Ella has her own blog. It is set to private, so if we know you personally and you would like to subscribe to it, just let me know and I’ll send you an invite.

Ella began violin lessons last March and she plays beautifully.  She had the opportunity to perform at the LDS Conference Center with the Suzuki Association of Utah in October as well as the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for Christmas. She received a Superior on her birthday at the National Federation Junior Festivals at the University of Utah. (You can watch her performance here.) She had been feeling stressed about continuing with the lessons though. It was a very big decision for her, and she struggled because she wanted to make the right decision. David and I suggested she pray about it. When she prayed for guidance, she felt okay with stopping the violin lessons. I think I was more sad than she was about it; however, I am very proud about her praying to find her answer.

Aurora adores animals, and she has made friends with one of the horses on the next street over. She calls it Silver, and the horse comes to the fence when she calls for it. She would love for us to live on a farm (a girl after my own heart), and she talks about owning one quite frequently. She is my super helper and is willing to do just about anything I ask. She loves babies and has become our neighbor’s helper as well–her little boy even cries when Aurora leaves.  She’s growing up to be quite the little mother.

Lightning has been reading since he was 5–all self motivated–and he still surprises his teachers in church with how well he can read words from the scriptures. He is compassionate and is quick to help someone in need.  He loves to help his dad fix whatever needs to be fixed, and quite often he is found outside in our tree or the neighbor’s tree.  He’s learning how to be a gentleman from his dad and has been opening the van door for me more often. He received a pocket knife and real tools for Christmas. Needless to say he’s been using them ever since.  His enthusiasm for life amazes me, and I’m grateful he’s a sweet, happy boy.

Wendy had a hard time deciding to stay in her primary class at church, but by the end of last year she had decided it was okay to be there (mostly).  She was given new teachers at the beginning of the year, and they work so well with her energy. Her primary teachers said that they were quite surprised at how well she knows the songs because she doesn’t seem to like participating in singing time. She absolutely loves having the Parks for teachers. I’m so grateful for her patient teachers and primary leaders (past and present).  I know that has made a huge difference.

Peter actually sits with his Sunbeams class during Primary (without me). I didn’t expect that he would considering he’s the youngest in his class and still a 3 year old boy. He’s done really well. Most of the kids closest to his age are still in nursery where it’s mostly play time, not sitting time. Occasionally he’ll ask to go back to nursery, but most of the time he’s happy to be in Primary. He’s growing up!

David was the Young Men’s secretary until last October when he was put in as the 11 year-old Scout Leader and teacher. He seems to be enjoying scouts again. It’s been many years since he has done scouting himself.

After many months of writing, rewriting, organizational changes, etc…David finished his book about our experience leading up to, during, and after our journey to Connecticut. It is written for an LDS audience, and we believe his message is timely and needed by many. He sent it into a publisher at the beginning of May, and we hope to hear back withing the next few months. (Prayers are appreciated!)

He has been in an employment/entrepreneurial transition for several years now. Doing legal work is not his cup of tea. He is now working on getting his message to the world through teaching and mentoring. He’s given several speeches at local libraries, and so far he hasn’t had as much support as he was hoping for. He’s excellent at gearing his message for specific audiences. He has a way with words and ideas. I am always amazed at how he connects things I never would have. He can explain complex issues in an easy to understand way–it’s one of his gifts. He loves speaking in front of an audience and helping people be inspired. I highly recommend you listen to his podcast here to get a feel for what he teaches. Then PLEASE PASS IT ON! Thanks!

David and I both attended the Business of Marriage event this past April. I’ve already talked about it a little in a previous post, and I have to say again that it was an amazing event that strengthened our marriage and put us on a path to making our marriage even better! (We’re one of the couples in the videos on the front page. Gotta love it!)

Brandi
In 2010 I finished with the 2010 TJEd Forum as Volunteer Coordinator in March. I turned over my position as Liberty Girls chapter advisor to my friend, Melinda, and stayed as a co-advisor after May. David and I had a simple, lovely anniversary getaway last July. I resigned as Secretary of American Youth Leadership Institute (AYLI) in September at about the same time I finished as Volunteer Coordinator for the AYLI’s Knights of Freedom Summit.

I became a Family Time and Money Freedom course graduate and attended the Thoughts Alive Mentor Training in Arizona with one of my best friends, Emily. The experience was awesome, and I am so grateful I was able to go and learn from such wonderful people, especially Leslie and Trevan Householder. I made many wonderful new friends. Emily and I came home having two new sisters: Amy and Linda. We shared a condo and a vehicle with them, and I enjoyed our deep conversations, not to mention the foot massage from Amy–our in-house massage therapist–and the yummy green smoothies thanks to Linda!

