Primary Program

Today was our ward's primary program and we were out of town the week proceeding it. As a result, Eli didn't have his part memorized.  He doesn't like to be prompted and so it went as bad as you can imagine. He starred at the audience for a minute, breathed heavy into it with both his nose and his mouth, got a few laughs and then continued. Finally, the primary leader stepped in and prompted his part, one word at a time.  He looked at his part on paper and looked into the audience, back and forth until finally he was done. Jared and I were red in the face and grateful it was done.
If that wasn't bad, let's not forget that I have two kids. Riley has a gift for choosing the quietest moments to voice her opinions. She loves to shout things like "All for each and one for all." Or "I get to do that next year." But the most embarrassing one was when someone was playing the violin and she blurts out. "What is that horrible noise?" I turn to her, red in the face and say, "No, it's beautiful music." She replies, "No, it's horrible."  Jared and I were so ready for that meeting to be over.

 A few weeks later, a ward member came up to us and said that when his kids give a talk, they would smell the microphone.  My kids are notorious for their character no matter where we live.

Thanksgiving Assembly

Eli's school put on a darling assembly including all the classes, some of which included 13-15 three-year olds.  Eli's class only has 7 and they have grown really close.  They all dressed in Indian vests and a feather that they got to make themselves, sang songs, they gave themselves Indian names.  Each child got to tell their teacher in a loud voice their name.  Eli's India name was Dark Blackness Night.  They were darling.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the Koyle Family! Halloween is my favorite month because of cuties just like this. Riley was pulling funny faces and making it hard for me to get a picture of both of them smiling. With enough persistence, I got some perfect shots.
The background with all of the pumpkins was from the school that Eli attends.  They sell them for a fundraiser throughout the month of October and the school and church is full of them.  The last week of October, the students get to pick one out.

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.