Our Forever Family

I, Cameron I, Melanie I, Jason I, Alyssa Have READ the Book of Mormon!! We finished a family goal tonight. It has taken us 1 1/2 years to accomplish it, but we did it!! Some days by verses, some days by chapters. And then there were those days when David wasn't home, and I was trying to get all of the kids to settle down, listen, sit still, stop hitting, put their toy away, or what ever it was during scripture reading. Patience was thin, or not there at all! There were also many times when it was just me and the kids I just felt like I couldn't do it. No energy or patience at the end of the day to handle one more thing and I would send the kids to bed and miss our family scripture reading. I definitely could relate to Elder Bednards talk in General Conference! But, we endured. I am so proud of the kids. Hopefully this will be the first of many more times to read through the Book of Mormon for them. We promised the kids long ago if we read the whole Book of Mormon, we...

We have been planning and preparing for Jason's upcoming heart surgery on February 25th. The last week of January the Primary President in church came up to me and asked if it was okay to ask the children in Primary to fast for Jason the next Sunday, fast Sunday. Of course I said yes and was very appreciative that others were thinking of Jason. Last Sunday we told the kids what was going on about Jason getting surgery. We answered questions the kids had and told them we would be gone for several days while Jason was in the hospital. David gave each of the kids a blessing also. It was a good night. My Visiting Teachers came over last Tuesday and they offered to watch my kids during the pre-surgery appts. and take Jenna on the day of surgery. I had everything scheduled with them and what days they were going to take what kids. My mother-in-law was coming up to be with the kids for the week Jason would be in the hospital. Several people had put Jason's name on the prayer r...

My sister was in SLC last week for dr. appts with her son and stopped by the day to craft with me! It was a lot of fun. We way over planned, but the kids did pretty good playing with each other and Jenna was a really good baby that day for me! So I threw some food in the crock pot and we started. I ran over to Lowe's and got some thick 1.5" wood for my projects. We traced on the wood and started cutting on our scroll saws that we got from our mom and dad for xmas. Alise brought hers down and we had a party in my basement! In the middle of the day I told Alise "We are doing it! We are doing what we dreamed of last fall when we went to the craft store!" We realized then the only affordable way to make fun wood projects was having our own saw. Luckily xmas was right around the corner!! Keenan, Jason and Alyssa watching Toy Story on the portable DVD player. This is what I got done for the day. Yes it took most of the day to cut these. First it is very thick w...

Melanie turned 6 on the 7th of February. I cannot believe she is growing up!! I am always remembering back to when I just had two kids, living our simple college life (or so that is what I think now!), wondering what Cameron and Melanie would be like when they grew up. Now that they are older I see so much of what Melanie is and has become. She is: FUN - always wants to be where the party is. At a friend's house or wants a friend over to play with. outgoing - she can make friends of all ages. She has a lot of friends that are 1-5 years older than her! compassionate and caring - She is concerned for others and their feelings. a helper - I can always count on her to help m e whenever I ask. Sometimes she gets tired of being the one to always be called on to help, but most of the time she is more than willing. generous - She is very good at sharing. Whether it is candy or toys. Beautiful - Melanie is changing every day befo re my eyes. I swear the day she turned 6 she...

So I have been warming Melanie up for a year to get her ears pierced. I thought it'd be fun for her to start kindergarten with them pierced but she was to scared. When she got to class and saw that there were a lot of other girls with their ears pierced it started to change her mind. Then her really good friend down the road got her ears pierced in October and the rest is history for her desire! So for her upcoming birthday Sunday we took a trip to the mall and got her ears pierced. She was excited and nervous to do it. She kept saying on the car ride there, "I can't believe I am going to get my ears pierced!" Putting on the mark for the earring. I love her expression here! She let out an "OUCH!" on the first ear. No tears. I was so proud of her! Shooting the earring in the 2nd ear. All done! Yeah!! Looking in the mirror and cleaning her ear. It was a fun night out. We went and celebrated at Cold Stone with some ice cream.