back in the 801

I was able to go back to Utah this past month for my brother's wedding. It was so good to be back with family and friends. It was a crazy week filled with showers and wedding things so it definitely kept me busy and thus the time flew by! Not the most relaxing vaca but it was fabulous nonetheless. Here are a few snapshots of my trip:

One of my favorite parts of going home was meeting my sweet new nephew Franklin. Ummm... I'm slightly obsessed.

Franklin's fave uncle ;)

Look at that angel face!

Most. adorable. pic. ever.

 My momma and daddy

 Little bro with his newest nephew

 My sister is a freakin babe...

 And she makes beautiful babies. 

Just relaxin on the couch 

Now with the Johnson side

 Brothers!

 Lightin the candles to celebrate my sister-in-laws b-days!

My MIL makes too many yummy treats. Delish!

 Happy Birthday Heather and Trista!!

The boys with Grandpa Black 

Now to the wedding stuff:

Here's to my handsome bro and my new SIL... 

How cute are they?!

Preview of the shower my sis and I threw for our new sis... (post to come soon with more details)

I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I wanted but I did manage to capture this beauty. The Draper Temple at dusk is breathtaking. 

 I literally only got a couple of pictures on the actual wedding day. It was a gorgeous ceremony and gorgeous reception. I am so happy for these two ridiculously beautiful people. 

(These next 3 pics are from their talented photographer Abby Kyhl)

Ok can everyone just take a moment to look at these two people? I mean seriously B-E-A-UTIFUL!

 Big bro... such a stud

And his absolutely stunning bride! 

Now a few fun pictures from the reception

They clean up nicely..

Some of my very favorite people. xoxox

Lovely parents

Love this boy

 My new-ish red-ish hair.

Oh I just love my family.

Xxxxooo

natalie

FHE for newlyweds/couples with kids too young to understand

When the hubs and I first got married, we set out to try to have Family Home Evening every week. Of course with our schedules and everything we haven’t been 100% about it. Usually Mondays are set aside for our little family night but sometimes that just doesn’t happen. And that’s ok, we just will have it on Tuesday or Wednesday. The key is just finding a set time each week that works for you. Even if it’s just 10-15 minutes. I think it has been such a blessing in our marriage and I’m grateful for a sweet boy that is so diligent about it. It has allowed us to have many more spiritual conversations then we would have otherwise. It has also set a habit of having family night every week which is something I want to continue with my future kids.

I know it may seem like it would be totally awkward to have FHE with just you and your spouse but I promise you can make it completely natural and normal and it will strengthen your marriage. You don’t have to be so formal about it and it doesn’t always have to be about a spiritual topic. These are some ideas that the hubs and I do for our FHE’s:

1.       Watch the new “Mormon Messages” video and talk about it.

2.       Find a recent devotional address or talk that you’ve come across and talk about what you learned and how you felt. (I have been on an Elder Holland kick lately and have found soooo many amazing talks that I just can’t wait to share with the mister and I often don’t wait until Mondays) You can find some really great talks from him and others from BYU devotionals HERE.

3.     Use the latest General Conference Ensign and pick a talk from it. You can read it together or just summarize it for your spouse and discuss it. It's a great way to remember the messages that were shared.

4.       Currently our ward is doing a FHE challenge with the For Strength of Youth pamphlet. I didn’t know how to work with it at first seeing as it is directed primarily toward single teenagers and kids, but the topics in the pamphlet are still relevant to any of us and future parents of youth. Some of them are a little more difficult like dating or . But you can spin it a different way and discuss the importance of continuing to date your spouse.

5.       You don’t always have to have a “lesson” per say. You can have activities that focus on strengthening your relationship. It can be sort of like an at-home date night. 

6.     I found some super great ideas via Living our Dream Life blog that I suggest everyone try. Here are some of my favorite ideas:

                         * Act out, draw, or sculpt various scripture stories.  Turn it into a guessing game.

            * Make an emergency plan together.  Figure out what you would do if there was a fire/ earthquake/ flood/ tornado/ etc.  Get old backpacks and start building 72 hour kits with old clothes.  For the activity, go shopping together to buy some food (granola bars, peanut butter, tuna fish pouches, crackers, fruit snacks, water bottles, etc) to put in the 72 hour kits.

* Read your Patriarchal Blessings together.  Make an extra copy and mark it together.  This is great  because it helps you see your spouse for their potential and forget the small things that are annoying you right now.

*Make a movie of your lives. Show where you live, what a typical meal is like, talk to your future posterity about what your life is like.

Write letters to your parents/grandparents. Yes, we live in the day of cell phones and email when contact is so easy but there is something special about getting a handwritten letter. Thank them for the sacrifices they made for you. 

7.       Make it about service. Serving others or serving each other. Whether it is helping each other with a project or upcoming lesson or making cookies for a neighbor.

8.       Family/couple meeting time! Talk about what you are doing this week- upcoming tests, girls nights, study groups, meetings, golf outings, etc. Discuss how you can help each other. Plan a time when you can do something together.

9.   Scavenger Hunt Go on a scavenger hunt at home! (This idea was courtesy of LDS Living, see this idea and more, here)Each of you takes a paper sack and fills it with ten objects that represent the following: 

       Yourself 

       Your spouse

       Dating experiences

       Engagement

      Wedding

      Honeymoon

      Married life

      Your home

      Greatest strength as a couple

      Your future together

As soon as you have found everything, get back together to show and tell. This can end up being really funny and just a great way to reminisce about your relationship.

10. Bags of Blessings! Set a timer for three minutes and write down as many blessings as you can think of during that time. Write as quickly as you can and put down everything that comes to your mind. When the time is up, compare your lists. What blessings do you have in common? What blessings are different? Combine your lists and add some more blessings to create a master list of "100 Things We Are Grateful For." Post your list on the fridge and refer to it often during the week. For the next family night, you may want to discuss how thinking about your blessings and having the list posted affected your attitudes and behavior during the week.

