The temple

I went to the temple this week. I love going to the temple. Really one of the coolest things ever. As I was sitting during the endowment session I began to reflect on my time of being an endowed member (able to go and participate in the temple.) It hasn't been a super long time, almost 8 years. I remembered before I had gone through the temple how much I wanted to be able to go inside the temple to to be able to participate in ALL the wonderful blessings that the temple offers. When the day finally arrived my experience was AMAZING. Such an incredible day to be with my family and my future family and to truly feel peaceful and feel true happiness. After that day I made a commitment to go often to the temple. I wasn't very specific about my goal, how hard can it be when you live right by the temple?
Well as time went on I didn't make it back very often. I moved to Iowa and our temple was 2 hours away so it was a full day adventure going especially if you traded with friends to go. So we didn't go very often then. Now I live in Michigan and once again the temple is right next door and I still don't go very often. So while sitting in the temple this week I made a commitment to go to the temple once a month. Now this isn't an easy task for me. It seems that when I decide to go everything comes up. So my goal this time is going to be specific, in I'm actually writing it down and I'm going to plan ahead. I can do so much when I plan ahead it's amazing. I want to feel that happy, peaceful feeling, every day but to be realistic it will have to be every month. And finally I realized while I was sitting in the temple that I need this in my life right now, I need to be able to partake of the blessings there. And so I'm going to do it.

Things that make a parent proud... NOT!

The other day I took Logan and Olivia to get their well child check ups done. The doctor was talking to Logan and asking him questions. She asked him, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" I sat there thinking please don't say it, say anything but this. He had told me the other day what he wanted to be, and yep he told the doctor.

A THIEF! or

A CLOWN!

He's even written his own police number sign. (The sign criminals hold while getting their mug shots taken.) I really have no idea where this boy comes up with this stuff.

Olivia's One year pictures

Our first and probably only snowman of this winter...

A few weeks ago it snowed enough for us to push together the snow and make our first snowman this winter. Michigan snow isn't the best for snowman making since it's usually too cold to pack together. Logan had a squirt bottle out there trying to get the snow to pack together better. Brandon loves playing in the snow with the kids. He stayed out long after the kids and I had come in. He loves to shovel the sidewalk and freeze:)

Olivia 1 year

I decided to try my hand at taking Olivia's pictures this time around. Here's how they turned out. I might still go and get them done we'll see:)

Someone Sweet is now 1

It's Livvey!

One year ago I came home with this incredibly sweet baby girl, on a frigid January day. This year the weather is the same, she's still incredibly sweet, but she's 1. Time is just going too fast!
We celebrated her birthday yesterday because Brandon is out of town today. We kept it simple in my mind, not so much in Brandon's though:) But I think in the end even he enjoyed what we did do. I made her this teddy bear cake that by the time we actually ate it had several finger marks in it, hmmm wonder who that could have been? (Porter)

Brandon worked in the morning and then came home with these beautiful flowers for her. She wanted to grab them and play with them. He gave her a very sweet card that said he wanted to be the first man to give her flowers. Very sweet!

She got a toy phone that she loves! She puts it up to her ear and yells "I" into it. You can record a saying on it and Logan and Porter have enjoyed changing the message on it.

Brandon also brought home some balloons for her per my request, and she loved them almost as much as Porter.

She got a baby doll stroller as well and loves it! She loves to walk with for as far as she can before it gets too far out in front of her.

See what I mean about her LOVING the balloons?!

And she loved her cake. Browns a good color on her:)

Happy Birthday my sweet girl!

Some facts about Livvey she loves Cheese, Cheetos, Chocolate and milk. If food is slimey or has any kind of a gooey texture she usually will spit it out after tasting it for a minute. She has to be where the action is and screams if her brothers try to not include her. She loves to crawl up the stairs (not down), be tickled, and cuddled. She is still very bashful and will stare at someone until they look at her then she'll look away and then peek back out at you. She loves to clap and blow kisses. She doesn't say much right now but she gets what she needs to across to us. She babbles a lot and is exceptionally loud when we're at church. She loves the toilet and baths. She has 4 teeth and is still nursing right before bed. She sleeps pretty good throughout the night from about 8 to 8 every day.

Goals for 2010

For family home evening on Monday we talked about setting goals for ourselves and explained to our boys what goals were and the importance of them, how to achieve them and so on. This is what Logan and Porter's goals are for the year 2010.

Logan: To kick mommy's butt at mario kart (which he's pretty close to accomplishing already.) and to kick daddy's butt at mario kart.

Porter: To kick mommy's butt at candy land and to kick daddy's butt at candy land.

I think I would acomplish my goals if I followed their examples:)

Just so you know

My sweet little angel is a mess maker. The other day it was the rice. I didn't take a picture of that.
She also is a little shy and is trying to blend in with the fridge and not let me see her.

Also those who sent us Christmas photo's this is what we do with them. Probably one of my most FAVORITE things to get in the mail is Christmas cards.

Lastly, just so you know I have the funniest little girls ever.