What Matters to Me

Monday, May 20, 2013

Blazing New Trails

It's important to me that my kids learn to do service. So, I have plans to do service projects with them this summer. Tonight, to gear up for our service giving, we talked about the Mormon pioneers and how they did things every day to help future generations. I read the hymn, "They, the Builders of the Nation" to them. It's a hymn about how the pioneers blazed trails for others to follow, providing service for all who followed after them. The hymn says:

1. They, the builders of the nation,
Blazing trails along the way;
Stepping-stones for generations
Were their deeds of ev'ry day.
Building new and firm foundations,
Pushing on the wild frontier,
Forging onward, ever onward,
Blessed, honored Pioneer!

2. Service ever was their watchcry;
Love became their guiding star;
Courage, their unfailing beacon,
Radiating near and far.
Ev'ry day some burden lifted,
Ev'ry day some heart to cheer,
Ev'ry day some hope the brighter,
Blessed, honored Pioneer!

3. As an ensign to the nation,
They unfurled the flag of truth,
Pillar, guide, and inspiration
To the hosts of waiting youth.
Honor, praise, and veneration
To the founders we revere!
List our song of adoration,
Blessed, honored Pioneer!

So, to inspire my kids to become like the pioneers, I made them T shirts based on the hymn. They are bright so that we can be easily seen if we're picking up trash by a roadside or something. Here are the modern-day pioneer shirts:

I'm so ready for my kids to become trail blazers!

Friday, February 22, 2013

Alice in Wonderland Romantic Day Idea

This is my idea for a romantic present for your sweetheart. It has the theme of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I used this for Valentines Day this year.

You set up a tray with three things on it. You can put it on your bed or nightstand, or just leave it anywhere for them to find. The first item on the tray is a fun or romantic drink. I used sparkling apple cider. If your sweetheart has a favorite beverage, you could use that instead. Then, you attach this tag to it:

The next item on the tray is a fun or romantic treat or a favorite dessert of your sweetheart. You could do chocolate covered strawberries or chocolates. Or you could decorate a cookie or have a piece of chocolate cake. What I did was to put black licorice candies in a cute container because black licorice is my husband's favorite candy flavor. Then, you attach this tag to it:

The last item on the tray is their card or gift. You could make or buy a playing card themed greeting card. Or you could make a poster that looks like an ace of hearts with a message about how much you love them. What I did was to make this little booklet, called "52 Things I Love About You":

I think this booklet was a great idea for reminding my husband how I feel about him. Incidentally, it also served the purpose of remind me just how thankful I am that there are so many, many things to love about him. I highly recommend the exercise of writing out specifics about your sweetheart. It's a good reminder and a good learning experience about how you feel! The template I use for the pages of the book was this:

If you want to use this template or the tags show above, you can right-click on the image and either copy the picture or choose "save as" to save it to your computer. If you save the ace of hearts image, you can open it in a program like "paint" to add text for your own list of things you love about your sweetheart.

I hope you enjoy this idea for making your sweetie feel special!!!

Family Photos: What to Wear?

When it's time to take family photos, it's hard to decide what to wear. You want everyone to look nice, but not stuffy. Sometimes the casual pictures turn out better than the formal ones, and sometimes trying too hard makes things turn out worse than just going with the flow. Here are some ideas for outfits for family pictures for my family of boys. I think that I'll probably end up taking pictures on two separate days with two sets of outfit so that I can have some formal pictures and some fun ones. :)