Monday, March 31, 2014

Lily is 8!

Lily turned 8 this month! 
Here are some photos we took of her in her baptism dress. 
Lily is beautiful in every sense if the word. 
Believe me when I say that it is a treat to be her mother.

She was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints this past Saturday.
There has been an extra special spirit in our house ever since.
We love her and are so proud of her.













Sunday, March 16, 2014

Nourishing Their Spirits

A story shared by Barbara B. Smith in her talk, "Her Children Arise Up, and Call Her Blessed"

“Right after my divorce, I determined that I was going to give my children the best of everything. … I would provide well for them. … I would substitute in every way for their father. I would take them on picnics, build them a tree house, and play baseball with them. I would not allow them to suffer because of our divorce.
“I baked, sewed, ran, played, wrestled. I cleaned, I ironed. I was busy being both mother and father for them.
“One evening I put the three of them in the bathtub together while I finished a chore. Then I came back, soaped the youngest, rinsed him, lifted him from the tub, and stood him on a bath mat while I wrapped a towel around him. Then I carried him off to the bedroom to put his pajamas on and tuck him into bed. I repeated the process with his brother and then his sister.
“As I bent down to kiss them goodnight, my older son said, ‘Sing us a song, please.’
“‘Which one?’ I asked.
“‘“Rudolph”!’ said the youngest immediately.
“‘No, “Johnny Appleseed,”’ said his brother.
“Then their sister said, ‘Sing, “Stay Awake.”’
“‘I can see if I stay to sing one song, I’ll be singing for an hour, and I don’t have an hour to spare. So goodnight.’ I turned off the lights.
“‘Please sing just one song, mommy. You can choose the song.’
“‘What about our prayers?’
“Firmly, I replied, ‘I said goodnight and I mean goodnight.’
“As I walked back to the bathroom to tidy up, I thought of how grateful they would be someday when they were old enough to understand how much I had done for them!
“As I entered the room I stopped short. There on the bath mat were three perfect sets of damp footprints. For one brief moment I thought I saw standing in the footprints the spirits of those precious children I had just tucked into bed. In that instant I saw the foolishness of my ways. I had been so busy providing for the physical needs of their mortal bodies that I was neglecting their spirits. I knew then that I had a sacred obligation to nourish both. If I were to clothe them in the latest fashions and give them all that money could buy and fail to tend to their spiritual needs, I could not justifiably account for my awesome responsibility as their mother.
“Humbled, I went back to their bedroom. We knelt together in prayer. We all four climbed up on the boys’ big bed and sang song after song until I was the only one awake to sing.”
As told by Barbara B. Smith (Link)



Thursday, March 13, 2014

January Photos









These next three are from when Matthew was learning that he could move his hands and touch things. He would focus really, really hard on the little toys that hang from his bouncy chair and slowly but surely his cute little hands would reach his toys. It was so precious. Now that it's March and he's 2 months older he is a pro at grabbing things. I love watching him learn.




Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Day One (and hopefully not the last)

...of being a better blogger.
I need to be better at journaling my life. I have my blog, 2 personal journals (one that I call my "church" journal; I use it as I study my scriptures and to write thoughts that come to me during church. The other one is just a regular old journal), and 1 journal for each of my 5 children. Oh, and I just bought thankful journals for Michael and myself to present to him on our anniversary. The plan is to each write 3 things we are thankful for every night until the journals are full and then (hopefully!) we'll get new ones. So altogether that equals 9 journals that I should be updating. And it's so overwhelming that I update 0 of them. Just kidding. I am pretty good with my regular journal and on and off with my scripture journal. I'll let you be the judge of how I'm doing with my blog journal.
Today I slept a lot. This time change is messing with my family. My kids were up at 4:30am and I was up with them. I supervised them as the played, made them clean their room and then sent them off to school. At 9:30 Matthew and I went back to bed and Sweet Husband Michael stayed home with Riley and Mallory while I slept until almost noon. I feel soooo much better. At the moment Kaylee is playing 50 questions about the items I have in the refrigerator.


"What is this?"
"Why did you buy it?
"What do you put it in?"
"Why did you buy it if you don't know what you put it in?"