Branches down, and a few of our daily visitors. 

Just a little snow here in Bountiful

Happy Halloween from the Stoney Family!  Yes there is a subliminal message.

Halloween Madness

Just thought everyone wanted to see my adorable children on Halloween.

 And check out Remington's pumpkin. I was mucho impressed.

 I was proud of George too, but Rem's took the cake this year.

Happy Halloween!!!

Impressions from Conference

Touched by talks on women & mothers (especially, Elders Holland & Nelson)

Want to publicly acknowledge my daughters as Women of Great Worth!

Tonia:  Grounded woman of faith and love for the Lord, strong heart-felt testimony of Jesus, compassionate, virtuous, full of empathy, reaches out in love to all her sisters, discerns inaccurate trends of world,  fun older sister, full of service, only a few of her beautiful qualities.

Kristen:  Angel of Lord, courage of Eve, loving mother, supportive wife, leads through love and connection with her children and family, sees no evil among the people surrounding her, virtuous, reflective, enjoys fun and family, only a few of her beautiful qualities.

Kim:  Woman of Charity, non-judgmental, not easily offended, humorous and delightful to be around, discerner of truth without any fan-fare, quiet support of husband and family (including extended family), organized, peacemaker, only a few of her beautiful qualities.

Kati:  Deep convictions of Gospel, speaker of right and truth, communicator to husband, service to people and callings, reaches out to anyone in need, giver of hugs, aware of individual concerns of children, husband, and friends, friendly, peaceful, only a few of her beautiful qualities.

Christy:  Woman of inspiration, willing to bear children in times of difficulty, excellent mother and trainer, follower of right and promptings, ability to change and grow as prompted, connecter of spiritual things, adaptable, leader of women, only a few of her beautiful qualities.

Tamara:  Valuable friend, lovable and likable, witty and humorous, full of service, supporter of husband, courage of Eve even in difficulty, organized, trainer of children, neat, listens and follows promptings and inspiration, caring daughter-in-law, only a few of her beautiful qualities.

I love you all so much!  You are even more than I have said.  Thank you for being such lovely women; women of worth.  And as you become even more of your true self, your deeds and hearts will be felt and magnified, just as President Kimball's prophecy stated.  You will transform the world.

To my sons--Love your wives!  They are the Lord's helpmeet for you.  It is the only three-way covenant we make.  Nothing you do is more important than this! 

To my other sons--I pray for my other daughter-in-laws everyday.  Follow the inspiration of the Lord.

Howard Storm Near Death Exp. 1985 (10 min clip)

Great Article on Marriage

For those of you who do not subscribe to (or read) the Ensign, here is a link to an article that appears in it this month on marriage.  I found it very good and it helps to explain how we got to where we are today.

Click here to read it.

And Another One Bites The Dust...

At least she does it in style!

Nutrition vs. profit motive . . . what?

Shaving

Everyone who shaves needs to go do this.  It's the best idea of all time and saves money.  Click the link I'm providing to sign up so I get credits.  Some of us have to shave more than others due to hair lines.  But I just did the math an I'm spending all my non-existent kid's college funds that I wouldn't save for them anyway because they should learn work ethic on their own on razors to shave.  Anyway, in case anyone is interested. http://www.dollarshaveclub.com/marshallatwood

PS. This is Marshall

Atwood Reunion in Vernal

Hey everyone, the Atwood reunion is in Vernal this weekend.

Mom can give you directions on how to get there . . . I expect to see you all :-)

My Famous Wife and Children

My Thoughts

Seeing as how I am the only one posting on the blog anymore (unless Marshall chips a tooth), I guess I can use this as my personal thought collector.  Today's thoughts are inspired by the BSA and the Church's response.

Click here for the BSA policy

Click here for the Church's response

In reading a couple articles about this I have learned two things:

1) The main thing the BSA decision did was to transfer the legal burden to local units verses the main organization.  Before, people would sue the BSA and they would fight it.  Now they can push legal battles off on the little organizations that do not conform.  So, the battles (because there will be lawsuits) and costs will now have to be paid by wards and stakes instead of a national organization (does this mean we get to pay less for Friends of Scouting?).  Don't worry though, in the BSA explanatory release, it said local religious organizations don't have to be concerned because religion and speech are protected by the first amendment.

