Minneapolis

My family and I went to Minneapolis this past weekend for the Desiring God Conference, which is organized by John Piper. We stayed at a great hotel and my parents came and watched Clara and Ruby while we went to the conference. I don't even quite know where to begin with what I learned. The topic was "words." The focus was, obviously, on what things come out of our mouths. The speakers were amazing...even the really smart and hard to follow ones. I have never been to a conference that I have really enjoyed until this one. I hope to return next year. I guess one of the main points that hit home was that loving others shouldn't be out of obligation or because it makes us feel good, we should love others out of gratitude for what Christ has done for us. His two most important commands to us are to love Him with our heart soul and mind and then to love our neighbors as ourselves. Let's face it...we seem to love ourselves quite a bit. It's not that hard to do. Loving difficult people is rough sometimes. It's easy to love people that are pleasant to be around...but people that talk too much or people that just rub you the wrong way are not as easy to love. Christ was perfect. He never once sinned and He chose to die for us and take our penalty for our sin. That is love!! Anything good that we do is because of Christ. How refreshing to know that we werent' meant to trod through this life on our own. Christ wants to be with us and have a relationship with us. I am baffled that such a powerful and loving God cares for such an imperfect and hopelessly sinful woman such as myself. I did learn a lot more that I would love to post, but my mind is still trying to grasp and organize the things that I learned. Plus, Trent is upstairs waiting with ice cream and a pod cast of Mark Driscoll's Song of Solomon series. I just can't get enough of that guy!!

Young &Smylie

I have found a fantastic licorice...it's even better if you chase it with a few dry roasted peanuts. It is Young &Smylie brand licorice. It is made with real licorice root, which is 5 times sweeter than sugar. Unfortunately, the #1 ingredient is still corn syrup!! That upsets me a bit, however, it is very, very, tasty, and I recommend it highly. It can be found at Target. Also, in a previous post I had mentioned the possibility of posting a Pear Cobbler recipe..I made it, I tried it, and it is nothing to write home about, sorry! I realize this entire post is about food and such, but I have one more tip that I recieved from my health conscious, smart, stylin, yoga doin', neighbor friend. If you are down cast and heavy laden about the price of organic foods...at least buy hormone free, organic milk. Sometimes you just have to buck up and do the right thing for your body and the bodies of your children who are 100% reliant on you to help them make good and healthy choices regarding their overall nutritional well being.

Party Decor

I must say that I am a bit disappointed with the selection of one year birthday decorations at our local retailers. There are maybe a few selections, but everything is pink!! Don't get me wrong...I love pink, however, ugly, not unique, and boring come to mind when I think of the decorations I have seen. Due to the lack of cuteness, I have come to the conclusion that I can totally create my own! All I need is a color scheme, scissors, pretty paper, balloons, and some paper plates from the dollar section at Target. This should be interesting!! I am super stoked about doing this and I think more mammas should not give in and buy the ugly pink...because you never know what a little creativity and some scissors can do for a fantabulous birthday for you child!!

I love Mondays

I used to hate Mondays so much that I started not even liking Sunday nights because Monday would be the next day. However, after some major changes in my life, I now love Mondays!! My husband has the day off and I don't have a job outside of my home. There's nothing like cozying up with my stud of a husband and watching a movie on Sunday night and then waking up Monday morning with no agenda...other than caring for our children and brewing a good cup of joe! Today started off with a trip to the clinic to make sure my sweet little Ruby was doing okay. She was. Then, off to a fresh, healthy, and affordable lunch with our great friends. After great conversation and lots of veggies and noodles, we headed home for naps and more coffee. Clara's little boy playmate, Henry, came over for awhile. He had a good time playing on the swings, riding on the rocking horse, and getting his nails clipped. After his mom and dad came to get him, we went for a fantastic walk that Clara slept through...so it was a very peaceful, quiet, tranquil walk!! Got home, made dinner, did some laundry and headed over to the Charlton residence for treats and planning of a Bible Study. Now, that's what I call a very nice Monday!!

What a weekend!

I have had a lovely weekend. It started off with a super fun cookout/bonfire at some friends house. A lot of my other friends were there too, which made it superb! Clara and Ruby were in the capable hands of my good friend Stacie. It was so nice to have uninterrupted conversations with my favorite gals and their spouses. Saturday morning was actually quite nice even without Trent. He had to do some cleaning at the church which lasted until about 1 pm. I took my girls out for a good, long walk. The weather was perfect and they were in great moods. No whining, pooping, or temper tantrums along the way. We came home and played in the sandbox forever. Trent got home and we lunched together. For the highlight of the weekend, we went to the Picket Fence Creamery and Prairieland Herbs in Woodward, Iowa (about 30 minutes northwest of here) We bought some cedar, sage, and sweetgrass body spray and some patchoulli for Trent. Driving up to Prairieland Herbs is like driving into some sort of fragrant haven of peacful relaxation. The owners have like 500 dogs, so Clara was in heaven. They even had cute little white ponies in the back and a real goose in their parking lot that likes to sit under your car. Picket Fence Creamery has an adorable little country store with dairy galore and unique, healthy foods. We bought some fun little food products that the normal run of the mill stores in Des Moines don't carry. We even got a 3 pound bag of cute, small pears for $1.29...the bag also contained a recipe for Pear cobbler. I will post the recipe after I try it...I don't want to mislead anyone who might actually make it. We went to church today and we napped to the seranading of Clara on her pink and purple keyboard. I will continue to try and figure out how to make my blog cuter....Abby, Londa...wanna come over for lunch someday and help me??

My very own blog spot

I am really living on the edge now. I have been reading my friend's blogs for the past few months or so. A few of them have been strongly encouraging me to have my own blog spot, so here it is. I think I need to work a bit on the format, but just give me some time to explore my options please!! I like to write and I really like organization, so this blogging thing is right up my alley. Is it just the woman in me that finds it so fun to see what my friends are doing on a daily basis?? Is it snoopy of me?? Does it mean I have no life so I must see what others are doing in theirs?? I am not sure about the answers to these questions that I have just asked myself, but if you are reading what I am writing...well, I guess we are one in the same. I am a stay at home mom presently, so I do indeed have quite the life. I really, really love it!! What could be better than having a God who loves me, a husband who I am totally in love with and he is totally in love with me, children who are so adorably funny and cute, and a nice red house that I get to be in and be in the yard of for the majority of my day? I truly have a 1950's housewife mentality. I don't feel like I am being stifled or being put in a box at all. Being a housewife is the first "job" I have ever had that I really want to excel at and am passionate about. It's the most rewarding and most enjoyable thing I have ever done. I do get a bit obsessive compulsive about keeping my home, children, yard, cupboards, closets, pantry, kitchen counter, linen closet, and husband neat and tidy. It's tempting to go a bit overboard just to see how "perfect" things can really get, but I realize it's not healthy....so, I just need to let it go sometimes. I look forward to writing more, but there is an awful lot of banging around and yelling going on upstairs, so I must peel myself away and see what is going on with my husband and children. 'till we meet again!