We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet

Our beloved prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away tonight at the age of 97. My heart is full of emotion! I can't imagine there was/is a single person who knew President Hinckley that didn't love him!


President Hinckley will always hold a dear place in my heart! I truly admired his zest for life and his dedication to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's work! I am so grateful for his service. I can't help but smile knowing that he is reunited with his beautiful wife whom he yearned for and will enjoy some much needed rest...I think he has earned at least a few minutes. (;

One of my favorite hymns sums it up completely!

We thank thee, O God, for a prophet
To guide us in these latter days.
We thank thee for sending the gospel
To lighten our minds with its rays.
We thank thee for every blessing
Bestowed by thy bounteous hand.
We feel it a pleasure to serve thee
And love to obey thy command.

Melt Down

Remember the frozen wipes. Well, we have now gone from one extreme to another!

We usually keep our thermostat set somewhere between 69-71 degrees. When we came home last night after being gone for about 6 hours the temperature in our apartment was at 109! Can you believe that? It was like walking into a sauna. For some unknown reason our thermostat was working overtime and just didn't want to stop at 70 degrees anymore.

We had melted chocolate on the table, our butter was in a puddle, and our poor computer was completely over heating (sorry, no pictures). Luckily, it was freezing cold outside so it didn't take too long to cool the place down.

CRAZY! Can't wait to see that gas bill!

Keagen turns 6!

Happy Birthday to my nephew Keagen Murdoch! Keagen is such a handsome little guy and he is an exceptional athlete.



Keagen, we hope you have a super fun day celebrating #6! I love when my birthday lands on a Friday! We love you and can't wait to see you at "the cabin" in a couple weeks.

Sorry, no pictures.

A dear friend from Poky tagged me and so to show her my love for her I will play along. So, because I love you Kari.

10 Years Ago (Jan. 1998)
I was starting my third semester at Ricks College and living at Heritage Manor with Katie King and Lisa Soderquist. I was working at Melaleuca in Idaho Falls as a Sales Representative. I really don't have the best memory so I can't remember too much about what I was doing but I can guarantee I was boy crazy and spending a lot of time with return missionaries from my brothers missions that they had so generously hooked me up with.

5 Things on my To-Do List today:
1. Ride bike (exercise).
2. Get the car serviced.
3. Finish grocery shopping. I did start this task yesterday but now I have to go back to get the remaining items that I didn't have the patience (or room in cart) to get yesterday.
4. Laundry.
5. Try to get in at least 30 minutes of my real job (I love my job...thanks Jarom!). (:

I enjoy:
1. Any flavor of ice cream in a cone. Triple Decker.
2. Swedish Fish
3. Cross-word puzzles
4. Baths with lots of bath oil in them.
5. Eating out.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Live debt free!
2. Build-up the sweetest food storage for me and all my family. So when this crazy world gets even crazier we won't have to go without good food and good hygiene. (;
3. Buy a beautiful home (not necessarily large) that was natural disaster-proof. And pay someone to decorate every last detail.
4. Go where ever I want when ever I want.
5. Give! Give! Give!

3 of my bad habits:
1. I weigh myself at least once a day.
2. I brush my teeth so hard that my gums are receding.
3. When I visit people I like to look at their showers and bath tubs.

5 places I have lived:
1. Idaho Falls, ID
2. Pocatello, ID
3. Rexburg, ID
4. Helena, MT
5. I know...I'm lame.

5 jobs I have had:
1. Charie's-cleaned my neighbors hair salon and home.
2. Baskin Robbins-the best darn ice cream scooper ever.
3. Melaleuca, Inc.-9 years. Worked on the phones, supervised a sales team, and worked in their Marketing Services Department.
4. Idaho Home Health and Hospice-filing.
5. Mini Bazaar-helped with stocking and customers when they needed extra help. Very short lived...I liked my weekends too much.

5 Things people don't know about me:
1. If I don't eat out once a week I feel ripped off.
2. I am very systematic. I like to do the same things, in the same order every day.
3. I had a pet turtle, Phyllis, for several years. It had a female name but I almost always referred to it as a "him". Weird huh! I have never had a desire to own any kind of pet since Phyllis. Too much work and too much heartache worrying about the darn thing. That's what kids are for.
4. I eat pizza every Friday, and so does the rest of my family.
5. I try to avoid turning my lights on at home. I prefer natural light so I just open all the blinds until I can't see anymore...and then I will resort to turning on the lights.

If you enjoyed reading this then TAG...you are it.

You know it was a cold night when...

...you wake up to frozen baby wipes.



I keep baby wipes in my kitchen window and Tuesday morning when I went to grab a wipe to clean a little face this is what I found.



Frozen solid! Can you see the ice crystals?

Overcoming separation anxiety, first steps, and fear of baths

Since we moved to Idaho Falls and lost our favorite baby sitter EVER we haven't really been able to leave Owen without him having a nervous break-down.

EXAMPLE: On New Year's Eve I had to leave the movie early because Owen wouldn't stop crying and the baby sitter didn't know what to do.

Well, last night we were able to go to Outback Steakhouse with a few of my siblings and their spouses (with Wesley in tow...but he is so well-mannered at restaurants that it's no big deal) and an enjoy a delicious meal without any phone calls and Owen was completely content when we returned. Thanks Alyssa! AND Owen is attending Nursery without any parental supervision. Life is good!



