The rest of the October photos, for crying out loud

 

I can't even remember October. Was it nice? Some of these pictures look like it was nice. But it also snowed sometimes. Oh yes, and we went on millions of hikes, which feels like it was in another life. Anyway. How did all these things happen in one month?

Cuties after bath

How we usually end up going home from church (we all trickle over at different times and for different meetings/responsibilities, the kids mostly walking, but afterwards some of them always want to ride home in the trunk)

Pinky sunset

One of those beautiful Fall days

Cross-country boys eating millions of pancakes after a run

We went on a field trip to a water treatment facility and they gave us little squishy toilets to take home. And, for some reason, Gus fell in love with his. He sleeps with it and carries it around everywhere. Here it is, sitting patiently on the floor behind him while he eats lunch. Sometimes in the house you can hear a cry of "Ziggy took Gus's squishy toilet!"

Gus is (still) obsessed with the doorbell speaker, which he calls the "seeker." This is his favorite viewing spot for it. Note his bright, excited face. "I see the seeker, Mommy!"

Teddy's primary teacher got talking to Teddy about BYU football (Teddy's favorite conversation topic) and the next week he gave us 6 tickets to the game. Seb took Malachi, the three girls, and Teddy to it. So fun! Even though we lost, sad. :(

More windowsill sitting

My cute niece Rachel with me and Clementine

A snug (?) nest on the porch

Super sad matching foxy pajamas

We had a Family Home Evening where we all had to make or write or draw something Halloweeny. This is Teddy's contribution.

The song Malachi composed🙄

Sam's drawing

Junie's pumpkins

Gus's picture. Not pictured: Ziggy's song, which he wrote down on paper with actual music notes and then sang to us. Super cute.

Daisy's graveyard

Goldie's tiny book of Halloween poems

Clemmie in a fuzzy sweatshirt

Family Home Evening where we went to Harmon's and everyone chose something to eat for his or her own dinner. Very fun.

Fancy braid Daisy did in Goldie's hair

Daddy-daughter mini golf

Sweater my mom made a long time ago

Clementine has, more than once, called me on the phone! She goes to our home phone and presses redial (I assume…never having caught her in the act). Then my cell phone rings from "Home" and I answer and hear a bunch of breathing and fumbling, and then a delighted "Hiiiiiii!" and sometimes a few more words. And then a click as she hangs up, entirely pleased with herself. In this picture she had called and then dropped the phone, and Seb helped her talk to me long enough to say "bye."

Learning about surface tension. Gus astonished and delighted at the bubbles.

Weird pretty light through the snow

First (? I think?) snowfall

Turned into a fair amount overnight, enough to play in the next morning

It melted off and the days warmed up a bit right before Halloween. And we had a pleasant Halloween. But then…cold and grey and snow and rain. And nothing warm ever since! (Unless I've forgotten something. Which is likely.)

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Never miss a chance

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday Afternoon Session of the April 1999 Conference.

Sometimes I think President Eyring can read my mind. Except…not my mind when he was first speaking, but my mind NOW, re-reading him. Oooh! Spooky. I think he did, in fact, anticipate every question or objection I had while reading this talk.

And what a talk. I don't know how to say what I felt about it. I "liked" it—if "like" means being riveted by it and feeling the spirit testify of its truth while simultaneously feeling like an utter failure at following its advice. Well. What is Conference for, I suppose, but to inspire us to aim higher and do better! And this talk did make me want to do that.

He starts out dramatically enough:

There has been a war between light and darkness, between good and evil, since before the world was created. The battle still rages, and the casualties seem to be increasing. All of us have family members we love who are being buffeted by the forces of the destroyer, who would make all God’s children miserable. For many of us, there have been sleepless nights. We have tried to add every force for good we can to the powers swirling around the people who are at risk. We have loved them. We have set the best example we could. We have pled in prayer for them. A wise prophet long ago gave us counsel about another force which we may at times underestimate and thus use too little.

The force he's talking about is teaching the word of Christ. And he goes on to show just how powerful that force can be:

Doctrine gains its power as the Holy Ghost confirms that it is true. We prepare those we teach, as best we can, to receive the quiet promptings of the still, small voice. That takes at least some faith in Jesus Christ. It takes at least some humility, some willingness to surrender to the Savior’s will for us. The person you would help may have little of either, but you can urge that they desire to believe. More than that, you can take confidence from another of the powers of doctrine. Truth can prepare its own way. Simply hearing the words of doctrine can plant the seed of faith in the heart. And even a tiny seed of faith in Jesus Christ invites the Spirit.

