2014 Kid Portraits

My sister, Sophie, took fantastic photos of us yesterday.

She is as good as a professional.

Look at these cute kids!

 Benson

 Holland

 Hunter

 Myriam

 Packer

Sadie

Perfection

"PERFECTION is HANDLING IMPERFECT PEOPLE PERFECTLY."

I have such high expectations for myself and everyone around me, so I am constantly dissappointed.

Elder Uchtdorf's recent talk about being GRATEFUL in ANY circumstance 

April 2014 General Conference

has helped me realize that I can be happy even when things aren't going smoothly,

which I have come to notice is hardly ever!

People (including myself) constantly mess up.

Circumstances are hardly ever perfectly efficient and ideal.

The test isn't whether I can make everything run perfectly,

but if I can PERFECTLY HANDLE all the people and circumstances that don't go smoothly.

(My mom is phenominal at this!)

What a discovery this is for me!  I love things to be perfectly clean, orderly, etc.

But can I love the people around me as I strive to maintain order?

YES!

My temple sealer's advice (Bishop Edgley) was: 

"to be flexible, adaptable, and LONG in patience."

Bagpiping in Nauvoo

A VACATION OF FAITH AND FAMILY

This summer we had an awesome family vacation.

We went to the Nauvoo Pageant for 2 weeks 

where Donny and Myriam bagpiped in the band and

the rest of our family dressed like bagpipers, 

but we called ourselves "singing missionaries."  

Here is a link to our family singing "Abide with Me"

Abide with Me

We learned harmony to some of the bagpipe songs and sang prior to them piping.

We handed out newspapers at the Sunday evening bagpipe concerts at local parks

and daily during the morning parade down Mullhollen Street. inviting people to come to the Pageant.

 

It was so worth our family vacation time because it was so meaningful.

It strengthened our testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ,

it developed our musical talents and missionary skills.

We also got to take a detour to Chicago to visit my sister, Haley,

who went "all out" hosting us.  

When we came home, we sang and bagpiped on (Aug 20th) 

at a local senior citizen center.

Here is Myriam and Donny bagpiping "Steam Train"

Steam Train

Story Telling

I have been making up stories lately to teach lessons to my children. (I got the idea from the Faith in God booklet). It works way better than a lecture and they love it.

Here are 4 of them:

1- Lazy Leo who got turned into a rock. 

(for Packer who has to be pushed to move and is tempted to sleep in)

2- Spanking Suzy who got a million spanks in return when she got to heaven. 

(for Hunter who loves administering justice to everyone else)

3- Dictator Dallas who got her voice taken away from her 

(for me since I am always trying to decide everything and push my preferences on everyone)

4- Shoving Shirley who got buried under a mountain of toys when she opened up the closet 

(for Holland who cleans by shoving things under and in unseen places)

Stout Camp

My mom's side of the family had a huge reunion this weekend to celebrate my grandpa Woody's 100th birthday. It was such an awesome experiencer. My mom made an amazing video if his life story, a big family tree of all his posterity, and a poster with pictures of all the houses he built. 

Here is the link to the video:

Woody Stout Video

He was such a hard working, frugal, and solid man.

I am so grateful to have been born into his family. I love my parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. What a fun opportunity to mingle and enjoy being around each other.

The Johnson family always gets together for memorial day to visit the graves.

Here is one of the songs that they bagpiped there with Levi on the drums:

Going Home

Spiritual Breakfast

The last few months, I have read and discussed a standard

out of the Strength of Youth Pamphlet with my children during breakfast each day.

I LOVE the standards the Lord has set, and if followed, 

we really are STRENGTHENED against the power of the devil.

Reading a small part and quizzing them has led us into such great discussions.

(I love meal times that have meaningful discussions 

rather than silly or bad-mannered ones).

Now that we finished the youth pamphlet, 

we have gone to the primary one- "Faith in God."

This program is also so inspired. 

The church truly strengthens the family.

All the principles and standards are best implemented at home.

Hunter's Baptism

Hunter was baptized a member of the 

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

on May 3, 2014 in Centerville.

He was baptized and confirmed by his dad.

We are so proud of his decision to follow Jesus Christ by being baptized.

He is really maturing and it is so rewarding to see him making good choices.

He has already read the Book of Mormon twice and loves it.

He will be a great missionary one day!
Here is a link to Holland practice the song she sang at his baptism:
Holland singing with grandma Jolene
Now that he is 8, we finally let him play soccer.
He learned really fast and became a solid player.