Little Shrimps

Too bad I can't figure out how to rotate my pictures huh! Well, here's one of Jayden with Grandpa Madsen on Mandy's wedding day and the other one is on his way to school on picture day.






Austin Lamar, earlier this month, the day he started some solid food! Man he loves it! His biggest challenge is keeping those fingers out of his mouth at meal time. :)
















How did I get so many kids!!??

All Truth to One Great Whole

This is a picture of what is probably my favorite place on Earth. It is Navajo Falls in the Grand Canyon on the way to Havasupai. There is such an amazing spirit there. I have been thinking lately about truth and some of the things that I know. I love the idea of all truth being circumscribed into one great whole. For a lot of years I searched for truth in many places. I forgot anything that I thought I once knew and I started over. What I found was that there is so much truth everywhere and when you combine it all together you can dive deeper into any truth you may have previously had. I also found that although there is much beauty, wisdom, and peace in teachings from other religions and cultures (such as yoga) there is a certain DEPTH of peace that is missing without a connection with Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus Christ is my Saviour, and that through him I am able to be cleansed and start fresh as often as I choose. I know that He will help me to fulfill my life's purposes if I hold to his teachings and follow the promptings that come through the spirit. I also have to say that I have experienced in a most literal way that Jesus Christ is absolutely the light and life of the world, of you and me, and that if he was not sustaining our spirits as well as our bodies, we would cease to have life. Read that twice. It is absolutely true. I think there are many people who get excited about the beauty in other true teachings and loosen their grip on the gospel of Jesus Christ. I promise if you will hold on to the teachings of the gospel, you will eventually see and feel how these other truths can deepen your relationship with God and Christ. I promise it all fits. Eventually all of this will be circumscribed into one great whole.

Thoughts on Yoga

Handsome wonderful hubby and Joshua on TRAX

I went to a really amazing yoga workshop last Thursday and Friday. My entire outlook on yoga was transformed in just 2 1/2 hours of discussion and 2 1/2 hours of practice. The two classes I have taught since this workshop I feel have been stylistically very different and I have adviced the students to begin class with "yoga amnesia" like we were advised at the beginning of our workshop. The workshop was taught by a man who has practiced daily for 37 years and who brought ashtanga yoga over from India. Yoga came from "cavemen." All they had was their bodies. They learned from their bodies and created a physical system to help them feel good and comfortable, and out of pain or dis-ease so that they could meditate longer and serve the world in the way they were supposed to without getting slowed down by their bodies. So the purpose of yoga IS NOT to become stronger, or more flexible, IT IS to make your body feel good so that you can leave the mat, and do your work, give the world what you came to give without having to stop to baby your aching back! There of course are many other benefits, but this is what it comes down to in the end. The better you feel, the more you have to give. I am excited to teach with this new perspective and now feel that the most important choices I can make for my body and spirit are those that will get me to a ripe old age feeling good in my body.

General Conference

Different things stick out to each of us at General Conference. This time for me, there was an over arching message of "bring Zion." We heard these messages in several talks. In Elder Christofferson's talk he clearly and powerfully told us that WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR CREATING ZION! Pretty serious, and pretty urgent I would say. If we want Zion, it is up to us!! It is up to you! In his talk as well as others we heard specific ways that we can move in that direction more directly. We can laugh things off, we can unify our homes, our wards, and our neighborhoods, we can be free with our substance living more closely to the law of consecration because now is surely a time when our brothers and sisters need that from us, and wow, we can link our prayers together through out our days and through out our lives to create our lives spiritually before they are created temporaly! There is power there. Perhaps the most important thing we can all do is seek for and follow our own personal revelation as we seek to become better and follow the counsel of our latter-day seers and revelators.

A Thought on Gratitude and Growth

I'm sure I have shared this thought with some of you before , but here I go again anyway. The happenings of the morning got me thinking about gratitude at the beginning of my yoga practice. There are things that happen in all of our lives that fall short of the ideal, and sometimes those things stir up feelings of frustration , doubt or anger. All of those feelings are a sure indication that you are, in that moment, failing to see the opportunity it is presenting. For example, let's say Jayden is being really loud and hyper and asking me for something for the fifth time and at the same time I am trying to feed the baby and Joshua is crying. I could very easily loose my patience and let the noise get to me, or I could see that Heavenly Father, through my children, is giving me an opportunity to grow. (Different days I have different reactions to these types of situations.) So quickly, think of something in your life you are not grateful for that is a challenge for you in some way, and remember in your prayers to be grateful for it. Fake it at first and you may find a few days into it you start to see how that thing can be a blessing to you and your growth.

Family Pics

Joshua in his doo-pee-doo (superman)pj's




Austin and mommy

2012

I have been thinking a little more lately about the Mayan prediction of massive world and life change on December21, 2012. I actually read a few books years back about the Mayans and where their prediction came from. Justin and I watched a discovery or science channel show about it around a month ago and I guess on that day (winter solstice) the sun, the earth and the center of the milky way galaxy will all line up. Scientists and astronomers are not sure what the effects of that will be as it only happens once every 26,000 years. They theorize that it will cause major havoc, that the poles will shift and that it could cause all types of major natural disasters possibly for all of the days surrounding that date.

I have no idea what will happen. But I do find it very interesting that the sun, our source of light, our earth, and the center of the galaxy, potentially where life began, will line up. Life as we know it beginning in the center of the milky way galaxy is of course just a theory that makes total sense to me (it seems like to Justin as well). There is a black hole at the center of the galaxy, and I think that black holes most likely lead somewhere else, even if that somewhere is right here in a different dimension. It all seems to add up to something significant.

So here's the last part of my thought. The scriptures say that no man knows the hour of the end, and/or the coming of the Savior and I believe that. I think it is likely that life as we know it will be dramatically altered around that date. The surface of the earth may be altered, and like one of my friends said to me, the gap between the "wicked" and the "righteous" will be even wider. No matter what happens and no matter when the Savior returns, we know that now is the time to choose which side we will stand on. We can't walk the line. We have to decide that whatever happens in the world around us, we will live in faith knowing that every aspect of our lives can be used for our good, for our learning. Prepare yourself physically and spiritually. Do your best to live joyfully and thankfully with what you've got and heed the council of the brethren!!! Prepare every needful thing.