After I came home from Arizona, our ward was given a new bishopric. With that change, I was released as Secretary in the Primary Presidency and put in the Young Women’s organization over Personal Progress. (The new online tracker is awesome for the YW, their moms, and leaders if you didn’t already know!)

In 2011 I was able to attend Kirk Duncan’s Master of Influence seminar in February. We hosted my friend, Linda and her son during the event. I really enjoyed going with them to the event while David was taking care of the children (though having David with me would have been awesome!). The event was a lot of fun and gave me much to process and do. The whole three days were so high-energy, and I soaked it all in! I highly recommend what Kirk teaches. He not only teaches about body language, but how to listen to your body to help heal yourself. Fascinating stuff!

I finished up with our Liberty Girls chapter as a co-advisor and took on doing it as the chapter advisor again. Gratefully this time I don’t need to host it as well. It’s the only way I was going to advise again. I’m helping with my son’s Knights of Freedom group as well since all the moms participate. I may be helping with a YASA group if it continues on. I already mentioned helping with a Transition to Scholar group with Ella teaching Art. I’m also helping Queen Emily again with the Knights of Freedom Summit, only doing Family Activities Coordinating instead or being in charge of the 100 or so volunteers. It’s more manageable for me right now.

I planted most of our garden, watermelons and pumpkins excepted, and the kids and I are very excited about what we’re getting this year. Our family has been also gardening at a friend’s house. She has a lot of land to plant, and we’ve enjoyed several weeks worth of planting, weeding, and play. We all look forward to this year’s harvest and preserving.

I am still administrative coordinator for my book group, the Eliza R. Snow Association, also known as ERSA. I absolutely love the sisterhood we share and the amazing conversations we have. I look forward to it every month. I highly recommend starting your own group if you don’t already have one!

I’m singing in our ward choir again after a couple years hiatus. I really love to sing. It’s a secret passion of mine though I’m still scared to sing by myself. I’ll just belt out the songs in church with everyone else singing with me. :) A duet would be welcome, but I’m really bad at “putting myself out there” and volunteering for such a thing. I guess I just need some encouragement. lol

Other happenings this past year

• We began using Bountiful Baskets for much of our produce. (If you haven’t tried it, try it if it’s available in yoru area!)
• Our family and I went on a trip to St. George, Utah for my grandmother and grandfather’s 50th wedding anniversary in August and for Thanksgiving in November.
• I attended the Mom’s Retreat in October.
• My older three children and I participated in a small homeschool Christmas choir and performed at a rest home.
• We had a crazy-fun Christmas–I sewed a lot and loved it!
• We visited with David’s sister, Janae, and niece, Laura, while they were visiting from Florida for Christmas and Stephen’s wedding (my brother-in-law).
• We welcomed a new sister-in-law in the family just after Christmas. Welcome Rachel! (I’m no longer the only daughter-in-law in my husband’s side!)
• David went on a Klondike Campout with the scouts in January and survived it. :)
• We joined a monthly sewing group as part of our homeschool.
• David, Ella, and I attended the 2011 TJEd Forum in March.
• David enjoyed learning to fly fish with his dad in May.
• Ella and Aurora had an very fun time with their Aunt Jen at a Harry Potter movie marathon and sleepover in May.
• Ella and Aurora have been participating in a short Math course to help them get more excited about math.

This weekend was filled with lots of love, joy, work, and tears. I had so much fun working with so many people, 3 in particular: Emily Clawson, Diann Jeppson, and Annette Jones. They are amazing women, and I’m so blessed and grateful to have had the privilege of working with them on the Salt Lake TJEd Forum put on by TJEd MarketPlace and co-sponsored by TJED Online. Being the Volunteer Coordinator was right up my alley!  I can’t even describe my experience in words that would be adequate, and it’s not just because I’m still exhausted.

To give you an understanding as to why my jackrabbit factor moment was significant to me, I need to begin with a little background information.   I only hope I can describe it well in writing.

Part of the revenue to produce the TJEd Forum comes from every seminar class and keynote being recorded to sell for downloads.  Of course, the recordings are also to benefit those who attended and those who couldn’t as well.  I don’t know about you, but listening to a seminar over and over again is what sometimes keeps me inspired and pressing forward!  Download sales are vital to keep costs down for attendees.

Each seminar room has a recorder and a room host in charge of each classroom and recorder. All of them were trained on how to use them and were given a recorder by our audio technician, Jerry Winters–who was awesome too by the way! One of the hosts was late for the training, and hadn’t received a recorder. I assumed this room host leader had his recorder or that the audio tech still had it. The Jerry said he had given out all of the recorders. I assumed that meant he had given out 14 recorders to my 14 room hosts. So someone had to have an extra one, right?

