We live in an area that overlooks the valley toward the west. The view is beautiful.

Periodically my 2 daughters ages 6 & 7 and I will drive a little farther up the hill to a Junior High school. We park in the parking lot and watch the sun setting. It's such a fun thing to do and we've had many fun times. In the summer, the girls will get out of the car and dance around on the lawn and just play and have fun. Once the sun gets close to disappearing behind the mountain, they get back in the car and we just sit and watch until the last little sliver of the sun is gone. Then we gaze at the beautiful colors that are cast into the sky behind the mountains. It's crazy the thoughts that come into mind from such pretty things in our world.

It is this that brought me to my presidency message for Primary last Sunday. This year the theme in Primary is "I am a Child of God" . As I have thought about ways to help the children comprehend that they truly are children of God, I decided that if they can liken the love their parents feel for them to the love their Heavenly Father feels for them, maybe they will have a better understanding. So, for the message on Sunday I took some pictures from the Gospel Art Kit.

• Picture 100 "Creation-Living Creatures"

• Picture 325 "The Gold Plates"

• Picture 600 "The World"

• Picture 605 "Young Boy Praying"

• Picture 613 "Administering to the Sick"

• Picture 616 "Family Togetherness"

These are the ones that I took as well as a picture of President Monson. I went through each picture asking the kids what it was & what they thought about it, etc. I asked if they could identify any similarities in the different pictures. In the end I told them that each of these represents a gift from our Heavenly Father and that when we see these gifts we can think of our Heavenly Father and how much he truly loves each of us. Of course, by this time, I was choking on my stupid tears-as always-but I think it was helpful for the kids to be able to think of these things as a symbol of the love our Heavenly Father has for us.

So, when I was talking to my mother-in-law Sunday afternoon, she mentioned that she had given the Relief Society lesson that day. I asked her if she saves all of her lessons, because she always puts so much thought and preparation into them & has the cutest handouts, too. I'm sure one day I will have need for a few Relief Society lessons and it would be oh-so-nice to have some great ideas to go on. Anyhow, this is why I decided to share my message with you. It is always nice to have some ideas even if they aren't so perfectly fabulous.

As my girls and I have sat in our car overlooking the view, we have had many discussions of things in the world-good and bad-but in the end we see the beautiful sunset and think of the next day that is before us. And know that each day we have is a gift from God and our Heavenly Father.

In the past I have taken pictures of the girls with my camera phone, but this time I made an extra effort to take my real camera, not only to post on this blog, but also to have for memories. This day was a little overcast with many clouds that obstructed some of the view, however, the moisture the clouds bring is needed for the beautiful flowers blooming in spring. We won't always be within 3 minutes of this view, but I want to have those memories close by.

So I think this may be a bad thing. I've been working on my cute little blog for only a few hours (my how the time flies by). I take a trip downstairs & you'll never guess what I found. Obviously, I have been spending WAY too much time with this blog thing.

What do you think???

Just kidding-Thank heaven this is not my kids' room!!! At least not today.

It was Thursday morning at 2:36 AM and I was awoken by a fretting husband who is apparently in excruciating pain. By 3:30 AM he is doubled over and strongly suggests a visit to the ER is in order. While a visit to the ER in the middle of the night isn't exactly what you want to do, at least the waiting room isn't filled with people coughing until they nearly vomit, or sleeping with their feet up on the couch as if it is their home. We were taken right in & told that "Women have babies & men have kidney stones." The entertainment that night was nearly a pole dance (minus the pole and robed in an "oh-so-sexy" hospital gown) by my husband. The nurses had seen the dance before and, matter of factly, informed us that he most likely had a Kidney stone. After 3 blown blood veins, the second male nurse got the IV going & we were back on our way to sleepful bliss. A CT scan confirmed the diagnosis & we were sent home at 6:00 AM with funnels in which to catch the wayward stone. After 4 days (and nights) of dry heaves, heating pads, prescription refills, home remedies, massages, phone calls to the poor on-call doctor and another x-ray, my husband has given birth to a disgusting brown KIDNEY STONE!!! There will most likely be no surgery needed at this point & hopefully the future looks bright.

Okay, so every now and again I cave to Peer Pressure. Yes, I am an adult female 32 years of age & I have given in to peer pressure. The other night at a birthday party listening to everyone discuss everyone else's "BLOGS", I felt like I had been missing out on all of the fun. However, as an employed & married mother of 4 with a "pampered pooch", I was a little overwhelmed just thinking about the task. Nonetheless, I have entered the world of fellow bloggers. So please, bare with me while I scamper through this unexplored terrain. Hopefully it will be a fun adventure, as I am always looking in that direction!!!