A Weekend of Special "Firsts"

 This past weekend was a pretty special one for these boys!

Dallin and Gavin were able to take their cousin Xaxton to the temple for the very first time!

Xaxton will turn 12 this year and so he was ordained a deacon and went to the temple and got to do baptisms there. He loved it. :)

 What made this even more special was the fact that Gavin was recently ordained a teacher, and Dallin was also recently ordained a priest, and so Dallin got to perform the baptisms for these boys! It was a super special experience for all of them!

Dallin also had some friends there too...Hallie, Dallin, Dallin, and Jordyn.

Yep! These 2 friends are both named Dallin, they are both Student Class Officers at Riverton High, and they both wore the same exact outfit to the temple without even planning it! :)

 Afterwards, we took everyone out to dinner at Freddy's and had a fun time together.

 Madyson also came with us since she spent the weekend with us too...

 ...and Kesslyn was even given a FREE custard with sprinkles and gummi worms on top JUST for being so CUTE!!! (And because the man working there REALLY wanted to get a smile out of her!) I'm tellin' ya...this girl is TOUGH!!!

 And to top off our already amazing weekend, Dallin together with his amazing dad was able to bless the sacrament on Sunday at church for the very first time. Clint went first and blessed the bread, and then Dallin blessed the water. They both did such a beautiful job on making the prayer sacred and sincere... the spirit was so strong and I felt so much love and gratitude swell up inside of me. These are such good boys and I am so so lucky to have them all in my life! (Dallin even went again to the temple tonight for young mens and he said, "Mom, I just love going to the temple." 

Me too buddy...me too. :)

I Love My Husband

I LOVE my husband!

 I have a New Year's goal to treat my husband to an overnight date at least once every month this year!

On Friday night we went to the temple and did sealings, then out to dinner, and then instead of driving home, I took him here and surprised him! He definitely was surprised and was so happy. :)

I believe that husbands and wives need to put their relationship first in order to have their buckets filled and then they will be able to give to others.

"I have observed that in the happiest marriages both the husband and wife consider their relationship to be a pearl beyond price, a treasure of infinite worth."  ~ L. Whitney Clayton

"Righteous love is the foundation of a successful marriage." ~ Richard G. Scott

"Our love for spouse is reflected most powerfully in our thoughts, our words, and our deeds." ~ David A. Bednar

"Harmony in marriage only comes when one esteems the welfare of his or her spouse among the highest of priorities. When that really happens, a celestial marriage becomes a reality, bringing great joy in this life and in the life to come."  ~ Russell M. Nelson

Build a Snowman!

 When you are a little girl...

 ...and there is no school... 

 ...and your cousin has stayed the weekend...

 ...and it's the biggest snow storm of the year...

 What should you do???

 Take your sister and your cousin...

 ...and put on your warmest winter clothes...

 ...and find your very own snow fort...

 ...and ask your mom to make hot chocolate...

...and build a snowman!!!

(With a little pet snow puppy too...;)

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Our "Gift"

Back in December, we as a relief society presidency discussed what we could give the sisters in our ward for a gift at Christmas time...we also thought about what we could give them for their birthdays this year. And, after much thoughtful contemplation and consideration, we came to the conclusion that all of the gifts that we wanted to give to them we just simply couldn't.

 We wanted to give them strength and courage, faith and hope...we wanted to give them stronger testimonies and tools and excitement for teaching their families in the home...

We wanted to give them so many good gifts, but everything we wanted to give them just couldn't be wrapped up in a box. The gifts we wanted to give them were so similar to the good gifts that Heavenly Father wants to give to each of us, and so we decided to do something different.

We didn't give the sisters any Christmas gifts, and we aren't giving them any birthday gifts either...well at least not ones that come wrapped up with a bow...

We have decided to give them experiences and opportunities to be loved and strengthened and tutored by the Spirit, in order to receive those meaningful gifts that are more special and priceless than anything that we could give them bought from a store or purchased with money...

