President Hinckley will be missed

I have seen several blog tributes to our beloved President Hinckley since his passing on Sunday and I just wanted to write a little one of my own. President Hinckley has been the prophet since I was twelve years old and I have always felt a special love for him. He is so optimistic and positive, which for me has been so comforting in this scary world. I tend to be a worrier, but every time I heard him speak my worries were lessened and I was left feeling hopeful. I am so grateful for his lifetime of service and hard work. He truly gave his life to the service of the Lord and I will miss seeing his smiling face at our conferences.

When I lived in Chicago growing up, President Hinckley came and spoke at the United Center to all the members in the area. I remember when he walked in we all sang we thank thee oh God for a prophet and he smiled and waved at all of us. I felt the spirit so strongly testify that he was the mouthpiece of God on the earth. Later I was able to sit very close to the front of the conference center and see him as he walked by and I felt that same spirit again.

His smile was so infectious, and I will always picture President Hinckley with his cute wife Marjory. I will never forget his sweet tribute to his wife and to all women in the conference address after she passed away. My overall feeling when I heard that President Hinckley had died was of happiness for him. I am so happy to know that he gets to be with his cute wife again, and so many other family members that he loves. I think the tribute from the quorum of the twelve apostles honors him perfectly:

“Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles express our heartfelt love and admiration for President Gordon B. Hinckley and the singular life of service he lived. He was our prophet, our leader, our brother and our friend. We feel a deep, personal loss at his passing. He unfailingly demonstrated his devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, whose witness he was at home and abroad.

“We will miss his wit and his wisdom, his leadership and his love. However, we cannot but rejoice in his reunion with his beloved Marjorie, with his parents and other family members who have gone before, and with the prophets of God, both ancient and modern, among whose eternal ranks he now stands. As the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles we echo the voice of the Master, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant. … Enter into the joy of thy Lord.’ ”

A couple of Crazies!

So I'm not sure if I have posted about Carter's ridiculous obsessions with food yet, but if I have, I haven't explained the full extent of his craziness. So carter is a pretty easy going kid. The only time he is completely unreasonable is when he is hungry, or actually, just anytime food is involved. If we don't feed him fast enough at dinner he just yells at us. I swear this kid would walk through fire if he saw food on the other side. So the other day I got home from grocery shopping and he came into the kitchen and saw all the new food on the floor which I was unloading. His eyes grew wide and he just started waving his arms and screaming. So then he saw a package of tomatoes and got really excited. Somehow he managed to open it up when my back was turned and when I turned back around he was about to shove a whole tomato in his mouth. I quickly took it away because I didn't think he would like it which made him really mad and he started to bawl. So I said okay you can try it, but I don't think you will like it. He then proceeded to eat the entire tomato like it was an apple and just smiled and laughed through the whole experience as tomato juice and pulp ran all down his face, neck and clothes. It always makes me laugh when Carter gets crazy about food because it reminds me of my big brother who, if he could, would still scream about how much he loves food! I can't wait to see this kids appetite when he is a teenage boy because he is already eating us out of house and home!




So I just had to post this funny new hobby Rylynn has adopted. The last few days when I tell Rylynn to pick out some clothes to wear, she has been heading to Carter's dresser and putting on his clothes! Mind you she is almost three years old and she is wearing 12-18 month clothes. It is pretty funny that she can even get them on at all, but she is such a skinny minny that they just end up being capris and 3/4 length sleeve shirts on her. She just loves this new little game. I don't fight with her about it because at least she is keeping her clothes on for once!

My little Ballerina

Rylynn had her first ballet class today. She was so excited about the special fancy ballet clothes and the fact that she was taking the class with her friend Olivia. Carter and I stayed and watched for the first day and she did a great job! I was a little worried because she is one of the youngest in the class, but she did so well listening to the teacher and she even did the actual moves they taught her. From what I remember from my own short-lived ballet experience, they learned first and second position today and did a ple-a (I have no idea how to spell that, but you know what I mean). The picture that is a little bit blurry was through a window and the blinds got in the way, but I couldn't resist snapping that one because she looked so cute and so interested in what her teacher was saying. Of course she had to stand next to Olivia for the whole class long! When we got to her class we learned that another little girl from our ward was in the class too, so that was fun for them. I just can't believe how fast Rylynn is growing up. She is my little helper now and she is so good with her little brother. I can still remember going to my first ballet class and loving it! Oh how time does fly.

No more monkeys jumping on the Couch?

Rylynn and Carter have found a new remedy for being trapped indoors all winter....jumping on the couch springs! So this little activity started as fort building which was inspired by daddy of course. That was fun to watch because I completely loved doing that as a child, especially when my brothers would let me help them because they built the coolest forts! I remember one of them was this huge(at least to me) maze of tunnels all leading to a center room that surrounded our big TV! I thought they were geniuses! Anyway, so that was fun for the kids for awhile and then they discovered that the couch springs under the cushions make a perfect indoor trampoline! They spent hours jumping from the couch and diving into the mass of couch cushions. Even Carter would fling his little body onto the pile and flip off laughing hysterically. I had to get it on film and since they did it everyday last week, that wasn't too hard. So here is a video of the bouncing. Notice, of course, that Rylynn has taken off her pants for the occasion. Also watch how Carter is so cautious about jumping. If you look closely, he jumps a little bit on his own. They are so cute!

