She's Two

I can hardly believe that my cute little baby is two years old.  She woke up this morning around 6:45 am (which is sleeping in for her) and I came in singing, "Happy Birthday to you."  She grinned from ear to ear.  So I sang to her again, and then Chad sang to her, and then Joey sang to her.  Together we went around the house waking everyone up so Carlee could go downstairs and open her presents. 

She was super excited when she saw ALL of the presents from Grandma and Grandpa.  I think grandma wrapped each item for her baby individually, so Carlee got to open a bottle, then a diaper, then a sippy cup, then a pacifier, you get the idea.  She loved it and her older siblings loved watching her.  

 

 After she got through everything from Grandma, she got to open her presents from mom and dad.  Talk about spoiled.  She got her very own kitchen with fruits, veges, and a tea set to play with.  The kitchen even had it's own phone so when she's not using the pretend cell phone grandma gave her she can go for the one in the kitchen. 

After all the present opening, we went into the real kitchen and had french toast and eggs.  Carlee got through her breakfast quickly and then said, "Mom, I go play house."  I don't know how they learn that term so quickly, but I said, "Yes you may," and off she ran back to her kitchen and dollys. This afternoon we will be going to the park to have cupcakes with cousins, but not a bad start to the day. 

Joey's Baptism

There have been a lot of neat, humerus and inspirational moments leading up to and throughout Joey's Baptism and so I thought I would share some of those experiences. 

We have been blessed through the years to have our own special baptism day for each of our kids.  Some friend's of ours had asked if we could combine with them and have a joint baptism with their son Hyrum.  We agreed and Joey began to plan his special day. 

 Joey has come a long way since January when he wasn't sure he was ready to get baptized, but there were still some things he was unsure about.  When we asked him who he wanted to baptize him, he said, "Mom."  We explained that mom didn't have the priesthood and so he chose dad and asked me to give the talk on baptism. 

As we were getting closer to Joey's baptism, Carlee started talking about her brother Josh.  When we would ask her where Josh was, she would say, "At church." 

 On the day of Joey's baptism, I went into a small room to go over my talk.  I had written it a few days before the baptism and had been so busy with company that I hadn't had a chance to read through it out loud.  As I sat alone in the room, I could feel and hear a voice that said, "Mom, I'm here.  I just wanted you to know that."  I thanked him for coming and the feeling faded.  I know that Josh was at church for Joey's baptism. 

 As the baptism began, I realized for the first time that we were baptizing, Joseph and Hyrum and their names suddenly brought an added portion of the spirit.  I thought of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum.  I thought of all those two boys had been through together and I wondered about the road that lay ahead for these two little 8 year olds. 

 The cute older lady in the back is Ms. Anna Heald.  She is 82 years old and a convert to the church of about two years.  She visits with us, usually once a week, and so when we were passing out invitations, Joey wanted to invite her.  She hadn't been feeling well, but because Joey gave her an invitation, she came. 

 With changes being made to the scripture format, they no longer offer the blue sets that Joey had always wanted.  Watching how my older kids used their ipods, ipads and kindles to read scriptures I thought it might be a good idea to ask Joey if he wanted a Kindle with the scriptures on it, or the actual book form in a different color.  He chose the kindle and so we got him the paper white version so that he wouldn't be tempted with games, movies or the internet.  We even got a blue cover and so he officially has his scriptures with the blue cover. 

My mom started a tradition years ago with Rebecca.  For each of the grand children's baptisms she gives them a comforter with pictures of them from birth until their 8th birthdays.  She does this to remind them that the Holy Ghost is a comforter and will not only teach us truth, but will comfort us.  Then about two years ago she also started giving the kids a compass that they could attach to their backpacks, symbolic of the Holy Ghost's ability to lead us and give us direction throughout our lives.  I love grandma's traditions. 

Joey's baptism was a beautiful day.  I am so grateful to watch my children grow and better understand the gospel.   I hope that Joey will always remember the way that he felt when he was baptized and the spirit that was there. 

Awareness

My husband has spent a lot of years studying and training to be the person he is today.  Feeling the need to lessen his load somewhat, there are a lot of family details he has not had to worry about.  The other night he was taking a series of tests as part of his ACLS re-certification process for the hospital.  At about 11:30pm he came out of our room and the following conversation occurred.

