“Don’t say it’s a fine morning or I’ll shoot ya’.”

No cool projects or anything super noteworthy today. Instead, I thought I'd share with ya'll my view from this morning:

Lil' stinkin' cutie pie! Woke up channeling a touch of John Wayne. Let's just hope she doesn't catch on to his famed temper.

Wish me luck. ;]

Masking Tape Maze

Hey there all you lovely people! What's a crack-uh-lackin'? Hopefully, unlike this blogger, you are finding yourself coming down with your local strain of sunshine and rainbows. Unfortunately for me and mine, we happened to have stumbled upon the exact opposite and have caught ourselves a serious bout of Strep. 

Yum. (And right in time for our anniversary, too. Yaaaaaaaay.)

So, while we're coughin' and hackin' away over here, I thought I'd entertain y'all over there with my recent take on good ole' fashioned masking tape entertainment.  For a buck a roll at the Dollar Tree, you can't really beat it!  I present to you, the masking tape maze of wonder!

It took me about 30 minutes to put it together... and the kids sure did do a whole lot of wondering. Wondering what the heck I was up to, anyways!

I started by making a giant rectangle, with two narrow openings, on the shorter and opposite ends.  From there I filled in the center of the rectangle with pathways. No rhyme or reason. Just tape. As usual, I made it more complicated than I needed to and made... like 5 false pathways (I say "like", but I didn't really count. Pleeeease. Too lazy.). There was only one "correct" way out... and now I'm wondering what the heck I was thinking.

They might have actually tried to figure out the maze if I had just made it more simple.  Next time, I'll try and make it more age appropriate.

In the meantime, I've learned a very important lesson from this. Apparently, when you drive a monster truck? You don't need to stay inside the massive man eating, poison dart, flesh deteriorating hedges (I had to say something to encourage them not to go over the lines...). You can just drive over them.

Uhm, duuuh.

 

 But no, in all actuality,  even though they ignored the puzzle aspect of our giant maze, they still had a lot of fun driving their cars through the 'streets.'  Which, was the whole point in the first place. To have fun. And let them explore. And if they wanted to drive over the 'walls' in the maze that took me a half hour to put together? So be it =]. There is joy in letting them learn and play in their way. Not just for them, but for us as the parents as well.

...and, there also might be some joy in learning how NOT to make things so complicated. Baha. Oh well. I'm a work in progress!

How about you? Do you ever find yourself making things more difficult than they need to be?  Have any fun masking tape projects? Know a really good Strep throat remedy?  I'm all ears =).

The Articles of Faith in the Scriptures

As many of you may know, from my previous posts,  I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In other words, I am a "Mormon." Or so those of my faith have been nicknamed as such. I believe in God, the eternal father, and in His son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

                                                          

I believe in faith, repentance, and baptism. I believe that it is by grace in Jesus' name that we are saved. I do not believe that I can merit forgiveness, but rather I believe that there are conditions, set by Jesus, that need to be met to qualify as "repentance." In other words, I believe that I will only be saved by Jesus' atonement, if I follow the commandments and stipulations He has set forth.

While I believe that the worth of all souls is great in the sight of God, I do not believe I, of myself, can ever do enough on my own to return to God. Rather, I must count on the grace of God to make up for what I lack, to pay the difference, to make me whole.

It is what I believe. And I am grateful for what I believe. And I will stand up for it. I will share the light, or knowledge, that has been shared with me... the knowledge that has brought me peace, in a world that seems so desperately to lack it.

I do not share my beliefs in an attempt to appear self righteous. I do not share my beliefs in a desire to be controlling. I share what I believe because, if it is true, which I have come to believe through my own experiences that it is, then sharing this truth can only serve to benefit those around me. I share it out of love, because if it is true, it would be the opposite of love to hide it.

This is all a bit long winded, but I swear I'm getting to the point.

A few months ago, my husband and I were asked to give talks in our ward's Sacrament meeting. A ward is a local congregation. And Sacrament meeting is our weekly worship service. The Bishop (similar to a pastor, in a sense) asked if my husband and I could speak on the Articles of Faith. I was assigned the third Article of Faith and my husband, the fourth article.

