Go West: to Idaho

We went up to Bekah and Lance's and had a great time meeting our newest nephew, Carter. We really love him.

The kids also loved Ace.

Presents from grandma and grandpa...

We had a great time!

My Favorite Thought from Church Today

Temple attendance is to time management as tithing is to money management (i.e. if you don't have enough money, pay your tithing; if you don't have enough time, go to the temple).

He's a talker

He says "ma-ma" and "ba-ba" (but only when he's sad).
It is very cute (and so is he).

A Few Unrelated Thoughts

This is a link to a blog that I love:

Simple mom focuses on effective home management. Her ideas have really affected the way I maintain my home (ie clean), manage my time, organize my to-dos and in general view my responsibilities as a home manager. I am sure that some of you already read her blog, but if not and you're interested, there it is. Of course, there are some ideas that I don't find useful or applicable to me, but many have been excellent.

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Abby is becoming a good little helper. She's good at setting the table and she is excellent at putting her clean laundry away. I enjoy having her tag along while I am doing my chores because she gets really excited when I let her help. Hopefully, the enthusiasm will stick with her.

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This was my favorite Briton moment from yesterday: He loves to pull himself up by the dishwasher and play with utensils (not always a good idea). I was doing dishes and he was playing around my feet. I was trying to keep him from climbing up on the open dishwasher door (also not a good idea). I looked down just in time to see him pull the bottom drawer (empty) right out of the dishwasher. The drawer rolled out and pushed him onto his bottom and then onto his back with it landing right on his tummy. He didn't cry and wasn't hurt but was looking up at me somewhat confused (still gripping tightly to the drawer). There was a split second that I wanted to run and get the camera, but that wouldn't have been very nice. It gave me a little chuckle - the predicaments these kids get themselves into!

Pumpkin Days

This video is from last year, but it is one of my all time favorites.

Birthday Days: Day 2

With tonight's blog worthy activities coming up, I definitely need to finish posting the birthday festivities.

Here were Abby's requests for the perfect party:

• Party hats
  
• An Elmo game
• A Cookie Monster game
• An Ernie game

To satisfy the first two, everyone got to decorate their own party hat. ("Elmo loves his crayon...")

Next, we played "Hot Potato" with a felt cookie.

Here are the kids lined up play "Ring-around-the-rubber-ducky".

We rounded the hour out with present opening and lunch. Mike came home for the party (and saved me) and (among other things) acted as our mighty chef (with a little help from Little Caesar's). Because we had eaten cake the night before as a family, the party guests dessert-ed with pumpkin shaped rice krispie treats.

We had a great time and hope that Abby had a fabulous party!

Birthday Days: Day 1

Yesterday on Abby's birthday there were fun times to be had by all...

When she woke up she said, "Mom look at those decorations. They say Abby and Briton!" I was so impressed when I realized that the H was covered by a balloon. APPY sure looks a lot like Abby to me. (And BIRTday is pretty easy to confuse with BRITon.) What a smart girl!

We picked dad up early from work (and forgot to pick up his car afterwards - we always do that:) and headed to...

The Farms

While visting the horses, she was very concerned about how some of the horses were enclosed in large groups and others were in very small groups of 2 or 3 horses. She kept telling me that they were sad they weren't with their friends.

She especially connected with this sheep. She really wanted it to wear her crown.

Lots and lots of cows...

Briton enjoyed looking cute.

When we got home we had a special birthday dinner of chicken nuggets!

Then, a highlight of the evening...

Opening Presents
Thanks to uncles, aunts and cousins for some fun things (bows, masks, stickers, socks)!

Grandma and grandpa W. gave her a scripture case with her own Book of Mormon (and other fun-filled pockets).

Grandma and grandpa C. sent out yummy food and pots and pans for the new kitchen from mom and dad.

I don't have a picture of this one, but she also appreciated the socks from her baby brother! (She specifically asked to sleep in some of her Briton socks tonight.)

