David Braithwaite Family Reunion

We just got home from our annual David Braithwaite Family Reunion.  It was at the Salmon River lot again this year.  We had such a great time.  I didn't think I took very many pictures but when I loaded them there were about 110 so I did pretty good for 3 days.  I just didn't get pictures of as many people as I would have liked.

Molly & Anita - Anita is 9 months older than Molly and she likes to play "mommy" to her.  Molly doesn't mind.  She follows her around and does what she says.

Ella of course shows up camping in her pink shirt and skirt and heads straight for the dirt hill to play in the "fort" with the other kids.  She is with Jacob & Noah.  Jacob is 4 months older than her and she is a year older than Noah.

April & Alanah were up playing in the fort that gets more and more developed every year by the kids.

A view of the lot.  We had 7 trailers and about 5 tents up there by the time everybody got there.  Glad we have enough space to fit everybody in there.

Friday night some creepy aliens were spotted up on the hill dancing.  Aunt Cindy handed out glow sticks to keep us safe from these crazy creatures. :) 

Saturday was Molly's 2nd birthday so we had a mini birthday party with a few of her little cousins: Amy & Jordan.  They had balloons and party hats and sat in laws chairs eating cheetos at about 10am.  They thought it was fun.

We headed up Yankee Fork by the Dredge and went fishing in the newly stocked ponds.  There were plenty of fish to go around.

Alanah even caught a water snake.  Brave girl.

Dustin's nephew Aaron just graduated from U of I in Mechanical Engineering and is moving back to Idaho Falls so he got to come hang out at the reunion on his way back.

Julie & Dallin

After we had enough fishing we went to Redfish Lake.  The kids had a blast!  Thankfully there were 3 canopys between all of us so we got to sit on the beach and watch the kids in the shade.  I love how dirty Molly's face is.  She looks like a dalmation.

A few of Dustin's brothers rented a boat for an hour and they took all the kids for rides.  Molly got to ride with Aunt Johnna while I held her new grandbaby, Rudy.

Stephanie & Kirk

Devin & Johnna celebrated 30 years of marriage this week

Aaron & Dustin jumping in - well Aaron just pushed Dustin

Dallin (3) & Marshall (4) - Julie's boys

I am so glad the kids will pose for me.  I love it!

Jason (8), Ella (7), Jacob (7), Christopher (6), Ian (6), Rebecca (8), Molly (2), Anita (2)

We were so tired from the heat and fun at Redfish.  Thankfully we had a family potluck that night so there wasn't too much preperation.  Just your contribution to the potluck and mine was cheese and cake.  Easy, peasy!  Uncle Devin and his new grandson, Rudy.

Molly got to celebrate her birthday with Grandpa David who had a birthday on Friday, Kara on Wednesday and Christian this upcoming Monday.

They were nice and let her blow out the candles.

She had a couple helpings of cake, ice cream and a couple sneaky fingerfuls of frosting.

Aunt Sindy with Julie's baby Kailey and her baby Isabella.

Dustin thought he would be funny and kept squirting everybody while I was dishing up cake so after I finished I got a good scoop on my finger and suprised him.

He was a good sport.

Pam and Alan were in charge of the reunion this year and brought all sorts of fun activities for the kids.  She had ordered camping backpacks for all the kids so they got to color them with fabric markers and got a pencil to put in them.  Sunday morning they all got a coloring book and notebook to color to add to their backpacks.

As always it's hard to say goodbye to the cousins we haven't seen in a while and don't get to see too often.  It's so fun to get together and have good times.  We will be getting together again in a few weekends here in Idaho Falls for another special occasion so, until then....

Spider Bite

When we lived in our apartment the first year we were married we woke up a lot of mornings to find these creepy buggers crawling in our kitchen sink.  Dustin is freaked out by spiders so he would turn the sink on and hope they would never come back but I had to squish them first to be sure of it.

Apparently it is hobo spider mating season right now which means they are a bit more aggressive than normal.  Monday night I woke up scratching my leg.

Tuesday morning I woke up to this.  A really red, hard, hot and sore spot that looked like a spider bite.

By evening the hard, red, hot spot had spread to be this big.

