Understanding the Atonement

The atonement has been on my mind a lot lately. Last week in Sunday school our lesson was about the atonement, and this week the girls and I have spent some time reading about it in the scriptures to fulfill a personal progress requirement. With Easter coming up later this month, I thought now would be a good time to share an experience that I had several years ago, that helped me to understand the atonement a little better. 

For most of my life I struggled with understanding why the atonement had to take place. If God was all powerful, then why couldn't he just pardon us himself? Why couldn't he just look at us on judgement day and say "Well, you tried, and you messed up sometimes, but Because I love you so much, I'm willing to forgive your mistakes and let you enjoy all the blessings I have for you."?

Wouldn't that have been so much easier for him than to have his only begotten, most beloved son suffer as he did for our mistakes?  I just couldn't understand why it was necessary.

Then, I had the following experience...

The trio were around six years old and I had been trying to teach them to do some simple chores and to take more responsibility for themselves. One Saturday, I gave each of them a small list of chores. They had to clean their room, make their beds, and each of them had a small load of laundry to fold (easy items like towels, and their own shirts and pants). If they would get all of their chores done, we would all get to go to the park together. 

The kids LOVED going to the park, so they got started on their chores right away.  The bedrooms and beds were the first to get taken care of. With only the laundry left to do, Sarah and Caleb got right to work on each of their loads and were finished with all of their chores early in the day. However, Eliza was tired of doing chores and kept putting off her remaining responsibility, her load of laundry. 

I tried every tactic I could think of to get her to fold her load. I continually reminded her that a trip to the park was at stake, that it was her responsibility, that it wasn't a hard job, etc... It seemed that the more I pushed, the more stubbornly Eliza refused to fold the laundry. By mid-afternoon it became obvious that she wasn't going to meet the requirements I gave her in order for her to qualify to get to go to the park. 

The thought of telling her she couldn't go was heartbreaking to me. I love all of my children and wanted all of them to have a fun afternoon at the park together. I didn't want to keep her from going, I knew how sad she would be to have to stay home but I couldn't see any way around it. What kind of parent would I be, if I set a requirement for my children, then dismissed it when they didn't fulfill it. How fair would it be to the two children who fulfilled the requirements,  to allow the one who didn't to enjoy the same reward. 

There was just no way around it. Eliza would have to stay home, while I took Caleb and Sarah to the park.

As expected, when I told Eliza that because her load of laundry didn't get folded, she couldn't go the park, she was very upset. She cried and ran to her room. I was upset too. We would miss her at the park. 

Just then, Caleb came to me and lovingly asked:

"Mom, if I fold Eliza's load, can she still go to the park? Because, the park just isn't as much fun without Eliza." 

My heart leapt with joy! Yes. This was the way! This was the only way. Her loving brother was willing to take upon himself her "load" so the requirement could be met. Her laundry would be folded (meeting my demands) and she could receive mercy and go to the park. 

That's when I knew why the atonement had to happen. Just as I had given my children requirements in order to go to the park, our loving Heavenly Father has given us laws. Laws to teach and protect us, to help us grow. However, he knew that we would fall short and sometimes those laws would be broken, so he sent a loving Brother to take upon himself our "load" and make it possible for us to enjoy all the blessing our Father has for us. 

In 2nd Nephi chapter 9:25 we read "Wherefore, he has given a law; and where there is no law given there is no punishment; and where there is no punishment there is no condemnation; and where there is no condemnation the mercies of the Holy One of Israel have claim upon them, because of the atonement; for they are delivered by the power of him." 

The story doesn't end there. You see, Eliza overheard what Caleb had asked me.  It was then, that she understood just how much her brother loved her. He loved her enough to willingly fold her load of laundry and in that moment she was filled with love for him, and to show her love for him, she immediately came out of her room and began helping Caleb fold the load and together, they got it done. What motivated her to complete the task when all my attempts had failed? It was LOVE! It was the love her brother had for her, and love she had for her brother. 

It is so important for us to try and understand the atonement because, when we understand how much our Savior loves us, we come to love him in return and it motivates us to meet the requirements that our father in Heaven has sent forth for us to do and with His help, we can accomplish all that is required of us. 

Feeling the love in Florence, AZ

Valentine's Day was on a Sunday this year. The kids and Adam each recieved their traditional Giant sugar cookie hearts that morning and Adam and I exchanged sweet Valentine cards and goodies. Right after church we drove to Florence to spend the evening with the Gurrs. We enjoyed an awesome dinner and Ty and Lucy's and afterwards Richard made "pazookies" for us! They were so yummy! He had all these miniature skillets and baked cookies in them. Right after they were pulled out of the Oven, he put a scoop of ice cream on them and drizzled the whole thing with caramel sauce! After visiting for a while, we went to Richard's house and played Quiplash! We played until just past midnight! It was So funny and so much fun!

