A Prophet Remembered...

As I think about all of the great things in life, having a Prophet to lead us and guide our spiritual ways tops the list. President Hinckley struck a special chord with me. I was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in May of 2001. There have been a lot of hills to climb. During these times especially around my baptism I relied heavily on President Hinckley as an example. I love him. He has done so much for me in my life. I truly looked forward to hearing from him during each General Conference and I marvel at everything he said and how is directly related to me.

I was fortunate to be able to attend General Conference right after my baptism. I will never forget how I felt when I saw him for the first time. Tear flowed freely from my eyes. To stand in the presence of the Prophet! What joy I felt as many people might never be able to do that in this life. And the wonderous things he has done for us. Temples! He makes me want to visit them all, not a likely goal, but I could get close. I marvel at what an amazing man he was. He loved us so much because when he spoke it was with love.

As I cry in his passing I rejoice in knowing that families are eternal and he is once again with his beloved. At peace. At home. I will miss him so very much as he has impacted my life more than words can express, he will always be a part of my pioneer heritage which I hold so dear. He will always be remembered...

A Big Thank You...

Thank you to everyone that helped me with a new background. So I am just experimenting and getting into this so hopefully it will be more of something that I like! Hopefully I can get my hands onto a bloggind guide for dummies :) Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this new splash of color as I search for a background I truly love...

HELP!!!

So I am computer illiterate or something. HELP PLEASE!!! Anyone...How do I make my blog look cute? I am lost and I am so jealous to everyone that can accomplish this task :( I am so bored with our boring back drop blog and need some help. If you have any idea on how to do this please let me know! Thanks a ton!

Like Sister, Like Brother...

So everything lately has been..."If Gennovah can do it so can I" for Boston! Painting on the easel has been especially difficult. Is this normal behavior for a 2 year old with an older sibling? I am hoping so, because Gennovah and Boston haven't really fought until this past week. I am really hoping that it is him trying to define his independence and it's just a phase of growing up.

Crazy Sounds of Life...

I know the music is crazy, but when you have a 2 and 3 year old and you are constantly chasing after them, this is seriously what I have going on in my head. I can't imagine what an addition would do (Not Pregnant!) or even when they get older. Ugh, for now I will continue to smile and watch them grow up too fast!

I will understand if you have to mute your computer while on our blog ;)

Chuck E. Cheese---

In Chicago we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. Umm, they were wired and I don't think it needs to happen again for a long time! They did have a lot of fun especially on the rides, the games weren't as big as a hit as I thought they would be. They did have a blast! Thanks Omie!

Our Snow Family...

Oh boy. did we have fun building a snow family in Chicago! We just need to have a great snow fall here in Utah so we can show off our snow family :) Especially when we buried Gennovah, Sydney had a great time burying her and best of all Gennovah didn't mind! Boston seemed to like eating the snow versus helping build a snowman. The daddy snow man is missing because we attempted to make him 12 feet tall, but we didn't get any further than the bottom! Oh well, I guess the next snowfall!

More of Our Christmas Fun...

Gennovah asked Santa for Polly Pockets for Christmas and this is the little closet that he remembered to bring to Chicago, since we weren't in Utah. Gennovah was so excited and played Polly Pockets a lot during the rest of our vacation.

Boston being the cute little boy that he is loves Thomas the Train and he got a lot of Thomas books this Christmas. I love that he will just pull a couple off the shelf and sit and look through them. These are a lot of fun because they are two books in one. When a story ends, flip it over and another begins!

Enjoying more presents!

With our very own Santa "Flaws!" My dad always wears a Santa hat when handing out gifts and the kids took turn in my mom and dad's laps opening their gifts. We were very spoiled this year and are grateful for the time that we had in Chicago.

Merry Christmas...

Leaving out some milk and cookies for Santa. He sure did like them because there were none left when we woke up the next morning!Presents, Presents, Presents! We weren't up as early as it might seem because of the dark windows outside :) We were up around 7am, but it was early for everyone else!
Boston was excited to open his stocking and find the goodies inside. Once he had candy he was set for the rest of the morning!

Home Sweet Home...

I know that I am way behind in posting pictures for the blog, but life comes at you fast and I just haven't gotten around to it! We had a very busy Holiday, busy I think is an understatement! For Christmas we suprised my parents and showed up on the doorstep a week before the holiday and they were soooo happy!

We told my parents that I was unable to get off of work so we would spend the holidays here. They were really disappointed since we haven't been out since Gennovah's first Christmas, but little did they know we were planning on Chicago all along! My sister told my mom she got free shipping through work so my mom packed up presents in boxes and gave them to her and instead of putting them in the mail they went into her trunk and closet at home. The best part about it was that my mom had no idea!

We arrived after much delays (not Jetblue) around 11pm. I thought for sure everyone would be in bed, but my mom was addressing her Christmas cards, so we totally lucked out. We parked in the neighbors driveway and hiked through the snow with Gennovah and put her on the porch, I called my mom and played off that my FedEx package was delivered. She went out to check and saw Gennovah and almost started to cry. I think that we made their Christmas a lot of fun! My little brother Andrew bought Guitar Hero III and we had a blast rocking out to different songs. Well he did the rocking out while I tried so hard to keep up with him. I challenge you to play again when you come out in February, Andrew!!!

We were able to see many people while we were in and I am sorry to those that we were not able to spend as much time with. (Grandpa--watch out as I am practicing my gin rummy skills!) It was fun to spend time with family that we haven't seen in forever! Time seemed to fly by and due to a situation with Johnny's work he had to cut his vacation short by a week. The kids and I flew home on New Year's Day to meet back up with Johnny so we could spend time with him before he flies out on Monday (7th) :(

We were sad to go but happy to be home and back to our normal routine. The kids love their beds and so do I. Hopefully we will be able to go back sometime soon, but all in all, our home is our home sweet home...