By the next day it looked more like this.  I went visiting teaching that morning and got advice from good friends to go to the doctor.  The doctor put me on an antibiotic 4 times daily and drew this pretty line around the red part to make sure it didn't spread further after being on antibiotics.  When I started the antibiotic I also started Melaleuca Oil and the two together worked miracles.

It had gone down this much by the next day.

And almost all the red around it was gone by the following day.  However the sore started to look pretty bad.  So I started using Melaleua's Mela Gel and put a bandaid on it.  It looks much better now and I think it will heal up just fine.  It's been quite an experience though.  I don't know where I got bit.  I was in my in laws raspberry patch on Sunday night so possibly got bit while I was in there?? 

Day 2 Hives

Poor kid!  This was day 2 of the hives.  Yes she was itching like crazy.  She would watch the clock and remind me within the 10 minutes when it was time for more Benadryl.   By afternoon we decided we'd better get into the doctor.  Of course, that had to be the day our family doc was closed so we headed into Community Care to test our luck.

They had the same reaction as Dr. Baker did the last time she had hives.  "That's impressive"  They could tell by her fear of the last experience in having a shot that she really didn't want to go through that again so they were nice and gave her a steroid antibiotic.

They were smart in suggesting that maybe she was allergic to the weed spray we used the night before she broke out.  She said she was outside with her dad while he was spraying and even got some on her hands which she immediatly came in and washed off.  Maybe she breathed a little in??

Thankfully by evening she looked way better and had stopped itching.  We have kept her on Children's Zyrtec and that seems to be keeping them down.

Poor kid even had them on her knees, hands and feet.

Now I guess we're on our way to see an Allergy specialist to see how we can prevent this from happening again.

Faith

It's funny - a few weeks back I started writing this post titled "Faith".  A few weeks later I get asked to give a 10-15 minute talk on Faith.  I felt like I had a head start which made me happy.  So here is the part I wanted to include in the post and the bold part at the bottom is my talk.

My family will often comment that Heavenly Father always answers my prayers and if they really need a prayer answered will say, "Have Jessica and Ella pray for it."  I think I am just more open to share my experiences or more activley asking for more from Heavenly Father.  Maybe I give Him more credit than some would?  I never feel like what I am asking for is trivial.  Some people say that we should figure things out for ourselves rather than ask for help with small things.  My opinion is that if it is important enough to you to ask Heavenly Father for help with it, it is important to Him.  However I also know that they don't really need me to ask for it.  He will answer them just as much as me. 

So about 4 weeks ago I lost $130 of haircutting/product money.  That week I had made a trip to the supply house and spent $130 buying product for people and supplies to do hair so I was counting on the income to pay myself back.  I was sick about it and looked everywhere I could think of and in the unlogical places like the garbage can and around the fence.  I prayed about it every day and even promised the Lord I would donate some of it to Dustin's nephew serving a mission if he would help me find it.  Dustin tried to make me feel better by saying a homeless person found it and needed it much more than us.  After hearing that Ella decided we needed to stop praying to find it and let them have it.  :) 

1 week from the day I lost the money my neighbor (a 15 year old boy) showed up with $60.  Earlier in the week I told his mom I lost the money  because $30 was a check from her and the rest was cash.  While weeding around their yard that day, he found $60 in cash on their thistles and in their window well and he knew it belonged to me.  Soon after returning the $60, he brought me a new $30 check from his mom too.  I felt like the right thing to do was to reward him with $20 for his honesty and courage in bringing it back.  I was thrilled!

Exactly 1 week later while doing hair, Ella comes into the house with a crinkly $20 bill and holding it up prouding says, "Mom!  Look what I found!"

And just in case that doesn't come in loud and clear... one more week passes by.  We left to go camping for 6 days and when I come home, there is a crinkly and faded $30 check from my neighbor that somebody had found and returned to my doorstep.  Incredible!

Alma 32:42 And because of your ^adiligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the ^bfruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.

43 Then, my brethren, ye shall ^areap the ^brewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth ^cfruit unto you.

Hooray for an answered prayer!

