Ethan's Baptism

I never thought my son would be old enough to get baptized.  And then...bam!  I've been a mother for 8 years!  I still can hardly believe it!

He was ready and excited and very happy.  And it seriously took my breath away to see these two in white:

He prepared his own testimony to share in the service and spoke clearly so we all could understand.  It was sweet and simple and pure doctrine.  Of course I cried!

 Madeline was so happy for Ethan!

 When we got to the church and realized that my camera's battery was still at home in the charger, we had to resort to only my phone for pictures.  Luckily, it did a well enough job.  I don't think I ever would have recovered without pictures!

 The day was so beautiful.  So perfect.  Exactly like you would hope it to be.  We were surrounded by family, filled with the Spirit, and overflowing with love.  The only thing that would have made it more perfect is if my siblings and their families could have been there!  But we were so grateful  and overwhelmed at all the support from family and friends who were there to share in our special day.

 I'll never forget their faces, Todd's and Ethan's on that day.  Wow!  Makes this mama happy!

Ethan was spoiled and surprised by his many gifts.  He told me he had no idea he'd be getting such nice presents on his baptism day.  Scripture marking pencils, a nice ribbon bookmark, tie pin, bank, pillowcase and a quilt, to name a few!  Here he is reading a card from Mimi:

 And here is the beautiful quilt she made for him!!!!!  My parents had to come back later in the day to give the gift as my mom hadn't quite finished it...sounds like my mom!  But of course she DID end up finishing it on time.  Also, sounds like my mom!  Do you think he likes it??!

 His Black and White Baptism Quilt.  Just as the color black will never be white, wrong will never be right.  Choose the right.  Choose the white!

 Grandpa and Nana gave him a special baptism pillowcase too (one I wanted to get him but never got to it!) and Ethan seriously thought it was so cool to have a whole new special baptism bed.  It's like both sets of grandparents planned it or something!!

 I was a little bummed when I realized I never took pictures of Ethan after his baptism.  But luckily, he looked just as cute the next day for church!  Wow, when did my Ethan grow up?!

 My dear Ethan, you are so wonderful!  Your baptism day was incredible.  I'll never forget it.

I felt so grateful at church yesterday.  With my family surrounding me.  I'm so grateful for the gifts I have.  My life, my faith, my family.  The very greatest gifts.

Happy New Year

This past New Year's Eve was one of the funnest I can remember!  We cooked a turkey, enjoyed caramel popcorn and ice cream, and drank bubbly late in the night.  Once Cooper was in bed we played games with Ethan and Madeline.  It was so much fun!

First we played Qwirkle.  Madeline dominated!  Ethan thought maybe her party hat was lucky.  We also had fun playing Flip Out (we got lots of fun and crazy games for Christmas!) and were going to play more but it was getting late and the kids were tired.

Toasting with bubbly was also fun.  Ethan had a straw to blow out the carbonation and once he was ready the toasting began.  lol.

 The kids went to bed a little after 10 and then Todd and I stayed up and watched a movie.  I seriously can't remember the last time we actually stayed up past midnight.  I guess we were just awesome this year or something.

Then early New Year's Day, Todd took the older kids sledding.  This has become a very fun tradition, fourth year in a row!  They go up in the canyon and make a big deal of it!  I missed out this year, and last thanks to Cooper, but that's okay.  We'll come next year!

And now it's 2014...I don't have big plans, but I do have plans.  Mostly the same as every year.  But the one thing I want more than any other thing is to just be the best mom I can be.  It doesn't matter if I'm good at cooking gourmet meals.  It doesn't matter if I take blurry pictures or try things on pinterest and they do NOT work.  My children matter.  My family matters.  And at the end of the day, they are my happiness.  So this year, I'm just going to try and love a little more and enjoy the everyday moments of being a mother.

Happy New Year!

December's Ten Things

This December has been one the busiest and craziest months of my life.  There were days I wondered if it were even possible to get everything done, but somehow I did.  And I managed to enjoy myself along the way too!  Success!  I can't believe 2014 here.  I'm excited to see what is in our future.  

Here are my Ten Things to Smile About in December, in no particular order:

1.  Watching my sweet girl dance in her recital

 2.  Watching my children giggle while they played in the snow.  And speaking of snow, shoveling snow made me smile too.  Seriously.  I love it!  One particular day, the snow was SO sparkly I could hardly contain my joy.  The flakes were huge and you could see the shapes of each individual snowflake.  It was the best!

 3.  Singing in my Christmas concert.  LOVE!!!

 4.  Having a 15 month old around during Christmas!  I loved watching his joy over all the decorations. He's been saying "bye bye" too them today as I've been taking them down...

 5.  Watching my Coopey sleep

 6.  Making candy houses:

 7.  Watching my kids swim and seeing their improvements

 8.  Ethan turning 8!!!

 9.  Celebrating Christmas with my family and all the extended family.  And going to party after party and loving every minute!!!

10.  Reading Luke 2, acting out The Christmas Story, thinking on Christ, listening to The Messiah LOUD, hearing the violin play at church, and feeling the true Spirit of Christmas!

Christmas in Pictures

I wish I had time to post details about our Christmas.  But I'm feeling happy to even get the pictures posted this year!  Christmas was incredible.  In every way.  Here are 1000 pictures to show just how much fun we had:

Acting out the Christmas Story with Mary and Joseph

 Christmas Eve table

 Cooper trying to steal someone's gift...

 Some fun Christmas Eve new pj poses

The pictures my kids drew for Santa to leave with the cookies

 Christmas morning

Cooper got a hold of the cereal box and dumped the whole thing out, just to add to the fun chaos

 Christmas day with Mimi and Bapa

 Having fun with the Ball Popper

 Christmas Evening at Grandma Morris' house - Party number 4 for us!

 I think grandparents like to give big gifts for the show of it, like this giant doll house

 or this awesome kit to make forts

 or this rocking horse

or this pirate ship...

we may need to move to a bigger house!

The kids were beyond spoiled.  They were beyond excited.  So cute.  So fun.  Happy.  Bouncy.  Todd and I were pretty spoiled too.  Mostly, I just enjoyed spending the entire day with people I love.  It was the best.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!

Dance Pictures

She was so excited!  All day long, she could barely contain the smiles just thinking about her recital.  

 She held very still and didn't even complain while I did her hair.  Usually it pulls and hurts, but not when it's for dancing.

 And she let me take her picture, over and over.  She came up with all the poses on her own too!

 The only disappointment was when I couldn't find my roll-on body glitter.  But her costume had plenty on it's own.  Just look around my house and van and you'll believe.  We're very glittered up for Christmas!

 I can't believe how she's growing up so fast...

 sweet little thing

 standing on the stage right before lining up

 I didn't take any pictures during her dance since I was doing video.  She did such a great job.  She forgot a little during her first dance, but more than made up for it in her second!  She did awesome-did it perfectly with expression.  One part she almost fell right over she was so into it!  Good thing she didn't.

Both sets of grandparents brought flowers for her after her performance.  She's so spoiled!  She had said earlier in the day, "the most fancy thing would be to get more than one bouquet after my recital..."

 With Nana and Mimi

 and her proud older brother

Good job Miss Madeline!  You're a beautiful little dancer!