Knowledge #3 - Part 1

Memorize Article of Faith number thirteen and recite it to a parent, leader, or another adult. Then visit a museum exhibit or attend a performance that involves dance, music, speech, or drama. Using this article of faith as a guide, evaluate what you saw and heard. In your journal write your thoughts about how you can use this article of faith as a guide for all you do so the Holy Ghost will be your constant companion. Share those thoughts with a parent or leader.


I memorized the following article of faith:

"We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say we follow the admonition of Paul - We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy we think after these things."


Then I was going to go to my little sister's play at school, but that night London was admitted to the hospital. So, stay tuned so I can finish this goal. It looks like I will be heading to Annie at the Junior High or a museum.

We're Home!

We are home! Well, actually we came home late Thursday night. London was so excited. It was like she knew we were going. We unhooked all the monitors and I put her in some of her own jammies. Then I put her in the crib at the hospital to play with some toys and she was so happy. They suctioned her one more time and then we left. When I put her in the car I said, "We are going home!" She smiled a huge cheesey smile at me. She was so excited to crawl around on the floor at home. I have a prescription to take her in whenever we need to get her suctioned and then we just watch her and see that she gets better. She is already starting to act so much better. I have some cute pictures of her just before we left, but my computer sometimes is so stupid about reading my memory card (stupid Vista). Once I get them I will add them.

Who Do I Look Like?

So on Facebook people are putting the Celebrity Look-a-likes as their profile pics. I can't decide. I did the Celebrity Collage and I have also had people say I look like certain people. I don't know. I can see it in some pictures, but I can't find those pictures. Or, I see it in certain features, but it is hard with the different hair, and that they are always all dolled up. Anyway, I thought I would post it on my blog and see which of these people I most look like. These are the people I have been told I look like and those who came up on my Celebrity Collage. Let me know! I also threw in a few of the pictures I have taken over the last year or so just so you can compare. Also, remember that some of these are post baby and I am a little chunky! =)

Sally Field & Meryl Streep

Meredith Monroe & Kristen Bell

Keira Knightley & Kate Winslet

Diane Kruger & Debra Messing

Reese Witherspoon & Julianne Moore

Hilary Duff

Leave a comment or vote in the poll.

Grandma's Funeral

I didn't really talk about my Grandma's funeral. I really need a new camera, so I have been waiting to get some of the pictures from other people. I got a few, but I couldn't get many. It was actually a really good day. The funeral was mostly family because we chose to have it in Salt Lake so two of her sisters could attend. They are 98 and 96 and one of them is in a home next to the church where the funeral was held. We were surprised with a member of the first quorum of the seventy, Elder William R. Walker, came to the funeral. He was my Grandma's home teacher years ago and saw her obituary and wanted to attend. He spoke and it was so. This funeral was so simple and beautiful, just like my grandma. She also looked beautiful. The older boys were nervous because the last funeral they went to they said she didn't look like herself and they said it was kind of scary. When they saw her they commented on how good she looked and they weren't scared at all.



The great-grandchildren sang "I Am a Child of God" and the grand-daughters sang "Families Can Be Together Forever." My uncle spoke and my Mom sang. My cousin gave grandchildren memories from their family and Julie gave them from our family. My Dad gave his remarks as a son-in-law and Bishop and then Elder Walker gave his remarks.


After the funeral we went to the burial site. The pallbearers were the grandsons, including my 9 year old brother. It was so sweet to see him help carry the casket. At the burial site we sang the chorus to "You Are My Sunshine" and then had the dedicatory prayer. After the prayer we all released a pink balloon to heaven. In all we released 88 balloons. One for each year of her life on earth. It was really beautiful.


The kids before the funeral. London was wearing grandma's beads.


At the viewing with my Mom's "Aunt" and "Cousin." This is actually her birth Mother and Birth Grandma. That means this is 5 generations from birth. We couldn't pass up this photo because Aunt Ezna is 98 and we don't see her often.



Aidan coming to the grave site. He is carrying balloons to others at the tent.



3 of the pallbearers putting their boutonniere on the casket (Tim, J, and Dan)



The casket was a light pink. It was quite pretty and fit her perfectly. Each of the children and grandchildren put a rose on the casket.




My immediate family.

Again my family

Me and London waiting to release balloons. (The broach I am wearing was my grandma's. Each granddaughter and granddaughter-in-law wore one.)

Watching the balloons go to heaven

Preschool with Aidan

Clear back in November Max got to go to school with Aidan. My camera was acting up at the time and so I just never blogged about it. Aidan was having a day in one of his classes where they could bring a small child and do preschool for them. He was so excited to bring Max. Max thought it was aweseome! Here are a couple cute pics.

Max Random Happenings

I have been so busy lately that I have neglected my blog (until London was put in the hospital). Now she is sleeping and I thought I would put on a few pictures from the last little bit.

