General Conference

Since I mentioned General Conference in my last post then I'll keep going with it here. Taylor turned 8 in April and has been so excited to finally watch general conference in the conference center with her mom and dad. I had gotten the 3 Saturday morning tickets really early, but then we kept coming up with conflicts. Big conflicts where I thought well, maybe she could just go with her dad. I tried to find Sunday tickets instead and that didn't happen, so with the help of a couple of ladies that I hardly knew and the awesome Schlappi family...we got kids to where they needed to be and Matt and I were able to have a special day with Taylor.

I was still a little stressed about it all and really still hoping we could have gone on Sunday, but wow...did things eventually fall into place perfectly so that we could be in the session that we really needed to be in.

I had told Taylor how amazing it was when the Prophet would walk into the conference center and everyone would stand for him. We were so excited to show her that. When everyone stood President Eyring walked in and so did President Uchtdorf, but there was no President Monson anywhere. Everyone just kinda looked at each other. It was strange...this was about to start and the Prophet wasn't anywhere around. His chair was empty...what was going on?

I was sad that Taylor wouldn't get to see the Prophet. I was nervous wondering if everything was ok. Then as the meeting started and President Uchtdorf still announced that President Monson was presiding I thought, that's right. I could feel the peace of knowing that the Lord's church still goes on, but you could feel the void of not having the living prophet in the room!

There was a lot going on...especially around the one side door that he usually comes in. Watching the ushers you could tell that President Monson was in the building during the first speaker, but how does the prophet "sneak" in. :) I think they just had to wait until we were already standing to sing the intermediate hymn to let him in. Funny stuff! Someday I would love to know. The news said he was "delayed in route". Which is funny because Taylor had said, "maybe he was stuck in traffic"...which we laughed at. We were just in a fireside with his daughter the week before where she did a question and answer session about her dad. I wish that fireside was after conference so we could ask. :) He looked like he was in good health so hopefully his sweet wife is too.

That was a huge "mountain top experience" for me...watching President Monson walk into the room...to feel the power of having a living prophet on the earth. I do know that President Monson is a prophet of God and "just as God led the Israelites out of slavery and to a better place through His prophet Moses, He leads His children today.... We all need God’s guidance in a world that is sometimes confusing. Because God loves His children, He continues to send living prophets."

A girl in our ward commented on how President Monson can make us laugh. I LOVE his facial expressions too! From a little girl I have always LOVED his stories! He is amazing! It was hilarious when he finally spoke and said, "Hello!" We laughed...a lot! And like I mentioned in my previous post, when he announced all of the temples, starting with the Provo temple and then on to the Star Valley temple the spirit was so strong. There is so much work to do. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with all that I need to learn and do and teach, but then I feel so much peace in knowing that I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father and all I want to do is live with Him and my family forever!

It was such a beautiful day! Taylor was just glowing in her beautiful white dress. So many people talked to her and knew she must've just turned 8. She was as sweet as could be. I was so glad that we were able to spend that time with her! :) I LOVE to hold hands with my girls and that was a fun day to just walk around and hold her hand and feel that love for her and for Matt and for my other kiddos that were back home. "I want to share my life with them, for all eternity"!

I love to see the temple!

We completely stole this idea from my sister! The girls have been begging me forever to buy the sugar cubes for it. For Family Home Evening one week we did a lesson about the temple and then built our own. I think we had the Logan temple in there, the Denver temple, Jordan River and yes, we even had a Wyoming temple. Little did we know that the first Wyoming temple would FINALLY be announced a few weeks later.

I LOVE the temple! We were able to be in the conference center when they made the announcement about the Star Valley temple. With the way the crowd gasped and President Monson joked about the fishing I almost didn't believe it at first, but then I just couldn't stop the tears! Star Valley, Wyoming! And it was announced on my Grandma and Grandpa's birthday weekend! Which made it even more special. I used to spend many an October conference weekend in Star Valley with my grandparents for their birthday. How I wished I could have been with them that day! I'm sure they were smiling down on the valley that day! WOW!

I sure hope my girls will never lose site of their goals to be in the temple. They loved going through the Draper temple open house and I know we will take them to Star Valley. I hope they know how much their mom and dad love the temple and know of the truth and importance of the promises and covenants we have made there. I love feeling the peace of my Heavenly Father's love for me when I am in the temple.

I love to see the temple. I’m going there someday
To feel the Holy Spirit, To listen and to pray.
For the temple is a house of God, A place of love and beauty.
I’ll prepare myself while I am young; This is my sacred duty.

I love to see the temple. I’ll go inside someday.
I’ll covenant with my Father; I’ll promise to obey.
For the temple is a holy place Where we are sealed together.
As a child of God, I’ve learned this truth: A family is forever.

September Somethings

With my lacking of posting you might think our lives are boring and there is nothing for me to post. Or maybe we are just SO busy that I don't have the time. I actually can't really decide what the reason is. We are very busy, but it is just the every day routine and so I haven't been as good at pulling my camera out as I had been for all of the summer fun. Plus, I'm really starting to wonder if I want a new camera. The videos have this little clicking sound in them and I just can't get it to focus very well.

Anyway, here are some September Somethings for ya! Life is good. Too good really! I LOVE just being home with my two little ones. I love a quiet hour to myself before my school kids get home. I really look forward to them walking through the door! (I'm not looking forward to having to leave my house to go get them....I love when they can ride their bikes!) Believe it or not, we are still having fun getting homework and piano done before they have to leave for their different activities. They have great friends that they still play with often. Sometimes I just wish they would want to relax and stay put at home. I suppose that is just the laziness in me...I love that they are so active and always ready to just go go go! It makes putting them to bed early that much easier when they are wiped out from a busy, fun day!

