New Stake Center

This is going to be a short post and another Spiritual Experience one to boot. We were able to go to the dedication of our new stake center tonight. Two years ago after a youth fireside on Sunday night where I acutally got to be one of the final speakers in the building (I guess that's my claim to fame), our stake center was set afire by arsonists. I don't know who did it, and I guess to me it really doesn't matter. I was just very sad that someone would do something like that on purpose. Anyway, 2 years later we have a beautiful new building and me and my family were able to attend one of those completely amazingly spiritual meetings.

Our stake president told about some of the things that came about with the fire and after the fire and bore his testimony then we had Elder LeSueur from the quorum of the 70 speak for a short minute and then read the dedicatory prayer. I've been to a rededication of temples, but the only church building dedication I remember was the Main Street Chapel in Snowflake. I was in High School and don't remember much about it except that my Dad was conducting the meeting as the 1st Counselor in the Stake presidency. He had been called as the new Stake President, but that would not take place until the Stake Conference meeting later that day. Elder Dallin H. Oaks was presiding at the meeting that day and was there to set apart the new Stake Presidency. My dad must have been quite nervous, because as he was conducting and announcing the speakers, he drew a blank and had to turn to Elder Oaks and say "What's your name again?"

Anyway, I digress - back to present day. The prayer was so amazing. The buiding was dedicated almost room by room to perform the proper functions in each important area of the building. The primary room, the Relief Society room, the YM and YW rooms, the chapel, the cultural hall, the Priesthood rooms, the Bishop's offices, the stake offices. He even mentioned the artwork and that people will be inspired by the stories and the meaning that go along with the artwork chosen for the building. This was especially poignant for me because I got to choose artwork for the YW room at the very last minute. In fact, it's not even hung yet, but when I was thinking about how to choose artwork that will have special meaning and will accompany the YW theme, I really feel like I was directed what to do and how to do it.

After the amazing prayer, we sang "The Spirit of God" and on the last verse, the choir sang the Halleluiah anthem that was written for temple dedications. As Jeff said, you could cut the Spirit with a knife. We walked around the building for awhile afterward and spoke with friends and we were leaving as President Ahlstrom and President Clouse were coming back in the building. We spoke to them and told them what an amazing meeting it was. Even Cooper was saying how neat it was. So when we got home and I was saying goodnight to him, I asked him how he felt about the Spirit that was there tonight. When I asked if he had felt it like that before, his response was, "No, not like that." He hadn't really wanted to go, mostly because he didn't want to put his church clothes back on after dinner, but he chose to go. What at great lesson for him and for me to take every opportunity possible to expose yourself and your children to the Spirit. I'm sure that will be a meeting that he'll remember for the rest of his life.

Sharing the Gospel

So, I'm not the best at opening my mouth and sharing the gospel. I know that I should do more, but I get a bit intimidated and worry about offending anyone by being too pushy. Our ward and stake have challenged us to share the gospel and to invite friends to have gospel experiences. With the work I do now, I actually have more opportunites to share the gospel, but need to be careful also.

Tonight I was reading the Ensign and I found a good solution to my problem. There is a great article on how blogging can be a great forum for sharing my testimony in a very un-pushy way. I can do that. I can express some the the feelings I have when I hear a great talk or listen to a great lesson. I felt such wonderful things as I listened to General Conference. There were wonderful talks on recognizing the Spirit, having the Holy Ghost with you all the time, on giving service, and on the importance of having a testimony of the Book of Mormon.

But what I really wanted to tell about today on my blog is the wonderful lesson we had in Relief Society today. I had time this morning to read the lesson before our church time. It was a great lesson from the teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith. It was on "Family: the sweetest union for Time and for Eternity". It was a great lesson to read. But I certainly got the most out of it by the lesson given by our sweet teacher, Sister Dixon.

First she talked about how many times we hear a lesson and we think of what a great lesson this would be for so and so. I think I do that often. I wish someone there was with me to hear the lesson - not acknowledging how much I need the lesson for myself. (That was my first great lesson of the day!)

Next, she handed out paper and pencils and had us divide the paper into four sections or Applications we would be able to use for ourselves of things we learned from the lesson. The lesson of course was about the way to make family a sweet union for this time on earth as well as for eternity. We completely skipped the part where he talked to the men - because that is not applicable to us. Our section headings were "Me - as a Wife", "Me - as a Mother", "Me - as a Daughter", and "Me - as a Sister". There were sections in the lesson that then spoke to me in all of those different applications.

