emma's talk

*I just found this in my drafts but want to publish it, even though it is now 6 months later...

Spencer will forever claim that the best Sunday of the year is the Primary Program Sunday.

Emma was asked to give a talk on forever families last October, for the primary program. She did fabulous, of course. Here it is:

Nine years ago my mom and dad got married in the temple.They were sealed, which means that we will all be together forever.  I was born, and then Tyler. My baby sister Macie died right before she was supposed to be born. It was really sad. But it would have been more sad if we didn’t know about Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation.We had lots of talks about how we will all be together again someday.

On the drive to the cemetery on the day of the funeral I started singing “My Life is a Gift.” Everyone in the car started crying. Our lives do have a purpose and began in heaven. I will live there again, with my entire family, including Macie.

I’m grateful that we can have families and be sealed to them in the temple. One day I will be married in the temple too.

The chapel was silent. I don't think I've had a prouder moment.

I know there is a hole in Emma's heart, longing for that little sister.  She told me a few weeks ago that it's ok if she doesn't have a baby sister...but then she asked for a fish instead. I love that girl of mine.

Happy's

This is my 100th post! I didn't realize that when I sat down to post, but it's a fun fact I guess. It only took me a year and a half to get here! Happy 100!

This week, Spencer and I will have been married for 6 years. Wow, 6 years and 3 kids - happy anniversary to us! And - aren't we so lucky - every 4 or 5 years the BYU/Utah game ends up being on the same day as our anniversary (that was sarcasm). There is a reason why we got married on a Friday instead of the Saturday - the big game was that Saturday and Spencer's granddad told us he couldn't marry us that day. Then again, a lot of our guests would probably have ditched the wedding for the game anyway. So...once again we get to celebrate our anniversary watching the big game. I'm nervous this year and I sure hope BYU lets us have an enjoyable anniversary by giving me a happy husband! :)

We also had a happy weekend. Well, it was sad saying bye to my mom. She had to go back home because I'm sure my dad needed her too...it can't be ALL about me, right? BUT, I couldn't wait any longer and we put up all our Christmas decorations! There is one benefit to getting a fake tree - we could have it up all year if we wanted. We got everything up and even turned on all the Christmas music. Holding off until November 15th was quite a big deal for me (we usually pull red and green out around the 10th). We have the tradition of getting (at least) one new ornament every year. Our family ornament this year is of the Golden Gate Bridge. Here are the kids' ornaments, Macie's included. Also, we got Macie a little tree and will take it to the cemetery sometime in the next two weeks:


Today, one of our friends from church called and invited us over to the piece of land he takes care of. It's across the street - literally - and I never knew what was there. He has 11 chickens and told the kids to gather some eggs. It was really fun for them. They chased and scared the chickens for a while, but one chicken even let them hold him! It was one of those fun, random Sunday afternoon activities with lots of cute pictures. We topped it off with a visit to our favorite baby girl at the cemetery and Spencer's chocolate chip cookies - what could be better?


This is my first week being back on my own. Ahh! I will need to think happy thoughts all week long to get me through! And, cross your fingers for BYU! :)

The beginning of private education

I guess it is just one year of private education (until college!)...

I can't think of anything more cliche to blog about than a child's first day of pre-school. With that disclaimer, here I go. :) Actually, it was a great day for us all because Emma FINALLY got accepted into the school just on Friday afternoon (!!) and after I had to write a huge check to the school (and almost said thanks but no thanks), I realized how good this will be for her. Today proved that.

Each child is assigned a cubby and a hook (for a coat, etc.). Never mind that it's 85 degrees...Emma just had to take a coat for her hook. At the end of the day she wanted to bring her entire cubby home...never mind that it's connected to the others and to the wall. She ATE it all up and loved every second. Tyler doesn't love having ME as his new playmate, but I think he'll get used to the one-on-one time (something he's never had), and I'm sure we'll be just fine without Emma for 6 hours a week.

Now for the sad part. And I don't know if it was more disappointing for me or Emma when we found this out, but there are no flip-flops/sandals allowed! It's a sad day when you have to (sorta) give up your foot freedom, let me tell you. But she has lots of adventures ahead this year - I just know it - and I'm confident it will be worth every dollar (or hundred). Welcome to life.

Here she is this morning, posing like a little diva...

Blessed with cheesy smiles

I am having an especially difficult time with this lately...you tell your kids to "smile" and you end up with ultra-cheesy pictures - way more than you know what to do with.

I'd love tips on how to get them to SMILE - you know, real smiles. Emma is queen of doing this, as my dad recently realized after he took 100 pictures of her and one or two of them were cute enough to really do anything with. The rest? Fake smiles. We distract them, try to get them talking, tickle each other and do bunny ears. But such things don't get the real smiles to come out. However, sometimes these silly grins are just as fun as the sincere ones, and I treasure these pictures just as much!

So...here's to all the cheesy grins we are blessed with on a daily basis!

In Stitches

I don't really know what to say about this picture other than we laughed until we cried when we saw her (at 10:30, as we were going to bed). Yes, she was asleep. No, we don't live in an igloo. Like I've said before...never a dull moment with this girl around. (We often find her wearing odd things - or wearing nothing at all - when we're going to sleep. This one takes the cake.)

Aww

I love this picture of my kids. My sister was here for the weekend for her roomate's farewell, so we took the kids to the beach on Saturday. Seriously, I don't know if I've had that much fun in a long time! They had more fun together and with their Aunt Carly, and I probably took 50 pictures - all of them good ones! They sure were photogenic this weekend. These two are the best of friends and Emma is SO protective of her little brother. She's a mommy in training! And Tyler...what can I say - he's such a boy. He likes to be naked and carry a stick.

Word Art by Bethany Harty.

Music to someone's ears

Oh, the ice cream truck. I hear the music coming, in the distance, and do anything LOUD I can to ensure my kids DON'T hear it. That music is one of the sure signs of summer, I suppose. My kids have always known that the music represents ice cream, so last summer we took the advice of a friend and told them that when you can hear music playing, the truck is out of ice cream and needs to go fill up again. This summer Emma is too smart for that. The truck started coming around last week, and Emma even witnessed two of her friends exchanging money and ice cream with the driver - darn! She often asks if we can get some; it's not that paying $5 one time for a lame popsicle is a huge deal, but I'm worried it will become something she looks forward to and expects. So...my sweet, resourceful Emma has been collecting money. Not that old PAPER money, since everyone knows that's useless (I'm ok if they continue to think that). She's been collecting quarters, pennies, and dimes. She just brought me her stash and told me that next time we hear the truck, she is going to use her own money to buy something. How can I turn that down?

So now my ears are grudgingly open for that awful music, so we can run out and satisfy the only desire of a frugal 4-year old. And of course I'll have to sacrifice my own money for Tyler's benefit since I know he'll want one too. Too bad he's not yet as resourceful as his sister. All things considered, he may never be as resourceful...she's a tough act to follow. Can I blame Emma for being frugal? I like to think she gets it from me.

I guess if we get to spend lots of time outside in the sun, running around and trying to catch moths, picking flowers, and enjoying ourselves, we're entitled to spend a lot of money on some yummy, cold goodness every once in a while. (I can thank my sweet grandma who just gave us each $1 inside of our belated Easter eggs.) It IS that time of year for ice cream. And my kids deserve it. Packing is not their idea of fun. Ice cream is.

(Is the ice cream truck everywhere? Or just in our state?)

**Update: This just in - I just witnessed Tyler putting a loose dollar bill into his pocket "to buy something at Target." I guess things are taking a turn around here...