Jr. Jazz

Little John, Thomas, and Emily are playing Jr. Jazz. No one signed up to be John's coach so big John got the call. Which in turn meant Robert got a call. We sure appreciate Rob coaching and John is completely happy to be his assistant.

They had their first game tonight. It was fun even though they lost. There were some pretty cute fans there as well. We're looking forward to a fun season watching our kids play ball.

Family Pictures - October 2010

Robert invited anyone who wanted to go out to the Salt Flats one Saturday in October to do pictures. We took him up on it and had a great day. These are the results from our family.

Thanks Rob!

Pink Tree

There was a tree at John's work displayed during Christmas honoring people with breast cancer. His work auctions off Christmas trees so John asked someone if this was one of the trees being auctioned off because he wanted to try and win it for his mother in law who is beating breast cancer. A few days later they came and told him they wanted his mother in law to have the tree. What an honor. So one day we surprised my mom and took her out to his work. John showed her the tree and told her it was hers. She was in shock. It is a gorgeous tree and she feels very honored.

The top picture is my mom on the right, Denise in the middle (someone my mom has known for years and works with John) and Sandy, the lady who put the tree together.

The next picture is my cousin Terra, John, Tawnie, Emily, my mom, Anna, Jolie, Katie, Zach, and my aunt Sandy.

Singing to Leah

As we were reading scriptures the other night, Leah was super fussy so we started singing "I love you Leah...." She calmed right down and listened and fell asleep. I filmed her and them and it was so sweet. I'll have to put it on here when I figure out how.

Anyway, Sam and Thomas' eyes are pretty cool. I love my family.

La la la Leah

I took the kids to Discovery Gateway on a day they didn't have school. I can't believe Leah is big enough to even sit in a little car like this. She's my baby!!!! She loved it and pushed herself backwards.

I had a boutique at my house. A girl from my ward made hats and insisted Leah buy this one. I waited too long and it sold.

Leah loves baby cereal with fruit in it. She'll also eat sweet potatoes and orange vegetables but that's about it. Kristi made the hat she is wearing.

Leah is 8 months old now. At 6 months she was 25% on weight and 80% on height. Down from 50% and 95%. I am anxious for her 9 month appointment to see how she's changed.

She smiles A LOT. The young women at church LOVE her because she is always smiling. She is great at knowing when it is silent during the sacrament on Sundays, that it is her time to fuss and get ornery. It's great. ;)

She is scooting herself all over. Not crawling yet but scooting. She has two bottom teeth and two top teeth working their way down. They are almost ready to come through. She is learning to fall asleep on her own right now and it is going really well. She loves to chew on everything. She does great at drinking out of a sippy cup. She is getting attached to her mom and dad. She is just starting to cry if one of us leaves the room.

She is cuddly and cute and adored by 7 of us that get to live with her.

We call her:

La la la Leah

La la la Leah Pet (the little girl that grows) :)

Weah

L

Little one

Little girl

John's Cell Project

Two weeks ago, John was given a science project to create and label a 3D cell. So last night John and lil John created a cell. They had fun doing it and it didn't take as long as we expected.

John is such a good kid. Even though he puts off his projects often, he really wants to get good grades. He is a smart kid and I love him so much.

Leah sleeps!!

So since birth, Leah wakes up every. three. hours. It's exhausting. Recently she has been getting up more and more and wanting to be held more and more. Three nights ago, she woke up at 12:30, just as John and I were going to sleep. John held her for an hour then he tried to lay her in her bed and she cried. So I held her in the chair and tried to sleep. At 6:30, I came to enough to realize I was still holding her and tried to lay down. She woke right up. It was not a good night and I decided I couldn't do it anymore.
I have done Dr. Ferber's method with all 5 other kids and it worked like a charm. My kids slept well and were happy babies.
So the next night I laid Leah in her bed and she started to cry. I went in 2 minutes later and sang to her. Then 5 minutes later and sang to her. I repeated this for about 30 minutes (going in every 5 minutes) until she stopped crying. For the next about 20 minutes she cried a little off and on in her sleep. She woke up around 1:30 and I picked her up and brought her to bed with me.
The next day I laid her down for a nap and had to go in a couple times but she was asleep within 10 minutes. The next nap she cried for about 30 seconds and went to sleep.
Now the miracle:
Last night, she was super tired at about 7:30 so I laid her in her bed and she went right to sleep. She slept until 8:00 this morning. She cried a couple times for just a few seconds but would fall right back to sleep. I went in several times to check on her and I just didn't feel right. I felt kind of crazy because my groove was messed up and I missed her like crazy. Part of me was wanting her to wake up so I could cuddle with her.
So we'll try it again tonight and see what happens.

