Our Little Old Lady

To celebrate the 100th day of school, all the first graders dressed up like they were 100 years old.  We think Olivia makes a pretty cute old lady . . .

Here she is with her BFF Sara . . .

Joshua's Baptism

       

On March 28, Joshua chose to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was a special day for our family . . . one that we will always remember.

Joshua had looked forward to his baptism for a long time.  When he met with our Bishop for his baptism interview, the Bishop told us Joshua was the most prepared eight-year-old he had ever interviewed.  

We went to the church early to set everything up, and Joshua could hardly stand still he was so excited!

Watching Jason lead Joshua into the font was a beautiful moment for me.  They have always had an especially close relationship.  Jason said after they left the font and entered the changing room, they did their secret handshake and gave one another a big hug.

It was a blessing to have family there with us . . . Both sets of Grandparents plus aunts, uncles and cousins too!

As I was cleaning up after the baptism, Joshua grabbed my hand and said, "Mom, I feel so different inside, like there is something inside of me.  Now I can't be bad anymore . . . it's going to be really hard!"

I've had a lot of amazing moments as a mother, moments when I felt really proud of my children.  But there was something about watching my son receive the ordinances that will lead him to everything that really matters in life . . . it was a joy I had never felt before.

We love you Joshua, and we are so proud of the person you are choosing to become!

We All Scream for Ice Cream!

We live about five minutes from Thanksgiving Point and the cutest ice-cream parlor ever!  It is our family's favorite place to go on Saturdays (Their ice cream cones are only 25 cents!)  We love to order our ice cream, and then sit in a booth and talk until we're stuffed. 

Once, Jason and I decided to share an ice cream sundae.  We were expecting one of those little ice cream sundaes like you get at Sonic.  Instead they gave us this monstrosity . . .

 

It was just as delicious as it looks, and they practically had to roll me out of that shop!  Yum!!

The Girl's Got Talent!

The kids' school has a big talent show every year at Christmas time.  Olivia wanted to perform in this year's show.  We chose a song, and she practiced diligently every day to prepare for her audition.  She  was the youngest student to make it into the show.  Livi loves to sing and perform, but this was her first time singing in front of such a large crowd . . . more than 1,200 people!   I was SO proud of her!  Seriously, I cried because I was so proud to be her mom.  Here she is, performing "When Christmas Comes to Town" from The Polar Express. (If you click on the title of the video, you can watch the full-screen version).

Bravo to our little Livi!  We Love you!!

Christmas in March!

It's March . . . and I'm just now getting around to blogging about Christmas.  I have four crazy sweet kids, so I guess I'm giving myself a pass.  Batter late than never!  We had a fun Christmas together.  Admittedly, I felt extra stressed this holiday season.  I'm a perfectionist, and life just isn't perfect (It's something I'm learning to accept).  But there truly is something magical about Christmas when you see it through your kids' eyes . . . Here are some pictures of our fun!

Our attempt at a "happy" Christmas Sunday picture:

The kids in their Christmas jammies:

Grandma Dalby gave the kids a kit to decorate gingerbread men.  Here they are showing off their treats:

Cookies and Thank-You Notes for Santa:

Santa left gifts for the kids:

Opening Gifts on Christmas Morning:

Playing games on Christmas Day:

Merry (Ridiculously late) Christmas everyone!  

Sledding Fun!

We have an awesome sledding hill in our neighborhood.  Every day after school, the kids beg to go sledding.  We haven't had a ton of snow this winter, but Jason has been able to take them a few times . . . 

 

There is seriously nothing funnier than Ethan in his snow suit.  We die laughing every time he puts it on . . .

Hooray for snow!

Growing Up

In November, Logan officially became a nursery boy . . . Hallelujah!!  He had been looking forward to nursery for a long time.  Every week when we dropped Ethan off, Logan would beg to go with him.  Naturally, we were expecting it to be a smooth transition . . . Oh how wrong we were!  The moment Logan discovered he was being put in a different nursery than his big brother, the reaction was something akin to this:

He pretty much looked like that for the entire two hours of nursery.  Fortunately, when we got home his big sister found him a cookie, and he went right back to his happy self (cookies have magical powers in our house).

Growing up is hard to do!