Thanksgiving

We decided to make the LONG and COLD drive to Idaho to see some grandparents. We went to Rupert first and it's a good thing we did because that is where the snow was. I thought for sure Rexburg would have more, but it was actually really nice and sunny there. Go figure. I got my shopping fix in Rexburg at all my favorite small stores. There's just something about small and personal stores that make it so much more fun to shop there than big department stores where it's all mass produced. Porter's even sells candy behind the counter that has to be measured out. So old fashioned, but so great!

Hat Day!

London goes to two different pre-schools and they are both so great. At Miss Erika's Lil Academy they had hat day and the kids all looked so cute!

Messy Messy Love

Okay, this post isn't really about messy love. It's about one kid who is a mess and one kid who has discovered love :).

These next two pictures happened the same day. The first is actually a brown sharpie he got into and drew between his eyes. When we first noticed it Tim thought it was blood and I thought it was something a little more on the stinky side. The next picture you have to look closely, but he has sparkles all over his eyes. He got into London's play make-up which has lots of glitter and the next thing I knew he had very pretty eyes.





And here he's just had enough of me bothering his mess making.



Now on to London's one true love. So the other day she says to me, "Mom, let's start naming off cute boys." (We actually play this game a lot now a days) So I began naming off boys in her pre-school class and her responses were things like "ewww" "gross" "not him" Then I said, "Well, what about Justin Bieber?" She got all shy and red in the face and went under the table and said, "Well maybe I could think about him being handsome." So funny. Even a four year old loves the Biebs.



I told her to smile really big, but she just said, "Mom, I'm doing my best here!"

Strength of a Family

So this post is due to a few things I have heard or seen or felt this week. Because of the gospel principles that guide most of our lives, we understand the importance of family. One lady made a great point in gospel doctrine last week. She said that all God does all day long every day is serve his kids, that's it, and that's all He WANTS to do. That's the way to happiness. This is mostly for moms, but think about what we do all day. We make three meals which includes meal planning and grocery shopping, clean non-stop so the family has a comfortable environment, do the laundry so the family has clean dry clothes, think of crafts and games to keep them happy and learning, run them to school and activities so they have joy and fulfillment. I could go on and on. That's a lot of serving that can only be learned through motherhood. I will be the first to admit that sometimes I wish I was off somewhere else on my own, but really...this is the most happy I have ever been in my life. Sure, I had a ton of fun in high school and college, but serving little souls all day long, and a fabulous husband of course :), just brings so much peace. Does that make sense? I had a great talk one day with my sister-in-law, Amy Jo Hunsaker. I was feeling frustrated about my feet because I feel like my injuries have stopped me from doing many things I love, but she started talking about how she has felt frustrated about some things in her life and she decided to just get rid of all the outside influences that cause her anger and just focus on her kids and she said she has felt so much peace. She even cleaned out her room of all distraction so she has to be downstairs more where the family life is taking place. What a great idea! So I have been trying that. Trying not to feel bad for myself and to just focus on the gospel and the family. And today this scripture was discussed in Sunday School..."For bodily exercise profiteth for a little while, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." (1 Tim 4:8) Now I am in no way saying you shouldn't exercise because you SHOULD, it's important to, but I was so focused on doing it, that I lost sight of many other things and that, my friends, is WRONG. In fact I think I was falling to one of Satan's greatest tools on Latter Day Saint Women, distracting us with our hobbies. I think he knows what we like, and tries to get us to go overboard with it by comparing ourselves to others and putting so much time into it that we soon neglect our family. I think he's doing a pretty good job at that actually. So I'm trying to learn to fight him on that and only do what's appropriate as far as "me time" goes because "me time" can very soon turn into neglect of the kids and spouse. I have seen it time and time again. So here are a few pictures of the little kiddos that I get to spend time serving all day and I hope all you moms out there enjoy your time serving your adorable little ones too!