Women's Conference

I attended our Stake Women 's Conference this morning. The speaker was Sharon Eubanks. She is on the Relief Society general board. IT WAS WONDERFUL. Teresa went with me and when it was over we both said "That was so good". We wished all our family could have been there. She is a great speaker and she said just the right things that we both needed to hear.
John and two men from our ward sang "How Great Thou Art". It was REALLY good. They sang this same song in our sacrament meeting about a year ago. These three men have excellent voices and they sound amazing together. I asked John to record it during a practice. I'm hoping he did.

A few of the things I wrote down from the conference:
*DO LITTLE THINGS FOR OTHERS AND FORGIVE FREELY. (Specifically our spouse)
*ASK!! 33 TIMES IN THE SCRIPTURES WE ARE TOLD IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER TO "ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE". Heavenly Father LOVES a question and wants us asking.
*We will not 'miss' an inspiration our Heavenly Father intends for us. He answers our questions and gives us inspiration in ways that we each will know how to receive it. And He uses the world as His props to help us learn.
*DON'T BE SO BUSY WORKING ON YOUR LISTS AND 'GETTING THINGS DONE' THAT YOU DON'T TAKE CARE OF WHAT REALLY SHOULD BE PRIORITY. She suggested every morning we ASK what one thing I can do today. What is priority for me today? And at the end of the day, if that is the only thing that gets done, that is okay. Don't be too busy to hear. Or too busy to know when you could be of help to someone else.
*She talked a lot about sisters in Relief Society. What a great organization we belong to and how we are here to be friends and of service to each other. She just said it all so perfectly. She shared examples from her own life and it just made so much sense. How grateful I am to be a part of this organization of women. How lucky I am. She even mentioned a lady who gave her baby to another lady and that lady took the baby out to someone in the hall.....how we do things for each other and we love each other. (Said baby was my Leah :) and John was the one in the hall who took her home).

A counselor in our stake presidency finished off with 3 great things. Teresa said if she had written anything down from Sis. Eubanks talk it would have been these 3 things.
1. Study the scriptures.
2. Evaluate your prayers.
3. LISTEN. Take time to ponder.

Teresa and I talked about the importance of being to meetings like this because it gives us the time to ponder. And listen. It helps me to evaluate where I am in my life and what I can do or need to do to be better. I feel so lucky to be a part of an organization that provides me these opportunities to learn from others and be given strength and encouragement to try harder and be better.
(And I'm so thankful Teresa likes to go to these things with me :)

I am the mother of a teenager.

John at his scout campout. I sent a cake and big John went with.

Little John wanted Texas Roadhouse for dinner (for the rolls) so John, Leah, mom, dad, and grandma C. went to celebrate his birthday.

13 balloons for 13 years!

Cake with the family. "Better than cake". Yum.

It doesn't sound right. It doesn't feel right.

In way less than one second today, the last 13 years flashed through my mind. It was weird. John and I have said several times today, "We are the parents of a teenager." We've already felt those teenage quirks from him but it is now official.

How did this happen? I am only 33. I just graduated from High School. In fact, I was just in the 7th grade. Just the other day.

This morning I woke up late. Oops. When I got up I thought I will just tell John he got to sleep in for his birthday. Instead, John was gone. He had gotten himself up and went to school. All on his own.....on his birthday.

I showed up at school and took him to In n Out for lunch. He is sweet. And cute. And such a great kid.

As soon as he got home from school, he packed and headed out on a campout with his dad and the scouts. They are camping in cabins at an RV park just off the freeway. How funny is that. The camping in this ward is a great adventure. Movies, games, great food, often eating out. It's pretty funny. We are celebrating his birthday tomorrow and the kids made a bunch of signs and plastered them all over the house.

