"freeze like a popsicle" to search for and chase squirrels, an absolute favorite activity of his.
Dirt eaters destroying my garden.
A little tomato harvest!
Maxson loves our neighbor Chloe, he calls her "Ch-oh-ee" or "Coh-ee"
BQ
BQ
This cute little sleeping Quinny, be still my heart.
A busy park day on the swings.
Here's our wonderful pregnant friend on her due date getting 25 lb babies to easily fall asleep on her. She is literally super mom.
Conference crepes!
Nom nom
a. Listening to General conference was the hardest yet this year, my 3 children were SOO needy and loud I didn't get to hear much and I was really sad. But I know that in time I will get to read those talks again. I was so happy to hear the words of our wonderful prophet, President Monson. I know he is a prophet of God who leads and guides this worlds today. My testimony was strengthened and reinforced as I watched 3 new men called as apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ and join the quorum of the 12 apostles. I got to listen a little more to the Sunday afternoon session which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a wonderful weekend even amidst all the not ideal moments of conference listening. If you have any questions about my church and faith just message me or comment!
b. We went on a tiny walk while our daddy was at the Priesthood session.
And then after the Priesthood session Max threw up a few times and was sick :( Luckily it was only a couple times that evening and nothing during the night, poor thing.
So on the fifth and final day of Casey being MIA, it was stake conference.
STAKE CONFERENCE.
The older (more mature, gasp!) I get, the more and more I get excited for ward and stake conferences, not only general conference.
But with Casey being gone, I thought to myself, why in the heck should I be going to Stake Conference? I have 3 boys under 3, I am in no place to be going to a meeting like that with all of my children alone. Am I really going to be able to listen to any of it? If I go I will have to ask other people to help with my children and essentially ask them in turn to not listen to the meeting either.
Regular church is a circus enough which is 1 hour and 10 min of needing to sit, be still, and stay in our row juggling the children. Regular church is hard let alone TWO hours without my husband.
But as soon as I questioned myself in not going I immediately thought well what will I do, stay home? Yeah, that is so not happening. I'm not just going to stay home from church on a Sunday for no good reason. I have to be at church, that's where I need to be.
As I told a few others my concerns everyone of course offered to help, I just felt so bad accepting their help knowing they weren't going to get nearly as much out of conference if they helped. But the kicker was when I was at a Relief Society activity this last week and our bishop overheard my pity party he said It takes a village, Kimber.
And boy does it ever.
I can't do this motherhood thing alone, I have too many needy children to do this alone and not accept help. Even if I only had one child, "the village" can teach that one child so much more wonderful things beyond what I know.
So I went. I went to Stake Conference "alone" with my 3 small children but I wasn't really alone.
I knew I needed to be at church, at the 2 hour stake conference meeting. I would be obedient to the promises and covenants I have made.
But as learned from the scriptures, faith without works is dead.
So the night before I prepared like preparing for the Sunday-church apocalypse. Snacks and activities galore. Fruit loop necklaces, new busy bags, brand new planes and motorcycles to play with. I knew that if I was prepared I would not fear.
I had ideas in my mind of what I'd do with the children. Asking different people to help potentially. And then an angel friend of mine texted me that night asking if her and her husband could help with the babies tomorrow. Tender mercy from the Lord, you do your best and let the Lord do the rest. I also had my cousin and her children staying with us that night who attends our stake and she said she was would help with the kids too.
So armed with the diaper bag, a snack bag, a toy bag, my double stroller, 3 children, and 3 additional adults we divided and conquered.
We sat in a side room watching and listening to the stake conference with 5 other families (one being my cousin, one being my friend who texted, one being a woman in our ward with her 2 boys who then helped entertain Maxson, that woman's parents, and one other family with young children) (EXTRA TIP! sitting in a side room at stake conference is actually more quiet than sitting in the main room!). There was no pressure to be perfectly behaved and quiet. Max had space to be a little more rowdy than normal church but it was ok and I didn't have to be stressed over his behavior. The children were well attended to between all the extra hands, I was able to listen to parts of conference and LEARN from the spirit why I was there and what my heart and mind needed to learn. It was so wonderful.
