Right now

I'm sitting here at school in the computer lab after attending one of my professors vocal recitals. She is an awesome teacher and tonight was really nice to hear her sing. I've been told that if I'm a music major, I must immerse myself in music. I have done so. In the last month I have borrowed many CD's of great composers from the library, and I have also had the opportunity to attend 3 concerts, all very different in style. It has been fun, but very time consuming when you add it to a family of 9 and a school schedule. But I feel so deeply that music is like a kindred spirit to me. I not only hear it, I taste it and feel it. It moves me! So, I know that right now I'm doing the right thing! It feels good.

This is one of the reasons my blogging has decreased a bit. The other reason is that since getting a new YW presidency in January, we have been swamped with lots of things to do. Again, FUN, but time consuming.

Now for the Academy awards speech...I must send out a huge thanks to my dh who is an amazing support in all of this. He wants me to spread my wings and fly. To my children who think it's cool that mommy is going to school at the same time as them. And to my Father in Heaven for the gifts and talents and blessings he has given me in music, motherhood, marriage and Young Women's. What a blessing a family is!

Who am I?

I think this is awesome and of course got the idea from the amazing Denise whose blog is fantabulous! I have to give credit where credit is due!

I was amazed at how close this visualDNA was to the real me. I thought it was fun!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Solemn day

Yesterday my good friend and neighbor lost her mother. She was on a flight and her mother passed away before she could make it there. This has really made me reflect on my own mothers' passing 14 yrs. ago. Last week at our Stake Women's conference Living Legends from BYU came to perform for us. It was beautiful. When they sang a song in Maori, I started to have a real longing for my mother. So now, having my friends mom die, brings it even closer to home. I miss her. My heart is aching for my friend because I know what she is going through. I guess you would call that emphathy instead of sympathy. And while I'm glad for this compassion that can only come from experiencing it, I miss her. I was at a mall the other day eating lunch with my 5 yo, and I saw all these mothers eating lunch and shopping with their own daughters and grandkids in tow. I felt lonely and lost. I don't know why it is hitting me so hard this week. Every now and then it hits me, like it will for the rest of my life. It is only a reminder of what a wonderful person she was. I miss her because I love her. I know that through the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is hope through the sorrow. I will see her again. I can go on because of that hope.

~My mother 20 months before she died~she adored her grandkids!

Some of the wonderful qualities she had were:
~Compassion
~A kind heart
~Courage through her illness

What do you admire about your mother?

10 things that make me smile...

The love of my life


My children


My pets



Music


Autumn in Utah


Chocolate


Going back to school


Getting good grades in college


LOVE!


The Gospel of Jesus Christ


What makes you smile?

Line upon line, precept upon precept

This weekend we had our Ward Conference and our Stake Women's conference. It was a very uplifting weekend for me. The focus for Ward conference and one of the speakers for the women was on Temple work.

It is a good reminder of:

~Every stone laid for a Temple is another reminder of who is in charge, God, and who isn't, Satan.
~The importance of the work for our ancestors.
~The importance of building a testimony.
~The importance of the organization of the church and how every ordinance is built upon eachother. God knows what he's doing!
~The importance of repetition.
~The importance of remembering Christ in our daily lives.

Leah Thinks

So I decided to try and google myself like Denise did in her blog,which I found hilarious, and this is what I found:

Leah thinks she is staying up until 3

The instant and powerful mutual attraction soon blossoms into love. He wines and dines her and captures her heart. Just when Leah thinks she’s finally found ...

Leah thinks her husband will honor her now that she has given him six sons.

Leah thinks being the youngest child made her independent. “I wanted to be something different,” she said. “I’ll always stick myself out there.” ...

Leahs hypocracy if this article is true is beyond belief,maybe leah thinks making porn is a more respectable way of getting fame and respect..so much ... (Bwahahahaha!)

Just when Leah thinks she’s finally found happiness, her world spins out of control. She becomes the target of terror and is stalked and tormented. ...

Leah thinks (and hopes) the body belongs to her sister, missing for 16 years.

Leah thinks I'm dying, I'm afraid.

Leah thinks that Maria and Craig are just camera hogs (she calls them in a confessional).

Leah thinks the yard needs more water (even though it just rained). She got out the sprinkler and dragged the hose across the yard to hook it up. ...

Leah thinks I'm just a set of monkey bars. (Huh?)

Leah thinks shes pregnant. (NOT!)

Leah thinks she is hot stuff standing at the table by herself. (Ya got that right!)

Leah thinks her mum is menopausal.

Leah thinks I'm a major nerd - but I know she secretly thinks I look hot in the uniform.

And I could go on and on and on. There were 789,000 hits for my name. I only got through 80 of them.

Try it! I had fun!

Valentine's day

The day started out really nice. I wrote some romantic stuff for my dh on our bathroom mirror and attached a card. My 5 yo thought that was the coolest. Went to class, then came home 2 hrs. later to go to lunch with dh. (he got off work for me) Best way to avoid the holiday crowd, and still enjoy eating out. We hung out the rest of the day and into the night. After we put the children to bed, we settled in for a nice evening together.:o) When, from out of nowhere, my 14 yo son yells, "W, said 5 yo,just threw up!!" OMHeck! It was everywhere, including all over my 14 yo's trombone case and bed. It took us an hour to clean it up. You can bet the romance was gone after that! So, here's a tip: Don't let your kid eat all his valentine treats in one evening. Vomit and romance don't mix. BTW, he was fine the next day.

What is a super taster?

If you google the word "super taster" there is plenty of info regarding this phenomenon. I have always wondered why I didn't like some vegetables, and finding out about the super tasters' tongue made the light come on in my head. So, I have forbidden my dh from calling me a picky eater anymore.

Here's what one website had to say:

Super taster
When your child, patient or co-worker balks at eating spinach or broccoli, put it down to bad taste. You may be dealing with a "super taster" whose taste buds are highly tuned into - and turned off by - bitter compounds found in foods such as pungent vegetables, grapefruit juice, wine, green tea and strong coffee.

"About 25 percent of the population are genetically programmed to be super tasters who sharply detect bitter compounds in food," said Dr Adam Drewnowski, Director of the Nutritional Sciences Program at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA, and an expert on taste and food choices. "Half of the population detects these compounds to some degree and another 25 percent don't detect them at all."

What makes super tasters so bitterly sensitive to foods? Compared to their less discriminating colleagues, super tasters' tongues are packed with many more fungiform papillae, the little bumps on the tongue that house the taste buds. About two-thirds of super tasters are female and the sensitivity often fades with age. One theory is that, in years gone by, super tasting served as a survival mechanism. "Perhaps the characteristic discouraged pregnant women from eating poisonous plants or berries, which tend to taste bitter," said Drewnowski.

Ironically, many of these bitter substances are disease-fighting phytochemicals that may be beneficial to health. Super tasters can help the vegetables go down and optimise nutrient intake by adding a little oil or margarine to their dish. According to Drewnowski, fat improves the flavour of vegetables by masking the bitter taste.

Are You a Super Taster?

Try this test to see whether you're a super taster.

Using a hole punch, punch a hole in the middle of a 5-cm square of waxed paper (lunch wrap). Place the hole on the tip of your tongue. Swab some blue food colouring on the exposed part of the tongue and, using a magnifying glass and a flashlight, count the number of fungiform papillae (the pinkish circles). Super tasters will have dozens of papillae; non-tasters will have only five or six.