Max wanted pancakes for dinner. He also thought he needed a knife. He just held it and felt cool. He is s cute.


Max had his first sleepover. It was the Sunday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. All the grandsons slept over at Grandma and Grandpa's house. He did so great!

Max looking so handsome for church.

Santa gave the family a Wii Fit Board and Wii Fit Plus. Max loves to do yoga. Here he is doing a yoga pose.

This is the warrior pose.

Hospital Update - January 28th

London was off oxygen most of the night and did great. No alarms went off for low levels. Last night she was suctioned deep so she would be able to sleep. She was then taken off oxygen and no alarms went off. This morning they suctioned her when she woke up so she would be comfortable. They didn't have to do a deep suction which is VERY good. Then she fell asleep and her oxygen was just not quite high enough. They put her back on a little oxygen. The doctor said that when she wakes up to take the cannula out of her nose and see how she does and to do that the next time she sleeps as well. He said if she continues this well he is hoping for release this evening or tomorrow morning. We are hoping for that too! Yesterday we did a few tests with the cannula out as well and she was also a lot happier baby yesterday, much more herself. She even tried to attack me to kiss me! I have missed that! Here are a few pics from yesterday.



Smiling at Mommy


Trying to kiss Mommy

Cute smile

So cute

London Update

She is coughing a lot more which is good. It is sad when she coughs and it hurts her so she cries, but this is good because she is clearing out. It is confirmed that it is RSV, which we thought. She is now being suctioned every 6-8 hours. She is still on oxygen. They can't send her home with both these so often. They are going to try to ween her off the oxygen and the doctor wants me to see what happens when I remove the oxygen while she is awake. If we can get her to just one of those needs, oxygen or suction, then we can start talking about going home. He does think that today and tomorrow should be her dry up days. Hopefully this is what happens. I would love to go home. Also, London is so afraid the nurses will do something to her now that she screams even when they are just taking vitals. Luckily she had a patient nurse last night who talked to her and made her feel a little better. She did all her vitals this morning and a doctor check without screaming. Wahoo!

We also have an exchange student arriving today. We thought it would be tomorrow, but it worked out today. We are excited, but it did come at a stressful time. It will be interesting to see how everything works out these first few days as we are trying to register him for school, etc. Thankfully we have good friends, neighbors and family who have offered to help and who are going to find us willing to take them up on their offers.

That's it for now.

Couple More Hospital Pics

Here are a couple more pictures my Mom took on Monday night.


Asleep right after getting her IV. It wore her out! Look at the little hospital clothes. It is a gown on top and little pants. I would pay to take this home. She is so cute!

Her arm is covered so she doesn't see the IV and try to pull it out.

Another sleeping picture. She also has her favorite blankie that Grandma made for her.

We Loves Us A Popsicle

London has gradually been desiring a little more food than just nursing. She has eaten food, but since getting sick she just wants to nurse. The nurses offered her a Popsicle because it is cold. Mmm, she loved it!

Little Lady in the Hospital

Many of you may know about London being in the hospital. Some don't. I know some of this will be repeat information, but I will post it all anyway.

Friday
Friday night London started acting strange. She wasn't happy and was really stuffy. She was pretty lethargic. We watched her close and gave her tylenol and had her sleep with a humidifier and propped her up.

Saturday
She just wasn't better. We decided to take her to the doctor. He said she has bronchiolitis, which can be caused by many different viruses, but most likely RSV. He suctioned her out and sent us home with special tubing to suction her out at home. We watched her close and she was doing ok.

Sunday
She seemed to be doing better, but would not sleep at all.

Monday
Monday morning she woke up really cranky and completely stuffed. She was working hard to breathe. Her chest was not looking right. My Mom compared it to my chest when I had pneumonia at 14 months. I made an appointment for her to be suctioned by the machine again. When we got to the doctor I was concerned so I asked if they would also check her oxygen level. They checked it and it was at 84. They don't want it to be below 90. The doctor came in and checked her chest and also checked her temperature. She was at 102.9. The doctor left for a minute and I thought he would be getting the suction machine, but when he came back he said he thought we better admit her to the hospital.



So, at 6 p.m. we arrived at the hospital and we have been here since. They have run lots of tests. She is currently on oxygen. She had a urine test to make sure she doesn't have a UTI. So far that looks good. She has had diarrhea so that has left a lot of moisture in her diaper. Because of that she developed a yeast infection. They prescribed a special ointment and she is doing better there. They did lots of blood work and everything is looking viral. The doctor was here this morning, but not all the tests were back. We will know more tonight when he comes again. That might give us more information. We should also have a better idea of how long we will be here. Her fever is also down to just below 100.