Marvin J. Ashton shared a story in the February 1994 Ensign about Elder Hugh B. Brown.  Before he left on a mission, his mother told him:

“Hugh, you remember when you were a little boy and you would have a bad dream or wake up in the night frightened? You would call from your room, ‘Mother, are you there?’ and I would answer and try to comfort you and remove your fears. Now as you go on a mission and out into the world, there will be times when you will be frightened, when you feel weak, inadequate, alone, and have problems. I want you to know that you can call to your Heavenly Father as you used to call to me and say, ‘Father, are you there? I need your help.’ Do this with the knowledge that He is there and that He will be ready to help you if you will do your part and live worthy of your blessings. I want to reassure you that He is there and will answer your prayers and needs for your best good”

It is a scary world we live in.  It is unstable and uncertain.  There are unreliable people, jobs and the media.  A family member recently expressed frustration that his boss didn't pay him as promised after multiple days of work.  We hear of teachers and other trusting examples that end up not being so trustworthy after all.  It is hard for us to know who and what to trust. 

However, part of the reason we are here on earth is for personal growth.  And trial allows opportunity for growth and increased faith.  What child could ever grow to be self supporting in maturity were all the critical decisions made by parents?  So it is with our wise Heavenly Father.  His plan of happiness is designed so that we will have struggles and difficulties where decisions of great importance must be made so that we can grow, develop and succeed.   

Ether 12:27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.  I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

As members of the church we are so very blessed to have a stable example, a perfect example where we can focus our faith and never be let down.  If we can focus our faith on Him, the example of our Savior Jesus Christ will never lead us astray.  I know this to be true. 

What is Faith?

In Alma 32  we are taught that faith is like a seed.

21 And now as I said concerning faith—^afaith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye ^bhope for things which are ^cnot seen, which are true.

26 Now, as I said concerning faith—that it was not a perfect knowledge—even so it is with my words. Ye cannot know of their surety at first, unto perfection, any more than faith is a perfect knowledge.

27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than ^adesire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.

28 Now, we will compare the word unto a ^aseed. Now, if ye give place, that a ^bseed may be planted in your ^cheart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your ^dunbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to ^eenlighten my ^funderstanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

As a child attending Primary and Young Womens and Sunday School, having home teachers visit our home regularly and my mom allowing me to sit with her as her visiting teachers taught her, a seed was planted in my heart.  I began to experiment upon the words I was hearing and it wasn't more than a few times that I noticed the Lord very clearly bless me according to my small and simple desire.   It was that experiment that helped me develop and anchor my faith which has since helped me through harder and more difficult trials and decisions.

It is most pleasing to me now as I watch the seed of faith sprout within Ella.  Her example often teaches me.  We were in a different church building a few weeks back and as we were leaving she remembered she had forgot something.  I sent her after it alone and after a couple of minutes I went in to see what had distracted her.  As I glanced down the hall I could see her in the corner with her forehead resting against the white brick wall, arms folded tightly pleading with the Lord to help her find her way out of this foreign building.  As I called for her she has never been so excited to see me.  She has had the opportunity to see evidence that her Father in Heaven loves her and answers her prayers. 

Moroni taught "Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." 

A good example for me to relate to is our kids.  They will ask over and over and over for a cookie an hour before dinner.  Begging and promising that they will eat their dinner.  Because you know that is not the right thing for them right now, you say no.  Not right now.  But they want it so badly and think they know best and this is what they need. 

I think we can be like this with our Heavenly Father.  Asking him for things we greatly desire or trying to deny the promptings we have received to do something we are not comfortable with.  He knows best.  He will respond with what in His eternal plan is best for you.

Richard G. Scott said, "Even if you exercise your strongest faith, God does not always reward you immediately according to your desires.  Sincere faith gives you understanding and strength to accept the will of our Heavenly Father when it differs from our own.  We can accept His will with peace and assurance, confident that His infinite wisdom surpasses our own ability to comprehend fully His plan as it unfolds a piece at a time.

Why worry about future calamities or uncertainties with which you have no control?  When challenges and testing come, your faith will lead you to solutions.  Right will ultimately prevail.  It is always comforting to know that God will never try you more than you can manage with His help.  No matter what trials and tribulations come, we have a loving Heavenly Father to turn to for help.

How can we increase our faith?

There is a lot to learn from our pioneer ancestors about sacrifice.