(This is my cousin Nicole who helped us, notice her husband couldn't come either! She's such a great example of everyday righteousness!)
Being secluded in our home due to having a newborn has created a little different Christmas season for me. I feel like I've kind of been removed from the hoopla of Christmas busy-ness. BUT one thing that I've not been removed from is all the beautiful messages and videos shared online about the true meaning of Christmas. I've fallen in love with a couple of the beautiful videos my favorite is the Share the Gift Video:
It's only 3 minutes! You can take 3 minutes watch it!
I've felt the overwhelming love of my Savior Jesus Christ envelope me this year through various personal issues I've gone through. I've learned I am never alone and that someone else truly knows EXACTLY what I'm feeling. He's been through it all and He will help me get through it all. Because of the gift of our Savior Jesus Christ I can be a better mom. I can be a better wife, daughter, and friend. Because of my Savior Jesus Christ I will be a better person.
This season I will Share the Gift by by teaching my children about the birth of our Savior.
For family night this past week I began teaching Maxson about the nativity story with the Little People's nativity set. I think the only thing he caught onto was that one character was called "beebee," he likes babies :) I think he understood that the baby was important. He also liked putting the baby on the top of the nativity. And although Maxson can't comprehend the importance of the nativity story at this point, I will continue to teach him at the cradle side of the love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ has for him.
Christ is the ultimate gift that any of us have ever been given. If you have any wondered if you are loved or important or of worth I promise you that you are and if you take the time to learn more about Jesus Christ you can come to know that same truth.
Yesterday was one of those awful pregnancy days. The one I talked about in my 34 week post when I was 33 weeks, remember that? I woke up and just knew it was going to be an awful day. I felt way bigger and slower and uncomfortable than usual. I wanted to be good mom to Max all day but I just physically couldn't. I mustered up the energy to take him in the car to watch the tractors around the corner from our house and organized the toys into 4 boxes instead of 3 for rotation. It'll be nice now that there will be less toys out at a time as well as now 4 different toys groups to rotate through instead of 3. After that I took a nap with Maxson, I don't remember the last time I missed a nap when Max is napping, it's kinda mandatory these days. I took a shower and made dinner and those last 2 items really killed me. These next 3 weeks are going to go soooooooo SLOWWWWWW. I'm really ready to be done now. I am 35 weeks today, whoopee!
Onto happier items thoughts and activities:
Oh how we loved General Conference this year! Every conference time is truly inspiring. It's never the same now that we have a little toddler running around but we try our hardest. During both morning sessions Maxson was awake and we tried our hardest to distract him and listen intently at the same time. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. But both afternoon sessions we received a tender mercy and Maxson slept through most of those sessions. Oh how grateful we are to hear the prophet and his apostles' voices!
b. fruit necklace that I had prepared the day before was definitely a win. Kept him quiet for a whole talk or more!
a. During Priesthood session, a few girlfriends and their kids came over and hung out
d. After all the sessions were done on Sunday evening, we all played outside for a LONGGGGGGG time.
My favorite talk this year was "Rescue in Unity" by Elder Chi Hong (Sam) Wong. He outlined the story in the Bible about a man stricken with palsy in Mark 2:1-5. I was so touched how he brought such a new light to these 5 simple verses in the scriptures. I was inspired how he brought the scriptures to life and showed how every person in a ward has a purpose and can help and we all need each other to get things done; good things take work from everyone.
There were of course so many other wonderful talks I was filled with the spirit with while listening but I can't exactly remember them. I cannot wait to read through them again! You can read through/re-watch them here
After listening to Elder Bednar's recent CES devotional I made an effort to find various LDS centered accounts to follow on Instagram, thus far I had only followed friends or bloggers I really like. Well today the mormon channel IG account posted this video:
Heavenly Father knew I needed to watch this video today. I was completely pitying myself all morning long.