Max was so worried when he came to the hospital. When he saw her he cried. This was before she had everything hooked up, but it was hard for him to see her in the hospital. He doesn't want her to be sick. He went home with Daddy last night and got to sleep with him. Shane said he climbed into bed and climbed practically on top of him and said, "I'll snuggle you, Dad." How cute is he!?


She had an IV put in yesterday, but she is eating good and still urinating so they have taken it off the drip, but it is still in just in case. That was the hardest thing to watch. She was so strong and didn't like it that it took 3 nurses to do the urine test and IV. They are also suctioning her every 4 hours because she has so much mucous and it is so thick. It is really hard to see her like this, but she is tough. We knew she was, but the nurses have confirmed it. The hospital is awesome. They know what they are doing and because I am nursing her they feed me each meal so I can feed her. That helps so I don't have to leave to get food. She was also able to have a blessing. Shane had to get Max to bed before my Dad could get here, so our wonderful pediatrician helped Shane give London a blessing. That is a huge perk of living in Utah. Well, that's about it. We will keep you posted and hopefully we won't have to be here too long.


Oh, I almost forgot...London was so tired today and slept a lot and just wasn't herself. As soon as Max got here she just brightened up. She smiled and played with him

Paper

So after church I asked Max what he learned about. He quickly said, "Heavenly Father." He was holding paper dolls in his hands so I asked him what they were (thinking he would say a family or Heavenly Father and Jesus or something along those line). He shrugged his shoulders and his reply, "Oh, just paper people." Hahahahahahaha. It was so funny!

Smart Little Kid

So the little girl I babysit has a name that starts with L. She is wearing a shirt today that has an L on it. Max saw it and says, "L!" I said that the L is for "L." Then I asked him if it was his shirt what it would say. He said, "M." And if it was London's. He said, "L." Then as a trick question I asked him what it would have if it was Mommy's shirt. I thought he would say M for Mommy, but he said, "S" because that is what your name starts with. Smart little kid!

Resolutions

My sister-in-law just posted about her New Year's resolutions and I realized I never did this. Shane and I do things a little differently. Rather than a bunch of resolutions with no deadlines, we each do a motto for ourselves for the year. Any goals we set through the year will hopefully help us with our motto. My motto for this year is "Prepare Them in 2010." (Usually it rhymes and has the year in it). I am then settings smaller goals with deadlines that fit in this. What I mean by prepare them is that I want to do a better job at preparing my kids spiritually for the world. I want to do better with scripture study, prayer, FHE, etc. I want them to know I have a testimony and to help them develop their testimony so they aren't always dependent upon mine. I know that it will take more than this year for them to develop their own testimony because this is an ongoing process, but every little thing that I can do to strengthen and encourage this will help them in the future when they need it. So, wish me luck and I will see how I do on all my little goals that I think up throughout the year.

ABC Box

Max got to do the ABC box for preschool. They get the box and they return it the next class time with items from around the house starting with the letter written on the box. His letter was M. Perfect! Some of the things he found that we put in the box were:

metal magnet

movie (Mary Poppins)

make up

music

marshmallows (which didn't make it back home)

marble

marker

He had so much fun and he was so excited to tell me how he got to show his whole class the items in the box. So cute!

Funny Jokes by Max

We were driving in the car the other night and the boys were all making up jokes. Max wants to be just like his brothers so he had to make a couple up too.

What would shoes do without feet?
Well they would just walk, you know do do do (with hand motions). You know, walk by themselves. (Big Belly laugh)

How would the house move with no people and stuff in it?
Well I guess it would just move. That is so weird!

Faith #3

Living gospel principles requires faith. Read about faith in the Bible Dictionary or True to the Faith. Faith in the Savior Jesus Christ leads to action. Choose a principle such as prayer, tithing, fasting, repentance, or keeping the Sabbath day holy. In your own home or another setting, plan and present a family home evening lesson about how faith helps you live that gospel principle. If possible, ask a family member to share an experience that has strengthened his or her faith. Share your own experiences as well. In your journal write down one of those experiences and describe your feelings about faith.

Tonight for family home evening I volunteered to do the lesson. I thought this would be a fun experience to pass of and it touched me. In reading about Faith I was immediately drawn to the principle of tithing for the topic of my lesson. Shane and I have always made it a point to pay our tithing. I knew that it had blessed us because we have had what we need. We haven't always had a lot to spare, but we have not gone without. You often hear of the stories where someone was short $100 and that amount miraculously appeared in an envelope on the porch. I had never had one of those experiences, but I had faith in this principle anyway. I had Shane share a story with the boys where we did have one of these experiences. In 2004 we were about to head to Grantsville for a school program. I had just picked Shane up and he had received a random bonus check. We left his work and came to a light. I pushed on the brakes for a red light and a loud grinding noise was all we heard. Not good! We kept going, but the sound was worse. We ended up not being able to go to the program and headed straight to a repair shop. They gave us an estimate and the amount for the repairs was exactly what we had received in the bonus. Amazing!

