Keep It Simple Sister

by Patricia Cates

In the spirit of the holidays, and with how crazy everything can tend to get this time of year, let me give ya'll a friendly reminder to pace yourself and to KISS. Any readers or writers out there who are LDS might be familiar with this phrase. We have an acronym for keep it simple, sister. We simply say KISS. I love that. I want to live that. 

A few people I have served with have done a fine job of demonstrating this notion. Let me give you a little background. It was probably eight years ago when I first heard this. I had just been asked to serve as a Miamaid Advisor and was at a meeting for our young women youth group. Our new YW president said that the bishop wanted us to keep it simple from now on. He wanted us to cut back on spending and some other things. She used that KISS acronym to explain how things were going to be. Luckily our leader had chosen a group of women who were very down to earth to help serve...basically a no frills group. (Being fairly new to the church, I personally was terrified of the calling.)

This change was a bit of a shocker for our young ladies. Their prior leaders over many years had truly magnified their callings. When YW events came up, they would adorn the cultural hall with lamps and plants and table decor so elegantly set, it would be suitable for a wedding reception. They would string lights, make incredible take home gifts, and gorgeously illustrated invitations and programs. The desserts they brought tasted and looked as if they had come from the finest restaurants in SLC. I only had a Beehive at the time, my oldest, and so she became accustomed to things being done in this fashion. 

But with this new presidency things changed. Our president was a 31 year old return missionary with 4 kids. She announced that we, as leaders, would do no decorating and make no food. She said the girls would do it all! They would have a budget. She went on to emphasize that our girls needed to learn; to set up, and organize events, and delegate, and make treats, and decorate, and use their own creativity. If the cookies weren't uniform in shape or tasted bad it really didn't matter. They would be the girl's cookies and that's what counted. They would own it! She emphasized strongly that this was all part of their personal progression towards becoming adults, wives and moms. This was their program...we were only there to lead and guide. I think she used the word guide a lot.

When asked what we would do if the girls forgot to make treats, phone calls, programs, or set up chairs by 6:45, her response was always, "Oh well, it's on them then." She felt they would learn from their mistakes, if any were made. It would be their responsibility, their choices, and they would be held accountable. Ah! 

The next president was one of the most humble and spiritual women to have ever lived in our ward. She also kept things VERY simple. Flash forward another three years and I am again in Miamaids. It is truly a great place to be. My youngest is now a Beehive and my middle girls are both Miamaids. We are all learning together. 

I wonder if the girls who did have to do it all themselves, are now more self sufficient? Are they possibly better at budgeting or party planning? It's probably a toss up, depending on the girl. I hope our former YW who are married now, or on their own, remember that it's okay to KISS, and that it actually feels a lot less stressful. I know am grateful that I have had amazing women show me the way. 


This year we have been spending less and letting the kids do a little more around the house. Hopefully that doesn't sound mean. Things are just lean. So I'm keeping it real for ya'll.

If anyone out there needs to keep it simple due to a cold or flu bug, or who is exhausted from staying on top of the daily demands of life, remember that the only thing that matters is the spirit of the season. Don't wear yourself out. Try not to compare yourself to your neighbor, sister or friend (even though it's hard some times!) Remember that they may have more help, money, time or energy and that's okay. We can just appreciate all of their pretty lights, delicious treats, and the time it takes to make that happen. If you want to keep it simple, do...and if you're feeling super fancy...go for it! 

As I close, from a distance I can hear one of my daughters vacuuming. I didn't even have to ask! Now that's music to my ears, or maybe that's a hint she wants to decorate the tree.         

Beautiful and Dangerous

By Kathy Lipscomb

It’s snowing. I don’t know what makes snow feel so magical to me, but every time it snows, my depression lessons and my anxiety calms. Maybe it’s because the snow falls every time something amazing happens in my life. My wedding day had the first snowfall of the year, even though it was clear in December. My wedding pictures have these huge, beautiful snowflakes falling in them—gorgeous. Both my kids were born on days when it hadn’t snowed in a long time, but then snowed for them. It seems to be a gift for me.

Snow is beautiful. 

And dangerous.

I seem to love things that are beautiful and dangerous. Lightning Storms. The ocean. Rollercoasters.

Life can be like that. Beautiful and dangerous all at the same time. I find the beauty is in knowing how to navigate the dangers.

The gospel does that for me. It gives me a path of safety to follow, as long as I choose to follow it. On that path, I can see the beauty. Off the path, I still see the beauty, but I’m in the middle of the dangers now without shelter from the storms.

