Claire's Blessing Day

Claire's First Sunday at Church

We took Claire to church for the first time yesterday. We dressed her in a green shirt and brown skirt from Claire's BFF, Julia. She wore the green and brown bow that Hannah wore to Dani and Spencer's wedding. The cute giraffe banket was made by Mommy's friend, Renee.

Claire was so good at church and slept the whole time in her baby wrap.

When we got home, she was so wide awake and bright-eyed that I couldn't resist taking a million pictures of her! It's so much fun to see her eyes open these days!

Happy two-weeks-old today, Claire Bear!

Happy Easter 2011!

"I have a funny face for you, Mommy!" -Hannah
Why is it so hard to get one good picture of three kids?

Okay, we got ONE good one.

Happy Easter!

New Beginnings

Tonight was New Beginnings for our ward Young Women. New Beginnings is a program held at the beginning of each year to welcome the incoming young ladies, introduce the Personal Progress program, and get everyone pumped about Personal Progress. With it being close to Valentine's Day, we decided to use the theme, "Fall in LOVE with Personal Progress".

For the refreshments, I made a 3-tiered cake decorated with little hearts in all the YW value colors. The girls introduced the YW values with giant conversation hearts.

Each table was decorated with paper hearts and heart-shaped bowls filled with conversation hearts. We had a great turnout!One of the leaders, Andrea, hand-painted this gorgeous banner on linen (!) to introduce the YW Motto, Logo, and class symbols. It was absolutely stunning!Stephanie made a cute Power Point presentation to teach everyone how to do their Personal Progress online!Some of the girls wrote a hilarious skit about falling in love with "Percy Progress" (a cardboard cutout of Taylor Lautner). They each took turns flirting with/drooling all over him. I laughed my head off! They are just so cute and funny! I love these girls!Our girls are so smart and strong and talented. They make me want to be better in every way! They are also so lighthearted and fun. They do goofy thing that make me think, "hey that's something I would have done as a young woman!" I feel so blessed to get to know them and spend time with them.We ended the night with cake and yummy raspberry punch.

Dressing Up for Christmas

Logan, Hannah and Andrew all dressed up for church. I just can't resist doing the matchy-matchy thing for Christmas and Easter.

P.S. I'm pretty proud of the deal I got on Hannah's dress - $2.25 at a thrift store last year! Man, I miss those great Ohio thrift stores!

Andrew's Baptism

February 14th was a very special day this year - Valentine's Day, Hannah's 2nd Birthday, and Andrew's Baptism Day! Andrew was baptized and confirmed by his dad, Bryan. We had a very nice program of talks and a musical number. Andrew's Papa gave a great talk about the Holy Ghost.

Andrew was able to be baptized on the same day as his best friend, Noah. Those two have done almost everything together these last few years!
The Fam

After the baptism, we enjoyed a dinner of soups, rolls, and cookies. So many friends, family, and ward members came to support Andrew and Noah. We were especially lucky to have Nana and Papa come from Utah! They gave Andrew his very own set of GREEN scriptures and case. (Thanks Mom and Dad!)


We are so proud of you, Andrew! You are knowledgeable about the Gospel, have a testimony, and have truly chosen to follow the Savior in this very important step! We love you!

All this talk of Andrew being baptized soon, is really getting to Logan.

Logan: "Mom, you've been baptized, right?"

Me: "Yes."

Logan: "And Daddy's been baptized, right?"

Me: "Yes."

Logan: (thinking hard for a moment) "I don't think I want to be baptized."

Me: "Oh? Why not?"

Logan: (sounding a little scared) "Well, I really don't want to see the Holy Ghost!"

Logan: "Does Heavenly Father have hair?"

Me: "Yes, He does have hair."

Logan: "Is He a bishop?

Me: "Nope, He's not a bishop."

Logan: "'Cause bishops don't have hair. I saw a bishop once, and he had no hair!"

Spotlight

Logan was spotlighted in Primary yesterday. They asked him a few questions so that everyone could get to know him better. Here are some of the more entertaining ones:

Q: "Logan, what do you like best about Primary?"

Logan: "My shoes." (We bought Logan some "new" church shoes at the thrift store last week for $3.00. As you can see, he loves them!)

Q: "What do you like best about school?"

Logan: "My backpack." (See pics in last post. Ü)

Q: "What do you like best about your family?"

Logan: "My Dad."

Q: "What food do you dislike the most"

Logan: "Hot dogs."

Q: "What do you want to be when you grow up."

Logan: "Six." (lol!)

Q: "What would you like best about going on a mission?"

Logan: "Growing up."

Finding Joy In The Journey - NOW!

I know it's a little late for a Conference report, but I wanted to record an experience I had while watching the President Thomas S. Monson give his talk, Finding Joy in the Journey during the Sunday morning Session.

Bryan was working at the hospital, so I was watching General Conference on the computer with the kids. It was the end of the session, so the kids' attention spans were really wearing thin. Hannah was cranky and fussy, Logan was impatient and crying for me to help him build his Mr. Potato Head, and Andrew was laying upside-down, spinning in the computer chair and hitting Logan every time he came around. I was loosing my patience quickly and said angrily, "Man, it would be so nice to watch Conference alone! Then maybe I'd be able to get something out of it!" I could barely hear Pres. Monson's talk, but at that very moment, I clearly heard him say,

"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly."

I immediately burst into tears, realizing that I wasn't appreciating this time in my life as much as I should. My kids are growing so fast, and I know I will miss them terribly when they are gone!

I was sure to read President Monson's talk again when it was published in the Ensign. Here are a few other quotes from the same talk that really touched me:

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."

And,

"I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and non-existent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now."