In Love

Last week my boys were anything BUT reverent in Sacrament Meeting.  So they got all 'things' taken away for the following week; not allowed to bring colored pencils, crayons, or notebooks to draw in.  Toys are already not invited to come to church with us, and I thought I was being generous in letting them bring something to color with.

Anyhow, after Ryan pulled out his iPhone for Kortlen to play on his phone for the last few minutes last week, I lost it.  I shot daggers at each of my children (minus sleeping beauty) and immediately after the closing prayer, let them have it.

All that escaped my mouth were the words, "you're all done.  Next week WILL be different." and I left it at that!

Upon arriving at home, I laid it all out....NO NUTHIN' next week.  Ryan kindly smiled and said, 'Good idea.  And....I'm working next Sunday".

uh...huh.

He said that.

And it lit a flame inside of me!  I worked all week long, preparing my nervous self  for what lay ahead.  I encouraged my children to find joy in reading their scriptures.  I talked about what it means to make and keep baptismal covenants, and then how neat it is to renew them.

...I played my cards well.

Sunday morning I emptied all scripture bags of everything but scriptures.  Then I packed my bag with a diaper and wipes, and my own scriptures and we walked to church.  Again, I lovingly and gently discussed the reason of going to church with my very smart, and very obedient children.

Can I just say, I am in love with them.  These little boys of mine are growing up so fast.  So quickly.  And I'm responsible for them!  I'm terrified for them.  I pray for them...

They.were.angels.

They listened to the speakers, who spoke on (get this) The Sacrament.  They shared personal stories that touched me and my children.  These same children who think they need to go potty and get a drink 30 minutes after the previous trip....these same children who sometimes make me want to pull my hair out.  These same children sat very still (as far as I could see) when I got up to sing with the ward choir.  THAT right there, was pretty AWESOME!!!

For the first time in a very long time, I was spiritually fed by the Spirit in Sacrament Meeting.  It's often a challenge to not be hushing and holding and calming any one of my children, but today was bliss.

I'm in love with these little monsters of mine!

walking home from church

Missing. Please Return.

Keetley is getting to be such a big girl (despite not even being on the charts at her 9 month check up today!!)!  She's figuring out the whole crawling thing and it's comical to watch her cute little legs lunge her cute little self towards her brother's Lego pieces, puzzles, marbles, and pieces of bark that falls off the wood that inevitably get's dropped when the fireplace is loaded....Don't worry....I pick up and throw away all chocking hazards as soon as she see's them...which is often before I see them.

But she's not the only one with legs!!!

Apparently some of *my* things have sprouted legs and gone missing in the last 3 days.

I have my suspicions, but cannot pinpoint where a certain little boy and his brothers may have helped these things to hide!

So, should you see any of these items floating around in the space called "I don't know.  He did it!", please let me know!

In exchange, we will return any and all pieces, parts, and things we find that don't belong to us.  

*sigh*

Off to check pockets and the washing machine.  And under the couch that I vacuumed under the other day.  And the lazy-susan in the kitchen....where I found my keys a few months ago.

Tanner's Baptism

What a fantastic day our family had!!!

Tanner was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Despite all the planning and checking and double checking the details, there were a few minor hiccups, that luckily I'm laughing about now that it's all over.

I tried to take my sister's advice and tone it down on the 'party' side of things, and really focus on the reason for the gathering.  The saving ordinance that Tanner participated in is/was definitely more important than any decoration.  Together, Tanner and I carefully planned the program; who would talk, who would say the prayers, what songs would be sung, to invite the Spirit into the service.  I tried to delegate the 'details' out as much as willing souls would allow, and I'm forever grateful for the helping hands I had!

There was a mis-communication about filling the font.  And while it doesn't matter, it is very comical that we were filling the font with water from the kitchen with water coolers and any receptacle that could hold water. At the time I was VERY frustrated and more than stressed that the font wasn't filled with warm water, and that the faucet (once unlocked and turned on) was running during the talks.  But when all was said and done, we had a total of 12 inches of ice cold water (usually there's 3 feet of nice, warm water).

My siblings sang Tanner's favorite primary song, "I Like to Look for Rainbows", which is about baptism...and was also sung at all of our baptisms!  Ryan's mom spoke on baptism, and my mom spoke on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Grandpa Poulsen and Grandpa Crandall were witnesses to the baptism.

Tanner and Ryan were troopers though!  There were no negative words muttered about how cold the water was once they entered the font, and Tanner was surprisingly calm. As Ryan brought Tanner out of the water, I could see a silly smile cross my dad's face (he was one of two witnesses to make sure Tanner was fully immersed)....and then I knew....a toe had popped up.  Well, as is was, TWO toes popped up!  And So Tanner was baptized again, having the first time not count.  Poor kid was nearly purple from the cold!  But he did great, and we will never for get this experience.

By the laying on of hands, Ryan confirmed Tanner, giving him the gift of the Holy Ghost, as a constant companion if he keeps the covenants he made.  Those who stood in the circle included Ryan, Ken, Kevin,Gary and Mitch Poulsen, Craig, and Reed Crandall, and family friends Nick Croft and Matt Hansen (bishopric member).

I had the luncheon all set up the night before.  First thing in the morning, I took soups and crock pots to the church and loaded them up with yummy goodness, plugging them in to warm so immediately after the service we could have a luncheon and feed all our family who drove hours and hours to join us.  Even though I had carefully planned, when we got back to the church to eat, three of the main crocks were COLD!  The one I had plugged into the kitchen was warm, but apparently the outlet I used in the cultural hall was tripped.  Oy!!!  THANKFULLY my mom and other family members came to the rescue (yet again!) and got all the soups heated as quickly as possible....and we all really enjoyed the food and company.

There was one detail that I was adament that happened.  Because we were birthday'd out, Tanner didn't get a birthday cake of his own (I had convinced him that rootbeer floats were much more cool!), and I promised that for his baptism he'd have a lot of cupcakes....

So I made 100 cupcakes.

And they weren't too shabby!!!

I am so proud of my little boy, who is quickly growing up!

Bringing in the New Year {2014}

As per tradition, we caravan'd to the ice rink and had nothing but fun!!  We were the first on the ice, and were pleasantly surprised by being one of about 4 families skating....it was fantastic!

Keetley and Grandpa made a good duo while I helped the boys get their gear on.

Hey!  A family picture!!!

She has so much fun, giggling when we'd call out her name as we'd skate along, and smile through her binky.

and then she decided it was time for a nap.  Is there anything sweeter?

After grabbing lunch, we all filed into the theater to see FROZEN...such a cute movie!



So thankful for an amazing family, and fun traditions!