terrible. :) We went through, ate what we were supposed to eat when we were supposed to, drank (bubbly grape juice for me) when we were supposed to, laughed, talked and then ate our yummy dinner of salmon, salad, matzoh ball soup, potatoes, etc. We sat and talked and ate strawberries until 11. It was a great time and I learned more about the symbolism involved - that happens each year and I am so grateful. What a beautiful holiday.


I got this recipe the other day from a friend. They are called Wonder Balls (very appropriate for our family!). It is pretty sweet but a good pretty healthy snack with no "sugar" in it. Enjoy

Wonder Balls
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup honey
1/2 cup milled flax seed (I used golden flax -not milled and it worked great) - for fiber
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used almonds)
1/2 cup dried fruit (chopped if needed)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (mini's)
2 cups uncooked oatmeal

Combine peanut butter and honey well. Then add in oatmeal and flax. Add in remaining ingredients. Roll into balls (use a teaspoon) and then store in a tupperwear container with wax paper in between. Some people freeze them - I don't have room in my freezer so they are in the frig.
I doubled the fruit and left out the chocolate but I will try different combos in the future - they are really yummy.

Homemade Laundry Detergent
This is a "recipe" I found in a book but it is also found online here. You can also buy the Fels Naptha soap here, and it is on sale right now - bonus! This makes a lot and you don't use much. You will need two 5-gallon containers that you will fill with soap (I buy mine from the grocery store - they sell the 5 gallons that icing comes in for the bakery. My store sells them for a dollar a piece and I just ask them at the bakery counter - make sure they have the lids too - also great containers for food storage.) This produces low suds so don't worry - my clothes really are clean and it costs so little! This is what the packaging for the soap looks like so you know what you are looking for.



The recipe for the detergent.
1 Fels Naptha soap bar, grated
1 cup washing soda (not baking soda)
1 cup borax
Grate the soap bar into a saucepan. Cover with hot water. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring continually, until the soap completely dissoves (about 8-10 minutes). Put washing soda and borax ina 5-gallon bucket. Pour in the hot, melted soap mixture. Stir well, until all the powder is dissolved (a yard stick works well because of the depth of the bucket). FIll the bucket to the top with hot tap water. Stir, cover securely, and let set overnight. The next morning , stir teh mixture. Mix equal amounts of soap cencentrate and water in a smaller container or another 5 gallon bucket. Shake before using or stir.
For top-loading machines: Use 1 cup of hte soap mixture per load
For front loading, use a 1/3 cup per load

Feasting and Happy Birthday

I have all of these different posts in my mind throughout the last couple of days. I so enjoyed conference and came away so happy and ready to face the world but a little sad that it was over (I always feel this way). I am so grateful for a living prophet, for direct and specific council, and for the peace and joy one gets from living the gospel. I know that if we listen to the Spirit and act upon the things that are told us we will be happy but if we don't then we don't have that promise. I work with and have some of the most awesome woman in my ward - I am grateful to learn from them each week and learn to love and appreciate different people. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that knows us better than we know ourselves. I am thankful for conference every 6 months - it is about then that I begin to really need to be uplifted and it never fails the Lord always supplies a bounteous feast!
Happy Birthday Restored Gospel!
When I began my work as a secretary in the ward primary it was as hard calling for me. It is not leadership but responsibility, you do not teach but organize, you help but don't get the opportunity to interact ever with the children in a teaching capacity - that is hard. But the Lord has taught me so much about His love, His ways, His teaching and His children. The primary is the Lord's and we help him facilitate teaching, learning and love.

Random Thoughts
I went and saw "Swimming in Auschwitz" with Alison last week. It is very inspirational. They mentioned that it would be playing on PBS stations in the near future - I would highly recommend it. It is about 6 woman who survived it and came out without bitterness or hate - they had amazing optimism and reality as they lived and spoke of their experiences. I think it is an amazing example of the power and strength of individuals and what difference love and companionship make.
I went to a talk today by a woman named Maria Kefelas here at MU today. She works with low-income mothers in the slums of Philadelphia and Camden, NJ. She was an incredible speaker and solidified my desire and need to work with this population. Here is a link to one of the books she has written. It was really a great talk.
I am doing interviews for my internship and wow am I having a great time and learning so much!
I have other random thoughts in my head but I had to get up at 4:30am for a early meeting this morning and got home around 9pm from FHE so 10pm is very pretty late right now.

Parent Prevention Survey

I am trying to hit all my avenues for getting this survey out. Please fill it out if you have children under 19 and tell your friends about it as well. It is OK if you don't live in our county but if you want to use my zip code, the survey will ask for one, it is 65203.

Click Here for the survey and to help out a friend!

In total we need 400 survey's and currently we have about 100 or so.