DIY: Make a Wreath Base/Form for $1!

We've had a blast this Fall doing all sorts of crafts like this one. Besides finger painting with the kids, I also was able to make my first wreath! The best part is that I made it all for $5! I'll show the results in another post. Before I get some pictures of the wreath I made, I wanted to share how to make a wreath form for only $1. I learned how to do it when I happened upon this post, and I couldn't be more excited! All you need is a pool noodle from the dollar store and a dowel, or you can be more creative and improvise by trying to use a marker, or hoola hoop...maybe just some duct tape...

Before we move on, I apologize for the crappy quality of pictures. These were taken on my iPod because I couldn't use my camera since the battery was missing.

First, I decided how big I wanted my wreath to be and then I cut off part of the pool noodle I didn't need (By the way, If your pool noodle isn't completely round, save the piece you cut off for another fun craft you can do with your kids. I'll write another post on it soon) :

Then, I'm pretty sure you could just duct tape the edges together and call it good, or you could try to make it a little more secure. I wanted to make mine extra secure so I used a broken piece of hoola hoop. Snap off a good sized piece like this:

Then, put the hoola hoop piece (or marker) in both ends to see how long it should be. Adjust the size accordingly. Then, wrap and glue (with a glue gun) a piece of felt around it to make it a bit wider. After your felt is on, put more hot glue on the felt and glue it to the inside of the noodle. As a heads up, the glue will melt the pool noodle a bit if you squeeze the glue directly on it. Here's what the felt looked like:

After I'd glued the felt covered hoola hoop piece to both ends of the noodle it looked like this:

Normally, you could just secure edges with duct tape, but I skipped this part because I was already planning to wrap fabric around the whole form. So, I just bound the edges with fabric. Here's what it looks like so far.

And that my friends, is how you can make your own wreath base for a dollar!

Why Do Mormons Believe in Joseph Smith?

picture found here

Joseph Smith is a central figure in Mormon's beliefs. There are many interesting rumors mixed with truth about Joseph Smith that have caused many people to question his character.  Those outside (as well as member of) our faith might have misconceptions about our belief in him. Some claim that we believe he was/is Jesus, or an equal to Christ. That idea can easily be proved wrong. However, there are other doubts many have about Joseph Smith that cannot be explained as easily. As I stated earlier, there have been a lot of half truths mixed in with hearsay that have spread false information about Joseph Smith, much of which can't be confirmed, or denied. There are also a lot of mysterious and curious things from Joseph Smith's, and our church's, history: polygamy, treasure digging, free-masonry etc. It's natural for doubts to come up since so many people question Joseph Smith and our history. You either believe he was called as a prophet of God, or you likely think he was a genius fraud or delusional man.

While we were in New York we had the opportunity to visit Palmyra. We visited Hill Cumorah where Mormons believe Joseph Smith found the golden plates which he later translated in three months time into the Book of Mormon. We went to the printing shop where the Book of Mormon was printed. We explored Joseph's Smith's old homes, and the farm he'd worked on. We also visited the Sacred Grove where Joseph Smith's journey as a prophet really began. It was there that, as a fourteen year old boy, he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. It was there that he prayed (about what church to join), and it was in the Sacred Grove that his prayer was answered.

picture found here

As we walked through the beautiful Sacred Grove, I couldn't help but feel moved. I thought back to different doubts I'd personally had about Joseph Smith. There were a couple of times I'd heard, or read a well articulated argument against Joseph Smith. I remember those articles caused doubts to creep in and I started to feel a little worried or confused. Whenever I'd start to have questions about whether or not my religion had really all been a sham, I'd go to the Lord in prayer and would let him know just how I felt. Every single time those feelings or doubts were eased as I would "coincidentally" happen upon another article or a discussion that had answers to my questions or concerns.

While I still have questions and there is plenty that I don't understand, I've come to realize that any concern I've had has always led me back to whether or not I believe Joseph Smith truly experienced what he said he had in that grove of trees.

In his own words he describes what happened in the Sacred Grove:

"I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me... When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"

If Joseph Smith truly did see God the Father and Jesus Christ, and if he was called as a prophet of God, then the Book of Mormon is from God. Likewise, if we come to know that the Book of Mormon is true, we can know Joseph Smith was called as a prophet and that the church of Jesus Christ (with all it's keys and authority from God) has been restored.

While the articles and discussions Heavenly Father led me to happen upon were helpful, and reminded me that God hears our prayers, I've come to learn how fundamental it is to have a testimony in the restoration of the gospel. As I walked through the Sacred Grove, I was also reminded of the times that I'd received a witness from the Holy Ghost that Joseph Smith's story was true...that the Book of Mormon is true. We Mormons could spend all the time in the world pointing out Bible references that confirm our beliefs, or all the scientific and all the linguistic evidence there is throughout the Book of Mormon, but all that effort would be in vain. Those who oppose the church can do likewise. There are plenty of convincing arguments on both sides. Which is why I believe, it really does come down to faith. The only way to know whether or not the restored gospel is true is through sincere study and prayer.

