Spring Break- Salt Lake

We all enjoyed a wonderful day in beautiful Salt Lake!  I absolutely love the Salt Lake Temple.  I am filled with gratitude every time I walk the grounds and reflect on the faith of the early saints.

We were able to take my little sister Alisa with us on our day trip.  She is an absolute delight and is a sweet aunt and best friend to my boys.

One of our favorite stops of the day was the church history museum.  I haven't visited the museum for years, and it was the first time we've taken our children. 

They had a special quilt exhibit, and they also had a wonderful exhibit for the children to explore.

We also peeked into the new church history library and learned how they store all of the special collections.  We ate lunch at the Nauvoo Cafe on Temple Square, and finished our afternoon at the Clark Planetarium.  It was a cold and blustery day, but we had a great time being all together!

Spring Break- Mini Golf

We had a fun mini golf adventure with great friends! 

Golfing is always more fun

When you have friends to goof off with!

Mitchell had a golfing style all his own

and Caleb especially enjoyed the attention he received from a very special young lady!

Thanks for the fun!

Spring Break- A Day at the Park

We just finished a week of Spring break!  We stayed close to home, and had a great time having little adventures together!  

Even though we've been living in Spanish fork for 10 months, we hadn't been to the park by the ball fields and Spanish Fork river!  We tried it out early in the week and enjoyed it so much that we ended our week there as well!

 The kids enjoyed exploring the play ground.

  Even though Mitchell is a care free little guy, he also has a really cautious side- hence his phobia of swings and slides... as you can see, he's slowly over coming his fear and even tried "no hands!"

 We loved the walking path along the River!  We saw lots of little critters and even saw an otter on Saturday!

 We walked all the way to the "troll" bridge and Mitchell left a treasure for the troll so he wouldn't be grumpy. 

I just love finding special places to visit close to home! A day at the park was great way to start Spring break!

Venn Diagram

You know your boys have math on the brain when you find a Venn diagram on the table made out of milk circles and cornflakes. 

Bedtime with Mitchell

Bedtime with Mitchell is sprinkled with magic.  Each night we either have a rock bye time or ten kisses and a head rub.

On  rock a bye nights Mitchell chooses a blanket that covers us both us both up, then he melts into my lap and waits for me to start singing.  Right now his favorite songs are You Are My Sunshine and I know that my Savior Loves Me.  Tonight as I was rocking him he looked up at me and said, "Mom, when you sing to me so nicely it makes me feel like I'm by Jesus." 

Most nights I tuck Mitchell right into his bed. On those nights he always asks me to rub his head and give him ten kisses.  He counts each kiss and giggles every time I pass ten and give him a "few extras."  Sometimes we do "longest kiss" in the world.  Then he always says, "Mom... you're beautiful."  And I always respond "And Mitchell... you're wonderful."  Because he is.

ps.  Today at church Mitchell put his hands on my cheeks and said, Mom, you are my sunshine.  

 Melting.My.Heart.

Happy Jam

Look what I saw when I took the lid off my raspberry jam!  

HAPPY JAM!

April Fools!

For April Fools day I made pizza for breakfast!  The boys were surprised to start the day with pizza, cheese bread and root beer.  Then we had a cold cereal breakfast for dinner!

The best tricks of the day:  Josh put salt on Dallan's tooth brush and got him GOOD!  I found fake spiders placed all around the house by little boys trying to catch me by surprise.  Josh also glued a nickle to our side walk to see if he could trick anyone into picking it up.  What little tricksters I have.  I wonder where they got that from?

One on One

In an effort to get more individual time with the boys one thing I've tried this year is checking them out from school for their orthodontist and dentist appointments rather than doing it after school. It's only a couple of times a year, but it's a chance to give them some special time. I check them out at lunch time so they don't miss much, take them to their appointment, then take them out to lunch with me when they're finished. Hey, some times you have to get creative!

Mitchell usually joins us, and yes, that is an "S" on his head.

He had a week where every day he had me paint a superman sign on his forehead so everyone would know he was a super hero.

Markus Zusak

This weekend I had the opportunity to listen to Markus Zusak and was thoroughly delighted. I was really touched by his insights in his book, "The Book Thief" and was really looking forward to hearing what he had to say. I'm a note taker, so I came armed and ready with my note book and pen, yet hardly jotted down a thing. He was all heart, and that's how I had to listen-with my heart rather than my pen. I soaked in every minute. I love living in a community that provides opportunities like this. It is a wonderful feeling to be in a room full of hundreds of people who are plugged in.... to books.