Going to church, reading my scriptures, prayer—all the things every calls “Sunday School answers” are what keep me safe. So I will do them, while watching the beauty that is life. Enjoying it, while also being safe. 

I Heard the Bells.....

by Jewel Leann Williams

So I'm sick today. My back hurts and I have a sore/goopy throat and... blechhh...  so, that could have something to do with my state of mind. 

But... well, I'm sad. It's the state of the world, the state of the people in it.

I feel like what the Pope said. Yeah, I'm quoting the Pope:

There will be lights, there will be parties, bright trees, even Nativity scenes – all decked out – while the world continues to wage war. It’s all a charade. The world has not understood the way of peace. The whole world is at war,

Seems kind of harsh coming from one of the preeminent leaders of Christianity in the world.

I don't think Christmas is all a charade, but I feel a little of the... I don't know, the hopelessness, the tiredness--how long will we keep hoping, praying, working for peace?

It reminds me of the song "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" which actually comes from the 1863 poem "Christmas Bells" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The story behind the poem is heartbreaking. Longfellow's son had been severely wounded in the Civil War, and his wife had recently passed away. Longfellow was looking around at Christmas preparations, and saw the same thing--a charade.

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!" 

I feel ya, Hank. I am disheartened by not just the wars. Not just the shootings. Not just the flood of refugees from multiple countries. It's more than that.

It's the generalized hatred I see almost everywhere. Or maybe not hatred, but contempt for everyone. People will jump right on down the throats of anyone who does not echo their opinions (or often, even those that do). Traffic--oh my goodness, I've been certain I was going to witness vehicular homicide like 10 times in the past week alone. Shopping. The news. The Internet. It's everywhere.
Hate is strong, and hate does mock the song--the prayer--of "Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men."

So do we give in?

Longfellow's lament was answered in the next stanza:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;The Wrong shall fail,The Right prevail,With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Again, I agree with Longfellow.

As much as I don't feel it right now, I know, in my heart of hearts, in my bones, that the right WILL prevail. Love really will, eventually, conquer all.

God is not dead.

Christ IS NOT dead.

I hang on to that knowledge.

Because Christ was born, and died, and lives(!), all that is wrong with the world will be made right.

It is the answer to the lament: "Christmas is a charade"

With Christmas, we celebrate the hope that is Christ. We acknowledge that even among all of the human-frailty-inspired hatred and chaos of our fallen world, that we can find peace in Jesus Christ.

He lives. Because of that, Christmas will NEVER be a charade.

Comment below: How do YOU maintain the Christmas spirit, even among the sadness and chaos of what's going on in our world today?

I Have a Publishing Deal!

by Katy White

I can't tell you how long I've dreamed of writing these words. Actually, I can. Since grade two (that's what we call second grade in Canada). I wrote stories for my dad and mom about the Heart People--hearts with faces and stick figure arms and legs. The boy heart had muscles and the girl heart had lips and eyelashes, of course. And high-heels, on account of her impeccable taste. They played on slides and swing sets at the park together and were madly in love. I sold those books (bound and illustrated horrifically by yours truly) for 25 cents a pop. Do you know how many penny candies you can buy with 25 cents? Twenty-five! I was candy rich those days, my friends. Candy rich.

What was I talking about again? Oh, right! So I've wanted to publish a book since that moment and have written stories ever since. One of them landed me my remarkable agent, Bree Ogden, and that same book and agent found their way to a fabulous editor, McKelle George at Jolly Fish Press. And now I have a book deal. Actually, a two book deal. Which I can still hardly believe.

I can't stop smiling. Even after my family hit a deer over the weekend and totaled our car and had to stay the night in a motel that failed the Bates Motel auditions because it was too friggin creepy (and the showers were too small!) and the village of 131 people made me miss the booming village of 850 people I grew up in because at least we had stop signs and actual people, because I'm pretty sure this place was populated solely by zombies or similarly undead-slash-soulless inhabitants and...and...I'm off on a tangent again, aren't I? Excitement does funny things to my brain (and so did that motel. I'm not kidding about the creepy).

Okay, Katy, focus. Where was I? My book. My book! My debut novel, SEEKING MANSFIELD, will publish in Spring, 2017 from Jolly Fish Press, and the companion novel is still TBD. I'm writing under the pen name, Kate Watson, because it turns out I have the most common name in the world (thanks a lot, Husband). The book is a contemporary young adult retelling of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, one of my favorite books of all time.

