I like sports. A lot. When I was a teen I remember couples having issues over how much sports the husband watched. I determined that I didn't want to be one of those couples so I learned about sports. The game, rules, how to play. I loved racquetball, softball, and volleyball and have a pretty competitive streak. (But, not as much as the boyfriend, but that's another story.)

The thing is, though my husband is great at sports, he doesn't get into watching them that much. I learned all that to be the one who stays up and watches the games. By myself. Go figure. 

I only commit to watch 1 or 2 teams because I wouldn't do anything except sit in front of the tv otherwise. When a game comes on I tell my children, "I'm not your mother right now" do not bother me. I do have a couple of friends who come over and watch the games with me sometimes. There's a lot of noise making when we watch. 


My sport of choice is football and my team of choice is BYU. Going to the games in Provo was so much fun and I've missed that. (We have tickets to the game in November in Kansas City)


In honor of the coming season here is a printable that I've done.

I've also done this print for my husband who wakes up the kids by singing, "Rise & Shout the Cougars are out!" Needless to say the kids aren't thrilled with the song. But I hope you're thrilled with the watercolor printable. Click the image below or here.

Share this with a sports fan you know.

Have you ever sat to sing songs with your (grand)kids and only remember a handful of those songs. I know just about all the Primary songs (Primary Chorister, favorite calling in the world!) but I still couldn't manage more than a few in the moment. Being a problem solver (ie: creative) I came up with this idea and designed it. A Primary Song Sing • Along Quilt. It's a quilt I can pull out that has over 50 songs listed on it. There'll never be a lull again. I can't make you all quilts but I can sell the fabric panel so you can make your own. 

So that's what I've put in our Etsy Shop - Primary Song Sing•Along Fabric Panel.

Singing the songs are so important for teaching the gospel. I think this is what I'm going to be giving to each of my grandkids when they're born. But I could see it being used as a babysitter blanket, wall hanging, singing time bean bags (cut down smaller), or pillowcase. 

What would you make out of the Primary Song Sing • Along Quilt Fabric Panel?

Happy St. Patrick's day next week. Don't let the Polynesian looks fool you - I'm Irish. And the part of me that's the most Irish is the kissing part. Yeah I like to kiss. Probably has a lot to do with the Boyfriend I kiss. But I digress. 

Since we're talking about kissing, some of my kids (they're 8 of them) have come to me in their teens and asked, "How old do you have to be to kiss?", "When is kissing alright?", or "Is kissing wrong?" That's such a loaded question for a parent!

On the one hand you don't want to encourage it, like it's all good, go ahead, kiss whoever you want. Then on the other hand you don't want to discourage it, make them all freaked out and repressed as if it's wrong. And sometimes kids just want to find out what their parent's are going to say just so they can do the opposite. But you're not sure when they're going to use that tactic. See the problem? So I've always handled it this way - with the truth.

I tell them kissing is fun. Very fun. That I really haven't met too many people who are just starting out on the relationship road say that kissing is boring. I tell them it's exciting. I tell them it drives a mix of emotions. I tell them it's meant to lead us to greater intimacy.  I tell them once you start you really don't want to stop. I tell them that it's very hard to go in reverse once you start. Lastly, I don't tell them when it's okay to kiss. I just say, "Put it off as long as possible." That's it. I put it back on them to decide. Risky I know. But to my surprise most of them have put it off much longer than... well never mind. My kids read my blog sometimes.

Okay, so we were talking about St. Patrick's day. See how sidetracked I get with the kissing stuff? Go get my gift Kiss O' The Irish print here. Then kiss someone. And then tell me how you've handled the kissing question in your family.

There's busy good and there's busy bad. I consider learning to be one of the busy goods and I've been on a streak lately. 

• I've learned how to do editable PDFs (still working on being quick at it) which many of you have asked about and will be very cool to add to some of my future downloads. 

• I've learned some and continue to learn about surface design. They're a couple of fabric projects that I did months ago that I'm so excited about sharing with you. (I'll post soon)

• Being an artist as well, I'm learning how to take my hand drawings and make it into digital artwork. Then I can use it for so many things, some of which will make it here to LDS NEST. Plus I've gone a totally new creative direction with Shannon's Studio which has caused me to rework my brand and website. All the new things will be up in about a month. Sooner I hope. 