2) The goal is not equality.  I read 4-5 quotes from "people" and not one stated something like "This is a great day - to finally be included in the BSA."  They all said things like "This is an important first step" or "We are half-way to where we need to be."   In other words, it is not enough to have the same rights as others, one cannot have any beliefs that are different to their beliefs.  The only way satisfaction is obtained is if everyone accepts these new morals as the only morals.  Just like in the scriptures, they said they wanted a king, but the real motive was to destroy religion.

It will be interesting to see what ramifications (if any) this has for the Church during the next couple of weeks and months.

Interesting

So, this is a little speech I stumbled upon by Jonathan Cahn, a messianic Jew (meaning he accepts Christ as the Messiah).  He gave this to congress, and I though it was very appropriate.  It is about 8 minutes long.

Thanks Mom

Some people in our family have dreams about losing their teeth, others just wake up actually having lost them.

Obamacare

So, since the Supreme Court again sided with Obama on health care, I found this line in the article interesting:


Nationally, 10.2 million people have signed up for health insurance under the Obama health overhaul. That includes the 8.7 million people who are receiving an average subsidy of $272 a month to help pay their insurance premiums.


In other words, only 1.5 million people signed up for obamacare actually pay for it.  How is this different than Medicaid, which paid for people without insurance anyway - we just pay more now.


And now we wait for the next ruling from the Court to see how awesome the world is.

For anyone who gets the reference

Another Post?

Since no one liked my post on exercise, here are two great articles on scripture study.

This one discusses why it is important

This one discusses that along with ways to do it better

Weight Loss and Exercise

Seeing as how I am morphing into a tub of goo, and Kirk and Christy are now modeling part time for fitness magazine, I decided to at least think about exercise.  Well, I came across an interesting article that I personally found fascinating.  It talks about the connection between weight loss and exercise, and I for one tend to believe it.  However, I am not the expert in this field (obviously), so feel free to disagree and offer counter arguments.

Click here to read the article.

And a second one that adds benefits after the weight loss.

Click here to read this one.

Just thought that this was good so here it is for you all to read :)

Will Your Child be Rich or Poor? 15 Poverty Habits Parents Teach Their Children

SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 BY THOMAS C. CORLEY LEAVE A COMMENT

When I travel the country speaking to high school and college students about exactly what they need to do to become financially successful in life I always begin my presentation by asking three questions:

“How many want to be financially successful in life?”

“How many think they will be financially successful in life?”

Almost every time I ask the first two questions every hand rises in the air. Then I ask the magic third question:

“How many have taken a course in school on how to be financially successful in life?”

Not one hand rises in the air, ever. Clearly every student wants to be successful and thinks they will be successful but none have been taught by their parents or their school system how to be financially successful in life. Not only are there no courses on basic financial success principles but there are no structured courses teaching basic financial literacy. We are raising our children to be financially illiterate and to fail in life. Is it any wonder that most Americans live paycheck to paycheck? That most Americans accumulate more debt than assets?  That many Americans lose their homes when they lose their job? Is it any wonder that most Americans cannot afford college for their children and that student loan debt is now the largest type of consumer debt?  

What’s worse is what our children are being taught by their parents, the school system, politicians and the media. They are teaching our children that the wealthy are corrupt, greedy, have too much wealth and that this wealth needs to be redistributed. What kind of a message do you think that sends to America’s future generation? It is teaching them that seeking financial success by pursuing the American Dreams is a bad thing. The Occupy Wall Street movement was a manifestation of this “wealth is bad and needs to be redistributed “mindset. . 

Here are some statistics from my five-year study on the daily habits that separate the wealthy from the poor?

1. 72% of the wealthy know their credit score vs. 5% of the poor
2. 6% of the wealthy play the lottery vs. 77% of the poor
3. 80% of the wealthy are focused on at least one goal vs. 12% of the poor
4. 62% of the wealthy floss their teeth every day vs. 16% of the poor
5. 21% of the wealthy are overweight by 30 pounds or more vs. 66% of the poor
6. 63% of the wealthy spend less than 1 hour per day on recreational Internet use vs. 26% of the poor
7. 83% of the wealthy attend/attended back to school night for their kids vs. 13% of the poor
8. 29% of the wealthy had one or more children who made the honor roll vs. 4% of the poor
9. 63% of wealthy listen to audio books during their commute vs. 5% of the poor
10. 67% of the wealthy watch 1 hour or less of T.V. per day vs 23% of the poor
11. 9% of the wealthy watch reality T.V. shows vs. 78% of the poor
12. 73% of the wealthy were taught the 80/20 rule vs. 5% of the poor (live off 80% save 20%)
13. 79% of the wealthy network 5 hours or more per month vs. 16% of the poor
14. 8% of the wealthy believe wealth comes from random good luck vs. 79% of the poor
15. 79% of the wealthy believe they are responsible for their financial condition vs. 18% of the poor

