Wise Words

I was listening to a BYU Devotional by Dallin H. Oaks today.  He was talking about the difference between sins and mistakes. He made the point that sometimes we overreact to mistakes in others or ourselves, which sometimes causes more serious problems. It was an interesting talk and he made some great points regarding parenting and life in general.  The following quote also really stuck with me today:

"We must make every effort to avoid sin and to repent when we fall short. We should seek to avoid mistakes since some mistakes have very painful consequences. But, we do not seek to avoid mistakes at all costs.  Mistakes are inevitable in the process of growth in mortality. To avoid all possibility of error is to avoid all possibility of growth."

Conference - October 2010

I love Conference weekend.  I mean, I really, really love it.  Let me count the ways . . .

1.  I love canceling everything (well, besides Joseph's soccer game on Saturday) and being together as a family. We haul down big blankets, pillows, and the huge beanbag and set up "nests" in the family room. Each person claims a spot and then sets out Conference activities and Conference Bingo (with M&Ms, of course). It feels so cozy to hang out together - I really love it. We are finally to the point where even our youngest child gets into Conference. When he heard it was Conference weekend he said, "All right, I LOVE Conference!"  Dan was super impressed until I pointed out that he really loves Conference because it means he can eat unlimited M&Ms and other junk food and play games with his sibs for hours each day, not because he particularly loves listening to eight hours of church. But, at this point, we will take what we can get, and we think it is okay that the positive associations come from non-religious things. The other aspects of Conference will come later for him.
Between sessions the kids came up with a "train" game where they took turns pulling each other on a blanket around the house on the wood floors.  It was quite the hit.  They even had to make a tally chart to keep track of train trips.















2. Good food.  We do it up big every year, and it is a feast for the whole family. Breakfast was Aunt Lindsey's recipe for french toast with incredible buttermilk syrup. Yum!

Saturday night, while Dan was at Priesthood session and dinner with friends, I made up several dips for us to snack on. One was a delicious favorite, "Cowboy Caviar."  Oh, so good. Bailey had found new recipes for us to try for several of the meals. We tried a recipe she had found for a Fire-Roasted Tomatillo Salsa. Every since we lived in AZ, we have been obsessed with finding a salsa as good as Tia Rosa's green tomatillo salsa. We have tried would-be contenders in restaurants and from grocery stores, but nothing ever came close.  Well, we finally have have a contender, folks. The salsa was somewhat labor intensive to make (roasting tomatillos and jalapenos, lots of fresh garlic, cilantro, etc.), but worth every second of work.  Wow. 

Cowboy Caviar

Fire-roasted tomatillo salsa

The next morning Bailey and I made homemade cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting before Conference started. 

By this point we had lots of leftovers from the last few days, but for Sunday night dinner we made another new recipe for a Mexican chicken dish with poblano peppers and rice.  Thumbs up.

3.  I don't remember for sure at what point in my life Conference became a true source of spiritual food for me, but this aspect increases every year. I literally hunger and thirst after the words of the prophets and I look forward to the chance to hear the messages. There is always something I need to hear, I always feel enlightened and comforted, and my testimony that this is the true gospel and that God speaks to us through the prophet and his apostles is strengthened.

As each apostle speaks, we find his picture (posted on the fireplace) and then write a few words so we can remember the topic of his talk.  At then end of Conference we try to find themes in the messages.

Spotlight on Bailey

This month's Felida Ward Newsletter includes of spotlight of our very own Bailey Porter.  The following is the information we submitted (including the picture).

Bailey Nicole was born in Arizona on a blistering hot summer day (115 degrees).  She moved to Utah when she was a toddler and then to Washington when she was starting 4th grade.  She is the second child and the oldest daughter in the Porter home. She has always been close to her siblings, younger and older.  She brings enthusiasm, energy, and happiness to her home.

In the last six months Bailey passed her Mom in height - she grew six inches in six months!  The last few months she has been working hard to collect delicious recipes for a cookbook she is compiling for a Personal Progress project. She is also very interested in photography, and is currently learning to take pictures with a film SLR camera and then develop the film.  She plays piano, is a good swimmer, and is a voracious reader.  She and her Mom like to share good books with each other.  Bailey has always had an incredible memory for details - even as a young child she would remember the names of anyone she met (something her parents still struggle to do!)

Bailey is in 8th grade at VSAA, where she is doing great in school.  Next year she plans to attend Skyview, and she hopes to go to BYU or BYU-I for college.  At the moment her career interest is in helping special needs children.  She would do great at this - she has a special gift for patience and kindness and loves to work with children. 

We are so glad that Bailey is part of our family!