Life is to be enjoyed and not just endured. Here are 10 tips written by my husband as a formula for a happier and healthier marriage.

1. Selflessly serve each other

Have you ever done something for someone else you loved and wished you hadn’t? Of course not. Service is the ultimate expression of love and is a blessing to the giver more than the receiver.

2. Express gratitude

Tell your spouse at least 3 things each day that make you happy and bring you joy. Too often we seek after the rain clouds in our daily forecast rather than searching for the sunlight.

3.Exercise together

My wife and I love to run together. It helps us to get away from our normal responsibilities and talk about the things that are on our minds.  Exercising together will increase your respect and communication with one another.

4. Express love

Be spontaneous and express your love to your partner every day. Have you recently written a note to your partner and taped it on the milk jug  so that when they open up the fridge in the morning for breakfast that is the first thing they see? Genuine expressions of love buoy up the soul.

5. Be where you are

Take time to turn off the iPad, put away the smart phone and just enjoy being where you’re at and not in an alternative cyber universe. Be where you are and enjoy your present surroundings.

6. Show affection

Hold hands, open the door for your partner, sit next to each other on the couch. Showing affection is a physical symbol of genuine love and appreciation.

7. Have a future event to look forward to

Plan a trip and put it on your calendar. Having a future event to look forward to helps when the monotonous and mundane creep into daily life.

8. Date each other

Remember when you first started dating each other? You were up until all hours of the night talking and spending time together and you couldn’t see enough of each other.  Go out! It doesn’t have to be expensive.  The key is to get away and do something together.

9. Laugh

Don’t take everything so seriously! Laughter is medicine for the soul.

10. Pray together

Listening to my wife talk with God in humble prayer is an absolute privilege. To hear her commune with the Lord and express her needs, wants and blessings is an amazing thing. A couple that prays together stays together.

These nerves are fueled by a finding I read some time ago in Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Outliers. One boundary breaking point Gladwell makes for us moms is that the difference in student test scores is mostly visible when the tests are given right after summer vacation. Those students who are engaged academically during the summer, score high. Those students who don’t have opportunities like that, suffer. Everyone makes progress during the school year, but then there are those pivotal summer months–and the cycle begins again.

What this means for me is deliberately planning our summer activities.  We can do a lot in three months to bolster our children’s education. Here are some things that have worked for us:

Summer University Majors  

Each summer, I help my girls choose a “summer university” major (and sometimes a minor) to focus on during the summer months. I tell them that this is their chance to explore topics and interest they don’t have time to explore in the school year.  Together we make a plan for how they plan to learn about this topic and brainstorm ideas for a “final project” such as a poster, a book, a work of art–anything they come up with. 

That might sound hard, but it isn’t really. For example, one summer my daughter wanted to “major” in Harry Potter. She read as many of the books as she could and did a final project by making a stand up poster about JK Rowling. Another time, a daughter wanted to “major” in the American Flag. At the end of the summer, she made a little American Flag fact book.  One summer, a daughter did something similar majoring in famous American women. They’ve also majored and minored in sewing, gymnastics, magic tricks, cooking, composers, writing fiction, and water coloring.

They are loosely “required” (it isn’t that strict of a university) to present their final project at a Sunday dinner at the end of the summer. 

Lots of Field Trips

Once I tutored a boy whose counselor had recommended he spend more time at the zoo, museums and other places to help him build his general knowledge of the world. The counselor said he needed more experiences to help him reference his learning. The more places our children visit and experiences they have, the more “hooks” they’ll have to hang new ideas in science and social studies and in all of their subjects. Thinking of it that way makes me more determined to be deliberate about scheduling summer field trips.  A great resource for summer field trips is Michelle Powell’s Enjoy Utah! website. I’ve lived here my whole life and discover all kinds of new places we need to visit from browsing her site.

Summer field trips work best for me when I commit with friends. One summer I got together with two other moms and we scheduled one field trip a week for our families to do together. This made the field trip interest level go up about 500 percent for my girls.

Summer Camps

For my children, summer camps have been an excellent way for them to discover new interests that they might never have had the chance to discover otherwise. I sing praises to University of Utah Youth Programs for introducing my oldest to film. It was her week long camp at the U of U’s Spyhop that opened up her interest in making movies.  It was a week long camp at the U of U’s art frenzy camp that introduced another daughter to her love for art. I am also a big fan of Write On! Workshops summer camp at Westminster College.  Many parents give this camp credit for helping their children develop their confidence as writers as well as giving a boost to children who are already passionate about writing and need a place to shine.  One other suggestion is to check out the myriad of affordable summer course listings in the  Granite Peaks Catalog.

