Our Family Library

“Ours is not a secondhand religion. We cannot receive the blessings of the gospel merely by observing the good that others do.” President Uchtdorf

 “As parents, we should remember that our lives may be the book from the family library which the children most treasure. Are our examples worthy of emulation? Do we live in such a way that a son or a daughter may say, ‘I want to follow my dad,’ or ‘I want to be like my mother’? Unlike the book on the library shelf, the covers of which shield its contents, our lives cannot be closed. Parents, we truly are an open book in the library of learning of our homes.”  President Thomas S. Monson

I found these two quotes today as I was preparing a lesson.  They both hit me very profoundly.  Matt and I had a lengthy discussion about it and feel very strongly about being the best examples to our children as we can be.  They are watching and learning from us constantly, even when we don't think they are.  The past month we have been teaching them a lot about helping others and doing things without expecting something in return.  The older boys helped with our Ward's Day of Service and told me how good they felt helping our neighbors.  What a hard job this parenting stuff is! I feel like we will never be able to teach them all the things they need to know.  Matt and I both know that having the Spirit in our home and taking it day by day is what we need to do.  I love my family so much.  I am so thankful for the blessings we receive by going to the temple, attending church and living our lives in accordance to the Gospel.  Some days its a bigger struggle, but we know that help and comfort is there when our knees hit the floor.  I am so thankful for Matt and the way he leads our family.  I'm thankful that he is a worthy priesthood holder.  I am very thankful for his father and the example he was/is to him throughout his life and teaching him how to be a worthy man.  I am so glad to be sealed to my family forever.  I work at it every day to make sure it stays that way.  Sometimes it would be so easy to give in and let the ways of the world take over our lives and take those blessings and promises away.  There is no way I'm going to let that happen!!  I made promises to myself, Matt and my Heavenly Father and I'm going to keep them with every fiber of my being.  There is no greater blessing than being together as a family.

Getting Motivated

I'm trying to get motivated, really I am.  I've sat down several times to post and got sidetracked or bored with what I was posting.  So stay tuned anyone out there that actually still reads this.  :)

Brewing Some Vanilla

 I have been wanting to make my own vanilla for a while now.  I have been researching it online for several months and had finally bought the beans, but just needed the vodka.  I had asked my brother and sister-in-law about different brands and costs of vodka.  You don't want the super cheap stuff and if you buy the expensive stuff it sort of defeats the purpose of inexpensive real vanilla.  Last night my brother and his wife gave me my first bottle of liqour for a late birthday present.  Needless to say this was pretty amusing to my siblings because they all drink and I'm the only one who doesn't!!  There were quite some wagers flying around for me to take one drink.  They must not know me very well 

Here are my ingredients.  I bought the beans at Costco.  They were 10 beans for around $13.00.  The vodka was a present, but I think it runs around $12-15.00.  That's it people!!

You slice the beans about 1/2 inch from the top all the way to the bottom.  I made sure my cut went all the way through.

The recipe I found called for 3 beans per 1 cup of liquid.  Mine was 3 cups of liquid so I threw  all 10 beans that I had in it.  I gave it a few shakes to loosen up the yummy bean particles and put it in a cupboard.  You are supposed to keep it somewhere dark.  

This was the vanilla the next morning.  The directions tell you to shake it once a week for 2 months and then its ready to go!  I can't wait!  Supposedly you can just top off the vanilla when it gets low with more vodka and keep using it.  One blog that I read said it could be used for up to 10 years making it a very economical way to have pure delicious vanilla.  I am so excited to see how this experiment will turn out!  

Christmas!!!!

Our boys draw each others names for Christmas and then get to go shopping for a gift.  We let them exchange their gifts with each other the morning of Christmas Eve.  It works out great, because they get to see the person open it without a bunch of other presents getting mixed up with it.  AND, it gives them something new to play with all day while waiting for the time to pass.  

 Bronson has totally clicked with the whole unwrapping presents deal.  He was super excited to get the "go ahead".  

 Ryker is always happy with more cars.  

 Cooper got a Green Lantern action figure.

 Zack got a Spy Net voice changer.

 Matthew got a lego Hero Factory toy.  All the boys were happy with their gifts and it kept them busy all day which made mom happy!  :)

 We spend Christmas Eve with my family.  My brother Andy and his girlfriend, Rebekah, enjoying dinner.

