Cool tool

I have always wanted to convert my blog into a pdf so that I could print it out and save a paper copy...just in case. Here is a tool that does just that! I just had to tell them the url address of my blog and the dates I wanted to include, give them $1.99, and voila--I now have a pdf file of my blog. (I just did 2007 and at the end of the year I'll do it again for 2008.)

I thought you may be interested.

Relief Society

Tonight I attended the General Relief Society meeting in the Conference Center with some lovely ladies from my ward. (I carpooled with Bonny and Arlene and saw several others there.)

I am grateful that a loving Father in Heaven will allow an imperfect daughter to feel so uplifted by messages intended to strengthen, inspire and encourage. Isn't it amazing that despite our faults and weaknesses we are still loved enough (immeasurably) to be able to experience the feelings of the Spirit, listen to prophets of God and take counsel from leaders who care about our welfare?

Some thoughts:

• The purpose of Relief Society is to organize, teach and inspire daughters of God to prepare for eternal life
• Our RS sisters take care of us--most importantly as spiritual mentors
• We must seek revelation for our callings
• I live in Utah--6, soon 8, temples within an hour--nothing like the sacrifices made by so many faithful Saints across the world
• Serve and love our sisters
• We are spirit daughters of the most creative Being the in the universe--we can create beautiful lives, things, memories and relationships (i.e. we can't discount our talents)
• The number of prayers we say is important, but the number of prayers we are instrumental in answering will bring the greatest joy
  

Abby takes her chore to clean pinecones out of the driveway very seriously

I thought this was lots of fun...

You can make one, too, at wordle.net. I got the idea from cjane:)

Oh, and if you haven't read my last post (which is next in this list), it is my most exciting news of late...

I have fallen in love with another boy...

And Mike is OK with it. This little half-pounder will make his grand entrance into the world in February (as a much larger, but still little, guy) and I can hardly wait!

Discovery Gateway

We are a bit behind the times. We just barely experienced our first outing to the Discovery Gateway last week. (I was very skeptical of paying ~$9 for a 1-year-old to get in, but we found a way to get a free pass for the family--yeah. Let me know and I can clue you in on how to get one:) We had a great time and there were some really fun activities for Abby.

Here is a link to a few pictures and videos (click on the picture):

From 06 Discovery Gateway

♪ Abby's repertoire ♫

Abby is becoming quite the singer. Here are a couple of her favorites:

• "Up above" - This is her version of Twinkle, Twinkle. She will sing lots of fairly unrecognizable words then throw in a few "up aboves". I love it! We have a Twinkle book that is definitely a favorite.
• "Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, etc." - Mike and I thought she was singing the Hello Primary song in nursery, but apparently they are not so...either we have a composer in the works or she has picked up on the Hello song the couple times Mike or I has sung it to her.

At bedtime, we have started asking her what she'd like us to sing to her. These are, hands down, the winners:

• "Sun" - With her hands clenched, she says "sun" and is ready for "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam. (Her hands are clenched so that she can open and close them on "Sunbeam!")
• "Chi God" - In Family Home Evening last week we sang lines from "I am a Child of God" several times and she loves it. I can't imagine a song and a message I'd rather she love.
  

Thoughts about temples and missing Mike

Life is good. I went to the temple tonight for Stake Temple Night and it was great. We had a meeting as a stake before going on the temple session and I was excited to come home and write in my journal about what I can do to make the temple more meaningful in my life. It was a great meeting and I LOVE having a temple so close. It is truly a refuge.

Unfortunately, Mike couldn't come with because he is in Minneapolis. I hate it when he is gone, but this will be a quick trip. He'll be back on Thursday afternoon and he only left today. I can handle that, I think. Abby notices when he's gone, for sure. Tonight as I was making her dinner before leaving for the temple, she kept saying, "Daddy, soon, daddy, soon." I think that when I am usually making dinner I tell her that daddy will be home soon. Tonight I had to explain otherwise. I think that Mike missed her even more when I told him that little anecdote.

More Abby-isms

We drove past the Murray Cemetery the other day, (Hope is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery) and Abby called out "Hope!" when she saw all the headstones. Cute...

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Disclaimer: Neither Abby or I consider myself political analysts...

The other day during a lapse in our breakfast conversation, I started the following conversation with my one-year-old:

Marinda: So what do you think about this year's presidential election?
Abby: [very blank stare with her mouth full]
Marinda: So do you think McCain or Obama will win?
Abby: [with mouth very full] B-Cain [back to eating]

So there you have it...2 months early?!?!

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Outside the other day, Abby called out "laun-lee, laun-lee". That is her word for laundry. I looked over and she was playing with her little lawn mower. Lawn mower...laundry...it works!

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Abby loves to floss her teeth! LOVES IT! (Unfortunately, to the extent that she sometimes finds used floss in the bathroom trash can--pretty gross, I know! But I think it is fun that she likes it so much.) The past couple days floss has calmed her sad moments just as well as the binkie! Now, will I be brave enough to say "bye-bye" to the binkie? (Oh, probably not yet!)