Passed .... again

So, last week I decided to take my series 26 - it's been about a year since I took my last test. I only had FOUR days to study - pretty crazy huh. I woke up Thursday morning to take my test at 11 am. I was getting like 55% on my practice test mind you. So I drove to the test center - studied my last pages - went to take the test - go 71%!!!!!! I passed by the skin of my teeth. This was a completely divine pass notice. I know Heavenly Father was there to help me. I could have not done it on my own.

So now I can officially be RVP. Tyson takes his test on Wednesday - he will pass it and we will be that much closer to our dream.

Scones Parties

Recent goal: Learn how to make great scones from scratch.

Update: Complete.

Believe it or not, I think I may have broken the curse of killing yeast, thus never being able to make anything that had to do with bread. Most people don't see this as a problem, but you see I have a Bosch. This is a piece of equipment that are made for chefs - and since I kill yeast I am dishonoring all chefs of the past.

A sweet girl from my ward puts together "scone parties" and invites the entire ward over. It's cheap, easy but SOOO fun. I want that. I love to entertain but lets face it -I can't shell out the tab just quite yet. So the solution is scones! Today was another of her "scone parties" and I made sure I got there first. I sat Harmony down and begged for her to teach me how to make them. She gave me the recipe, put an apron on me and taught me. I fried every single last scone - it rocked. So what does Martha do now?

Go home and make a big plate for her family. My brothers were amazed. We had scone sandwiches for dinner and scones with jam and honey for dessert.

I. Rock.

Even though I just outsmarted my yeast killing curses - I still want a bread maker to help me make actual dough and actual bread. I'm letting Santa know already ;)

Style?

Finally my questions answered!


Martha, you are an Earthy Casual

You're interested in creating a welcoming home where people feel comfortable and happiness flourishes. You appreciate the warmth and individuality of natural materials and handcrafted things and are inspired by colors and forms from nature. You love mixing up different textures and are sensitive to the tactile qualities of objects. Your style is grounded and solid, not flighty or frilly. And you are never taken in by the trend of the moment.
You value order. You feel happiest if your home is well organized. You understand that when your house is in order, your mind feels clearer. Rather than a lot of meaningless objects or overly-designed items, you are happier with a few well-placed things. Your home is your respite from a busy life. Try to avoid letting things into your home that you don't really love.

This quiz really got me pinned down. How fun. Take the quiz here

Character is ...

...The ability to carry out a worthy decision after the emotion of making that decision has passed.

I read that a couple nights ago and thought wow, I better work on my character. I find that so many times my character is probably weekend because of my faults. I think we all try to do our best in life but sadly most of it is spent paying attention to things that are urgent , but not vital. Does that make sense?

Example.

You come home and you want to spend time with your hubby rubbing his feet - or whatever, and then a hurried phone call, dinner, friends, life. Urgent, all those things are good and urgent, but vital? The book I'm reading talks about how often our kids and spouses are vital, but not urgent. Why? Simple. They are are always there. Tyson is always there, so I pay attention to things that are urgent. The quote "the squeaky wheel gets the oil" comes to mind.

I don't actually have the answer of how to make the switch in our frantic world, but I believe in this:
1. Sunday are no interruption days.
2. You can be both extremely successful AND keep vitals things first. I want both.
3. Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Not genius thoughts, but it made me put things back into perspective.

Great book The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management.

PS: Jeff Fieldsted is coming down to SLC on Friday. This guy is amazing. Travels the nation telling his Rags to Riches story. Everyone is welcome to come. I have extra tickets.

Much love.

Charity Yard Sale

Got to finally wear my cute cowgirl hat - good thing too because it was 90 degrees!

Chris and Kelly organized an AMAZING BBQ. The food was incredible.

Every time someone bought something - we rung a "Sold" bell. People loved it!

Such a cool gang of good men!

We had so much stuff! Everyone was so generous in their donations.

Wow! What a cool sight - all to help a great family. 12 hours, 4 trucks and $3500 raised later ... we finished the yard sale. Tyson and I were SOOO tired. It felt so good to help out and to think of others. So many people were generous - giving far more than items were worth. I realized I am a bad barter and usually give people more for less.

I also want to say a big shout out to our Primerica Team - so many of them not only came, bought and supported but we also had an incredible month! We finished #1 in the baseshop. Brian Halley totally killed it this month!! Our team is rocking! Just one more little test and we are on our way to RVP! Yeah! Great things always happen to us!