You

Sometimes we overlook the fact that we as parents are one of the best resources our children have for learning and growth. It is easy for me to get into a frenzy of summer planning and not leave enough time for sitting on the lawn and reading library books together or working together to figure out what to do with all those summer tomatoes in the garden. Part of deliberate summer planning should also include leaving open time to just be together. We don’t have to “outsource” their whole summers. Our children can learn a lot from making dinner with us, riding bikes with us along the parkway, or having us sit next to them during a summer piano practice. Summer months are precious and the years where “true” summers exist for our children pass by quickly.  I hope to schedule (and unschedule) this time with great care.

More on Today’s Mama

Simple Ways to Boost Your Home Learning Environment

Praising What is Working: The Part We Sometimes Forget

Summer Writing Camp for Children and Teens

The animals have arrived at Hogle Zoo!…….LEGO animals, that is!

Now through September, you can see LEGO pieces formed into the shape of animals, and scattered around various locations at the Hogle Zoo.

Sean Kenny is the sculpture of the “Creatures of Habitat: A Gazillion-Piece Animal Adventure” exhibit. He was the first person in the world to be named a LEGO Certified Professional by the LEGO Group in 2005. The polar bear is the largest sculpture he has ever created! It took him over 1,100 hours to complete utilizing 95,000 LEGO bricks.

The LEGO animals are sculpted after many different animals from around the world, including the Arctic, Peru, North America, Guam, Ecuador, Borneo, Congo and Brazil.

Make sure to step inside the LEGO mosaic outside of the Great Ape building to take a photo and see how you would look as a LEGO gorilla or orangutan.

Join the Block Party!

Most days in the main plaza, try your hand at creating your own LEGO creation. This area is included with your zoo admission.

Remember, the Hogle Zoo is included with your Connect Pass, so make sure to pick one up before you go if you don’t already have one!

Visit the Hogle Zoo website for hours, admission, and more information.

More Family Fun:

• Kids’ Summer Movie Programs 2013
• Geocaching in Utah
• Summer Bingo

In one of the other corners of my life I manage this Southern Utah site called Alive! Utah. We love to giveaway stuff on the site every once in a while. And we like to make sure the giveaways are packed full of Utah vendor product. Our Mother’s Day giveaway is going on right now and there are some pretty amazing prizes in this big giveaway including stuff like amazing chocolate, a music CD, a photo session, jewelery and recipe books and more.
Best part is all the vendors participating are right here from Utah and all of them are women. Go check it out and enter in the next 5 days.

See the Mother’s Day Giveaway to spoil yourself or another woman in your life.

This is our favorite new discovery.

The golden key to this snack is, of course, the French Vanilla Coffeemate. I am not a coffee drinker so I have, in gross error, passed by this lovely product many times at the grocery store.  Now that I know, it sits alongside the milk in our refrigerator ready to be poured over fruit at any moment. It is seriously SO good that my six year old wants to marry it. I am delighted to report that Coffeemate is now sold in bulk at Costco. Sweet.

Finally, please note, I don’t pour this product on too freely. The calories in Coffeemate are not for free.

But two tablespoons over fruit can go a long way. And my whole family agrees.

More Food on Today’s Mama:

Easy Caramel Apples to Make with your Kiddos

Basil Pesto Dressing recipe and what to do with other fruits and veggies

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

I had the honor of meeting with some of the staff of Mentors International this week. They contacted Today’s Mama about doing a blog (or two) for them about an upcoming fundraiser (more on that later). As I talked with Susan and Adriano, it was obvious that they have a passion and heart for service.

Mentors International is a non profit organization that gives microcredit (a loan usually in the amount of $100 – $150) to a qualifying individual. One of Mentors International’s slogans is A Hand Up – Not A Hand Out. They support self reliance through microcredit and education. Many of the hardworking poor in developing countries—often illiterate—become entrepreneurs by default. To qualify an individual must have some type of business for at least one year and has to be living in poverty. The business also has to be their main source of income and they must live in the area where their business is located. The business could be selling tomatoes from your front porch, making and selling tortillas, doing hair or making and selling hand made crafts. Individuals sign a contract that the funds will only be used to grow their business and repayment is is made in 3-6 months depending on where they live. They have over a 95% repayment rate.

Along with providing the microloan, Mentors International helps their clients with a simple business plan and teach them bookkeeping, marketing, pricing and purchasing principles. In Guatemala, they meet with the clients weekly and put together groups of 5-7 individuals (who are cosigners of each other) that create an accountability and training network. In Peru, they set up what they call a common bank – a group of 15-20 people that are cosigners and provide the accountability and training structure necessary to make these endeavors successful. All groups are overseen by local Financial Mentors that work for Mentors International.

For people in these countries loans, with reasonable interest rates are impossible to come by. People in developing countries who live in poverty don’t have access to banks or collateral. The village loan shark charges very high interest rates on a tiny loan. Hard-earned profits go straight back into the loan shark’s pocket, and people are locked in a cycle of debt payments that leave them with almost no profit to show for their routine 80 hour work weeks. They have nothing with which to expand their businesses and nothing with which to improve their families’ well-being. This harmful lending is common in developing countries.

