Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

The last couple of days have been difficult for me- physically, spiritually and emotionally. Yet tonight, while sitting in my room ironing the endless pile of clothes on my bed I felt my burdens lifted as I listened to the words of Elder Holland regarding motherhood. I've posted the link below in hopes that this short video can also lighten the load of other mothers who feel weighed down by all that this sacred calling entails.

What a tremendous blessing it is to be a mother, raising our Heavenly Father's choice children. I feel honored to be part of such a remarkable work!

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

Catching Up

Wow, it seems like I blinked and several months passed by. So much has happened, but I don't have time to write about it all (and you don't have time to read about it all either), so here's a quick catch-up on just a few of the things we've been up to.



Trip to Utah

We took a quick trip up to Utah to celebrate Mother's Day with our famlies. Gunnison was our first stop. We had a great time jumping on the trampoline, going pot gut hunting, swimming at the local pool, touring the firestation and just visiting with family. Then we headed up to Provo where we stayed up late, ate way too much candy and played video games (well, at least Dave did). We also went to Jungle Jim's Playland with cousins and took a trip up to Logan to visit Grandma Chris' grave. We loved spending time with family.

Picking "flowers" for Grandma Chris.

Hyrum and William loved being with their cousins.

Eating pretzles with his toes...he's way too inventive.

"Arghhh"

Praying that the car ride will be over soon.

Enjoying Summer in the Backyard

After going to seed, our grass is finally green, thicker and soft enough to play on. We've spent many hours outside this summer enjoying the warm Albuquerque sun.

Thomas' first lizard...thanks Dad for catching him, thanks mom for not cooking him for dinner.

Staying cool.

Lovin' the new slip n' slide.




At first the boys couldn't quite figure out how to get themselves down the slip n' slide so daddy had to help them out a bit.

Watching Thomas Grow

Our little Thomas is growing up way too fast. He now crawls, is starting to cruise just a bit, and he no longer likes his pureed mush at mealtimes (he wants the real thing). He is such a delight to have in our home. He has certainly captured all of our hearts.

Just about time for his first haircut, don't you agree?

How can mommy resist a face like that?

Pulling up to standing for the first time. William was right there to cheer him on.

Crawling...time to re-babyproof the house.

Families Can Be Together Forever

I don't usually use this blog as a place to share personal thoughts and feelings; however, today I will make an exception. Maybe someone out there reading this blog needs to hear what I have to say.

Today marks the 8-year anniversary of my mother's passing. I've had many thoughts and feelings about this today, and though one would expect those to be feelings of pain and sorrow, I have felt great peace and joy. As I sat in the temple this morning I was reassured that I will see my mother again. I'm grateful that her passing took place so close to Easter/springtime, when my thoughts are generally more directed towards the Savior and his triumph over death. He was resurrected, breaking the bands of death and as a result we will all live again. Of this I am certain! How wonderful it is to have this knowledge, this peace, this hope. My family is the most important thing to me and I am grateful to know that we can be together forever. Maybe you can take a moment to think about that...together forever...because of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Because of this knowledge and these feelings I've had today, I've taken the time to squeeze my kids and husband a little tighter. I've said "I love you" a little more often. And I've taken the time to just enjoy my family more than I usually do. Life is uncertain and sometimes downright hard and painful, but despite it all we can find joy and happiness each day, knowing that there is greater plan and a Heavenly Father who loves us beyond comprehension.

Smile....life is good!

Four Years Old

It's official...Hyrum is now 4 years old. I asked him this morning if he felt bigger now that he was 4 and with a big grin he said, "yes."

