All About the Argyles

What better way to bring in a new month than by celebrating the birth of one of your favorite people?  We had the Goodrums over for cupcakes in honor of Maribel's birthday.  How we love this family and feel so grateful for their friendship. April is the month of  General Conference.  It's not possible for me to pick one talk that was my favorite but this one by Elder Bednar would definitely have to be on the short list.  I have listened to it a couple of times and learn something new with each listen. Got this cute picture of my extended family at my Brother's wedding to his cute wife, Amy.    So happy for them both.  Tanner snagged a date with this cute gal for Mormon Prom.  And while we were taking pictures, Hanky snagged a ride with Uncle Brent.    Tanner and Bre went to Edgefest which was a treat for these two music fanatics.    A funny thing I saw when I was cleaning Brady's room. ...

I've been studying this talk this week .  It's 34 years old but true today as it was then.  My institute teacher brought it up in class last Monday and I have loved some of the thoughts Elder Holland shares. I would like to be quite personal this morning—personal about you and personal about myself. I have thought about you a great deal over the past few weeks and have prayed to know what might be helpful to you. In doing so I have been drawn back to my own days as a student and some of the challenges I faced then. While such experiences now border on primitive history, fit only for a geology lecture, I’m nevertheless going ahead. I have wondered if some of your experiences and feelings might even now be very much the same. I come this morning knowing the semester is nearly over and that what suggestions I offer were perhaps needed months ago. Furthermore, the year is nearly over and maybe for some an entire college career. But part of what I want to stress is th...

(This is from an article in the Deseret News by Lane Anderson called "How to Raise Compassionate Kids".) Sure, it would be nice if your kid grew up to be a doctor or scientist or the next Mark Zuckerberg. But studies show that across the board, mostly parents want their kids to grow up to be kind, caring and ethical. A  survey  of parents in the United States from varied ethnic backgrounds shows that all groups — from European to Asian to African — consider compassion more important than achievement ,  and when people from 50 countries were asked  what values mattered most to them , caring again outranked accomplishment, points out Adam Grant, professor of management and psychology at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of “Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success," in the  New York Times. But even if we value benevolence and generosity, how is it taught? In his research, Grant finds that studies w...

Yeah, yeah.  I know it's not actually Good Friday.  But for me, it's been a really good Friday. Last night it was dark and rainy and ominous.  There were thunderstorm warnings all night long.  Eventually, hail came.  It did a lot of damage to some of  the areas around us. But today the SUN is shining.   I tell you, it couldn't be more beautiful than it is today. And it's FRIDAY.   Which always means one thing at my house: date night with my favorite guy.   On another note, I have been praying for some direction for the last few weeks about how to best spend my time now that trek is over.  Should I volunteer somewhere?   Maybe the temple?  Should I get a job?  Work on projects around the house that have been nagging at me?  None of those have felt right. Early this morning, I was in a meeting and I started feeling like I was getting the answer I had been looking for.  I had an opport...

Inspired by  this post  by one of my favorite bloggers (Hillary Weeks, have I mentioned that I had lunch with her once?) has made me decide to copy her FANTASTIC idea. So I am officially declaring my "I will" and "I won't" list for April.  If I put it in writing then I am accountable so feel free to ask me how I am doing when you see me.  :O) I will: Go to the gym/ exercise 4 days a week make a temple date during the day with a friend drink 64 oz of water daily find someone to serve every other day read 10 conference talks  I won't: eat sugar - except on Fridays stress out about things I have no control over buy anything I don't NEED foster negative thoughts about myself or others get up past 6:30am

I mentioned yesterday that this girl saved $250.00 for cheer.  I don't have a picture of Reagan with the $250.00 she saved but they both did.  And I couldn't be prouder of them. Six months ago, it occurred to me that if both girls made the Reynolds cheer squad, we would have to write a big fat check in April for $1500.00.  April is the same month that we write a big fat tuition check for our college gal.  And buy books for said college gal.  And pay her housing fee.  It's kind of an expensive month.  So I challenged McKinley and Reagan to come up with $250 a piece towards that expense.  I didn't realize it at the time but it was kind of a win! win!   They figured out that if they didn't make cheerleader, they had all this money saved that they could use it to spend on whatever they wanted instead.  So both girls went into tryout week with a great attitude and mind set.  Ultimately, I am glad they both made it because ...