Little Kids :)

Words of Seth Parl Johnson

"When Jesus tells you something, you gotta do it... PRONTO!!!"

Edna has been asked to play Marry tonight in a nativity skit and is freaking out a little bit (crying, screaming  crying, whining, and lots of I DO NOT AND WILL NOT DO THIS!!!). I was trying to explain to her that she was called to do this...maybe even by Heavenly Father! Its Christmas Eve and you have been called to play a very important character...Marry the mother of Jesus! And that's when Seth said, in the sweetest voice of a little boy

"When Jesus tells you something you gotta do it, pronto!"

I love little kids! and Christmas, but especially Christmas eve when I am reminded of the good ol days when i had to play Marry. Oh how I wish life were still that easy!

Merry Christmas!

Why the Empty Bookcase?

Some of you might be wondering; why did they call it The Empty Bookcase???

Well there are lots of reasons! :) 

#1-When we moved here we bought 2 bookcases and they were totally empty...it was our choice what we were going to put on them. Novels, histories, science, biographies, maps. We decided we wanted to fill these bookcases with classics! The books that the founding fathers read, the books that changed the world and mankind, the books that inspire the human soul to be something more than they are today! 

These are our empty bookcases.

Walter Mosley once said "A man's bookcase will tell you everything you'll ever need to know about him."

So, what do you you want people to know you by?

That leads us to reason #2-What and who are you molding yourself into? Who are you going to be?

Firbie at the moment is reading every Anita Stansfield's Romance she can get her hands on, and is convinced she now knows enough information from these books to be a psychologist!

Mom has been reading a lot on the first world war. (I'm a little jealous, because that's what i'm suppose to be reading)

On my bookcase I have a ton on the 21st century and every leadership classic I can get my hands on...sadly I think i'v only covered about 5 of them :P But at the moment i'm reading Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew...I adore this play and laugh out loud about every other sentence! And also Education of a Wandering Man. Also a very good book.

Edna is reading A Little Princes, and who knows about Turtle! Shes in her room most of the time minding her own business. Last I herd she finished Edenbrook in a few days and absolutely loved it! (That is on my reading list along with about 400 others). She reads a lot more than I think anybody even realizes!

Dad is still reading Jesus the Christ (I think its been a year, but at least he is making progress!) and always somewhere in some kind of computer programming book.

Dallin H. Oaks said "Consider how we use our time in the choices we make in viewing television, playing video games, surfing the Internet, or reading books or magazines. Of course it is good to view wholesome entertainment or to obtain interesting information. But not everything of that sort is worth the portion of our life we give to obtain it. Some things are better, and others are best. When the Lord told us to seek learning, He said, 'Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom' (D&C 88:118).

What and who are you becoming? Because of even the littlest choices of what books you are reading change who you are.

And my favorite book quote by Classic writer himself Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”

#3-I believe our minds are also bookcases in a way...every second of every day we are choosing what we will fill our bookcases with. Every day the things we watch, read, listen to, and do are making us into something and someone. Who are you going to be, and what are you going to do about it?

That's what this blog is all about! The things we post here are the things my family and I are filling our bookcases with. Sometimes its a new recipe, other days it's the last movie we watched, and if its Firbie posting you might get a little gimps at psychology ;)!!! When we are feeling really adventurous you might hear about our field trips that we try going on once a month. Other days it might just be a new quote i'm obsessed with... actually that will happen a lot ;) 

The question is what are you filling your bookcase with???

-Houston

  

Guess what we got?!?!?

Tonight our secret Santa gave us this brownie skillet!!! Can't wait to try it out!

Plus some hot sauce that mom might try on her brownie...she is a hot sauce FREEK!!!

DECK THE STALLS and have a very merry Texas Christmas!

Secret Santa day 3!

Our last day of Secret Santa...and we gave one of our favorite books. I'm reading it now to Seth and Indy. "Mountain Born" is a sweet story written in 1943 about a 5 yr old boy who gets to take care of a little black lamb of his own. There are so many references to Christ throughout the book (since he refers to himself as the good shepherd and us his flock). I cant recommend it highly enough. We also gave it with some caramel popcorn (whipped up by Houston...the card made by her as well).

In our wards here in Texas, they have a tradition of Secret Santa 3 days during the week leading up to our ward Christmas party. It is meant to develop Christmas cheer and warm feelings of service toward one another. Those who wish to participate are assigned a family to give gifts to. The first 2 nights it is supposed to be secret and the last night you reveal who you are. We decided to sing "Silent Night" in harmony with a descant (yes...we're that cool). I'm sure it was a little uncomfortable for Secret Santa family, but that is how caroling goes...no way around it. 'Tis the season to be jolly you know. ;)

Christene

Another Crazy but Yummy Day

We had another HUGE order today for Yummies! We woke up at 7 and started baking pies and cookies. It was so much fun and we enjoyed making yummy holiday treats and making people happy!

If your in a crunch for time around Thanksgiving and didn't quite finnish that apple pie, oh and if you live in Texas, e-mail us! We would love to be a part of your holidays!!!

Secret Santa Day 2!

Tonight we delivered our second secret Santa gift!!! It was a cozy warm blanket...that's it :P but tomorrow is going to be the bomb digity!!! Well...when we decide what it is. But be assured It will tie everything together!

Because they ran after us yesterday, and we were afraid they figured out who we were, we dressed up... Really dressed up! But sadly that's our dads normal! Hahahaha

We decided to wear all of big cheif's wigs... That he wears to work on a regular basis...and yes I have a mustache! I think it's pretty awesome!!!

Until tomorrow, over and out!

-Houston

Secret Santa

Tonight we delivered our first out of three "secret santa" gifts. Tonight was a jar of hot chocolate with a bag of marshmallows and a PERFECT batch of cinnamon rolls... They were perfect in every way! Probably because Firbie made them ;) (she's our best baker), and they had our famous salted caramel cream cheese frosting! It makes me want some SOOOO bad... Oh wait there is some in the kitchen just waiting for me :D!!!! We all dressed up in black. As we were running for our life they saw us and started yelling at us! Thank goodness they probably have no idea who we are :) It was very intense!!! I'm going to go eat a cinnamon roll!

Goodnight world!

-Houston

‎"One of the best mental skills you can develop is the ability to be still in the midst of chaos." 
~Justin Su'a

-Houston