• Plus I'm doing a little website housecleaning here too. (Which I would love to know what you like best about LDS NEST. Or maybe you'd like to see.) 

• Then the best good busy news for us as a family is that our youngest son Wade got his mission call yesterday. We love Utah and lived there for 15 years. In fact, until about 5 years ago the St. George Mission used to be in the Provo Mission where we lived. (We moved to Missouri about 7 years ago.) Being born and raised in Provo Wade said it feels like coming home. 

Because of all my new learning I haven't finished anything for LDS NEST lately so I went back through my files and found a camp craft I haven't shared with you. It's a flower clip and the gift download is here. You'll find photo instructions and supplies list. We gave this to the YCLs and they taught it to the girls.

As I was looking through things I couldn't find another camp craft that I thought I posted. I'm sure I posted it but figured if I couldn't find it then maybe you wouldn't be able to either. So, I'm re-posting that too. That gift download is here.

Well, that's just a little update of my good busy life. How's yours going?

Today I put my first editable PDF online for you Nesties. Happy dance. I know it's not a big deal to some of you but it feels like a big deal to me. Other Nesties have been asking me about editable (means you can write your own text in certain places) PDFs. I just didn't know exactly how to do them but now I've figured it out. I've been working on several (Hundred?) projects and many will include the editable feature from here on out. This one just has a few check boxes and one place for writing but that's all this needed. Now on to what 'this' is.

The Nested Family - Collected Bits to Build Unity. This series will include 40ish tips on how to build family unity. Today is only the first tip, COMMITMENT, but it's pretty necessary. Maybe you might want to discuss the level of commitment needed for an eternal family for FHE tonight. Read it below or you can get our gift download for later reading here. 

Here's the third page that gives you space to write your Personal Commitment Pledge. Then you can put it on your Ring Thing for handy referencing. (Download our Nestie gift to you here.) 

This is part of my RESET One Word Resolution which leads to taking my family COMMITMENT to the next level. 

Does family unity come easy to you? 
Happy FHE tonight.

The Family • A Proclamation to the World turns 20 this year. All grown up. 

Its birthday makes me think of when it was announced and the subsequent comments from some people. At the time they said it was so "vanilla". Meaning that it was an ordinary. A common knowledge flavored document. 

Well, prophets being what they are weren't exactly intending it for the generation it was given to. Of course it was meant to guide the 1995 generation but it was given then, when it was so "vanilla", so it would have time to sink in before today's full frontal assault on its principles began. It gave us time as a people to prepare our minds and hearts to really understand God's mind.

It also makes me evaluate how I've passed on those principles to my kids. They're the ones that are really going to have to get out there and articulate the Proclamation's point of view. We've tackled some of the tough subjects - gender, same sex attraction and marriage, gender roles - but we'll continue to talk. 

This little download is a Family Proc summary at your finger tips. Puts it in kind of a fun format. Usually I make downloads for My Ring Thing but this one was a special request for a particular purpose and needed to fit inside the scriptures (5" x 7"). Maybe you can use it in yours. Go to our download page here for your gift copy.

For 38% of you this post will mean nothing. Because that's the percentage of people who never make a New Year Resolution. My Boyfriend is one of them. (So you can stop reading now Love) 

I've always been into making them. When I was younger I'd have several goals each year. It helped me accomplish many of the things I wanted. I really enjoyed the process back then.

But the past few years things have changed for me. First, I'm very content with a lot of my life. Second, I realize how not in control of some of my life I am. Third, because I'm not in control of a lot of things that affect me deeply I started leaning in a different direction looking to strengthen my character to deal with those things. And fourth, it's pretty easy to focus since there's just one.

So I made a switch. Some of you are probably familiar with the One Word New Year Resolution.

BRAVE for 2014 was a perfect fit. Some of the reasons why I've shared and some I haven't. But it was very fitting. Now on to 2015.

I've been wondering what word I wanted and needed for 2015. I've been thinking about it for a couple of weeks and yesterday I went through a process I have to come up with a word that "fit". Then today I hit on... 

