My Thoughts on President Hinckley

When I heard the news that President Hinckley had passed away, I had mixed feelings. I had a moment of overwhelming sadness when I reflected back on the hardest years of my life and the many, many times that President Hinckley's words provided me with the comfort and guidance that I needed at that exact moment. His life and words will always be such a big part of me. I truly believe that he was an inspired Prophet of God. But the sadness quickly passed as I looked over at my sweet husband. I thought about how, even though I am constantly surrounded by family and friends whom I love so much, I would be so very, very lonely without Josh. President Hinckley has been reunited with his wife and the joy and happiness they must both feel brings me comfort. He lived an incredible life. He was a truly amazing man. To live to 97 with as much charisma and energy as he had is a feat to be desired by us all. I feel so blessed to have had him as our prophet. He really was such a great and honorable man. I will always look back on his words for comfort and guidance. He truly was an inspired prophet of God.

Recent Family Picture

This is a recent picture taken of our family. Just thought I'd share!

"When Life Gives you Scraps"

I just have to blog about how amazing my siser-in-law, Jenny, is. I hate adding the in-law part though because I love as if she were my sister and I'm so glad that she is part of our family. She is one of the most amazing scrapbookers I have ever met and she has started a blog for people to get ideas. She's so great for sharing! Go check out her awesome scrapbook pages. Thanks Jenny! You are so talented!
http://whenlifegivesyouscraps.blogspot.com/

A Funny Mikayla Moment

I finally figured out how to get this off of my camera. Yea for me!

"I feel as if nobody could make me miserable." - Jane Austen

We packed up the family and went to Josh's Grandma's 90th birthday party last Saturday. We had a great time and the girls looked so cute, I just had to take a few pictures.

Mikayla's Sunbeam teachers told me that they were impressed on Sunday because they told the kids to draw a picture of their dad and Mikayla was the only one who was able to draw a face. I asked her to draw one for me and this is what she came up with. They even have ears. Good job Mikayla!

Party Time!

We had a lot of fun at Gweny-bean's first birthday party. Here are a few pictures!

We had a polka dot party for her. Here is her cute cake (already cut, whoops!)

Don't touch the candle!

She really loved her cupcake!

She loved her presents too. Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us!

Happy Birthday Gwenyth!

Today is Gwenyth's first birthday. I can't believe it. Unfortunately, the poor baby has been very sick all week. She had tubes put in her ears on Tuesday. Because they put the babies out with gas instead of an IV, she had some fluid left over in her lungs, which was making it hard for her to breathe. If that weren't enough for her poor little body to deal with, she has also had terrible diarrhea. She's lost about two pounds, and when you only weigh 16 pounds (14 now), two pounds is a lot of weight to lose. She so uncomfortable with all that comes with being sick. She doesn't want anyone to hold her, she just lays in her bed with her little bottom in the air because it hurts too bad to sit on it. Her forehead is all red and irritated because she can't lay on her side because her ears hurt, so she sleeps on her knees and her forehead. Poor baby. But enough about that. Gwenyth has been such a blessing to me and our family. Her little smile makes me so happy. I love to hear her sing and I love how her hair sticks up. I love to watch her crawl around and get into things. I love to watch her with Mikayla. I love to watch her try to feed herself. I love how much she loves to look at books. I love how snuggly she is.

But mostly, I love how much she loves her daddy. They have such a sweet, amazing relationship. She loves him so much. When he walks in the door after being at work all day, she demands that he pick her up and hold her for at least ten minutes before he can go change his clothes or do anything else. She always looks for him to make sure he is in the same room. She smiles when she hears his voice. She just loves him so much.

I'm so grateful for her. She brings so much happiness to us all.

Happy Birthday Gweny-Bean!!! We love you!!

The Little Mermaid - Mikayla's Interpretation

Mikayla has a Little Mermaid book that she loves to "read." She looks at the pictures and can tell you exactly what is going on in each of the pictures. She does really well, except for a few lines. She doesn't know what the words mean, so she has learned them phonetically.

King Triton: "I told you never to go to the surface again!"

Mikayla's Interpretation: "I told you never to go to the circus again!"