I love what he says about "truth can prepare its own way." It gives me hope that even when my children don't seem to have anything close to the necessary willingness and humility, still, my words (if I manage to speak with the spirit) may be having some effect. 

Next, Elder Eyring says:

We have the greatest opportunity with the young. The best time to teach is early, while children are still immune to the temptations of their mortal enemy, and long before the words of truth may be harder for them to hear in the noise of their personal struggles.

A wise parent would never miss a chance to gather children together to learn of the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Such moments are so rare in comparison with the efforts of the enemy. For every hour the power of doctrine is introduced into a child’s life, there may be hundreds of hours of messages and images denying or ignoring the saving truths.

I've realized (to my dismay) how right he is about the rarity of doctrinal moments with our children. It seemed, at the beginning, like childhood would last forever. Like I would never run out of time to teach and guide. Like there was an eternity of chances ahead. I just didn't know how fast it would all go! And how the children's wish to listen would wane as they got older! I have so often not been "a wise parent." And I have missed chances. Even now, having a better idea of how fast it all goes, I miss them because I'm too tired or too worn down by discouragement or too overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. "Is it really true"—I thought, reading this talk—"that teaching doctrine will always be worth it? What if the children resist? I'm so tired of that. It's so much easier sometimes just to have fun together." Then I read the next paragraph—

The question should not be whether we are too tired to prepare to teach doctrine or whether it wouldn’t be better to draw a child closer by just having fun or whether the child isn’t beginning to think that we preach too much. The question must be, “With so little time and so few opportunities, what words of doctrine from me will fortify them against the attacks on their faith which are sure to come?” The words you speak today may be the ones they remember. And today will soon be gone.

Well! You can't get much clearer than that. And he's right, of course. I do need to teach while I have the chance! And he also gives these words of hope and comfort:

Two doubts may creep into your mind. You may wonder if you know the doctrine well enough to teach it. And if you have already tried to teach it, you may wonder why you can’t see much of the good effects.…

The years pass, we teach the doctrine the best we can, and yet some still do not respond. There is sorrow in that. But there is hope in the scriptural record of families. Think of Alma the Younger and Enos. In their moments of crisis, they remembered the words of their fathers, words of the doctrine of Jesus Christ. It saved them. Your teaching of that sacred doctrine will be remembered.…

Your descendants will teach doctrine to each other because you taught it. Doctrine can more than open minds to spiritual things and hearts to the love of God. When that doctrine brings joy and peace, it also has the power to open mouths. Like those women in Berlin, your descendants will not be able to keep the good news to themselves.

I love President Eyring! I'm so glad for his talks. So many of them speak to me so personally, but not just in a pleasant, affirmative sort of way—in a call to action sort of way. I came out of this talk with a new resolve to use the power of God's word, to "talk of Christ, rejoice in Christ, preach of Christ" in my family and with my children—every moment that I possibly can. 

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Sebastian in his element

A few weeks ago, when the leaves were still pretty, Sebastian said he wanted me to take some pictures of him on his bike. You can bet I jumped at the chance! Last time I did this was…well, at least 6 years ago! It was so fun to drive around with him and hike through crunchy leaves and watch him do tricks on his bike and laugh about things together. I guess we can call these his senior pictures. (Incidentally, I have never been an unmitigated supporter of long hair on boys—it so often looks stringy—but when I compare Seb's hair now with his hair when it was short—I do really like it like this. I think he looks so handsome!) 

And he does love this bike of his! I hope he has half this much love in his eyes when I take his engagement pictures…haha.

This reminds me a little bit of when Seb was tiny, and I'd get him to talk to me while I took his picture so I could catch his different expressions.

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A yellow wood

 

We stopped at a picnic area in Diamond Fork Canyon on the way home from the Hot Springs, and it was so beautiful! Yellow everywhere! It reminded me of a beautiful place we stopped in Logan Canyon years ago on the way home from Bear Lake. Little Daisy was about Clementine's age, just learning to walk, and she was wearing a little yellow dress and she was so cute! I always thought that was the prettiest picnic area I'd ever been in…until now!

It was fun because there was a big fallen tree lying all the way across a clearing. It doesn't look like it's that high, but it was high enough off the ground to be a little scary if you fell off while walking along it…which made it much more fun, of course!

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