Isabella's Sealing

My brotherJoseph and his wife Martha recenly adopted Isabella! A few weeks ago she was sealed to them in the Provo Temple. As I was sitting in the temple my heart was filled with the reassurance that God watches over all of his children. Sweet Isabella was born into less than ideal circumstances, yet now she is a part of a great big eternal family who love her dearly! I am so proud of the way my Joseph and Martha have fostered at risk childen. We are so very blessed to have Bradley and Isabella as a part of our family. I'll never forget her cute face peeking over the alter and her little giggle as she hugged her wonderful parents. We are so blessed.

Our Last Day of Christmas Break

Our last day of Christmas break felt like Spring! We spent a wonderful afternoon at my parents house.  The crisp clean air and the warmth on our faces filled our souls with sunshine!

My parents have a magical back yard. My boys disapear to their favorite spots as soon as we arrive.

Mitchell and Alisa spent the afternoon in the back acre looking for the stray kitties they love.

Josh and Matthew have many favorite spots.   But today their favorite spot was at the firepit in the pines trees my dad planted when I wasn't much older than them.

Dad and John let me join in their Basketball game, and my free throws were less than desirable, but they love me anyway!

We rode the four wheelers around the back acre, roasted marshmallows, and finished the day with dinner and my mom's yummy home made bread. I don't know if an afternoon can get more pefect than that!

Christmas Eve Nativity

One of our favorite traditions on Christmas Eve is acting out the nativity...

The wise men

Angels

 

Mary and Joseph

Shepherds

The reason for the season

Happy Birthday Dallan!

Dallan's birthday is on Christmas Eve- a fitting birthday for my sweetheart with a merry old soul!

Dallan loves Christmas time

He loves his little boys

He loves me

He loves the Gospel

He loves to play games

He loves to read books

He loves BYU

He loves the Savior.

He is such a gift to me and all who know him.

 For Dallan's birthday he always chooses french toast for Breakfast!  His favorite cake is always chocolate, but since we just had 2 birthdays with chocolate cake, he chose his other favorite- cherry cheese cake!

For his birthday dinner we had our traditional Christmas Eve turkey dinner at my parents house and enjoyed watching Harry Potter 7, playing games and activing out the nativity. 

Happy birthday to my merry sweet heart!
I love you Dallan.

Happy Birthday Mitchell!

Mitchell turned 5 years old this week! He was so excited for his birthday to come he made a really long countdown chain that he hung in his room. He loved watching the chain shrink every day. The night before his special day he was feeling yucky and had a fever. He prayed so hard that he would feel better for his birthday. When he woke up the next day, he felt much better and knew it was an answer to his prayer. Mitchell has already developed a sweet testimony of prayer. One windy Sunday as we were walking home from church Mitchell knelt down in the middle of the sidewalk and prayed that Heavenly father would help the wind to stop. For just a few moments it did and Mitchell knew his prayers was heard. He skipped the rest of the way home. I imagine Heavenly Father looked into those big brown eyes and just couldn't resist.

Mitchell woke up eager to open his presents and was so excited about each one.

He squealed with glee when he opened Matthew's home made gift of a box made out of Popsicle sticks with a dollar inside!

Dallan took the morning off work so he could take him out to lunch, and they went to Mitchells' favorite place- Carls Jr.

After lunch, Mitchell's cousins who live in town came over. They colored a Christmas craft, decorated aprons and frosted Christmas cookies!

For his birthday dinner, Mitchell chose pizza and salad. For his birthday cake he wanted a chocolate cake with mint M & M's on top!

Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner, and Grandma read him his special birthday story you can read here! It was the perfect story for my little super hero!

Grandpa enjoyed Mitchell's birthday presents almost as much as he did- especially the goofy glasses they brought him!

I love my merry little Mitchell.

I love that Mitchell still wants to marry me when he grows up.

I love the way he smothers me with kisses every morning.

I love the story times we share, and he never lets me forget the most important part- the snuggles.

I love seeing Mitchell love and care for Caleb.

I love the way that Mitchell knows a prayer can help anything.

I love watching him play with his super heroes.

I love hearing him sing in the bathtub- sing on the potty- sing in the car- sing in the store...

I love you forever Mitchell. Thank you for the way you share your sparkle with me.

Gingerbread Day

I love the traditions that weave through the days of December. Mitchell could hardly wait to do our ginger bread houses this year!

Happy Birthday Matthew!

Matthew turned 10 years old this week! He has been so excited for his birthday and had it all planned out. Over the weekend he wanted to go to "Nickel City" with his brothers and Aunt and Uncle. They had a great time and came home with pockets full of prizes!

The morning of his birthday he woke up at the crack of dawn and couldn't wait to open his presents!

He loved all of his gifts; Josh stayed up late the night before making him a wallet out of duct tape with a dollar inside!

I kidnapped Matthew from school, and we met Dallan for a birthday lunch at Legends Grill. He chose pizza, french fries and a giant cookie for his special lunch!

Matthew gives the best HUGS! He always know how to warm my heart with one of his giant squeezes!

After school we made his cake and enjoyed his birthday dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. He chose tacos for his special dinner and "beaver tracks" ice cream since one of his nick names is "the Beaver" (he used to love to chew on things when he was a little)

Some cousins and aunts and uncles came over to share cake and ice cream with us!

And we all enjoyed Matthew Trivia!

After dinner dinner grandma read him a poem she wrote just for him. You can read it here!

It was just perfect for my Matthew in the middle!

Some of Matthew's highlights this year:

Earning his Bear in cub scouts.

Learning how to mow the lawn.

Going on his first "Man Camp"

Riding the 4 wheelers with grandpa.

Winning the reflections contest at school with a poem he wrote.

Snuggling with Caleb every morning before he goes to school.

Happy birthday my sweet Matthew

I love you with all of my heart!