The Articles of Faith are a set of 13 statements that were written by Joseph Smith, outlining some of our basic teachings and ordinances. In essence, the Articles of Faith are a basic overview of all that we believe and strive to live. If you want to know more about LDS doctrine, a good place to start would be the Articles of Faith. 

In preparation for our talks, my husband and I spent a lot of time studying the specific articles that we were assigned. We also read many other talks (available on www.LDS.org) given by apostles, prophets, and seers. One of those talks was from Elder L. Tom Perry, given in May of 1998, subsequently titled, "The Articles of Faith."

In this talk, Elder Perry states:

"If you will use them (The Articles of Faith) as a guide to direct your studies of the Savior's doctrine, you will find yourselves prepared to declare your witness of the restored, true church of the Lord." "You will be able to declare with conviction: 'We believe these things.'"  "I reached the conclusion that if I studied the content of each of the Articles of Faith, I could explain and defend every gospel principle I might have the opportunity to expound to someone searching for the restored truth."

I loved these quotes, as I have always desired to be a missionary, but often lacked the courage, or sureness of self to do so. In my preparation for this talk I decided to follow Elder Perry's advice, and searched the scriptures using the Articles of Faith as my guide.

And an interesting thing happened (and continues to happen). As I prepared for my talk, I found, first off, that not only do the Articles of Faith often build off of each other (I was studying the third Article of Faith, and yet the fourth Article of Faith kept tying in and popping up in my study), but they (The Articles of Faith) appear in the scriptures multiple times.

For example, in my study I have so far found four different scriptures where the fourth Article of Faith makes its appearance, but for now I'll just share three of them:

• Doctrine and Covenants 19:31: "But thou shalt declare repentance and faith on the Savior and remission of sins by baptism and by fire, yea, even the Holy Ghost."
• 2 Nephi 31:10-16:
   Verse 10, "And he said unto the child of men: follow thou me (faith required to follow Christ)."
   Verse 11, " And the Father said: repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my beloved son.'
   Verse 12, " He that is baptized in my name to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost."
• Acts 2:38,41: "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." "Then they that gladly received his word (takes faith to do so) were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls."

The fourth article itself, reads "We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost."

It is there, over and over and over. Faith. Repentance. Baptism. Holy Ghost.  Before I had the opportunity to prepare this talk, I had never noticed how prevalent this pattern was in the scriptures. And last night, like I mentioned before, I found a fourth scripture that listed off the "first principles and ordinances of the gospel." (If you want to look it up yourselves, it is found in 3 Nephi 11:31-39)

At first it was so amazing to me! But I realize, is it terribly surprising? Not at all. The whole point and purpose of the Articles of Faith was to state our doctrine. So, if the Articles of Faith truly are the doctrine of Christ... should it not be found over and over again in the scriptures?

Elder L Tom Perry expressed the following about his study and memorization of the Articles of Faith:

 "This experience has brought a deep conviction to me that they were given by revelation to the prophet Joseph Smith. " "The Articles of Faith were not the work of a team of Scholars but were authored by a single inspired man who declared comprehensively and concisely the essential doctrines of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

I feel that I most certainly agree with Elder Perry. So, I have decided. Preachy, or goody two-shoes aside, I want to share the scriptures that I find that directly relate to the Articles of Faith. Because, to me, it helps strengthen my faith. My faith in the principles of the gospel. My faith in the truthfulness of the gospel. And my determination to do my best to live that gospel.

I will share these scriptures here on my blog, for anyone to search and read for themselves, and I will add them to the bottom of this post so that they are easily searchable, for those who are interested.

I know that God still speaks to the world today, through His mouthpiece, the prophets.  I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, who was called of God, and given the authority to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth.  I am grateful to have that sure direction, to know who I am, where I am from, where I am going, and what I need to do to get there.

