our covenants and transformation

I have made covenants with God. When I was baptized I promised to always remember Him, to take His name upon me, and to keep His commandments. In return, I was promised the gift of repentance and to be forgiven when I make mistakes. I was promised that I could have the gift of the Holy Ghost to help me each day.

I have made covenants in the temple. I have promised to keep the laws of obedience, sacrifice, the gospel, chastity, and consecration. I made covenants when I was married to Eric.

Yesterday I was thinking about each one of my covenants and how as I have tried to honor them blessings have come into my life and I have changed because of them. They do not restrict me--they help me to become so much more than I could on my own. They are transforming me.

Our covenants have the power to transform us. As we strive to honor our covenants we can become people of compassion, patience, hope, joy, light, love, and purpose. Striving to remember and keep our covenants brings us closer to Jesus Christ and to our Heavenly Father and allows a power to flow through our lives. Our covenants help us to become and to do so much more than we ever could on our own. 

My covenants help me to become close to my Savior.

As I keep my covenants, I can expect miracles in my life. And I see them!

3am thoughts to 8am thoughts

Something woke me up at 3am this morning--a noise, a thought, I don't know what it was. But my 3am thoughts turned on and wouldn't stop. 3am thoughts are racing, fearful, overwhelming little thoughts. 

And they soon became 4am thoughts. 4 am thoughts pulled me out of bed. I found myself in the closet with the light on trying not to disturb Eric. Maybe it was the light of the closet, but my thoughts became a bit more rational as I sat there stretching my body in a little mini yoga closet session. I grabbed a book off of my shelf. It was a poetry book of my mom's. 4am thoughts also feel a lot of grief and aching for their parents. I tried to sit with that. Why did my mom have to go?? 

I skimmed poem after poem until 5am thoughts arrived. 5am thoughts were soothed and ready to try sleep again. 5am thoughts knew that's exactly what I needed.

The next thoughts I met up with were 8am thoughts. By that time, the light was peeking through the shutters. All the middle of the night, dark thoughts stayed in the dark because these were new thoughts ready for the light and the day. 8am thoughts are bright and joyful. 8am thoughts are full of hope and excitement. They see the balance of life.

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Funny how I set a goal to block consistently this year and that turned in to less blogging than I have ever done. Some things that have kept me over extended are wrapping up this week. Hoping for my sake that means I can come back to this space more often.

New York with Kacin, part 3

We went to church in the building with the temple. It’s such a beautiful refuge from the world amidst a big city. This was my second time going to church there and there is such a feeling of welcome and acceptance. So many good people just showing up and trying. I really loved the speakers that day.

We took a stroll through Central Park.

We grabbed the cheap NYC pizza for lunch.

And then we went to the MoMA! 

Here are some of my favorite pieces of art.

This one was actually really high on my list. I love that the more you look, the more you see. I believe it was commissioned for Sonny Bono. One side is air and the other is water.

I found a different meaning for this then the plaque said…when I see this I see an instrument as a tool just waiting for the music that will pop out of it.

I am invisible. Not.

I wanted to show Layla this one out of cut paper…I think it’s an art medium she would love.

I don’t know why this is the one he actually posed for but a big colorful 8.

This was fun to create art out of our shadows.

And then we got to the art that I recognize from books and art masterpiece…

We saw Starry Night!!! Pictures do not do this painting justice. It was so lovely in person. It was so fun to see it.






I love pointillism! It was cool to see this one in person too.

I just taught Frank Lloyd Wright to the kids in art masterpiece so how fun to see this in person. 

And then we found the Monet room. Such peace and tranquility from his paintings.

We entered the “Rest” Room. It had a bit of a creepy vibe in there but it truly was nice to sit and rest. Kacin got a 5 min nap. Sweet, sleeping Kacin.

Then it was off for another jaunt through Central Park.

We spent sometime at the castle. I hadn’t been there before.

Between the museum and our walk through Central Park, we had a nice chat with Kyler.

We grabbed dinner at Ellen’s Stardust. I think that place is fun!

And then it was off to another escape room!

So we solved it with like 35 min left. But we had the worst puzzle master I’ve ever had. She kept giving us unsolicited clues. When we left the guy at the front desk asked us how it was and while the room was fun, I mentioned how she gave the clues. We left and started walking back to the hotel. Then we got a call and they offered to let us come back and play another room for free. I’m so grateful they did because the first experience left a bad taste in my mouth but we had a blast doing the second room!! No clues, we worked well as a team, and got out with 16 min left. We take our escape rooms very seriously.




Our last morning, we grabbed some yummy bagels for breakfast.

Then took our last subway ride back to the airport.

We had a layover in Denver and they had the most beautiful outdoor area!




And then it was home! We were so grateful we found someone who could watch the kids for the weekend. And that we were able to have this time with our Kacin. We love him!