Tender Mercies

I've had many experiences over the span of my life thus far (not going to mention how many years that is!) that have made me realize that my life of trials and triumphs include MANY tender mercies.  I am reminded often as I reflect back on life that I truly have been blessed!  The tender mercies that have come into my life have been a testimony building experience to me that my Heavenly Father KNOWS me, HE LOVES me, HE is my Heavenly Father!  My life has been charted in a way that as I look ahead, I don't know what is in store for me, but when I look back, I know I'm on a good path!

I'm reflecting back on many memories....I'm getting closer to the point of being with Jamy longer than I have lived in my parent's home.  I can't believe that I'm just a few years away from that point.  I'm blessed to have Jamy in my life and I am blessed to have great parents who "picked" me and who I "picked" to be my parents.  I'm grateful for the things that my parents have taught me and continue to teach me!  I'm grateful that I have their footsteps to follow in.  I hope that I am following them in the way that I can make them proud of me!

Jamy is just my amazing, and better, half!  He makes me want to be a better person - as a wife, a mother, a friend and more!  He is always supporting me in all the crazy things I get involved in by being my biggest cheerleader!  He lifts me up when I'm down and knows what is needed to get through another day!  I LOVE YOU MY ECP!

There are many subtle tender mercies that happen in life that sometimes, if we don't take time to sit down and reflect on them, they pass us by just like another day!  Take time to sit down and reflect on the good things going on in life....or they WILL pass you by!

Loving the life that I have and looking forward to the course I'm on for the future.....take time....to recognize the tender mercies in YOUR life!

Friends = chosen family

I've been blessed with many friends in my life!  I wanted to share a few of my close ones with you.  I am part of a "rectangle gang" and those of you that know where I live, you'll know why!  We all live around a "rectangle" area of grass and we all LOVE being outside with each other and have really become close to each other!  We've had UPS and DOWNS and everything in between!  We recently lost a member of the gang to pancreatic cancer.  He was a miracle no matter how you look at his life!  He joined the LDS Church during his bout with cancer and he left this earth with a very strong testimony!  We miss him and his talks with all his "women!"

I had the opportunity to help my friend as she went through the funeral of her husband!  It was amazing to see the support she has.  It was even more amazing to hear "oh, you're part of the gang!" or "you're one of the awesome neighbors."  I hope that I always make my friends proud of me!  I always want to help when I can and that's my natural instinct....to HELP!  Can't tell me no, can't tell me that I'm too busy....I'm never too busy to help my family and friends!

Although we have our trials, I'm grateful for dear friends!  Many who live right by me and others who live elsewhere.  I'm grateful for all of them!  I won't even begin to list all my friends, because they know who they are! 

I had a chance to serve one of my friends this morning!  She's not feeling good today and has been a nurse to one of her kids ALL WEEK!!  Now, she got the sickness and is still taking care of the sick kid!  All while trying to keep the younger ones occupied, happy and fed!  I hated that part of being a mommy!  I hated knowing that I still had to nurse a baby while I felt like crap!  That's a HARD feeling to push away!  Anyway, her cute husband answered the door today very quietly and I don't think he was too surprised when I handed him a bag - one for my friend, one for the sick kid, and one for the other "healthy" kid that we hope doesn't get sick!!  I told him to let me know if I can take the healthy kid to give him some space!

I love that I know enough about my friends to help them when they are down or sick!  I love that I personally know what helps them to feel good!  That's a good thing!  I love that my friends become my CHOSEN FAMILY!  They are always there to help whenever needed.  They are there to lift me up and to cry with me and to deal with life.  They are amazing....so....to all of you....thank you for being my CHOSEN FAMILY....Friends for LIFE!

Progress...

I'm on a roll in the fact that I've kept up on this blog.  I don't want to jinx myself yet, but I'll keep it going!!  This blog is easier for me to update and keep updated, since I don't have  I worry so much about keeping private feelings out!

Today was a day of progress!  I was able to volunteer in miss p's school class and as I did my work, I could watch the class and the progress miss p has made in such a small amount of time!  She had progressed so much since the start of this whole ordeal!  It was at the age of 15 months when I finally had the guts to say, "hey, something isn't right, and here is what I've noticed about my baby!"   It wasn't because she was being overlooked, but it was the mother intuition that I've been blessed with to KNOW something wasn't right and I didn't need a medical degree to KNOW!

