Sunshine Sentiments

Saturday, July 13, 2013

SUNDY'S SEVEN SABBATH SENTIMENTS - EDITION 11

It has been a really difficult week for my family. Scott has been down two men at work so he has had to work extra long hours (6 a.m. to 7 p.m.). On top of that stress, I had a little medical problem that took me to the doctor on Tuesday and to the hospital on Wednesday. It was more emotional than life-threatening. The tears have flown freely in our neck of the woods this week. But with all the stress and sadness, I have felt the strength of prayer. I couldn't have gotten through this tragedy without the prayers of my family and friends. (Even though many of our family members and friends don't know all the details - I still have felt their love and concern. Thank you.)

After I got home from the hospital on Wednesday, my best friends: Amy, Key Lime Pie and Kotten Kandy, got me flowers. They were yellow (my favorite color) and happy. Because of our trial, I had been feeling unloved. I felt alone and especially forgotten by my Heavenly Father. When the flowers came, I looked at them and remembered how much God loves me too. Here is my simple equation:
Prayer + Flowers + Best Friends = Restored Faith

In happier news: We had the missionaries over for dinner this week. We really enjoy having them over. We have a new missionary in our ward who seems really cool, but he has diabetes and can't eat flour. I've never fixed dinner for missionaries with food allergies. I ended up making taco salad. It was a hit. And we all enjoyed a quick game of The Great Dalmuti afterwards.

We are going to have a Book of Mormon-athon on July 20th at our house! I've invited all the young women in our ward over for the entire day (8 a.m. to 8 p.m.). We will be reading and reading and reading the Book of Mormon ALL day long! There will of course be snacks and pizza and sodas. I am hoping that this Book of Mormon-athon will inspire the girls to get the book read for their Virtue projects! It should be fun! Just let me know if you want and can come!

Kotten Kandy and her father went on a date Friday night. They got frozen yogurt and went bowling. They had a blast!!!!!! Kotten Kandy was especially proud of her double strike!

Since Lime Pie went to trek this week, Kotten Kandy and I made t-shirts. The first shirts we made were for her and Amy since they both LOVE writing. We painted them to look like notebook paper. I thought they turned out really cute. The other shirts we made for Key Lime Pie, Kotten Kandy and I. The song depicted is Rue's Song from The Hunger Games. We also made a little musical shirt for Amy's daughter, Marmalade. It has the song Mary Had a Little Lamb since she learned to play that tune on the piano.

Key Lime Pie LOVED Trek. She couldn't stop talking for over 2 hours when she got home. Although she was filthy and exhausted, she refused to take a shower because she just wanted to share EVERYTHING that she had experienced and done. She especially loved all the leaders. She said that she was blessed with more than one ma and pa because so many other mas and pas took her under their wings. (I am so grateful to all of them: the Schmids, the Fieldings, the Hickeys, and the Theiss, who made Key Lime Pie's first youth conference so special!) She also enjoyed the meals. And she loved her family. She loved singing songs and helping out where needed. She loved the spirituality and camaraderie. She also loved the testimony meeting. She made new friends and strengthened old friendships. Yes, she is dirty. She is tired. But she is happy.

Our Ward Family - before Trek

Key Lime Pie's Family

Muffin & Lemon Lime & Key Lime Pie

Key Lime Pie and Muffin

Key Lime Pie and her brother

Working Hard

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Beautiful Heartbreak - Hilary Weeks - Every Step

This song really is what I needed today and this week. It's been a difficult one. Thanks for sharing, sister!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

SUNDY'S SEVEN SABBATH SENTIMENTS - EDITION 10

Disclaimer:
I'm a day late... due to camping.
This post will have tons of pictures.

Before we left for camp, I decided to use up a few items in my refrigerator. The onion and lime were needing to be used so I decided to make some pico de gallo. I cut up the tomatoes and the onion and realized I had no cilantro. Cilantro is the best part! I couldn't make my pico without the herb. I was about to get into the car and head to the store when I remembered that we had planted cilantro in our little garden. It was just right for harvesting. So our pico de gallo was perfect - with homegrown cilantro. I also realized that I needed to harvest the rest of the cilantro soon (before it turned to seed). So I ended up drying the herb for the rest of the day. It was a lot of work, but I'll be glad I did it this winter!

These remind me of Grandma T! I LOVE snap dragons!

I love flowers! I don't love growing things. I'm not a gardener like some talented friends and family, but I do enjoy taking pictures and appreciating the beauty of God's creations (especially flowers.) The snap dragons above remind me of my grandmother. She used to pick them with me and help me squeeze them just right so they could "open their mouths." It used to make me laugh. Here are some more wild flower and mushroom pictures I took while camping:

This mushroom was about 6 inches tall.

This mushroom was only about an inch tall.

This flower reminded me of a Dr. Seuss flower. It looks prickly, but it was actually really soft.

I couldn't believe that this small branch of leaves were still left over from LAST fall. The color was so vivid amongst all the green.

I LOVED the colors in these dainty flowers!

Before I left for camp I made these cute peanut butter M&M treats for the women I visit teach. I thought they turned out cute. And they made me laugh.

The day before we left for camping, the girls and I went to Jan Melanson's home to sew and visit. She is so sweet to share her talents with my daughters. We are blessed to have great mentors (like Jan) in our lives! Key Lime Pie made a cute, blue, pioneer bonnet for the trek. (She'll be leaving later this week.) Kotten Kandy made some cooling scarves for all of us to wear at camp.

I just finished reading Hamlet again. I like re-reading classic novels as an adult. This time I found myself realizing (again) that Shakespeare is so quotable. I often found myself saying "Oh, that's where that comes from!" and it's like finding an old friend in a new story. "To be or not to be, that is the question." is one classic quote, so is "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" and so is "To thine own self be true" and don't forget "Frailty thy name is woman." My new favorite? "O there has been much throwing about of brains." I can't wait to use that quote! :-) PS - my favorite movie version of Hamlet? = Kenneth Branaugh's version! He is an AMAZING actor!

Kotten Kandy with our dog, Karmel and Key Lime Pie with our other dog, Kamelot

Scott is so cute!

Here's me.

OK, it's time to talk about camping. We had a great time! I loved watching my daughters and husband so happy in their outdoor element. (I'm not much of a camper but I did love taking pictures.)

Chris and Scott coking brats and burgers for the 4th!

Scott using his new dutch oven...

So first: The food was divine! I don't know what was better the burgers on the 4th or the dutch oven chicken and rice or the hobo dinners. It was all delicious!

We also love dancing! So one night we got crazy. You can tell the girls and Scott had a ball!

Dance as if no one else is watching... except mom with her camera!

Why walk when you can dance?

Let's Boogie!

"All the Single Ladies"

We also got to go boating on Saturday. Chris rented a boat and we had a ball! Key Lime Pie and Kotten Kandy had never been boating before. They loved it, but it took awhile for them to get their "sea legs." Scott was definitely in his element on the lake. He grew up with a boat and his family often went camping on the boat. He was like a kid in a candy store!