There is peace in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And there is stability. And furthermore, despite all the benefits and blessings of living the gospel, more importantly is that it is true. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true.  And I would sincerely invite all of you, what little audience I have, to learn more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

DIY Lego (&Train) Table

At long last, I am here to share all of the nitty gritty details of how we put together Kay's Christmas present,

the DIY Lego Table. (Uhm, uh... Fah-inally!!!)

And really I have little excuse for getting this up so late. It was pretty much the simplest project ever. My living room curtains were harder to construct than this bad boy! Which... might not be saying much coming from me (admittedly)... but no, really. This project is/was easy-peasy.

And yet, here we are. Two months later and just barely getting the tutorial up. My life has been a little hectic. Oh well. Let's dive into to some Lego Table makin'!

For Kay's birthday last year we scored a deal on our local craigslist. We bought the train table above  for a whoppin' $20.00. And it was in pretty good condition. The top of the train table is painted with a landscape, but the bottom, as you can see, was nice, smooth, and boring.

Perfect for a little updating! ;]

We started out the process by measuring our train table insert. Lego.com was selling their 10" x 10" base plates for $4.99 each.  From the size of our table top, we would need about 15 base plates. Not exactly chump change, but considering the size of the Lego Table we'd be getting, plus the fact it would be dual purpose (it's a train table too, remember!), we figured it was more than worth it.

 12 of the base plates would fit on the table whole, and the last 3 would need to be cut to fit. 

To cut our base plates to size, we simply used our craft scissors. You'll need to make sure they are sharp, otherwise it will start to stress the plastic and turn it white. Sharp scissors means smooth, (in this case) blue edges.

To make sure we were cutting them to the correct size, we laid the last three lego mats down as if they would fit on the table whole. Where they overlapped with the previous laid lego mats we made a mark (using our fingernails) along that row. Now we knew which row to cut along.

Once we were finished cutting out all of the custom pieces for our table, we laid down all of the base plates to make sure they would fit. To ensure we were spacing them correctly, we used Lego pieces to connect them in the corners. This way, we could make sure that all of the Lego pieces would still fit, even in between the adjoining mats.

As you can see from above, the mats are not completely flush with each other. There is a teeny tiny space in between each of them. For this reason, you may consider spray painting your table, the color of the base plate, before you start to put it together. For us, it really wasn't a huge deal. We don't really notice the table showing underneath all that much. So we decided to skip painting the table below.

Once we had finished laying our mats down to make sure that they all fit correctly we began the gluing process, starting with a corner piece. For our adhesive, we decided on Gorilla Glue, to make sure that the mats would be stuck on there for good.

One thing to watch out for with Gorilla Glue is that it expands when it dries. You don't want to put the glue too close to the edge of the base plates, otherwise it will bubble and seep out through the spaces in between the mats. 

We were pretty careful with ours, and it still seeped up in a few places. In those areas, we just used a butter knife to scrape it off.

If you don't want to mess with it, Liquid Nails might be another good option. And from what I know of it, I don't believe that Liquid Nails expands the way that Gorilla Glue does.

Again, as we were gluing and pressing our Lego mats onto the table, we connected the corners of the mats with Lego Pieces, to keep the correct spacing while it dried.

It took us about an hour and a half total to put the whole table together, including all of the cutting. Glue, press, connect with a lego... rinse, wash, repeat.

Like I said, easy peasy!

Once we were finished gluing all of the mats down, all we had left to do was let it dry. We let it sit over night. In the morning, we flipped it back over so that the train table side was on top. And there it sat, all stealth and awesome like, until Christmas.

So, it has been two months now since we finished this, and the Lego table is still quite the hit! To be honest, at first Kay wasn't thrilled with all the Lego's he opened up on Christmas morning. I don't think he really knew what they were.

All it took, however, to change his indifference was to open them up and start playing with them. And from that point on... it's been Lego Table , rather than train table, about 9 times out of 10.

Is it silly that that makes me a bit sad? Sniff. Poor Thomas!