Most of you know the story so I won't repeat it here, but I count the blessings of being able to see miss p's progress and how far she has come!!  Yesterday she told me she had to practice running, so she put on her new shoes and went running 2 laps around the rectangle!!!  All while I was sitting inside on the couch and watching out the window, because she's too big to have her mom run with her!!!  She is such a determined little girl and she's out to prove many wrong about her incapabilities!! She has mastered things so well and will be ready to enter into kindergarten in the fall at the expense and happiness and sadness of her mom!!!

Progress is a good thing, sometimes, we have to sit on the couch at the window and look for the actual progress and just watch!!!  Progress is out there every where!!!  We just have to take time to find it!

Miss p, you make your mom and dad VERYproud to be your parents!!!  We love you!

Flashbacks!

My ECP and our oldest!

My girls and their "MISSIONARY!"

Today started out as a pretty normal Monday for us.  The kids headed off to school and I had some free time to do some Relief Society stuff for the upcoming month.  It was fine until just after lunch when the breaking news of the explosions in Boston came up.  My initial thought was, "REALLY!!??"  I can't believe this!  Who has the mentality to do this!?  Then my thoughts flashed to 9/11 - this is a hard thing for me since I spent 10 months of my mission in New York City!  I actually had visited the World Trade Center!  I still have my "badge" for the visit to the WTC!  I thought I was watching an action packed movie when the media showed the attacks!  I was also in the hospital with Jamy trying to have Gabby tested to know why she wasn't gaining weight and what we could do to help her.  So many emotions came that day and today some of those emotions came flooding back!  Why?  My heart aches for the world, especially those that have personal ties to people who were lost or hurt at the Boston Marathon!  Hug your family a little tighter today as you send them off to the school, or to work, or wherever they go. 

I know our family prayers this morning will be a little more tender than yesterday when we express our desire for protection as we go many different ways today and allow each of us to return home safely as a family again!  So many things going on today, but I know the Lord will protect us!

Keep strong BOSTON....Carry on!

By the way, the pictures are not always "RECENT."  But I'm trying to include pictures with every post so you can see us and then I can have it for posterity's sake!

Fast Sunday at our house!

I thought I'd put some thoughts down about Fast Sunday at our house.  First of all, we have church from 1 - 4 p.m. so that already explains how hard Fast Sundays can be! :)  We usually sleep in (that means past 7 am at our place!) which always gets a good response. 


Jesus Christ - Our Savior and Redeemer!

This morning we had to do showers since it wasn't done last night as we usually plan.  Once everyone gets showered and dressed, we usually start hearing "today is SO SLOW....I'm SO HUNGRY!"  I remind them why we have Fast Sundays and encourage them to think of something else or find something to occupy their time. 

For a number of years now, television is NOT allowed until AFTER church is over!  The girls agreed to this a long time ago and the rule has still stuck!  Many Sundays are television free - just because there are too many other things that take up the day.

We usually write "our missionary" from our ward.  He's been gone since December and we have written to him just about every Fast Sunday.  That's always a fun treat for the girls to sit down at the table and write to him and think about what to say to him to keep him focused on his missionary work and doing the things that he's supposed to do!


The Salt Lake Temple

Usually I find myself preparing for upcoming talks/lessons or just reading and preparing to hear the RS lessons coming up.  Other days I catch up on my "gratitude" journal, this is always a work in progress and I love seeing the notebook get full (I'm on my second book and I'm counting each of my gratitude blessings and I'm over 2,500 so far!).  I love the time I get to to meditate and think about the past week and the week ahead and wonder how I'll get it done if it's a busy week.

The girls usually find some church music to listen to, or Jamy will play some piano music.  Once in a while we will get some singing going too!  It's fun to have music be in our home and in so many different ways! 

Of course, along with showers, there is lots of HAIR stuff going on too!  Some are using flat irons, some are making curls, sometimes there's even girls doing hair for their sisters!  Bottom line, most of the time it's a happy day (with the occasional "I'm HUNGRY!")  Sometimes there is even "can we go now?  Church will pass the time!" 

So...in the end, after church, we all hurry inside the house from the car and find whatever we can to munch on until Mom gets the food on the table!  I usually try to do a crock pot meal on Fast Sunday so we can eat quicker, but sometimes the kids are NOT THAT patient!  All in all, the girls know when it is Fast Sunday and they know that it can be a hard day, but a spiritual event as well!  We are grateful to have Fast Sundays to pray for specific things or to ask for special blessings!

Fast Sunday at our house can be a good thing....even for Phebe who really tries her hardest to make it through skipping breakfast at least!  She's a trooper!

