Become as a Liltte Child

With Conference coming up I am trying to listen to all the talks again so my spiritual cup will be full and ready to listen to the messages that will be given to the world.

After listening to the talk "Become as a Little Child", (Jean A. Stevens, 1st Counselor in the Primary General Presidency) I was completely moved.

I felt my heart literally fill with joy when I heard her speak about King Benjamin’s words to become as a child—submissive, meek, humble, patient, and full of love.

Mike and I have both learned 2 things while attending our classes. 1st how to use the atonement to bring us closer. And 2nd to never change our children. Sister Stevens states "that children are full of faith and are receptive to feelings of the Spirit. They exemplify humility, obedience, and love. They are often the first to love and the first to forgive."

Mike and I have had so many talks regarding this exact topic. That our children are the ones that teach us how to live. But prior to this class we thought we were teaching them. We know we have a duty to teach them about the gospel, their ABC's, math, etc. But we were also mistakenly teaching them the negatives of the world and thus teaching them to not love another.

Sister Stevens also said "children are providing examples of some of the childlike qualities we need to develop or rediscover in ourselves in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven. They are bright spirits who are untarnished by the world—teachable and full of faith."..........hearing this part made me realize that I need to become as a little child.

 But the cherry on my spiritual sundae was when she quoted Elder M. Russell Ballard. "He has taught us the importance of the Savior’s admonition to “behold your little ones” when he said: “Notice that He didn’t say ‘glance at them’ or ‘casually observe them’ or ‘occasionally take a look in their general direction.’ He said to behold them. To me that means that we should embrace them with our eyes and with our hearts; we should see and appreciate them for who they really are: spirit children of our Heavenly Father, with divine attributes” (“Behold Your Little Ones,” Tambuli, Oct. 1994, 40; emphasis added; “Great Shall Be the Peace of Thy Children,” Ensign, Apr. 1994, 59).

I know that Mike and I are pretty good parents. But we don't want to be "Just-pretty-good" parents. So after tonight I am going to start making it a point to "behold my little ones" while I still have the chance to still behold them. And I already know that I will walk away from this knowing more about Lego Dragons, more Elmo songs, learning how to paint my nails with my eyes closed but I will also learn about my kids. And they will learn that I love them. So that doesn't sound like bad idea to me.

Hailey's photo

Mike and I were sitting on the couch when Hailey asked to see my camera. So I told her where it was. I didn't think much of it until she took a few photos of us and said " I want to remember you two just like this" .

I am so glad that she is learning that photos are so important. That a picture can keep memories alive. I think she did a pretty good job.

Bust-A-Move

Our house pretty much always has music playing in the background. Some days it's the soundtrack to Tangled and other days it's Andrea Bocelli. But today it's was some good ol'fashion edited rap music. So our girls couldn't help but BUST-A-MOVE!!!

It is so fun to watch them. I should join in but then who would take these amazing keepsake photos?

The Help

Opening weekend a few friends from our book club went to see the move "The Help"

Some of the ladies had read the book so they were able to answer a few questions for me. But I love watching movies for book club! It was such a nice change of pace to just hang out with the ladies.

Mulligan's Golf Date

I am so happy that Mike and I got a chance to go on a real outside date. We usually don't have a problem finding a sitter but we've been using all our I.O.U.'s for a class that we're taking. We don't want to take advantage of other people's kindness anymore than we have too. But grandparents are guilt-free sitters! YEAH!!!

Since the day was great with a small breeze we headed out to play a game of 18 hole golf.

Mike completely loves this game. He tells me that he feels really relaxed when he plays golf. I'm not one to judge since reading makes me relaxed. So after a hard week at work and a hard week of classwork we both needed some R&R (recreation and relaxation)

This was such a great shot!

 As for me- I am not a golfer. I just play one on TV. (haha) I am learning to golf. It takes alot more work than I ever gave it credit. It took me about 9 holes to really get a hang of it. And what I am mean by that...is that I hit the ball without taking a chunk of grass with it.

Thank goodness Mike and I made the deal to not keep score until I learned the game. But we both know that he slaughtered me.

After a few hours in the sun we headed for a bite to eat at Chili's. Can't beat the 2 for $20 deal! But while we waited I grabbed one of their Chili's for Charity. Gotta love a cup of crayons and $1 donation. Here's our masterpiece. M+A 4eva...... Corny I know but I don't care.

After our meal we picked up our girls from my parents house. We were tired from being in the sun and they were tired from playing with 4 dogs so we made a quick trip to drop off a belated birthday gift to a friend then headed home. It was such a great day.

Success in marriage does not come merely through finding the right mate, but through being the right mate. ~Barnett R. Brickner

I love this saying. He was truly inspired when he spoke these words of truth. This quote has helped me put some things into perspective so I can deepen my love, appreciation and gratitude for my husband. He's the best!

Back to School

Today has been the date that both Mason and Hailey have been counting down too....Back to School! Field trips, homework, new crayons that never been open, and friends!

Hailey: A few before school pictures.

She has been so excited to start school. She's had her outfit picked out for a week already. 

 She's had her backpack neatly hidden to avoid any spills or messes.

 At 6am she woke up. She ate breakfast, made her bed, got dress, washed and cleaned herself up.....and by then it was 6:15am! So we watched some early morning cartoons. After a few episodes it was time to get doing. She started to beam from ear to ear!

 Then reality hit her.....HOLY COW! When she seen all the kids that where walking on the sidewalks, on the playground and that were in the hallways she started to get nervous......REALLY nervous! In 2 minutes 2 months of excitement flushed down the toilet. 2 steps from the classroom door she tells me "I can't do this. Just homeschool me."

