Expecting Again!

My job needed me back in Utah for another audit.  They paid for my gas to drive up here and while we were here, we arranged for a minivan to drive home!  While I was dressed nice, I had my mother-in-law snap a picture of me. I don't allow very many pictures of myself while I am pregnant, but I am so glad I did because it turned out so nice.  I even put it on the family Christmas card.

Power of Prayer to a Child

A few days ago, I lost my keys.  I looked everywhere and couldn't find them.  I was getting frustrated because I had a ton of things to do that day.  Eventually, I accepted defeat and knelt down to say a prayer.  The spirit told me to stop thinking of myself and so I sat down and started to do some sewing work that my husband asked me to do earlier.  Meanwhile, Riley came in the room and told me that we should say a prayer.  I asked her to say it and ask help to find Mommy's keys.  Within a few minutes, I remembered that I had cut my fingernails (with one of the key rings on my keys) and I went down to the junk drawer and there they were.  For some reason, I had put them in there after cutting my fingernails.  I went back upstairs and told both my children that we needed to say a prayer of thanks because we found them.  Eli's response was "What! You said a prayer?" I told him that when we can't do things on our own, we need to ask for the Lord's help.  He thought about that for a minute and then we said a prayer of thanks. 

A few days later, Eli told me that when he was in school, he couldn't find the red crayon.  He stopped what he was doing and said a prayer in the middle of class.  The Lord simply told him "dig."  He dug around in his crayon box and found the red crayon. 
As a parent, I know that this is such a simple story of receiving answer to prayers, but it also shows that Eli applied a gospel principle to his life. It may have changed my schedule around to not have my keys, but I gained something so much more.

Happy Birthday Riley!

Riley has turned three and she is acting every bit of it, both good and bad.  She has a full imagination and loves princesses, dress-ups and tea parties.  She has been excited for her birthday this year and I asked her what she wanted. She told me she wanted to be sung to, a pink present and a Winnie the Pooh cake.  I figured that was ok and so we obliged.  We sang to her twice and gave her a few pink presents. She was so fun, she let Eli help her open a few and she had that excited look, no matter the present.  Three-year old kids are fun.

Layers

As I was getting ready for young women, I was cleaning and I asked Riley to put away some clothes.  Instead of putting them away, she just put them on. I also love the look on her face, it reminds me so much of her aunt Rachelle, right before she teases her brothers.

I Did it Myself

Riley wanted to put her nightgown all by herself. I let her try and then I helped her.  Fortunately she let me help her.

She is a Child of God

Every 6 months, it's time to attend Stake Conference.  This time, our stake president spoke about a time in which he visited a ward and during Sacrament, the child started singing "I am a Child of God." The mother hushed the child, but the spirit was already felt.  He was impressed that the parents would teach such a young child such a wonderful song and that the child recognized that the sacrament was a time to feel the spirit.  My husband and I are not absolutely sure, but we believe the child was Riley because she has done this before and many of our ward members came up to us after his talk and asked if it was us.  It doesn't matter if it was Riley or not, but it does matter that she learns spiritual songs.  Because of this story, I don't hush her if she wants to sing spiritual songs during the Sacrament.

Cookies

We made cookies for the youth for a fireside.  The kids helped with the frosting (mostly licking it).  I made them Halloween because we couldn't wait for my favorite month.