Pride Cycle Train Tracks

Every time we read about the pride cycle in the Book of Mormon, it reminds Shantel and I of an analogy that we came up a few years ago. 

It is a great way to think about what happens in the Book of Mormon, but also in our own lives. 

The Nephites (Us) are obedient and are blessed by the Lord and they are at Blessing Station. 

Then they become prideful, and forget that it was the Lord who blessed and helped them and they go to Pride Station. 

Then there is war, destruction and suffering for the Nephites and they are at Destruction/Suffering Station. 

Then they finally remember the Lord and go to Repentance Station and repent of their sins. 

That leads them back to Blessing station. However, then they forgot the Lord and go back to Pride Station and the circle starts over. 

Then we talk to our kids about how there is another path we can take. We we are blessed by the Lord we have the choice, we can either choose to remember the Lord, and be grateful for our blessing and go to Gratitude Station, or if we forgot the Lord, we will go to Pride Station. One important note is that the track from Blessing station automatically goes to Pride Station unless we make a intentional decision to change our course and go to Blessing Station. We must actively make the decision to be grateful to avoid Pride Station. 

However, even if we go to grateful station, part of this life is going through challenges. So after Grateful Station, we go to Trials Station. Just like Destruction/Suffering Station, Trials Station is very challenging. However, the difference between Trial Station and Destruction/Suffering Station is that at Trials Station you have the help of the Lord with you. The Savior is there to help you through Trial Station. Then as you exercise faith through trials you will return again to Blessing station. Even if you don't know when or how long you will have to spend at trial station, it is much better than being stuck in Destruction Station. 

Every one of us will have moments of pride and the only way back is through Repentance Station, but we want to try and avoid pride and repentance Station as much as possible. 

It is a great lesson to do with our kids and we enjoyed talking about the importance of Obedience, Gratitude and Repentance. 

Haying and Wyoming

Now that my parents have officially moved to Lyman, we are getting to spend a lot of time there and our kids are turning into awesome ranch hands. David and I decided that we want to make time spent here a priority and so we are planning to come twice a month and spend Sunday night-Monday evening with my parents. We've already loved the time that we have spent and are looking forward to lots and lots of Wyoming days in our future.

Not only do we love spending time with my parents and exploring the ranch - but there is a LOT of work to be done right now. A lot of work on the ranch and a lot of work inside the house. 

The past couple of years, Lydia has been coming with my dad and helping with Hay Season. She's a great tractor driver and hay raker. This year Austin got to join in on the fun (and by fun I mean work). My dad taught Lydia and Austin how to be a raking team - one going in front and one coming behind - and those kids worked and worked and worked. They made a huge impact and their help was invaluable. Caleb and Lucy were the "water team" and they drove around with me in the ranger to give water and snacks to those out in the field. It took several days to get it all taken care of, but it went really well. I value the opportunity for these kids to work hard, like real work, and I'm grateful for the patience and kindness of my dad as he teaches them and pushes them. 

It was a team effort! 

When we came back two weeks later, my dad took the kids to tend water and check on the cows. There was also plenty of time to play outside. 

Earlier this month we stopped at Walmart on our way to Wyoming and there just happened to be cowboy boots and flannel shirts. It makes me unreasonably happy that they are outfitted with boots and ranch shirts. I forced them to let me take these pictures and although it wasn't painless, it was worth it because look how great this ranch crew looks. 

As I said, there has been a lot of work to do - on the ranch (haying and water and cows) and also in the house. My parents are completely remodeling the interior of the house and over the days that we visited this month we tore out kitchen cabinets, hammered out sheetrock, prepped some wiring, and started refinishing the bathroom cabinet. It is looking SO good! I love it. (It will look even better when the walls aren't painted pink anymore, even though you know we loved Grandma's pink bathroom. 

July Wrap Up

Here are a few more things from July:

When we got back from our vacation - Lucy had some presents from her birthday left for us at the house and she was so happy.

Lydia and Audrey Ward (neighbor across the street) came to me one day and told me she really needed Shantel and I to both go over to the Ward's basement. We had a bunch of things going on but Lydia was very insistent and was worried we wouldn't both be able to go. We finally walked over and Lydia led us and Leah and Cade Ward downstairs. They had set up a romantic candlelight dinner for us. The stairs were lined with candles. The dinner consisted of a series of snacks they patched together from things we were willing to let them use (wiithout having any idea what they were doing). We had apple slices, graham crackers with frosting and lemonade. It was so cute and so sweet. They are such good girls. 

Shantel put this one our list to blog for July - but I'm not 100% sure why. I'm guessing it is to document the Library as it was. Starting in July they shut down the library and are moving to a temporary location while they build a new updated library. We have loved the Lehi library, but have definitely been wishing for an upgrade given how much Lehi has  grown the last few years and are excited to have the upgrade. 

Scott and Lori are selling their house in Morgan. We knew that it would be coming for some time since her parents inherited the Ranch in Wyoming. However, we have so many incredible memories with our family in Morgan and will miss that house. I'm sure more on this in another post. 

We are making progress in making it to our 100th bottle of Ranch Dressing and just hit #95. 

We have our best garden ever this year. For some reason, last year things did not grow that well even with our new planters, but this year the Strawberries and Tomatoes have been so awesome and we are excited for it.