Hope your Fast Sunday is a good one!!!

A day in the Life of Phebe!

I told Phebe that I would type whatever she wanted to say....trying to keep her words in the structure that she says it and keep the randomness of her conversations!  Here we go!

I like to walk the track with my sister Morgan and my mom and Morgan's class.  I know that I know her teacher for a long time. I love to singing my favorite song, "Give said the little stream."  I could sing it for you...(now she's singing it!)

At school I like to play in the playhouse with my friend, Stephanie.  And when she had long hair, but then when she had short hair I still like it.  I tell you my teachers' names, Miss Tamera and Miss Lanae, and teacher, and then Miss Michelle.  Four teachers. 

A very YOUNG Phebe - 1 month old

Definitely shows her personality!

Sometimes my sisters make me cranky and sometimes they make me more cranky and sometimes they help me do lots of things and help me go to sleep and to take a nap and help me do everything that I'm supposed to do.  And my mom's name is Jenefer (she signs "J-wink" for my name sign). And I don't want to say anything more! Cuz I'm tired, I mean cuz I need to walk the track! Okay I'm done!


Not a bad conversation to have with Phebe...she's SO RANDOM it's PRICELESS!  Love her!  One day, we will look back and smile, chuckle and maybe shed a few tears when we see how much she has grown!

Phebe is definitely the one who rounded up our family!  She's usually mellow, but she is ENERGIZED!  She's done amazing things in her short 4 (soon to be 5) years of her life!  I'm constantly amazed at how far she has come!  She's AN AMAZING GIRL!

LDS General Conference

I wanted to put some of my thoughts from the recent LDS General Conference on the blog.  First of all, it was SO NICE to have my kids FINALLY old enough to keep themselves entertained and actually watching the Conference!  We were able to watch the Conference via the ROKU the family got for Christmas so we watched it all in ASL (American Sign Language)...very cool!  Anyway, the kids had cups of treats (each cup was labeled with a word that would be heard during Conference).  When they heard the word, they could take a treat from that cup.  It worked....Morgan was the diligent one!  She kept listening and listening and scored on the treats!  After the first session, she asked about how much more conference we would have.  So I explained the Conference schedule.  I think she was excited that she still had more conference to watch!

We are always anxious to hear about new temples being announced!  I'll admit, that it is kind of hard for me to hear that another one is being built in Utah.  We have so many in our state while many members of the church have to travel so far and save up so much money just to go ONCE to be sealed together as a family!  But, Cedar City is another opportunity for Jamy and I to take the girls for the Open House and to be able to share that experience with our girls!  It's all about temples!  We've been fortunate to be able to take our girls to the various temple open houses and some dedications in the area!  I should make a list of the Temples we've touched!

We've touched....

1-Salt Lake (MARRIED HERE!)
2-Bountiful Temple (I attended the dedication too)
3-Ogden Temple (waiting to go to the renovated Temple with the kids!)
4-St. George Temple
5-Vernal Temple
6-Monticello Temple (Open house - 2nd time open house)
7-Provo Temple
8-Mount Timpanogos (Open House  and dedication too!)
9-Nauvoo Temple (Dedication only)
10-Palmyra Temple (Dedication only)
11-Atlanta Georgia Temple (Myself only)
12-Mesa Arizona Temple
13-Brigham City (Open House and Dedication)
14-Jordan River (I attended the Open House and Dedication too)
15- Oquirrh Mountain (Open House and Dedication)
16-Draper (Open House and Dedication)
17-Manti Temple
18-Las Vegas Temple
19-New Port Beach Temple (Grounds only)
20-Redlands Temple (Grounds only)
21- Seattle Temple
22- Portland Temple (Grounds only)
23-Columbia River Temple (Grounds only)
24-Twin Falls Temple (Grounds only - Jamy dedication interpreting)
25-Boise Temple (Open House)
26-Rexburg Temple (Open House)
27-Idaho Falls (Grounds only)
28-Los Angeles (Grounds only)
29-San Diego Temple
30-Chicago Temple (grounds only)
31-Winter Quarters (dedication)
32 - Orlando Florida Temple

Jamy's additional list:

1-Cardston Canada (Open House)
2-Washington DC (grounds only)
3-Laie Hawaii (dedication)
4-Kansas City (dedication)
5-The Gila Valley Arizona (dedication)

Not a bad list!  We do have plans to attend the Provo Tabernacle Temple, Payson Temple, Cedar City Temple, Ogden Temple, Phoenix Arizona Temple, Meridian Idaho Temple and a few more in the near future that are close by in surrounding States!  I know that growing up it was a goal of mine to touch every Temple in the world (mind you that the list was VERY small for me growing up!)  However, now there are 140 Temples!!  No way!  I'd have to win a lottery, have frequent flyer miles stacked up and lots of time!!  Now, I'll just make family vacations and touch as many Temples that I can while on trips!  We've made some awesome memories of vacations and Temples!