Gratefully I had room host leaders to help me do quick searches.  (Room host leaders are a few volunteers assigned to several room hosts so I didn’t have to run around fixing problems all by myself!)  I had the leaders check with each room host and each classroom to ensure that someone didn’t have two recorders or that a recorder wasn’t left in a room. I even had 2 people from the registration/information office (which was blessedly slow at the time) check each room as well as I tried to figure out what else I could do. Mind you, the keynote address was finished and everyone was moving out to find the seminar they wanted to attend first–thank heavens for cell phones!!!

I was trying not to panic. I had less than 15 minutes to find this recorder so all the classes could be recorded. I was overwhelmed with a flood of emotions. I knew it wasn’t my fault, but I knew the implications if 5 sessions were missed, especially since they were youth forum ones and would not be repeated!

All of my room host leaders let me know that all of their room hosts had only one recorder and no one found an extra one anywhere.  The registration office assistants said they didn’t find one in any room they checked either.   At that point I told them to make sure the classes were started on time since we couldn’t wait for the recorder.  I had also been in contact with our audio tech and Diann Jeppson, the chairman of the forum.

My emotions were overwhelming me, and I decided I needed to just have a quiet moment to calm down and relax enough to let the Spirit tell me what to do next.  I went into the nearly empty registration office, sat at the back and bowed my head.  I decided that if I was going to cry, it wasn’t going to be negative emotions creating it but positive ones instead.  So I said a prayer of gratitude for finding the recorder and visualized having the recorder in my hands (mind you, I didn’t know what the recorder looked like).  I asked Heavenly Father to guide me to the next step.  The change from negative emotion to positive was clearly apparent to me.  I felt more at peace.  It allowed me to release the fear and let the Spirit speak to my mind.

I stood up from my chair and felt no particular thought or prompting.  So I took action anyway and walked out of the office.  I spoke with the registrar (and one of my best friends, Emily), and we talked for a moment.   Then she said she was sure that I just needed to do something else and it would show up.  (I’m so grateful for her encouragement and reminders of what I knew in my heart to be true!)  I did something–although I couldn’t tell you what– and walked back to the registration office.  Emily reminded me at some point in the brief conversation that some of the adult sessions were being presented twice, or in other words some classes were being recorded twice!  I just needed to find a class in the first session which was being recorded twice and use the recorder in the other room to buy me some time!  We figured out that Leslie Householder’s presentation (she’s the author of The Jackrabbit Factor, Hidden Treasures, and co-author to Portal to Genius) was being done twice in the first session and it was next to the room with no recorder.  I asked Leslie if it was okay to take the recorder and we’d record her second session.  She said, yes, of course!  The room host leader, Shelly, took it to the other room and got it taken care of.

That bought me an hour of time to figure it out.  Shelly came back to talk to me, and we looked over the At-a-Glance schedule to see what we could do if we couldn’t find the recorder.   This is where I was absolutely astounded by how Heavenly Father planned to make this occurrence play out perfectly!

I looked at the second session for the same room Leslie was in.  It was being recorded in another room at another time of day.  Woohoo!  That’s 2 hours time to find the recorder.  The third session was also being recorded another time!  Then the fourth session was as well!  That gave me 4+ hours to find the recorder and still have all the presentation recorded.  I was so excited!!!  The last session in that room was not being presented twice though, so for the last session I needed to find another recorder to switch out.   I couldn’t find one, but then Shelly piped up that the room that we gave the recorder to, wasn’t being used that last session because all of the youth in that room would be in a combined session somewhere else!  We could give that recorder back to the original room!

I could not hold back my excitement!!!  I ran over to tell Emily our good news!!!  At some point, I told Jerry about our solution.  I couldn’t tell Diann yet because she was presenting in the first session, but I couldn’t wait to tell her.

Not 5 minutes later I was told that one of the room hosts had the missing recorder but didn’t need one because she was in one of the big rooms with the audio equipment.  So there weren’t really 14 recorders given out, just 10?  The other 4 rooms had bigger audio equipment and didn’t need the room hosts to do anything regarding the recording equipment.  I didn’t know that it worked that way or I would have checked those room hosts first!  Of all the questions I asked while prepping for the forum, that one I never thought to ask.

I called the room host and tracked it down.  When I held it in my hands I wasn’t as excited about holding as I thought I might be.  Then I realized it was because I felt that emotion during my prayer first!  I walked down to the room host who I took a recorder away from in Leslie’s class, and gave it to the room host for her next sessions.  I told several people of my experience, and of course, recommended Leslie’s books so they could find out more of what I was referring to when I said “Jackrabbit Factor Moment.”  Her booth was right across from the registration office too.  You can get her book for free here.

I was so relieved and physically drained after the recorder was found, yet I was still on an emotional high.   I am eternally grateful to have experienced this event.  It increased my faith and proved God’s love not only for me but also those who would be affected by the outcome.  I was just an instrument in His hands, and I wouldn’t want it any other way!

