FHE & our OCD

Hello, my name is Janelle and I over analyze everything. Ev.ry.thing. Jason and I had FHE a few weeks ago and it was my turn to do the lesson. In my head, and possibly out loud, in front of Jason, I complained like a little girl saying, “Ugh. I’m no good at doing FHE lessons. I never know what to do.” Blah, blah, blah, whine, whine, whine.  It was pathetic. I realized how ridiculous I was being as I was saying it so I decided I needed to get over it and do something simple and fun. I think that’s a lesson I’ve been needing to learn: simplify and have fun with it! Wow. What a hard lesson to HAVE to learn. Haha! Anyways, I have this wonderful little church pamphlet entitled, Family Guidebook. If only every parent of all faiths could have one of these babies! I don’t see why they don’t, they’re FREE at the Distribution Center!

Note to self: Best wedding present idea ever! Cha-ching!

Anyways, I’ve been studying it here and there and it is an amazing resource! If you don't have one, GO GET ONE! 

So I decided to do something fun with one of the sections. The first section talks about a parents responsibilities. It was perfect. There are 7 lessons which parents are responsible to teach their children. We listed those 7 and wrote 2 specific ways we could teach each lesson. It was so simple and really fun! I was really happy with how it turned about. 

Here’s what we came up with:

It's hard to see the words...but Jason sure looks cute! :)

Note: there are 7 bullets and also 7 colors of the rainbow, with which our list coordinates. OCD? Definitely. Has our recent obsession with Monk increased our OCD-ness…? I’d say that’s a definite possibility as well. We’re doomed. 

You’ve gotta admit though, it does look pretty…and perfectly spaced! haha!
The fuel behind our OCD. This man right here! Gotta say I like the idea of the square tomato!

Sew cute!

I've been doing a little sewing lately. I got the idea of making some onsie dresses from Pinterest thinking they'd make some great baby shower gifts. I'm sure they would but when they were done I got pretty selfish and decided I wanted to keep them. They're just so cute! Here's how they turned out.                              

                

Some Easter Reading

As part of my calling in my church, I put together a list of articles on Easter, the Atonement and the Resurrection. The goal is to read at least one a week until Easter. I think YOU should do it! In fact, I'm kind of getting the vibes that you think this is pretty awesome and you think you should do it too! :) 


The articles are a wonderful way to have a better understanding of and focus on the Savior and what He really did for us! I've only read a couple so far but they are fabulous! Check em out! 

He Lives! All Glory to His Name.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ

"Jesus, The Very Thought of Thee."

The Resurrected Christ

The Atonement and the Value of One Soul

What Does the Atonement Mean to You?

He is Risen!

Resurrection

An Ode to Raul

Tonight we sold Raul. Raul was my very first car. He was truly a Raul through and through. It was sad to see him go. I bought him when I was a junior in High School for $300.00 from my cousin who thought he was junk. Thanks to my dad's handyman skills it's lasted me eight more years. There have been so many fun memories in that car.

-There was the time in the high school parking lot when he was officially dubbed a Rual. And for some reason when I think of him I think of green chilis.

- There were also the times in high school we "smuggled" people out to lunch in the trunk so they wouldn't get caught by the lunch aides.

-The many times screaming and giggling while we were driving away from boys' houses after asking and answering them to the dances.

-Trying to be "cool" around Jason and locking my keys in the car 40 minutes away from home. Embarrassing.

-The time I almost got squashed by a huge painting van and got away with only a thin graze of rubber from his bumper. Every time I replay that scene in my mind I get chills. I don't know how we got out of that one.

-The times I bragged, "Oh Raul, he's such a trusty car! He's never failed me." Only to have him break down the next week! Thanks a lot Raul. 

-All the club CAMEY's! 

There he is in the background, behind the lovely pot of daisies.
Well hello Mr. mailman! 

Again, just lookin good in the background during a
club CAMEY being his trusty little self. 

-The many hours talking with "the girls."

-The other time a crazy girl didn't see me stop and rear ended me and the only thing that got bent was my license plate.

-Filling him up with everything I owned and driving him 13 hours to Utah with my friend Tiffany. We acted like crazies the whole way there! My parents praying the whole time that he'd make it. And seeing my first icicle on the way!

-My first "real" snow and having to dig him out with my spatula cuz I had nothing else. "What's an ice scrapper?! Do they sell them here?" 

Seriously, that was so much snow!

-Plus, all the dates Jason and I went on while we were dating and engaged. 

It's silly that you can get so attached to a car. I didn't expect this list to be so long. We sold him to a really good guy who just got off his mission. I hope he enjoys the little guy! 

Adios Raul, mi amigo! 

Thanksgiving

I have so many things to be thankful for... but I was most thankful to get to see my family for a few days. I don't mean to brag (well...maybe just a little bit) but I pretty much have the most awesome family. Trust.
Thanksgiving was at our house this year which means ALL of my cousins and aunts and uncles came. There was a lot!

I truly have THE cutest grandparents ever. Try and tell me this picture doesn't make you smile?! 

Rachel and Diane. My beautiful seesters!

Con Bon, giving the stink eye. 

Dale and Babo (pronounced babe-o). 

Jas and I! True love at its best. 

The infamous teeter-totter. Countless children have been injured on this thing. I believe my great grandpa made it probably close to a hundred years ago and it somehow ended up in our backyard. This thing is the wonkavator of teeter-totters. It doesn't just go up and down it can pretty much go any way you like. And if you get someone in the middle to spin you around, you can get going pretty darn fast. And if you're in the devious mood you can drop to the ground mid super spin and get the other person to fly off! How do I know this...? I don't know. My cousin tried to see how many little kids it would take to balance him out. I think it took  like 5 or 6. Haha! 

This picture captures the beautiful weather that is Arizona Fall/Winter. Clear skies, green trees...perfect for a little joy ride! Oh how I miss it!

I love times together like this with the fam. And I love this car. 

Harry Potter Love

I realized I never posted about Halloween! Let me just preface by saying, I thought our costumes turned out pretty awesome! I was pretty humble about it too. We were Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter. By the end of HP 7.2 Neville Longbottom was pretty high up there on the awesome-HP-character list! So I only figured it was appropriate that Jason get to be Neville since he's number one on my just-down-right-awesome list! Here's what we looked like:

Our attempts at a self portrait before the wards Halloween party in our usual pose of me trying to be taller and Jason trying to pretend he's shorter. 

At the party we ran into some fellow Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws!

Jason's wand that we picked up at Ollivander's. (aka, he pulled it off a tree on our way to the church. Haha!)

Mug Shot

A few weeks ago Jason and I went to one of those paint-your-own-pottery places and made Christmas mugs! This was such a fun date. You get to sit and paint and talk for like 4 hours. It's simple and such a blast!

Jason's mug was amazing! A cute little snowman giving a gift to his cute little snow woman. What a thoughtful little snowman. 

I was proud of how his snowflakes and icicles turned out. 

I chose to go the ornament route. 

My two favorite ornaments. I replicated the ornament that Jason and I made for our first Christmas last year. We mod podged a wedding picture to the back of a canning jar lid. It's definitely my favorite ornament! And I was pretty proud of how it and my snowflake turned out. 

I love Christmas time. It's so fun to make your own Christmas traditions.