I've been thinking a lot lately about obedience and obeying. Not "blind obedience", but purposeful obedience. There is a difference.

There is a ruckus in the world over the very subject. 
There are those who would say that if you wear a mask and practice physical distancing, it's because you're bending to the man and giving up your freedom. But on the flip side, there are those (like me) who look at it as a purposeful act. I'm doing what I've been asked to do because I think it's responsible and safe. I've not been forced, there is no punishment if I don't, but I am obeying because I choose to.

So it is with our Heavenly Father. He has given us commandments and then He sent the Savior to show us how to keep/live them. If we do so, we will be happy and we allow ourselves the opportunity to continue to choose. That has been proven time and again.
But, He hasn't forced obedience. And, though there may be punishment for disobedience in some cases, the major consequence of disobedience is that we miss out on blessings, present and future, and we often cut ourselves off from future choices.

"The truest happiness and peace we can have comes by choosing to obey His laws." (Elder L. Tom Perry, "Obedience to Law is Liberty") I find this to be true.

I do not obey blindly. In fact, there are few things I hate more than being told what to do if it's something I do not WANT to do! But, as always, with Christ as my example, I am able to distinguish between what I should obey and what I should not.

Christ, as the perfect example of obedience, said in 3Nephi 27:13, "I came into the world to do the will of my Father BECAUSE He sent me."
Oh, how I love that! I don't think Jesus was blissfully excited to come to earth as He did. He knew what would happen. He knew how hard it would be. It would have been much easier to stay where He was, but that was not what had been asked of Him.
He did what was asked. He obeyed. Oh, how blessed we are because of His obedience.
He simply asks that we do the same.

In the same chapter of 3Nephi, Christ goes on to basically tell us to "DO WHAT YOU KNOW IS RIGHT". (vs. 21) That's really all obedience is... doing what we know is right. By doing what is right, we show Heavenly Father and Jesus that, not only do we believe in them, but that we believe them. We believe them when they tell us that "Obedience Brings Blessings". (Thomas Monson, April 2013 General Conference.)

Photo Book

For spring break this year, we visited every working temple in Utah (minus Monticello... we just couldn't fit all that extra driving in to the five days we had!)  We went from one end of Utah to the other and we even threw in the west end, too!  Having driven almost the entire state, now, I can tell you that THEE WORST drive is from the Wasatch Front to the Uintah Basin.  It's the ABSOLUTE WORST.   BUT, there's family and a temple out there... so it was bearable.  BARELY.  :) 

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2012...

Happy New Year! No pictures.... surprise. We really did ring in the new year in style, though. Really!! We had our traditional sparklers and poppers celebration. Then cookies and hot chocolate. Then we played RockBand until midnight. FUN! really, it was. - Moving on - -

Tommy won 2nd place at the district science fair on a project he did 98% of the work for by himself. In fact, he got quite miffed when I 1. reminded him about it 2. tried to offer suggestions. DRAMA, anyone?! ;) He did a really great job. He titled it "The Tetris Effect". He tested different age groups/sexes to see if the video game Tetris will, in fact, improve your reaction time. (As we all know, the claim is that video games improve your eye/hand coordination and reaction times. yah, right! ) According to his project, though, the game can help improve your reaction time! WHO KNEW!!

NERDS RULE!!

Tommy and his friend, Riley. They both won 2nd place.
Tommy also won an award from the American Psychological Association. STUD!!

O, Christmas ...

Christmas this year (2011) was a whirlwind of fun and excitement... SO MUCH fun and excitement, in fact, that we decided not to take pictures of any of it.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I seriously need to figure out some way to surgically implant a camera somewhere on my body. Perhaps my forehead. Otherwise, there will be no proof for my poor children that they actually had a childhood. As a side note: I like it when Christmas falls on Sunday. I didn't when I was young - - but I do now. I suppose it happens about the same time you stop dreading General Conference?!

Our tree

I am currently charging the video camera in the hopes that we actually did capture SOME sort of memorable moment. Possibly two memorable moments? *sigh*
As another side note: This Christmas season was CRAZY. I literally had one full-blown anxiety attack, complete with tears, along with a dozen other minor attacks. Moral of the story: I am NOT a good working mom. I was banking quite a few hours as The Fancy Flower Girl - helping the Newgate Mall deck themselves. Plus, trying to fit in quality family time, PLUS trying to assist Santa. Plus, trying to accept the fact that I'm no longer a Primary worker. I'm seriously not cut out for it. And, we'll go ahead and blame the lack of pictures on that ;) HECK, I don't even have pics of most of the work I did @ the mall. Again, how do we prove it even happened?

..... come to think of it.... it did just seem like a bad dream.

thanks...

My Aunt Becky ROCKS. For many reasons. Including, but certainly not limited to, the fact that she brings her camera to family functions!! YEAH! What would we do without her?

Parker and Aunt Becky - I'm pretty sure they're mocking me and my hair. ;)

Rachel and Katie

Anna, Grandma Smith, and Sara

Anna, me, and my mock worthy hair ;)

most of the boys...

Rachel and Robert - such an angel.

Sara and her Turkey - again, thank you Aunt Becky for providing the entertainment AND the documentation!

making turkeys... Parker's roommate joined us, unfortunately I've already forgotten the boy's name.

The next day, we got to do it all again with the Morgan side of the family. I have no pictures. Why? Because Aunt Becky wasn't there! DANG IT!

Joey turns 11...

Joey, being the sweet kid that he is, decided to appease his mother and NOT choose a cake for his birthday candle holder!
Instead, he chose a giant chocolate, chocolate chip cookie! The perfect way to celebrate turning 11!

He received MANY new rubber duckies for his collection, including this one from his good friend Ted!

He has almost 100 ducks now - kind of looks like a poultry invasion in his bedroom...

he also got some new scout stuff (as he has officially graduated from Cub's with FULL honors! He earned EVERY pin possible as a Webelo!)

He also got $ Money $, which is really all he wanted!
Life's good when you're 11 ;)

punkins...

Carving the Halloween pun'kins...

ew.

I would now like to show the amazing picture of the finished products....
oh, wait. we don't have one.
FAIL.
(seriously, what is my problem? Who doesn't take pics of the halloween pumpkins?)

We finished out the night with a game of Don't Eat Pete, and a Candy Walk (similar to a cake walk, but with the more enticing... candy!)

This, however, is the only picture of that.

FAIL.

Again.

Good thing my kids will have all these picture memories from their wonderful childhood to look back on and reminisce ... *sigh*.