366 Laughs- January 30, 2016

1/30/16

A really really good day.


Families are forever.
Tom's parents and one of his sisters in law were able to come to the temple with us, as well as many ward members and other friends.




We've been thinking about and looking forward to this day ever since we had Michael.



And this is where Benjamin gets it from.

366 Laughs- January 24th 2016

1/24/16

A Sunday in which 9 children stayed home, and Mom and Dad went to Ward Conference with Michael.



We haven't been to church with just one child since... Benjamin was born.  Benjamin and Emilie cared for the rest of the recovering children.  I came home after Sacrament meeting.  Tom and Michael came home after the rest of the meetings and then Michael attended the YSA ward in the afternoon.  Yes, he's done that since October or so.  Two wards.  Well, for three more weeks.






Finally getting Christmas letters/pictures ready to mail.

365 Joys- December 30th 2015

12/30/15

Today was a super huge day.

Michael's papers were submitted by the Stake President to Salt Lake.

We can expect his mission call in 2-3 weeks.  Any guesses on where that call will be?

I do not have a picture, because we take a lot of pictures of Michael, and if we don't, he does.  Click on his name to the side of this post to see lots of them!  :)



Benjamin met with the Liberty Community Center to talk about an Eagle Project to benefit their center.  He will probably be building a bench for one of their pool areas.  The project will probably be underway mid-January.



Exciting times!

365 Joys- December 6th 2015

12/6/15

Brother Michael is going with the Elder Bednar look again.  (check out Elder Bednar's tie from the Christmas Devotional... here's the link to his talk which was awesome, but we loved the tie as we looked over at Michael.)

365 Joys- November 22nd 2015

11/22/15

What does this look like to you?



Passport/missionary picture?  Yep.  That's what it is.

Michael's papers are allllll in.  I think as of this writing (December 8th) all that's left is the Stake submission.

 And in other news, Jules' hair is long enough for braids!

So proud of her skills here.


And Ginny has TWO pigtails.

Awww, the bald days are gone. Liberty for good measure.

All 3 of my sweet little girls in a row.  All ready for church.  With some complaints.
I'd get Emilie in there but I think she was still getting ready.

365 Joys- November 8th 2015

11/8/15

I am thankful for the scriptures.  I love the word of God.  We have followed a reading program where we are reading the New Testament and following a schedule where we cover most of the New Testament of the course of a year.  We've done this every Sunday night.  Last night was in 1st and 2nd Timothy.  Here is the chart to color as you read each week's chapters.  I can't believe how close we are to the end of the year!



Here's the link to where you can print your own!  Here's the Old Testament scripture challenge that we did last year.

365 Joys- October 22nd 2015

10/22/15

Our second Ponderize post!  Here is the second group of individual scirptures for our family.

They each pick their own for the week, or two weeks.




And here we picked up some treats for our trunk or treat...  NO we're not passing out the sugar, just the candy on top of the sugar.  Wait.

365 Joys- October 13th, 2015

10/13/15


Michael looking a little startled.  He took this himself... and this is BEFORE he checked his messages on his phone and found out he got accepted to BYU!

(he found out a week before that he was accepted to BYU-Idaho, but wanted to know about Provo before telling anyone!)




Silly kids.


Pictures of the temple.  We were up at the church for the evening taking kids to Scouts, Young Women, Prospective Elders class, Cub Scouts, etc.  Tom usually takes everyone but he was in Pennsylvania for 3 days...

The rest of us walked around the temple a few times, talked to the temple matron, enjoyed the sunset.  It was a nice evening.


Enjoy!




Here's your faith promoting story for the evening.  Christopher is wearing a CTR ring here, right?  This was early in the walk. Well, right after Timothy was done with Cub Scouts but we were still waiting for the other kids, Christopher suddenly realized he didn't have his CTR ring anymore.  You can see it's dark, right?  I thought, there is no way we are going to find it.   However, we went over every inch of gravel he says he lost it in.  Twice.  We walked up and down the sidewalk 4 times.  I was about 50 feet away checking one place with the girls in the stroller and Timothy, Christopher, Liberty and Samuel were just losing hope but still trying.  I looked at them and said a prayer.  I literally, just stood there and said, Please, if it's possible, Heavenly Father, let them find the ring and know you helped them find it.  As I said Amen, they looked down, literally right then, and jumped up with the ring.  And I told them that this happened.  So there you go.  Faith on behalf of my children and their faith can work miracles.  The CTR ring is found.




 

365 Joys- October 11th 2015

10/11/2015

All the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  This is just in the order of their speaking in General Conference (and then the three new apostles.)

We printed the pictures from lds.org but we'd love new official pictures.

Plus the Book of Mormon chart from Michael's challenge :)

365 Joys- October 7th 2015

10/7/15

One of the General Conference talks was by Devin G. Durrant, a former BYU basketball player and a member of the general Sunday School Presidency... it was about pondering the scriptures, even one verse at a time.  (check it out if you haven't heard it or read it)


These are the verses my family is "ponderizing" (a mix of memorizing and pondering) this week.

Everyone who can read is participating.  We actually chose them during Family Home Evening and will continue to choose new scriptures each week.




We also are making the switch from low Google Fiber and U-Verse TV to high Google Fiber and Google TV.

Figuring out finances and what's worth having.

365 Joys- October 4th 2015

10/4/2015

Benjamin's 17th birthday plus the second day of General Conference.  Awesome all in one day!
He was born in Provo, Utah, on a Sunday of General Conference.  I got to the hospital, had Benjamin, and then we watched Conference together in the recovery room.  Good stuff right there.



Juliana and Ginny taking notes for General Conference in the same notebook.



Ginny just happy.



Christopher being handsome.


Benjamin has requested lasagna for his birthday as long as I can remember.... I think we have photographic evidence somewhere.


Chocolate cake, of course!



Ginny sitting in a big camp chair.  (The camp chairs were out for Conference.)



Emilie experimenting with makeup... she's pretending to be goth.  She really isn't!



Kids watching.



Benjamin.


Opening presents... Jules is watching him open a homemade card.


Juliana was telling him what the present was as he was opening it, and then to go color!



Swedish Fish!



Benjamin contemplating cake.


Happy 17th, Benjamin!

365 Joys- October 3rd 2015

10/3/15


Yay! General Conference is here! We love this time when we can listen to our Prophet and Apostles give current instruction and guidance. We also are able to sustain the 3 new apostles to replace the three who have passed away since our last General Conference in April.


Ginny taking notes during Conference.


Ginny is very happy to be listening to Conference.  Or just happy.  She loves the music.


Juliana taking notes during Priesthood session.  I love the toes.



Juliana's picture of our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson.



A video of Jules describing her picture of President Monson and what she liked about Conference.