amelia's interactive story

sunday afternoon, amelia put together a story for our family to hear.  she drew the pictures and told the story. 

the cutest thing about her story was that her story board was interactive.  the pictures weren't one dimensional.  they had doors that opened to reveal the next part of the story and people that popped up and moved back and forth like they were walking down the street.

she was so proud of herself.  i was pretty proud of her too.  she's so creative!

just another saturday

my saturday started at our church stake farm, picking up rocks.  lots and lots of rocks.

later that evening we went for a drive up the canyon and got some dinner.

on the way back home, we passed a stinky place and all of the kids blamed nathan for the smell.  he pretended not to care!

an update for personal progress - faith value project

i blogged last week that i was memorizing "The Living Christ".  well, i am making progress.  it's slower progress than i would like, but it is still progress.  i am currently on my 5th poster and have memorized to the word, "mankind".

this week's poster is easier than last week's poster.  don't know what it was about last week's poster, but i struggled to remember the order and wording.

i'll check in again in about a week.  gotta keep myself accountable to keep going.

the proof is in the pictures

no one ever believes that i occasionally cut off a substantial amount of hair.  last night, i trimmed a good 3.5-4 inches off of the length.  it seems so much shorter to me just looking at these two pictures side by side, but it really need it.  the ends were constantly straggly and snarly because of all the split ends and damage.

i know it can be hard to tell that any length is missing when your hair is long, but here's the proof!

my weekend, and the start of the week

my weekend started out like this...

dinner with some friends at JCW's.

followed by this.... i think i must be mid sentence here.  maybe i'm telling kent that his finger is over the camera lens.

then went to this...

 followed closely by this...

we decided to finally replace our toilet.  it would clog constantly, and recently it would run all the time.  nathan tried to fix it several times, but it was just time for a change.  now to do something about that floor.

and my weekend officially ended this morning with this...

i hate how my car looks without the bra on.  but i can't put it back on until i get my car washed.  see all those dirty handprints my hubby left!

followed by this...

there was a major, major leak in my power steering line.  so glad that my hubby was able to replace it for me this morning.  he's the best, seriously!

ward relief society party

went to a ward relief society birthday party last night.  it was a party to celebrate all of our birthdays for this year.  i had a great time.

we ate dinner that was served by some of the young men in our ward.  they looked so handsome in their white shirts and ties - and they were very well mannered.

the theme of the birthday party was "of royal birth", meaning that we are all daughters of our heavenly father.  each of us had a tiara to wear.

here is my friend tracy and i making our best duck faces. (why do teenage girls love to make this face?)

my friend debbie was also there and looked great in her tiara.

here's tracy again.  her tiara had a picture of a very buff man wrestling with a lion on it.  mine had a buff man climbing a rope over a wall.  random i know, but they were all pictures taken from an old children's bible story book.  on the back side of the tiara were pages from an old hymn book.

there were enough tiaras left over at the end that i was able to take a couple home for amelia and clara.  they loved them and danced around the kitchen wearing them.

provo beach resort

to celebrate a work milestone, my employers held a party for us at the provo beach resort.  it was such a fun place and the kids had a great time playing video games and croquet, riding on the carousel, on the ropes course, eating pizza and ice cream, and watching people on the flow rider.  

we forgot to take swim suits or the boys would have loved to do the flow rider.  i guess we'll just have to go back one of these days.

personal progress - faith value project

i recently started working on my value project for faith since i have completed the required value experiences.

After you have completed six faith value experiences, create a project that will help you practice what you have learned. This should be a significant effort that will take at least ten hours to complete. Prayerfully seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost to select a meaningful project. 

one of the suggested value projects is this:

Memorize “The Living Christ”.  As you do,consider the Savior’s influence in your life and how your faith in Him has increased.  Practice following the Savior’s example

i chose to memorize "The Living Christ".  this publication, expresses my church's witness and my own personal beliefs on Jesus Christ.

each value project is supposed to take you at least 10 hours, and this one definitely will.  i started to look around the internet for some help.

i found an awesome resource here that i decided to use, but there are some other awesome helps here and here.

then i started to memorize.  but it was slow going because i would forget that i was working on it for days at a time.

so i decided to get serious.