Anyway, got off topic a little!  Conference was amazing, as usual!  I loved so many of the talks!  I loved President Monson's talk about him being a young boy with the matches - his face expressions were PRICELESS!  Love that he can be candid, but that he teaches us so much!

I loved Sister Dalton's talk!  She's an AMAZING woman!  I know Mallory's heart broke when she was released, however Mallory and I had a chance to meet 2 of the newly called counselors from our Young Women Broadcast experience together.  I love that Sister Dalton is such an outstanding example for many of us to look up to!

I loved all the talks for one reason or another.  I look forward to reading them in the Ensign next month and studying them again and again for the next 6 months!  It's always amazing to see how the talks really do apply to life and to MY life!  There was a specific talk by Elder Clayton that I LOVED so much!  "WATCH AND LEARN."  There are people in my life that would benefit so much from hearing this talk, over and over.  Life may not be perfect for any of us, but with our eternal companions we learn so much!  I'm grateful for Jamy and for the things that I "watch and learn" from him!  He is FIRST, my best friend, SECOND, my husband, THIRD our daughters father, FOURTH, a worthy priesthood holder who honors his priesthood!

Okay, I'm off for the night...twice in the same day, this might be a good thing...not sure I can keep up with that, but I'll sign off for now!

The Church is TRUE!  The Plan of Salvation is what brings me happiness in life!  Temples create ETERNAL families! 

A New Start!

Okay, it was getting too sad for me to not blog on my original blog due to some feelings and chapters of my life that I didn't want to be shared with EVERYONE...so...this new blog has been created for my girls!  This will be our place to share things happening in our lives as the "Reudter Chicks" and we look foward to sharing with you.  I hope that my "Reudter Chicks" will learn how to blog their own stuff here and you can enjoy seeing things from THEIR point of view!

However, that being said, I need people to follow my blog so they have an AUDIENCE!  I'll try to have each girl update something here soon!  But for now, here's some pictures of us!

Our family attends a Stake that includes the Deaf Ward that we are members of.  One of the units in our Stake is the St. Joseph's Villa Branch.  Each month a ward is assigned to visit the Branch and provide service to them as needed.  These are pictures of each of us sporting "missionary tags" while we are serving.  This is an awesome opportunity that our family is having to be missionaries at a young age!  We love being able to be a part of a great Stake and to be in the "mission field" and doing the Lord's work!  I hope that each of our girls will serve a mission (whether at age 19 or with their eternal companions).  I'm grateful that Jamy and I served a mission before getting married.  I look forward to the day when my chosen companion and I can go and serve the Lord again, TOGETHER! Thanks Girls for being awesome daughters and knowing that I am doing something right helps keep the day shining brightly for me!  I love each of you girls!  Each of you have a light within you that helps complete our family!  I know that Families ARE Forever!  I'm grateful that the choices I've made (and continue to make) are choices that you are following.  I hope that your path continues to teach you experiences that will help mold your life in the eternities.  I'm grateful that you chose me to be your Mom.  I am grateful that your Daddy asked me to be his wife!  I love him dearly with everything I have!  He is a very good man and loves his girls!  ALL OF US!  He treats us with respect and spoils us rotten!  I'm grateful that Daddy found me!  I'm grateful that I can wake up each morning with him and I can go to bed each night with him beside me and know that he has a great job that allows me to stay at home and be a Mommy to our 4 princesses and be able to maintain our kingdom and serve the Lord with every opportunity that I am given.  I'm grateful for the family and friends that I have around me that lift me up and buoy me up when things are crazy or not the best, but they know how to comfort me as well.  I'm grateful for the talents that I have been given and I try to share them with others at every opportunity I am given!  I'm grateful for my life, my trials and my challenges, as I know they make me a stronger person and the person my Heavenly Father wants me to be!  I'm grateful that I am a Daughter of a Loving Heavenly Father who loves me and blesses me and my family every day of my life!  I love you Mallory * Gabby * Morgan * and * Phebe!  I love you Jamy!