I love it. I hope you will, too.

If you're interested, check out my Facebook page, Twitter, newsletter, and website for updates, information, and general Katy-related quirkiness. :)

Also, if you have any tips on what to do now, please share them! Either way, thanks for sharing in the excitement with me. :)

Sharing your gift

By Lacey Gunter

As the Thanksgiving holiday wanes and the Christmas holiday begins to wax, I seek to bridge both wonderful holidays with some brief thoughts on gifts and thanks.

On what is traditionally considered the first Thanksgiving, the Native Americans living on the North East coast of America had a gift, the gift of knowledge and skills.  In a true act of humanity, these wonderful humans shared their gift with a group of immigrant settlers who would greatly benefit from it. I am confident those settlers were truly grateful for the acts of generosity from their Native American neighbors.

At this time and season in my life, as I reflect on the things I am grateful for, the obvious things emerge; family, friends, the gospel, the means to provide for ourselves, and the talents and knowledge we have been blessed with.  Love is of course a key part of that list.  But recently I have found myself being just as grateful for the abilities of others, as for those Heavenly Father has blessed me with. How grateful I am for the beautiful gifts of talent, knowledge and insight Heavenly Father has given to those who have been willing to work to perfect those gifts and have freely shared them with others. These gifts truly edify and enrich my life. They fill me with joy, peace and understanding.

As I reflect on those gifts, I am left to ponder over what gifts Heavenly Father has given to me that he desires I should cultivate and share with others.  How can I edify and uplift those within my sphere of influence.

It is not always easy to discover what these are.  While I am still not entirely confident what they are or should be for me, I am entirely confident on one thing.  As I seek to discover and perfect these talents, my desire should be to benefit those around me, rather than to benefit myself.  With this frame of mind, we truly find how we can make a lasting and valuable contribution to the world around us. It seems ironic, but by giving greater value to the welfare of others, we end up discovering our own infinite value.

I encourage each of you to recognize and give thanks for the gifts of others that have made your life better and then, in turn, seek out and share the special gifts you have uniquely been given to help and benefit others.  My gratitude to all of you lovely Mormon Mommy Writers, you help me to see the world in new way.  I will strive my best to do the same for you. God bless all in this lovely season.

My 2015 Thankful List - from the Handy Man to Baby James

By Mare Ball from ADVENTURES IN THE BALLPARK

We're still eating turkey in this household, so in my mind...it's still Thanksgiving!  This is my favorite holiday. It's like Christmas, without all the crazy shopping and overspending. And Easter, without all the candy. It's a day that refocuses my mind - for at least a week - on what's truly important. We need more holidays like this.

I want to share with you how, despite some heartaches this year, I am still mindful of how blessed I am. These blessings are in no particular order.

1.  I still love our 25-year-old house, despite the fact that the kitchen is about the size of a walk-in closet. This dear home has raised three kids to adulthood, weathered copious Florida hurricanes with no flooding, housed many, many friends and family, and tolerated one lovable dog who liked to drag dead squirrels inside.

2.  I'm so grateful for dark chocolate-covered malt balls.

I don't know why it took someone so long to create these, but they should get the Nobel peace prize.

3. I'm grateful I have a handy husband. Between the two of us, we can manage most home repairs and updates. Recently, we re-framed an old, industrial-grade bathroom mirror.

(If you want to do this, here are detailed instructions: GETTING FRAMED)

4.  I'm beyond grateful that my handy husband is finally recovering from vertigo - a condition that made him so sick a week ago, he was sleeping on the bathroom floor. It's an odd inner ear imbalance problem that is completely debilitating, and it often springs up for no apparent reason. Whoever figures this one out really deserves a prize.

5.  I'm grateful the little fender bender I had two weeks ago hurt no one and no one else's car either. Only my own, which is fair, I suppose. Luckily, I have first-accident forgiveness, so I have only my deductible to pay, and I can move on with my life. Thank you, USAA.

6.  I'm grateful for a week in a condo on the beach last month to celebrate our 40th anniversary. This was a gift from many family members and we have great photos to remind us of this time away from our own lives. Here's one of my favorites.

Thank you, son Jeremy, for taking so many lovely photographs.

7.  I'm grateful for my nutritionist, who by muscle testing keeps me on track with eating well, despite my occasional cheating with chocolate-covered malt balls.

8.  I thank God that Dad is finally recovering from his fall six weeks ago. He had several set-backs, and we wondered if he would be able to return to his ALF, where Mom is. Looks like that will likely happen now.

