St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Since I was too sick at Christmas time to deliver any neighbor/ friend gifts, I decided Natalie and I would have some fun with this holiday. I assembled these simple gifts for Natalie's little friends.

 

She looked like a cute little leprechaun delivering them with her red hair and basket. It was fun to watch her be able to do a little act of service for her friends. All she asked in return was to play with their toys. Most houses I tried to keep her on the door step, but a couple she sneeked in and began playing. 

She especially enjoyed eating the Lucky Charms for breakfast. We don't each much sugary cereal around these parts, so she was quite pleased with the 'magically delicious' marshmallows in her bowl.

On another side note, our baby is growing well. I think we have her name picked out, but I am not telling yet. She is a big girl and I am feeling rather round. I am grateful to have most of my energy back and to be doing pretty well with food again. I really hope to make it a point of getting more walks in. It has been a little bit harder this pregnancy to be really active with having a toddler and the time of year right now. 

Justin is wonderful, but was especially so this last weekend as he pretty much took care of Natalie the whole time. I had several meetings and responsibilities with my church calling that took me away from home Saturday and Sunday. This calling has given me a whole new perspective on how much time especially the Priesthood leadership in our church spends away from their family serving other. I am grateful for their sacrifice and always learn much from their example. 

We are excited to have Justin home tomorrow and I am looking forward to our Relief Society Birthday Celebration with a Tea Party as the theme. Happy Week to you all!

 

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Stake Conference

We had Stake Conference this weekend. I have to admit it is nice to not have to worry about Primary for one week. Sitting and being edified by speakers is a great change up to my Sunday norm. We were privileged to have Elder Baxter from the first quorom of the seventy visiting our conference. He was funny and has a British accent which was fun to list to. He also delivered the words of God and that was the best part of the weekend.

When he first stood up at the adult session, he asked us all to put a big smile on our face. He said, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about Joy and if you loose the Joy you loose it all. I hope I can always remember that and serve in my roles as wife, mother and right now in the Primary with great Joy. Joy for my Savior and His amazing Gospel. There was much more said, but just remember to have Joy and Hope. Never loose Hope.

Natalie made it through the 2 hour stretch today with only one visit to the hall. She was a real champ. We also brought M&M's to feed her the last half an hour. We are good parents like that. i have been trying to get her to pick out her clothes lately to help her be more independent. Sunday mornings we go through all her dresses until she says yes. Mostly her response to anything these days is "No." This dress was her pick this morning and good thing, because it is almost too small. She also just got these new white shoes and socks for the Spring and Summer time. She loves them and put them on first thing after getting her dress on this morning. Every morning when I ask her to pick socks she wants to wear these "church" socks, she was glad it was finally a "church" day.

Another great part of the day was we all got naps. It was a gorgeous day and it was nice to spend some time with Justin as he was busy most of Saturday doing service and attending meetings. We are looking forward to a busy week with Tuesday being our 20 week ultra sound day. Boy or Girl? We shall see.
 
Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Last Relief Society Activity

My calling in our ward for the past year  and a half has been serving on the Relief Society Activity Committee. I was in charge of my final activity two weeks ago and it was a great success. The theme was "Helpful Hints for Your Homemaking Bag of Tricks."

We had sisters sign up to share a homemaking skill with everyone in five minutes or less. This made up our program. We also had sisters sign up to bring their best "Go To" dish and recipe. This was our dinner for the evening. We provided strawberry lemonade and a dessert. The decorations were adorable. The leader of the committee recently got a silhouette machine and had fun trying it out. She loves hosting events and is well seasoned at creating a great atmosphere. The tips shared during the evening were very helpful, though I wasn't able to listen as closely as I would have liked since I had several responsibilities during the night.