Last night at 11:30 pm I went into Maxson's room trying to find the humidifier to use in my room for the night since I had had not the best night the night before with a stuffy nose. Of course I woke him up and after Casey and I trying to get him down multiple times to sleep I ended up getting up with him at 12:20 and bringing him downstairs to play in the dark and not just cry/scream in his crib.
I was exhausted by 1:30 and grateful he didn't fight me going to sleep yet again. I figured since he'd lost 2 hours of sleep that night he'd sleep in; not the case.
8 am wake up call came around, I didn't have a great night sleeping once again because of my nose and now I woke up with a terrible chesty cough that hurt, oh and I'm 8 months pregnant with twins if that makes a difference in the kind of quality sleep you can actually get.
I decided to get up with Max and let Casey keep sleeping since he'd been missing out on so much sleep recently from staying up studying for a test.
And side note, the night before I had about killed myself by having to go grocery shopping at 9:30 pm thus killing my back and giving me tons of contractions. This grocery shopping trip was a big one because we were literally out of everything because grocery shopping is overall really too strenuous on me.
I was banking on the fact that when Casey got up, he could watch Max, and I'd go back to sleep since he didn't have class until 1. He awoke at 9:40, showered real quick all to run off to a physical therapy appointment I didn't know about at 10.
I was struggling. I didn't want to have to put a movie on for Max or give him my phone and he just kept getting into small things that would be better that he didn't. He wasn't really into playing with toys by himself either. I was not feeling so hot with being pregnant achy, and now cold/cough achy, and tired from the night. I just wanted a break. At the same time I couldn't ask a friend to help out because I didn't want to chance sharing this cold of mine. I let him play in the bath for awhile which was good entertainment for a little but at the same time it takes so much effort to get him back clothed and not wild after a bath for some reason.
I was constantly looking at the clock hoping for Casey to come back, counting down until I thought he'd arrive. I finally opened up one of the family year books, 2013, and got Max to sit by me and look at the pictures while we pointed out everyone he recognized, family, friends, mom, dad, etc. Luckily that kept his attention until Casey got home, hallelujah.
I was so happy to have my halftime for a little until Casey had to go back to school at 12 for a lunch thing that I again didn't know about. While he was putting on Maxson's shoes to go outside, he mentioned that I left the van door open again all night long. Being in the vulnerable state I was, I blew up.
As I marched madly upstairs before I said too much I mentioned how HE was the one last night bringing in the groceries from the car, not myself.
I went to my bed fuming for being blamed for the door, fuming that Max hadn't slept in, fuming that I was sick and it wasn't even that comfortable to lay down, fuming that I have 2 more months of uncomfortable sleep still, and then to top it off one of the babies must have been kicking the top of my rib because I've never felt pain like that before, it was excruciating.
All I wanted to do was sleep but all the outside factors wouldn't let me. As I laid there I thought to myself "I should pray. That would help me right now." My tiredness got the best of me before I could act.
After about 20 minutes I heard a soft "mama?" coming from the stairs. "Mama?" getting louder "mama?" His voice was so sweet and pure that it brought a smile to my face, I wasn't sleeping anymore (although pretending to do so) but rolled around to see him at the side of my bed with red donut crumbs all over his face and hands (the main reason I was coaxed in to going to the grocery store last night for a big shopping trip was for a donut. But because I went so late they only had the already boxed up ones where you couldn't pick what you wanted. I failed in my box selection because I nearly hated every single donut in there, fail.)
I cleaned him off and pulled him into bed next to me where a big smile spread across his face. We went through a bunch of the same antics, he'd try to wake me up and I'd tell him "mama's sleeping you sleep too" he'd then lay down and nuzzle his little head towards mine and after about 10 seconds get up, go to his room, find a book, bring it in to me, make me pull him up on the bed, he'd ask for me to read it and then we'd start all over.
