A little congrats....

...to ME!!! And to my friend Abbie. (I always feel silly having to add "my friend" whenever I talk about Abbie, but I just have to clarify because really, my daugher Abby has nothing to do with this).

I'm sure all of you know that Abbie and I have a food storage blog, Safely Gathered In. Hopefully you all have our button on your blogs!!!!! (just kidding...sort of)

Anyway, Abbie and I recently wrote an article (a guest post) for a very popular blog called Money Saving Mom, and today (Tuesday) it was published! Money Saving Mom gets over 1 million hits a month, and we are already seeing the numbers on our own blog go up. A LOT. Another piece of exciting news is that we have been invited to guest post every month (or every other month) for the forseeable future. We are SO EXCITED! And, it won't be much extra work because most of the guest posts in the future will be posts that we've already written for our own blog.

Ok, enough gloating. I am just so excited. Abbie and I have put a lot of time and hard work into our blog, and we love that it is a success!

To read our guest post, click here.

It's that time of year again...

I could watch this video clip ALL DAY:



In fact, I have been watching it every day this week to get psyched for the game that I probably will not see much of (darn that mtn channel!). But I'm really, really hoping to catch the last quarter (at LEAST) at a friend's house. Actually, this week they aren't our friends because they will be wearing Ute attire. Man, Church will be really painful on Sunday if we lose...

And in case anyone is interested, here's a description of that final drive of the game, from John Beck's perspective.

GOOOOOOO COUGARS!!

It's a Girl!!

My little sister had her second baby this afternoon.

Aunt B

Congratulations, Emma and John! She looks just like her big brother.

And congrats to John's sister, who delivered her first baby today in the hospital room right next door to theirs.

A Day at the Lake

Garrett had the day off last Friday, and the weather was gorgeous so we went to the lake and had a picnic.

The leaves are finally changing... it looks much better in person.

Throwing rocks...looks like she's a lefthand pitcher. Jealous, John? (John's been trying to teach Chris to be a lefthand pitcher ever since Chris was born)

Abby fell in the mud. She wasn't too happy since she hates being dirty!

In other news... can you believe we're already halfway through November?!? Time is flying, and I can't wait until Thanksgiving!!

Food for Thought...

Last week, Garrett's grandma sent us this quote, which I really enjoyed. It's by Neal A. Maxwell, who was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. In fact, I went back and read the entire talk, and it's very good. Just something to think about with all that's going on in the world...

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.' "This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions. "Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened....Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat."

Elder Maxwell also said this, which I want to add:

"It may well be that as our time comes to "suffer shame for his name", some of that special stress will grow out of that portion of discipleship which involves citizenship. Remember, as Nephi and Jacob said, we must learn to endure "the crosses of the world" and yet to despise "the shame of it". To go on clinging to the iron rod in spite of the mockery and scorn that flow at us from the multitudes in that great and spacious building seen by Father Lehi, which is the "pride of the world" (1 Ne. 11:36)—is to disregard the shame of the world."

Neal A. Maxwell, "A More Determined Discipleship," Ensign, Feb 1979, 69–73

Happy (Belated) Anniversary!

Last week was Garrett's parents 29th wedding anniversary.

Congratulations, Mom and Dad! We love you!

Obsession...

Ever since I started sewing and quilting again, I have become completely obsessed with fabric. There have been some new fabric designers in the last 2 years or so who have completely changed the face of quilting, and they design all kinds of modern and fun fabric. My favorite designers are Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, and Heather Bailey.... I really could go on and on, there are so many!

Anyway, I just found this fabric giveaway on a new blog I love, "See Katie Sew", and had to post about it for anyone out there like me who just LOVES fabric!! (oh, and if you decide to enter the giveaway... mention my name for referring you there! ;) ).

Good luck!