Service for Jake

I was listening to a talk the other day from General Conference called "We'll Ascend Together" by Linda K Burton. It's an amazing talk about how important fathers and husbands are, regardless of what the world is telling us. She asked some questions about when was the last time we praised them and did service for them and it made me realize how much I needed to work on that.

That morning during breakfast, as we were watching Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Daniel was talking about doing service for others because it makes your heart feel good.  I got the feeling we should make Jake his favorite cookies and that I could involve Kaycee to not only make a fun memory but teach her about service.

I found a recipe on Pinterest and we went to the store to buy the stuff we didn't have. We also went to Costco and got Jake some chocolate covered coconut almonds - his favorite. We came home from the store and put on our aprons to start baking!

She added a few of the ingredients and loved to watch while I used the beaters, then would pretend to help me stir. She stood so good on her chair and never tried to jump down. 

She LOVED licking the beaters! And she didn't put that measuring cup down the whole time!

She stood by me while I put them in balls and kept sticking her hand in the bowl to eat the cookie dough. She's just like me - I LOVE cookie dough!! While the cookies baked we had lunch and then I let her have a cookie so she could enjoy the fruit of her baking labors.

Right before nap Kaycee helped me color a card for dad too. It was hard to keep it a surprise for Jake since I wanted to send him the pictures but we waited until he got home to see his cookies. He was surprised and has told me so many times how yummy they are. I'm not normally a baker so that makes me feel so good that I found a recipe that I can make homemade cookies with! 

I've been looking for ways I can provide more service to Jake because he works so hard for us and completely deserves it. In addition to making him cookies, I gathered up all the garbage that night and took it to the curb for him and also picked up all the weeds in the backyard and added them to the garbage while he was having some down time to himself in the house. He was so surprised the next morning when he left for work and saw all the weeds in the garbage can. I absolutely love that feeling of knowing that I did something to make someone else happy. 

In addition, I had so much fun making cookies with Kaycee. I totally can't wait to do it again. I also was able to listen to a prompting from the Spirit to do something nice for Jake and to involve Kaycee. I've been praying for more opportunities and everyday teaching moments and this was definitely an answer to a prayer!