The fact is the poor are poor because they have too many Poverty Habits and too few Rich Habits. Poor parents teach their children the Poverty Habits and wealthy parents teach their children the Rich Habits. We don’t have a wealth gap in this country we have a parent gap. We don’t have income inequality, we have parent inequality. 

Parents and our schools need to work together to instill good daily success habits as follows:

• Limit T.V., social media and cell phone use to no more than one hour a day.

• Require that children to read one to two educational books a month.

• Require children to aerobically exercise 20 – 30 minutes a day.

• Limit junk food to no more than 300 calories a day.

• Require that children set monthly, annual and 5-year goals.

• Require working age children to work or volunteer at least ten hours a week.

• Require that children save at least 25% of their earnings or gifts they receive.

• Teach children the importance of relationship building by requiring them to call friends, family, teachers, coaches etc. on their birthdays and to send thank you cards for gifts or help they received from anyone.

• Reassure children that mistakes are good not bad. Children need to understand that the very foundation of success in life is built on learning from our mistakes. 

• Punish children when they lose their tempers so they understand the importance of controlling this very costly emotion.

• Teach children that seeking financial success in life is good and is a worthwhile goal. Children need to learn what the American Dream is and that it is something to be pursued in life.

• Children need to learn how to manage money. Open up a checking account or savings account for children and force them to use their savings to buy the things they want. They need to learn that they are not entitled to things like cell phones, computers, fashionable clothes, flat screen T.V.s etc. 

• Require children to participate in at least two non-sports-related extracurricular activities at school or outside of school.

• Parents and children need to set aside at least an hour a day to talk to one another. Not on Facebook, or on the cell phone, but face to face. The only quality time is quantity time

• Teach children how to manage their time. They should be required to create daily “to do” lists and these lists need to be monitored by parents. The goal should be to accomplish at least 70% of their tasks on their daily “to do” list.

Wealthy people do certain things every single day that sets them apart from everyone else in life. Wealthy people have good daily success habits that they learned from their parents. These daily habits are the real reason for the wealth gap in our country and the real reason why the rich get richer. Unless we teach our children good daily success habits, and level the playing field, the rich will continue to get richer and the poor will continue to get poorer.

Scripture of the day!

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness"
2 Corinth. 12:9

Forbes Dance Festival

Here is Carter showing some of his skills.

Sadie's Surgery

Here are a few pictures of Sadie's surgery. She is doing great!

CALVIN'S BLESSING

So, luckily someone asked if they had missed Calvin's blessing. That reminded me I needed to do one. It will be this Sunday at two. Dinner will be after church at 5:30. If you would like to bring a dessert, that would be great but come either way. I'm doing baked ziti for dinner and of curse, all are invited.

This looks fun . . .

These don't even need a title anymore... someone please post something...

Growing up i never understood why the guy trying to help the ark from falling was killed, this makes more sense now, and fits in well with those who oppose in general conference, the ordain women movement, as well as the other various social pressures.

Brigham Young-"Where you find a man who wishes to steady the ark of God, without being called to do so, you will find a dark spot in him. The man full of light and intelligence discerns that God steadies his own ark, dictates his own affairs, guides his people, controls his kingdom, governs nations, and holds the hearts of all living in his hands"

Another preachy post from weston...

my favorite part so far in "Brother Brigham challenges the saints"

It's the essay on what Brigham Young had to say about dealing with enemies.

http://publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1094&index=9

And congratulations to Mother for destroying us all in the brackets...

Final Tournament Scores!

So I wasn't the best at keeping everyone informed at all times but here is the final score. I gave points according to round. I just added one point per round. ex: first round gets 1 point, fourth round gets four points. Here are the results:

Jolyn in first with 79
Jeff with 66
three tied for third- Val, Weston and Brock 59
sixth is Marshall 58
seventh is Kirk 57
Unfortunately, Christy came in right behind Kirk 53
ninth is Kim 47
and last place is Porter. 29

Thanks to all for playing! It was a busy time of year for some of us but we always enjoy doing this.