In the year 1843 LDS missionaries came to the Braithwaite home.  Hannah, the mother, was the first to accept the gospel.  She was baptized and confirmed in April that same year.  Two months later her husband Rowland was also baptized.  Like many converts their desire was to go to America and a fund was started for this purpose.  Rowland died 9 years later and the money saved had to be used.

After their father's death, the boys felt it might be best for them to remain in England, but Hannah lived with but one great aim in view, and that was to get her family to Zion.  When reminded of the sacrifices this move would entail, her answer was always, "I shall take my family to Zion if I 'ave not but a box to sit upon."  Every effort was made by her for this; and after nine years of praying and working, her son Robert was sent to America.  In June of 1863 Hannah's struggle was rewarded and she and her daughter and sons set sail for America.  It was October of the same year that they arrived in Manti, Utah.  Their few possessions were brought by wagon, but the family walked most of the way.  Over a thousand miles.  No task was too hard if it was for the church.  Hannah never complained over any hardship but always felt she was one of the fortunate few to have her family in Zion.

Their faith was the reason the pioneers would leave behind their home, family, farms and sometimes even their family members to journey into an unknown wilderness.  With firm faith in God and their leaders the early pioneers kept their focus on the ultimate goal.  They had to face tremendous hardships and their faith was tried, but their testimonies were anchored.

In the church we are often asked to make sacrifices today.  Our commitment to the kingdom should match that of our faithful ancestors even though our sacrifices are different.  They may be more subtle but no less demanding.  Instead of physical deprivation and hardship, we are asked to sacrifice time away from our families to home and visit teach and sometimes serve in a calling.  Many times we are asked to volunteer for service opportunities such as the Ruth House, Stake Garden or cleaning the church.  We are asked to sacrifice money to pay tithing and fast offerings.  These sacrifices test our individual faith.  We must continue sacrificing and serving with no thought of reward.  We do it out of love and gratitude for the Lord, to whom we owe everything. 

Moroni 7: 37 for it is by faith that ^amiracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of ^bunbelief, and all is vain.

Pray to Heavenly Father. 

I testify that he will help you.  He will strengthen you faith if you sincerely desire it.

Moroni 10:4 if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you.

D & C 8:10 Remember that without faith you can do nothing; therefore ask in faith.
But we must do more than just ask for help.  We are told in the scriptures James 2:17 that "faith, if it hath not works, is dead" 

We must test it.  We have to experiment upon the words.   

1 Nephi 7:12  Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, fo r the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him?  Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.

We can learn from Matthew 9 a woman who had been diseased for 12 years came behind Jesus and with great faith said, 'If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole."  When Jesus turned and saw her, he said, "Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole."  And the woman was made whole from that hour. 

Luke 18 tells the account of a certain blind man in Jericho who came to the Savior and cried saying, "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me."  Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him; and when he was come near, he asked him, saying, what wilt thou thou that I shall do unto thee?  And he said, "Lord, that I may receive my sight."  And Jesus said unto him, "Receive thy sight; thy faith hath saved thee."  And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God;

I love these examples of faith. 

Julie is an example of faith to me.  She understands that His infinite wisdom surpasses our own ability and hopes for a better day.

With consistent  practice, faith will become a powerful, uplifting force in your life.

No matter what occurs, no matter how topsy - turvy the world becomes, you can always have the sustaining power of faith.  That will never change.  The perfect love of your Heavenly Father will never change.  His gospel plan gives our lives meaning.  I have a testimony of these things.  I have a testimony of a living prophet Thomas S Monson who leads our church today.  I have faith in his ability to receive revelation and guide us as members of the church. 

I pray that we may all be humble and allow the Lord to strengthen our faith to face this world of uncertainty and so that we may all return to Him one day.

Emegency Preparedness Coordinator

I got released from Primary on Sunday and called to serve in the Relief Society as the Emegency Preparedness Coordinator.  I am excited for the change and especially excited to sit in Relief Society and have all my kids be in class.  However, it was humbling to me to have my cute 10-11 year old students give me hugs and thank me for being their teacher.  One sweet girl even left church crying.  Made me happy to make a difference and sad to leave them. 

It will be good for me to research ways to be prepared and the Relief Society President has asked me to start a blog where I can keep a record of all the good information and links I find.  Can't wait to get started!

Girls Update

It has been a long while since I have done an update on the kids so I wanted to take a minute and write a little about their "stages".   I took their pictures down by the river the other day and thought this will be a good place to include them.

