President Hinckley

I must write some sort of tribute to a man who has influenced millions of people and who has personally influenced me. From the moment I found out he had passed away, I thought about what kind of legacy President Hinckley had left for me. It wasn't hard for me to decide that what has always stuck out to me the most (and I think that he mentioned something along these lines pretty much every conference) is the need to reach out to others--especially outside our comfort zone--not just in an effort to spread the gospel, but to just be genuinely friendly and nice. That has been something I have tried to work on lately. President Hinckley was a master at this--reaching out and loving all, unconditionally and genuinely. I know that everyone will take varying things away from his ministry, but I just thought I'd share mine. I am so grateful that the Lord provides us with prophets for our time and for us!

My brother-in-law, Kevin, has been forwarding us links to various slide show and video tributes. I thought some of you may be interested. FYI--the first two are specific to his relationship to BYU. For those of us who are Cougars, it is a truly sentimental trip down memory lane!

BYU Slideshow 1
BYU Slideshow 2
Glenn Beck video tribute

Then and Now

A few days ago I was editing some old video and came across some pictures and video from last January where we had put this really cute snowman outfit on Abby when we went up to the cemetery. We didn't use the outfit much after that because she was so small that she got lost in it and we had a hard time not losing her (and, hence, not suffocating her) in it. Well, we thought that since she's still little maybe she'd fit in the 0-9 months snowsuit. So a week or so we went back to the cemetery (not that cemeteries are the only places it can be worn) and tried it again. Fits perfectly! Can't say that she loved it, but cute pictures came out of it!

Then:

Now:

Baby Steps

It has been a few days since I have posted, but it has been a nice week or so. Sunday after church we headed up to meet my parents at my grandma's house so that the 6 of us could drive up to Idaho Falls together and go to the Rexburg Temple Open House on Monday. It was a nice, but quick little getaway. While getting ready to leave from my grandma's house, I went into the bathroom and Mike was outside putting the car seat in grandma's car. I hear my mom yell out, "She walked to me!" Then I hear my mom say, "Do it again, Abby, come to grandma...yeah, good girl, you did it!" So my child took her first steps (twice) and I didn't even see them:) That's OK though because she gave us several repeat performances. (I did give my mom a hard time about encouraging her to walk the second time while I wasn't around to watch, but she definitely had the right to gloat.) So, lest you wonder, no, Abby cannot officially walk now, but she is very good at the 2-3 step journeys. Here is a little video. It is actually only one step, but trust me that she can do it!


Here is a picture of us at the temple. In addition to my mom, dad and grandma, Mike's sister Lara came with us.Here is a cute little anecdote from the temple tour: Our tour guide told us at one point that the next room we'd be seeing would be the Celestial Room. He told us a little about the decor in the room (8,000 crystals in the chandelier) and then said that because it is such a special room, he wouldn't be talking to us in the room to allow us to feel the special Spirit and reverence of the temple and to look around quietly. Well, the moment we walked into the room, Abby saw the big chandelier and starts out with "la-la-la-la, etc." She learned how to say "lights" during Christmas (la-la) and now loves to say it whenever she sees more than your typical fluorescent bulb. We tried to quiet her down with her pacifier, but, no use, she let everyone in the Celestial Room know that she could see the lights! It was a bit noisy for the Celestial Room, but no one minded it coming from a baby--and I suppose it is a good reminder that the temple and the gospel bring Light in the truest sense into our lives. (John 8:12)

New Year's at the Cabin

We spent New Year's at my parents' cabin with my sister and her family and my brother. My parents and my other two sisters were supposed to come down, but snow storms got in their way. We still had a nice and relaxing time. It is always one of my favorite places to be.

Here is Mike (being the favorite uncle) with Abby and our niece and nephews peeking out of the mini tent.
We went sledding down the driveway. Abby didn't respond a ton to it either way, but I was surprised that any time we were outside (that didn't happen a lot since New Year's Eve at about 10PM was -11˚) she never seemed to complain about the cold. We bundled her up pretty well!