Chick Magnet

 

A Season to Remember

Dear BYU basketball team

Thank you for a season that had us all smiling game after game after game.

Thank you for making making the Marriot center RUMBLE like never before!

Thank you for the way you handled a tough situation with the honor code.

Thank you for speaking positively about one another.

Thank you for the way you represented BYU to the national media.

Thank you for teaching us how to Jimmer!

Thank you for reminding us to aim high and shoot way behind the 3 point line! 

Thank you for making it SO FUN to be a BYU fan!

Thank you for not letting it go to your heads.

Thank you for giving us 37 games of basketball awesomeness.

It's not that we're devastated we didn't make it to the elite 8-

we're just sad that the season is over.

THANKS FOR THE GREAT RIDE!  We loved every minute!

Love

us.

Stake Conference: My Thoughts and Goals

This weekend we had the opportunity to attend stake conference.   What a blessing it is to meet together and receive encouragement and council!  There were two talks referred to in our meetings that I really wanted to take the time to study today. They can be found here (Robert D Hales)  and here (Larry R. Lawrence).  I've been reading through them today and have been uplifted and encouraged in my efforts to be a courageous parent.   As moral values continue to decline, I feel an increased need to fortify my family and to make our home a safe haven from the world.  Our stake President, who also happens to be my dad,  asked each family to review the 5  fundamentals practices listed in Larry R. Lawrence's talk then visit with our children about how we are doing in these areas. 

Larry R. Lawrence:  Our church leaders have counseled us to establish righteous patterns in our homes.  Consider five fundamental practices that have the power to fortify our youth:  family prayer, family scripture study, family home evening, family dinner together, and regular one on one interviews with each child.

We spoke with our boys about each of these areas and this is what we came up with:

Family Prayer:  We do it every morning and night, but some mornings not everyone is awake.  The goal: Make sure everyone is awake for prayer before Dad goes to work.

Family Scripture Study:  We read from the children's scripture reader every night and have been trying to read out of the standard works at the dinner table.  However, we have been a bit inconsistent at dinner, especially on scout nights when dinner is more rushed than usual.  The goal:  Make sure dinner is prepared with enough time to read from the standard works together before scouts.

Family Home Evening:  We feel really good about our efforts to set Mondays aside for family home evening.  The goal:  Give the boys more opportunities to teach the lesson and plan the activity.

Family Dinner together:  We all enjoy having family meal time together and feel good about our efforts.  I know that this one will become more difficult as the children get older and more involved in other activities.  The goal:  Plan for earlier meal times on scout nights so we have time for dinner and scriptures.

One on One interviews:  We try to make opportunities to visit with the boys individually.  We usually visit with them casually, but can improve on making sure we have time set aside more regularly.   The goal:  Set time aside to have more regular interviews, perhaps on fast Sundays.

I am so thankful for the instruction we received this weekend, and I am looking  forward to studying these talks throughout the week.

As we teach our children the gospel through word and example, our families are spiritually strengthened and fortified.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

It's our lucky day!  Some leprechauns were pretty sneaky last night and left us some green treats and a pile of gold! 

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Perspective

If you know me you know I'm a book lover.  A few months ago I attended a book symposium where the keynote speaker was Leif Enger, author or Peace Like a River.  I loved what he had to say about stories.  My favorite thing he said was "Some books will build you up and some will tear you down, but they are all your friends."

I recently read a book that did both.  The Book Thief, by  Markus Zusak, was not an easy book for me to read.  The story takes place in Germany during World War 2, and it offered a perspective that broke my heart and touched it all at once.   It was quite bumpy for me in the beginning, but I was compelled to finish.  This story gave me the opportunity to gain an understanding I hadn't had before.   That's what I love about books.  They take me places and teach me more that I could ever learn by myself in one lifetime.  Books take me on adventures, they jiggle my imagination, they teach me tender lessons.   

This weekend I saw "The Boy Striped Pajamas"- also based on a book written at the time of the Holocaust.  It was another unique perspective and  touched my heart immensely.  I wasn't there at that time, I don't even know very many people that were, but I feel like through words I got enough of a glimpse to gain perspective.  

Words are a wonderful thing. 

ps.  Markus Zusak is coming to speak later this month and I can't wait to hear what he has to say!

Introductions

Today I went to watch Matthew in a class play. Mitchell and I were sitting next to another little boy his age. His mother asked her son, "Would you like to introduce yourself?" He said, "Hi, my name is Travis!" Mitchell stretched out his hand and said, "My name's Peter..... Peter Parker" Straight faced and totally serious.

For those of you who don't know your super heroes, Mitchell was introducing himself... as Spider Man. 

laughing.