Something New!

I don't know what your idea of excellence is, but mine is being good at a lot of different things and continually learning. Learning about more than "book stuff", but learning skills too. One of my problems is there is so many things I want to do and learn, I don't know what I want most. The biggest key is to keep trying (as opposed to retreating to the computer for a game of solitary).

I'm in charge of treat for Family Home Evening this week. So I'm going to try something new, new to me at least. I have a recipe for a cookie that is basically a chocolate thumbprint cookie with chocolate in the thumbprint. While I've never tried it before, I'm thinking with all that chocolate there's a high chance for success!

So is there a recipe you've been wanting to try? Why not do it this week? Let me know how it goes.

School's Ending

My kids will be out of school soon. My younger ones have had the same teachers for the last two years and will be getting new teachers next year. Their teachers are great and I wanted to make sure I let them know how much I appreciate them and all they have done for my children! While stuff is fun and all, it gets used up or becomes clutter. I'm going for a heartfelt letter that tells them how much my children have learned and benefited from spending so much time with them over the last couple of years.

If your children aren't out of school, maybe this is something that would mean a lot to their teachers. If not, is there someone else who has touched you or your family? This is a great time to reflect and let them know how special they are. I'd love to hear who you chose and how it went!

I'm Getting There...

One of my New Year's goals, was to read 20 books this year. As you can see, I've finished 12 so far. Yeah! Today, I finished The Peacegiver. This book teaches about loving and forgiving as Christ does, areas where I have room for improvement - a lot of room for improvement. Actually, this is the second time I've read this book. It's amazing how much I've forgotten or didn't learn the first time I read it. I know that's why we read the scriptures daily even though the words are the same as the last time we read them. We forget, and yet we're continually growing and able to receive a deeper understanding each time we read something. To keep growing, that is why I want to keep studying and keep learning. And that's why I started this blog, to force myself to think about what I'm doing to pursue the excellence our Savior wants me to reach. This helps me to fine tune my goals and how I spend my time. I hope by sharing this journey, that you might benefit and that we might strengthen each other on the way.

Happy Birthday Bugg!

Today is the Bugg's birthday! He's my nephew and he has a smile that just melts my heart. I wish I had a better picture of that wonderful smile. But these will have to do. If you would like to see some good pictures of this cutie and how special he is check out the Let's Celebrate link to his family's blog!

Have a great day, Bugg!

Finish 2007

I know I'm really behind, but I'm almost done scrapbooking 2007. My New Year's goal was to start scrapbooking 2009 before the year ended. My algebra class set me back a bit, but maybe I can make it. I have six layouts to finish up 2007. My goal is to finish them by the end of the month, I was thinking the end of the week - but I chose to be a little more realistic. With the twins getting baptized this Saturday, I might get distracted!

Let me know if you would like to join me in my goal to complete 6 layouts by the end of May.

I'm In!

Easy as pie? Is pie really easy? Cake, cake's easy; even my favorite Deep Dark Chocolate Cake from scratch. Maybe I'm just more experienced at cake.


I've been thinking about starting a blog for a while. It's so fun to read other people's blog, but it always seemed like one more thing calling for my time. This morning, I was thinking of all the skills I want to develop and improve. We had a great Enrichment meeting last night on photography, and we mentioned it would be neat to get a group together to take picture of the same thing and see how many different perspectives everyone came up with. That led me to the premise of my blog. I'm challenging myself in different areas of interest and inviting you to join me and share your experiences. Like the Relief Society program - Pursuit In Excellence.