11.       Follow up any of these ideas with a frozen yogurt run or Jeni’s ice cream run (1 scoop dark chocolate, 1 scoop pistachios and honey, 1 scoop of backyard mint please!) You can also make a treat together or make a treat beforehand! These can be family night ideas on their own if you want! Just make sure you both know that it’s different than just a date night. It will help set a pattern of Family Home Evening in your lives.

These are just my ideas and what works for us may not work for you. But I am telling you it is probably the best marriage advice I can give, besides marrying an angel man like I did. I would love to hear your FHE ideas because I am always trying to think of other things we can do, so please comment or message me!

Xxxxooo

natalie

Come into the Temples

Today I was able to teach Relief Society at church. I always feel totally inadequate when I have to teach a class but in the end I am so grateful for the opportunity because I learn so much from preparing. 

The lesson today was about temples. It can be found here. I am an object lesson kind of girl so I was set on coming up with some kind of thing like the previously blogged about pickle lesson. Since the lesson talked about doing temple work on behalf of our ancestors, I thought I would focus in on that aspect. This is what I came up with.

I asked for a volunteer and brought out this baby out to bribe people to volunteer:

It is a decadent fudgy brownie with a delicate cream cheese frosting topped with fresh fruit and dark chocolate shavings. (it is also ridiculously easy to make, recipe to follow).

Needless to say, I got a volunteer pretty quick. I told the volunteer she couldn't bend her arms, waist, or legs. Basically she had to act like she didn't have joints. I put the brownie plate in her hand and let her struggle to try to eat it for a bit. I then asked for another volunteer that would help her eat the brownie. The brownie is like exaltation. One girl was the dead one and one was here on earth. The spirit girl needed the one on earth because she didn't have a body. The message is that there are things we cannot do for ourselves. Another person must do it for us. Our ancestors are waiting for us to do their work. They can't participate in the gospel until we have done it. But many of them are listening and waiting for us to help them. I also pointed out how excited the "spirit girl" was when she saw the brownie and how she really wanted this work to be done for her!

It was kind of a silly little exercise but it got the point across and allowed me to tie in a little handout/treat. I made miniature versions of the brownie in a mini muffin tin with a single raspberry. 

 I put the little brownie bites in cute little boxes that you can find on etsy at seriously my favorite place to get things for handouts, shower favors, etc. I also got the cute lace tape that I put on the top of the box. Seriously how cute are these boxes! They are 2x2 so it is a perfect fit for brownie bites or mini muffins! You can find them and a billion other cute things at Chickydoodle's etsy shop here. 

 This is my brownie handout mass production process in pictures:

And this is the war zone

But I think it was worth it because I ended up with this tower of delicious "I-hope-you-go-to-the-temple-more-and-think-of-temple-work-when-you-see-brownies" handouts in a cute little pyramid! 

(Disclaimer: I took this with my phone so don't mind the fuzzy picture, just join me in relishing in the fact that the boxes fit perfectly in my tray in a 25/16/9 pyramid! woo woo!

The beauty of this idea is that it is so simple. It can be used for a Relief Society, Young Women's, Primary, or Family Home Evening lesson. You can use any kind of treat! Cookies, brownies, chocolates, anything really as long as it's sweet!

~

Since we were talking about something as sacred as temples I did want to take things to a more spiritual point and talk about the blessings we get from participating in temple ordinances. I found some amazing quotes from our church leaders that I want to share:

President Hinckley: I would hope that we might go to the house of the Lord a little more frequently. I encourage you to take greater advantage of this blessed privilege. It will refine your natures. It will peel off the selfish shell in which most of us live. It will literally bring a sanctifying element into our lives and make us better men and women.If there were more temple work done in the church there would be less of selfishness, less of contention, less of demeaning others. The whole church would increasingly be lifted to greater heights of spirituality, love for one another, and obedience to the commandments of God. - Taken from the Nov 2004 Ensign

President Faust: We unavoidably stand in so many unholy places and are subjected to so much that is vulgar, profane, and destructive of the spirit of the lord that I encourage our saints all over the world, whenever possible to strive to stand more often in holy places. Our most holy places are out sacred temples. Within them is a feeling of sacred comfort. - "Standing in Holy Places"; May 2005 Ensign

President Monson: Until you have entered the house of the Lord and have received all the blessings which await you there, you have not obtained everything the Church has to offer. The all-important and crowning blessings of membership in the Church are those blessings which we receive in the temples of God… Come to the temple and place your burdens before the Lord and you’ll be filled with a new spirit and confidence in the future. Trust in the Lord and if you do He’ll hold you and cradle you and lead you step by step along that pathway that leads to the celestial kingdom of God. 

The statement on the outside of every temple reads “Holiness to the Lord, the house of the Lord." Temples are his sanctuaries here upon the earth.  I hope we will have a greater desire to attend the temple and claim the blessings and protections that have been promised by the prophets. I encourage everyone to visit one of our temples, even if you can't go inside. The beauty and the spirit on the temple grounds is even worth the trip.

~

If anyone is curious of the super simple and delicious cream cheese goodness that I put on the brownies, I will share my secret:

EASIEST, YUMMIEST CREAM CHEESE FROSTING RECIPE

1 package of cream cheese

1 to 1 1/3 cups of sugar (depending on how firm you want the frosting)

Mix until blended and add 1 container of thawed cool whip (not super thawed, just soft enough to mix with the cream cheese)

And that's all! Ta-da. It's so easy and I literally put it on everything. 

~

Xxxxooo, 

natalie