happy birthday abe!!!!

glad to be celebrating this boy today!

let's make a deal

loved spending new years eve with my fam doing our traditional let's make a deal.

my mom and dad go all out and my dad makes a great monte.

for the big deal we went bowling and played lazer tag.

grateful for families and for a new year!

dance practice

what a good dad helping viv prep for her new dance class:)

finishing

max raced in his first pinewood derby.

he acted excited and slightly apathetic about it, until it was race time, then his true feelings surfaced.

i loved watching his hopeful-ness.

look at that face!

 so cute!

 and my all time favorite...the fist pump of success!

 well done max!

his car placed in 3 out of his six races....that's a number i can live with:)

i really appreciated our cub master talking to the boys about being "finishers".

it doesn't matter if your car came in first or last, as long as you are trustworthy and you finished the race.  cross that finish line!  

stick to a task till it sticks to you, beginners are many, finishers few...finish!!!

kai's talk

kai spoke in primary on sunday.  

dave helped him write the beginning of his talk and then kai wrote the rest.  

public speaking is not kai's favorite thing, but he didn't complain and he was full of courage. 

KAI'S TALK 

My favorite restaurant is call BACCHANAL.  It is an all-you-can-eat buffet in Las Vegas.  I have gone there twice, when i went with my dad, grandpa, uncles and cousins to watch my cousin play basketball in the West Coast Conference Tournament.

There was so much food!  And you can choose whatever you want.  We usually spend over 2 hours eating.

In 2Nephi we are told to "feast upon the words of Christ" and that "the words of Christ will tell us all things that we should do."

What does it mean to FEAST upon the words of Christ?  I think it means to be as excited to read and know the scriptures just as much as I like feasting at BACCHANAL, and taking the time to enjoy it, and take it all in.

I also like that part that says as we do this, WE WILL KNOW ALL THINGS THAT WE SHOULD DO.

Recently, I have been reading the book of Alma.  One scripture that stuck out to me was Alma 5:28.  It says, "Behold, are ye stripped of pride?  I say unto you, if ye are not prepared to meet God behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life."

I like this scripture because it tell us to be prepared in every way.  I think to be prepared is like ready for what you are doing.  I am going to try harder to be prepared in school, sports, and also spiritually prepared.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I loved watching kai!  he didn't let fear get the best of him.  he was so sincere giving this talk and even started crying.  probably a mix of feeling the spirit and nerves.  

i am grateful to be kai's mom.  he has really good desires.
i am so excited for this year in primary.
this years theme:

I KNOW THE SCRIPTURES ARE TRUE

...and i do!  

i can't wait to watch these kids learn to apply the scriptures to their own lives and have powerful experiences as they do. 

happy eyes

 i am just me, trying to raise these amazing spirits in a crazy world. 

i've decided moms experience a glimpse of what the Savior is all about.  

you give these spirits life, but then they get to make choices and have experiences, and as a parent, you get to feel all their emotions.   

it's happy and exhausting all at the same time.

sometimes, i have to hush my fears and look at the big picture...be still and know that God has plan and is over all.  sometimes i'm better at doing that than other times.

i am not in this alone, although the last few weeks i have been feeling the weight of it big time. 

it's been especially hard time this new year, everyone talking about what they want to do and be and i have so much to work on, and so many people to take care of...how will i find time to improve myself?  i've had to ease into this new year. 

still haven't solidified my goals for 2016.    

moments like these, and happy eyes give me hope and keep me going.

our christmas theme this year was, 'they looked up and saw a star'.

i know that i need to look up and see the bright, happy things all around me.  they are there.  they are real.  God answers my prayers, i know it.  He is watching and aware.  

christmas 2015

dave and i had a late night wrapping on christmas eve....didn't get to bed until 4:59am.  we had prepped the kids that we were going to get them up at 7:00 to shovel driveways until dave's parents arrived at 9:00.  good intentions!  i woke up at 8:30 to a phone call from abe downstairs.  he can't hear anyone on his phone, people can hear him but due to the numerous times he has dropped it, he can't hear anything in return.  

so, the conversation went something like this...

"mom, wake up it's christmas and we are coming upstairs, you can't hear me but it's 8:30 and it's christmas and we are coming upstairs, it's christmas and we are coming upstairs."

i guess max woke up and stood at the bottom of the stairs yelling me my name for 15 minutes.  

i was out!  didn't hear a thing.  he was crying and yelling my name and i slept right through it until abe's wake up call.  so sad!  luckily, it was a quick recovery and everyone was good to go

 when it was time to come upstairs.  we decided we would have to find a 

different way to serve, since 7am didn't happen.

the christmas line-up.

here we go!

stockings first.

fa la la la llama!!!  

every kid should get a llama in his stocking.

that cute, happy, excited smile made it all worth it.

first look- take it all in, assess the box size, see if santa might have delivered your wish list.

dave's parents and his sister and husband arrived just in time.

dave started us out right with a semi dramatic reading of the nativity from the bible.

santa wraps his presents in santa claus wrapping paper, but no name.  he always leaves a note to the kids on the tree along with a box full of magic dust. 

 sprinkle the dust on dave and he can magically see who the presents are for. 

vivian did the magical ceremony of sprinkling dust on her dad and whallaaa!  we were in business.

super sick cleats- check!

BB-8  check!

princess play-dough  check!

do you think abe was shocked and excited when he had to go find his next gift?!

look at that reaction!
worth a million bucks watching abe at christmas this year.  he was so excited about everything, but when he got a major pogo stick...well, excited doesn't really cut it.

sadie also got a poem/clue that sent her to the garage....

where a new bike was waiting for her, which was a surprise to me because that wasn't supposed to be what was waiting for her.  i thought dave played a joke on her and put out his bike with a bow on it, but really the joke was on me, because it was a new bike for me that looked just like dave's bike.  of course, i couldn't tell the difference and sadie was trying so hard to be happy about a new bike and i still thought it was for her.  haha!  took me a minute to clue in that dave bought me a new bike.
i'm not a biker, but we have had a good time going mountain
biking a few times and it is something we are going to try to do more.

sadie actually got a car....it's a family car that she gets to drive.
 she was so excited she almost started crying!

it is super cute!  

christmas morning was about as wonderful as it gets.  i loved it!  the kids were happy and excited, but super grateful and not expecting anything.  they were so surprised.

we had an early dinner at my parent's house with my family and then we headed to the tullis side later in the evening.  it was a full day of family and smiles and i was exhausted by the end!!  

Christmas is a great day.  i love that we know about our Savior and why He came to the earth.  i am trying to find more joy in Him, less fear, and more trust and gratitude because i realize that when i do that, it is an act of faith in HIM.  i truly loved watching my children be excited and rejoice in the gifts i gave them and i know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ also want us to USE and LOVE and REJOICE in the gift of our SAVIOR.  my desire is to do this better this year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!