We have the power to have a victorious life. We have the power to do so much in this world. In the face of uncertainty we have the power to respond or react. Do you choose to respond with optimistic thoughts or do you choose to react in fear? Are you going forward with your life goals? Do you have life goals? Don’t put off what it is that you want to do. Get the education necessary to fulfill your goals and life’s mission. If you don’t know what it is that you want or what God wants of you, search it out and find out what it is! Do what it takes to accomplish your mission, and you’ll see more of the Lord’s power and blessings in your life. Truth comes from God and we are born with his divine power within us. He wants us to further His work.

You thrill a person when you tell them that they really have all the power they need for a victorious life. A statement like that arouses the True Self that knows it to be an absolute fact. But a person must persist beyond this first thrill. They cannot coast upon it. They must continue to nourish the source of that genuine thrill; they must enthusiastically want to know more of it. A firm and permanent connection is necessary. When you make a firm connection with the only source of genuine power – your True Self – feelings of helplessness vanish forever.

~ Vernon Howard

If you wonder where to start, I have a few suggestions. First, find out what God wants you to do with your life. We’re all sent to earth with a mission or soul purpose to fulfill. Pray about it, study your core book (i.e. scriptures), write down what you want out of life and what you what to be said of you when you’re gone. You’re likely receiving inspiration when you think about what you want. God gave you certain talents and abilities. What is it that you love to do? How can you help others with your skills? Is there a problem that you see can be solved? Don’t discount what comes to mind. Just write it down and you’ll be surprised at what thoughts flow to you.

Another suggestion is to study about how your thinking effects your relationships and circumstances. Of course, money is always a concern when it comes to pursuing what you truly love to do. I mean, how else are you going to pay for all you need as well as accomplish all you feel you should. I’m here to tell you, that it takes faith and the right mindset to truly do what you love. You have to believe it will happen, and it will. Changing what/how you think will change your life.

Here are some of the websites I trust and highly recommend:

ThoughtsAlive – Leslie Householder has had a huge impact on my life already. She’s not the only resource, but she’s an excellent one! She has a blog, forum, and an amazing video called the Stickman Video. Be prepared for some thought-provoking information! The above mentioned things are free, but she does sell her own products as well. I own her Family Time and Money Freedom Home-study Course, and it was worth every penny.

iLearningGlobal – I’ve never seen anything like it. Get 24/7 videos, audio, and e-books from the world’s foremost experts on prosperity and wealth in all areas of life-online in HD! Entrepreneurship and Business training included! There are specific videos for youth/teens. Wouldn’t you like your youth to have expert business training and entrepreneurship skills before they even have to go out on their own? It’s worth checking into, I promise you won’t be sorry. With names like Bob Proctor, Leslie Householder, Richard Paul Evans, Stephen MR Covey, Mark Victor Hansen, Brian Tracy, T. Harv Eker, etc… Why would you not want to look into it? While you’re checking out that link, watch the “EVE Ratio” video. It really makes you think about what’s holding you back.

After reading Leslie Householder’s books, I checked out the forum on her website (see Thoughts Alive link above). Someone mentioned that they read Remembering Wholeness by Carol Tuttle. I decided to check it out from the library and listen to it on CD. It’s been a huge help and mind-shift for me. I found that saying/listening to daily affirmations help you stay positive, be happy, and attract what you want into your life. That’s why I recommend Got Vision. You can record your affirmations to music and turn them into mp3 format to listen to daily whether you’re conscious or not. The type of music you use helps your affirmations get to your subconscious easier. And yes, I use it myself.

Highly Recommended Books:

• The Jackrabbit Factor by Leslie Householder – Click the link for a free e-copy of the book.

• Hidden Treasures: Heaven’s Astonishing Help with Your Money Matters by Leslie Householder
• Remembering Wholeness by Carol Tuttle
• You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L. Hay

There are many others that I haven’t even read yet, but it’s a good starting point, right?

If you want some inspiring movies, I can recommend those too!

• Facing the Giants – I absolutely love this one! I cry every time I watch it.

• Flywheel
• Fireproof
• Forever Strong
• Faith Like Potatoes
• The Greatest Game Ever Played
• Remember the Titans
• Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
• Meet the Robinson’s
• Stand Strong – It’s not done, or really filmed at this point, but I’m excited to see it when it’s done!

The last thing I wanted to say about changing your life, is that having faith in our Father in Heaven to help and bless you will be one of the biggest steps you take. He will bless you abundantly for it too! I can’t say there won’t be a test of your faith, but you will come out victorious! You will be amazed at the abundant blessings He gives to you…just take a step in that direction and remember that God is good!