Ariel: "Look at this stuff. Isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?"

Mikayla's Interpretation: "Look at this stuff. Isn't is pleat? Wouldn't you think my complexion offleat?"

Ursula: "...you'll turn back into a mermaid, and you'll belong to me"

Mikayla's Interpretation: "...you'll turn back into a mermaid, and you'll long for me!"

She is newly in love with the Little Mermaid. She walks around telling Gweny not to be such a guppie. She puts both her legs in one pant leg so that she can have a mermaid fish tail. She brushes her hair with a fork. She loves it.

"I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me that trouble of liking them." - Jane Austen

Mikayla and Gwenyth are having a great time playing with all of their new Christmas presents. Mikayla got this awesome new play/coloring house from her Grandma and Grandpa. She loves it so much. She spends a lot of time having tea parties in it. Mikayla got a new electric guitar from her Grandma Pat and Poppa Rog. It has a cool microphone, so she has become obsessed with Hannah Montana. She plays her guitar and brings me mine so that we can sing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" together. Its very cute. Gweny doesn't think so, though.

Here is a funny picture of Gwenyth and Mikayla in the car.

You will notice that Mikayla does not have a shirt on under her coat. She threw up in the car, all over herself. We were able to wipe off her coat, but she had to ride home in her coat and underpants. It was sad and cold.

A Random Interview with Mikayla

I want to blog something, but nothing interesting has happened, so I am going to ask Mikayla a series of random questions. Here we go.
1. Mikayla, how are you feeling today?
Not Yet. Still sick. (What? She's not sick. She's crazy.)
2. Who is your favorite princess?
Cideredda (Cinderella)
3. Who should be elected president of the United States?
Noelle (her 5 year old cousin)
4. Who do you think should be vice-president
Me, I'll be president
5. What is your favorite song?
Ariel's song. I like Ariel's song
6. Who does your sister look like?
Gweny. (dumb question, I guess)
7. How tall is your daddy?
umm, really huge.
8. Where are you from?
I from, well, I don't member. I don't know. My daddy said, I don't know. I can't know the questions are. I'm telling you questions. Where are you from? (Colorado Springs) Oh, we are far away in Utah now.
9. Tell me a joke
Knock knock Who's there? (Who's there?)
Chicken (Chicken who?)
BUCK BUCK BUCK
10. Where is Jesus?
At the flower garden. (What?)
11. What size are your feet?
long everyday
12. Where did mommy and Daddy meet?
at Disneyworld (No, at Family Home Evening)

A few weeks ago, Mikayla's aunt Katie told Mikayla the following joke
Why did Tigger look in the potty?
Because he was looking for Pooh

Mikayla remembered the joke and told it to us today. It went like this.
Knock knock! who's there? (Who's there) ((She doesn't understand that she doesn't have to say "Who's there?"))
Tigger looking in the potty. (Tigger looking in the potty who?)
Tigger looking in the potty with pooh because he has to go poo-poo.

She's cute...

"When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do." - Walt Disney

I love my kids! I love being a mom. I was just looking at pictures of my sweet girls. Here are a few pictures of Mikayla and Gwenyth over the last few years. I love watching them grow up. It is so amazing to me how quickly they change.

This is Mikayla in July 2004

This is Mikayla in January of 2005

and Mikayla in January of 2006

Mikayla in December of 2006

Here is Mikayla and Gwenyth in December of 2006

Here is Gwenyth in January 2007

And Gwenyth in December 2007

I love to watch them grow and learn new things. I love to see their curiosity. Just this morning, Mikayla sat on her little table and sang as much as she remembers of "Part of That World" from the Little Mermaid while pretending to be Ariel. It was so sweet. Gwenyth crawls around all over the place and will be walking soon. I just love being the mommy of two sweet girls. I love them so much.

DISNEY WORLD!

Wow, it has been a long time since I have updated this blog. Because of the recent lapse, this blog post will be LONG. (Just a warning!)

