July 9th - Nursery Fare

Start Quote

When you're cranky and cry easily,

when you are so tired that your eyes 

burn from keeping them open, 

when you need hugs and someone to pat the top of your head

 and whisper "Shh...There, there..." and no one is around, 

you need nursery fare.

Nursery foods are the well-loved recipes from childhood 

that conjure up the happy, innocent mementos 

when all was right with the world 

because we knew our place in it. 

The times when, dressed in our flannel pajamas, 

we sat down for supper before a story and bed...

The next time you're on edge, or need to be talked down off one, 

stop for a moment to concoct something bland and creamy 

to soothe your jaded palate and jangled nerves. 

End Quote

My favorites are chocolate chip cookies,

tapioca pudding (super hot or super cold),

Kraft Mac n' Cheese,

and cream of wheat with buttered toast.

What are your favorite nursery meals?

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Gratitude Journal

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1) Music. Did I ever share that my cousin and I performed awhile ago? Check us out I Stand All Amazed. And then I performed today the piece that I arranged for my grandpa's funeral. Check it out here The Lord is my Shepherd. 

2) Lipsense!!!!!!!!! I have never worn lipstick except on special occasions, because it gets all over your teeth, and then by the time the meal is over it's gone. Check out our demonstration of it's power here (you're going to want to watch, my kids are adorable).

Now I'm not very good at putting on lipstick, and I only did 2 coats instead of three, and I did not apply the glossy gloss like I should have constantly. If I had applied it every hour, my lips would have been better. 

 Here they are at the end of the day, two meals, lots of kisses and tests showing off how cool this is, and about 12 hours of wear.

 You can see that it's fading at the water line, but that's user error.

There are two amazing reds, Blu-Red and Fly Girl, I mixed up in my mind and made it Fly Red...haha. This is Blu-Red, just to be clear. 

3) Time with my kids. Today, I just tried to enjoy them. Sundays are hard, because we have three hours of church and then we try and keep the sabbath day holy. We don't go outside to play, no playdates, we try not to do the things we normally do on the weekdays...So we read books, we cuddled...lots and lots of cuddling...we talked, we told stories, we played games and sang songs and cuddled some more. 

4) Girl time. Riley and I got ready together today, she pretended to put on perfume and it was the cutest thing. She was putting product in her hair and trying to brush it. I love having a little girl.

5) Revelation. So I've been having a problem with prayer, it's like every time I knelt down I just hit a wall. I've basically had this problem my entire life. They say in church read your scriptures, pray, and go to church. They rattle off those primary answers, and people disregard them because those are always the answers...but they are actually really hard to do. I've talked to a few people the last couple weeks and told them that I'm having a hard time praying, and they looked at me and said I feel the same way. I think we need to talk about these things, to not be ashamed that something so simple is so difficult for us. I think that we can draw strength from each other.

So here's what got me over the wall. Prayer is talking to my Heavenly Father. In order to have sincere and meaningful prayers, I need to envision myself kneeling at my Father's feet and talking to him. I'm talking to my Father. I need to thank him sincerely for where I saw his hand in my life that day (which means I need to have my eyes open throughout the day). I need to open up my heart and tell him my troubles and my worries, what I'm struggling with and what I need help with. In order to turn my will over to his I need to be willing to stop what he tells me to stop and do what he tells me to do. If I'm not ready to stop something or to do something, THAT IS OKAY! But in the meantime I can keep praying and asking for guidance and support, for help as I try to get to a place where I am ready. 

I thought, how can I pray to a Father in Heaven that I can't envision or imagine? How can I talk to someone I don't know? But I do know him. I know that he knows me, that he loves and cares about me, I know that he is just and righteous but also merciful. I know that he is my Father, and that I can talk to him. He may be God, all powerful and all knowing, but he still wants to hear what I have to say. 

I will probably hit a wall again, but I hope that if or when I hit that wall with prayer I will remember what I have learned and won't give up. 

6) A little girl drew me a picture. This is a cartoon me!!! How cool is that??!!!