We had gluten free tips, make your own laundry detergent tips, removing stains from clothes tips, how to make reusable snack bag tips, hanging picture tips, cleaning a toilet tips, keeping your house clean tips and many more. Thirty women were in attendance which was outstanding considering the last activity I was in charge of we had three come. I will miss working with all of the women on the committee, but am excited to serve in my new calling teaching Gospel Doctrine.

 Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Similar?

I always thought it was cute when people posted pictures of their children doing something that looked similar to a picture of themselves from the past. I never thought I would get one though. A few Sundays ago I snapped this and was surprised at the similar setting as I was oh say 24 years ago. Funny thing about it, Natalie even sucks on her bottom lip like I am in this picture.

General Conference Preserves

Cutest idea ever! My visiting teacher dropped off a small mason jar with a lid and tag that said "General Conference Preserves May 2013." It was filled with small papers that had quotes from several of the General Conference talks. I loved looking through all the quotes as they reminded me of the different topics covered and I was then prompted to start reading those talks. Here are a few of the quotes I loved-

"As daughters of God we are each unique and different in our circumstances and experiences. And yet our part matters-- because WE matter." - Elaine S. Dalton

"Too often we think that the word sacrifice refers to something big or hard for us to do. In certain situations this may be true, but mostly it refers to living day-to-day as a true disciple of Christ." - Erich W. Kopischke

"My promise to you who pray and serve the Lord cannot be that you will have every blessing you may wish for yourself and your family. But I can promise you that the Savior will draw close to you and bless you and your family with what is best." - Pres. Henry B. Eyring

"In the happiest marriages both the husband and wife consider their relationship to be a pearl beyond price, a treasure of infinite worth." - Elder L. Whitney Clayton.

Thanks to a visiting teacher, I was reminded of the words I need to be studying and pondering in hopes of changing to be better person. I think I will try this idea for those I visit teach at the next General Conference.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

My New Favorite Picture

 

"The family is ordained of God. 

Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan.

Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony,

and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.

Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded 

upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of

faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work and

wholesome recreational activities.

By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness

and are responsible to provide the necessities of life

and protection for their families.

Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.

In these sacred responsibilities, 

fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners."

From

 The Family: A Proclamation to the World

The world teaches individuals to put off marriage. Once and if you do get married, put off having children, that is if you even feel like having them. I have done the opposite in my life as I have tried to follow the guidance of the Holy Ghost. I have found the greatest happiness in my life in being married and welcoming our first child to our home. These things have been on my mind a lot lately, especially with the craziness we see on the news every day about marriage and morals. 

I once heard a bishop counsel us youth that if we wondered about a certain principle or commandment of the Gospel to simply test it. Try living it and see if the fruits of it are what you are told they are. I feel like in my short experience so far of living these commandments, I know they are of God and we find our greatest joys in living them. I pray and hope that I can continue to live worthy of this blessing of having a family here on earth that is striving to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Easter Sunday

Easter was our first Sunday back to church since Natalie had been born. Natalie was great and a beautiful musical number on the piano was played by Sis. Nagle. We watched the World Leadership Training Videos for our fifth Sunday discussion. I loved the council they gave for Priesthood holders, Mothers and families in the video. Click here to watch them.

Earlier that week as a I thought about going to church I was relieved that my dresses still fit, so I would have something to wear. As I thought more on it I realized that if Natalie wanted to eat at any time while at church I would have to strip out of that dress to feed her. It clicked- I am a nursing momma and thus need to adapt my wardrobe.

Saturday I hurried and buy a dress for Natalie and a shirt for me to wear. It was our first shopping experience and I learned jogging strollers do not do well in most stores. Next time I go clothes shopping I will leave her home to play with Dad. Pictures of me in my new mom shirt and Natalie in her first Easter dress.

We snapped these after church. She was more interested in eating than the camera.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

CTR 4

I have been teaching a CTR 4 class for the first part of this year. The lady who will teach it premanantly had back surgery, so she has been out for a short while. They are all boys and it has been quite entertaining. A couple of weeks ago I told them I was going to have a baby. Next questions out of there mouth, "Really, where is it?" and "How is it going to come out?"