One of the things that really hit me hard both when I read the lesson this morning, again in Relief Society, and then at the dinner table when I was talking to my family about it, was the beautiful relationship that was had in Joseph Smith's family. He spoke so lovingly of his parents and of his siblings. The example was given of how at age 17, Joseph would sit with his parents and siblings and teach them about what he was learning to be prepared for what he had been called to do. I wondered what I would have done as a sibling had I been in that situation. Would I have listened to any of my brothers or sisters tell about a strange spiritual experience and been receptive to what they had to say, or would I have dismissed them because I knew they had too many short-comings to be able to know what they were talking about?

Then I wondered what I would have done as a parent in the same situation. Would I take the time to listen and learn or would I feel the need to question and correct as I often do? The answer is that I don't know, but I hope that as I've learned this lesson I'll be better at being a Sister and a Mother because I can better apply the lesson taught and example given by Joseph Smith and his family.

First Day of School

So I got the kids off to school on the first day. I drove the carpool to Mountain View for Shelby's first day and then I dropped Cooper off at Franklin for his first day of 5th grade. I get to the school and see all of the parents taking the traditional 1st day of school pictures in front of the bell and in front of the school sign and realize that I completely forgot about 1st day of school pictures. What kind of mother am I? I was so concerned about getting them off to school and then getting home in time to get to work that I forgot a very important part of our 1st day ritual. I was literally sick for the rest of the day. I had so much guilt about my hours of work anyway that this was some really gross icing on the cake for me. Anyway, I picked the kids up from school and brought them home to take their 1st day of school pictures AFTER they got home.

San Diego Pictures

Okay, so I've been reading other people's blogs and I seem to be the only one not including pictures. It's been awhile and I don't want anyone to forget what a great looking family I have. It just seems to take forever to upload photos and I haven't been spending that much time on my computer lately (at least not for fun!).

Here are some of the pictures from our annual San Diego vacation that happened August 1-8th. We always have a great time. Some years with more pictures than others.



Cooper and Jackson Beach Buddies!


Jackson, Megan Hunsaker and Cooper were Boogie Boarding fiends!




Shelby got into a bit of a pickle after hiking the jedi.



Not a great family picture at the end of the jedi (but look at the view!)




Jeff and Cooper loved playing catch with a football in the waves









Cousins: Jackson, Cooper, Megan and Ellen Hunsaker



This is a girl who knows what a day at the beach is all about!


How did I allow a family picture when I didn't even do my hair or makeup?



The boyz!



The Girls




Mom and Cooper


We had to hit the Fish Market on the way home for a crab sandwich. Who cares that it was 10am? Cooper, Megan and Haley McClaws


Some Hunsakers, Danas and McLaws'

September WHAT??????

I don't know how many entries in my journal start with "It's been a long time since I've written." Unfortunately, a busy summer with a LOT of time spent at work and a few great trips and the fact that I waste time on Facebook lead me to know making a blog entry with the same salutation.

We had a great summer. My kids were troopers as Shelby's job this year was to hang out at home with Cooper while I worked. When we had to make a decision about whether or not she could get a job we decided that either she could work or I could work, so we compromised. She earned some spending money (her school wardrobe reflects that this year) and I was able to help things move along at the Mesa location of Vital Solutions.

We had a great trip to Snowflake for the Pioneer Day's celebration. The weekend before I turned 40 I participated in my first Keg Race (winning by the way - at the expense of Mindy breaking her neck and leg). It was probably the slowest Keg Race on record in Snowflake. The next morning I participated in my 1st 10k race. I actually won second in my age group of 30 - 39 year old women. I tried to claim 40 (my birthday was 2 days later) thinking it would be better for me, but I would have actually placed 3rd in that group. As the girl told me when I confessed, "honesty is always best."

Jeff arranged for a party at my parents house that night and invited my family and Lynae and Heidi and Keith. Shelby had the house all decorated when we got home from the rodeo. It was a really nice weekend.

Girl's camp was the next weekend with at wonderful theme of "I Still Believe". It was very Christ Centered and our stakes' first Sunday at camp provided an amazing spiritual atmosphere. We returned on a Monday and promptly packed our bags to head to San Diego.
We had another great week there with Jeff's family.

We came home from San Diego and had a couple of days to get the kids ready to begin school the next Wednesday. They are enjoying their year. Shelby started High School at Mountain View. She's amazingly busy with CP Chemistry, Symphony Orchestra, Algebra II, Block English and Social Studies and Seminary. Jeff and I were totally impressed with the quality of her classes when we went to the Parent night, but they are tough and keep her very busy with homework. Trying to fit in friends, boys, driving (ya, she's got her permit), texting, and facebook leave her just a little time for her Viola (she's named it Joyce). She's getting really good and has been going back and forth between 1st and 2nd chair.

Cooper is in 5th grade and is really enjoying his year. His teacher is Mrs. Peterson. She's new to the school, but seems to be doing well with her class. She enjoys Cooper. I think the fact that he doesn't have as many of his friends in his class as he did last year are going to be great for his grades. When I mentioned at PT conference that he seemed to have trouble with talking in the past his teacher was actually surprised. A great report card earned him a Sonic Blast on the way home that day.