We decided as a presidency that we would give them TIME together in meaningful ways where they can receive their gifts from the spirit...Gifts that will stay with them forever and hopefully sink deep into their hearts. I love these sisters as my very own, and desire for them to see their worth in the same way that Heavenly Father sees...

   We have decided to add 4 additional activities throughout the year that will be our "gift" to them. We are continuing with our quarterly enrichment activities, but we will also be having quarterly Presidency activities in which we will have a night for them where they can hopefully be strengthened in whatever ways they may need individually.

 This week was the first of our Presidency activities that we hosted for our relief society sisters!

We set up 3 different displays of pictures of Christ, provided a peaceful atmosphere with beautiful cello music softly playing in the background, and created a space for the sisters to "be still" and listen to the Spirit teach them and touch their hearts of what THEY needed to hear...

 After a brief gathering in the relief society room where we discussed things like "seeking Christ" and discussing "where" each of us find Christ in our lives everyday, we remembered that Jesus Christ IS our daily bread and that we need His nourishment every single day. We challenged the sisters to remember President Nelson's blessing to each of us to have the ability to "leave the world behind" and then we did just that. 

We entered the room filled with pictures of, and the Spirit of Christ, left the world behind, and listened to the spirit...It was a beautiful time to "Be still and know that I Am"...

I am grateful for these sweet sisters of mine as I am grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ, the Great I Am.

"Come Follow Me" at the Cabin!

 Sunday we drove up to our cabin to spend the day together and to have a special place to study our "Come Follow Me" lesson together as a family. When we pulled up to our driveway though, we had forgotten to check to see if it had snowed, and boy did it ever!!! I guess we still had California beaches in our mind and forgot that in Milburn, it snows! :) So, we trekked up the long driveway and then Clint pulled out the tractor to plow the driveway so that we could get our car up it. It was so fun to watch Clint at work serving our family. He is such a good husband and father and I love him so much, and am so proud of his many many talents...including driving the tractor! ;)

 After he was finished, we welcomed him inside the warm space with a yummy dinner of Chicken Alfredo and broccoli, french bread, and no bake cookies (made by Gavin. And a little help from Kambriella. ;)

We ate, cuddled around the warm fireplace, listened to beautiful music, and then ended the night with our lesson and discussion about the miracles of Mary and Elisabeth. We learned that with God, nothing is impossible, and I truly believe that! I will continually work towards accomplishing all that I can dream because of that beautiful promise that we learn about in the scriptures. 

Once again I am extremely grateful and blessed, which remind me of a quote that I heard from Richard G. Scott that said, "When you are experiencing happiness at home with your children, you are experiencing some of the most supernal joys of life." 

That is how I feel...and I am just so blessed.

Learning to Cook!

 Kambriella is really becoming quite the chef! ;)

She got a cookbook for Christmas and has been having so much fun making things out of it! She made this fun and yummy Scrambled egg Buddies for breakfast for her and Gavin the other day...She loves doing it, and I think gets a good feeling because she is also serving other people too. :)

This past weekend her and her friend also made brownies and made love notes and "doorbell ditched" a few families with their yummy treats. It's a good thing that she is doing, and a good thing to be learning, and I love her good desires and that she is strengthening her talents and will probably one day be a WAY better cook when she gets married than I ever was...;)  ;)

Love you Kambriella!

Kesslyn is a Sunbeam!

 Guess who is out of nursery and is a Sunbeam in Primary now??

Kesslyn!!! :)

 Now that January is here and we have begun our new block schedule, this sweet little girly gets to go to Sunbeams and sing and learn and have fun! So far on Sundays as soon as sacrament meeting is over, Kesslyn quickly grabs Kambriella's hand and is outta there!!! She leaves me in the dust and is so excited to go with her big sister and head off to Primary and I love it. :)

 She heads off to find Sister Braylee and Sister Tami and goes to her class so excited and SO big. 

It makes me happy to see her want to be independent on something, but it also makes me a little sad because she is the baby and she is getting TOO BIG.

But, This IS what we try to teach them and want them to do, so it really is a good thing. I just can't believe that we are here. It's Crazy!!! Like I said before, bring on 2019 because it's gonna be a good one!  :)