Thick of thin things

I found this great quote from the prophet. So True...
Important Causes

“We become so caught up in the busyness of our lives. Were we to step back, however, and take a good look at what we’re doing, we may find that we have immersed ourselves in the ‘thick of thin things.’ In other words, too often we spend most of our time taking care of the things which do not really matter much at all in the grand scheme of things, neglecting those more important causes.”
Thomas S. Monson, “What Have I Done for Someone Today?” Ensign, Nov. 2009, 85

Have you recieved his image in your countenance?

When Amy was just a little girl she helped me learn an important truth about faces. There was a lady in our ward who was old and wrinkly, her skin was leathery from too much sun and had bumps of some kind all over it. She was kind of scary to me but one day I noticed that she was smiling and flirting with someone. When I turned and looked who it was, I was surprised that it was this lady. Even at 1, she knew better than I did to not judge by appearances. There are all kinds of faces in this world but the light in the eyes can tell you much about the inside person. I love Alma Chapter 5 where it asks have your recieve his image in your countenance. What do our faces tell others about who we are and what we believe. I hope our faces express love for others and that when our children look at us they know how much we love them. When they look at us do they see the love our Savior has for them? I read a quote today from David O. McKay. "A child has the right to feel in his home he has a place of refuge, a place of protection from the dangers and evils of the outside world. Family unity and integrity are necessary to supply this need." I remember getting so mad and frustrated and yelling at you kids. I'm sorry I didn't always make our home a place of refuge. I hope that you will be able to do better at that and look at your kids with Christ's image in your countenence. We love you and think you are amazing parents and disciples of Christ.
Zacky was looking at Randy the other day and asked why he had all that saggy skin under his chin.Randy told him that some times when people get older their skin does that. Zacky looked at him again and said, Grandpa, you aren't getter older, you are already old. When you get to be our age, you don't want to look at your face too closely. :}

Motherhood:-An-Eternal-Partnership

Motherhood:-An-Eternal-Partnership
This is a tear-jerker so get your hankies ready. I love my girls and how they magnify and honor their role of mother.

Words of Wisdom from the old guys

Today our fifth Sunday lesson, taught by our new Bishop Madril, was about the older generation sharing their experiences and what they learned from them with the younger generation. We decided we would try to follow that council by writing a few words of wisdom about families on our blog (hopefully each Sunday we will take turns). This week is Randy's turn so here he is.

How do we create righteous desire in our children?

Zack Federkeil said something profound for a 6 year old Kindergarten kid.
He accompanied Grandma Brown to a recent ward dinner. They were both standing in line getting their food and Grandma noticed that a young child was trying to get a piece of watermelon but was having a hard time because it had saran wrap on it. Grandma, being the nice person she is, put down her plate and took the wrap off the melon and handed it to the child. As Zack and grandma were walking to their table, Zack said, "grandma, that was really nice, you are a nice person." How do you think that made grandma feel?

As they say, out of the mouth of babes comes some pretty wise stuff - funny stuff too. Obviously, Michelle/Gabe have been practicing the principle of positive reinforcement. Making a conscious effort to notice and say something positive when a child or young person does something good, especially when they do it on their own initiative, creates more positive desire to repeat the behavior. Wise parenting requires a lot of patience, positiveness and self restraint.

Wise parents develop a conscious habit to look for the good and are quick to reinforce it. Parents are also wise when they are slow to criticize or find fault. It's easy, even without realizing it, to develop a pattern of criticism, after all, isn't it a parent's job to teach and correct. Yes it is, but a wise parent leans heavily on the positive, which creates an increased desire to do and be good.

A child who reinforces an adult's good behavior is a rare thing, even heavenly - thanks Zack.

Summer 2010

Here are just a few pictures from our fun summer. We had a Randal reunion on the 4th of July and went to Navajo Lake fishing. We had a Williams Reunion in Logan.

The Madness Continues, I think this year we are all mad! (except Megan and Levi)

So heres the final update heading into the final 4 weekend. Theres only a few who has some teams actually left. Its a close race at the top. So it comes down to Megalicious, and Leviticus. Pay close attention this weekend in between conferences. If West Virginia wins, than the trophy stays in Tooele but will be inscribed by Megan. If West Virginia loses and Duke wins, the trophy heads for the first time to Saratoga Springs and Levi will win. Too Hot to Randle has the lead, but with no teams left, Megan or Levi will jump him.Too bad only two people have a final four team left with a chance for more points. It's been a great tourney with a lot of upsets. I wished I would have saw Butler coming, but who would have guessed a little school in Indianapolis with a student count of around 4,000 would be going to the final four playing in their backyard. Thats smaller than SUU.

Dad: 41----added 14 points bringing his total to 55 with no teams left.
Amy: 39---added 15 points bringing her total to 54 with no teams left.
Megan: 35 --added 17 points, bringing her total to 52 with a WV win she can score 8 more.
Gage: 35--added 17 points bring his total to 52 with no teams left.
Levi: 32--added 17 points bringing his total 49 with a chance of 8 points with Duke left.
Clair: 36--added 11 points bringing her total to 47 with no teams left.
Aaron: 39 ----added 6 points, bringing his total to 45 with no teams left.
Mom: 38---added 6 points, bringing her total 44, with no teams left.
Neal: 34--added 3 points, bringing his measly total to 37 with no teams left.
Lance: 28-- added 9 pts bringing his final total to 37 points. No teams left

We will be watching the Duke Vs. W. virginia game really close. Better luck next year, I think we all need it after this showing.

