FHE Activity

On Monday, Joey was in charge of picking our FHE activity. As you can tell, he wanted us to build a robot with legos as a family. It was actually really fun!

Jon wanted a picture where he could see his eyes, so that is what the above picture is for compared to the one below.
Happy builders!

Arabella and I built these two cars. The one has flowers on it, we had to make it a bit girly.

I finally found Jon's first day of school picture. It was pouring rain so his hair is plastered to his head despite having an umbrella. His teacher is the best, Mrs. Ban. She is from Romania. She is so wonderful with the kids and she is always telling them they are the BEST! It is just what Jon needs to feel like he can do whatever is asked of him.

Summer Homework Reward

So we are those mean parents that make their kids do homework during the summer. A few years ago, I found these great workbooks that have a page (front and back) a day for the summer and it is based on grade in school.

This year summer was just long enough that the kids had to do a page every day but Sunday to finish before school started. The book is made so that they can be rewarded at the end of month (or 20 day section). The boys decided that instead they wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese as a big reward at the end of the summer. We went on Wednesday night and there were hardly any other people there. We played games, won tickets and picked out prizes. Joey chose some glow in the dark vampire teeth and a plastic scorpion; Jon chose the scorpion (he did not have as many tickets); Arabella got two pretty rings and a tiny tootsie pop.

First Day of School (a month late)

He was so excited to start school!
This is a picture of family home evening that night. The kids were being so silly! Dog pile on Joey! Arabella is the queen of the mountain.
(I can not find the picture I took of Jon on his first day. I will find it, just count on it.)

Utah--Part 2

I have got to get caught up. I have first day of school pictures for both boys and Joey has been in for almost 3 weeks.

Well, Monday of our 2nd week I spent the morning with the kids at an old friend's house. It was great to visit with her and see her cute family. That afternoon, I froze/"put up" corn. I think we did some insane amount like 15 dozen ears of corn. It was fun to spend that time with my family doing what has been a long standing tradition in my family. Yes, most of that frozen corn made the journey back to Texas to be consumed by my little family.

While we were doing corn the kids played. Jon and Sadie decided to try out the dress ups. They were putting on a show and gave us all tickets. Jon wore shiny pants. I know you were already amazed by the red cape that is on backwards.
Well, there is little in this world that compares to shiny pants, aka shiny flesh toned dance tights from many years ago; especially pulled on over your swimming suit. Don't you love his pose to.

Tuesday we met Peter's parents and brother Jared in Salt Lake for dinner and they took the kids and Peter and I went to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, kid free!

We first saw the Joseph Smith movie at the Joseph Smith Building. It was incredible. If you go and have not seen it, I suggest you take some of the tissues they have by the door as you walk in. I finally resorted to using my sleeve, yes gross but it was getting bad.

My heart was so full with the spirit of the early saints and all that they endured. What a heritage we as members of the church share in these early saints and Joseph and Emma. He truly was a prophet.

Then on Wednesday morning we slept in and went to Deseret Book. Then we met Peter's brother Jared and his girlfriend Natalie for lunch at the Red Iguana- we saw it on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and it was so totally delcious. I had a strawberry mole that was so good.

After that, we toured welfare square. WOW! I have had the chance to get to know the welfare system of the church better through my calling and it is incredible. The storehouse in Salt Lake is so big and they have so many things. I could go on and on but I am telling you if you want to feel really good about how the church uses your fast offerings and helps the poor and needy then tour Welfare Square sometime. 3400 lbs of cheese is made each day (except Sunday of course) there- I am telling you it is amazing.

Then we went to the beautiful temple picture above and did a session. Neither of us had ever done a session there and it was a wonderful experience. We were the witness couple and to see it live was so powerful. I think these intense spiritual experiences were gifts from my Heavenly Father to prepare me for what was coming. He knew that I would need an extra spiritual boost before facing the trials that have since come. He loves me there is not doubt about it. We were not quite ready for dinner by the time we came out so we went to the Church History Museum and there was a great display about how the Tabernacle was built. Peter was really amazed by this. I loved the Hall of the Prophets with the memorabilia and facts about the great men that have led us in these Latter Days. For dinner, we ate at The Roof restaurant and were seated by the windows so we could watch the sunset behind the temple. It was such a beautiful day but he best part was spending it with my most amazing husband!

Peter has always been so strong even when we were just friends in high school. It was his testimony that truly attracted me to him, of course his looks did not hurt but his testimony made him stand out. He loves the gospel and the Lord and that makes his love for me feel even more powerful and true. I am grateful for the man he is and the father he is to our children.