Leila's death has taken it's spiritual toll on me. Getting back to the basics of stronger praying, scripture reading, and pondering will reset my spiritual foundation. I know the Primary answers work. 

Then there's Leila's son, Joseph. He's been with us on and off since he was born. It looks like it will be more "on" from here on out. I have 8 children and my youngest is 14. There were still several years left for a few of them at home but I was on the downhill side of the motherhood mountain. And I was coasting.

With the prospects of Joseph being here for an undetermined while, I'm needing to reset my motherhood button. At 52 that's an immense undertaking. I totally get why we have babies while we're young. But, I also know we get good at things we do and I've been doing the mom thing for 29 years. I'm pretty good at it but I need to restart that engine. With all that Joseph is missing in his little life having lots of love and people who know what they're doing will bless him. It could go without saying but he's already been a huge blessing to us.

So that's my 2015 One Word Resolution and a little of why I chose it. Does anyone else do One Word Resolutions? Resolutions at all?

Hello, Lovely people! So I've been busy with school stuff--I had to write down instructions for proper hand-washing and diaper-changing. Seems a little boring and tedious because, like, as moms we do this all the time. Anyway, I decided to make my instructions cute and you can download them for free here. I'm trying out a new download place since our previous downloader has been super sketch. Just enter $0 in the payment option. 

These can spruce up your bathroom or changing table area. They would also be great for early childhood educators or in day-care centers. Enjoy!

There's a lot of talk about women, priesthood, and excommunication lately. Plenty of commentary on it as well. Some of it good, some not so much. Since the recent issues deal with Latter-day Saints directly we at LDS NEST had to think about what to say. Or not say in the discussion.

Personally, I always have plenty to say. Very opinionated in fact. But, I have a little motto -

Having lots of opinions I've realized that it's likely not all of them are good. So, I like to think about things a little before I venture opening my mouth. What should LDS NEST share? What's the message out of recent events? What discussions really help people? How does one help people stay on spiritual track? My thinking lead me to the scriptures and Alma sums it up for me.

I feel for the families who are struggling with these issues and I think of my own. Any one of us can, and often does, error. But what keeps bringing us back around is the word of God. Plain and simple.

So... Do we read it? Do we know it? Do we teach it?

In answer to how we should approach current events I came to the conclusion that the best use of my time and effort for my family and LDS NEST would be to make sure we share pure doctrine (Something that is "more powerful on minds than anything else".)  With that idea we had a FHE lesson about the Priesthood - Priesthood Power. I thought I'd share what I came up with, with you.

I read through Elder Oaks recent talk, Keys and Authority of the Priesthood, other talks and scripture. The information can be tricky to understand and I wanted it to be clear to my kids so I summarized it all out in a way that made sense to me. It made sense to them. Maybe it will make sense to you too.  There is a free download Ring Thing here.

Besides the Ring Thing Lesson there is a Lesson Outline to go with it and Power Bar wrappers. It's just a little added bonus for fun that you can purchase here (it includes all the Priesthood Power handouts.) Next on my mind to teach my kids about is Apostasy. What do you think about the subject?

We've been having a terrible time with our download site (ge.tt). It's a free service so we can't complain much but it's frustrating. For you and us. It's been down on and off for the past month and many of you have tried to download our nestibles and haven't been able to. Some of you have emailed us to ask for files and we try to get back to all of you. (Sorry if we've missed someone.)

The nice thing about the download mess is that we get to meet some of you, Nesties, through email. One such person is Janelle J. She emailed about some files and said she was doing them for YW. She had a great idea that we have to share.

If you've been around LDS NEST you know about our Compliment Kits. The first file had over 3000 downloads and the new one put up a couple of weeks ago has a few hundred. A few of you like it.

Janelle liked it and did the Compliment Kits with her YW. But, the fabric covering was going to be trickier than she wanted to do so she came up with an alternative. Duct Tape Covered Tins. Genius easy. I asked for a photo and her's turned out so cute that I asked if I could share it with you. She kindly said yes.

Do you have any photos of your Compliment Kits you want to share? Share them on our Facebook page.

It's been camp, camp, camp on my brain. And I have a few things to share with you about that. But, for today, I've got a print in our Esty shop that I did before the camp rush.

