Church History Sites....

Yesterday we decided to head out and explore this new land we live in. We started off first to Independence, Mo. We went to the Church Visitor Center there. What a great experience. They have a wonderful 20 minute tour called "Gods Plan for Families". That was a tear jerker and motivated both Ladd and I to work harder as parents and focus our attention more on our kids.

Then we were off to Liberty Jail - another amazing experience. To see the actual site where the jail stood and learn so much more about Joseph Smith and his experience while he was in this jail for 4+ months. It has made want to be better, do better, and work harder. To take my struggles and trials and turn them into faith building experiences and to draw closer to the Savior. It was a wonderful day for our kids to see these places and hear what the sister missionaries had to say. It was wonderful for us as parents to see their excitement and watch their testimonies grow!

Knowing that Joseph was in this jail in the exact same freezing weather that I am in, yet I have a warm house, carpet, bathrooms, food, a stove and so much more....I cant even begin to complain about this bone chilling 8 degree weather, with the windchill, -10 degree weather. He is an amazing man that I want to know more about and be more like!

I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas Season.

I finally got around to taking some family Christmas pictures. I would have loved to go outside and take some pictures....but it is FREEZING here!!! With the wind chill it is 9 degrees and tomorrow with the windchill it is suppose to be -6. So not worth it. So this will have to do. Maybe next year I will get around to doing Christmas Cards. I always tell myself "next year will be the year I do them...and here we are, I am telling myself the same thing. Maybe if I start on them in a few months I will get them out in time for next year. Oh wait...I am going to have a newborn. We will see.

We are all doing well. Life is good. We feel very blessed in our lives.
Lauren was baptized.
Miles likes school.
Isabelle is as cute as ever.
Ladd LOVES his job...(and it is stable....that part I like!)
I am getting bigger and bigger and this baby is coming soon.
We are happy and healthy.

How is that for a Christmas card?
Maybe I will do a "Family Spring Newsletter"???

I

Crazy Spaghetti Dinner

My Bishops wife in Issaquah gave me a "care package" for our road trip to Kansas and in it was this great book called "Family Fun". It has a million things to do with your kids to have more fun as a family.

One of the ideas was "Pig Out Dinner".....you serve your kids favorite dinner in pie tins and tell them they can not use their hands....Only their mouths. We had a lot of fun and of course the kids were laughing the whole time...

Thanks April for the wonderful book.....

Christmas is here

I miss Washington, my friends, the beauty....that sums up my day today.  

Thats all folks!

Miles Prayer...

I forgot to mention in the last post that Miles said the opening prayer for Lauren's Baptism...It went like this...

"Dear Heavenly Father, We are thankful for this day. We are thanking for the Gospel. Please help Lauren to feel the Gospel when she is getting baptized. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen."

This boy makes me smile!

Lauren's Baptism

Lauren was baptized yesterday. It was a wonderful day. It was neat to see her countenance change instantly when she was baptized and she could not stop grinning ear to ear. She said she just felt so happy. We are grateful to have sweet Lauren in our family. She is a happy child and has been from the beginning. She is a wonderful daughter and sister and we are grateful for her choice to be baptized.

Her birthday was on Thursday....she is having a party next Friday with friends....more pics to come!

17 weeks to prepare.....

We are having another BOY!

I smiled...
Ladd was excited....
Lauren laughed.......
Miles giggled and giggled and giggled....
And Isabelle said "No, I am having a baby"

I am just grateful for the technology we have today to make sure this baby is healthy. I am grateful to know that he doesn't have any neural tube defects like Miles did. Not that I wouldn't love him any less, but it is nice to know ahead of time to prepare yourself mentally. I am grateful for the neurosurgeon who performed Miles surgery and that is has been a success so far...Although I still think he gave Miles superman powers when he did his surgery because nothing stops that boy.

Now I just need to prepare myself for non stop determination and energy....
for counter climbing at 9 months
for trying to climb the fridge at 10 months
for running and climbing on anything and not letting anything stop him....
for no fear in a child
for broken bones from jumping off things he shouldn't be
for a child that is full of life, love, and energy.

I use to say that I couldn't handle having a boy and Miles was every reason why I was afraid to have a boy. My friends would ask me how I do it with him everyday.

But this boy is the love and joy of my life. He is simply amazing. Nothing stops him. "no" is not a part of his vocabulary. And I am realizing that I don't have to prepare for another boy. I just enjoy them one day at a time and everything that comes with them. Life is more amazing with him, more adventurous, more real.

And besides that....their is something special about a boy and his mom....their love for each other is special and words do not describe it.

I am grateful that God is blessing me with another little boy!

Just some reminders for me of what is to come.....

I thought I would get a little break when he broke his leg and the Dr. said I would too...but he was up and running 2 hours after this cast was put on.....with his leg dragging behind him....

does this pic need any explaining?

2 year olds......

Isabelle is the cutest thing in the world...the things she says, her voice, how she says them and everything she does. I know I am her mom...but I just love this little girl!


What I opened up to when I heard the water running in the bathroom.....

These two are little buddies...it is a love hate relationship, here they are when they are in the "love" part of their relationship.