Then I convinced him to get his monkey so he could fall asleep with mama. He got his monkey, came back into a cuddled with me for maybe 30 seconds this time. Then he gave me monkey to sleep with while he read books next to me vocalizing all the pages in his little toddler talk, putting books on my face wanting me to read them, and continuing. After 10 minutes I realized he kept yawning and rubbing his eyes so I texted Casey to ask him to put Max to bed. So finally at 11:45 Max went to sleep without a fuss.
Now was meant for my sleep time, I'd catch up, I thought! Again, no such luck. My mind kept racing of things I needed to get done or really the things I needed/wanted to get done today but knew I wouldn't because of the way I was feeling. I kept needing to cough and sneeze giving me more contractions. I was uncomfortable. I couldn't breathe. It was just a nap that was meant to go no where.
That takes me to right now. I came down stairs to zone out on the computer for awhile, I looked through IG and found this video and the tear gates opened.
Although I feel like an absolute failure today I have my reasons. I am sick. I am growing two babies inside me. I am still giving Maxson love and attention and helping him grow. I did do dishes so Casey didn't have to later. Today I am not able to reach outside my home to help others like the amazing woman in this video but I can reach outside myself and help my family within my home. The little boy's prayer was my favorite "We're grateful we got everything done you wanted us to do today."
The Lord is our answer, our rock, our comforter, our Redeemer. His to-do list is always more important than ours. With His strength and our faith in Him, we can do it all, all as in what is truly necessary.
I'm grateful for this little video that brought me back to perspective. I'm grateful to be a mom with Casey by my side and the Lord pushing and pulling me forward when I've lost strength.
The week after school we took a quick little trip over to Nauvoo, IL. Nauvoo is a place with lots of rich, deep church history for members of the LDS church. The church has reconstructed a bunch of buildings there and just made it really fun place for families to learn all about the history of church. We got in in the super late afternoon one day, saw a tony little music show, walked around their country fair area and then saw the Nauvoo pageant that night. They did such a wonderful job with the production of it all. Maxson did ok during it, near the end we just had to switch out with Maxson so he could run around. We really loved finally getting to go watch the pageant (I've officially now seen all the church pageant productions!)
And to my surprise we were having camera card issues!!!! We got there and it wouldn't read the card we scrounged up! (Maxson lost the main one I use days before). It was great not having to lug that behemoth thing of camera around for this adventure, a nice break from needing to take pictures of everything. But I did miss having the end result of all the nice pictures. Luckily for us we did have our phones for pictures and that's what matters most!
Nauvoo temple
b. Casey walked with Maxson in the children's parade
c. children's parade again
d. wagon ride around old nauvoo. maxson was enamored by those huge horses
a.-c. Thanks goodness for this kids station. It was the only area where we could finally enjoy some of the activities they offered without having to stop Maxson from touching everything and running everywhere. He was at such a hard age for visiting Nauvoo, just so active and busy but you couldn't quite be in that setting. So we were ever so grateful for this kids games area.
d. He FINALLYfell asleep after the kids game stuff and we were able to enjoy a couple of the house tours without chasing after him, glories.
a.-c. Definitely a favorites of Maxson's was the blacksmith shop. The loud banging was right up his ally. The fire also got too hot and started throwing out sparks like a sparkler, which was fun.
a.-b. We finished the Nauvoo area with a visit to Wilford Woodruff's home. An original home in the area. He's my 3rd great grandpa so it was special to me!
c.-d. We then drove the 30 minutes to Carthage to visit Carthage jail where the Prophet Joseph Smith was killed. What a sacred building. It was amazing to be there and see it all. The stories of the past are so richly with the filled the spirit.
I am so grateful for all the effort time and money the church has put into this history site to remind people of the stories and sacrifices of the Saints in the early days of the church. There were SOOOOO many wonderful senior missionaries making that place function so smoothly and then the sister missionaries and summer performer missionaries were so beyond awesome too. Can't wait to take my family back when we all my kids are older!
