Grateful Sunday: a little late

I meant to write this last night, but we had a "thing" at the church for Mr. William, so I was pretty exhausted when we got home and finally got kids to bed.

But I have to share this. Since I've been in the nursery (started in December), I've been praying for good, spiritual experiences in sacrament meeting since there aren't many to be had in nursery. Don't get me wrong. I love my calling and I know it's important. Still, I like to have something to think about on Sundays besides "how can I get so-and-so to stop scratching Caroline's face" or "should we change our schedule?"

I'm happy to report that it's worked. A few weeks ago, our high councilman spoke about Shadrach and co. He quoted this scripture from Daniel 3:
17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to ^adeliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

 18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not ^aserve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

He then went on to "liken" the scripture for us. What if a 15-year-old girl said, "I know that if I wait until I'm 16, Heavenly Father will bless me with lots of dates. But even if he doesn't, I'm still going to wait." Or, "I know that if I pay my tithing, Heavenly Father will bless me with lots of material wealth. But even if he doesn't, I will still pay my tithing."

Awesome talk. 

And yesterday. Yesterday was AWESOME. Two really great talks - husband and wife who are friends are both pretty amazing. But his talk just blew me away.

He was talking about Nephi building his ship. And he was comparing it to how we should build our marriages. Mind blowing to me.

He made these points:

• The Lord told Nephi how to make the tools to build a good ship
• Nephi's brothers murmured when they saw he was going to build a ship, that it couldn't be done
• If the Lord can work mighty miracles, why couldn't he instruct Nephi how to construct a ship
• The Lord didn't want Nephi to build a ship after the manner of men
• Nephi asked the Lord in prayer how he should build the ship
• In the end, the ship was "fine workmanship" not just functional or adequate

This might not be mind-blowing revelation to anyone else, but it was, and still is, thought provoking. It can be likened to any number of things the Lord wants us to build. Works for building a strong family too. I need to remember this. 

I'm just so grateful for these tender mercies for a nursery leader who wants to get something out of the Sabbath.

Family Vacations, on the cheap

Yurts are our thing. We outgrew our tent two babies ago. We're still in the market for one, maybe, but in the meantime, we are totally loving the yurt camping we get to do.

Here's where we are going in March:

Goblin Valley State Park, in Utah.

Recognize it? If you remember the movie "Galaxy Quest," well, it's like another planet. They filmed those scenes here. Pretty cool, no?

Even better, the yurts are solar powered. That will be a new experience! Can't wait. We get to stay a couple of nights in SLC on our way down. I'm excited to take the kids to Temple Square and some of my favorite spots. And see awesome friends too!

And today I booked our August vacation.

Yep. We've moved beyond yurts to tipis. Turns out, Montana has a few at some of their state parks. I'm might be more excited about this than the kids! We'll be staying at Missouri Headwaters State Park, which is near Bozeman. We'll be doing a day trip or two to Bozeman to go to their dinosaur museum, among other things. So stinkin' excited about this trip.

I want to book another trip for the fourth of July, but Aaron isn't super keen on camping over that particular holiday. Still, I might convince him. There are cabins to be had in Hyrum, UT. We'll see!

Happy and Home

We've traveled a few miles in the last two weeks, and I'm happy to be home and sleeping in my bed. It's fun to visit family and friends, but there really is no place like home.

In Tracy family news, here's the latest:

The walkie talkies were a huge hit at Christmas. They mostly just say stuff like, "Can you hear me? Over." Still, it's fun.

Caroline is nodding her head, which cracks me up. She looks so serious about it.

The kids have been bitten with the Hex Bug bug. They are fun to watch, and thankfully Gran and Opa gifted them with 100 batteries. Those ought to last us a week at least!

Aaron has hit the books once again. He is taking four classes this semester, plus a Bankruptcy lab again. He's taking: Workplace Law, Constitutional Law II, Lawyering Process and Professional Responsibility. He's working on getting his internship for the summer lined up.

As for me, well, my sewing machine missed me (and I missed her!). Back to making quilts. The first one needs to be done by the 23rd for a girl in our ward who was recently diagnosed with a type of bone cancer. The young women at church will be tying it, so I've got to get moving!