Happiness

This week for Family Home Evening we read an article in February's Ensign that was so great!  "What can the Book of Mormon teach us about Happiness?". The points come from 4 Nephi 1 and 2 Nephi 5 and are so true!

1. Maintain Uplifting Associations
It is important for us to spend time with others who believe as we do and whose presence is uplifting.  In November Kyle gave a talk in Sacrament meeting about self-reliance.  Because of his job he has a unique perspective on where our seemingly insignificant choices can take us.  Part of his talk touched on not being able to walk through a mud puddle without eventually getting muddy.  If someone has a desire to get out of the mud puddle we should help them, but those who are comfortable staying in the mud and don't want to leave will end up trying to convince you to stay there with them.  We need to stay away from those kinds of people.  Little choices, like who we associate with, can have a big impact down the road.

2. Aligning Actions with Beliefs
I believe this is huge! One of my favorite quotes is, "There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do."  If everyone lived what they believed then they would feel confident in their choices instead of feeling sad because others are "judging" them.  It is difficult for us to be happy when we believe in God's commandments, but do not live them.
So our next Ponderize scripture that we chose is Mosiah 2:41
"And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God.  For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness.  O remember, remember that these things are true, for the Lord God heath spoken it."

3. Accomplishing Hard Work
This one is very true for me.  I can tell that I start to get bummed out when I have nothing I am working towards or something in the near future to look forward to.  I'm big into making lists! I have to do lists, grocery lists, lists of goals, packing lists, bucket lists etc... It's how I get things done and feel good when I can see everything I accomplished!  Being happy happens when you work hard first and then can play hard!

4. Focusing on the Temple
Temple blessings and happiness are inseparable.  In the temple we learn the Plan of Salvation, reminding us why we are here on earth.  We learn that we are children of a loving Heavenly Father and our lives have great purpose in His plan.  In the temple we feel closer to Him; we feel His presence.  The blessings we receive from attending the temple are worth every effort and sacrifice.
Attend regularly and have a picture of the temple in your home.

5. Sharing what we Have
This is why it is important to be self-reliant.  If we are not in a position to take care of our own needs then how would we ever be able to help others as we have been asked to do?  Not just temporally, but spiritually as well.  We each need to strive to have a testimony of the Savior for ourselves.

6. Belonging to a Family
Good thing that inside temples we can be sealed to our families forever!  Knowing that someone loves you should be enough of a reason to be happy, especially since love is caring about that person's happiness and trying to add to it.  God loves you unconditionally, but families also provide a sense of belonging, which is essential to experiencing happiness.

7. Being a Peacemaker
Contention and happiness are polar opposites, one leads away from the other.  We need to foster a love of God in our hearts.  This point is probably the one I need most to work on.  I am a people pleaser and can get along with most people, but trying better to see others how God see's them will definitely help me have more patience.

God's plan is for all of His children to be happy, eternally.  I know that if we follow the principles the Book of Mormon teaches us about how to be happy that we will be! Go read this article for sure, I loved it!  Then search the Book of Mormon for even more guidelines to a happier life, I promise you will find it!

I Heart Sushi and Temple Dates

During the week I was able to get together with a couple of the Police wives to help make ribbons for Officer Doug Barney's funeral this morning.  (We weren't able to attend since Kyle has to work.)

It breaks our hearts that he lost his life and reminds us to cherish our own husbands.  It's always a real possibility that they may not come home one day, but we are thankful that they are willing to risk their lives to help protect so many others.

I decided that all relief societies should have Facebook pages, we have a police wives one and can get meals for families and lunch dates put together in 20 minutes!  Surprisingly, I'm closer with those women than anyone in my ward here.

 

Kyle applied for a DRE (drug recognition expert) training and was accepted! Only 25 officers in the whole state of Utah are chosen to go each year so Kyle is excited to be able to get more certification to expand his knowledge and resume.  He will be gone for 2 weeks in March though to do the training.

Last night he started working the grave shift and I already don't like it! Stresses me out to think I have to keep Kasen quiet so he can sleep during the day. Plus since he has to keep his sleep schedule on his days off, it's like he doesn't even have a day off with me. Oh well, only 8 weeks to go!

 

I was also able to get out of the house over the weekend, it was wonderful!

Saturday we took Josh and headed to St. George.  We stopped to get some sushi for lunch, Josh had never eaten it before and I've been craving it since we last ate some in September!

I love sushi!

 

It's been over a month since our anniversary, but for our January temple trip we finally made it to the temple to do some sealings, to celebrate our own sealing!

I love being able to go to the temple with Kyle! It's definitely blessed our marriage to make going to the temple each month a priority.

Josh did a couple laps around the temple with baby Kasen while we were inside.  Put him right to sleep.  Then Josh took a turn going in to do some initiatories.

Yesterday after church we headed up to Aurora to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Forsyth! I didn't visit their house once last year so I was missing it!  They've even been down to visit us a couple times here in Cedar. Usually we stay over at their house multiple times a year.  It was nice to have dinner with them and visit for a little while.  They even sent us home with more of their yummy garden veggies!