Brigham Young on judgement

As I'm reading Hugh Nibley's "Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints" I came across this paragraph on judgement, and the selection of quotes, one after another from Brigham Young, and it pointed out some things I do wrong, so I thought I'd share.  My Favorite are the last two, but I love every single one...

The first one is the goal:

 "I endeavor to look upon [mankind] as an angel would, having compassion, long-suffering, and forbearance towards them. How many times can I forgive a brother? . . . I think I could forgive a brother seventy times seven in one day."

The rest are things to avoid:

"It is no more natural for your lungs to expand and contract in breathing than it is for you to wish others to be like yourselves. . . .   All of these classes act according to their faith and traditions, and each one of them says, 'If you are not as I am, you are not right.' This is just as natural as it is to breathe vital air. I wish this trait in the Saints to be done away. I want the Elders of Israel to learn to take people as they are."

"Just as soon as our eyes are turned away from watching ourselves, to see whether we do right, we begin to see faults in our neighbors; this is the great difficulty, and our minds become more and more blinded until we become entirely darkened."

"It matters not what your neighbours do, look to your God with all your heart, instead of watching your neighbours, and there will be no danger of your leaving the true path."

 "The spirit that seeks only to accuse, that can only delight itself in the failings and errors of mankind, so born of hell as only to find delight in the defects of humanity—. . . it is the very work of Satan, and his servants."

"There is one principle I wish to urge upon the Saints in a way that it may remain with them—that is, to understand men and women as they are, and not understand them as you are."

"Judge not each other rashly, for you will find that ninety-nine wrongs out of a hundred committed by men are done more in ignorance than from a design to do wrong."

Basketball Update!!

So I know its been a long time coming but here are the updates.
After the first round:
Jolyn and Christy 25
Val 24
Weston and Kim 23
Jeff 21
Brock 20
Kirk 19
Porter 13

Round two:

Jolyn    47
Val       44
Jeff and Kim    41
Weston and Christy     39
Brock      34
Kirk        33
Porter      21

Thanks to all for playing!!!

Interesting . . . you can apply it to other aspects of staying far from "the line" as well.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865624443/Fidelity-starts-outside-the-bedroom.html?pg=all&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=550a4b5015bb3b52a8000001&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook

Bracket

here's an espn site where you can fill it out by clicking and then print it.

http://games.espn.go.com/tournament-challenge-bracket/2015/en/bracket

It doesn't have the first four games though, so you'll have to do those off of Jeff's sheet.

It Is Time - First Games Start Tomorrow!

Ok so I have to post this because it was just too cute.  Joe came home from Brunei last week and needless to say the kids were very excited.  But one comment stood out a little above the rest.

So Bridger ran into the kitchen with a big grin and said,

"This is the best day of my life!!!  Or it is up to now.  I may have a better day later like when I win the heisman trophy.  That might be a better day."

Go Team Bridger.  We are hoping that he is our retirement.

Zeal without Knowledge

I just read this talk out of Approaching Zion by Hugh Nibley and I think it has a lot of important things for us all to read. (or maybe it was just sinner Weston...) Anywhere here is a link to the full talk online if you so desire.

http://emp.byui.edu/ANDERSONKC/Zeal%20Without%20Knowledge.pdf

Looks like you'll have to copy and paste that into an address bar or google search "zeal without knowledge"

FYI: It's not difficult like a lot of Nibley talks to understand, minus a few small parts its all pretty easy and I have faith in everyone in our family on those few parts.

Of all the things mom tried to teach about family history...

How have I not been told this?

Am I the only one who didn't know?
Kirk it turns out your kids have the best French blood there is...

http://youtu.be/fQ6RRAr89lI

That is weston if you want to see him.  That is the best I can do

Here to liven up the blog.  Here we should all have some good fun and some good laughs.  Thank you all for participating.  Sorry for leaving Weston out.  His video would not download.  I will keep working on it.

LDS Church Statement

For anyone who has not seen this official news conference of the Church, you need to take 20 minutes and watch it. 


To watch it, click here.

pretty interesting and cool i think...

though maybe a little overly dramatic...

Bryar was baptized yesterday and it was a wonderful day.  Thanks to Grandma Stoney for the beautiful dress.