Temple Garments

It is common for people to think we members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormons) are different. One things that many people find odd, or curious is the fact that we wear temple garments. The fact that members don't talk about their garments, or what goes on in the temple likely increases curiosity. For me personally, it's always been symbolic of commitments, promises, and beliefs I have which can be compared to why some wear a cross. I remember when I was in high school, my boyfriend (who wasn't Mormon) wasn't allowed to attend a wedding reception with me because his parents had "heard all about Mormons running around in our underwear at weddings." I had to laugh when I heard their response. I couldn't believe that intelligent people would really think that's what happens in the temple, let alone at a reception center!

I can assure you that you won't see people running around in their underwear at Mormon wedding receptions, or in the temple. Honestly, most of the temple ceremony can be read straight out of the Bible. I have to admit that the temple clothing does look different, but has a lot of symbolism behind it--just as the Jew's prayer shawl, head tefillin, or other religious clothing does. I'm excited that the church has come out with a video that shows you temple clothing and the garments we wear. Hopefully, it will help dissolve any misconceptions people have about the temple garments and clothing.

I've always found it beautiful to learn the symbolism behind different religions religious rituals and clothing. While some of the ways they worship definitely seem foreign to me, I can appreciate their rites as a way they show respect and love for God.

Here's the video Sacred Temple Clothing:

All Things Fall

I love Fall! The colors of the leaves, apples, pumpkins, and so much more. This will most likely be the last Fall for us in the DC area. There is a chance we'll come back, but just in case we don't, the kids and I made a bucket list of all the things we wanted to do during this lovely season.

I was surprised and really happy that our oldest suggested we take family pictures. What kid tells their parent that, "We should take family pictures?" Apparently ours do. All the other kids enthusiastically agreed. Hopefully, they keep that attitude when we check it off our list. I just realized that taking pictures during the Fall season has turned into a tradition. We always take a shot near a gorgeous huge tree in our backyard with the woods as our background. We're going to miss the view of this backyard.

I'm definitely feeling nostalgic and excited about all the upcoming changes. While we haven't had our family pictures taken yet, we've had a lot of energy and have already crossed off a lot of items on our bucket list. One of them was to create a painting of a tree with the help of many hands (I guess I should say fingers):

I apologize in advance about the quality of pictures. My camera's battery was dead and we couldn't find the charger. Anyhow, I love how our craft turned out and so do the kids. I think it will help us remember of the times we spent here for the past two years. It will remind me of our beautiful tree. Here's how we made our fun painting:

First we painted the limbs and the details. I got the idea to do this project from pinterest (I'd have linked you straight to the source, but it's spam). You can see they didn't do any details on the trunk or limbs. I like both versions with and without the additional gray. Either way cover your trunk and limbs with tape. We left some parts (as seen below) uncovered so the leaves could cover parts of it. We ended up covering anything that wasn't covered with tape.

Then the kids and I rolled up our sleeves and we started getting red leaves on our canvas...

Then we added yellow, orange, green, and a little brown and tried to let it dry a bit.

Then we started to pull up our tape. By the way, we used both painters tape and duct tape and both worked just fine.

Almost done pulling off all the tape...

After we finished pulling off tape, we added leaves to the top where the one trunk was completely uncovered. We also added leaves to the sides of the canvas. After it was all dry, we hung it up. The kids were super proud and happy with their art work. If you have kids (or not) and are looking for a fun and easy craft to do this Fall, I'd definitely recommend trying this out. It's easy, fast, and a whole lot of fun!

Why are Mormons Always Inviting Me?

We'll get to that question in a moment, but first let me say, it's good to be back. Now that we're home I can connect to the internet and post on my blog again. We have been living in a cabin for the past three months. While we had the internet, the laptop we brought with us is very old making it extremely difficult to do anything on-line. Sorry if you missed me.

We got back this week. Right in time to get ready for General Conference. Twice a year our family enjoys some fun traditions to celebrate this time. First, we mimic the example of King Benjamin's people and will set up a tent and face it towards our "tower" (our computer) where the prophet and other leaders will speak during the weekend. It's also a time when we remember to restock our 72 hour kits with new food before the old stuff goes bad. We enjoy snacking and eating from our old kits as we listen to our prophets and leaders speak. It's also a time where we remember to take a personal inventory of our own lives. As we listen, we are always inspired with what we need to change, or how we can be a little better. We also leave feeling our Savior Jesus Christ's love. This is why I often invite others (including nonmembers) to join us, or to listen via the internet. It's my way of trying to share the amazing experience with others. 

I often will post an invitation to friends so they can watch if they are interested. I have to admit I am always nervous when posting anything religious. I worry that I might offend or annoy friends and family. I know during the political season there are times when I get tired of heated political posts. I wouldn't be surprised if some good friends and loved ones feel the same when I post something relating to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

If you're one of those people who gets tired of all of us Mormons inviting you to listen to Conference, or to read the Book of Mormon, to meet with the missionaries, to go to church activities, or whatever else please don't be so annoyed you'll cut ties with us. We're sharing and inviting, not because we get "brownie points or bonuses," but because we care about you just as Elder Bednar describes in this talk with an entertaining personal story. I hope you'll take the time to watch or listen to his talk so that the next time you see another religious post from me or some other Mormon, you can smile to yourself even if it's while saying, "There they go again."