A friend in my ward posted this little blurb on Facebook and we found out we 6th cousins once removed! I thought that was so totally cool. So I wanted to share it with you so we can find out how we are related! This is a fun online relative search created by BYU that is powered from your own tree from familysearch.org. You can create a group and share to see how you are related to someone or run the report against the default groups already created. It is fun to look up prophets, current apostles, and american history people . A group I created for my own tree is "kimber cutler", password "kimbercutler", if you add that group it will display how we are related. Here is the site: http://roots-fb.cs.byu.edu/
Here's a little screen shot of the a few of the US presidents I'm related to: If you do join, you can then make your own group and share it with friends, don't forget to share it with me so I too can see how we're related!
Sometimes family history stuff really is cool!
ps- casey's info is group "casey cutler" password "caseycutler"
pps- casey and i are 10th cousins once removed, ha ewwwwww ;) he and i had the same grandfather back in the 1600's
this beautiful girl left on her mission this last week and we couldn't be more thrilled for her!
tayli, casey's younger sister, has been called to serve a mission for our church, the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, in the billings, montana mission. she is going to do soooo wonderful. she is a gem of a girl and will have so many great experiences serving others and the lord while she is out there. i am so jealous she gets to go at the young ripe age of 19. such a courageous and exciting decision to serve the people in the billings, montana mission by sharing the gospel and bringing people closer to our savior jesus christ. without Him, i would not be the woman i am today, the mother, or friend. with Him all things truly are possible.
tayli, we are so proud of you, you will be an amazing missionary and we know the spirit will guide you as you keep the commandments and have a true desire to share with others your love for our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. we will miss you so much!!!!!!
easter is such a special holiday to me for so many reasons but mainly for the purpose of celebrating the miraculous resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!
because of Him, I know we will all be resurrected again and live with our families forever.
what an amazing feat that is.
i hope that we can all remember the events this week leading up to easter.
ps- arizona friends, go see the easter pageant for me, you won't regret it!
i'm in the middle of making this for pretty much FREE!(!!!!)
you can get 50 free photos at target this week only with this coupon
and with this wonderful woman's freebie you can print out an awesome gospel ABC quiet book!
be aware that you will need to add some of your own photos in after you print the book (dad pic, marriage pic, family pic, 2 grandparent pics, 2 child pics, mom pic).
there's tons of stuff like this i've been wanting to print out but they're always full size color pages which
a) i don't think my home color printer would print them out very nicely
b) they seem so expensive to print out at places
so with this awesome coupon and deal they were free!
you can use up to 4 of those coupons/person so you could get 4 sets of 50 for free.
you could print out one set for you with some pictures you'd like and then a few other sets of the ABC's for others you visit or home teach!
GO GO GO,
it's too easy!
ps- hopefully i'll find one of those picture books i can put these in to easily update the pictures i taped on!
"the best way of finding truth is simply going to the origin of all truth and ask"
no matter what faith you are, or what you believe, we can always turn to God and ask, He is always there for us, and I know if we ask with a sincere heart He will answer ALL of our questions, concerns, and fears.
and before them actually, the mission president in our area challenged us too, but that was before we went on all our trips and i forgot about that one. ps- i LOVE sister missionaries, they are the BOMB
i'm closing in on 3 weeks of diligent, daily 30 min reading, and it just feels good.
it feels so good to dedicate 30 minutes to reading the book of mormon everyday.
the stories in the scriptures all mesh together, they're not just a bunch of separate chapters.
also, i'm reading from a completely new book of mormon without any of my notes and hi-lights from all my previous years of life. it's like i'm reading it for the first time finding my own truths all on my own!
i used to diligently workout during maxson's first nap of the day but i decided after all our trips more importantly than working out is reading my scriptures, and it has made all the difference.
i'm happier.
i'm more patient.
i'm more optimistic.
i'm more forgiving.
i'm closer to the spirit.
i just feel like i'm a better all around person when i read for 30 min in the morning. hopefully soon i'll find a new good time to workout but more importantly is me time in the scriptures.
i can promise you, that if you find time to really read your scriptures everyday, be it 10, 15, or 30 minutes everyday, you will be given more power, strength and courage to get through your day. you will grow closer to god. even in these short 3 weeks, i have seen such a difference in my life. we've been promised that when we read the book of mormon each day, we will grow closer to God than any other way possible. i know this to be true. the book of mormon is the work of God, He speaks to us through the words in His scriptures!