He is so kind to EVERYONE (but his family sometimes :)

He is very into Choosing the Right and wanting others to do the same.

He says his prayers and reads his scriptures.

He follows sports like a man. He knows all the stats. the jersey #'s. etc. etc. etc.

He is determined to get REALLY good grades and go to BYU.

He likes school.

He has good friends.

He thinks there are a lot of cute girls but doesn't "like" any of them. (But a lot of them like him)

He loves to play sports. Especially basketball right now. But we've decided he's a little more on the technical side. He will spend much more time "creating" a court in our driveway than actually playing basketball.

He likes to sing but thinks he can't. He's a Higginson. Of course he can sing.

He plays the piano. Really well.

He LOVES Leah. Loves. Loves. Loves. And it is so cute to watch him love her. He loves all his brothers and sisters and is a good example to them.

He still has the dream of playing for the NBA.

He loves his ipod. He likes to play Family Feud on it. He reports to us anytime he sees anything a little not right.....like on youtube or a bad word, a bad picture, etc. etc. etc. And we are grateful he does that.

He is a handy man.

He still likes to sit on his dad's lap. And LOVES to sit really really close to his mom and dad. AND WE LOVE IT!!

He is growing up WAY too fast and I don't like it.

He passes up treats a lot. It's odd. :)

He LOVES soup and sandwiches and vegetables and fruit and toast with jam. He LOVES chicken and rice. Any kind....just chicken and rice.

Life is so much better with John around. I feel so very very lucky to have him. He is an amazing example to me. 3 years until driving. 6 until a mission. And the first 13 years FLEW by.

I better pick up my game. As a mother.

I LOVE YOU JOHN JOHN!!!

What did I do to deserve you?

I guess I needed your example and influence in my life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

"Anyone can be pretty. It's the way you treat others that makes you beautiful."

"It's nice to be pretty on the outside but it's more important to be pretty on the inside."

Thanks Siri.

Love This

As I was looking through my favorite blogs this morning. I read THIS then went straight to THIS. They were perfect together. For me.

I am working on two specific things that will help me. my kids. my husband. and eventually all of my surroundings. I am learning to LOVE TO CLEAN. (Yes....I hate cleaning. HATE IT.) And I am learning to go about "quietly. and with love."

This first quote makes me wish I was a little more interrupted in life:

"When you are exasperated by interruptions, try to remember that their very frequency may indicate the value of your life. Only people who are full of help and strength are burdened by other persons' needs. The interruptions that we chafe at are the credentials of our indespensability. The greatest condemnation that anybody could incur -and it is a danger to guard against- is to be so independent, so unhelpful, that nobody ever interupts us, and we are left comfortably alone."

And of course, in my extremely non-perfect life, I love this:

"It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful."

"It doesn't have to be beautiful to be perfect."

The Miracle of Forgiveness

I am reading the book "The Miracle of Forgiveness" by Spencer W. Kimball. I've never read it and it is so full of good things that I keep having to read parts to John. I highly recommend it.
It was written in the 70's and if what is mentioned was prevalent then, it is so much more prevalent now.
As I was reading the section on "our thoughts" last night, I started thinking about Christ being perfect and it was baffling to me. Really, think about every moment of every day. How easy is it to let a thought that maybe we shouldn't be thinking slip in. How about just a small little yell that comes out to a child. What about being super frustrated or eating too much. The list goes on and on and on. It made me realize how IMPERFECT we are. How imperfect I am. And it is natural. The way we were created. To overcome all our weaknesses and try to become perfect like the Savior.
Well, the part that is baffling is that the Savior was PERFECT. That means none of those things listed above applied to Him. He never had bad thoughts. Never ate too much. Never laughed too loud at things that should not be laughed at. It is amazing to me.
Yet, He suffered for my sins. For our sins. He has felt every little pain and sin and heartache that anyone on earth ever feels and goes through.
I just finished reading "The Peacegiver" and it said in there that little children are quick to forgive because they don't have sin. Just like the Savior. Isn't that interesting? And so true. When we have sin, for some reason it is harder to forgive and harder to love. But if we were pure and perfect, it would be so natural to be kind and loving and forgiving.
Does that not make you want to be more like a little child? More like the Savior?