Jeff and I were able to go on an amazing trip to Alaska with the majority of my siblings and their spouses (Doug and Jenn, Mindy and Chad weren't able to go). My goal is to make a cool DVD with our pictures, but that hasn't happened yet. I'm so grateful to my Mom for that great Christmas gift to celebrate my parent's 50th anniversary.

Speaking of my parents, I guess I should write about a dream I had when we were in San Diego. I was thinking about him because his birthday always falls during our San Diego week. I dreamed that I was in the kitchen in my Mom's house in Snowflake and I heard him walk into the front room. He was talking to those in the room, so I went in to see him. He gave me a big hug and I literally felt it in my sleep. It felt just like his hugs. I told Jeff about the experience later when I remembered it. Then a few weeks later Mindy wrote of a dream where he gave her a hug and that it felt so real. I feel like that was a great blessing and proof of a thin veil at times.

Anyway, the rest of my life seems to consist of trying to keep up with housework and dishes while spending a lot of time at work. Fortunately, the business seems to be moving along well. We've hired a great marketing person who is aleviating my load greatly and making it possible for me to be home when the kids get home from school. So, aside from having to get up at 5:45am to exercise so I can leave to work right after the kids go to school - things are looking up!

I've got tons of pictures to post, but I'll have to do some sort of collage to save time and space.

Six Minutes 52 Seconds

I went to the same gym for over 10 years. Fitness Works was just down the street and I loved how close it was. When the one down the street closed a few years ago I tried going to the one farther away, but didn't like it, so I moved to Mountainside Fitness and loved the classes there, but hated the extra 30 to 40 minutes the drive added to my morning. So, when I began working at Vital Solutions MD quite a bit and changed my workouts up, I cancelled my membership and have been working out at home. We have a nice treadmill, so I've been doing a lot of running lately for my cardio portion. I usually keep it at a nice steady pace, but have been working on "spiking" my heart rate to keep in the fat burning zone the majority of the time, but raising it every 4 or 5 minutes for just a minute.

A few weeks ago I had been walking for a few miles and was going to run a quick mile, and decided to see if I could run it really quickly. I was able to do it in about 7 and a half minutes and was kind of surprised. In Freshman PE in high school if we could run a mile in under 7:30 for 6 weeks of the term, we didn't have to run the last 3, so I was able to do that most of the time, but I was never able to get it under 7 minutes. I thought that might be a good goal for me before I turn 40 next month, so I've timed myself a couple of times since then. A couple of weeks ago I tried it and after 8/10 of a mile I had to stop because I had been pushing too hard, so I didn't quite meet my goal. So last Thursday I decided to time it again. Now granted, I was on a treadmill, so it's not quite the same as running outside, but I was able to run the first 1/2 mile at 9mph, and the last 1/2 mile at 8.8mph and finished at 6 minutes and 52 seconds. Not too bad for a 39 year and 10 1/2 month old girl.

It's funny how competitive I can get - even with myself. I was doing a consult with someone at our office the other day and I was telling her about our different weight loss plans. We have 3 different plans and our best seller is our expensive program - mostly because people want to have regular follow up and accountabilty to support them in their program. This woman I spoke with said that if she decided she was going to do it - she didn't need the follow up - she was pretty self motivated. I could relate to her. I'm not one who likes to have a regular workout partner, because I want to work out on my own time - and I'm usually disciplined about doing it.

My big motivation problem comes in deciding to challenge myself, not usually in carrying through once the challenge has been made.

I can see that with setting spiritual and family goals. I don't want to make a goal and not be able to carry it through, so I sometimes get complacent in not setting those goals for myself. What if I were to push myself as much for things that are important to my eternal progression as much as I like to push myself (sometimes) for my physical progression. Maybe it's because my goals for physical progress are quite easily measured and recognized. I can lose a certain number of pounds, or have a certain percentage of body fat, or run so many miles, or lift so much weight, but how do you measure your spirituality or your patience, or your kindness? How do you measure or count the number of times you follow or recognize a prompting?

I think I've learned that I have to DECIDE what is important for myself spiritually and push myself harder to accomplish that. I have so many things vying for my time and attention. I'm finding it very easy make time for the things I can see or where the need is apparent. I work out, I try to make sure I spend a certain amount of time keeping up with my house, I try to spend time with my children, I kind of have to spend time at work, and I even spend time each night reading my scriptures and saying my prayers, but the thing that I think is lacking is the decision to progress. I can either just keep running my steady pace spiritually, moving slowly ahead, or I can push myself harder by setting tough short term goals for myself that get me out of my comfort zone and help me find out that I can go further and faster than I thought I could go.