On Monday Adam and Eliza and Caleb hiked up to Flat iron on the superstitions with Adam's brothers and parents and a few cousins. It was a hard hike and I'm so proud of them for making it all the way to the top.

Sarah stayed at Travis and Becky's house and babysat while Calli, Becki and I went out to lunch and did a little shopping. It was a quick little trip, but we all had fun. 

Happy Valentines Day!

A Magical Vacation

Last week the kids and I went to Disneyland and had a wonderful time together. Once again Adam decided not to go so it was just me and the kids. We missed Adam, but it was kind of nice to have some special bonding time, just me and the kids.

We stayed at the Grand California Hotel. We love staying there because it is so close to the parks. 

Our first day there was Thursday. We went to Disneyland and it was a beautiful sunny day. We were able to ride all of the rides we wanted, most of them more than once. I think we rode space mountain three times that day! Some of our favorites were space mountain, Matterhorn, pirates of the Carribian, splash mountain, thunder mountain, star tours and the Indiana Jones ride. We felt so lucky because the lines were so short and often times we got to sit in the front seat of the ride! We ate lunch at the French market and had Pom Frites (delicious French fries with Parmesan cheese and garlic salt) and Monte Cristo sandwiches (a deep fried ham and cheese sandwich). The food was So good!

 

We enjoyed the parade and the fireworks that evening and went to bed early so we could rest up for day two!

On Friday we went to California adventures and we were the second group in line to ride the cars ride! It was so much fun! We rode that a few times, the went to our all time favorite ride, the tower of terror! The kids also love the California screamin' roller coaster. Once again we were able to ride everything we wanted more than once. For lunch that day we had Disneys famous corn dogs and they did not disappoint! We got soaked on the grizzly Rapids ride. Luckily our hotel was so close that we were able to go back to our room and change into dry clothes before heading back to the park.

On Saturday we went back to Disneyland. One funny thing that happened was when the lady who was checking bags (for park security) looked at Caleb and said "You are here with these Beautiful princesses. You must take care of these princesses, especially the Queen throughout your entire life. May the force be with you." Hahaha! We gave Caleb's hard time about that all day. We rode our favorite rides one more time and had a Dole whip at the enchanted Tiki room. We got to ride splash mountain twice In a row because there was no one in line. We didn't even have to get out of the log boat! Then, we went over to California adventures and rode some of our favorites over there before leaving the resort. 

We stayed Saturday night at the Daly's (who just moved to California last month). It was fun because it was their daughter Skylee's birthday and we got to celebrate with cake and ice cream with her. We went to church on Sunday morning at their ward building before driving home. We were home by Sunday evening.

We all had a magical time together and we are already thinking about our next trip! We can't wait to go back! 

Snow Day With The Solomons January 9th

We had such a great time playing in the snow and introducing the Solomon family to the joys of Snowmobiles. We took them over to our favorite sledding hill and took turns driving each other to top of the hill and sledding/snowboarding down. We usually never spend more than a couple of hours playing there, but we were all having so much fun that npbefore we knew it, we had been there for almost 5 hours! We only left because we were all pretty Hungry! We are so glad that the Solomons got to come with us. They are wonderful friends! 

Quist Family Picture Day January 2nd

My Sister Angela and her husband Mike were in town visiting from Virginia so my mom thought this would be a perfect time to get everyone together for a family picture. We all met at Prospector Park in Apache junction and quickly took some pictures and let the kids play. Afterwards we all went to

In-n-out fr lunch. All in all it was a really fun Day! I love my family!

We tried recreating a family picture that was taken years ago!

Happy New Year!

We spent our first day of the new year hiking to hyroglyphic springs with the Hulses, grandma and grandpa Quist, Robertt and Conor and Russ and Torin.  A lot of other people had the same idea so the trail was really packed. We still had a lot of fun though. It was a beautiful day for hiking!

2015 Wrap-up

2015 was another great year! 

Adam and his brother built and sold two spec homes. Triple G grading and excavating continues to grow and keeps Adam busy along with the auto part delivery route. He was put in the bishopric in April and still gets nervous when it's his turn to conduct.

I have another wonderful preschool class this year, and after 8 years of serving in the primary, was released and called to teach in the Relief society.

The trio started the sixth grade and turned 12! Caleb and Sarah are excelling at the piano and Eliza can still out-run just about everyone at her school! 

Daisy is as sweet as ever and has finally gotten past that annoying "puppy stage" we sure love her!  We enjoyed family reunions, a trip to Alaska, and a few trips to Colorado!  

We spent our last night of 2015 with the Quist family at my parents home. We had a Yahtzee tournament with my grandparents, and the kids loved grandpa Quist and uncle Ben's firework show. There was lots of yummy food and great company! The kids loved being with cousins and said it was the best New Year's Eve party they've ever been too!

We are excited to see what 2016 has in store for us! Happy new year!