Oh well, the point is that the project was a success! And I've got one happy little builder on my hands. Happy DIYing to ya'll! And a Happy Valentine's Day too!

2012 Year In Review

So, wow! It has really been a while since I have posted. And there are reasons for that, that I think I'll post about eventually... but I really wanted to get this post up. Especially considering how stinkin' long it took me to put it together.

I'm definitely not the first person to do this. And I'm a million years late to the ball (Holy February?!). But I have loved reading other blogger's recaps of their 2012. And it sounded like a fun idea to make one of my own. So here we go! Our Scribbled Wall's 2012 Year-in-Review!

January:

In January we welcome in the New Year with salad wraps, donuts, and (our favorite) ginger beer! We make/watch our 2011 highlight videos. I begin putting together our playroom supplies. I finish a Circle Time board for the kids and I find new bins at Wal-Mart for organizing our toys. It is crazy to me how much our inventory has grown since then! I have fun dressing Emmie up like a girly girl. Kay begins to see some real success in his potty training. I learn how to fold fitted sheets (thanks to youtube!). I am happy my bad (self) hair cut is starting to look a little better. We give Em her first piggie tales. We watch Kay and Em play together, and Em continue to grow and progress... much faster than we'd prefer! We start running, 3 times a week. I follow the Couch 2 5k program. First time in my life I have ever found running enjoyable. I get the stomach flu and spend all night, alone with two kids, puking my guts out. Kevin's phone is dead and he is at school, working late. I'm on my own. Best night ever...

February:

We buy girl scout cookies. Samoa's are my favorite =).We keep up our running routine. I eventually work up to running for 20 minutes straight. I am insanely proud. We daydream and research all of the 5k's we want to do during the upcoming summer. Kevin continues to intern as a 4th grade teacher. Gets knocked on his butt by some personality differences and miscommunications with his mentors. Has to pull a few 19 hour days, and countless 15 hour ones to keep up with his work load. It is depressing, frustrating, tiring, and scary. We are afraid the situation will cost him his graduation. We worry.  A lot. We stop running. We enjoy a brief distraction from our worries when two of my brothers (and their families)  come to town. We make homemade tamales, visit a dinosaur museum, go frisbee golfing and inner tubing. We play Ruckus, enjoy shopping, and make plenty of cupcakes to celebrate a birthday.  Kevin and I celebrate our fourth anniversary and Valentine's day at a dance put on by our church.

March:

I have absolutely 0 photos from this month because my camera is partially damaged and out of batteries. Kevin finishes his last observations! His professor comes to see him teach and resolves (for the most part) much of the misunderstanding and miscommunication between him and his mentors. He receives passing grades!  We begin applying for full-time teaching jobs. We want to live in Oregon, but receive two job offers from a local Teacher's Fair. Kevin interviews with and accepts one of these job offers. It means moving, and not to Oregon like we had hoped, but we feel good about it. We finish paying over $8000 in hospital bills from Emmie's birth and are officially debt free! I travel to California with my mom and my cousin in law. While visiting, my sister in laws and I try our hands at home made cheese. Yum!

April:

 I sell an unused bedframe of ours and have enough money to (finally!!!) buy a new lense for a DSLR camera my sister in law gave me. We visit Kevin's brother (and family) in Oregon and I take way too many photos with my "new-to-me" camera. We have Easter, enjoy some egg hunts, and eat tasty corn beef brisket. We visit the Portland Zoo and go to OMSI. We visit our friends Sam and Brandon. We make dinner at their house and Kevin covets their dog.  My cousin and Aunt come down from Washington to meet up with us for dinner! We eat Pizza. On our way home from Oregon we secure ourselves an apartment in preparation for our move to a new state. We celebrate Kay's 3rd birthday. We take him to get all you can eat french toast. We buy him a Thomas the Train set and a train table we found on craigslist for $20! He remembers everything about his 2nd birthday vividly and wants us to recreate it, exactly. We run into a hitch. The pirate pizza place we took him to the year before had shut down. We settle for Costco pizza and watching Pirates of the Caribbean instead. Kay calls it "Pirates of the Carrots and Beans".  We laugh.