Kneel Down Brown

more march madness

Dad: 41----Had Georgetown and Villanova in the finals,,,the Big East let him down this year....he'll slowly move out of first place.
Amy: 39---the only won who picked Kansas St. shes, got a good chance to win, if they go all the way.
Aaron: 39 ----had Kansas and Nova in finals, they're both out.
Mom: 38---Has Kentucky and Syracuse in the finals, this could play out, and the trophy might end up in her hands again.
Clair: 36--Claire with some odd picks, Vanderbilt and Purdue in the finals, Vandy lost, but Purdue still has a chance.
Megan: 35 --shes got Ohio St. vs. WVU,,,both left, shes got a good chance of climbing the charts.
Gage: 35--Had the best first round out of everyone, 25 pts.
Neal: 34--Only has one final four team left,,,hes all but given up the trophy now. no repeat.
Levi: 32--has 3 final four teams left, but Kansas winning it all...poor, poor Kansas.
Lance: 28--had to double count his a few times to see if his bracket actually scored this few of points,,,in fact he did. Kentucky winning it all, but might be too late. Come on,,,seriously,,,,Sienna over Purdue???

Well, we've seen a lot of miracles so far. Kansas losing to Northern Iowa, Villanova losing to the white boys of St. Marys. Georgetown not even showing up against Ohio. But theres plenty of lively action left. Can Cornell beat Kentucky and ruin the rest of the brackets. Can Syracuse continue their tyrade. Well, Megan picked the biggest upset. She picked Cornell over Temple, a 5-12 seed upset. She only picked them because Andy from the Office proudly went there.

Very sad I didn't see any brackets from Michelle's Fam or Kelly this year....I hope Michelle got the email, ,,,maybe she didn't get to it in time.

Stay Tuned for more updates.

March Madness, Ya gotta love it baby!

Scoring so far. I hope most of you are mourning the Georgetown loss, cuz that hurt a lot of brackets. Good to see everybody picked BYU, and they did it, now will they do it again. Only a few picked them winning the next game. Dont worry too much about Gtown, any other 1 or 2 seed can go down this weekend too so your all still in the running, except for maybe Claire, she had vandy and G-town going far, and they both were huge upsets today. Nobody guessed any huge upsets today, maybe tommorow. Sienna is a big upset to watch for as well as Utah St. Well Gage and Amy top the leaderboard starting round one. It looks like the Bentley family was in tune. I think Claire picked Temple to go far because she likes temples. Feel free to double check my scoring with your own brackets to make sure I get it right. If you have any disputes, you have to take it up with the fifth district NCAA tribunal.

GAGE:11
Amy: 11
Mom: 10
Levi: 9:
Claire: 9
Aaron: 9
LANCE: 8
MEgan: 8
Dad: 8
Neal: 8

Addison's Blessing

Here she is. Cute little Addison Marie on her blessing day.

Claire's Princess Party for her 4th B-day

Addie's dress

The dress is 24'' from the sholder. I haven't put the tucks in yet. I was thinking I would put little ones like on the bodice but if you want it shorter I will make them bigger so it will be shorter. It's about 7'' across the bodice. Can you measure her and see if that's anywhere close?

Kolby's AR Shirt

This is the shirt Kolby earned for AR points. It sure rocks the Buckaroo shirts you boys got.

This is the dress Michelle and I made for Mandy's baby Emma. You can't really see it very well but I think it is pretty.

Old Testament vs New Testament discipline

I had an interesting conversation with one of the High School teachers the other day and I wanted to share it with you. He made a reference to himself being pretty Old Testament in terms of what he needed for discipline and how he used discipline for his kids. (Strict rules and swift punishment) He said luckily for hid kids, his wife was very New Testament. (Forgiving, high on mercy and justice more about the condidtion of the heart) My mind just kept going back to that conversation and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that we need both kinds.
The Law of Moses was a preparitory law and when Jesus came, he fulfilled that law and replaced it with the gospel of repentance and forgiveness. He taught the higher law of offering our hearts to him in willing submission.

Children seem to need more structure and feel secure with firm boundaries. It teaches them the importance of obedience and they learn there is safety in obedience.

Teenagers, on the other hand, seem to push back when the laws are too strict and confines their desire to choose. But if their heart is into something they give it their all.

I think that I was the Old Testament and Randy the New. I remember many times when I wanted to punish and Randy counciled me to give them a little space. Just like on Nemo when the turtle says he lets them go to see what they will/can do. Most of the time they had a good reason for doing what they did or they would come and apologise. I was very glad that I kept my covenant to hearken to the council of my husband.

It can be a very good blend if there is one of each kind in a family. If you listen to each other and council together and realize that there is a wise purpose for each, Old Testament and New Testament discipline. I welcome your comments on these ideas.

biggest loser

So Michelle and I are setting up a biggest loser contest and I found this tracker to help me keep track of food, water, exercise and fruits and vegetables that I wanted to share. I don't know if it will copy very well but you get the idea. Good luck everyone. I'm going to win so stand back and watch! Join us all for the Kanab 10-K first weekend of May

Out with the old and in with the new

This was Gage's baptism day, Dec 5 2009. It was a great day with lots of family and friends. We are so pleased with Gage's desire to make and keep covenants with his Father in Heaven. We gave him some scriptures that were highlighted with favorite scriptures of family members and he has called me several times wanting me to help him memorize them. He is much better at memorizing than his old Grandma. Where does time go? It seems like just yesterday that he was just born and we were all signing his little casts.

Now for the new. These are pictures of our newest grandchild. Addison Marie came six weeks early on November 28th. I was sick so I didn't get to go to the hospital and it about killed me. I did get to go to Megan and Neal's house and get to hold her after Christmas for a few days. Thanks for letting me come! I can't seem to make my pictures where I want them. Any help would be appreciated.

My newest news is getting my bagpipes! I can't really play a song on them yet but it is exciting to get them. I will have to give them back when high school students pass off their songs but I get them for a litte while.