Sharing Every Good Gift

I love to go camping. One of my favorite camping trips is to go to Great Basin National Park with my cousins. This is me at a lake on one of our hikes. I love to go with my cousins and I love to sleep outside. We went to Lehman's Cave. It looks like everything is glowing and it's really dark. I love to sleeping in a tent. Camping makes me happy because I get to be with my family. When I was with my cousins we saw some big birds in a tree. I love being in nature and in Heavenly Father's creations. -Kellan (age 7)

Josh and I teach a group of 7-8 year old boys.    At our last activity, we learned about helpful and unhelpful thoughts.    We called helpful thoughts sunny sunflowers and unhelpful thoughts worry weeds.    When unhelpful thoughts like, “I can’t do it” or “I’m stupid” or “Nobody likes me” enter your mind, pull them and plant sunny sunflowers!    A few of my favorite sunny sunflower thoughts are: “I can do anything I put my mind to”, “I am enough”, “All of my problems have solutions”, “ I am perfect just the way I am”.     We planted sunflowers and strawberries in little pots and had pudding dirt cups with Oreos and worms for dessert.    It was a lot of fun and such a good lesson to learn!    Remember you are loved!    You can get through anything, and when things do get hard, ask for help!  😊   “The only tyrant I accept in this world is the ‘still small voice’within.”-Gandhi -Shara

Need a little encouragement today?  No one seems to say it better than President Gordon B. Hinkley.  If you are struggling today I hope this brings a little help.  If you are having a great day I hope you'll share this with someone who could use something uplifting and encouraging. -Jessica

I have this energetic dog named Auggie and he always knows when you are happy or sad or even angry. If you're happy he’ll play with you, if you're sad he’ll lick you and be calm, if you're angry he’ll just make you happy. Having a dog is nice they're super nice and fun. My aunt had this nice and calm dog named Mabel and a few days ago she was put down because she was sick and it just makes me very grateful that I still have Auggie and I know that Mabel is all better and comfortable now.  Paden (age 10)

I know this blog is to share joy but a little heavier topic has been on my mind and I would like to share my thoughts...it ends with immense joy though, so stick with me!  I have been contemplating loss lately, the kind of deep loss that throws your life headfirst back into perspective. An eternal perspective. Maybe the loss of a loved one, loss of a friendship, loss of expectations you had for your life, these kinds of losses. Natural questions come up when these type of difficult things happen such as what's the purpose? What's the point of everything I'm doing here? It's amazing how shockingly fast your life can be thrown into pondering these questions. I have had these experiences and I'm sure you have too. During one of these times in my life I learned a great truth. I have always known that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me. I have never doubted this but during this difficult time I had many tender mercies given to me to show just how much He

A few days ago we had a record breaking snowstorm.  Lucky for me I didn't have to drive in it or hardly even have to walk in it.  I had the luxury of staying inside by a warm fire and watching the beautiful peaceful snowflakes fall all day long.  True confession, I love it when the first snow of winter falls and I'm sad when it stops in the spring.  Please don't hate me for that! Whenever I see the yard and trees covered in white, it reminds me of when my youngest was about 5 or 6 years old.  She was looking out over all the snow and commented, "It makes the whole world look pure!"  How true! And seriously, don't you love it when the sun breaks through and it looks like everything is covered in clear glitter?  I know it can be a pain to drive in, walk in, shovel, and clean up, but soon enough it will be gone and it will leave behind life giving water that will make the grass green, the flowers grow, and the lakes and streams full. The sun will shine

This blog is a collection of thoughts, experiences, and feelings from our family members and friends and is meant to bring a little light into each of our days. Let's face it, you don't have to look far to find the negative in life.  It's all around us and sometimes seems to overwhelm us.  But we are firm believers that there is more good and positive in the world than the reverse.   We intend to do our very best to find it! We hope you'll join us each day as we take turns sharing what we find.  We range in age from six to sixty-six and have a large range of interests and experiences, hopes and dreams, but we all agree that we are here to have joy.  And that's what we want to share with you. Please feel free to send us your comments and questions.  We'd love to hear from you!