The thing that touched me the most in the reading I did was the following:
"Miracles do not produce faith but strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ; in other words, faith comes by righteousness, although miracles often confirm one’s faith."

Spring 2008 was devastating for Shane and me. We were told that we would not have any more children. It would take a miracle. Shane and I felt so strongly that we were not done having children, biologically. We had pondered adoption and after hearing the news we attending the first meeting at LDS family services, but I just couldn't complete the entire application. Shane and I prayed so hard for the opportunity to have a baby. I was in church one Sunday and the Bishop spoke. He promised that if we were to be obedient to a certain principle of the church the deepest desires of our hearts would be realized. My heart burned when I heard this. At that moment I exercised my faith like I never had before. I dedicated myself to this principle and tried to be more obedient in following the other commandments. Two months later I took a pregnancy test and it was positive. Two weeks after that I went to see my specialist where he said, "God could not have put this baby in a better spot." This miracle could not give me faith. I had to have the faith, but then, a miracle confirmed my faith. Now, our little miracle has the middle name, Faith.

Divine Nature #1

What are some of the divine qualities of a daughter of God? Read “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” (see page ii), 2 Peter 1, Alma 7:23–24, and D&C 121:45. In your own words, list the divine qualities discussed in your reading. Think about how you can discover and develop each of these qualities. Record your ideas in your journal.

Virtue, knowledge, temperence (in all things), (full of) patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity, humble, submissive, gentle, easy to be entreated, long suffering, diligent in keeping the commandments at all times, always thanking God, faith, hope, charity, good works, we are created in the image of God, we are beloved spirit daughters, to nurture.

I think that so many of these qualities go hand in hand. At times this seems overwhelming I have to admit. How do we develop all of these. I think I have to take it one step at a time and make sure that I notice the good things I am doing. If I remember that I am a beloved daughter of God who is created in His image it helps. Some of the little things that tell me I am moving in the right direction go along with being a Mother. Max is so sweet. He isn't to the "I'm too cool to kiss Mom" stage. He will walk up to me, put his face right up to mine and pucker up for me to give him a kiss. I must be doing something good and using some of these qualities if this is how he acts. Or, when I look at London in the face and she smiles and then leans her head into my chest and snuggles me, I must be doing something good.

Another interesting thing I noticed in "The Family..." is that it says responsibilities we have with our divine qualities. One of them is to help our spouse and the father of our children as an equal spouse. I loved the wording of this. It didn't just say help my spouse with his father duties. It said to help the Father. I know there are things I can't do to help Shane with the older boys, I am not their Mother. But, I do know that it is my equal responsibility to help him when they are with us. I can love them equally, share with them equally, teach them equally, pray for them equally. This was a cool thing to think about.

Personal Progress

I have been serving in the Young Women program for most of our marriage. For different reasons, however, I have not served in one ward for more than 1 year at a time. In order for a leader to complete the Personal Progress Program you must serve for 1 year. I never knew is that meant cumulatively or consecutively, but I assumed consecutively. Well, I have been serving now for almost a year and a half in the young women program and I don't have my personal progress completed. In fact, I haven't even started! I think I procrastinated thinking I wouldn't be in for a year. But come on, shouldn't I be trying to improve myself regardless of whether I will be serving for a year or not?! I decided I was being dumb. I have set a goal to do my personal progress and complete the new program that has been issued. I just got my new personal progress book. I have looked through it and already passed off a couple goals.

And, did you know that you don't have to be a young woman or a leader to complete personal progress? Now, you can complete it just if you are a woman. If you are a mother of a young woman you can't receive it before she does, but if you aren't, you can get it any time. It is really cool! I will keep you posted on how I am doing, and don't be surprised to see posts about it. This blog is basically my journal, so for many of the times I must write in my journal, I may write here. Wish me luck, and if you want to do it too, do it!

11 MONTHS!!!

I can not believe that our little girl is going to be a year old in just 1 more month! Where has the time gone? I can't believe how much she has grown! She is one special girl and we love her. Lately she loves to do a cheesy smile. She has 4 teeth on the top and 2 on the bottom. She has to smile so you can see all the teeth, which causes her eyes to squint almost completely shut. It is so funny and cute. She loves to eat and would eat anything if we let her. She loves to play with her brothers, but has her limits. She loves to bite anything and everything. She is so cute when she waves hi and has occasionally done it when she is saying goodbye. She LOVES Grandma! She is very patient...on her terms :) She loves to say no and loves to dance. She is getting around really well and would be walking if she wasn't carried so often or if she wasn't scared of falling. She freaks herself out. If she is focused on something she will stand without help. She can also book it if you are holding her hand or hands. So, if she wouldn't freak herself out she would be everywhere. I am partially glad about this. We don't know what we would do without this little lady.