August Goal

My song is Love at Home pg. 294, sorry I don't remember if this song has been used this year yet.
I am also trading with Ron this month.
So last week in church for our fifth Sunday lesson we had 2 people who are therapists from LDS social services come and give our lesson and they gave a lesson on relationships with your family.  One of them had to good points that I think would be great for us all to work on.  They are the 4 main contributors to divorce.  They are
1. Criticism
2. Contemp
3. Defensiveness
4. Stonewalling which is basically the silent treatment
They also pointed out a number  of times and we have also been reminded in our therapy sessions with Kylee that for every negative interaction with someone such as being critical you need to have 5 positive interactions with that person such as a compliment.  We have that brought up every week as we meet with Kylee's therapist so we have been trying to work on that in our home.  When we get frustrated or angry with the kids we try to remember the 1:5 ratio.  I think this month we should pick they ones listed above that we need to work on to strengthen our marriages and work on the 1:5 ratio with everyone in our family.  They brought that we should  not use these terms either:
you never
you always
anything insulting
or act superior
On Friday at Phillips sealing he told them that their job now is to work everyday to make sure they other one is happy they are not to worry about themselves and their happiness but to work for the others happiness.  We are all a spouse to I guess that applies to all of us!

who looks like who

I try to figure out where my kids get their physical features. Sam has Jason's look, Livia has Jason's dad's ears. And I've tried to see who Annie got characteristics from. Lately, I've noticed in some of Annie's pictures that she has Grandma Gietzen's mouth! This picture is one of those where I really see it. What do you think? Do you agree? (Obviously not the green part, mostly the lips and chin.) It will be interesting to see who our next one will take after, guess we'll have to wait until February to find out though. And I'm interested, whose physical qualities do your kids carry?

Sorry I forgot the song!!!   The song is from the primary song book on page #95.
It is "I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE".

I guess I'm it for July!!  Mine is very simple.  Go to the temple at least once in the month of July.
Do either an endowment, initiary or sealings. That is your goal for this month!!!

Leesa's Baby Guesses

Okay family, time to get your guesses in about what our baby will be.
Let's hear guesses on Sex, Day of birth, Weight, and whatever else you want to guess!

May 2012 Goal

Sorry this is late, it's been a busy month!
Last weekend we had our Stake Conference.  They gave us a challenge.  I now give it to all of you as well.
Our stake's focus for some time has been on missionary work.  Dan happens to be the ward mission leader right now too. We are always talking about missionary work with our kids.
SONG:  The song I want you to learn/relearn is "I Want to Be a Missionary Now".  I think the words are appropriate for all of us to want to be member missionaries.
GOAL:  Our challenge is to pray for 21 days straight to have a missionary experience.  If you ask Heavenly Father fervently for an opportunity he will help you have one.  This is  overlap a bit into the next month, sorry about that.

April Goal

So, to be perfectly honest I have been lousy with doing the family goals so far. But since it is my month to post a goal I will try to do better. Since we started this year I have been thinking about what Hymn to focus on. The song,"Have I Done Any Good" p. 223 always seems to stick in my head. So, for the goal, I want you to read through the verses of the song and ponder the message that is in there and then get to work! We all have opportunities to bless the lives of those around us. We all know people who are sad, sick, lonely, etc who live by us, work with us, or go to church with us. And sometimes we can even serve people we don't even know. Another great blessing that comes from 'doing good' is that our lives are richly blessed...so everybody wins! I hope that as we celebrate this Easter month we will turn our hearts to Christ, our true example of how to live and love. Although it is great to serve our families I want you to try and focus on others outside our homes. Of course if you serve at home it still counts, but try to branch out and make the world a better place. Each day try to make at least ONE special effort to help someone. At the end of the month I would like you to report a few of the experiences you have had. Good luck and may great joy come to you this month.

Kylee's 10th birthday!

Christenson February Goal

Thanks for the goal Dan, we sang the song
during FHE. For our part of the goal we
downloaded the indexing and got started.
Our ward is doing a big push right now to
get the members to do that including the
youth we just had our 5th Sunday lesson
on it so I figured it would be great. Thanks
for the extra push.

Thanks Dan for that goal. Dad and I tried to learn that new song. Genealogy thats my thing you know !!!! So I did some more of that. The song was new to us both and now we are going to sing it more!!

Christenson January Goal

Thanks for the goal Dad to remind us the importance of prayer. We worked harder to
remember to say family prayers and couple prayers even at 5am before Ron leaves!
We also sang the song every Monday for FHE and I think everyone knows it pretty good.
So thanks Dad.

Family History

Do you all remember that primary song titled "Genealogy"? You know the one that goes "genealogy I am doing it, my genealogy". Well it was one of my favorite songs when I was a kid and now the song has changed. Look it up if you don't know about the change. You may want to look under family history in the children's primary book.

The goal this month is to learn the new song and apply the teaching.