 But after saying a prayer, talking about courage and explaining that this feeling she is having is OK. And that after a few days it will go away. I felt pretty good about my pep talk but it all went in 1 ear and out the other when she seen some familiar faces from kids from church and our neighborhood. So mom took a backseat and watched my social butterfly open her wings and embrace school life.

Today was considered to be her "Back-To-School" morning since for the remainder of the week her class will have testing. So she officially starts school next week.....but you won't know that after seeing and hearing her excitement. This is one kindergartener who can't wait for school!

Mason:

He is doing the K12 homeschool program again this year. Last year we had some bumpy roads getting use to this program but this year we are both excited since we know what to expect. Today was his 1st day to start logging in his attendance. But the school lets you start your lessons 1 week early. So for that week we did some lessons to get back into the groove of things. To work out the kinks of scheduling some activities with the 2 tots so he can get some quiet time and some time to allow him to wrap his brain around the idea that summer break is over. This will usually come with some tantrums and major attitude so he had a week to get over this so now he's on board with working again. But he's honest with me when he tells me that he's counting down until Christmas break. 

So to celebrate this wonderful school day we went out to for lunch and only the 2 "school-ers" got the special treats while everyone else got $1 menu items.

What about Lily and Ducati?

Mike was really supportive today while I did the school stuff that he entertained our 2 littler ones. First he taught them how to build a fort and then watched a Barbie movie. Then later in the afternoon he gave
Ducati her 1st driving lesson.

So all our kids had a great day full of education. 

Lily

"Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for my script-chur spaghetti. We love you. I say these things in Jesus Christ. Amen."

I absolutely love listening to her prayers. I don't ever want to forget her little voice that softens right when she folds her arms. She changes from high spirited Lily to reverent tender Lily. It's truly amazing to watch her change when she knows she is talking to her Heavenly Father.

Photos

When I am making gifts and other photo items and notice... "What photo to use?" and my answer is the one from last summer or the one from winter I know it's time to take some family photos. We usually will hire a photographer but since this was a spontaneous goal I just did them myself. And I will admit that I do like them...

There are many more photos but I'm not done editing them. But I'm so happy to have photos that don't consist of mittens and birthdays.

Bridges

We have finished another chapter in the Book of Mormon. We read Jarom, Omni,and Words of Mormon within 3 days and then were excited to celebrate our accomplishment.

So this accomplishment was "3 books bridged together-bridges look like arches-delicious Golden arches= McDonald's!"

Of course I enjoyed not having to make lunch and our kids were excited to play at the play land.

This was a great stepping stone to help us prepare the 2 next huge books, Mosiah and Alma. But with some determination all things are possible with God.

Enos

We completed the Book of Enos today. Short, simple and very to the point. So we had a late night together to celebrate.
We had a family movie night and watched Soul Surfer.

Such a great movie that we will be buying it very soon. So with buckets full of popcorn, root beer floats, and 2 hot pizzas we had ourselves a great night.

Saturdays

Lately we have been trying to keep a low profile. Mike and I are focusing on something right now that is taking alot of focus. But all work and not play....makes us grumpy so today we packed it with fun-to-fun all day.

Morning: Neighborhood Kids Bike Parade. This was so much fun and I'm so glad that we woke up in time to participate. All the kids from our ward and neighborhood all met to decorate their bikes/scooters/trikes.  There was a route that the kids took around the neighborhood so they can show off their awesome rides.

Lily didn't want anyone to see her riding her bike. 

 Cati insisted on riding her bike that we ended up having to pull behind us right when the parade started.

Hailey- she had so much fun until the parade started. Mason and her were out of sight with all the other kids so Mike and I took the short cut to get to the finish line which was the park. But this bonehead mom didn't think to tell her about my lazy short cut so she stopped and started to freak-out since she didn't see us. But I feel so blessed to know such amazing people in our neighborhood that her Primary President that helped her get to the finish line. Let me just say this mom got a well deserved ear full from this 5 year old.

 Mike was prepared for the parade too. Until I reminded him that it was for 12 and under.

 Cati figuring out a way to ride her bike. After 5 minutes of self-riding she had tired herself out so this was 1 of the main reasons we took the short cut. Carrying a tired Cati and pulling a bike can be a real armful.

 And here's Lily riding her bike! She's so cute!!! She was booking it pretty fast when she crashed....the 1st time....she was officially the 1st casualty of the parade. But she got right back up and continued on....that's my girl!

 All the kids coming down our street pass the park to end up at the finish line which was the playground

 where our ward had a little snack for all those adorable riders. Here's Hailey after she calmed down from letting me have it.

 "Rolling down the street, on my big wheels, eating my Happy Meal" <---- it's a Weird Al song.
But it was so fun to watch everyone especially our kids since this is their 1st year doing the parade.

 On the way home someone decided to trade bikes with their younger sister.

Afternoon:
A quick trip to the library where our kids got stickers from their bookmarks. So here's Mike accessorizing his glasses.

After Naptime: (a whole other time group)
We went to Willard Bay. This is our favorite water place.....so far......that has all that we want. Shade, low crowds, soft bay floors and no bird poop (a California thing)
We had so much fun playing in the water.

 

We stood their for a few hours but Mike had a great idea. Leave 1 hour before bedtime to ensure no one will fall asleep in the van. (mostly since I wanted to stay longer but we tend to 99% of the time end up with kids falling asleep in the van but can't get back to sleep when we get home) But his idea worked; everyone stood awake during the drive home. So right when we got home everyone changed their clothes and they were out like a light within minutes! Such a great idea! It was a nice change coming from no pace to low pace.