First Snow!

Today was the first official snowfall of the season.  

Here's Cedric at 8:35 this morning...

And here's Cedric at 8:38 this morning...

I agree Cedric, the snow is exciting and dreadful at the same time.

The other night for FHE we decided to play "Rock Band" for the activity.  Lily and Jeff really enjoyed it.

(side note: The kids just got home from school and Jeff said "good news, Mom, I didn't pick my nose the whole day at school!"  He knows how to make his mom proud!)

 This picture is definitely going to go in my 'favorites' folder.  I love the eyebrow!

 I can't believe how big Sophie is getting!  She's 10 months old now and can climb up the stairs, cruise around or pushes chairs around as walkers, she can do the sound of an elephant, horse, and monkey.  Because I have to wean her from nursing before Disneyland she's down to two nursings a day.  She still won't take a bottle, but tolerates whole milk with a touch of chocolate in a sippy cup. 

 Cedric loves to dress up as Tiger, and Sophie loves when he dresses up as Tiger.

Life's busy, but fun.  Now off to help kids with homework before Lily has to go to gymnastics. 

My Birthday

Wednesday was my birthday.  I didn't have a lot planned that day other than my sister asked if she could bring me lunch.  I told her that would be wonderful, but I had preschool that afternoon and so it had to be at 11:30.  Well, at 11:30 my doorbell rang and it was my dad and brother, Isaac.  Not realizing they had been invited by Aimee I invited them to stay for lunch (funny thing is, I did the same thing to Aimee on her birthday).  Then Aimee showed up with the Thai food and started setting out five places at the table.  Duh, then I realized she had invited them.  My brother, Mike was coming too, but we had to get started because of preschool.  So by the time he got there I only had ten minutes til the kids were to arrive.  It was a very fun lunch though!  Here we are (Cedric stood on a chair and took the picture).   

 The preschoolers started to arrive while everyone was still there, it was crazy. In fact, I had told them the day before that it was my birthday and they all said they wanted to make me a picture and bring it that day to school.  It was so cute when they arrived and all of them felt bad that they hadn't made me a picture like they promised.  I let them each make me one in class that day :)
One of my favorite things about my birthday was that Cedric, totally on his own, kept making me pictures too, would put them in a gift bag for me to open and then hang them in my room.  Here he is with a couple of his art pieces.  I loved them!

That night I made my favorite dinner, potato & cheese soup in a bread bowl.

Tom also gave me a present, a new steamer mop!  I was hinting very strongly for one and was so excited to get it (yep, I'm lame).  He even started steaming the tile and grout in our kitchen and it is amazing the difference!  

Saturday night we went out with some friends to Olive Garden and then played games at our house for my birthday date.  

Although birthday's aren't as fun as they were as a kid, it was a very nice birthday overall.

VOA Spotlight

Two months ago I posted the blog about our family being filmed about our religion.  Well, the story has finally been aired on VOA's website.  The first part of the story is about my brother, the second part is about us, and the third story is an anti-view.  So all the footage they took ended up being edited down to a less than five minute video clip.  Go here to see the story.
http://www.voanews.com/content/romneys-mormonism-enters-public-spotlight/1498598.html

Family: Past, Present & Future

Last weekend we had a big family reunion with my mom's side of the family.  My sister, Aimee's blog explains the reasoning behind the reunion.

Here is just some of the family.

Anyway, we went to the temple Friday night.  Some went earlier to do baptisms, but I decided to just go that evening for the other ordinances.  My cousin, Shelley was kind enough to watch my kids for me so I could go.  Tom was in St. George getting ready to run another marathon the next day.  I got to the temple a little late and was glad when I walked in the locker room to see Aimee standing there.  She said to hurry and handed me one of our relative's name cards to do the work for.  I noticed it was my Great-Grandma Dollie, whom I had seen just four years ago and who passed away shortly before my mom.  Grandma Dollie is the mother of my mom's biological father, Grandpa Adair.  He passed away in a car accident on my mom's sixth birthday.

So I hurried and got dressed and was heading up the escalator when the second floor came into view.  There was the group waiting to go into the session and everyone dressed in white, but the faces who caught my eye were those of my loved ones.  It was like they were all there to welcome me; my dad, Uncle Jim, Uncle Burt, Grandma Jepson, Aimee and Matt (Mike, Karyn, Aunt Silvia, cousin Andria and Grandpa Jepson were also on our session).  Oh, and Jeff's old kindergarten teacher was there as one of the temple workers   :)  The session didn't seem different or special at first, but during the prayer I was standing next to my Uncle Burt and looked down at his hands, for some reason this made me think of my mom (he is her younger brother) and I started to get a little emotional.  Then as I was getting ready to pass from that room into the Celestial room I really got emotional thinking of Grandma Dollie.  I was outright sobbing.  The spirit was so strong!  

We then ate dinner in the temple cafeteria, then headed up to the sealing rooms.  We did several sealings, but when it came time to seal my Grandpa Adair to his parents (Burt was his dad, Aimee was Grandma Dollie, Jim was Grandpa) everyone was crying.  I looked at my Uncle Jim, who looks the most like his dad, and I couldn't help but think of how excited everyone must be on the other side.  It was such a neat night and I was so glad I could be a part of it.

Then next day the women and children met at my Aunt Michelle & Uncle Burt's house (the men were at the Priesthood meeting).  We had a nice dinner and the kids got to decorate pumpkins.  

 Then Sunday we met at my dad's for dinner and also went and visited my mom's grave.

It was nice to have so much family time that weekend and to help my family from the past with their temple work.  I know my mom had a big part in it and I felt close to her that weekend.

It was also nice to be with my present family.  In fact, that same weekend our family got a temporary roommate, my cousin, Katie.  She needed a place to stay for a few days while she figured out where she was going to live more permanently, and I was asked if she could stay at our place.  I'm always up for a party and was thrilled to take her.  Since Tom was in St. George it was nice to have another adult in the house.  She watched General Conference with our family that weekend and ended up staying the whole week with us.

Monday was her birthday, so I made her a banner with balloons for when she woke up, then that night we met up with her sister, Shelley and her boys for some ice cream.

Here's Katie, Shelley, & me (and Jeff).

It was so fun to have her with us.  The kids LOVED her and she was so much help to me with the kids, dishes, even preschool.  We were all sad when it was time for her to go.

Along with getting to know present relatives better, I got to meet a family member of the future generation.  On Tuesday my brother, Isaac and his wife, Candalyn became parents as my cute niece, Adair June was born.

Here she is with Uncle Tom.

And her already favorite aunt, Tami ;)  I just can't get enough of her! 

 I can tell I'm done having my own kids when I am so excited to hold someone elses baby.  When I picked up Sophie after holding Adair, she seemed so huge!  Sophie Adair and Adair June will be great buddies :)

Overall it was a very eventful week full of family bonding from my past, present and future relatives.