May:

My cousin in law and I take our kids to the Zoo. We begin packing up our home for our move out of state. We meet up with as many friends and family as possible before leaving. We eat at a few of our favorite restaurants. Kevin graduates with a Bachelors of Science in Elementary Education. We go to a book fair and meet Brandon Mull. We buy one of his books and get it autographed. Go on a family date. Drink (more) Ginger Beer. Kevin's parents and my dad come to help us load up the U-Haul and clean our old apartment. We make the 4 hour drive to our new home. We take our time getting settled and make a few trips to Home Depot for some necessities.  We dedicate one of the rooms in our new apartment as the playroom. We turn an old garden stand into an art desk, hang rain gutter bookshelves, and add a few art supply shelves to boot.  Started reading the Fablehaven series with Kevin. Em starts to crawl.

June:

I finish sewing Kay's baby blanket. The one I started 6 months before he was born. I remember why I hate to don't often sew. Kev and I put together our DIY farm table.  We make a trip back to our old apartment to tie up some loose ends. We go to a water park and visit my cousin's family. We catch a midnight train to California for an extended vacation visiting family.  The train ride is a disaster. Not only is it three hours late, but we have 0 snacks, blankets, pillows, diapers, extra outfits for Em, and by some stroke of genius we decide to baggage check the car seats. So now we have to hold our (over tired) kids in our laps, all night, as we try to get some sleep. Oh, and Kay decides to pee his pants. Three times in one day. We eventually make it to California, safe, sound and still partially sane. We stay with my parents at their farm. We go blueberry picking. We have a family camp-out in my parent's front yard. My sister in law makes us the most delicious Shrimp and Rice foil packets. We celebrate my birthday with chocolate covered, cheesecake stuffed, graham cracker coated strawberries...  and Indian food. And no, I see nothing wrong with that combination.;]

July:

We travel a few hours west to visit Kevin's brother and his family for the Fourth of July.We barbecue (until his grill catches on fire), go to a local park for a firework show, light sparklers, and eat ice cream sandwiches. We ride bikes the next day and pack a picnic for a trip to the Redwoods. We explore nature and Emmie gets filthy dirty. My mom finds a kitty buried in her garden bed. Kevin and I adopt it. Kay names it Rose. We find another abandoned kitty under my Grandpa's mobile home. Kay names it Marshmallow. We bottle feed the newborn kittens and help them poop and pee (guess who got that last job? Yum...) I spend hours cleaning out my parent's barn. With help from my sister in laws, my parents and I set up a garage sale (to earn money for Disneyland!). We drive up the California Coast to go camping in Oregon. Kevin loses his wedding ring in a river on the side of the road.  We explore tide pools, fly kites, visit with family, go cliff jumping, build sand castles and skim board. We leave after a week. We eat garbage grinders in Medford, OR and reunite with some great friends. We travel to Disneyland for a two-day trip with my parents, two of my nieces, and Kevin's brother's family. Emmie has her 1st birthday and takes her first steps. We go to a family reunion and watch the Summer Olympics. Kevin and I finish reading the entire Fablehaven Series.

 

August:

My brother and sister in law take our family photos.  I attend my best-friend-since-childhood's baby shower. We pack up all of our belongings, say our goodbyes to loved ones, and head back home. We get home at 3 am, just to realize that we left the key to our apartment with my brother (who lives in a different state). We sleep in the car until maintenance comes to unlock our door. I catch the stomach flu. Again. I make a business trip back to our old stomping grounds. I spend whatever time I am not working hanging out with my cousins, my brother and sister in law, and dad. I drive home. The kids and I make new friends in our new town. We prepare for the 2012-2013 school year to begin. We take full advantage of all the sunshine and nearby playgrounds. We spend a lot of time enjoying our new playroom.

