"Loving a child doesn't mean giving in to all of his whims; to love him is to bring out the best in him.

To teach him to love is what is difficult."
-Nadia Boulanger

"With respect to our stewardship for our families, some have taught that when we report to the Savior and He asks us to give an account of our earthly responsibilities, two important inquiries will relate to our families.

The first will be our relationship with our spouse, and the second will be about each of our children."
-Quentin L. Cook

Baptisms

Tonight our Young Men and Young Women in our ward did Baptisms for the Dead at the Bountiful Temple. There were 39 YM and YW and several leaders. The reason this is worth sharing.....little John was one of those young men.

Lucky for him and me (since I serve in YW), he turned 12 one week ago. When he had his priesthood interview with the bishop, the bishop also interviewed him for a temple recommend. He came straight from the REC center where he had just earned his swimming merit badge. I was already at the temple and when he walked in, he looked so little. He was just a little boy. He came straight to me and gave me a hug then got in line to get his baptism clothes. I watched him in his church pants that were at least 3 inches above his ankles. :)

The temple was packed. There was already another youth group there and several walk-ins. Another reason it was so special is because his Grandpa H. was working at the temple tonight in the baptism room. We waited and waited and waited. I worked magic and got him some family names that a lady in the ward sent so he could be one of the first to do baptisms. As soon as grandpa got started on our ward, he was called to switch to a new area. So he asked our bishop if he would mind if John went first so he could be there for it. How special for little John on his first time to have his grandpa right there. We felt very lucky that it worked out the way it did. It sure was a special experience to be in the temple with my little boy for the first time. It is a special experience to get to be in the temple any time. But nothing like when you get to be there with your own child. This is just the beginning for him and I am so excited for all the amazing experiences ahead.

Happy Birthday John John

We told John he could have a party on his 12th birthday. He chose to go bowling. John and Samuel and I went with and these boys could not get enough of Sam. They loved him!!! Here they all are doting over him while he rolls the ball down the lane.


And here is John and his friends. He has really good friends. He always has. He has always been good at choosing good friends and drawing good people to him. At Meadowbrook, the charter school, and now here, we've always been really happy with his choices.
His friends are Sam, Zach, Mason, Jack, Josh, Grant, and McKay. Josh and Grant are in our ward.

Blowing out the candles on his first cake at his party two days before his real birthday. There was no school that day and a great deal at the bowling alley.

On his birthday, he opened gifts, one being a new suit. Something he has been asking for for months. Then we went to dinner at Joyluck. We caught a rare moment of John being nice to Emily. :)

Trying really hard to blow out all those candles.

Cute brothers and sister. He requests an ice cream cake every year.

John is a really good young man. He is handsome and is loved by all the girls.....and boys. He makes good choices. He turns off music if it has bad words, won't watch shows that he knows don't have good things in them. He chooses good friends and is really good at putting his mom in her place....letting me know what a "great" example I am to my kids when I let a word slip here and there or scream like a lunatic.

He loves to play with his brothers or maybe torture his brothers would describe him better and his sister adores him. He is very smart. He just took a math test for Jr. High that only a handful of kids from each of the surrounding elementaries were requested to take. He is addicted to video games and recently music. He is a miniature of his father....always...excuse me....ALWAYS thinking, watching, talking about or playing sports. He was ordained a Deacon in church on Sunday and CAN NOT wait to pass the sacrament this coming Sunday. He will also be going on his first real scout winter camp. Way to jump right in.

We sure have been blessed to have this young man in our family. He is growing up way too fast and the closer he has come to his 12 year old birthday and the closer he gets to Jr. High, the littler he is to me. Too little to be doing all these big things. Too many new emotions for him and me. We have much less time with him now than we have already had raising him. A mission in 7 years and for how fast the first 12 years have gone, that will be here before we know it. Also watching our friends, the McMillans and Richard and Kara's kids, as soon as they hit jr. high, it flies. Not looking forward to that.

But we are looking forward to everything this kid is going to be. His potential is amazing and although we dread the future coming too quick, we look forward to everything he will do with it. And we know it will be good.

Happy Birthday John John!!

We sure love you and are very grateful for the wonderful young man and good example you are.

This was on the invitation to his friends for his birthday party

"Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

Keeping Busy

Thomas spents HOURS on this today. It is the biggest house in the set to build and he did it alone. He literally spents hours. It was nice to have him so focused on something for so long. It's too bad these sets cost so much because we sure have had a lot of fun with this one set.

And all those legos in the background. That is thanks to Sam.

