Scripture Journal

Okay, so I've debated about whether or not to post this. But I keep thinking about it which is sometimes how the Spirit works with me, so I've decided to just go ahead and do it. This is about a little project I've been working on. I hope this doesn't come across as self aggrandizing, I don't want it to, but I just feel like I should share. So if this post isn't up your alley, just scroll on past it.
At church on Sunday we had a really good Sunday school lesson in our gospel doctrine class. The teacher was super prepared and had a power point presentation and everything. We also had a good discussion going in the class about studying the scriptures, really using them to help answer personal questions and gain greater knowledge. A brother in our ward brought up the point that study and search were both action words, that they implied more than just passively reading. That really hit me hard. I am great at reading my scriptures everyday but I think that I'm missing the point to an extent. Am I just simply reading or am I actively studying? So with the intent to do better I've been looking for resources to help me better study my scriptures. I came across three awesome websites that both had the idea of a scripture journal. This is separate from a personal journal, the point with the scripture journal is to take notes and write down thoughts and impressions that come while really studying. This was totally what I needed! So I ventured out and bought a cute three ring binder and paper and got to work. I combined ideas from the both the websites and I feel like this is going to make a huge difference in my scripture studying. I took a few pictures to help you get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Here are the links to three websites that I really like. I took ideas from all and put together something that will work for me.

The Red Headed Hostess (you know how I love a red head!)
'Tis Eventide
Allison Kimball (she's an amazing artist too)


So this is all the stuff I now get out when I read my scriptures - my scriptures of course, pens/colored pencils/hiliters for marking in my scriptures and writing in the journal, and the journal itself. Nate was on speakerphone with me when I took the pic so that's why my phone is in the shot. :)


Basically I took the list of topics from The Red Headed Hostess and I typed them up in fun fonts and glued them onto the tops of pages in the journal. I added three topics to my journal, I added Mary, infertility, and happiness. All three apply to my life and are things I want to get more information about from my scripture study. I added an extra sheet of paper per topic so that I've got plenty of room to write.


Today I focused on the topic of scripture study for my reading.


Like I said, I just feel like I should share this, not sure why. Hopefully posting it helps me to maintain my new scripture journal and really use it and love. Check out the links I posted, I found the super helpful and inspiring.

UPDATE 03/31/15
Still loving the scripture journal. I've since added some section divider tabs so the topics can be found a little more easily and I bought some fun pens to use just for the journal. I also bought a second three ring binder. This second binder is getting filled with charts and timelines and other Book of Mormon printables I've been finding online. Lovin' it!



Don't forget to check out our adoption profile at http://adoption.com/profiles/nksmithfamily-1800, and feel free to pass it along!

Let's Go With Plan B

Our friends Eric and Jenny invited us to go up the canyon for a fire and tin foil dinners. Of course we said yes! We love getting outdoors and with how nice the weather has been lately, we knew we'd be in for a good time. So the plan was to go to a favorite camping spot and build a fire and make some dinner. However, when we got up to the turn off for the campsite there was a huge pile of snow several feet tall blocking the road. I was surprised that there was still snow since it's been so warm lately. On the other side of the snow was the road, but it was so so muddy. Like the kind of mud you get stuck in. The four of us decided it wasn't worth the risk and looked for another option. Well there is the large dirt parking lot that we'd passed a little ways back where you can camp too. So that was plan b. We pulled into the parking lot and found a good spot for our fire and got to work. The boys were in charge of the fire of course, they always like that job. We got our chairs set up and we got busy enjoying the sun and the fresh air. Once we had some coals going we got the tin foil dinners in the fire and then dinner was served. I pre-cook our tin foil dinner so that all they need is to be heated in the fire. If you want to know how I make them, you can read about it here. There's something about dinner cooked over a camp fire that makes it taste so good. We all really enjoyed dinner. Of course we made s'mores after dinner and as is campfire protocol, we all exchanged stories and had lots of laughs. Such a fun evening, we can't wait to do it again!

