Family Pictures!

I know that showing a Christmas-Card-Family-Picture before the Christmas card is somewhat akin to showing a wedding dress before the wedding, but... I need help! These are our two options for family pictures. I have to choose one to be enlarged for our wall and also to be send out in e-Christmas Cards (we're going the easy route this year-Hope no one minds!) The picture of us sitting on the wall is so cute...EXCEPT ME! As you can see, I look like I have beady little mouse eyes, I'm 7 months pregnant, and 185+ lbs. One of the important lessons that we can learn from this picture: NEVER put your bum closer to the camera than the rest of you. In spite of the embarrassment that I'd feel at people wondering if I've been indulging on too much pizza, I'm willing to sacrifice for the good of the family. Because, truthfully, I know that no one really cares how I look except me.

The one of us sitting on the grass is cute, too, except... I just erased my long list of things that bug me in this picture. I guess I'll just let you choose for yourself. Picture #1 (wall) or Picture #2 (grass)?

Priceless Blessings

Yesterday I listened to a radio program on NPR about all of the backlash for the church after Prop.8. I was really fired up, and had my blog all written out in my mind. I was feeling so frustrated with members of the church who go against the Lord's direction on this issue. I felt that I needed to first go to the church's website and see what His servants have to say about it. I would highly recommend doing the same!

The Lord, through his servants, has an amazing way of making issues clear while remaining compassionate. Here is a link to one of the articles that I read. It's long, but very enlightening.

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/public-issues/same-gender-attraction

I felt so much more at peace after reading through various articles on the website. I felt like I should no longer write what I was going to before. This quote directly spoke to my frustration:

Elder Oaks said, "We feel great compassion for parents whose love and protective instincts for their challenged children have moved them to some positions that are adversary to the Church. I hope the Lord will be merciful to parents whose love for their children has caused them to get into such traps."

Our Father in Heaven loves everyone and wants us to be merciful and compassionate to each other, like He is. The need to ask ourselves, "What would Jesus do?" does not end when we are children! I feel like it's even more important for adults, as we struggle with what to think on these important issues. It's comforting to know that Heavenly has all of the answers. We don't need to figure out these complicated things on our own! He wants us to ask Him, and He will tell us! I am so grateful that I can receive answers and that I can be comforted and directed by the Holy Ghost. Those are priceless blessings.

Halloween? Isn't It Time For Thanksgiving?

Oh, well...

Isn't this the cutest little teddy bear you've ever seen?

(Besides the other 3 teddy bears in years past, named Isaac, Joe, and Alyssa. They were of equal cuteness! :)

Isaac wanted to do his own make-up this year. The results were very satisfying. That is one freaky lookin' vampire! I definitely want to steer clear of him!

Early in the day, we fixed Alyssa's hair,

painted her nails,

donned her crown and her dress, and snapped some pictures.

I'm glad we did, because 15 minutes before it was time to go, she ripped out her up-do and decided to be a kitty.

The Cuties, the Scaries, and the Hottie. I'm so sad, because Joe's killer hat (pun intended!) was in Swen's car @ work when we were taking individual pictures. We were going to take pictures of Joe later, but for the VERY first time in my life, I forgot my intention. I remembered while I was washing his face, and by that time we were all ready for a little popcorn and a scary movie. Luckily, we caught him in this family shot. He came up with his own costume idea and helped me make it. He was a zombie baseball player, who unfortunately died by a renegade arrow through the head.

Our dinner, featuring: Frankenstein brains, goblin eyes, witch fingers, and monster toes. Yum-yum! We hope you all had a Happy Halloween. We did!

Sleep...I Need Sleep

Late nights, early mornings, sore neck, much mess, too expensive, but he won!

As Requested

This is Lincoln's hilarious "cheese" face he makes whenever I pull out a camera.

I used it for him on www.yearbookyourself.com site.

His nose looks gigantic with those black rimmed glasses posed

too high. (See below for a good laugh!) My friend, Allison, and all my

kids gathered around the computer last night and created a lot of

great combos, but Lincoln is still my fave. The funniest thing is that

I have a picture of my dad with almost the same hair-do and glasses as Lincoln's pose,

probably taken in about the same year listed.

It's so funny! You have to try it!

Meet Henry, Walter, Fred, and Nelva

Thanks to my friend, Devenie, I found the FUNNIEST website. It's http://www.yearbookyourself.com/ Here's what I have created so far...

Joe in 1976

Ike in 1964

Alyssa in 1984

Lincoln in 1970

Check it out for some hilarious fun!

How Well Does Joe Know His Mama?

I'm not as nice, reclusive, or afraid as Joe says...


1. What is something I always say to you? "I love you."
2. What makes me happy? When I do good things to you and when I give you hugs.
3. What makes me sad? When I'm disobedient.
4. What makes me laugh? When I do funny things, like, um, when I do something clumsy.
5. What was I like as a child? Like, how would I know?
6. How old am I? Young. Really young. (like how young?) Um, 28?
7. How tall am I? Short.
8. What is my favorite thing to do? Be with your family.
9. What do I do when you're not around? Cook dinner and stuff, and you're always busy.
10. If I become famous, what will it be for? Because you're so pretty.
11. What am I really good at? Being nice. Being really happy and all that kind of stuff.
12. What am I not very good at? Yelling.
13. What do I do for my job? Just take care of us.
14. What is my favorite food? How should I know? (Take a guess!) Um, Bar-b-cups?
15. What makes you proud of me? You're always so nice to me.
16. If I were a cartoon character, who would I be? (Giggle, Giggle) I can't imagine you as a cartoon character! Um, could I do a movie? (sure) Um, that writer in Nim's Island who always stays at her home. Cause you're always scared to do wave runners and stuff.
(Just to set the record straight, I am not afraid of wave runners. When we have a chance to ride wave runners, I'm usually on the beach with a baby or I want the kids to be able to have more turns. I'm really not a wimp! And coming up, you may think that I am a recluse who is afraid of putting my foot outside the door. I'm not! I guess I'll have to go bungee jumping or something to convince Joe that I'm a cool mom!)
17. What do you and I do together? Be happy. We talk together and we're nice to eachother.
18. How are we the same? We do like to talk a lot together. And we're also kind of scared of things always.
19. How are we different? You're always staying home and I'm always outside playing.
20. How do you know I love you? Because you're always so nice to me, and we share a good relationship.
21. What do I like most about Dad? You're always on his side. He's always so nice to you, and he always does stuff for you when you're sleepy.
22. Where is my favorite place to go? Can we skip this one? (No) Why? (Because. Just say something.) England?
23. What is your favorite thing about me? I just like you cause you're you. You're just always so nice to me.
24. What do I do that is silly? You hate snow. That's not all. You make weird songs up.