so dearest friends, i invite YOUto read the book of mormon.
read it in a way you've never read it before.
be it quickly, in depth with references, a new, unmarked book of mormon, or just try reading it for the first time.
and then ask heavenly father if it is true.
i know your life will be blessed!!!
ps-if you don't have a book or mormon, i would be delighted to give you one :)
here's a little update on life through our iphones aka when i'm too lazy to take my camera out/places or too self conscious to take it out in front of others...
it's one of those two.
and i'm sorry if you follow me on instagram, many of these are just duplicates...
let's begin with the least flattering pictures from casey's phone:
a. first time spending time outside in the sunshine!!!!
b. another sunshine day, we didn't have a sun hat for max so a kitchen towel had to do
c. maxson miraculously fell back to sleep for casey while he worked out, lucky dog that, never happens
d. entertaining babies during conference=less conference listened to, luckily we can re-read/listen to them online!
a. sniffly baby cuddling with daddy for a nap
b. nutella cookies, hello awesomeness
c. best salsa ever from costco! (and apparently hyvee too?)
d. done with napping
a. when i change his diaper he's always grabbing onto my arm to eat at, makes me smile
b. the main picture on casey's facebook dental class page, make me laugh every time.
c. looking at the toyssss
d. my view nearly every morning. casey is very diligent on doing bing searches on all 3 of our computers sidenote: if you're not doing bing searches already, DO IT! casey's has earned nearly $60 for us to spend on amazon doing it!
a. dishes doing
b. easter bunny baby
c. car driving
d. tummy timing
maxson and i visited the dental school for lunch again last week.
i was little more confident with myself and my semi stroller cruising around the school.
2nd picture is in the elevator looking up
dental school classroom with a stroller: not a sight often seen
a. falling asleep in my arms (not in a "baby going to sleep position"), with no swaddle, which is a first around here
b. my ultra cute, smiley, and round nephew, britton during his 1st year birthday cake fest!
we got to video chat with him during some of it and he went to town.
that boy LOVES food and was just soooo happy!
my brother sent a video of when they first placed the cake in front of him.
he picked it up one handed like a sandwhich and starting chomping away like a boss, so funny!
oooh we miss our nieces and nephews too much
a. while casey went to the men's priesthood session for general conference, maxson and i hung out in the backyard with some other women and kids from our street and just talked for a long time.
after coming inside, maxson just sat in the sling, cuddling up to my chest watching whatever i was putting away.
such a sweetie we have on our hands.
b. my view while lounging on the ground during general conference.
picnic in the front yard between conference sessions on saturday. does anyone recognize that blanket?! it's the jean blanket i slaved over last summer! although the edges are not yet finished, it works like a beaut outside and we're so eager to put some wear and tear into it over the next years as a family.
a. b. c. conference breakfast with friends.
although pancakes, french toast, or waffles are an excellent breakfast.
someone sadly has to slave over the stove top the whole time and you can't all eat at the same time and you have to keep waiting for more!
so breakfast casseroles it was!
i made a frenchtoast casserole the night before (recipe below)
and my friend made what we call a lumberjack casserole like this one.
they were oober yummy
d. maxson's first general conference watching our prophet, president thomas s. monson!
french toast casserole
To be made the night before 1 (24 oz) loaf buttermilk bread 1 pkg cream cheese 10 eggs 2 1/2 c milk 6 T margarine/butter melted 1/4 c. maple syrup 1 t vanilla 1/4 t cinnamon (or more:)
Cut bread into cubes. Place half in greased 9x12 baking dish. Top with cream cheese, cut into cubes, then put the rest of the cubed bread on top. Mix together eggs, milk, melted butter and syrup very well, Pour over bread/cheese evenly in pan. Cover with plastic wrap and press down on top to moisten top it all evenly. Refrigerate over night, remove plastic wrap and bake @ 350 for 50 min.