September:

School starts. Kay has his first day of preschool. I start babysitting for friends.  We give away our second kitty, Marshmallow, because our apartment complex requires a $300 non-refundable pet deposit, per each pet. And we can only afford one deposit. Our kitty, Rose, misses Marshmallow. Our kitty, Rose, attacks us for no apparent reason. Our kitty, Rose, refuses to stop getting up on our counters. Our kitty, Rose, drives me nuts.  Our church's Elder's Quorum holds a barbecue. We enjoy Italian Sodas, juicy burgers, and making new friends. We continue our park excursions. I make lots of homemade bread.  The husband and I go to Barnes and Noble, order a Pumpkin Creme Frapp, and pretend that we are novelists. We brainstorm ideas for children's books.  I update my General Conference Prep Pack and launch my very first public blog, Our Scribbled Walls.

October:

Our family watches all of the sessions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint's October General Conference. We make In-N-Out 'animal style' grilled cheese paninis. We begin doing weekly play-dates with neighbors.  We have our first snow of 2012. Kay is ecstatic. Emmie? Not as much so. The kids and I go with some friends to a pumpkin patch. We switch the playroom over to the master bedroom, and the master bedroom over to the playroom. We hunt for Pirate treasure. We carve pumpkins. I make an unearthly amount of spritz cookies. Kay covers them with an unearthly amount of sprinkles. I make curtains for the living room. We decorate graham cracker haunted houses. We help daddy with his school's  Halloween Carnival. Some of our longtime friends live nearby. We go to a Halloween Party held in their parent's barn. We attend a Halloween night potluck and go trick or treating with friends.

   

November:

Like most of the country, we cast our votes in the presidential election. We hold an election night party with some friends. And we my husband stays up really late watching the coverage. I think we all know who won at this point, so I'll save that for the history books. We enjoy a visit from a great friend from out of town and her little daughter. We have movie nights with Kay's friends. I am starting to get involved in my family history. I start working on putting together my children's Christmas presents. Emmie will be getting her own private market stand. Our family hosts, for the very first time, a Thanksgiving Dinner. Cooking the turkey turns out to not be as scary as I thought it would. Kevin makes pumpkin bread french toast. I cut my own hair. Again.  I'm pretty pleased. It's a million times better than the previous year's attempt. We make pumpkin cheesecake milkshakes. We celebrate Kevin's birthday with Little Caesar's pizza, sweet potato muffins with butter cream frosting, and a trip to the dollar store. Emmie practices sharing. She'll get the hang of it eventually...

December:

We go to a friend's birthday party. We play with balloons. Kevin and I put together Kay's Lego Table. Kevin lays on top of our finished project... for dramatic effect. We have a pajama/crazy hair day/holiday party with Kevin's class. Our whole family wears footie pajamas to said party. Kay finally saves up enough of his money (from doing chores) to buy his very first bike. He counts his money, sets aside 10% for tithing, and hands the rest to the cashier. He rides out of the store, triumphant. We take our new bike home and Kevin and Kay work hard that night to supe it up. We drive to California to visit family for Christmas. We make Christmas Eve Candy (I make Pumpkin Creme Brulee! It may not exactly be candy...but it is delicious!) and enjoy a Christmas program put together by two of my nieces. Em enjoys some snuggles with her grandma. We enjoy our new Christmas jammies. We open presents. Em and Kay inherit their cousin's old play kitchen. We meet up for lunch with one of Kevin's brothers. We buy a new bed set. We enjoy spending time with family. We drive home in 12 degree weather. We have the key to our house this time. No sleeping in the car this time around. Kev and I work hard loading all of our new presents into the house. We set up the new toys in the playroom. We celebrate on New Years Eve with our neighbor friends. We eat snacks, play games, and solve all of the worlds problems in one conversation. Because we're pretty smart like that.  We say farewell to 2012 a little over an hour early. Being parents has turned is into lazy wusses. We went to bed at 10:30.

Whew! That was long winded. And I'm thrilled to have finally finished putting all of this together! And I'm sure you're thrilled to have finally finished reading this! Oh my forever! I guess all I have left to say at this point is 'Here's lookin' at you, 2012!'