To Our Dear Sister and Auntie!

Hey Em, Happy Birthday!

Since even the thought of writing a poem literally makes me scared; and if you read it you would be scared too! I "thought" you might enjoy "getting" some of the pictures from our trip that I took with my camera when your batteries were dying. And since I know you love thoughts I thought you might enjoy some of my favorites! I've been saving them for a very special day;) We hope you like them and we hope you have a great day! We love you so much!

"Take someone who doesn't keep score, Who's not looking to be richer, or afraid of losing, Who has not even the slightest interest in his own personality: He's free."
~Rumi~

"Why do people feel guilty about TV? What is wrong with it? Just this: it shuts out all the wonderful things of which the mind is capable, leaving it drugged in a state of thoughtless stupor."

~Hugh Nibley~



"We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bellyfull of words and do not know a thing."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~




"If we love God, do his will, and fear His judgement more than men's, we will have self-esteem."

~Ezra Taft Benson~



"If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people."
~Chinese proverb~







"We must cast aside the Philosophies of men and the wisdom of the wise and hearken to that Spirit which is given to guide us into all truth."

~Bruce R. McConkie~





"To confuse compulsory schooling with equal educational opportunity is like confusing organized religion with spirituality. One does not necessarily lead to the other."

~Wendy Priesnitz~






"School is the advertising agency which makes you believe that you need the society as it is."

~Ivan Illich~

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection."
~Thomas Paine~

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
~William Butler Yeats~

"It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom."

~Albert Einstein~

"No earthly authority can separate us from direct access to our Creator. There can never be a mechanical or electronic failure when we pray. There is no limit on the number of times or how long we can pray each day. There is no quota of how many needs we wish to pray for in each prayer. We do not need to go through secretaries or make an appointment to reach the throne of grace. He is reachable at any time and any place."

~James E. Faust~

"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him."

~Galileo Galilei~

"When priorities are in place, one can more patiently tolerate unfinished business."—Russell M. Nelson

"The family circle is the ideal place to demonstrate and learn kindness, forgiveness, faith in God, and every other practicing virtue of the gospel of Jesus Christ." ~Dallin H. Oaks~

"What we want to see is the child in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in pursuit of the child."

~George Bernard Shaw~