Las Vegas Weekend

Way back at the beginning of the year our good friends Mike and Sarah asked if we wanted to join them on a Las Vegas trip. We didn't have to think about it too long, of course we wanted to go on a getaway! My brother and his family also live in Vegas so that was a big reason we said yes to the trip. It was a fun time. We all drove down together and talked and laughed almost the whole way. I say almost the whole way because when it was my turn to drive everyone went to sleep! Boring for me! We got to Vegas about lunchtime and Mike's special request for the trip is that we go to Cheeburger Cheeburger, so we hit them up for lunch. Both Nate and Mike ordered and finished the one pound burger challenge and got their pictures put on the wall of fame. After lunch we shopped a bit then went back to the hotel and rested for an hour or so and then got ready and went to the Las Vegas Temple - such a great experience! I love going to the temple. We hit up dinner that evening and finished the night off playing our favorite game, hand and foot. Sarah and I lost to the boys big time. The next morning we went to the Paris hotel for a brunch buffet. We got stuffed and then headed back to the hotel for a little nap. Then in the afternoon we ran to the store and then had a hand and foot rematch. Sarah and I lost again! So frustrating. That evening Nate and I were able to go have dinner with my brother and his wife. It was so good to see them and get to hang out a bit. We met back up with Mike and Sarah and ended the night with milkshakes. It was time to go home the next morning. We were sad that our little getaway was over but we were also ready to head home. Thanks Mike and Sarah for a fun trip!

This is us when we stopped for gas in St. George.

Our travel buddies Mike and Sarah.

Nate's burger at Cheeburger Cheeburger.

The gorgeous Angel Moroni atop the Las Vegas Temple.

New Adoption Profile

We've made the switch! Our adoption profile can now be found at http://adoption.com/profiles/nksmithfamily-1800. Please take a few minutes to check us out and feel free to share!

Valentine's Day 2015

Since Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday this year we knew that every restaurant would be super crowded. So we opted to stay in and cook. Nate loves steak and he really enjoys grilling so that was an easy choice. He also requested a homemade macaroni and cheese, something I've never made before. I hate to admit it, but the only macaroni and cheese I enjoy is Kraft. So we went on a hunt for a good mac and cheese recipe and Nate picked the Pioneer Woman's recipe. He said it turned out great and definitely wants it again. For our steaks we went to Meier's meats up in Highland. We picked out some ribeyes and they turned out so good! We'll definitely be going back to Meier's. I also had Nate grill up some asparagus, a favorite of mine. All in all, dinner was a big success. We had a nice low key holiday and just enjoyed one another's company. Happy Valentine's Day!

Jazz Game

Last week Nate got an email from work offering up some lower bowl Jazz tickets to anyone who wanted some. Of course Nate jumped on the opportunity and was able to take some friends and family too. Unfortunately the Jazz lost to the Clippers, but Nate said it was still a fun game to watch. Thanks for the tickets LanDesk!