Ella is still Miss Priss in her pretty dress and painted fingernails.  She loves fluffy, lacey, makeup, butterflies, pink, high heels, and pretty much all thing girl.  However, I was feeling pretty proud the other day when I looked out and saw her in her dress, with a Belle dress up on top of that catching bugs in the grass.  I felt like I am raising a well rounded little girl. :)

She is getting way too good at throwing fits.  Better than the other girls HANDS DOWN!  I think I spoiled her way too rotten in her first few years of life because she just can't seem to figure out that throwing fits isn't getting her what she wants.  However she goes from pouting, bawling to laughing in a matter of seconds.  Doesn't that sounds a bit like PMS at 7?

She LOVES watching TV and I have to constantly remind her to turn it off.  She can watch it all day really easily and come out for drinks and food.  Her very favorite show is My Little Pony which she watches on Netflix so she always gets a new 20 minute episode.

She convinced me to cut her hair the other day.  In between each haircut she was sitting in my chair anxious for it to get cut off.  She had been asking me for a few weeks and I was really hesitant because this is the first summer her hair has actually been thick enough to look good long.  Oh well, it will grow back and she looks darn cute with it short and loves it too.

I have been trying to soak up having her home for summer.  She is a huge help with her younger sisters.  She was in charge of babysitting Molly the other day while I ran errands and dad was downstairs.  She did an excellent job!  She has become quite a tease too though.   They love her and I often hear her and Alissa saying to each other, "Best Sisters Forever!"  I love it!

Little Liss is still little.  She tells us she is tiny not little.  She is at least 1 pound lighter than Molly now and many people ask if I have twins.  If you watch them for longer than a few minutes it is obvious that they are not twins though.  She talks so well and is so much more coordinated than her sister right now.

I have been calling her Lou or Lissa Lou for a nickname lately.  If you ask her if she likes a certain nickname she will tell you she is ALISSA.  Not anything different.

She is still a little busy body and doesn't like to eat much.  She is not so much picky as she just would rather not eat.  She will sit up to the dinner table and just climb around her chair and talk and never take a bite until I stick one in her mouth.  It's crazy to me that she is as busy as she is with such little calories.  I guess she gets them in her strawberry milk which is still her #1 drink.

She is such an independant 3 year old.  She gets up in the night and goes potty by herself now, buckles herself in the carseat herself as well as opens the car door to get in or out.  She finds ways to crawl up the pantry to get the snack she wants and can open them herself.  She puts her plate in the sink when she is done eating without even being asked (most of the time).  Such a good girl!

She loves to play with the next door neighbor McKenzie Lee and calls her "my Kenzie".  She is starting to play on her own a little bit.  I will find her in the bedroom playing with ponies or barbies and imagining with them.  I especially love the sound she makes when her ponies cry.   It is super cute!

Molly has been doing a whole lot of growing up lately.  I can see her turning into a little toddler instead of a baby now.  We got rid of her binki this past week.  Just threw them in the garbage and gave her a treat.  She has had a hard time sleeping and the first day wanted them all day.  She says, "blankie, binki are?"  Asking me where they are.  We tell her binki is in the garbage and get her blanky.  She is doing well and I am so happy to stop looking all over for those crazy things.

She is starting to talk so well!  I am amazed at the sentences she is putting together.  Some of my favorite things she says are, "Coming Mommy!"  or "ok mommy."  I love it. 

She slept in our bed from November until the beginning of this summer when Dustin finally put his foot down.  Crazy we let her sleep with us this long.  Anyway we didn't get too tough - we just make her a bed on our floor every night next to me and she sleeps pretty good.  It's crazy how desperate we get after 3 kids just to get a good nights sleep. 

She licks and drinks everything!  She has had the runs a couple times this summer and I swear it is from drinking the water from the sandbox.  It makes me cringe when I see her do that.

She is a daddy's girl just as much as a mommy's girl.  She sure loves her daddy and runs with arms open when he comes home.  Of course he eats it up.

She loves nursery now too.  Thank goodness!

We are so blessed to have these 3 pretty girls.  They are such a joy.  I am grateful I get to stay home and be their mommy and be a part of their lives every day.