After dinner we had to get in a few rounds of Guitar Hero before we headed back to our place. Owen has been talking about playing since the last time we played a couple weeks ago. Almost daily he will ask, "Can we go rock and roll at Carter's?".



Wesley is starting to stand all by himself and actually took a couple steps yesterday. We can't believe how quickly he is picking up on things. It sure keeps life exciting when you have a family member learning new tricks every day!


And, lastly I need some advice. When Owen had diarrhea the first of the month he had an accident in the bath tub, and since then will not take a bath willingly. This is coming from a kid who LOVED to play in the tub. Now when he hears the bath water running he starts to cry, complains that his stomach hurts, and hides. When I finally get him in the tub he refuses to sit down and screams (and he has some pretty good lungs on him) the entire time while he holds his boy parts. What should I do to help him like baths again? Poor kid is tramatized every time I bathe him...and I am sure our neighbors downstairs think that I mark in my schedule to beat my kid senseless every other day at 8am.

Happy Birthday Elena!

Happy Birthday Elena!

One of my favorite blogging buddies who happens to be my sister-in-law turns 32 today! I hope you have a fantastic day today. I have LOVED, LOVED, LOVED having you in Idaho Falls these last few years. It's been so fun to spend more time with you!

See you tonight!



I love this picture because you look so darn cute and happy!

Extreme Makeover: Bed Edition

Since Kevin and I purchased our first bed 5 years ago we have been counting down the days until we could get a new one. Seriously...our bed was that bad! So, when we decided to move to Idaho Falls into an apartment with a "spare" bedroom we started looking at new beds.

After a month of looking we found Kevin's dream bed, and after nearly two months of looking we found some awesome bedding (thanks for your help Mom!)! I can't believe how hard it is to find bedding that we like. Does anyone else have this problem? My mom ended up taking me to Dillard's where they have their name brand bedding at 75% off. It was a steal. And I love the pattern and colors. Let me know what you think.


BEFORE


AFTER

What an upgrade, right? I have always told Kevin that when our kids get married I am going to give them the following advice: spare no expense on a nice bed, and don't just buy the couch...buy the entire set (nothing worse than buying a couch with the intent of buying the love set and chair later and than finding out that they don't sell it anymore).

Baby Contest

So, I need some help. Live's Annual Beautiful Baby Search is starting and entries have to be in by tomorrow. I can't decide which photo to enter for my beautiful Wesley. I entered Owen into this contest when he was 6 months old so I feel a little obligated to enter Wesley...plus, I think my baby is beautiful. So, if you happen to stop by my blog today let me know which picture you think I should enter.

Crazy Eights

Okay. Eight things that make me cRaZy! I could do this every day and the list would be completely different. But, here is my list for today!

1-A sink full of dirty dishes and a dishwasher full of clean dishes. Same goes for the washer and dryer.

2-Bare feet in a sleeping bag. My heels ALWAYS snag on the fabric. Drives me crazy!

3-Folding fitted sheets. Years ago my friends (the Millers) gave me a tutorial. But, I still have a hard time with them.

4-Trying to put things back in the boxes or bags that they amazing came packaged nicely in (bedding, sleeping bags, Bonsai Falls, christmas trees, etc.).

5-Carpet! After a couple weeks of vomiting kids with diarrhea I really wished I had hardwood floors with area rugs instead of carpet. The above mentioned things just don't clean up so easy and if it soaks into the padding you are in big trouble.

6-People who never answer their phones.

7- Trying to decorate my home with no skills and no money. Bad combination!

8-Story-toppers. Being cut-off in the middle of story because someone has a story that is "bigger and better".

(Thanks for the tag Elena...this kept me up all night thinking of everything that drives me nuts! But, I did have fun doing it.)

Happy Birthday Fred!

Happy Birthday Fred!

Today is my father-in-law's birthday. It's hard to get pictures of Fred because he is always on-the-go. But, this is a great one of him playing with Owen. Owen loves that his Grandma Ward is always down on the floor playing with him or kicking balls around with him.

We hope you have a great day celebrating Fred! We love you and are so blessed to have you in our lives!

A Rockin' New Year's Eve

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We partied like the best of them until 4am! We are way to old to be pulling stuff like that. I am just now recovering from the late night. But, we did have a good time.


We (my parents, Natalie, Jarom, Elena, Justin, Amber, Kevin, Me, and Wesley) started the night early with a fantastic dinner at the Sandpiper and then we went to National Treasure at the theatre.

Then we relieved the baby sitter at Jarom's home and rocked all night long with their Wii. That thing is SO addictive! We seriously had Guitar Hero going all night long. We almost let the New Year ring in without us, but with 1 minute to go we were able to put a drink in every one's hand and make a toast.

Thanks for all the fun! Here's to a brighter and better year!

Owen LOVED this sparkling cider! Can you tell?

Sledding

Last week we decided to brave the cold and go sledding at Ucon Pit. We joined Ben and his little family and Natalie. We all probably only went down the hill twice before we decided it was way too cold to be outside. But, those two times down the hill and the exercise walking up was totally worth all the work of getting dressed up to go.

Me and Kev flying down the hill with a little "help" from Ben...and Meisha (Ben's dog) following after.



This is how Wesley felt about the whole ordeal. He actually enjoyed being pulled around in the sled until Owen tipped him over and he face planted into the snow. Poor Wes!

Owen hated riding down the hill, but he loved pulling the empty sled around.