Good luck,

Dan the man Jones

Brynja's Birthday!

Brynja is now 4! She was very excited to have a birthday this year and asked every day for 3 weeks if it was today. She was also way excited to have a friend party for the first time. I think they had fun, we made magic wands, played Angry Bird bowling thanks to Daddy, had Angry Bird cake balls etc.. Thanks to Aunt Sal for bringing her good friend Livia up and to Aunt Jill for that gift card she is looking forward to picking herself another gift! Thanks Papa and Nana too for your money but that goes to the bank. She is already looking forward to her next birthday, it will be a long wait.

Nov and Dec goals

Sorry this is so late but better late then not at all!!!!!!
For the November goal we read the talks. We like to read a talk each day.
For the December goal we are reading the New Testament for our scripture reading.
Also Ron I discovered that the savior never never never got angery. That is what I have personnally gained for your goal. I guess I always knew it but did not think about it enough.
Life is a challege but worth it. Follow the Savior in all we do!!!

Food Storage sale again

Most of us are focused on having a good supply of food storage. I calculated out the recommendations on the church website and I think our family has enough grains and beans for a one year supply. So, I decided we'd focus on meats, fruits and veg. this year. Freeze-dried is a little more expensive than dehydrated, but maintains better nutrition, looks and texture.
I was looking at the Emergency Essentials sale ad for the month of Jan. and noticed some good deals.
They usually have a few group buys every month.
Here's the ones I was interested in:

1. Freeze-dried Roast Beef 25 oz. $41.99 or +6 = $39.99
(this may seem expensive, but FD meats are not cheap)

2. FD peach chunks 17 oz $16.99 or +6 = $16.49

3. FD strawberry dices $14.99 or +6 +$14.19

I know we've done the peaches and strawberries before, buy why wouldn't you want more of those two?

4. FD seasoned white turkey 18 oz. $38.99 or +6 = $37.99

5. Strawberry flavored apple chips $9.99 or +6 = $9.49

Of course there are other things if you want to check out the website beprepared.com
This deal goes until the end of Jan, but is also subject to first come, first served style. Don't wait too long to respond to this.

Dad's January Goal

Did You Think to Pray?

This hymn is on page 140. Because we are already commanded to pray each morning and each night I thought this would be a good song to focus on. I want each of us to make a special effort to be sure to pray each morning and each night. Try to think about this song throughout the day. Also, I would like you to memorize it.
Dad
p.s. Jill IS my favorite daughter, just in case any of you were wondering.

2012 Goals

Ok everyone. Leesa told me I was in charge of this again so I will assume you all want to continue to do it. If anyone doesn't want to, to bad...we are all in this together ( or so the blog title says).

I thought for this year we could base our goals off of a primary song or hymn. This way we can learn the church songs better and pay more attention to what they mean. If someone else had a different/better idea let me know ASAP.

Jan. Dad
Feb. Dan
Mar. Jason
Apr. Jill
May. Leesa
Jun. Skip
Jul. Mom
Aug. Ronald
Sep. Ronda
Oct. Sally
Nov. Steve
Dec. Skip

(it is done in alphabetical order if you can't tell)

December Goal

John 3: 16-17

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved.

As the celebration of the birth of Christ arises, so does the world marketing and commercializing. I want to make a goal for this month to really focus on the Savior.

#1) Have your FHE lessons, focused on how we can be like him.

#2) With your family pray about a way you can serve like Christ did, (ex. Helping a family in need, doing service for others)

# 3) Read some scriptures out of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and report something you learned about the Savior or an attribute you want to improve on.

If we can focus on being like Christ and not on ourselves and the gifts we are receiving I know we can be come closer to him and remember why we have Christmas.

Report back and lets see what we learned.

Jill's Fav Quote (well one of them) for November Goal

This quote is from Elder Neil l. Andersen's talked titled "Children." I read this talk when I was having a really bad day with Preston.

Children rank way below college. Below world travel for sure. Below the ability to go out at night at your leisure. Below honing your body at the gym. Below any job you may have or hope to get. Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for.

Obviously none of us have issues with "if we should have children." But this quote reminded me of all the other things I want to do and sometimes neglect the children I do have. It was a great reminder that motherhood is MY calling in life. This is what I wanted since I was a child and I need to take advantage of the blessings I have been give. I hope each one of us will remember that this is what God gave us time for. I always think of how many older women tell me to cherish them while they are little because it goes by so fast. Some days seem like an eternity, yet when I look back at pictures from the past or their little clothes they once wore my emotions start to go crazy as I think of all the time I have wasted NOT spending time with them, scolding them for childish behaviors, and pawning them off onto something else. Let us each remember to give our children the individual time they truly need from each of us parents. I love you all and I thank you for your great examples to me.

New Blog Background

Sorry if someone doesn't like this new background. It reminded me of all the mints we bought dad at Christmastime when we were younger. Hope you are all safe and well and enjoying this holiday season.