President Gordon B. Hinckley

We just want to take this time to say good-bye to somone we love very much. President Gordon B. Hinckley died on Sunday, January 27th. He would have been 98 years old this summer. Each time I have thought of him and his passing, I find myself with a lump in my throat and I end up fighting back the tears. I feel like I need to try to express how much he meant to me. I can't describe how many times he said something that truly touched me, humbled me, or motivated me to do better. Many of those experiences are too personal to explain in this blog. In addition to the powerful words he spoke, the way he led his life spoke louder than any words could ever say.

Here are a few quotes from President Hinckley:

• "We must work at our responsibility as parents as if everything in life counted on it, because in fact everything in life does count on it."

• "We are all in this together, all of us, and we have a great work to do. Every teacher can be a better teacher than he or she is today. Every officer can be a better officer than he or she is today. Every father can be a better father. Every mother can be a better mother. Every husband can be a better husband, every wife a better wife, every child a better child. We are on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life and today is a part of it. Let us never forget it."

• "Believe in the power of prayer-it is real, it is wonderful, it is tremendous."

• "You have not failed until you quit trying."

• "The habit of saying thank you is the mark of an educated man or woman."

• "The Lord did not send you here to fail. He did not give you life to waste it."

• "Work is the miracle by which talent is brought to the surface and dreams become reality."

• "Stand as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. None of us will fully reach a stage where we can walk as He walked in this life, but we can work at it. And the more we work at it, the more easily we shall take on the luster of His image in our own lives."

Here are a few things others had to say about President Hinckley...we couldn't agree more with the words they spoke in his honor.

• President Thomas S. Monson said: "He was truly a prophet for our time. Like the Master, he devoted his life to doing good, and God was surely with him. His life was a gift to the world.”

• The Quorum of the 12 Apostles: "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."

Keeping up with Luke

A few weeks ago we enrolled Luke in preschool. We were going to wait until he was 4, but we changed our minds. Luke is really shy around 'groups' of people and...uh...I can't imagine 'who' he inherited that from! I didn't want Luke to have my same phobias, so we thought he could benefit from preschool. He is constantly telling me that he wants to read and spell words. I thought he would really enjoy school for those reasons too. He learned how to write his name the first day and now he writes it on everything. He is only 3 1/2 and we are really proud of him!
I have friends (who are stay-at-home moms) who actually read novels and books at home DURING the day. I still haven't figured out how that is possible. Maybe it is because of my children's ages, but there is no way I would EVER be allowed to read a small paragraph from the mail I received that day-let alone a whole chapter in a novel or book. My children do not run off in their rooms and play by themselves. They follow me from room to room as I complete chores in our home. Luke asks me to play with him every 2 seconds, Luke asks me to make him something out of paper(like the photo above) every 4 seconds, and Ashlynn wants me to sit down and cuddle with her every 6 seconds. I feel like they are glued to me every second of the day. They have so many toys, but the only thing they want is my attention and love. I guess all this craziness means they love me! Someday, when they are teenagers, I will be the one begging them to spend time with me. Maybe I will have to follow them around the house from room to room and constantly repeat the same thing to them until they pay attention to me too!

This is what happens when my child doesn't follow me from room to room. There was 5 minutes of silence that I knew was too good to be true. I walked up the stairs and noticed a lock of hair on each step. The hair was so long that I assumed it was Ashlynn's hair. My heart sank as I proceeded with each step and yet another handful of hair. When I reached the top of the stairs, I imagined how bald little Ashlynn would be. To my surprise, it was Luke cutting his own hair. Notice the bald spot in the middle of his head? His bangs are mostly cut off too. The sad thing is that no one even notices that he cut his hair.

Snow Much Fun!

This looks like a regular snowman...
...but it's not! Luke said he wanted to build the biggest snowman EVER! We had so much fun making it. It was a good workout too! It took the two of us to lift those snowballs! They were so heavy! We have received A LOT of compliments about the snowman. People walking by, people at church, neighbors, people driving by and even a teenager walking by yelled out to me, "Hey, that's the coolest snowman I've seen."
My only regret is that Ashlynn was not with us. She was taking a nap:(

A snowcave! We have received so much snow this year!!! I remember making caves and snowforts in Minnesota when I was a little girl. Luke thought this was so cool!

This little guy didn't want to ever go in the house! The day after this picture was taken, Luke came down with croup. Poor guy!

