January 2011

Our beautiful mountain: the Tetons

Our amazing skier Brittany, everybody tries to beat her down the mountain, she only allows a select few and only for a a few times.

Nathan our Family Sherpa is always helping after a long day of skiing.

Cami in her first ski class, she had a great time and is defiantly ready for the chair lift. She has her pizza and french fries down perfectly-yea!

Dad is his ski buddies in the lodge getting ready to go skiing. We are so lucky to have such a fun dad who helps us fight off the monsters on the ski slopes by using our new ski skills of "pizzaing" and "airplane" turns:)


Our January has been filled with lots of skiing, I think we went 5 times this month. Sometimes just the big kids and Mike would go but most of the time it was a whole family adventure. One time it snowed while we were there and we couldn't get out of the parking lot. We had to have someone finally pull us up the mountain and then we were fine all the way home. We have also found a favorite after-ski-day pizza spot. The restaurant is called Tony's Pizza and Pasta, it is really yummy especially after a long day of skiing when no one takes time to eat much. It is really fun to sit and talk about our day on the mountain and who had the best crashes and who gets most ice cream scoops for crashing the most. The ice cream tradition was we started after watching the Disney movie, Meet the Robinsons, we wanted the kids to celebrate their failures knowing that you have to fail sometimes to move forward. Emily and Cami are skiing and loving it, it is so fun to see their smiles and hear their cute giggles of delight as they are going down the mountain and having fun with the big kids. Kayla got to take a ski trip with her high school ski club. She had a great time skiing at Snowbird and Brighton, she came back a totally different skier, our cautious, graceful Kayla is now a speed demon and not so cautious.

I (Jeni) also got to take a weekend trip to Phoenix. I went to help Aunt Holly move, see some old friends and to defrost. It was a great weekend, I got in my rental car and just sat in the sun for moment and screamed, I just couldn't believe how nice it could be somewhere else while we were freezing!! Next order of business was to find some where to have a snack outside:) I then went and visited my great friend Molly and then off to see some other very special people. It was great to see Aunt Holly. We got a lot done and it was so great to visit. She is a special aunt and I am lucky to have her. Saturday night, I had a girls night out with some old friends and on Sunday I went our old ward and saw our amazing friends. I/we love them so much and will always hold a special place for them in our hearts.

Fasting lesson.

Today in Church I was asked to read and share my testimony about part of the lesson. The lesson is on Fasting, and the topic I am to talk about and share my feelings about it this paragraph: Fasting With A Purpose: Fasting can have many purposes. We can overcome weaknesses or problems by fasting and praying. Sometimes we may wish to fast and pray for help or guidance for others, such as a family member who is ill and needs a blessing (see Mosiah 27:22–23). Through fasting we can come to know the truth of things just as did the prophet Alma in the Book of Mormon. He said: “I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit” (Alma 5:46).

I was writing down my thoughts and thought that this belonged in our blog also. Here is my testimony on fasting with a purpose:

Fasting with a purpose allows me to put aside my carnal, physical needs and concentrate on more important matters. It is a way for me to show the Lord that I am putting all my physical needs on the "alter" and consecrating my heart to the Lord in all things, to do His will. When I have done this I have felt a peace and direction in my life that I can't find any other way.

I also have a testimony of the power of others fasting for you in your time of need. It is important that we allow others the opportunity be a window to our Heavenly Father's love and feel close to our Heavenly Father by allowing others to pray for you in your times of need. Two years ago this month I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I went through rigorous chemotherapy and radiation, surgeries and more doctors visits. It was a rough road but knowing that others were praying and fasting for me kept me going. The knowledge that others were giving up their food and water for me filled me with love and determination to keep going. There is a power in fasting and prayer and we can literally feel it as we have faith and act on this gospel principal and allow others to be apart of your lives good and the bad.