Twas the Season of Christmas....

Twas the Season of Christmas,and all through our days...

Rejoicing and happiness in so many ways!


Bright lights and laughter, family and friends...


Cookies and music, Merry wishes to send!



All celebrating that first blessed morn...


A sweet baby, our Savior, to this world He was born.


To bring joy and gladness, end sorrow and tears...
A promise of new life beyond counted years.


So no wonder the smiles, the joy, even glee...


On each face of our family we hope you will see!

May our hearts always be filled with the spirit of CHRISTmas!

Who's at the door?!?!? Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Blessings to all!

For Thanksgiving we......

finished the Book of Mormon (again)!

In October we realized we were pretty close, and if we made a little extra effort, we could finish by Thanksgiving! We thought that would be a great way to show our gratitude for the many many blessings the gospel has brought into our lives. So Thanksgiving night we read the last 2 1/2 chapters, and accomplished our goal! We now have read the entire Book of Mormon 7 times as a family!

And to keep with tradition, we always take the kids picture to commemorate the accomplishment, and use it to point their hearts toward being missionaries! HERE are some of our other Book of Mormon pictures. It's fun to see our family grow through the years, and realize what an important part of our lives the scriptures have been! Our home and heart are more fully turned to the Lord, and our desire to be like our Savior continues to increase. We feel God's love in our lives. We are so thankful!

Denial

I just didn't want to believe it. Josiah turned 6 months old...2 months ago! I'm just now able to think it's possible. Every momma asks, "Where does the time go?" Well let me just ask,

"WHERE DOES THE TIME GO??"

I mean, seriously, I'm pregnant for like 12 years, and he was only born like a few weeks ago, right? Nope. So let's look at the bright side of things, right? What's one of my favorite things about turning 6 months? Comparing the littlest guy with the other brothers when they were 6 months!!! So let's have even more fun and make it a game, OK? Below are brothers A, B, and C. Identify each brother, and then tell me which one you think Josiah most closely resembles! Here we go!

Brother A

Brother B
Brother C

So what do you think? I think he has a lot of all those guys in him, is totally a brother, but he does remind me of one guy in particular! Oh, and look how cute these next pics are...
6 month b-day
1 day birthday
He still clutches his hands like that! Funny the unique little tricks they have from day one!

And here is a total bad momma testimonial. When Josiah turned 6 months, I took out all the brother pictures and realized baby #8 was a bit....ummmm.....behind developmentally. the little guy was so loved in arms all the time, he was my first baby not to be sitting at 6 months. Oops!!! Or roll over both directions. Another Oops. We just all snuggled and cuddled him so much, he was rarely down. Well, it was kind of tough, but we all made the effort to get our little guy up to speed, and within the month he was totally on target! I love to see each new stage, but it was particularly hard this time to say goodbye to the baby baby stage! sigh. Which makes me ask again,

"WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?!?!?!"

Maybe I'll blog his 7 and 8 month birthdays in a year or two....

One of my favorite baby milestones!!

Eleven Days AgoAll that slobber can only mean one thing...(see it dripping off he cute baby chins!)

FIRST TOOTH!!! (ok, just barely cut in, his bottom left)

2 days later

SECOND TOOTH!!! (look very closely...)

1 week since first tooth, 3 days ago

Yep, they really are there!

1 week since second tooth, today

So Josiah's happy disposition has only been slightly off, but teething is never fun! What IS fun, though, is watching Little Turtle enjoy his new chompers on pizza crust, crackers, books, yogurt, socks...anything he can get into his mouth!!

Maybe for Christmas he'll get his two front (top) teeth! I bet that's really all he wants!

So cute its Scary!!

So I woke up this morning to a note Brian had left before going to work....(he gets up at 4:45...I DO NOT)...asking me to send him the Halloween pics! I interpreted that as meaning I should do the blog!! I'll have to go out of order, 'cause I still need to blog Josiah's six month b-day and Rebekah's big #8 b-day, but maybe this'll motivate me! It'll make me crazy not to have things in chronological order!!! Anyways, this blog is for you, Honey-Love!

By the time Halloween night actually comes, we've been in and out of our costumes at least 5 times! These pics are a mix from all different times this past week!

So how cute are this lil' punkin' and the black cat?
Oh, wait, the cat needs whiskers...(Ok, really I just couldn't choose which picture was cuter, so I had to post both!)
And some more classic Halloween cuties!
And the revival of old costumes that you just love so much you have to wear again!
Here's where I would post Christian and Jonah....but they somehow fulfilled their goal to escape the picture taking horror! Don't worry, they will be dealt with severely!!

So on to our superhero! I love this one! And now my favorite from "The Big Night"!

I made this "Little Bo Peep" costume for Kamberlynne...and now we've had all combinations of Peep and sheep....so adorable! (And I just love the kool-aid face on Ellie....ahhhh, childhood!)

And one last pic for my Lovie...

Thanks to him, I have one less blog to be behind on!!!

She's BACK!!

Many of you know the story.

(Yes, I know this picture is out of focus. It's kind of symbolic.)

For those of you who don't know the story, I'll sum up.

We've got a pretty awesome girl in our family. I'd even say she is an inspiration. She knows what she believes, and the kind of person she wants to be. And she knows always doing what is right doesn't mean things always turn out right at the end of the day...or the softball season. Last year Kamberlynne's travel softball coaches decided that since Kamberlynne absolutely totally and completely does not play sports on Sunday, she would need to find another team. Yes, she shared the starting pitcher position with only one other girl. Yes, she is a talented athlete. Yes, she played with that team for three years. Yes, they originally invited her to play knowing she didn't play on Sundays. Yes, they ultimately left the decision up to her. Yes, she totally loves softball. So what did she tell them?

She told them she loves God more.

Like I said, she's pretty awesome.


And what happened? She went this summer season without playing. The whole situation was really hard, But God "works all things for good to them that love Him". He really does. A couple of weeks ago, Kamberlynne stepped back on the mound for the first time in a year, playing for a team that is very very happy to have her, and very very supportive of her Sunday worship decision.

It's been a year, but her 4-0 pitching record and homerun 1st game back make it hard to tell!

The Thunder are lucky to have her on their team, but we are luckier to have such an amazing girl in our home!
Welcome Home, Loo!