I have to write what Luke did with the snowman after we made it. Ben and I said we were going in the house and Luke asked if he could stay outside with 'Frosting the Snowman' for a few minutes. We looked at each other and then asked Luke, "WHY"? He said he needed to talk to 'Frosting' alone and for just a little bit. Ben and I ran in the house and opened the window so that we could hear what Luke was going to say to the snowman. The conversation went something like this:

"So...you like snow?"... "I like snow too." ..."Are you cold?" ..."Do you want some more snow?" (he then put more snow on the snowman) ..."Okay, well, I am going inside to get some hot chocolate." "Bye Frosting!"

We love this little man. Luke really thinks 'Frosting' is real. It is sooooo cute!

Ben's Movie BLOG is up and running. Please feel free to check it out. There is a link with our friends who have a BLOG.

COMING SOON...Ben's Movie Blog.

Happy New Year 2008

One of Ben's traditions on New Year's Eve is to beat pots and pans. It was so fun...and loud! Luke thought it was incredibly FUN! We couldn't get him to come back in the house. It was so cute to hear his sweet little voice yelling, "Happy New Year". The spoon Luke is holding eventually broke in half from all the beating!

Ben had just had his Lasik surgery so we tried to stay close to home. Our new friends and neighbors, Mark and Dorothy had us over to their home for a little party. Ben came along too wearing his sunglasses. We had a lot of fun.

Ben's Lasik surgery

Before...
and after!!! Bye-Bye Glasses!!! Ben is doing well and is loving not having to search for his glasses in the morning. Now I need to muster up the courage to do the same thing. Scary!!

More Christmas Pics

Here is a picture of Ashlynn wearing the sweater that her Aunt Jaime gave her. I think she looks so pretty in it. I will be sad when she outgrows it.
Ashlynn was obsessed with Grandma Fern's handmade scarves and hats. She kept stealing everyone else's and wanted to wear all of them at once. Ashlynn refused to take the hat off for several days and she even slept in it.
Loving up Grandma Carolyn before she leaves!
Here is the wonderful Nativity scene Grandma Carolyn made. We are sad to report that baby Jesus is no longer in the Nativity. Ashlynn took him out of his bed and said, "Jesus, night-night." She then stuffed him in the hole of our radio speaker. We have to break open the speaker in order to get him out:( I am thinking we will find other missing items there as well.

Luke's Toy Story scene is almost complete and he is HAPPY about that!

Ashlynn and Luke visiting Aunt Danielle and Uncle Michael's house. David and Jared are in the back row and little Joshua is standing in front of them. New sister Rachel (8 wks old) was taking a nap. Ashlynn did NOT want to be in the picture-but we made her do it anyway. We are such nice parents.

Ashlynn was hoarding the caramel corn that Aunt Dani made-Yummy! It was the best I have ever had-Ashlynn apparently thought so too.

Christmas Gifts

Grandma Fern made everyone hats and scarves. The kids loved them!
Here is Luke enjoying two of his Christmas gifts- a visit from Grandma Carolyn (from Tennessee) and her handmade Nativity scene. This was an awesome gift! All of us love it. What a great idea! Luke loves having his own Nativity scene.

Christmas towels! Luke is a bear and since Ashlynn was born on Easter she had to have a bunny towel. The kids love them and want to wear them all day.

Luke loves his new bed-can you tell? I think this was a gift for Ben too. I heard him say MANY times, "I always wanted a race car bed!". Ben really enjoyed putting this together for Luke. We found it at a second hand store-it was only $50!

This is a photo Luke took of his favorite gift.

A puppet theatre! Ben said this was a lame gift that would end up in a garage sale in a few months. Well, a few days before Christmas, Luke said, "I want Santa to bring me a puppet show!" Do mommies know their babies or what???!! Luke has a great imagination that needs to be put to good use before it gets him in trouble.

Christmas Cookies

At first I thought we were insane allowing a 1 yr.old and a 3 yr.old to make and decorate cookies. Surprisingly they both did a good job.
Ben thought the cookie gun was pretty cool.

'O' Christmas Tree

I really need to update this thing-but I don't have time right now. In the meantime I thought I would post a picture that would give everyone a chuckle. Here is Luke being a Christmas Tree...see the little bulb (actually a "yo-yo") hanging around his waist? He couldn't understand why we all busted up laughing after he showed this to us. How cute. I would love to have his imagination for just a day. What a fun experience that would be.

I will post more tomorrow... I really need to go to bed.