as i'm finishing up the month of december on our photo album and love going through the pictures of maxson.
i love seeing how he's grown and remembering when he was like this or that.
but even more, i love seeing the pictures of casey and maxson together.
i feel so blessed to have such a wonderful, faithful husband and father for my children.
i see in the pictures the tenderness casey has for him as he holds him so closely and protecting.
my heart continues to spill over in gratitude and happiness looking at those moments.
as i put maxson to sleep each time for naps or bedtime we're constantly singing different songs about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father and their love for us.
it often brings me to tears knowing just a little bit ago, this small spirit i'm rocking to sleep in my arms was in the presence of our Heavenly Father and His love for him and me is more than i can fathom.
as parents, we are the lucky ones to get to teach our children the most important things in life:
that their Father in Heaven loves them and they are a Child of God.
there's so much to learn in this life and with our Father in Heaven, all things are possible with his love.
i'm in a class here at BYU entitled the living prophets.
it is such an incredible class.
for the past month and a half we've focused a lot on president monson:
-his life growing up and the years in between those and now being prophet.
-his messages to men
-his messages to women
-his messages to young adults
-and about 50 other random conference talks chosen for us to read.
he is an incredible story teller and has a story for everything.
he focuses on serving others, listening to the spirit, and always having a spirit of gratitude.
what an incredible man to lead the church.
i truly love him and have full faith in him that he is the Lord's prophet today who is called to lead the people on the earth.
today we talked about the life of president uchtdorf and his journey of life that has brought him now to the 1st presidency of the church.
he is the sweetest man with an incredible background.
he's so genuine and has so much joy in him.
(i'd talk about pres eyring too right now, but i missed that day:)
i'm looking forward to learning about the rest of the apostles' lives in the coming weeks.
i know they are all amazing men with so much to teach!
so it was in today's discussion of president uchtdorf that sealed in me the dream job of being a secretary/assistant to any of those brethren.
to be around those brilliant, kind, inspiring men each day and their wives and family.
reading their talks always makes me so happy and fills me with so much joy,
going to "work" would be a breeze,
i'd look forward to my job and the people i work with everyday!
****
last weekend with all the family in town,
we had lots of talks around the table together.
much of it on finances.
there are a few finance gurus in the family who we have so much to learn from.
so great to hear from them advice of things we may want to think about with dental school and beyond in our future.
among the discussion i brought up to everyone the question
if you could open up any business you wanted and it would be guaranteed to be successful, what would you choose?
a few of the answers were travel agents, travel tour guides, golf instructors, candy shop owners,
casey's was a bahama bucks shop owner or arcade owner
mine was a dance shop owner.
so what would your dream business be?
it's fun to hear other's respnses.
and who knows, maybe one day we can all reach for the stars and make our dreams come true!
it's the most complete working printing press in the world today!
we went through 4 different rooms.
the first was where our tour guide told us all about the johannes gutenburg's printing press.
all the technology and methods that went into it.
you've all probably heard that they're individual types, the ink, yada yada yada,
but in this tour he SHOWED us they made each little letter,
with heating the metals, pouring them, carving one out, imprinting them and all.
it was really very fascinating actually!
i can't believe he ever figured out how to do it.
and did you know they're called "uppercase letters" bc the capitals were always held in the upper part of the case and the lower case letters were always on the lower half of the case.
cool, eh?
also the printing press was first patterned after that of an olive press, again, cool eh?
the 2nd room we went into was all about the declaration of independnce and constitution.
the printing press was the exact dimensions, settings, and style as that of benjamin franklin's.
(the owner of the place is friends with the smithsonian's head guy and gave him all the measurements and pictures)
i guess i never really though that in the beginning era of america they used the printing press too,
it just passed my mind,
but it was so fun to look at all the types and imagined what it must have been like.
we are so fortunate to live in this day and age with computers and printers!!!!
the 3rd room was all about the book of mormon
and how the printing press paved the way for the book of mormon to be published.