I love what I find when I haven't seen my camera in a while. :) I know who the orange shirt belongs to. I recognize those toes! But I'm still wondering who is putting the little man to work in the laundry room! ;)



It's also fun to go through Matt's phone camera and see what he has come up with.
This picture was actually in August with cousins in Rock Springs!



Matt's phone shows pictures of fun outings with his little man. Watching football....and...



buying new toys...Thomas was worn out from all of the excitement at Cabellas!



The girls are bringing home sooooo many pictures and projects! I've been trying to be good about keeping the clutter out. Thus the camera shot of the life-size drawing so that we can keep the 2.40 MB on the computer instead of the big piece of paper around the house!



There is always time to play. This was a lazy Sunday afternoon. Kinda a funny site, but these girls are awesome! They come up with the best ideas! I guess it was some sort of date night activity! They were cute! I wish I had captured all of the giggles on camera!

Luckily I do pull the camera out a little bit to get these giggles!



These 2 are so fun! Sometimes I get nervous thinking about how bored Kierra will be with me for 2 more years at home, but as Thomas gets older and they play together more, than I get more and more excited to have them home with me!



September is a perfect birthday month! :)
I wish I had taken WAY more pictures of our birthday activities!
Happy birthday to our friend Spencer!



And happy Birth-Day to our new friend Bentley! 2 pictures from the shower! That's all I got! :( It was a great time and a great turn out, even though we had to delay it a week so that Bentley could join us! ;)



And happy birthday to me!!
I had a fun and relaxing birthday! The girls and Matt made sure I didn't lift a finger. The girls are always so cute about spoiling us. I was able to do a ward visit with my new calling in the Stake Young Women presidency, go to stake choir with Matt and go up to the hospital and meet a brand new, VERY cute baby! It was kinda fun to have my birthday on a Sunday. Plus that meant I got to celebrate ALL weekend! Girls night out Friday to Los Hermanos and Kohls. :) Love my Book Club girls! They always spoil me good! Then Saturday night was the temple and Teppanyaki with some of our best friends from our Laramie days! Happy birthday to Camille too who shares a birthday with my brother! We were so glad to be able to visit with them! They are definitely one of those couples that you feel like you just saw yesterday even though it had been way way too long! We love the Whitings. Oh...and we are so excited that they will be around to take such good care of Elder Healey. Camille has seen him a couple of times at lunch and at Wal-mart. She even said, "Elder Healey rules!" ;)




More of September to come, these were just some of the random somethings.
It's cold now! My fingers are having a hard time typing. It turned to cold and fall weather quickly. Hopefully everyone is adjusting well! Happy October to you all!

Labor Day Weekend

My littlest sister, Abby, and her 2 boys came for the weekend! :) My girls had such a great time holding her 3 month old baby and just playing with her boys!

Friday before they came, instead of cleaning the house for our company ;) Thomas, Kierra and I went and played at the park with some friends! I was so glad to get out of the house that day, even though I knew we had tons to do. I needed an "it's the weekend...relax!" moment! I sure love these two!



Friday night our family went and did smores with friends. It was late and dark so I didn't get pictures! :( But Abby got into town in time to meet them. We then went home and relaxed for the first part of Saturday morning. Thomas had been up in the night, so Matt decided to stay home with him for the day while the rest of us played! Abby and I went to the temple and out to lunch and then we grabbed the kids and headed to Salt Lake.

The church history museum again!! :) I know I just posted about this place not too long ago, but we love it! We really will take anyone here and to the rest of temple square. Abby and her family seemed to enjoy it! :) The "God's Plan For His Family" video just gets better every time we see it! I can not seem to find online anything about the video, but just go into the North Visitor's Center and ask the sweet sisters to see this video (which is more than a video...you go from the mountains to a baby's room to Grandma's etc....it's so well done)! Anyway, here are a few pictures from the museum.




For our little cousin the highlight of the trip was the "train"! We rode the trax for just a couple of stops and back and that was all this little man needed in life! The rest of the day was fun, but OH the train! :) We had such a great time with Abby and her little boys! We hope it was worth the drive for her to come all that way without her hubby. We sure love them and hope they come again soon!



Abby left Sunday afternoon and later that night we went to Heber to stay the night with cousins and visit Grandma and Grandpa. We played some "Foisy" Rook and then the boys got out the guitars. We all slept in our tent which I should have taken a picture of because that might be our only "camping" experience this year. Sad, but true. We did other fun things, but next summer we will be better at making camping a priority!

Does three times make a tradition? This is our third year going to the Sheepdog Championships at Soldier Hollow and it is such a great day! The kids come with us Monday morning and run around to pet the animals and get free toys and candy. At lunch time we take them back into Heber and then the adults come back to watch for the rest of the afternoon! The whole thing is amazing! The way the sheep flock together, the way the dog and his handler communicate! It never gets old! We are all more amazed every year! Hopefully next year we'll have lots of friends watching it with us! We keep trying to recruit! ;)

It was a great Labor Day weekend and also a small reminder that summer is really done.
So many friends and family started school today and we've been in for a couple of weeks so that means that fall is here...wait! We officially have until the 23rd! Nevermind! We'll still go to the park today and play! :)