A Lesson For Me.

Kids amaze me. They constantly astonish me in the best kind of way. They're pure and humble. Forgiving and kind. And they are the best sort of teacher around. I was reading a past issue of the Ensign Magazine, and came across a lovely talk by Margaret S. Lifferth titled, "Behold Your Little Ones" I remember the impression this talk had on me the first time I heard it back in 2006, so I was happy to come across it again tonight.

These a few of the quotes from her talk.

"Children are open to gospel truths more than at any other time, and protected childhood is literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to teach and strengthen children to choose the right.

It’s easy to know what to teach. The scriptures and our prophets are clear about what to teach our children. Nephi summarizes it in this verse, “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ … that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2 Nephi 25:26)."

Brothers and sisters, as a mother and a Primary leader, I know this work with children is not easy. Protecting, teaching, and loving children can be demanding, often discouraging, sometimes exhausting, and occasionally the fruits of our efforts are long delayed. But it is precisely because it is not easy to bring children to the Savior that we must come to Him ourselves.

As we seek Him and His Spirit to help us, we will see a miracle. We will recognize that our own hearts are changing and we too are becoming “submissive, meek, humble, patient, [and] full of love” (Mosiah 3:19). We too will reflect the light of the gospel in our own countenance. We will come to understand these words of the Savior: “And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me” (Matthew 18:5).

I'm not always great at remembering that this is my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to teach my children all they need to know to be happy and successful in this life, but talks like this reinforce my motivation to do better and to be a better person. Observing my own kids reminds me why it's so important that I give them a strong spiritual foundation at an early age. Jordan taught me this lesson just last week at a baptism of two little girls in our church. While the girls were changing out of their wet baptismal clothing, friends and family who attended the baptism were asked if they would write down their thoughts or their testimony on a piece of paper that the girls could then take home for a remembrance book. I was so touched by the words Jordan wrote down that I made a copy of them for myself. This is part of what he wrote, "When I was baptized I was a little worried, but after I got in the water I felt nice and clean. I am proud that I got baptized. I am for you, too.....I'd like to bear my testimony to you that I know that Heavenly Father is happy that you got baptized....I know this church is true. I'm grateful I came today."

That little guy amazes me. Even more than that, he astonishes me. He makes my heart swell with happiness because I know he gets "it"! He understands the simplicity of our Heavenly Father's gospel, and that it is attainable to all. I'm grateful I was reminded of that little lesson tonight.

Hooray for teenagers!

It's official~~~I'm the mom of a teenage boy! Today Kyler turned 13, and in doing so I was inducted into the Moms of Teenagers Club. Lucky for me I've got an above average teenager. He's polite. He does his homework and gets straight A's. He always gets ready for school by himself and never complains that he has to wake up at 5:45 even though the rest of us sleep in an extra hour. He's a planner and reaches all the goals he sets for himself. He is an amazing example to others at church, at school, and at home. Quite honestly, he's an amazing kid. I am so lucky to be his mom.

Happy birthday, Kyler!

Here are some of his favorites as well as accomplishments from the past year.

Favorite food: Fettuccine Alfredo

Accomplishment: Kyler developed a love for choir this year, and even earned himself a singing solo at the Young Americans concert.

Favorite color: Blue

Accomplishment: It was announced the boys needed to fund the entire $250 cost of Scout Camp this year so Kyler got a babysitting job and had all his money earned within 2 months. He was the only one in his entire troop to have any, let alone all of his money saved last month.

Favorite Books: Kyler LOVES to read. This usually involves reading into the wee hours of the morning, but I'm very grateful he has a love for books. Some of his favorites this year included the Percy Jackson series, The Alex Rider series, The Kingdom Keepers series, and Among the Hidden series.

Accomplishment: Kyler was called into the Deacon's Quorum presidency at church and one of the first things he did was create a blog with a newsletter for the boys to read. He's great on the computer and a great organizer.

Favorite vacation: Disney or cruising. He's a master travel agent.

Accomplishment: Kyler was asked to be a Den Chief for our Cub Scouts. Within 48 hours he had all his online training done and was ready to be put to work. Again, he did all of this without being asked. He is such a go-getter.

Favorite Television Series: Kyler loves NCIS and Psych. He also likes different cooking shows on the Food Network.

Accomplishment: Kyler was in advanced science and math this year and they'd really like him to be in advanced English.

Favorite subject at school: Math. This might have a little to do with his ultra cool teacher~ Ms. Nancy Reynolds. I told him he had an ultra-cool aunt with the same name so it was in the cards she would be amazing.

Accomplishment: He made it to 13 and his mom and dad still don't want to trade him in. I think that's one of the greatest accomplishments a teenager can achieve.

Fishes, dolls, and even more fish.

Spring Break reached our house the first week of April, and we tried to make the most of it by heading to Chicago for a few days of relaxation and fun. Stop #1 along our route was to the "Fish Store" aka "The Bass Pro Shop." Caleb was in heeaavveenn!! He couldn't believe his good fortune to be in a store that not only had an aquarium, but also an assortment of taxidermy animals. It was quite possibly the most exciting store he's ever been to. I suppose having 3 boys warrants more trips to hunting, fishing and all-around outdoor stores, but hello...I'm a girl and usually prefer the mall over a bait shop.

Once we made it to Chicago Kevin and I decided to wipe the calendar clean of most everything in favor of sitting poolside with a good book while the kids swam. It was so relaxing, and just the sort of break we needed this week.

On our second day in the Windy City, we ventured into downtown Chicago where we ate at the Grand Lux Cafe, and can I just add that it was Mmm...Mmm....good! Kyler even got an edible birthday card from our waitress.

We also checked out the Disney Store on Michigan Avenue, and just for fun we ventured into this "little" boutique:

Yep...That's an American Girl Store, and let me assure you, we were like fish out of water walking into a girls doll store with 3 little boys. Kevin's always wanted to take a peek inside one of the shops though so we seized the opportunity and went inside this enormous store . What we saw amazed us. I'm talking jaw hits the ground while eyes pop out of your head amazement. There were hundreds & hundreds of dolls, doll stations, doll dressing rooms, doll photo booths, a doll hospital, and even a doll salon. Unbelievable! We watched one dad who was obviously from out-of-town with his wife and young daughter while they waited in line for their new American Girl doll to be called in for her spa treatment. Yep...you read that right. You can visit an American Girl shop and for around $20 your doll can have a relaxing day at the spa which includes a visit to the salon for facial scrub, cucumber stickers for the dolls eyes, flip-flops, a salon cape, a faux face mask, and nail decals. You can even get your doll's ears pierced. The dad we watched had his camcorder out filming his daughters new doll sitting in the salon chair as she was getting her make-over. Every so often he'd look down at his feet and give a slight shake of his head. You could practically hear him thinking out loud, "Man, I saved all year to visit Chicago so I could pay this much money for a doll and her day at the spa" It was sort of hilarious. Not that I'm knocking anyone who has an American Girl doll. Believe me, if I had a daughter I'd probably be lined up to pick the perfect doll, too, but this guy was so clearly out of his element that Kevin and I couldn't help but chuckle. We would have had the exact same look on our faces if our places had been swapped.

Alas, our time in Chicago was winding down. We had enough fun in downtown Chicago for the day so we went back to the hotel for some more poolside reading and swimming. It was so relaxing and enjoyable. I'd do it all over again today if I could. The next day we drove home and decided to let Caleb hit nirvana once again, only this time we stopped at Cabela's where the boys tried their hand at rifle shooting:

Pretended they were back at a zoo with all their favorite animals.

and relished the time we had before arriving back home.
This has been an awesome Spring Break!