Forget-Me-Not

Last night was the Annual General Relief Society Broadcast. I think it was prepared just for me. All of the messages were inspirational, especially President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's. He spoke of the small Forget-me-not flower and related it to five things we should not forget. I thought I would share a few of his points that I enjoyed most.

1. Forget not to be patient with yourself. “God wants to help us eventually turn all of our weaknesses into strengths, but He knows that this is a long-term goal,” President Uchtdorf said. “It is OK that you are not quite there yet. Keep working on it but stop punishing yourself.

2.Forget not the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice President Uchtdorf noted that every situation is different, and suggested asking, “Am I committing my time and energies to the things that matter most?” in order to distinguish between good and foolish sacrifices.

3. Forget not to be Happy Now“The lesson here,” he said,” is that if we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots that are all around us.”

4. Forget not the “why” of the gospel

President Uchtdorf said that sometimes, in the routines of daily life, the vital aspects of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

President Uchtdorf reminded the sisters that the gospel is not an obligation, but a pathway leading to happiness and peace in this life and “glory and inexpressible fulfillment” in the life to come.

5.Forget not that the Lord loves you. "You are not forgotten- No mater how dark your days may seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be-- your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you."

I was very grateful to hear President Uchtdorf's Message. I know of at least five things I will be working on over the next long while.

Summer Update

So, I've kind of dropped off the face of the earth for a few months, but I have a few pictures to prove we are alive and not hermits.

June: Ganon finished his MBA program. Hooray!

Connelly Family Reunion in Rigby. What a great balance of camping and civilization! We slept in a tent but had real bathrooms, kitchen supplies, shelter, etc. Our family loved spending time with the cousins!

Here are a bunch of us before our hike.

July: David turned 7, Rebecca turned 5, We celebrated our 8th Anniversary.

My sister and parents came to visit so we spent some time at the pool. We even got each of the kids to go on the "big slide." They have learned to love the pool this summer.

David and Rebecca celebrated their birthdays with a big friend water party! I think we counted 22 friends! We had sprinklers, a kiddie pool with slide, a slip-n-slide, a mini-tramp, water guns, and the most popular water bottle rocket launcher. It was a blast!!

August: Ganon Graduated with his MBA! He also celebrated a birthday and went to Youth Conference with the youth in our ward. I think they had fun...

We said farewell to Summer with a Hike up the Y. Here we are at the top (well, the bottom of the Y but the top as far as we were concerned.) Look at those happy faces!

We made good time on the way up so this is actually us on our favorite rock on our way back down. We had to wait for the sun to come up over the mountain. The three oldest walked the whole way up! My calves hurt for the next week, but otherwise I think it was a successful hike. School has started and we are getting into a Fall Routine. What are ya'll up to?

Finally A Master

After two very long years, Ganon has officially graduated with his Master in Business Administration from BYU!! We just received his actual diploma making it officially official. Ganon did an amazing job of balancing a full-time job, difficult church assignments, long nights in class, group projects, endless case studies, and a growing family. We are very proud of Ganon and his many accomplishments. Congrats!

His happy fan club.

Walking to his seat with his Diploma Cover. He got to sit on the front row so we didn't have to wait FOREVER for his turn.

Showing off the yummy leis the kiddos gave him.