Afternoon Hike

 Tuesday Dennis came home for lunch and took us on a little drive up the canyon to look at the fall leaves.  We stopped and got some sandwiches for a little picnic.  The drive was beautiful.  I had Dennis stopping often so I could take pictures.  We got a little up the canyon and decided, why not get out and walk up this trail a little bit.  Khora went on it with her Activity Days group a couple months ago and Isaac had been up there fishing in a little beaver pond.  It was beautiful.  It's my new favorite place in Santaquin. We made it up to a little slot cave that Khora wanted to visit again, but then we heard the thunder. 

Then we heard the thunder. . . 

We got caught in a little down pour before we made it back to the car.  It was so much fun!!  We came home and had hot cocoa and peach crisp.  It was too bad the boys weren't able to come up with us.  It will have to be a do over for sure. I think I found my new favorite Santaquin spot.

Weighing of the Heart

This week, a couple different times I have heard or read about hard hearts.When I took my Egyptian history class this summer we talked a little about the judgement ceremony from the book of the dead called the "weighing of the heart". After death an individual's heart was weighed on a giant scale against a feather of Maat, goddess of truth, order and justice. If the heart balanced against the feather then the deceased would be granted a place in the Fields of Hetep and Iaru. If it was heavy with the weight of wrongdoings, the balance would sink and the heart would be grabbed and devoured by a terrifying beast that sat ready and waiting by the scales. Its interesting wording that is used in Leviticus when God sends plagues to Egypt and it says that Pharaohs heart was hardened. If the deceased was found to have done wrong and the heart weighed down the scales, he or she was not to enter a place of torment like hell, but to cease to exist at all. 

I found a video of a discussion group with Elder Bednar and a group of Young Adults that taught me more about knowledge, understanding and intelligence. He taught that knowledge in the scriptures almost always deals with the mind.  Understanding comes through the heart. He said that today we tend to think of intelligence being associated with IQ. In the gospel we are taught that we gain intelligence when we act on what we know and feel to be true. It is what we become, who we are as God intended. In the General Women's conference in October 2012 Sister Burton quoted Jeremiah "After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. …"   The ancient Egyptians considered the heart to be the center of thought, memory and emotion. It was the heart that was associated with intellect and personality and was considered the most important organ in the body. It was sacred enough that it was never removed as were other organs. The way back to our Heavenly Father is through our hearts. 

Peach Pie

Our peach tree is so loaded down with its burden of beautiful orange/yellow fruit. It looks how I feel sometimes with its drooping branches brushing the ground.  We've been picking a few ripe ones all week, but they should be full on in the next couple days. 

Sitting there eating my peach I remembered a funny experience I had while making a peach pie on my mission. I was serving in Corry, PA and had been teaching a wonderful man Al Wood, who had gone through several sets of missionaries at this point. He and his wife Karen would have us over often and we all became really good friends. One day in February they had us over to help make pie.  We ended up making a strawberry pie and a peach pie. They looked so beautiful! I had some of the peach pie and the first bite was a little disappointing.  The second bite was disgusting!  We found out that instead of using frozen peaches he had pulled out a bag of frozen squash instead! They both looked so similar in color that during the whole baking process we didn't have a clue. Good times that. 

The law of the harvest in Gal 6:7 says . . 'for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap".it continues on in vs9 'And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.' We don't enjoy the fruits of our labors immediately or sometimes even soon after.  Like putting up fruit, sometimes our pay day comes later. It is motivation to keep on planting seeds and await the promised blessings. Al was finally baptized at the end of that month, but so many times we don't necessarily see the fruits of our labors. Sometimes we must plant trees that we will never sit under, if only to help those who come after us.

iFly

Jacob was invited to go with a friend to iFly in Ogden.  I have never even seen this before.  It looks like a blast though.  He had a good time. I tried to upload a video but it's giving me grief.  Guess these pics will have to do.

Hunters Ed. Graduate

For about two weeks Isaac has been taking classes for Hunter's Safety.  On Saturday he took the written and shooting test. He got 94% on the written and 24/30 on the shooting. (We had to borrow a .22 so he could take the test.)  He has wanted to do this for the past couple years, so we finally got it done.  He's pretty excited about it and wants to make some plans with the uncles.

Learners Permit

Its official, and legal and a little scary.  Jacob is behind the wheel.  He drove to Walmart that night and even got on the freeway. I think he even hit 65mph.  He said it was scary, and yeah it was a little bit. Well here we go.  Its time to get this kid comfortable driving.

First Day of School

Yep. . another school year is here.  Jake started his first day of high school as a 10th grader.  (Still floored over this one.)  Isaac is not longer the little kid at the Jr. High since he's now an 8th grader.  And. . . Jacob now has his learners permit. . . yikes!!  He drove us to the school today through the back roads.  Dennis and I dropped off the boys at school before going to the temple this morning.  Such a beautiful day today!

Beautiful Drive this morning!

First day of 8th Grade

First day at the High School as a Sophomore

How was the first day of school?
Isaac - The first day of school was the worst, my lunch period is too crowded and only lasts 15-20 minutes and we can't go in the gym to play basketball and we got kicked of our buss cause it's too crowded and cause some seventh graders are now on the bus and now we have to walk 3 blocks to get to the nearest bus stop.

Jacob - I think its going to be a good year.

Isaac has PE, 3D art, Honors English, Honors Math, Foods, U.S. History and Science.  He goes to these classes everyday.

Jacob has A days and B days.  His classes for the first half of the year are ASL (Sign Language), English, Biology, Math and B days are Engineering, Health, Scrapbooking Art and Seminary.

The girls and I started our History, Geography, and Art lessons today as well. It was a good day.

I know all the smog and smoke that we are experiencing is nasty but it sure makes for some beautiful sun rises and sun sets.  The girls and I went chasing the sun set tonight so that we could take a picture without trees and houses in the way, but we didn't make it in time. The sun was almost pink!  It was so beautiful. Tomorrow maybe.