After presents, we ate cake. Here is a picture of the cake. This is what she said when she saw the cake: "Look, mom, it is a flower!"

We tried to convince her otherwise, but about as far as we got was: "It is a flower cake that is kind of a fish."

We love our girl! I love that she is such a happy little person. She is bright, cute and a great big sister. Mike and I feel so privileged to be her parents.

Stay tuned for Day 2.

Socks, Firsts, and the Week to come

Have I mentioned that my baby eats socks - all the time. You might say, "Why on earth are you leaving socks on the floor that he can get to?" I'd probably answer that neither of my children keep socks on for any length of time and I can't keep them picked up quick enough so he spends equal amounts of time with white and pink socks in his mouth. But then you'd see the picture on the right and I'd say, "Guilty as charged."

He can also stand up. I caught him standing up on his own for the first time on Friday. He does it effortlessly now. He's a big kid!

Yesterday we gave him his first haircut. It was getting a little long over the ears.

And, today...he got his first tooth!

Not only is this week Halloween, it is a birthday week! Abby is so excited! We'll be excited to share all the festivities with you!

Miscellania

Here we are - happy and pretty healthy. If you get a Christmas card from us, you may see this picture again:)

The other day Mike came home from Lowe's with a bunch of clearance priced plants. Abby wanted to help dad plant them so they put on matching head lamps and headed outside. With the flash on the camera, you don't get the full effect, but she looked pretty cute out their with her little head lamp only a few feet off the ground.

We call these Abby's camo jammies...

I don't decorate much for holidays other than Christmas, but I saw this idea in the Family Fun magazine and thought it would be easy enough, so here it is. We think it turned out pretty cute.

With the flash:
Without:

Oooooh...

Briton can...

...crawl and ride the giraffe (hands free). He is such a cutie!

Sunday's Thoughts (from conference last week)

I overlooked posting these...

During President Eyring's talk in today's morning session, Abby said, "I like how President Eyring talks to me. Next time we go to his house, he will play with me." Interesting. Sweet and interesting. (I like the way he talks to me too.)

Elder Holland's talk was very powerful. Both Mike and I had our eyes glued to the screen. What a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I too know that it is a true book and a great source of power in my life. I pray that I will seek to share that testimony with others.

In other news, this was in our branch newsletter today. Soliciting a little help never hurts:
Sis. Bates wrote up a grant to win 20,000 dollars for the free dental clinic she works for. In order to win this grant, she needs to be in the top 5 for the most voted projects. To vote for her, go to tomsofmaine.com, click on vote next to the picture of the United States. Once there click on Health and scroll down till you find Care Free Medical and Dental and then vote for her. You can vote once a day on each internet browser.

A few thoughts from Saturday Conference

General Conference grounds me, renews my spirit and returns me to the basics of the gospel. Here are a few of my thoughts from today.

• Every conference since my mission (literally every one) I've thought, "Maybe this is the conference that they'll announce another temple in Chile." My mission was the southern third of the country. I served in the northern part of the mission (for the most part) and they were looking at a minimum of a 17 hour bus ride to the Santiago Temple. The southern part of the mission required a plane ride to get to Santiago. I know its been 11 years and maybe things have changed, but on my mission, the temple was a bit of a distant reality for many. As of today, there will be a temple much closer. (My mission was roughly an hour north of Temuco to the southern tip of the country. The new temple will be built in Concepcion.) I am so excited!
  
• A couple weeks ago in a very powerful training meeting for Primary workers, our Stake President talked about the absolute need for our children to have spiritual experiences, recognize them as such and become very familiar with the workings of the Holy Ghost. I felt that message was reinforced today.
• LOVE - Love your family and love God. Don't feel unsure, awkward or embarrassed to express that love. God's love is infinite and eternal. (He won't take away consequences of our negative choices. He loves us too much to do that.) I was reminded of Nephi's statement from the Book of Mormon, "I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things." When we know that God loves us, it becomes easier to deal with other uncertainties in our lives.

Here is one of my favorite cities in Chile - Puerto Varas.