 My brother Jake and sister in law Nao giving me good smiles for their picture.

 Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, my honey!

 Bronson's new trick is to play dead.  He will stop anything to do this.  We don't know where he learned it from, but he thinks its pretty funny!

 My mom and my darling niece Mana.  She is so sweet, I am going to steal her one day. :)

 The only granddaughters on my side of the family.  18 years apart and 12 boys in between.  

 Bronson likes this Christmas business!

 Ryker tearing into his presents.

 He makes these jammies look GOOOOOD!!

 Zack was pretty excited for his Angry Birds jammies. 

 Cute little boys and their mine!!  :)

 Matthew has the cheese touch!!

 This is what I opened from Matt for my Christmas jammies.  FUNNY!!  Luckily for him and everyone else he did get me some pj's with a little more coverage. :)  Revenge will be mine next yer.

 My handsome boys ready for bed.

 Christmas morning!!  Can we please go in?

 Matthew got an electric scooter and LOVES it.  All his uncles love it too. :)

 Santa brought Cooper just what he asked for, a big Optimus Prime.

 Ryker checking out another car.

 Zack was super happy to get a watch.

 Every carpenter needs some chocolate tools, right?

 After opening stockings we got ready for church.  The kids have never been so fast and happy to get ready.  Maybe the opening of presents when we got home was the reason?

 Home again and back in jammies we were ready to unwrap!

 Bronson was a great multi-tasker.  He ate some ham AND opened his presents.  Serious business people!

Matthew got a new BYU blanket and was almost as excited for it as he was the scooter.  Score for mom!!  I had to make it while the kids were at school and finished it the last day they were in school.  

We were very blessed and had a wonderful Christmas.  Santa brought me a Kindle Fire and Matt a new camera.  We are very grateful for our family, health and happiness.  We appreciate all the things that our family and neighbors and friends do for us.  We hope next year we will be celebrating Christmas in our own home and hopefully close by!  

Temple Square and Touring The Conference Center

 For Christmas you HAVE to go to Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square.  We went last year with a group of people from our ward and its was extremely busy and we felt very rushed and did NOT have the kind of holiday spirit we were hoping for.  We drove to Salt Lake one day so Matt could help his sister Mary with a drain at her work.  On our way home we decided to stop by Temple Square.  I was dreading it a little since last year was not the best experience for me.  I'm so glad we decided to go.  It was perfect and just what I was wishing for.  Before we even got to Temple Square several of the boys had to go to the bathroom so we went into the Conference Center.  Some of the workers asked us if we would like a tour.  They were more than happy to make it as short or long as the kids could stand it.  This tree was decorated with pioneer type decorations and pictures that depicted the story of the young men who carried hundreds of kids, women and men across a river in the middle of winter.  These young men sacrificed their lives ultimately by helping those in their company.  Zack was amazed that they would do this and wanted his picture taken next to one of the paintings.

 Bronson and Ryker wanting to get the show on the road!

 The Conference Center all dressed up for Christmas.  The boys (and me) were amazed at the size.

 Having a seat and pretending to watch a show.

 Posing for mom.

 After our tour we made our way across the street to the temple grounds.  There were not nearly as many people as the night we came last year and so we got to enjoy all the beauty and sights of Temple Square.

 Matt and I went on our first date to Temple Square on Dec. 22nd 1994!!  We were a little early this year, but the kids thought it was so cool when we told them.

 Beautiful!!

 Matthew "helping" Cooper get a closer look at the reflecting pool.  Aren't brothers the best?  :)

 Feeling very grateful to be here with my family.

We had a wonderful night.  The kids were great and we didn't loose anyone!  It wasn't freezing and we had a nice chat with some sister missionaries.  Great memories.

Sinterklaas comes to town.

 St. Nicholas came to visit.  Zack was so excited to dress up like Pete.  Thanks to Oma and Opa for sending us some costume pieces. :)

 Zacks turn with St. Nick

 Bronson thought this was pretty cool.  Sit on the strangely dressed mans lap and he gives me a present.  Awesome!!

 Little St. Nick (Matthew) getting his turn to get a present from Big St. Nick.

 Sinterklaas was very nice to our family.

 He brought us our Elf on the Shelf.  This was the boys favorite gift from Sinterklaas.

 Lots of fun little Christmas toys.

Bronson finally got a "cars" car of his very own.