You wonder how $100 can make such a difference? Microloans enable poor entrepreneurs to:

• Purchase tools and raw materials
• Increase product variety
• Improve product quality
• Enhance productivity and hire employees
• Satisfy market demand

A powerful change occurs when you give someone a chance. People in developing countries take pride when they realize they can end poverty through their own initiative. They improve not only their own lives, but in a widening circle of impact, the lives of their families, their communities, and their nations. Mentors International’s clients move from everyday survival to planning for the future. They improve their businesses as well as their families’ entire socioeconomic standing. Their children eat better, live in improved housing conditions, receive better healthcare, and attend school.

The ripple effect knows no boundaries. For each person who runs a business that generates a sustaining income, an average of at least five others receive food, clothing, shelter, and education. Eventually, the positive impact of one person can lift an entire community. In honor of all of their hardworking Mom’s they are doing a fundraiser.Let’s Pay It Forward This Mother’s Day!

The girls of Troop 2149 got together and looked at some of the issues facing girls today. After some brainstorming, they came up with the idea to create a series of puppet shows based on these issues and perform them for our Service Unit Daycamp. They had over 60 girls in attendance. Get some popcorn and pull up your tweens and enjoy our production of “The Bully” ~

One of the kids is already signed up to participate in a children’s community theater in Cedar. She will be performing in Beauty and the Beast Jr. at the beginning of August.

But here are some more fun ideas for summer theater workshops for those budding thespians.

Willow Glen Theatre in Cedar City is holding two youth acting programs this summer in Iron County.

photo courtesy of Willow Glen Theatre company.

This five-week intensive theater workshop and performances will feature dance, singing, and acting workshops taught by professionals and students from Southern Utah University.

Auditions for the musicals  Oklahoma! and Into the Woods will be held on May 9 from 4-8 p.m. They will be held at Willow Glen Inn (3308 N. Bulldog Rd, Enoch).

Dates: The first workshop for youth 13-18 years of age runs Monday-Thursday from May 20-30 and then Monday-Saturday June 3-15 (from 5:00-9:00pm) with performances of Oklahoma! on June 18, 19, 21, 25 and 26.

Dates: The second workshop for youth 8-12 years of age runs Monday-Wednesday from June 18-27 and then Monday-Saturday July 1-16 (from 5:00-9:00pm) with performances of Into the Woods on July 17, 18, 19, 22, and 23.

Program Fee: $100 per student (for the workshops, costumes, and rehearsals)

For more information visit http://willowglentheatre.com/youth-intensive/

The Utah Shakespeare Festival also holds several different theater workshops throughout the summer.

Shakespeare for Junior Actors is for youth 11-15 years of age.

Here is the lowdown straight from bard.org

Tuition includes tickets to the Festival plays, chaperoned dormitory accommodations, and all meals.

Session 1: July 14–20; Session 2: July 21–27;

Session 3: July 28–August 3

Early Bird: $795 — register before April 1

Regular: $895 — after April 1

Utah Shakespeare Festival Playmakers will also hold summer acting workshops for $90 a session. Summer sessions focus on Shakespearean scene work. For more information visit bard.org.

Tuacahn that amazing theater in the desert of Ivins, Utah also has a musical theatre camp for kids age 11-14

Desert Stars Musical Theatre
A Musical Theatre camp for young people ages 11-14.
Dates – July 9 – 13, 2012
Time – 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm Monday – Thursday & 10:00 am to 1:00 pm on Friday
Class Location – Tuacahn High School Black Box Theatre

TUITION
Early Registration (Before June 1, 2012)
$100 ($95 per Camper plus a $5 Registration Fee)

Late Registration (After June 1, 2012)
$130 ($125 per Camper plus a $5 Registration Fee)

Save 33% by registering early!
All Tuition is non-refundable after June 1. Tuition includes: registration fees, all master classes, class rehearsal materials, camp t-shirt, backstage tour, daily treat break and final combined performance.

Contact:
Jan Shelton Hunsaker, 435-652-3324
Tuacahn High School, 435-652-3201

I have a friend whose son was diagnosed with autism about 10 years ago. Within 3 weeks he had lost most of his words. Intuitively she started him on a gluten free diet. If you met him today (he is 12), you would never know that he was ever labeled with this word.

I am not saying the gluten free thing is a solution for everyone. I am saying that we don’t know as much as we think we do. Everyone’s biochemistry is different. I use that example because I personally know the family. Look at this video of Carly. Who could have known the causes of her outbursts? Now she can tell us. Pretty insightful, and profound. Carly – Thank you for sharing….

To learn more about Carly check out her website

I DO, I DO!!

Well, I do and I found some cute ones. Exercise planning, medicine tracker, meal planner, house cleaning, and Christmas planning. All cute designs and really fun.

Check out Life on paper  for some helpful daily organization.

Other Fun Printables

12 days of Christmas

Kids Christmas List

Money helper for Kids

Thanksgiving meal planner