For Rob

My brother-in-law, may I just say, he's a totally awesome BIL, and I had an in your face debate loving family discussion about the Beatles song Imagine. He contended that it was atheistic, my contention is that it is a description of heaven. Being the know it all big sister that I am, I couldn't put it down until I had proved, to myself at least, that I am right.


Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Article of Faith 10 ...Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisaical glory.

Heaven, hell it's all here baby; always was always will be.

"If you wish to go where God is , you must be like God, or possess the principals which God Possesses, for if we are not drawing towards God in principle, we are going away from Him and drawing towards the devil (HC 4:588)

Heaven or hell is not a destination it's a way of life. And as we know that that same spirit that possesses us in this life shall rise with us in the next we will continue to create heaven or hell for ourselves eternally.




Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

We need not doubt the wisdom and intelligence of the Great Jehovah; He will award judgment or mercy to all nations according to their several deserts, their means of obtaining intelligence, the laws by which they are governed, the facilities afforded them of obtaining correct information, and His inscrutable designs in relation to the human family; and when the designs of God shall be made manifest, and the curtain of futurity be withdrawn, we shall all of us eventually have to confess that the Judge of all the earth has done right. (Joseph Smith)

Every government, from the creation to the present, when it ceased to be virtuous, and failed to execute justice, sooner or later has been overthrown. And without virtuous principles to actuate a government all care for justice is soon lost, and the only motive which prompts it to act is ambition and selfishness. (HC 2:11)

Aren't all faiths seeking world peace and government under one supreme being?



Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

"The people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another. And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift" (4 Ne. 1:2-3).

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one.

DC 29:6
And, it is written--Whatsoever ye shall ask in faith, being united in prayer according to my command, ye shall receive.

I have no idea what John Lennon's politics were I don't know if he was a screaming, phsyco, socialist or a pinko commie or just some British kid who made a lot of money looked around at the world and said, "hmm, I think things could be a little better." Whatever he was he wasn't advocating establishing peace by force or coercion or law not in this song anyway. He invites us to join him in oneness, hmm, sounds like others I know.

As far as I can tell the only difference between peace on earth, or heaven, or Zion, and socialism or communism is force vs. choice.

I love this quote on peace from Joseph Smith:

If the nation, a single state, community, or family ought to be grateful for anything, it is peace. Peace, lovely child of heaven. Peace, like light from the same great parent, gratifies, animates, and happifies the just and the unjust and is the very essence of happiness below and bliss above. He that does not strive with all his powers of body and mind, with all his influence at home and abroad, and to cause others to do so too, to seek peace and to maintain it for his own benefit and convenience and for the honor of his state, nation, and country, has no claim on the clemency of man, nor should he be entitled to the friendship of woman or the protection of government....But the peacemaker, Oh give ear to him! For the words of his mouth, and his doctrine, drop like rain and distill as the dew. (commentary, 81)

I seek peace, the peace left by the Savior, "The of peace of God which passeth all understanding" Philippians 4:7

Spring is In The Air

In Boys-R-Usville spring is:

Warm days at the park.














































Cold days in the toy room.





































Baseball, First game of the season April 29, 3 & 4 are on the same team this year, the local weather bureau said it was 35 degrees; taking into consideration wind chill and metal bleachers I think -10 degrees is more like it. It was so cold that the boys would rather strike out then hit with a metal bat and cold hands. Isaac, on the other hand, was blessed with a day so bright you couldn't see without sunglasses. On his first ever up to bat hit the ball, completely by accident, stood there unsure what had happened then took off for third base. The stands went wild, six and seven year old baseball games are best if the kids do something funny, so Isaac was MVP on his first day of baseball.




















Sprinklers:
No, I did not wake up and suggest they run across the street at 9:30 A.M. in their jammies' to play in the sprinklers on a 65 degree morning in May. I'm not that kind of Mom...I told them to get their swimsuits on.




















Spring Programs:

Joshua, band. Jacob, Ballroom dance. Isaac, all the first graders. Benjamin, Hope of America.

Hope I Can Survive Three More

Last night number 4 participated in a fifth grade tradition in our community. He Gathered with over 5,000 other fifth graders in the Marriott center at Provo, Utah to participate in a patriotic singing, dancing extravaganza known as Hope of America. I must confess that seeing 5,000 fifth graders wearing appropriate colored t-shirts to form a giant united states flag in a yellow background is very impressive and I must also confess that patriotic songs with flags waving and flashlights involved makes me cry especially when one of the beautiful bright eyed fifth graders singing is mine.

We woke up to Benjamin singing the lyrics to America Rocks which I will try to get him to sing on camera for me to add later( ohh, aren't you excited a sideways video to look forward to). He was so excited and that made it all worth while. Adorable Hubby was not so excited this is his second year of attending and we have three more years to go. This was my third year of attending and we tried to recall, as we wandered around for 45 minutes trying to find seats, why Adorable hubby had missed last years fun, he came to the conclusion as we forged our way through the crowds that he might have been being a, "Hope of an Ass Hole" I giggled.

