The Past 4 Days

It has been a fun-filled 4 + days.  We are looking forward to seeing my little brothers and their families tomorrow.  We are taking down Christmas today....Hyrum says, "Mom, our house will look naked."  Yes, sadly, it will.

'Twas the Week Before Christmas

Here are a few of the highlights from our week:

- Put the children in charge of our Family Home Evening Lesson and they acted out the nativity. 

Hyrum was originally the baby Jesus...but that didn't really work out so well.

-  Kennedy finished making/wrapping little gifts for her cousins and finally cleaned her room.  That night she went to bed and said, "Yay, I can finally sleep tonight.  My room is clean and my gifts are wrapped."  I have no idea where she gets this mentality. 

- Took the kids to see Santa at the mall.   The kids were really good for about 3 hours after seeing him....then the fighting and bickering resumed.

 - Took all three children grocery shopping, ran into a friend who has one child and she commented on how crazy it must be to have 3. No, no, I say, telling her how they are usually really good…this conversation is happening while Hyrum and Matthew chase each other around the cart screeching.


- Went to the library to get plenty of books to read.   Am I bad mom that I purposely went to the library on a day I knew there WASN'T going to be storytime?  I kind of hate crowds.


- Made a gingerbread house….that is always a bigger messier project than I anticipate.

- Chopped Kennedy’s hair off…she cried for 45 minutes and told me what a mean mom I am. (Her hair was not looking it’s best and I may have cut off a bit more than I said I would, but it’s adorable and it’s even pretty straight).


- Made caramels and toffee for the first time – they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

It's cooking with a super model and Spiderman!

- Delivered treats to neighbors and friends.  After being in the car with Layne driving on slick roads I wished I'd never prayed for a white Christmas.

-Ate way too many cookies and candies.  Vowed not to do it the next day, did it again.
- Wrapped gifts after the kids went to bed and stayed up until midnight….YAWN.


- Cleaned the house from top to bottom with a little help from the kids.  I'm secretly excited for Christmas to be over so I can gut my house from top to bottom, dejunk and ORGANIZE! 


- Got all decked out in our warmest winter clothes and went to Critters at Christmas at the zoo. The kids wanted to spend their allowance at the gift shop, and hoping they’d save their money, I foolishly told them we’d go to McDonald’s instead. I hate that place.

Let's just say it's been a VERY busy week.  Merry Christmas!

Grand Targhee

This Boy

This picture is from Monday morning....it's kind of how the whole family felt.   Notice the bandaid on his chin...he whacked it on the coffee table Sunday night and felt pretty sorry for himself.  I do feel bad for Hyrum since his playmates head to school all day and I'm usually cleaning or cooking.  I hope his week improved.  He got to go to the library with me, go to Kennedy's class (her peers adored him and he made them all laugh), we made a paper chain this morning and we made pizza for dinner tonight.  He is my little buddy.

Oh yes, while I was cleaning one day, he got out all of the pots and pans and pretended to make a cake.

Hyrum's severed snowman pizza.

Matt's backwards money pizza.

Kennedy's flying reindeer pizza.

Kennedy's Baptism

     Layne and I have literally been trying to prepare Kennedy for baptism for years.  When she was 2 we taught her about baptism and took her to one of her cousins baptisms.  We excitedly told her that when she turned 8 she could be baptized too.  She adamantly told us that she would NOT be baptized.  This went on for at least three years and Layne and I started feeling like we were failing as parents. (Either that or we were raising a devil child).  Finally when Kennedy was 5 she admitted that the only reason she didn't want to be baptized was because she was scared of going under the water.  So, some swimming lessons and a few years of growing up and she has been excited to be baptized.  She did say the morning of her baptism that she was a little nervous....she gets embarassed easily.  It turned out great.  Layne and I, and a few others that know and love Kennedy, got really choked up.  We are so proud of who Kennedy is and the choices she is making.  We know she wants to do what's right and that she has a testimony of the gospel.  It's a pretty important and amazing thing to see your child be baptized.   We love you, Kennedy!

It's Great to be 4!

    Unbelievably, Hyrum is 4 today!!!   I'm a pushover and let him open the gift he's been wanting forever....a dump truck.  Usually they have to wait until dinnertime, but it seemed sort of cruel for him to not have something to play with all day....okay, I let him open another one after that too.

    

He really had a hard time deciding on what kind of cake he wanted.  Finally he decided on a car cake.  This is my version of Lightning McQueen.  I was smart enough to tell him it would be a simple car cake....I made no promises of Lightning DaQueen (as Hyrum says) just in case you couldn't tell it was him. 

It was a success!  The good news is that 4-year-olds don't even care that there is no frosting on the back end because I ran out of red frosting at 10:00 last night and was DONE.

Happy Birthday my Hyrum!

Gratitude

     Thanksgiving sort of snuck up on me this year and if I don't take time to write something, I will be completely engrossed with Hyrum's birthday celebrations and Kennedy's baptism plans.  I have so much to be grateful for.  Of course, right at the tippy top of my list are:

This handsome guy,

This sweet girl,

and these silly boys!

Lately, I have been particularly grateful and in awe of the gift of personal revelation.  I am still ever learning but I  feel like I'm getting the hang of it.  I finally feel like I can trust that the promptings/revelation I'm getting are from the Holy Ghost and not just me thinking things.  This is one amazing gift that I am still and probably always will be in awe of.

Dallin H. Oakes gave a talk called, "The Eight Ways God Can Speak to You".  In it, he tells us that we can receive personal revelation as testimony to know that Jesus is the Christ and that we are children of God.  We can receive revelation for prophecy in foretelling the future. Obviously this is a gift of the prophet himself, but Elder Oakes points out that we too can know of things that may come in the future such as a calling we may get, etc.  Other purposes of revelation are to receive comfort, uplift and to inform.  Personal revelation can also be used to restrain us from doing something or to impel us to action.  Lastly,  personal revelation can confirm truth to us. 

Wow!  Like I said, I am just getting a glimpse of how wonderful personal revelation is and the immense power it can be in our lives.  I have had personal revelation in knowing how to help my husband and  my kiddos.  I have had revelation in relation to my new calling in the RS Presidency.    I have had personal revelation that has brought me comfort and peace.  I know that Heavenly Father gave us this wonderful gift because he loves us and He wants us to succeed in this life so that we might return and live with Him again.

8 Years

Kennedy's 8th Birthday Party

    I told Kennedy when she was 4 that she could have a big sha-bang party with her friends when she turned 8.  She has patiently been waiting for 4 years!  We started planning what we would do at this party about 6 months ago.  Kennedy wanted to have each girl bring their favorite stuffed animal and decorate party hats for them and each girl.  Kennedy has so many friends and she's so sweet that she had a hard time narrowing it down when it came to invitations.  I first told her 10 girls, but she insisted that she couldn't leave out so and so and so and so....so it turned into 12 and then 13.  Eleven girls showed up so with Kennedy we had 12 of the sweetest 7 and 8-year-olds around.  They are seriously such nice girls.  My mom came to help me!   That was really nice.  We decorated party hats, played an M&M game, opened presents, had refreshments, played an animal game and 2 hours was gone.  I think Kennedy thoroughly enjoyed herself and so did her friends.  AND I'm glad that we don't do parties EVERY year.