9. I'm grateful that my ebook about our family Christmas project (here: THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS ADVENTURE) is finished and was published in July. I felt called to write it and share it with the world. What happens with it now is up to God.

10.  I'm grateful for our local thrift shop. It reminds me that "stuff" is recycle-able and share-able and trade-able. I love taking a bag of things there just about monthly, and I love finding an item there I need. We could all save so much and probably help the planet too, if we would just rotate our stuff.

11. I'm grateful for Champion brand sport bras. For various reasons. Enough said.

12.  I'm grateful, delighted really, for our first grandchild James, who is six months, pre-born. Here he is with his folks, our son and his wife.

Isn't he the most beautiful pre-born you've ever seen? He looks great in plaid, don't you think? Clearly, I'm going to be one of those nutty grandmas, but I'm OK with that. James and I will be buds.

13.  I'm mostly grateful that I know there is a sovereign God who loves me and has a plan for my life. Without that, nothing else makes any sense.

Thankful of Course!

by Patricia Cates

For all of you today who are currently elbow deep in a bird or knee high in potato peels, thank you! Thank you for being a great mom, dad, cook, teacher, friend, grandparent or leader. Thank you for serving on a holiday; and being patient, and cleaning and watching out for loved ones, and being a creator and contributor of all things homey. You are what this day is all about...tradition and history and love.

I'd like to invite everyone who follows this wonderful Mormon Mommy Writer's & Friends group to share what they are thankful for. As it snows outside and the temperature begins to drop to a low of seven tonight, I am undoubtedly thankful for a full belly, a roof over my head, the special spirits dwelling under it with me, indoor plumbing and a hot water heater that works. It might sound frivolous but right now I'm sure that there are folks in our city that are mighty cold, lonely or worse. What are YOU grateful for? 

Set Your Intention

This past weekend as I rallied the troops for room cleaning, I took a different approach. I said, "Kids, we're not 'cleaning' rooms today. Today we are going to make our rooms BEAUTIFUL!"

Okay, so they kind of saw through my ploy. But it also kind of worked. When we removed the negative connotation- the idea that we had to CLEAN and cleaning was WORK- and instead thought about how we were going to make our rooms beautiful- and making things beautiful was creative and fun- it changed our approach.

I have found this to be true in other aspects of my life as well. Whenever I start to feel overwhelmed and stressed out with parenting I engage my creative energies and try to envision what I want and how I can get there. The more outside-the-box thinking I do, and the more creative I can be in solving my problems, the more fun it is.

I'm not a big fan of cooking, but the one way I've found to make it more bearable is to look for new recipes to try and to keep searching for the very best of the best so that I know my cooking efforts are going toward a stellar result. This puts a creative spin on a sometimes mundane task, and it makes it much more enjoyable for me. (By the way, my current "nailed it" file contains recipes for fajitas, fried rice, bread, brownies, vanilla frosting, chocolate frosting, and chocolate chip cookies, among other things- can you tell which types of things I spend the most time perfecting?)

Same thing when it comes to food & exercise- when I think of what I don't want my body to be (flabby and out of shape), the idea of getting rid of the negative can make me sigh and want to grab another cookie (after all, I do have the perfect recipe for them). If, however, I envision what I want my body to be (fit and healthy) and I get creative about my plan to get there (trampoline workouts, anyone?) the more fun it is to achieve my goals. Recently we've switched to much healthier eating so I've had a chance to get really creative with vegetables, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. (Cookies aren't totally out of the picture, we're just eating a few less these days.)

I have this one workout dvd in which the trainer says things like, "When it gets hard, this is where you set your intention," and "this is how we're sculpting our bodies." And it's a good thing she says stuff like that because it's a hard workout! But when I'm sweating and shaking and I hear those words: "set your intention", it makes me feel determined, it reminds me of the end goal, and I feel stronger. When I remember that I'm not just sweating and exercising for exercise's sake, but to "sculpt my body", then it becomes more of a creative endeavor than work.