Chad:  Is it really 11:30 at night?
Diana:  Yes.

Chad then starts to look around the house

Chad: Is this what you are doing every night after I go to bed?
Diana: You mean, when you wake up and the kitchen's clean, the floors are vacuumed, the laundry is folded and put away, and the toys are picked up?
Chad:  Yah.
Diana:  Yes.  It's the only time I can get things done without someone immediately making another mess.  It's a lot faster this way. 
Chad: Wow! Your amazing. 

I love the days when you realize that things don't magically just happen.  Sometimes I like to think that if I don't do something, it won't really matter.  That somehow God will make up the difference in areas that I lack or fail to find time for.  Imagine if my husband decided not to go to work each day and money didn't just magically appear in my checking account every other week, or I just stopped taking care of the house, buying food or picking up the kids from school.  I am learning more and more that even though life goes on and God does indeed take care of needs we fail to acknowledge, we are the ones who emerge less aware and less the person we could have been had we acted with more diligence. 

When I listen, follow and strive to act upon moments of insight, I start to see all of the ways with which the Lord is blessing me, my family, and others around me.  I also begin to see how in doing he is helping me to not only be better then who I currently was, but to also feel better about myself, and the people I have served in my community.  I can honestly say (like the three little aliens in Toy Story) that I am eternally grateful for God's goodness, his blessings, and his grace that has so often fallen upon me.

Halloween 2013

Trunk or Treat:

Halloween snuck up on us this year.  Only half of the kids were getting new costumes and so the week of Halloween I am quickly running around town trying to find last minute items I forgot to order in advance. 

Carlee wanted to be a kitty cat, but after I brought home a cat costume, she changed her mind and refused to even try the costume on.  (Sounds like another little girl in our house. Hmmm) So we went to the Disney Store and found only 4 costumes left in her size.  I picked out the costume she ended up wearing because Carlee was distracted by all the Toy Story toys and Cars figurines to have an opinion about anything.  When the new movie Frozen comes out I might know a little more about the character she dressed up as, but she was willing to put it on, so we were good.  

Sara didn't want to dress up but I convinced her to at least put on a witches hat for the Trunk or Treat.  I figured that she should at least wear something festive while helping with the games. 

Jake has really gotten into the Ranger's Apprentice series.   He wanted to dress up like Will, one of the main characters.  I didn't get everything quite right, but he felt like his costume was close enough to the description in the book, so he was happy.

 We didn't know until the night of the Trunk or Treat that Blaine planned to dress up as Ash, Pikachu's Pokemon trainer.  When Joey and Blaine found each other, they spent the rest of the night as a pair. 

Matt and Nate always make me smile.  I loved seeing them running around the church playing games.  They are so cute.  

 Carlee didn't really want to trick or treat so I'm glad we got a picture of her early on.  I don't think she really understood that people were giving out candy.  She got a few pieces and was more interested in eating what she had then getting any more. 

Alayna is one of Rebecca's good friends from school.  She comes to just about every activity with Rebecca and so the trunk or treat was no exception.  When the older kids finished cleaning up the games, they went around to collect a few treats before everyone ran out.  They may be teenagers but really they are just cute grown up kiddos who enjoy trick or treating as much as the little ones do. 

Halloween Parade:

 I love that the kid's school still has a Halloween Parade.  The middle school didn't get to participate this year, but the younger kids all looked so cute as they marched around the field showing off their costumes.  Almost every kid dressed up along with most of the faculty.  What a fun way to kick off Halloween.

 Halloween Night:

The big night finally arrived. 

With a house full of cute Trick or Treaters, we loaded up the car and drove over to our friends the Withams.   For the past few years we have gathered with friends on Halloween, had dinner, and then let the kids go out trick or treating.  The problem with going to the Withams is that Carlee has so much fun in their backyard playhouse that she just can't leave.  So, when all of the other kids left to get candy, Chad and I stayed behind with Carlee and a few other little ones who were just having to much fun to leave.  Carlee doesn't play with a lot of other girls her age and so seeing her act girly with the other two year old princesses was a fun treat for me.  Happy Halloween