We got a really good deal including our meal at the Joseph Smith Building as a midweek special at the Anniversary Inn. Our room was great but the funnest part was the outhouse for the toilet, pictured above.

Another shot of our room with that handsome husband of mine.

On our way back to Springville, we stopped at the Humanitarian Center and were blessed to have another amazing experience seeing the unbelievable amount of charitable work the church does throughout the world. Most interesting to me was that 85% of what is donated to DI is turned around directly and donated to the Humanitarian efforts of the church. Again, I recommend you go if you have the chance.

After we made it to Springville again, we headed to Thanksgiving Point with Peter's parents and the kids. They loved it. Nana and Papa had taken them to the Zoo the day before where all of them had a really good time.

This is at the sand and water table area but she had more fun washing and drying her hands at the sink. Whatever, silly girl!

Jon was in heaven with all of the dinosaurs.

Posers!

That night we had a barbecue with Peter's family and it was so fun to visit and laugh with them. We headed back early the next morning. We had a bit of a rough start but otherwise the drive went fairly well. We stopped in Amarillo for the night and were so glad to sleep. Getting home was wonderful! We were all so glad to be out of the car until we walked in the house and it was 98 degrees inside but that was better than the 104 outside. We had turned the AC off.

Jon said he did not want to go back to the grandpas houses because it was too far away but then a few days later he told me we could just move there and then it would not be too far except it would take a few days to move. He has it all figured out, I wish it were so simple.

Coming soon....First day of School!

PS Peter and I are doing well. It has been a sad week but we have been shown so much love by so many people. It is the gospel that will see us through this and together we will be stronger for it. Thank you all for kind words, phone calls, and all sorts of other messages of love.

The Lord Giveth

I know this is usually followed with "and the Lord taketh away" but I don't know that I feel that way exactly. My world has kind of been turned upside down over the last few days.

Tuesday afternoon I went in for what I thought would be routine 2nd trimester testing. I expected just lab work which was done but, I also had an ultrasound that showed our baby had died about 2 weeks ago. There was no heartbeat and it was measuring small.

Wednesday, I saw my doctor and it was decided that the best course of action would be to induce labor and have the baby pass that way.

Thursday, Peter and I spent 12 hours at the hospital inducing labor, delivering our tiny angel boy and recovering-well somewhat.

As I drove home from my appointment on Tuesday, my mind was racing with all sorts of things. I spent the evening with Peter trying to wrap my head aorund this. I should say that both Peter and I had a slightly off feeling about this pregnancy. We were excited but I just kept feeling something would go wrong. But I had 2 ultrasounds and had seen the baby's heartbeat and seen the baby move and I would have been 17 weeks today so I could not deny that I was pregnant and not share it with those around me. My greater fear/anxiety became that I would carry this baby to term and something would happen at delivery and I did not know how I would be able to deal with that.

I have been able to deal with this through the power of the priesthood and a sure knowledge of our Heavenly Father's plan of salvation and plan for me. And so the Lord has given me: a wonderful husband who is a worthy priesthood holder and loves me so very much; three beautiful children that I get to hold and love each day; a body that is able to have children; life experiences that have lead me to know that each test and trial is for a reason that will make me a better and stronger person; extended family who though they may be far away their love can be felt in our home; a ward family that has served us in so many ways-especially my Relief Society sisters; temples so that I have been able to make sacred covenants that allow for an eternal family as long as I prove faithful; and most importantly a Savior that through his atonement and resurrection makes it possible to have this sweet spirit again to raise in the eternities.

I am sure that I do not fully understand what this healing process will be like and I know I will carry this with me for the rest of my life but a scripture that has given me comfort for years is in my mind this morning: D & C 24:8 "Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with the, even unto the end of thy days."

Where have we been?...UTAH

This is Part 1 or the first week of our trip to Utah.

Grandmother is not in order but we did get to see her on Sunday before we headed to Bear Lake. She has now moved back to Houston and is only perdicted to live for a short time more. I was glad we got to spend some time with her.

To help break up the 20+ hour drive we stayed overnight in Durango, CO and the next morning went to Mesa Verde. We told the kids we were going to see how the Lamanites lived. They thought that was really cool.

There are big tours you can go on like the one above but there are some very tall ladders that you have to climb, like 17+ feet and we thought it might be a bit much for our little kids, maybe in a few years.

If you can stop looking at that amazing family you will see in the bottom right hand corner the dwellings you could see from this overlook.

On the trail back from seeing the self-guided dwellings. We learned that they keep a few of the underground dwellings set aside for the use of relatives of hte original indians so that they may perform spiritual rituals and such.