So this Thanksgiving week when you may have a few extra chores to do around the house or a few more dishes to make for dinner, set your intention: you are creating a beautiful home and delicious food- have fun with it!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Start Where You Are

by Jewel Leann Williams

In General Conference this past October, President Dieter Uchtdorf shared a profound truth, and guidance for those of us who struggle (which is ALL of us, in some way): 

Start where you are

He said:

Sometimes we feel discouraged because we are not “more” of something—more spiritual, respected, intelligent, healthy, rich, friendly, or capable. Naturally, there is nothing wrong with wanting to improve. God created us to grow and progress. But remember, our weaknesses can help us to be humble and turn us to Christ, who will “make weak things become strong.”⁴Satan, on the other hand, uses our weaknesses to the point that we are discouraged from even trying.
I learned in my life that we don’t need to be “more” of anything to start to become the person God intended us to become.
God will take you as you are at this very moment and begin to work with you. All you need is a willing heart, a desire to believe, and trust in the Lord.

So, there you have it. I love the simplicity of this idea, that Satan tells us that we are not good enough; we'll never be good enough; give up.  GOD, on the other hand, tells us that we are good enough, simply because we are His; but, if we will just take his hand and let him lead, we will become even more. Learning our weak points doesn't have to be negative, if we realize that those weaknesses are given to us to help us to come to our Savior.

In life, this is true.

As writers, or sculptors or pianists or football players or dish-washers, mothers, fathers--any venture that is worthwhile, I can hear the Spirit whisper:

Start where you are.

Perfection is the goal. It's not expected until we have journeyed long and hard, and learned.

Any failure isn't one, as long as we dust ourselves off, and start where we are.

We only fail when we sit in the dirt and refuse to start again.

Princess Lolly: A Bedtime Story

- a post by Jeanna Mason Stay

Princess Lolly, as drawn by my daughter

My lovely oldest child turns eight this week. It is nearly impossible to express how fantastic this girl is. She is funny, loving, kind, smart, good, curious, and just all-around amazing. She’s the sort of kid I would have loved to be friends with when I was young. She’s enthusiastic about everything, and we just love her to pieces.

In honor of her birthday, and also because this story is part of a giant project I’m working on this month, tonight I am posting a story I used to tell her a lot when she was a little girl. Princess Lolly is one of the characters from the board game Candy Land, and she went on many adventures in our bedtime hours. This, however, is her original adventure.

Hope you enjoy something light and silly tonight!

      Once upon a time, Princess Lolly was walking along the path through Candyland to visit her friends. Now, Princess Lolly is always very, very sticky, but on this particular day she got even stickier.

      The first place she went was to visit Plumpy to eat some plums from his tree. Now, a normal person would pluck the plum from the tree first and then bite into it. But not Princess Lolly. She liked to bite the plums right off of the tree, which is not a very exact method of eating. It was rather messy in fact, and plum juice ran down her cheeks, making her face very, very sticky.

      Next she visited Mr. Mint in the Peppermint Forest. He was chopping down peppermint trees, and she volunteered to help. She wasn’t strong enough or old enough to use Mr. Mint’s ax, but she was very good at gathering the peppermint logs up against her chest and stacking them in piles. Of course, peppermint logs are candy, and gathering them made her arms and her chest very, very sticky.

      After she helped Mr. Mint for a while, she wandered off to see Jolly at the Gumdrop Pass. Gumdrop Pass was one of her favorite places to run and jump because every time she jumped on top of a gumdrop, her legs and feet would sink deep into it. As you can imagine, this made them—you guessed it—very, very sticky.

      Gramma Nutt was next on her list of friends to visit, and she loved to see Gramma Nutt because Gramma was always making a batch of her yummy peanut brittle. She stirred the brittle over a fire in a giant cauldron, and then she would pour it out into shallow pans to cool. Princess Lolly was not very patient, though, and when it was still far too warm to have hardened, Princess Lolly poked at it with her finger. Fortunately, it was not too hot to burn, but her hand did sink deep into the brittle, which made it very, very sticky.

      At this point, you can probably understand why Princess Lolly spends her whole life being so sticky, but trust me, it gets worse. Because just before the end of the day, just before she headed home to see her mother, Princess Lolly stopped off to see Gloppy in the Molasses Swamp. And the swamp looked so inviting that she jumped in and swam around. So even though there had been parts of her that were relatively clean before, now she was absolutely covered in molasses—and therefore, very, very sticky.

      “Mommy, I’m home,” she called out to her mother, Queen Frostine, when she arrived back at the Candy Castle.

      “Oh, my dear!” exclaimed Queen Frostine, smiling. “You are very, very sticky, darling. I think you need a bath before bed.”

      Princess Lolly agreed.

      But do you know where she bathes? In the Ice Cream Sea. And so, even though Princess Lolly got a bath that night, it was in ice cream, and so, at the end of all her adventures and the end of the day, Princess Lolly still ended up very, very, very sticky.