The Book of Mormon

I followed President Nelson's council to the women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I read the Book of Mormon in the months since his talk in General Conference.  I guess I can't say that I read it because there was very little reading going on.  I mostly listened to it.  I listen to books every day of my life.  I feel very lost if there is a laundry pile or a stack of dishes in front of me and I don't have something in my ear making the time go faster.  I had a pretty regular pattern of listening to the scriptures too.  I would listen as I got ready for the day.  I would get 3 or 4 verses in and call it good.  With this quick goal in mind, I listened for longer periods of time.  I love how many things I could see that parallel life around me.  I loved making sense of a timeline that I hadn't ever taken the time to see before.  I loved praying about it at the end and feeling that I am on the right track.  The things that I am trying to do as a wife, Mom, daughter, RS Pres., friend, etc, and most importantly as a Child of God, are enough.  I am enough. We are all enough. Our Heavenly Father loves us.
If I keep close to the Spirit, my Savior, and my Heavenly Father, They can help me to do all things.  I am really grateful for that knowledge.
This new Come Follow Me thing at church puts a lot of pressure on us to teach in the home.  I know that we are up to the task though and that good things will come of it.  They already have.

I'm thankful for this challenge and for the momentum that I have to do it again. 

Advent Fun

Before Christmas, I had some Kohls cash and I bought a Star Wars Lego Advent calendar.  The boys loved it.  They loved opening up a door each day and discovering a new space ship or figure.

They built all of them on their own.  Jake built one or two, but the boys did all the others!

It was a hit.

See You Later Timmy!

Our Christmas break was filled with hedgehog deals.  We had a batch of babies right before Christmas so we had to sell them.  Jake also decided that he needed to be done with the hedgehog business.  It was hard to be done because they made money, but having Charlie has satisfied the pet longings and the poor hedgehogs were getting ignored.

Timmy went to a new home and Jake was a little sad to say goodbye to his first pet, but the money in his pocket was a comfort :)

The new owners are excited and that's a good thing.  Goodbye Timmy!

Change of Plans

We were going to go to Orem the day after Christmas to hang out with the family down there.  Allie woke up and still had a fever though.  We knew my mom was going to be traveling in the coming weeks and didn't want to bring our germs down to her to be spread from here to Colorado and South Korea.  Mom still wanted to see us though and later in the day, Allie felt a little better, so we met up in Layton.  I had some free movie tickets, so we met up to go to a movie.

We met up with my sister and her girls too.  The boys went to the Bumblebee movie and we girls went to Spiderverse.  It was pretty good!  The boys had fun too.  Jason came slinking into our movie though because he was a bit scared in the other one, so he got to see a bit of both. 

We had a good time and were able to have a nice visit with mom.  We'll have to come down and spend some time another time. 

Birth Stones

When Mike and I got engaged, I got a solitaire ring as my engagement band and then a ring with tiny diamonds as my wedding band.  I've always sort of wanted a ring for the other side.  My mom's wedding ring has three pieces to it and I just always thought one day we'd get one for the other side of mine.  I was looking at my ring earlier in the month and I thought it might be fun to get one with all the kids birth stones.  I told Mike of my idea and look what he got me for Christmas!

The stones are placed in the birth order of my kids. 
I really like it and I've found myself looking at my hand several times a day like some newly engaged kid. 

Thanks Mike! 

Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas day.  The kids were all happy with what they got.  

Jake joined the digital age and got a phone.  He also got a helmet and we tossed a chair from Mike's work into his pile.  :)
Allie also got a school chair, some clothes, and some skate things that go on her shoes. 

Nate got some Green Bay Packers things, a skateboard, and a remote control car.

Jason got a bike (that a neighbor handed down to us a few days before Christmas, so why not?)  He was happy with his RC car too.  They were all happy with Christmas.
Allie started feeling feverish and was pretty miserable by the end of the day.  She's been sick two Christmases in a row now!  Bummer!

It cracked me up that Nate didn't take his receiver gloves off all day.  He even ate in them.  I think it's safe to say they were a favorite.

It was a good day!  I enjoyed feeling free of the pressure that always leads up to the day.  I relaxed and enjoyed the day.  Merry Christmas!

The Stockings Were Hung

We nearly forgot to hang the stockings this year. I still haven't finished making them, so they are a bit ghetto without hooks and with their names drawn on tape and stuck on there...it is what it is.

 Jason and Nate try to photo bomb every photo these days.  I get so annoyed because half the time, the one they jump into is the only good picture in the bunch.  Oh well...

Allie stuck Charlie in a stocking.
He didn't even seem to mind.

We took a picture of the last number on the count down to Christmas.  Nate was super excited each day to change that count down.  He would even skip ahead in hopes that it would change the outcome of the real calendar.  It never quite worked for him, but I feel like he certainly sped up time.  :)

We put some gifts under the tree at the beginning of the month, but Charlie ate the wrapping paper, so we held off until Christmas eve to put out more.  He knew right away that there were new things he needed to chew on...

 The kids all slept in the same room again.  There were some thunderous snores coming from the room by midnight, but none of them complained!

I guess we're ready for Christmas now!  Ready or not, here it comes!

Christmas Eve

We drove up to Star Valley on Christmas Eve.  Mike wanted to get up there and we weren't sure what our schedule would be like after Christmas, so we just zipped up there for the afternoon.

Charlie had fun running around as far and as fast as he could go.  Charlie has a sweater from our neighbor.  I mentioned that we should have brought it for him and Mike looked at me with a look of shock and incredulity.  He didn't want Charlie to look and act like such a city dog that he couldn't handle a bit of Wyoming cold.  I laughed and laughed over that. 

Our little city dog was a total pest to Harley.  He is going through an annoying phase where he won't leave other dogs alone.  Ugh.

Nate was hardcore (as usual) and he stayed out there long after the other kids came in from the cold.  They all had a great time.

We came home and met up with the local cousins for our nativity. 

Allie was an angel or a star.  Nate was Joseph, and the others were various shepherds or wise men or
something.  I was just proud of them for listening as we read the Christmas story.  They're growing up!