i downloaded an app onto my phone of the words so that i would have it with me all the time to work on.

i took the posters that i printed from "discover the scriptures" and hung them on the wall in my hallway so i would see them all the time.  they suggest you memorize one poster a week.  i'm trying to do it faster than that.

i hung up the first 4 posters

and then just decided to hang up the rest.
here are all 12 in a row, waiting for me to memorize them.

i'm currently memorizing lines from this one. I've memorized through "raising the dead."

 i'll check back in a week or so and let you know how it's coming along.

blessed with...

this guy - the one that i married!

here he is hand sewing the strap back onto my scripture bag without me even asking him to do it.

also blessed with these two little guys...

snapped this photo of them walking to church this past sunday.  as i was driving up behind them, it struck me how much they looked like a set of missionaries walking down the road.

clara's first birthday - i finally blogged the pictures

i finally downloaded the pictures of clara's first birthday; it only took me 1.5 years.  i blogged it chronologically though, so to see the pictures, click here.

here's a little sneak peak.

my cutie loves cuties

and i am okay with that.  although they are genetically altered in every way imaginable, i love that she can
1. get one out of the fridge by herself
2. peel it all by herself
3. eat it by herself

i just have to clean up her little pile of orange peels randomly left throughout the kitchen. :)

am i'm getting old? i can't remember

i had nathan download the recent general conference talks onto my phone so that i could listen to them during my commute to and from work.

i figured that if i just paused the talk on my way into work or when i got home and then didn't close the itunes player, it would pick right back up where i left off.... it didn't.

for the first few days, i thought i could just remember what the time stamp was when i got out of the car, but i didn't.  i would take me forever to try and find where i had left off.

so i thought maybe if i wrote it down somewhere, but i didn't want a random paper floating around in my car.  i thought i could keep track on the notes in my phone, but i knew i wouldn't.

then it hit me.... i'll just write in on my window before i get out of the car with a dry erase marker!  so that's what i've been doing.

and it is working out wonderfully!  i just keep the dry erase marker in my cup holder for ease of use.

i've been loving listening to the messages of hope and strength as i drive.  really enjoyed this talk by sister elaine s. dalton on my way into work the other day.

early mornings

sorry for the blurry pictures, but that is what you can expect from me at 5:00 am!  a few weeks ago, right before going to bed, jared asked if i would go running with him in the mornings at 5 if he woke me up.  i told him i would.  in my mind i knew that it would never happen because i have had the hardest time getting him out of bed at 5:30 each day.

much to my dismay surprise, he was up, dressed, and waking me up at 5 the next morning, and the next morning, and the next.  this has been going on for a couple of weeks now.  he sets his alarm (the same alarm that seemed to not work at getting him up previously) and gets up by himself.

it's cold at that time of morning.  it's even colder when it is raining on you, like it was today.  i'm still settling into our new morning routine. i don't love it and i don't look forward to it... yet!  i know i should be seizing this opportunity to bond with my son.  but most mornings we walk silently through the streets of our neighborhood.

****

it's much like when nathan first started waking us all up early each weekday morning to read scriptures as a family.  when we first started reading in the morning, we woke up at 6:15!  that was 30 minutes earlier than usual.  i didn't like it, in fact, i really didn't like it.  my sleep was too important and my bed was way too comfortable. 

in those early days, our 3 children (clara wasn't here yet) would pile onto our bed and slip under the covers while one person would read an entire chapter.  most times when it wasn't my turn to read, i would roll over, close my eyes and fall back asleep.  terrible example i know.  i would wake up just in time for us to say a prayer as a family after reading.

at this time, isaac, who was in kindergarten, was just learning to read and struggling with it.  his chapters sometimes took several days for him to read.  but as time went by, he got better and better.  because amelia was so little, nathan and i would take turns saying a couple of words and she would repeat them.  those chapters took a while as well.

we went on that way for quite a while, probably a year or so.  during the first summer break we didn't get up and read and we fell out of the habit.  nathan picked it back up after school had been going for a couple months.  i wasn't quite so annoyed this time, but i did suggest that we all needed to be sitting on the bed and not laying under the covers.  i also suggested that each child would read a verse and the adults would read 2 verses.  