I made cookies with JUST Isabelle last week when Miles and Lauren were in school, we had lots of fun and she enjoyed having the beaters to herself :)

My thoughts...

Ok, they are someone elses, but I am thinking the same thing!!!

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatreds.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.

-William J. H. Boetcker

A week of pictures....

The Carvings



The Fairy Princess



The Hannah



The Love

The Bath

The Belly

The Magic Act

The Singing Act

THE END

I had a time out today.....

I had a wonderful day today! It started at 4 this morning and a 3 hr drive to Omaha, Nebraska with my sister-in-law Angi. We went to Time Out For Women, it is a wonderful conference put on by my church. Their are 7 "presenters", some sing and some give very uplifting talks! Over 1000 women attend and it is a great meeting of strength, hope and very uplifting.

It was amazing and I am so glad I had the opportunity to go!

I also had a blast from the past while there. I ran into a friend from high school who I havent seen since highschool and a friend, Heidi who use to live in Issaquah and moved to Omaha 2 years ago. It was great to visit her and talk about how much we miss and love the Issaquah 5th ward and all of our friends!

I am greatful for the spirit, closeness and love I felt from the Lord today and am greatful for the "recharge" I have been given!

Dinner!

What I made for dinner tonight!
It was absolutely delicious. Fresh green beans with onions and lots of garlic.
Who said sweet potatoes are only for Thanksgiving? I love this casserole and my kids do too. It has apples and onions and some spices. Yummy!
And organic brown rice with some salt. This is actually my kids favorite.
And our tummys were happy and full!

Watch out!

What happens when your 5 yr. old-absolute all boy and couldnt be anymore boy decides to pour his ball box over the balcony. I only wish you could have heard him laughing and giggling his head off!

What happens when all 3 kids want a piggy back ride upstairs to bed....

Ok, I think I have done my quota for posts for a few months :)

I am going to bed. Good night all!

Deanna Rose Farmstead

Their is this really cool FREE farm here that is huge. It has goats, ducks, bison, fish, lambs, horses, sheep, pigs and some other animals I cant think of off the top of my head. You can get food to fee the goats, fish and ducks for 25cents. You can actually go in and feed the goats, but I didnt like that because they jump on you. The kids thought it was funny though. You can also get a bottle for $1 and feed the baby goats. That was my favorite part.
They also have an old school house, a barn, teepees, and and "earth fort" cool playgrounds, mini tractors to ride, and lots of other stuff. I am not going to bore you with tons of pictures, but here are just a few :)

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the KC Pumpkin Patch last weekend and had a great time. It was perfect weather and the kids loved all the activities they had for them to do! I however did not enjoy the "Yellow Brick Road" tractor ride. I think the only people on it were the "1st timers" because that was one heck of a bumpy ride. Especially if you need to go potty and ESPECIALLy if you are pregnant and need to go potty! :)

Father and Daughter

Mom and daughter

Cool Pumpkin Canon

Isabelle was trying to figure out why Miles was mad :)

"Gourd Shooter"

Fun Tricycles

Racing "Rubber Ducks"

"the Barrel train"

How cool would it be to have this for your bike ?

Sorry for all the pics. I actually have tons more of things we did, but I wont bore you with anymore!

Our House...finally.

I am finally getting around to putting up a picture of our NEW house, forget our old house :)
I will post more of the inside once I have it all put together.

One view of our street

Ever Seen One Of These?

I am not sure what this is, but they grow on the trees here and they are as hard as a rock and about the size of a grapefruit. We actually bowled with them the other night for our Family Night Activity! And Ladd had fun throwing them at tree trunks, they wouldnt budge and crack open though.

They kind of look like brains.

Paying the price of procrastination

Or maybe just laziness.....

I am finally downloading my camera card....I have not done it since June. What a nightmare. I had 1656 pictures on it. Yikes! I am spending so much time organizing them now! I thought it was going to be cool to have a HUGE memory card. Not really! It just makes it easier to be lazy and pay the price later.

Anyways, once I get all the pics organized, I will post some. And download all the pics onto a disc for you Matt of the Aliens that invaded your house! (thats if you are reading this, otherwise you will get a surprise in the mail)

For now... We gave talks in Sacrament meeting last sunday, glad to have that over with. The kids love their new school, way more than the last. We love our house. Our neighborhood is the best, we are on a culdesac that is off of a culdesac- VERY nice! Their is 13 kids just on our little culdesac and they all play outside together till as long as possible. The weather has been awesome, 70-75, no humidity and nice breeze. We were called to be partner teachers for Laurens CTR 8 class with 14 kids! We are starting to plan Laurens baptism for next month (anyone want to travel to Kansas next month :)) We went to the MacDaddy pumpkin patch last saturday. We are loving having Ladd home more! I am feeling the baby move more and more....very fun!

I think thats it for now. Now back to organizing these pics!

Mold....

Been a while....but I have good excuses.

Long story short, the house we were in was full of toxic mold. So we packed up our stuff and moved it in storage. Just moved into another house this past thursday.

For now, I am enjoying conference and couldnt be more excited for President Monsons announcement of a temple in our area this morning! The closest one is 3 hrs away from us right now. I really took for granted going to church on the temple grounds in Seattle!

I have lots of updates that will come later.....Stay tuned....