"Don't Judge Me"

July 2014 I wrote a post similar to this one, but since then I have heard a handful of comments about judging others, so I'm writing about it again.

The the way I see it "judging" someone is simply receiving messages that they send by what they say or do and forming an opinion about them. We judge people everyday, but should only be careful not to judge unrighteous judgements. Judging is only wrong when there is a lack of knowledge, which is why nobody except God is qualified to make final judgements.

Often we are told not to judge, which ends up meaning we should not hold moral standards that would result in our disapproving of the conduct of others.

Since I do follow a standard of living I do judge other's choices so I can know how to avoid making their same "mistakes", but that doesn't mean I think I am better than anybody else.

I can still love "sinners" without loving the "sin".

That doesn't mean that I will congratulate you or pretend to agree with actions that I believe are wrong to make sure you don't get offended, but I won't stop being a friend either.

I have my own sins and though they are different from yours, I'm not going to feel worse because nobody shares my same sin. 

Living what I believe or disagreeing with another person's choices does not mean I am condemning everyone else that is choosing not to live the same way.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

Live what you believe and be confident in your choices. If you do that then stop caring what other people think and stop taking offense where none was intended.

As far as I care, you have your own agency to do whatever you want.

If you happen to not like someone's opinion of you then ask yourself what you did to give them that opinion. You can either change or ignore it, but the only person's opinion that matters anyway is Heavenly Father's.

The fact is that your actions send messages to others. The question you have to ask yourself is "What message do you want to send?"

Why feel judged about someone receiving the message that you chose to send out?

How else would you expect someone to form an opinion about who you are if not by what you say and do?

Funny Faces of 7 Months!

Kasen has been making the funniest faces these days! I don't know where he learned to make them, but they always make us smile!

This is his fishy face.

And this is his new scrunchy nose smile! 

It is thee weirdest little thing.

He has both of his teeth on the bottom and one about to come through on the top.

He has also been crawling more on his hands and knees instead of his speedy little army crawl.

He loves hanging upside down, especially when I am trying to nurse him! 

That and he tries to play with the very few hairs that he has on his head.

 Not only does he love to stand up, but he thinks he can climb up anything he wants!

 He explores everything and anything he can find!

He is the cutest stinking little bear cub, the ears on his hood are adorable!

Can't. Handle. It.

 So to Recap:

Today Kasen is 7 Months old!

 He loves scrunching his nose,

 Making fishy faces,

 And standing up, usually with his elephant toy.

Happy 7 Months Kasen Jeff!

As for me, once in a while it's hard not to feel burned out!

Kasen hasn't been sleeping very well at all since he started growing teeth and I get so seepy!

Which can also mean buggy...

I have a pretty good routine down, but that's all I ever do is the routine.

I need some warm weather to get out of the house! And I need to throw my TV out the window. (Especially during football season.)

On Kyle's days off he usually enjoys relaxing on the couch, but since I spend a good amount of time sitting on the couch, after all my chores are done ;) I want to get out and do something more fun.

What is there to do?

I feel like all I ever do are the things I "should" do, but it's not often that I do something for the reason being simply that I want to.  Don't misunderstand, I do all the things I "should" because I want to also, but I hope you understand the difference I'm talking about.

Is it bad that sometimes I think it might be nice to be the dad instead?

Mostly because they get breaks, they have days off work, full nights of sleep and they can make plans with the guys without a worry in the world about watching kids.

But then I just remind myself that 

"Motherhood is not a hobby,

it is a calling.

It is not something to do if

you can squeeze the time in,

It is what God

gave you time for."

Happy New Year SHaaaaRP ToooooTH!

New Year's Eve was nothing exciting around here, Kyle had to work so Kasen and I just went to bed.

BUT right before midnight Kyle stopped by and pulled me out of bed to watch the ball drop with me AND give me a New Year's Kiss!!! It's not very often that Kyle excels in the romance department, but coming home for a New Year's Kiss was super sweet :) Loved it!

It's only been a week, but 2016 is going well so far!

Kasen has done the most changing thus far during the last two weeks.  The last week of December he was finally able to put himself in a sitting position, which means I can take him shopping without his carseat now!

Then on New Years Day he learned how pull himself up into the standing position and has been doing that daily, which means we had to lower his crib mattress.

Then the day after that we saw that he has his first tooth, on the bottom so now we call him little baby SHaaarp Tooooth! (ya know, like how Sara says it on The Land Before Time ;) 

Or we call him Chomper. (Also from The Land Before Time- stellar movie!)

I don't know which is worse though: Having a baby that won't sleep longer than 1.5 hours OR me not being able to sleep at all whenever he does sleep long than that...

Other than that, Kasen is still my running buddy! I can't wait till it's warm so I can take him with me outside!  I'm up to 2.5 miles now!

I had a tonsillectomy scheduled for the end of February, but we had to cancel.

PehP told us our deductible was maxed, but don't believe the first person you talk to when it comes to health insurance! It took calling 3 times to figure out that the deductible was maxed for LAST year and we would have had to pay $2,818 out of pocket for a tonsillectomy.

Not happening!

Wish I would have known before I paid $120 to see an ENT, but I guess it could have been worse.