It's Finally Here!

After much work, agonizing and sweating the small stuff, I have finally launched my new soap company. Itty Bitty Soap Company went on-line officially on Black Friday. Why did I do it? Well, I love making soap and couldn't possibly use it as fast as I was making it, and couldn't afford to keep giving it away to friends and family, so I decided to see if I could sell it. I hope it is a success as I have tons of new ideas all the time and because I am committed to making natural soaps as easy to purchase as commercial soaps. After learning about all the chemicals and artificial ingredients in commercially produced soaps, I just couldn't buy them for my family and feel good about what we were using on our skin. Then there is the havoc these chemicals wreak on our environment - these chemicals are truly poisoning our water supply. I am no environmentalist by any means, but I've seen so much documentation about how these petrochemicals stay in our water systems I just can't keep supporting companies that willingly do this in the name of profits. Check out my soaps at www.ittybittysoapcompany.blogspot.com. You will love them.

So long, so sad:(

After his performance at the AMA I can no longer be a fan of Adam Lambert. I loved him on American Idol, really loved when he sang his Mick Jagger song (loved Mick's songs, not Mick so much). But  just can't have an idol that is gross - and his performance was truly gross (not to mention disgusting and perverted). This post is a little silly, but I had to do it to publicly recuse myself from being a fan, just so you know! I guess that means his posters in my scrapbook room are coming down. It was a fun ride while it lasted;).

My Sweet Mom

So this is a picture of my mom and dad, taken last August up in Idaho. I received a phone call from my brother this last Friday and found out my mom is in the hospital. She hadn't been feeling well and went for some tests. I got another couple of phone calls on Saturday and found out she has cancer in her colon. The dr.'s are doing a surgery today (Sunday) to remove the cancerous section. She and dad seem so positive about this. She has had many prayers offered in her behalf and her name has been added to the prayer rolls in a couple of Temples. The doctor performing the surgery has to ordain his son to the Priesthood today, so we have to feel confident that he will be praying for his own success, I sure hope so.

This picture was taken Thanksgiving 2008. My mom is standing between my dad and Nicki. Dad is sporting a nasty bruise on his face from getting rear-ended by a semi when he was in Idaho Falls just a week before this picture was taken.

Update: Mom's surgery went well. She is now home from the hospital and doing so much better. We are now in the wait-and-see mode. Lots of questions, fears and hopes. We will keep her and dad in our prayers. 

Today Was A Good Day

I know, you don't hear from me for a few days, and then two posts in one day. When it rains it pours. But I wanted to share this experience with my friends and family. Today in Relief Society our lesson was about being daughters of God. Our teacher put up a little poster that said, "My name is _________. I know I am a daughter of God because ____________. Then after a fairly short lesson, she had each of us go around the room, read the poster and fill in the blanks with our names and then say why we know we are daughters of God.

At first I was a bit put off by the idea, even panicked, stuff like that has a tendency to backfire and put people on the spot, at the very least. But this dear sister did such a good job of setting it up that nobody felt awkward. I wish I had been one of the first sisters to stand up and go through this process. As it was, I was towards the end and listening to each of the sisters, all of whom I consider good friends, was so touching. I loved hearing their brief testimonies of this simple statement with the profound impact and truth that it carries. By the time it was my turn, I could barely say my name, but managed to get through it with a very short statement to the effect of knowing this because of so many blessings in my life. There was no way I could even begin to enumerate them, or focus on just one blessing. In that setting, even mentioning one blessing had me in a very emotional state. This will go down for me as one of the best Relief Society lessons I have ever sat through and one I don't think I will soon forget. It was amazing to sit in that meeting and listen to 40-50 women comment on being daughters of God, all of the comments were comments of deep gratitude.

One sister mentioned she had had a very difficult week. She didn't go into any details, but said she knew this truth because she was able just to get through the week and show up at church on Sunday. When I thought of why I know this statement is true, really all I could think of was because of the many blessings I have in my life. One sister mentioned that she knew this was true because she had many difficulties that have blessed her life. She suffers almost daily with a painful disease. She is younger than I am and I thought it was peculiar that she would consider her disease a blessing. I don't know if I could have done that. One sister mentioned that she knew she was a daughter of God because He had forgiven her of all her dumb mistakes. One mentioned that she knew she was a daughter of God because she felt His love, even when she didn't particularly love herself. One said she knew she was a daughter of God because the Holy Ghost had born witness to her that it was true. All of these, I could relate to and knew how they felt and why. I, too, have had these same experiences. I am just so thankful for the knowledge we have that we are all God's children, that He cares for us and loves us despite our most despicable behavior. I look at this beautiful world we were given to prove ourselves worthy of His greatest blessing and feel gratitude in my heart. Many sisters spoke of knowing this truth because of their loving husbands, children, parents, sibling, friends and I too, feel this. But the one that really touched my heart and I knew it as pure truth was the sister who said that she knew she was a daughter of God because He gave us His son to show us the way and sacrificed himself for us in order that we may return to Him.

Really, the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us so many profound truths and  what gratitude I have for this knowledge. It is a comfort to know that we don't have to be lost, we don't have to wonder what God would have us do, and no matter what is going on in the world around us, God is over all. When evil is rampant and seems to go unchecked, that is a comforting thought. It was the best 30 minutes I have experienced in a long time. It was good to sit and think about all the reasons why I know I am a daughter of God. It is good that this truth governs, or should govern, our behavior at all times and in all places. I don't know if the sister that planned the lesson thought this would have such a profound effect on all of us, but I know it did. I think she just thought it would be nice to think about why we know we are daughters of God. I love her for her humility and for following the prompting of the Spirit. I hope you all have a good week, and take some time to consider "My name is ________. I know I am a daughter of God because _________.

Halloween Frolics

So, here is our little scarecrow. We couldn't decide what to do for a costume, and I didn't want to spend tons of money for Halloween, so we decided a "scarey" scarecrow would be fun. A quick trip to D.I., a few stitches here and there, a bit of face paint and voila - a perfectly haunting scarecrow.
Trevor loved his costume, especially since several people at the school carnival didn't even recognize him and lots of people told him he had the best costume. Of course, that made him very happy.
I love this twisty locust tree by our front door. This year Kent and the neighbors thought I was crazy when I stripped the leaves off for Halloween. They fall off anyway and It thought I looked spooky with its crippled branches. I hung a few homemade lanterns on it for the little trick-or-treaters that came by, but they only lasted a few minutes. I always have visions of how I want things to turn out, but then seldom does it go as planned. The few that didn't go out and burned until it got dark were so very cute!
This was our crazy weather pattern on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday was overcast and very cold, but no snow. Friday it had started to melt and was gone by Saturday. Today it was a beautiful, warm fall day (mid 60's). I always love the first snow, even if it comes early and particularly when it melts early. I am still loving fall and nowhere near ready for winter. 
We made caramel apples a couple of weeks ago. This is something that we need to practice. The caramel cooked too long and was pretty tough to bite through. But we managed to saw through a few and enjoyed some version of caramel apples.  Hope  you all had a frightful Halloween!!!