Laramie, Wyoming

Last weekend Nate and I made the trip up to Laramie, Wyoming to visit an old mission buddy of Nate's. Laramie is about a six hour drive from us and boy is it scenic, not! Fortunately the drive was made better by having a good travel companion. Nate and I left early Friday morning and got to Laramie a little after noon. We got checked into our hotel and then headed to see his mission buddy Rowdy. Rowdy is a big into the outdoors so he wanted to take us ice fishing. We packed up and headed to the reservoir and the boys got out to set up the tent on the ice. Unfortunately it was so windy that the tent broke, Nate's glasses flew off and got lost, Rowdy lost his favorite hat and bucket that held all the ice fishing poles. Talk about drama on the ice! So we headed back to town without fishing and on our way back we got a flat tire. Luck was not on our side that afternoon. After visiting for a while, we headed to dinner. Nate decided he wanted to do a spicy wing challenge for dinner. 12 of their hottest wings in 12 minutes, you had to eat one wing per minute, no water, no nothing. I was dying when they brought the wings to the table, holy smokes, the smell alone was overwhelmingly hot. Nate made it five wings before he called it quits. Fortunately they provided gloves for the challenge so his hands didn't burn, but he said his lips, tongue, and throat were all on fire. He had some milk to drink to try and cool his mouth down. He also decided we needed to go for ice cream after dinner too. After dessert we went back to Rowdy's house and played games with him and his wife. Nate and Rowdy were set to go ice fishing early Saturday morning, however Nate got super sick during the night from the wing challenge. I thought for a little bit that I was going to have to take him to the ER. He rallied though and was finally able to fall asleep, but he cancelled on ice fishing. I feel bad, fishing with Rowdy was a big part of the reason for the trip and they didn't get to fish at all! Oh well, you can definitely say that things didn't go as planned on our short trip, but it was definitely memorable to say the least! After a short visit with Rowdy and his family Saturday morning, we headed home. It was a nice little getaway and it was good to see friends. 'Til next time!

Even though I brought my camera, I only took iphone pics. Oh well.


Here we are bright eyed and bushy tailed to make our 6 am departure time.



Nate in the midst of the wing challenge.


Um, is this not the coolest name for a street ever?!


Mission buddies.

Christmas

Christmas was nice this year. It was full of family and fun times. Since we had been up to Idaho the weekend before Christmas, we were able to make it to Nate's extended family's Christmas Eve party. Nate and I got up early to go over and help his mom make rolls for the party, I think we made well over 20 dozen. There was a ham lunch, a recorded nativity, and a slide show at the party. Later that night we had a hot chocolate party with Nate's immediate family and our annual gift exchange. It was a long and busy day so we crashed at like 9 pm. Usually Nate is up around 5 am on Christmas morning ready to open gifts and start the day, but he actually let me sleep in til 7:30 am this year. So nice. Nate and I always spend Christmas morning just the two of us, a tradition we started so we could have special moments with our kids on Christmas morning. After our morning together, we trekked through the new snow to visit Nate's parents. We had a prime rib and potato dinner and were able to Skype with our favorite missionary, Nate's brother Aaron. He'll be home in about 9 months and we can't wait to hug him! Like I said, we had a nice Christmas and now I'm a little sad that the holidays are over, especially since Nate and I are both sick. Here's to 2015!

Our poor tree. This was it's last year with us. Some sections of the lights don't light up any more and the tree has seen better days over the last 8 Christmases.

Cute Nate, always so excited on Christmas morning.

Looking at Lights

For Family Home Evening on Monday night we went on our annual trip to look at lights. We love bundling up and taking a drive to look at all the festive homes in our area. Here are some highlights from our evening.

To Grandmother's House We Go

My mom and grandma live in Idaho. We try and visit every 4-6 weeks. Nate and I knew we wanted to visit close to Christmas and celebrate with them. We were able to go up last weekend and spend a couple nights. Upon arrival my cute grandma has fresh baked cinnamon rolls made for Nate since they are his favorite treat. We spent the next day making and decorating sugar cookies and playing Rack-O, our family's favorite game. It's a rite of passage for newcomers into our family, they must learn to play Rack-O to be accepted into the family :). Since we were there so close to Christmas we wanted to celebrate and have a pre-Christmas dinner. Nate and I told my grandma we could make anything she wanted. She said she wanted Mexican food, so we made double decker tacos, another family favorite, along with some salsa rice. Dinner was a hit with both my mom and grandma, our pre-Christmas fiesta was a success! We had to leave the next morning, and both my mom and grandma started crying when it was time to go, but we loved the time we got to spend together. I'm so glad we went and we miss them already!

My cute mom, super excited about the holly berry sprinkles we had.

The handsome husband who is totally taken.

Some of our decorated cookies, don't mind the fact that I over-baked them a little bit.

A cookie Nate made just for me.

A shot of our fiesta dinner.