"Jesus Gave Me These"

The other day McKinley, Reagan, Emily and I went to the grocery store. I put Reagan into the driver's seat of the race car basket and bumped into McKinley as I backed up. She fell down hard, hurt her hip and started to cry. As she stood up some dice fell to the ground rolled around. She grabbed them, looked up, laughed through her tears and declared, "Jesus gave me these!" She was overjoyed for the rest of the shopping trip, sure that Jesus had rained dice from Heaven for her to hold in her pocket forever. From everything Emily and I could gather about where we were and how the dice appeared, her assessment was correct - it was a miracle, and Jesus gave her those.

Happy Mother's Day!

We just got back from a weekend at the Sundance cabin with Brian's family. Unfortunately I was the only Page there, so I had no choice but to be sick for two days, but everyone else had a great time checking out Bridal Veil Falls, Squaw Peak, the Bean Museum of Natural History and Brick Oven.

Brian's favorite part was the two hour game of hide and go squeeze. Truman and Lincoln enjoyed plenty of Wii football and pool with their cousin Dallin, and Jefferson watched as much Star Wars as he could. McKinley enjoyed Aunt Jessica doing her hair everyday and playing with Allie, Jenna and Kaitlyn. Reagan can only go up stairs at this point, so all too often she ended up on the top balcony level chucking billiard balls onto unsuspecting victims below. Fortunately she does not have Truman's aim, so no one sustained injuries.

I enjoyed family time and lots of sitting around watching chick flicks while everyone was out. We are keeping track of calorie burns on our go wear fit arm bands (like a body bug), and I had my lowest burn ever on Saturday when I was sick - 1875 calories in a day! I am usually close to 3000. That is what I call evidence of what a great family I have (immediate and in-law) to take such good care of all the kids when I was down and out. The other good new is I did eventually feel well enough to enjoy some oreos, m&ms and roasted marshmallows. I guess I should have burned more calories :)

It was really fun to read our old entries in the cabin journal! We are excited to go back when the Duryeas come back from Japan and Katie and Braum live here again.

PS - Natalie, I will definitely see you at WC in 2012 - you have a spot in my hotel room, ok?

Women's Conference

Brian alerted me to the fact that I had not responded to the comments...so camp is August 4-7, and I like the bags idea - you know me and bags.

I took the opportunity to attend Women's Conference Thursday and Friday last week with my sister-in-law Jessica and had a GREAT time. I enjoyed the company, the venue (BYU - ah, those were the days), the classes, the Temple, and the rejuvenating "rest" that Elder Oaks said I was "entitled to" when he spoke Friday night - yes, he used the word entitled! I am ready to work harder at my job of raising children in Zion.

Here are a few pearls of wisdom:
1. It is not fair to judge past choices with present knowledge
2. "God doesn't care nearly as much about where you have been as He does about where you are, and with His help, where you are willing to go. Faith is for the future." Jeffery R. Holland in his talk "Remember Lots Wife"
3. We are all as pivotal to our generation as Rebekah of the Old Testament was to hers. (Sister Beck)
4. "The surest way to make it hard for our children, is to make it easy for them. One way to do more for them is to do less." Eleanor Roosevelt

So, I am off to do less for my children! More pearls of wisdom to come :)

It's me!

Brian has made a new set up for our blog where he can post pictures without captions and I can post captions without pictures and they don't have to be connected. So here is my caption to my current situation...
1. ALL of my kids are roaming around and it is after 10:00pm - what are they doing??
2. We are hooked on watching Psych, so watch it if you haven't!
3. I was just called as Camp Director, the theme of our Stake Camp is Journeys and I would love your ideas...GO!
4. Favorite things about Monday mornings: aerobics!
5. I can't make a list of 4 things and not have a fifth.

Family Picture Time

Brian let me go to Old Navy and pick out matching shirts for our family picture! I assure you the shopping was much more fun then the taking of these pictures. We took about 150 and just a few caught everyone with the fingers out of their nose and their eyes opened. ...Oh the memories.

Just the 5 of them

We tried to get a really good picture of all the kids but McKinley was a complete basket case--which is actually quite unusual for her. In the end, we have a great picture of Reagan and her siblings happen to be around her.

Hansel and Gretel

Jefferson looks a lot like Brian when he was younger and McKinley looks a lot like me. So, we thought, this might of been a good follow up to our wedding invitation. Are these kids just photogenic or am I biased?

out for a walk

When the weather is even remotely 'springish' we take to the sidewalk. The kids love to push Reagan in her stroller and McKinley loves this little red bike almost as much as she loves her sunglasses.

I'll Huff and I'll Puff

When Reagan had no idea what to do with a burning candle her big sister had to step in and help blow it out. As you can tell from the photo, little MC's two previous candle-blowing-out experiences have not made her an expert either.

It's Your Birthday.

These pictures are in order of how it all unfolded. She was the first one of our children to eat her cupcake with any sort of prowess.

These are Dark Chocolate Cup Cakes with Chocolate Butter Cream Icing from America's Test Kitchen and therefore the best cupcakes I have ever had in my life. Much better than the PacMan cake we made for Jefferson's 2nd year birthday which you can see by clicking here.