A Unicorn and a Puppy

For a trip down memory lane, here...

Happy Birthday, Abby!

Our girl turned 4 on Wednesday. She is a very bright and enthusiastic part of our family. She has a great memory and knows the words to many Primary songs. She loves to draw and write. She loves books and knows letters and sounds well. She is a good big sister to Briton and helps take care of him. She cannot wait for her baby sister to be born! Abby and I have some very fun (and often entertaining) conversations. I love how she is learning so much about the world around her, her place in it and how everyone else fits in as well. Not only is she my sweet little girl, she is my dear friend. I love being her mom!

We had a good day as a family for her birthday. Together with Aunt Kaley, we went to the children's museum, trick-or-treating at a local shopping center and ate her requested dinner - pizza and broccoli. Abby was spoiled by many people with some fun gifts. She has been talking about a rainbow cake for weeks now so (although it isn't visible in this picture) I made a cake with a Skittles rainbow - simple, but she loved it. Unfortunately, she didn't like the flavor (poor thing), but she still liked the way it looked!

Kaley

We were excited to have my sister here this week. The kids love her and I appreciate very much how deeply she loves them!

We spent a lot of time enjoying each other's company and playing together. Here are some shots of us at the children's museum and the MSU farms (2 of our visitor staples).

Busy Saturday

Mike has been wanting to get rid of this tree ever since we moved in. We tried to convince the power company to take care of it (note the power lines behind it - they are really not that close). They generously chopped off the top and a few branches last summer. Well, Mike was able to borrow a chainsaw this past weekend and had a good time (I think) cutting it down. The kids and I enjoyed watching him and it got me to do a bit of needed yard work in the back as well.

Here are the boys with their man toy.

I dug up a couple overgrown flowers and split them. It was cute to watch Briton playing around in the holes we dug as we replanted the flowers.

Abby collected the dead stalks(?) from this year's daylilies (of which we have an abundance).

Saturday evening I made apple pies! I wasn't as ambitious as it looks here. I had a lot of help. Some of the Relief Society ladies got together at the church on Friday and were taught how to make apple pies to throw unbaked into the freezer. Great idea, huh? I ended up with a lot of chopped apples so I just had to mix up some more filling and make some more crusts. These are cream cheese crusts - not too labor intensive.

We rounded out the day with a movie after the kids went to bed. Nice...

At the horse farm in the fall

Conference

General Conference makes me happy.

It was excellent as always. I get kind of sad during the last session knowing that it is coming to a close and that I'll have to wait 6 months for more. It's a good thing they give us the 6 months though so that we can work on all we've been taught. Here are some paraphrases:

• I liked Elder Christofferson's thoughts on living a consecrated life.
• Leonardo da Vinci (as quoted by President Uchtdorf): "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
• Bishop Edgley: Because of faith, mountains have been moved - mountains of despair, sin, etc.
• Elder Andersen: None of us wants our path of discipleship to be temporary.
• Elder Scott: We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become.
• Sister Cook: We must teach our children from Day 1.
• Elder Oaks: We must learn to receive revelation ourselves and not rely on others to make decisions that are ours to make.
• President Monson: Giving thanks for our blessings unlocks the doors of heaven and avoids arrogance.
• Elder Lawrence: Being strong and of a good courage is a good theme for parents as well as the youth.
  

And here are some images from our General Conference viewing:

(He's off to a good start. Don't you think?)