My Awesome Husband :)

Chad won an award at the Annual Awards Banquet for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry this evening! He won an award last year too, but this year is a different award. Last year the award he won was given to a few different people. This year he was the only one who got this particular award.

"Recognizes outstanding students who are conducting significant research in cancer or in other health related areas."

I'm so proud of him! He's just awesome.

Let's see if I can explain his research a little... He's trying to get blood to flow through a little chip (that he has designed and built) so that you can do a preliminary test for cancer (or whatever) right in the doctor's office instead of having to send out for bloodwork.

I love you so much Chad!! You're wonderful and brilliant and I'm so proud of you!!!

A Personal 'Good Idea'

I've felt this way in the past, but as I was watching General Conference this weekend I had this impression again. Now, my 'revelation,' if you will, regards ONLY me personally and our family. I am in NO way trying to even suggest that my thoughts apply to anyone other than me and my family. But, I also think that because this is our family blog, I want to document my impressions as they apply to the family. So, here it is...
Recently I've begun thinking about having another baby. I'm not really baby hungry, it's just that the kids are growing up and soon it will just be me and Cosette at home and I'm worried that I'm going to get bored and I do want to have more children in the future so why not now? Not the best reason to have a baby, I know, but we're sent here to multiply and replenish the earth so how could wanting to have a baby be wrong? Well, actually, for me there are a few reasons. But, the reason that I think is the real reason is that I need to learn to be a good, righteous, teaching mother to the children we have already brought into this world. There are many things that I need to be doing that I am not doing. For instance, scripture study. I need to prepare these kids to face and conquer the different temptations that satan is going to throw at them and scripture study is vital to that, and I'm currently not doing a good job at it. I'm not really doing it at all. I remember occasionally and try to do it but then I just forget and get busy with other things. So, that is one major thing that I need to solidify before we have more children. I need to be better at keeping my patience and being loving and involved in their lives. I just need to be a better mother. I know I'm not living up to my potential as a mother, I know that I can do better. So, before I take on the task of bringing more children into this world, I must be a better mother to the children that have already been entrusted to my care. These kids are going to face so many challenges as they grow and it is my responsibility to give them the tools to adequately face those challenges! So, instead of taking on more responsibility by bringing more spirits into this world, I need to live up to the responsibilities that I already have. Then, maybe sometime in the future, God will let me know that I'm trustworthy enough to be blessed with more of His children to raise and mold and teach.
I know this all sounds rather sappy, but it's what I feel is the guidance that I have recieved from my Father in heaven. So, those are my goals, and I will live up to them because I must live up to them.

"Good Ideas"

This post has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Rogers family, but this blog is a way for me to get my thoughts out there so that is what this post is.
"'If ye love me, keep my commandments.' This is the essence of what it means to be a true disciple; those who receive Christ Jesus walk with Him.
"But this may present a problem for some because there are so many 'shoulds' and 'should nots' that merely keeping track of them can be a challenge. Sometimes, well-meaning amplifications of divine principles - many coming from uninspired sources - complicate matters further, diluting the purity of divine truth with man-made addenda. One person's good idea - something that may work for him or her - takes root and becomes an expectation. And gradually, eternal principles can get lost within the labyrinth of 'good ideas." President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Love of God," Ensign, Nov. 2009.
There have been some comments in Relief Society and on the playground recently that have just felt 'off' to me. And for some reason it's been on my mind a lot and I figured I'd get my own thoughts out there and maybe I'll feel better. After re-reading this quote by President Uchtdorf I realized why those comments were bugging me. I feel that what was off was that each of the comments were "good ideas" but not gospel truths. Now, I know that Relief Society is a time for us all to share our "good ideas" as far as they relate to the gospel. But I think that if you take good ideas that are based on the world's knowledge and try to impose them on or add them to gospel truths, you get in trouble. When you share a good idea that is NOT a gospel fact (and by gospel fact I mean can be cited to a scripture, conference talk, Prophet's words, etc.), it's better to phrase it as, "I have found that this works for me." or, "In my own personal life I think that..." not as, "Studies have shown and I've inferred and I've connected the dots to this gospel principle therefore this idea is, in fact, gospel truth and you're all sinning if you're not living this gospel principle the way that I have interpreted it." I'm just saying that maybe we should be careful and try not to mix our 'pet' issues with gospel truths and then attempt to pass them off as actual gospel principles. Because, if it's not completely based on gospel facts, you might just be wrong. But, I guess this is just my 'idea' and it might not even be a good one. :)
There, it's off my chest, I feel better. :)

Sunday Suit

I bought Isaac this suit the other day at Costco. When I brought it home he threw a fit and was yelling at me to take it back. Then I tried to get him to wear it one Sunday and he threw another fit. Then one day we were walking through Costco and he saw the rack of suits and wanted me to get something special for him. I showed him the options and said that I could bring back the green suit and exchange it for a purple one or a pink one. He chose the green and today he put it on without a single argument. Guess it's all about perspective. :) He sure looks handsome though, doesn't he?

Debbie's Flower

Debbie needed to bring a "sign of spring" for show and tell for school tomorrow and instead of just picking something I decided to ask if she wanted to sew a flower and she jumped at the chance! She did such a good job! I sewed the button on for her but she did the rest all by herself.