The Boyfriend and my anniversary is next month (we're celebrating 32 years) so marriage has been on my mind. I kept seeing "all you need is love" or "love is all you need" everywhere on Pinterest when I was doing a little research. Anyone who's been married any length of time (or even for shorter periods) knows it takes more than love. Sure it's the basis, but if it were all up to love we wouldn't have any broken relationships. Married or otherwise.

"Love is all you need" is such an over simplification. Love is the start and the driver but it better get some other passengers on board (forgiveness, patience, fidelity, kindness, etc.) if it wants the fuel to go anywhere for any length of time. Can you tell I have strong opinions about this? Do you?

Well I didn't want anyone in this house thinking that all they had to do was have a little love for a strong relationship so I put my thoughts to paper. And tried to make it handsome. You can find it here.

What are 3 qualities besides love that you think a relationship, any relationship, needs?

PS • You might want to give it as a wedding gift. Just a thought.

Here's a little FHE for Father's Day - Cracker Jack Dad. It's all about the Dad in your family.

Let us know how you appreciate the Dads in your life.

We hope everyone's Mother's day was meaningful. Mine was. Especially this year. 

I went to visit Leila's gravesite Saturday. And, I actually took a selfie. Don't know why I just went with it. (Alisha left some lovely flowers there earlier in the day.) It was a pretty teary-eyed hour, no surprise. 

For some reason I just wished that I could bring Joseph there. I know she's not really there but I think there's something about going anyways. On Sunday, Leila's husband came up with Joseph so I asked if I could take JoJo to Leila's graveside. He said yes and came with us. I know this might not be able to happen every year and he's likely to have another mother to celebrate but I'm glad I got to this first year. Considering the day before, amazingly I didn't cry once with Joseph there. I was happy for the moment. Who wouldn't be happy around a face like that!

Which brings me to my New Year's resolution word post that I did a few weeks ago but haven't shared yet. I felt maybe I was being over dramatic or something with my word choice. But, after my first Mother's day without Leila it seemed like exactly the right word at the right time. So here it is...

I used to do a list of goals for my New Year's resolutions and I've loved the lists I've done over the years but I find that it's really a year round habit now.  So the past few years I've used a different method. Now I pick one word for the year to work on. For 2011 it was "Focused" and 2012 was "Finish". I had one for 2013 but didn't write it down, just had it floating in my head. Then when Leila died everything changed and I seriously can't remember what it was. 2013 will forever be a different kind of year for me.

When 2014 came I picked another word. I like to "wear" the word for a month or two before I commit to it. It has to feel right. That's one of the reasons I like this change in methods for resolutions. It makes me go deeper into my feelings and it becomes more meaningful. 
My word for 2014 is...

I know I'm not letting you know until the year is almost half over. Don't judge :) Like I said, it has to feel right. And sometimes right doesn't fit the calendar's timetable. 

Then I made something to help me remember this year's word. It's been in one of my black idea books for a little while now and it seemed like a good time to do it.

It also has a special meaning relating to a phrase in my patriarchal blessing that really helped/helps me. There's also a song by Sara Bareilles - Brave - that's a little upbeat reminder. So, this year I'm gonna be BRAVE!

That was my post before Mother's day. Then this morning I read this post by one of Joseph's amazing NICU nurses, Sally. More tears. As it turns out I was able to put "my word" into full practice the last few days. If nothing else, this weekend I was brave.

Do you have a word to share?

Extreme weather storms are going through parts of the US right now causing disaster in its wake. It makes me think of this FHE lesson - Let's Go Get Our Emergency Kit we've done in the past. It has scriptures that tie into things needed in an emergency kit. I've included an outline for FHE too. It might be a useful FHE to do this month.

I've also included a YW Personal Progress Activity for Knowledge #7. It can be done on a mutual night and then the girls can go home and give the FHE lesson to their families as part of it.

This doesn't stop the storms but it gives a sense of peace, especially for children. They don't feel so helpless. And even if everything including emergency kits or food storage are destroyed we can go to the Lord in confidence, asking for mercy, knowing we did all that we could. I hope none of us are effected and that we can serve those who are. Be safe.