We had a fun time day yesterday (and saturday) making Hyrum feel special. We started saturday morning by taking the boys down to the park at the end of our street for a community easter egg hunt. Hyrum came home with quite the loot. When we got home we attempted to make a race car cake but it stuck to the pan and didn't look anything like a car once we got it all out. Hyrum had been so excited all week about his "race car" cake, I felt awful and was ready to start over again, when Hyrum, said, "It's ok Mom, let's just do cupcakes like we did last year." What a sweet boy he his. I assured him that if he really wanted the race car I'd make it again, but he thought that decorating the cupcakes all by himself sounded like fun, so that's what he did. I think more frosting ended up in his mouth than on the cupcakes. Later that night Dave let the boys play bowling on the Wii and they had a blast. On sunday (his actual birthday) we let him open his presents before church. He loved them all! Then at church the primary sang "happy brithday" to him and gave him a pencil. His smile couldn't have been any bigger. That evening we had dinner at a friend's home. Hyrum had fun going on a birthday scavenger hunt and then eating cupcakes and soy ice cream.

Here are some pictures of the fun we had.

"This is what I always wanted!" (referring to the tape)

Happy Birthday Hyrum

Today Hyrum turned 4 years old. It has been so rewarding to watch him grow and develop over the past year. This kid amazes me. He is eager to learn and has a great love for discovering and exploring new things. He is one of the most inquisitive people I know, always asking "who, what, when where, why and how" questions.

Here are just a few fun things about our Hyrum:

• He is learning to read and write. About a month ago after drawing at the table for a few minutes Hyrum came up to me with his paper in hand and said, "look mom, I wrote 'pet'." He sounded it out all by himself and wrote it down. After that he sat back down and wrote down several more words. He absolutely loves to learn! (notice how he spelled the word "dollar")
• He is a scooter riding maniac. After several crashes he still gets back on his scooter everytime. He even does little tricks now (good thing he got a new helmet for his birthday)!
• He is a little inventor/creator, always wanting to build or make something. Usually a cardboard box, some tape, a few pipe cleaners and a little bit of paint (if we're going all out) can turn into a masterpiece.
• He LOVES to pretend to be different people (ie fireman, rocketman, fisherman, ice cream man, worker man, boy scout, santa claus and robot man, just to name a few).
• He continues to play every sport involving a ball.
• Black is his favorite color. When asked why, he says, "because my church pants are black, my church socks are black and my church shoes are black." He recently got some new tan pants for church so now he says that brown is his favorite color.
• He has grown to love his baby brother Thomas. He does silly and crazy things just to make Thomas laugh. He often says, "Thomas is so cute."
• William is his best little buddy and partner in crime. They bring each other their greatest joys as well as their greatest sorrows (its a love/hate relationship). People always ask me if Hyrum and William are twins, to which I reply, "No, but they are inseparable."

That is just a tiny bit of the boy that Hyrum is. We are so blessed to have him in our family.

Here's a little video to show you more about him over the past year. Hope you enjoy!

Stay tuned for pictures of his birthday celebration.

Homemade Volcano Recipe

Here's the recipe for making the volcano and lava, for all of you who asked.

Baker's Clay

Mix together:

4 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water

Knead until smooth. Add food coloring if desired (we left our dough white and then painted it with acrylic paints once it was cooked and cooled). Make shapes (we shaped our volcano around an empty spice container then removed it to bake) then bake on cookie tray at 300 degrees until set and golden (1/2 to 1 hour; it depends on how thick the walls of your volcano are).

Once your volcano is ready to go here's what to do next:

• place volcano on cookie tray
• place spice container (or other container) back in volcano, if it still fits (it will work just fine without anything in the middle; however, the lava shoots out more with a narrow passage way- we do it both ways)
• fill center of volcano with baking soda (I didn't measure I just dumped some in- probably about 2-3 Tbs depending on the size of your volcano)
• pour in vinegar (once again I didn't measure I just dumped it in- probably about 1/4 to 1/2 cup) colored with red or orange food coloring (I've also heard that you can use water and dish soap, but we haven't tried that yet)
• Enjoy the pure delight on your children's faces!!!

Note: after several eruptions, we rinse off our volcano, let it dry and then store it for another day (it's a great distraction on those days when you've just "had it")

Happy Volcano Making!

Volcano Fun

One of our latest little projects was making a volcano that we could watch erupt. Hyrum and William had a great time making and shaping the dough, an even better time painting the cooked dough and they just couldn't get enough of watching the volcano erupt. Yea for simple science projects that amaze young minds!