We had so much fun on our Disney World Trip. The girls were so good. We watched as parents all around us dealt with massive melt-downs and terrible tantrums, while we wandered happily with our happy children. Mikayla was so excited to be there. Gwenyth loved the shows and the rides. She enjoyed singing along with every song she heard. Her hair was inexplicable. It stood straight up and made people laugh the whole time we were there. It's that crazy Florida humidity! We dealt with immense crowds, heat, humidity, exhaustion and sore feet, but we had the time of our lives.. So, here is a just a quick run-down of our adventurous week.

Day One - Magic Kingdom!

Mikayla's reaction to seeing Cinderella's castle was priceless. I will never forget the look of wonder and awe on her face. She was mystified. She could not believe that it was so real. We just stood on Main Street for a while, with the crowd bustling around us, while Mikayla stared and stared. It was a moment I will never forget.

Our first ride was Small World. Mikayla loved it, but not as much as Gweny. She clapped her hands and sang along and just smiled and stared at all the little people. She loved it. We spent more time on rides, but then sat and waited for what I thought was the highlight of the whole week. We sat down two whole hours early (taking turns to take Mikayla on a few rides during that time) and waited for the Wishes show and fireworks. It was the most beautiful show. They lit up the castle to look like it was covered in ice. The fireworks and music were so amazing that it made me cry. It was so amazing!

Day two - Epcot

Epcot was not our favorite park. It was a little too advanced for the girls. We did, however, have a chance to stand in line to meet some of the characters. Mikayla was so excited to meet Mickey and Minnie. It was totally worth the one and a half hour wait to see them. We saw Mickey, Pluto, Minnie, Chip n Dale and Goofy. Here are a few pictures. Gweny loved it!! (yeah, she slept through the whole thing!)

After spending just a few hours at Epcot, we went back over to the Magic Kingdom and Mikayla met Ariel. Ariel is Mikayla's second favorite princess. She was a little star-struck. She didn't quite know what to say or what to do, but she still talks about meeting Ariel.

Days three and four - MGM Studios

Josh and I really enjoyed MGM Studios. After a lot of convincing, I finally got Josh to ride on the Tower of Terror. He hates rides that drop quickly, but ended up really liking the Tower of Terror. He actually rode it more than once. He thought it was pretty fun.

We also got to meet a lo of other characters. We met a few playhouse Disney characters, Donald Duck, FroZone, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, the rats from Ratatouille, and a few others. Here are more pictures.

Mikayla also talked her daddy into buying her a Cinderella tattoo while I waited in line for the Aerosmith roller coaster, which was awesome, by the way.We saw Ariel live on stage, Belle live on stage, Fantasmic and had a great time at MGM.

Days five and six - Animal Kingdom

We chose to go to Animal Kingdom on Christmas and it was a good choice. The Magic Kingdom reached it's full capacity of 72,000 people by 11:00 am. There were not nearly as many peopleat Animal Kingdom. We really loved riding the Everest Roller Coaster. We went on a Safari and saw lots of Animals. We met Pocahantas and Rafiki and some Winnie the Pooh characters.

I was surprised that Gwenyth did so well with all of the characters. We thought for sure she would be scared. She was not afraid of any of the characters, except for Piglet. The most meek and mild of all the Disney characters. In this pictures, she is franically clawing at me to get away from him.We spent the last day of our trip in the Magic Kindgom. We rode more rides, saw more shows, fought our way through more crowds and waited in more lines, but we had more fun than we could have imagined.

And finally, the highlight of Mikayla's week (Maybe the highlight of her life). She met Cinderella. She was so star-struck. She just kind of stared at the floor and twisted her fingers and smiled so shyly. Cinderella was so nice and so pretty and it was a dream come true for Mikayla.

And now, I present the award for the funniest event of the week. And the award goes to....

GWENYTH ADAMS

We were walking down the street, on our way to the shuttle stop for our resort. It was only about a quarter of a mile walk. The walk was on street that wound around the pools and hot tubs. Gwenyth had a bottle in her hands and decided that she was done with it. She chucked it over the edge of her stroller. She could have chucked it in the street, in the grass, on the sidewalk. But no, instead Gwenyth chose the one spot on the street that had a gross, nasty rain drain. Yeah, she through her bottle right into the drain. We cried over the lost bottle, but laughed at Gweny' perfect timing. Way to go, Gwenyth!!