To understand why he might be anything less then an encouraging father you must imagine how many family members of varying age and ambulatory prowess are attached to each and every happy valley fifth grader and 500+ other varied dancers and performers. The math goes something like this,

Marriott Center Seats = 22,000 - Fifth Graders + performers (5,500) - Average of 4 family members per performer (22,000) - People in the community who think free + patriotic + Fifth Graders = Fun (250) - People who have never been but were convinced its a 'bucket list' must (192) - VIP's and others who gave a lot of money or might give a lot of money(87) Vendors, harried Marriott Center Staff (352) + random (but cute) guys handing out fliers with a smile (1) - Bored between semester BYU students who can't afford any other entertainment (29) - Campus Security (36) - Ron Paul for President supporters (15) - Bloggers for better writing skills...alright but you get the picture= Way Not Enough Seats.

You've got to get there by 5:30 to even hope for a decent seat that means leaving home at 4:45 because traffic and parking are so bad, oh and it doesn't start until 7:30ish depending on how many random Tai Kwan Do, Dance Studios and Singing Companies they have perform before hand. It's so crowded that families cling to each other desperate to not become separated. Last year it took so long for me to get to the rendezvous point with my fifth Grader that he was in tears. This year we sat in a reserved seating section but far enough to the middle that the Marriott employee who felt it her life mission to kick out the people sitting on the edges then gave up and started seating people in the section, couldn't get our attention. I have a few years to prepare a seating strategy for the next Hope of America wish me luck.

As we were driving to the Marriott center Benjamin looked around at all the traffic and people and said, "Wow It's gonna take like two hours to get home when everyone is trying to leave...I guess you could get up and head out before the last song then we could beat the crowd but since the last song is the best I don't know why anyone would do that". After watching in tears while 5,000 fifth graders sing "I Can Be A Light' in a darkened room with flashlights swaying left to right illuminating themselves as part of a flowing human flag for just an instant as they paused at the top of the arch...well I can honestly say through tears of remembrance I am looking forward to Isaac's performance as the Hope Of America.

Well Duh!

Today I heard this discussion between 6 & 7.

Joseph: Adam, How high can you jump?

Adam: All the way up.

A Christian Womens' Dilemma

Yesterday as I went hoarse shushing 4, 5, 6 & 7 for an hour and 30 minuets during sacrament meeting. I was carried away in pondering a thought that starts my hands twitching every friggin' Sunday often crosses my mind as a church going, Christian women and mother...

If your children fight over who gets to pass the sacrament tray is it permissible to whack them in the back of the head with your scriptures? You'd think that this is one time when a properly applied dose of the word of God is a justifiable remedy to sibling on sibling violence?

I do believe telling a child that whacking will get you whacked, whacks... er, smacks of hypocrisy, although I'm pretty sure whoever noticed that handy little tid-bit of parenting illogic wasn't taking seven sons to church. It just seems to me that this is one situation when it would really feel righteous to practice the laying on of hands, scriptures, whatever.

I do however feel that wanting to whack the speaker in the back of the head with my scriptures just because he has taken 15 minutes more then the allotted time isn't very Christian. And refusing to teach my three year old that Apple Jacks are not Ass Jacks because it's pretty funny to take a Baggie of Ass Jacks to church to keep him quiet just might bump me into the heathen category.

Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord! all my rugrats are back in school today. No 103 Fevers, No sore throats. knock on wood...I think we are all healthy. Not many things that rouse me to a PTL, not having sick, hurting tweens and allmost 7 year olds following me around telling me how sick and hurting they are is really high on a short list.

I spent the morning yesterday working in my front garden which probably has much to do with my happy mood. I love spring, I believe I'll go to the garden store today. I could spend months wandering the garden store, I could spend thousands of $$$$$$ on plants and pots and seeds and soil...does that make me a bad person?????

I just found a setting on my camera for taking close up pictures of flowers so before my trip to the gardening store I am going to shop-vac the leaves out of my perennial bed (one day I'll dedicate an entire post to my love of shop vacuum's, and, can I just say, vacuum is a weirdly spelled word) and take a few pictures to add to this post later.

Spring Break Project

Hmm, posting these pictures turned out to be rather messy. So I'm now typing, not because I don't firmly believe the adage "A picture is worth a thousand words" but, because if I type then at some point I may have enough words to figure out how to get the pictures to quit invading other pictures space.
And quit bugging other pictures.
And quit looking at other pictures.
And quit taking other pictures stuff.
And quit messing up stuff that other pictures are going to have to clean up.
And quit hogging the other pictures computer game when I just asked him to help me and now he won't let me play.
And all the little pictures are bugging the big picture.
And the big picture is being mean to all the little pictures. And seeing as how the precious hour or so this project was happening was about the most peaceful together time that we all shared during Public Educators Revenge on Parents break I think it's only fitting that the frickin' pictures should all cooperate with each other and be nice and not fight on my blog.

For those not familiar with the joys of trying to upload multiple pictures on blogger I won't bore you with too many details, needless to say if you don't do it right, and occasionally even if you do, pictures are all over the place. Sometimes adding text will line them up and keep them in place. This time I was forced to delete all seven pictures and start the upload over.

Finally for your viewing pleasure all seven of the pictures are lined up down the side of my blog in no particular order, not unlike my sons who seem to be catching a nasty virus with fevers of 102 and higher in no particular order, adding to the joys and length of spring break(aka, Public Educators Revenge on Parents Break, for those of you who didn't get it earlier).