Inside one of the dwellings.
We made it to Utah on Saturday afternoon. The kids (and mom and dad) were so glad to be out of the car. It was my mom's birthday and so everyone came up to my parents to celebrate. It was so fun to see everyone!

Sunday after church we headed to Bear Lake for a few days of sunshine, outdoors, and water.

Monday we hit the beach. The weather was not the best but that did not stop us from having a great time. Arabella spent most of that day in a chair or on someone's lap because she did not want anything to do with the sand touching her feet. Silly girl. She did eventually decide the wet sand was okay.

Oh she is a cutie!

This is Will, my sister Jana's youngest little guy! He was so fun to see! And check out those blue eyes-amazing!

We were privileged to eat alot of good food while we were there. Hoagies delish!...

especially when they are as big as your head. He ate all but about 3 bites-that a boy!

Arabella finally touching the sand!

She quickly caught on to the putting the mud in the buckets and dumping it out!

To tired to play anymore!

It is too bad that I did not get a picture of this castle when it was more complete, before Jon destroyed it. Calee and Randy did some amazing work. Then we built a big wall all around it. Joey and Jon made a volcano at the entrance with a moat.

Malisa and Tom brought their boat which meant some water skiing, wake boarding and we pulled the kids on their tube in the shallow end and they loved it. We also had a jet ski for 2 days and that was a lot of fun. Joey really enjoyed that. Mostly the kids loved playing in the sand. The lake is so beautiful and clean!

Love these two!

This is one of the last things we did before leaving the beach. Jon loved it.

We played games in the open field areas, swam in the pool, rode on some great multi-person bikes (like could hold 6 plus 2 small children), rested, played games, made crafts, and enjoyed time together. We also went to a great play called Juanito Bandito Rides Again. It was so funny!

My youngest sister Jana (left), my mom (center) and my older sister Malisa.

Friday, Peter had to work and I got my haircut. I did laundry and the kids played at Grandma's house even though my parents had to work that day. We watched a movie projected on to the wall of my dad's workshop.

Saturday I had breakfast with Wendy and Heather my old roomies. It was so fun to see them. Then I met up with Peter and the kids and we went with Peter's dad to take Grandmother on a drive up the canyon. It was beautiful.

Then we hiked the Y. I remember it being steep but short and it still was but when you are used to being at about 500 ft elevation the altitude just might kill you. It was great though and it was a first for Peter.

Derick was taking the picture but this was the group that went! Way to go to all!

Our family; from the side.

This concludes part one of our trip to Utah. I was not as good about getting pictures of the second weeks activities but you should all look forward to seeing Jon's shiny pants!

Fort Worth Museum

The week of the 24th of July we made two trips to the Fort Worth Children's Museum. We went on Monday and the kids had so much fun they asked if we could return on Satruday with dad and that is just what we did.

We spent some quality time with this nice young employee building with these slats of wood, not really blocks. The tower they built nearly came to Jon's waist.
Horrible picture, I tried. This is all of my kids inside of a dinosaur's foot print. Talk about big feet?!

You can not go to a Children's Museum and not find a water feature. This is only part of it. The kids had fun but if you want a great water feature try the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the best I have seen yet!

Jon spent nearly 45 minutes doing this. There was a sensor so that as something passed through it beeped like at the grocery store. He thought this was the coolest thing.

Joey of course spent some quality time at the train station.

And Arabella found a baby to play with in the hospital area. Gratefully, all of these are in the same spot so I could easily scan the room and find all 3 kids, whew!

That night for FHE we talked about pioneers and then made a map of sorts with cookie dough. It did not turn out quite like I had invisioned but the kids loved it. We discussed what types of landscapes the pioneers would have traveled through and what sorts of animals they may have seen and cut shapes accordingly. Our mountains broke but there is a temple, wagon, tree, fish, rabbit, Utah, and a star. I think we may do this one again.

Round two at the museum. We started upstairs this time. They have a traveling exhibit right now all about Leonardo DaVinci and his inventions. It was really neat! The kids liked this bridge building part where you then walk across the bridge once you take the supports out and it will hold you up.

She thinks she is so cool when she does something the boys do.

We also saw a show at the planetarium all about the Texas sky. The kids were unsure at first when it was so dark but they soon liked it. Afterward, Jon thought it would be a good idea to touch the $1.5 million dollar projector. Not one of those better "Please, don't let your child touch that" moments. We had a good time and the Fort Worth Museum is only a few minutes furter away than the Dallas Museum so I love that I can go to both with my pass!

Oh and if you have been wanting to see the picture of the bird on my head and Arabella screaming check my friends blog listed on the side The Maas Family. You will see she posted some zoo pictures but they are a little ways down. Oh the memories!