President Hinckley's influence on me

President Hinckley passed away last night after living an amazing 97 years. I love him and will certainly miss many things about him including his sense of humor, his love for the gospel and his energy. One of the ways President Hinckley has changed my life is by building the smaller temples. The Newport Beach Temple was one of those and this makes it so much easier to get to the temple more often. I am grateful for this blessing. I was in the temple when he dedicated it and when he bore his testimony about the Sacred Grove he bowed his head and cried. This was a very spiritual experience that touched me. He also spoke just 2 weeks ago at our Stake Conference (via satellite) and the words he spoke I happened to write down. He talked about marriage and the 4 cornerstones to a succesful marriage. 1. Mutual respect. 2. A soft answer. 3. Financial Responsibility. 4. Family Prayer. The last thing we heard him talk about was family prayer. How important this is. President Hinckley was an amazing prophet but I am excited for him that he has returned to heaven and is reunited with his wife.

Are you smarter than a 5th Grader?

Haylie left this morning for 5th grade science camp. She was so excited to go. She is going to be at an elevation of 6500 feet in the local mountains and this week it is supposed to snow everyday that she is there. How much is she actually going to learn about science? That remains the big question. I have a feeling she is going to learn more about her friends than she is about science. It is a weird feeling to send your first child off by themself for a week for the first time. She is certainly growing up and that must mean that we are too. Have fun Haylie!

Newsflash

My children have started their own blogs and they want an audience! Check them out please. Their addresses are on the sidebar.

Have you met these guys?

When we were in Utah for Christmas it came time for the Christmas Eve program at Grandma's and my cousins took my children to Grandma's dress up closet and created costumes for the kids nativity parts. They told me I wasn't allowed to see and it was a surprise. When Weston & Tanner entered the room at the part of the wisemen the room went up with laughter. This made for the best laugh of the week. I know my pictures are terrible but hopefully you can see through the blurriness. (Do any of the relatives have better pictures of this?) It was so funny because they were both carrying purses where their wiseman gifts were stashed. That is Weston with a blonde toupee. They both realized they were getting a lot of laughs and started to really ham it up. Speaking of toupee's - Does any one remember the man that use to live in Grandma's ward that we called "Toupee Ray" now he had the best toupee ever! Those are good memories.

Christmas in Utah

We had so much fun on our trip to Utah. We saw more snow than we ever could have imagined. It was beautiful. We had lots of fun seeing family and staying with Grandma is always enjoyable. We went skiing at Snowbird and sledding with cousins. We saw Temple Square and ate a lot of great food. Christmas day was wonderful. The kids were excited to see what Santa brought.



Before driving to Utah we stopped off in Vegas for a day. We went to the Vegas Bowl Game. BYU beat UCLA and it we had a great time. We rushed the field at the end of the game. This was Cade's dream come true.

The Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday Cade! We love you and we can't believe you are already 9. Have fun hitting the waves. You crack us up everyday. Thanks for being such a great kid.