on we read.  by this time, isaac was reading well and amelia could repeat back full sentences instead of one or two words.  i still wasn't super excited about getting up early though and didn't really feel like anyone was getting much out of our reading time.  but i could tell that my husband was trying to follow the counsel of  the prophets and lead our family, so i didn't revolt (openly anyway).

another school year later, found us sitting on the couches in the living room at 6:00 each morning.  i was pregnant with clara and it was hard to get up and get going some days.  jared started reading 2 verses with the mom and dad.  soon isaac followed.  amelia started to read on her own, but struggled to read and pronounce the words. it was about this time that we started having a "group hug" after family prayer each day.

a year and a half ago, we moved our time back again to 5:30 am.  some days i still struggle to pull myself out of bed, but i don't hate it!  we have been getting up early and reading together for about 5 years now.  we've read through the book of mormon twice, the book of mormon stories children's reader thrice, the new testament stories children's reader and we are currently reading the old testament stories children's reader.  I remember the first time we made it through the book of mormon and we started over, the kids were like "what?!, we just finished that and we're going to read it again?"

we now read during the summer break from school.  jared and isaac are reading well.  amelia still struggles but has come a long way.  clara - we're lucky if she doesn't scream the entire time... :)  i think it is time to start her repeating the words.

some mornings are still really hard.  no one wants to get up.  no one wants to read. no one wants to listen.  no one is following along.  some days nathan and i are really good about asking the kids questions about what we are reading and trying to explain the gospel concepts we are learning about.  some days we read what is written, say our family prayer, have our group hug and move on. 

i hope this isn't coming off as a brag session - that is not how i've intended it.  as i have been typing this, it is amazing to me at how far we've come.  i think it is about progress and setting a good example for our kids. it's about creating good habits and bonds that last forever. i take none of the credit for any of this.  i am grateful that my husband took the initiative to get us started and has kept us going.  he is the first one up every morning!  

****

i'm glad that most mornings i don't hate that alarm going off at 5:30.  hopefully at some point in the very near future i can take advantage of the opportunity that jared is offering me - 30 minutes of his undivided attention first thing in the morning.  because our personalities can be so similar, we really need this time together to bond and he needs the time to be heard and understood.  i really need to take advantage of this time i am being offered with him!!  i really believe that his motivation to do this has been an answer to prayer.   i just hope he continues to be motivated to get up and get me going until i can learn to love getting up at 5 am.  i don't have can't waste 5 years getting used it.  

spring break in st george - day 2

started our second day with some hiking/exploring in snow canyon state park.

our family silhouette against the red rock

after our hike, we stopped by jacob hamblin's home in santa clara.  we took the short tour of the house and explored the grounds a little.

then it was off to brigham young's winter home, where we also took a short tour of the home and yard.

after some dinner, we went back to the hotel so that the kids could do a little swimming.

the next morning, we packed up and came home.  it was a nice, relaxing vacation.

spring break in st. george - day 1

we decided to escape from reality for a few days and head to st george.  it was all pretty last minute, but we had a great time.  we stayed at the st. george inn and suites.  they have a complimentary hot breakfast that was pretty good: waffles, biscuits and gravy, omelets and ham, cereal, bagels, juice, oatmeal, yogurt, etc...

each morning we started out in the lobby of the hotel, eating a good breakfast.

the first morning, we decided to take the kids to see the st george temple and visitor center.  we really enjoyed the family presentation in the visitor's center.

the beautiful st george temple

nathan and isaac in front of the temple.

our whole family at the st george temple.

clara was not cooperating with pictures.

amelia in front of the st george temple.

after spending some time at the visitor's center and walking around the outside of the temple, we decided to hit the outlets and do a little shopping.  each of the kids decided to buy a pair of sunglasses with their money.

an older gentlemen called clara, "hollywood" while she was wearing her glasses.

clara started getting a little bored while the boys were shopping for shoes.  i took a picture with her to entertain her for a minute and then handed her my phone to play games.

when we got home, i noticed a nice collection of pictures she had taken.

after our shopping, we headed back to the hotel so that the kids could swim in the pool.  that was all they really wanted to do anyway.

later that night, we met up with my little brother who is currently working just outside st george.  we went to dinner and enjoyed spending some time with him.