If you aren't put off by our invitations and are even a little curious or interested in learning more about Mormons you can do just that all in the name of charity. On October 10th (this Friday) you can go to a theater (hopefully) near you and watch Meet the Mormons. The best part is all the proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross! Click here to find the closest theater near you.

Camping at Assateague Island National Seashore

*This post has been waiting in my drafts for a couple of weeks now. However, I haven't been able to edit it. My laptop died and we've been away from home (and our desktop computer). For some reason the iPad won't let me scroll down to edit . If there are a lot of grammar errors and mistakes, I apologize in advance. In order to let you know I'm still alive and since it is camping season I'm crossing my fingers that it's not too painful to read. Hope you're having an amazing summer! Happy camping!

We recently returned from camping at Assateague Island National Seashore Campground. It was amazing! Not only did we enjoy telling stories and chowing down food made over the camp fire (including our favorite Striped Peanut Butter S'mores), we enjoyed the whole experience. This wasn't any normal old camping trip.

For one thing instead of dirt, we were sleeping on sand. Sand is so much more comfortable to sleep on then dirt. As you can see from the picture above, the sand wasn't the only thing at our campsite. We enjoyed being visited by several wild horses that freely roam the island and campground. The kids loved seeing them graze so close by. Since they are wild, we still kept our distance, but they seemed completely comfortable wandering up right next to us.

 So, not only did we enjoy the sand and being visited by wild horses, we also loved the beach which was practically right behind our campsite. It was like we had our own private beach! It was awesome! I worried about there not being a life guard since I have four kids and an ocean enthusiastic husband, but the kids were more interested in digging up shells and making sand castles. The next day when it was warmer, we went a little further down the beach and found a spot where life guards were on duty.

The kids also enjoyed exploring at the visitor center. My oldest was excited to complete a booklet to be sworn in as a junior ranger and receive a badge. The kids also loved looking through their telescope and touching the horseshoe crab and clams among other things.

We had such a great time, I had to post about our experience. If you are ever stationed or on your way to the DC area you'll have to keep this in mind as a place to visit. It was only $20 a night and was more than worth it. You'll also want to have some cash to buy wood, but they have tons there that is so inexpensive it wouldn't be worth the hassle of bringing in your own wood. Finally, you'll also have to pay to get into the National Park ($10 for 7 days or $15-$20 for an annual pass), but if you (or your spouse) are in the military and are active duty, you get in free! We didn't have the card that gives free admittance for military so we pulled into the office and had one within five minutes.

Our kids have made us promise them that if we're still in this area next Spring/Summer, we'll be coming back.

The Best S'more Recipe EVER! Striped Peanut Butter S'mores

We recently got back from an amazing camping trip. While we were there we had our version of s'mores. And let me tell you, they are WAY better then the normal old graham cracker and Hershey chocolate s'mores--which is saying something.

It all started a couple of years ago when my husband found some fudge striped cookies on sale. It was one of those impulse buys. He figured, why not buy these for our camping trip? The problem was our budget was so tight even a $2-3 dollar impulse buy seemed huge (Daniel was in grad school and only working part time)! A splurge for us on some date nights was picking up a movie for a buck from Redbox. So, I have to admit that first I was somewhat annoyed since I never ever buy store bought cookies. I figure, if we're going to eat any baked goods especially sweets, we'll have to make it ourselves.

We were also trying to be careful since we already had splurged to buy other stuff for our camping trip including Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and other chocolate candy bars for s'mores (I've always loved switching out boring chocolate for a variety). Needless to say I'd already gone overboard on other impulse buys that were also sweets. I'd been too spoiled eating only home baked cookies and couldn't help but think those store bought fudge striped cookies were not a good buy. Boy was I wrong! I didn't know it then, but that purchase of fudge striped cookies was sheer inspiration on the part of my husband.

When we laid out all our food at our camp site, I saw those cookies sitting right next to all the other s'more fixings and it hit me: Striped Peanut Butter S'mores. So, I made our first ultimate s'more with cookies, marshmallows, and peanut butter cups and there was no going back. These s'mores really hit the sweet tooth.

Here's what you'll need to make Striped Peanut Butter S'mores: Fudge striped cookies (keebler, or the cheap brand), Marshmallows, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups...

After you roast your marshmallow (or two) make the ultimate s'more sandwich (cookies on the outside with the marshmallow and peanut butter cup inside) and thank Daniel for his last minute purchase.

Here the Peanut Butter Fudge Striped S'more on the left has one marshmallow, whereas, the one on the right has two. Give both a try and figure out what marshmallow ratio you enjoy most. Also, did you notice the Hershey's chocolate? We only broke those bars open after all the Reese's were gone. We've also tried twix and kit kats as a substitute for the Reese's, but we prefer the peanut buttery goodness the most.

See all that marshmallow oozing out? Yum!

 

Your family will be able to get through all the peanut butter cups and cookies if you let them. Best splurge and s'more recipe ever!

You're welcome!