My response to the latter, "Go ask your mom."

Favorite part of the day for them and me, the Goldfish crackers we have at the end of class.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Visting Teaching

My visiting teachers came over today. They brought some adorable Christmas gifts and I just wanted to share one thing I have learned about visiting teaching this year. Every time my visiting teachers come over, when they leave I always have a more peaceful feeling for the day. Like wise when I do my visiting teaching. I hadn't necessarily noticed this in the past, but it has really come to my attention since moving to Troutdale. I am grateful to have visiting teachers and to be one. There truly is a power in it.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Fall Ward Party

Our ward party was Friday night. A great time was had by all who attended. There were about 16-20 different chillis to taste for the cook off and other great food to accompany them. The missionaries actually judged the chillis. As always Justin made his white chilli that he always does for chilli cook offs. This year he named it "Diary Farm Special." Why? The only thing I can figure is he did it in honor of our friend Robbie, who is a dairy farmer.

In the past Justin has always gotten great compliments on his chilli at the contest he enters. In fact, it is often one of the first gone. He has never won a prize though.That all changed Friday night. He won "The Most Unique Chilli." We were surprised and excited. Here he is with the super cool award.

 

They also had the children do a parade of costumes. It was great to see them model their characters. Some of the kids were shy and some hammed it up. I wonder to myself, "What will this baby be like?" We will see next year :)

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Duck Tape Tie and Head Band

No this is not a tutorial on how to make things using duck tape. I will leave that to the young lady in Justin's Sunday School class. She likes to create things out of duck tape. One Sunday this summer she asked my husband if he would wear a duck tape tie is she made him one. He said, "You have to ask my wife."

She asked me at girls camp and I told her only if she made me a head band to go along with it. Well she kept her end of the bargain and brough these to us a couple of Sunday's ago.

While I admire her creativity, I really am not into wearing headbands especially duck tape ones. Justin admitted he wasn't to into the idea either. I did put mine on for my Primary class and Justin did wear his for Sunday School. My primary class loved it and I think the Sunday school kids did too. I remember being into making things out of it when I was her age. Thanks Emily for the memories.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Thoughts

"We're not commanded to be loved. Just to love. That's an important key to happiness. . . to quit running around trying to make people love us. To stop, take a deep breath, and to truly and sincerely love others, lifting where we can lift, brightening where we can brighten, and comforting where we can comfort. When we do that, it's amazing how full our life becomes of the only love that really matters in the end - the love that never fails."

One of our old bishops wife posted this as her facebook status the other day and it really made me pause and think.

Then, at church yesterday I snuck out of Sacrament meeting to get a drink of water. A little girl in our ward who is about 6 years old ran up, wrapped her arms around my legs and said, "I love you." I don't really know this little girl that well, really, I have only talked with her once or twice and I don't think she even knows my name, but she made me feel loved.

That moment really drove home that quote and how little children are our best examples of it. They don't look for us to love them, but want to love us. Thank you for that lesson Sophie. I am going to try to be better about loving others and stop worrying if they love me.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Super Hero Capes

I am headed to girls camp this year as the assistant to the assistant camp director.... translation you ask- we are over the 6th year girls. The theme this year is Super Heroes and goes with the scripture D&C 115:5- "Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations."

The 6th year girls have chosen the name, 'Knights Rising' aka. Batman. The past few weeks I have put in several hours to making 12 of these beauties. I can't wait to present them to the girls and for them to get to wear them.

I also made some special capes for myself and the other 6th year leader. We are planning a surprise skit for the girls, kind of along the theme of 'If Justin Bieber and Jessica Black were Superheroes.' We still haven't ironed out all of the details yet, but are working on it.

I think the theme is going to be very powerful and am excited to watch the leadership of these 6th year girls. Now to just wrap up the craziness of getting everything together for it.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard