The Fifth Wheelers: Random Acts of Kateness

I am sure some of you wonder "What is it like to be Kate?" Well, it is not all Fun and Games, not all Sunshine and Roses....well, wait, it really seems to be most of those things recently. I have lead a very blessed life over the past week and I figured I would share with you some of the fun that is (or was, since it was last week) Kate Wheeler.

On Monday I made Jam! ME! Well, J helped too, I hear "I help you" a lot from J and I figured he could help me make jam, he was interested in smashing strawberries for about 90 seconds and then he moved on to other stuff and eventually he moved on to nap time, and it was during nap time that I boiled the pectin and sugar and finished making the jam. Freezer Jam is AMAZING! I get all the joy of making jam without having to understand the canning process. In fact, it was so easy that I made more jam on Friday night! It looks good, doesn't it. ....mmmmmm..... Strawberry Jam.

We had visitors this week. The Scott and Kim Wheeler family came to town, all 8 of them! We welcomed them to our home and let them hunker down in our basement. They had lots of fun visiting with random friends and family members, and on Wednesday we had a meal here at our house and we added to the numbers and fun by having Steve and Melissa over as well. I like cooking, I like trying new things. And on Wednesday we, Kim, Melissa and I, made Teriyaki Chicken (with brown rice or Chinese noodles and LOTS of fresh vegetables and pineapple) and Hot and Sour Soup. I LOVE hot and sour soup, and I usually just buy a mix for it, but the mix is slightly expensive (for me) and so I haven't had any recently. I now know that it is pretty simple to make and it was really yummy too. See how excited I am to eat it! mmmmm, it was a good meal with wonderful people.

On Thursday and Friday I got to go to Women's Conference at BYU. This is my 3rd year attending and I LOVE IT! Seriously, if you haven't ever gone, plan now to go next year. It is the last weekend in April and it is a fabulous experience. Ken has made it a priority for me to go, I love that! (Thanks Ken) He even took Thursday off work and watched to boys, in payment for his services I got him a very very very nice new BYU Sweatshirt. Lucky Guy.

The past 2 years I have been blessed to go with my Sister in Law Tiff and her Mother and Sisters. I hope to one day talk my Mother and Sisters into coming with me. I know they would love it as much as I do. I came away this year with a couple of very strong impressions. It is interesting to me how I can pick classes to attend that have very different topics yet come away from those classes with almost identical inspirations. This year what I learned was that I need to act- I need to move forward. I need to understand that Heavenly Father has a lot of Trust in me, and so he expects me to make decisions and move forward and not constantly ask him and sit and wait until I KNOW that he wants me to do something. I need to study it out, pray about it, then ACT! If I am going down the wrong path, I can trust that the Lord with stop me. I heard that message over and over again. I believe it is true, I believe I am learning how to be pretty good at it too. This wasn't like a slap across the back of the head, saying "Kate, you really need to do this" it was more, "Kate, you know this, keep going, you are doing great, I am here with you, keep going!"