It was a good day. We got up and got to work. John came up with a system this morning. He made a graph with everyones names across the top and jobs listed down the sides.....bedroom, landing, 30 toys, 30 handfuls of Legos, etc. etc. After they finished a job, they put a check in the box. The goal was to have checks in all the boxes. They loved it. I had my own list of garbage out, laundry down, recycling out, etc. and I guess they enjoyed their jobs so much that I didn't get one complaint when I asked for help. Everyone worked, and worked together and it was great. Nice job Dad!!! Man it's nice to have you around. :)

You think you are doing a good thing having your kids walk home from school until they walk in looking like this.

Poor Thomas slipped on the ice on the way home. I am glad Jack was with him and was concerned and loving.

(and yes. I did take a moment before mending the wounds to snap a photo. but he was showered with love before and after)

Courage to BE.....

I felt like 2009 went well. There were ups and downs but nothing major enough to consider it a 'bad' or 'hard' year. And this is what scares me.
I have read several facebook postings and blog posts that say "good riddance 2009", etc. etc. It puts a little fear in me for 2010. I am one to think that if I don't have such and such trials, etc. then it must be because something really bad is coming....like losing a child. That's my #1 fear. Satan knows how to get to me and one of those ways is to put a little fear in me for the future. I need to learn to not let that fear get to me.
I am in Young Women's and little John will be in Young Men's in a little over 2 weeks. The theme this year is "Be strong and of good courage....." We are focusing on 'courage' and the temple this year in Young Women's which naturally makes me focus on it in my life. So as a family we have decided to focus on "Courage" and the word "BE" this year. Be what? Be whatever it is I or we need to BE at the moment. And have the courage to BE. We discussed this on New Year's Eve and our children are already using it daily. It's been cute and fun to listen to what they say with "Be....." Yesterday little John said to Emily...."BE" We asked him be what? and he said, "Just BE.... Emily". I love that it has become a common phrase in our home already and hopefully continues.
So whether it's "BE.....happy, kind, clean, organized, fun, loving, compassionate, strong, silly, quiet, of good courage, my best, etc. etc. etc." What's most important is that we BE better and try harder. I'm too tired to think about all the resolutions I need to make and I figure if I keep this in mind, as things come up in my life, whatever it is I need to BE will change, but if I keep it in mind continually maybe I'll succeed in my new years resolution.
So as a family and for myself...."BE....", "Courage", and the primary song "Kindness Begins with Me" is our and my focus. Whatever it is I need to do make these work is my resolution. And we won't forget the temple. As much as we are focusing on it in Young Women's, we will also be focusing on it in our family. The temple is our goal and our kids need to make it theirs right now. If we are worthy to enter the temple, we are doing well. (even though there is always room for improvement.)
Oh Yeah....I also want to have a daily schedule and follow it better......like when I do laundry, clean the bathrooms, etc. etc. etc. and get up earlier or find the time sometime in my day to have time to myself to do the things for ME that are most important and will make MY day go better. (You know....those basics that are so easy to forget or skip over. The answers to every question at church....scriptures, pray, Jesus. :) I think if I know what to expect and the kids know what to expect, things might go a little more smooth around here. Any tips for me????
Cheers to 2010!!!!

Ring in 2010

We had a great year and a great evening. New home, baby on the way, healthy, happy kids and parents.

Tonight we had a yummy ham dinner with all the fixins and topped it off with homemade oreo cheesecake. We spent the evening rearranging freshly painted bedrooms (a work in progress); playing the "DAD game" (where dad hides anywhere in the house and the kids find him. When they find him, he jumps out and scares them. They are all scared as they walk around the house trying to find him but tonight they were all equipped with swords in their search. It was fun to watch while I washed the mountains of dishes from all of my cooking today); playing Sequence, Bologna, and Go Fish; and an 'extra' FHE lesson this week on the words we say. We've decided too many rotten words come out of our mouths. We all recognize it and decided to make a change. So in 2010 we will be focusing on 'the words we say'. Our family song is "Kindness Begins With Me" and our family word is "BE" along with "courage" which is the theme for the Young Men and Young Women. I bought the word "BE" the other day and every time the kids ask what it is, I say "be......." with whatever word comes at the moment....smart, happy, kind, etc. We liked "Courage to BE". Anyway, hope we can keep that going. Above the kids are getting ready to ring in the new year with a bang. Loud, obnoxious blowers, confetti poppers, and some sparkling cider while we watched the ball drop. We then stepped out on the back porch and made lots of noise and watched fireworks in three different places. The kids felt bad that Sam was asleep and "missed out on all the fun".

So until next time......BE FUN!!!!!!

Jack just asked if "we say Happy New Year to bad guys too".