Oh Edward!

So I have not posted for awhile because I have been sucked into the world of Bella and Edward! If you don't know who these people are, you HAVE to find out! I am referring to the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I have to admit, when I heard about these books I wasn't so eager to read a vampire love story, but let me tell you it is way better than I expected! I read the second and the third book in one day each and I can't get enough! I'm pretty sure my husband wants to burn these books though since they are taking up all my free time. We were running out the door for our date night last week and I had been reading and he asked, "will Edward be joining us on our date!" I didn't bring it, but I was tempted. So those of you out there who haven't read it, I encourage you to jump on the band wagon! I know all you ladies love it as much as I do, so please share your feelings:)

Carter's new talent...kind of

Carter is obsessed lately with climbing up on chairs and dancing on them. We were worried enough about this new talent, then he discovered how to go from the chairs to the top of the table! He is a little monkey and the only way we have found to keep him off the chairs and table are to turn all the chairs in the house upside down. I'm sure you can imagine that this doesn't look so nice and neat so it is driving me crazy. He is a very determined boy and when he sees the chairs turned over he gets so mad. His new favorite word this week is uh-oh. I'm sure he learned this since we say it several times a day in response to the disasters he creates throughout the house. I can hardly keep up with these kiddos!

Snow Day!

These pictures are from last week when we got a foot of snow! This was Carter's first time playing in snow and he actually loved it at first. Unfortunately, the pictures were taken when he started getting cold, so you can't tell he liked it. We had lots of fun bundling up and making snow angels, and then when we got too cold we ran inside for hot cocoa! The snow is all gone now and it has been in the 50's and 60's this whole week. Weird weather, but we'll take it!

What a crack up!

Okay so this post is mostly for our friends Jana and Eric, but it is hilarious so I'm sure you will all enjoy it anyway. The story behind this video is that our friends Jana and Eric have a video of their daughter on their blog singing baa baa black sheep. Rylynn and their daughter are the same age and they were best buddies in Utah before we moved here. So we showed the video to Rylynn and she LOVED it! She kept asking us to play it again and again. We seriously had to watch it like 20 times in a row and her reaction was so funny that we just had to get it on video. So here it is!

Happy birthday Carter!

Here is a little video of Carter's birthday. Notice how Rylynn is so helpful and blows out Carter's candle! He adores his big sister and does everything that she does, so he didn't mind one bit! I love how he looks at me like are you sure I'm not going to get in trouble for eating this cake? He had a great first birthday!

Merry Christmas and Happy 2008!

We had a great Christmas! Nana and Papa came out and spent the week with us for all the festivities! We had a blast having them here. Our Christmas morning started out a little differently this year because we had to get up early so we could talk to my sister who is on a mission in Estonia. That was a great start to the day, it was so fun to talk to her and hear her voice again. We all love her and miss her so much. Then the kids woke up and it was time for our traditional Christmas breakfast which was delicious! Next we opened presents and stockings and then it was time for our big presents which we find by following clues written by Santa. Since Christmas was at our house this year Garrett got to try his hand at writing the clues which gave my dad a much needed break. He did a great job! Rylynn and Carter loved their presents and the magic of Christmas morning! It was so fun to see their faces light up and get so excited with each present they opened. Kids make all the work of Christmas worth it! Later that night we had a great prime rib Christmas dinner with our friends Ali and Kolby and their kids. All in all it was a huge success! Unfortunately, we video taped most of Christmas so we don't have any pictures to share.

Our New Year's Eve celebrations gained new meaning last year when Carter came into the world! So this year we had our usual fondue party but we also had birthday cake and presents for the little man. Rylynn was a big helper when it came to opening Carter's presents! I think his favorite part was eating his cake, but he liked his presents too! He loves standing on everything lately so as you can see in the picture he is surfing on his present before he opened it. Also notice the cute new Christmas jammies he is wearing from Nana and Papa!

It has been really neat for me to reflect on the past year because Carter's labor and delivery were really hard for me. He was an emergency c-section so it was a totally different experience from Rylynn's. I have thought several times back to last year and the long, painful recovery and now to the beautiful healthy boy that we have been blessed with. I have been struck by the overwhelming love I have for him and the fact that I would do it all over again in a minute just to have him in my life. I love my Carter so much!

Nana and Papa had to leave us yesterday. We were sad to see them go! We had lots of fun adventures with them while they were here and more importantly we had tons of yummy food! We always love spending time with family. However, I think they were happy they got out of here when they did since it snowed all day long and we woke up this morning to a foot of snow! Happy New Year everyone! We are so thankful for good friends and our wonderful families!