Lincoln's first Primary talk!

Last week when Stephen finished his talk he got to choose who was giving the next talk.  He picked Lincoln's picture so we were up a second week in a row!.

Lincoln was so unbelievably excited.  I was glad because I thought Lincoln would be too shy and nervous.  He wasn't.  He and I talked about his topic all week and the more we talked the more excited he got.  He practiced over and over and then the big day came.  He did so great!  Totally confident, not nervous at all.  He read parts and looked up. Such a big boy.

Since Lincoln was giving the talk, he got to choose the tie color.  Daddy came out to get in the car and he inadvertently matched :)  They all looked handsome today :)

Our Family Treasures

This is our family treasure box! Is it full of gold?  Is it full of jewels?

No.  The treasures in here are even better! These are the things that are most important to our family.

Reading – We’re a reading family. I love reading Frog and Toad.

Singing – Our family loves to sing, especially Primary songs.

The scriptures – Our family loves reading the scriptures together.

Jesus – We believe in Jesus Christ.  We love him.  Because of him we can be resurrected and live with him again.

Temples – We love to see the temple.  Whenever we drive places we like to play a game called, “Spot the Temple!”

One of the most important things that happened in our family is that my mommy and daddy got married in the temple. 

This means that our family can be together forever! 

This is one of the greatest treasures. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

24-hour babyface

I love my 24-hour lipstick.  It's fabulous. I put it on and it doesn't come off all day long.  I can drink or eat or kiss my hubby and it stays put.  It doesn't really last for 24 hours, more like 12, but I don't really need it while I'm sleeping :)

So Saturday night I'm cooking up our usual scrambled eggs and pancakes when I turned around, and saw this:

I freaked out!  At first glance I thought it was dried blood.  Then I thought it was marker.  When I licked my finger and wiped his face I knew in an instant it was 24-hour lipstick!  Oh no!  There's no waiting for this to wear off, it's Saturday night and we've got church at 9am!  So while Daddy was googling a solution, I took a picture and then marched him into the bathroom to show him what was on his face.  He freaked out.

He was not happy that I was taking pictures of him - he was so upset he just wanted me to hold him. I'm a mean mommy sometimes. I quickly got a few pics - obviously too quickly on some of them.  And then held him :) And then I took a movie but it won't upload so we'll have to try again later.

So did we send him to church with war paint or did we get it off?  Well we found out that mineral oil works the best but we didn't have any.  So we just hoped that cooking oil worked just as well.  No, not really.  I soaked his little cheeks repeatedly in canola oil but still had to do some scrubbing.  Poor guy!

UPDATE 8/1/13: I hid the lipstick but not the waterproof mascara.  Luckily I picked up mineral oil at the dollar store earlier and worked wonders on his face and PJ's :)  I think it would have worked on the shirt that got the lipstick on it if I didn't wait 5 days before getting the mineral oil.

Pioneer Day

 We spent most of the day like any other except with a mention now and then of the Pioneers.  While fixing dinner I decided we needed to do something.  So I fixed a picnic dinner and we headed outside.  

The weather was absolutely perfect! Except for a couple of rogue mosquitos, it was a lovely dinner. 

 You can't see him very well, but that's Alexander on the swing.  He had a hard time sitting still and eating with all the wide open space around him.

After we ate the boys chased dragon flies and daddy and I drank in view. I love where we live.  The view on the golf course is spectacular although these photos don't really show it.  

 

 We all went for a walk down to the "cave" made out of trees and watched spiders at work and saw berries and veggies growing in well manicured gardens.  Wish we could take time like this more often.

 When it got dark we decided not to venture to Liberty Park and instead go to the best view on the east bench - the public school parking lot.  I think it's hilarous that they have the best view around here, but there you go.  We weren't the only family with this brilliant idea but luckily there were just enough "squares" for all of us ;)  We saw about 10 "shows" close by and literally hundreds of backyard fireworks all over the valley.  The boys got bored before the finale so we started driving home.  When we passed our church we noticed all the ward families gathered there so we pulled in and watched some more.  Then we headed home.  Pulling up in front of our house we actually witnessed the finale from the comfort of our own car in a beautiful unobstructed line of view!  We didn't have to go anywhere, what we we thinking?!!

Stephen's Primary Talk

This was Stephen's second Primary talk.  He did such a great job.  Just like his first talk, I asked him questions and he basically wrote the whole thing.  We kinda had a difficult time scrounging up visual aids since we're basically camping and don't have any of our stuff.  But thanks to the family newsletter, a library book, some crafts we made the week before and the ipad - we did pretty well.  Stephen was very particular about what he wanted to wear to church.  He wanted to look his best which included his DI blazer (that used to be his spy costume). 

Stephen read a little but most of the time he looked at his audience and paused at the right time for effect.  He did great.  Sadly, Lincoln and Alexander both had colds so they had to stay home with daddy. So they missed Stephen doing such a great job.

Afterwards he got plenty of complements.  Later during Sacrament Meeting, they introduced the musical number as a ward congregational choir number.  A member of the bishopbric got up and explained that anyone who wanted to sing could come up.  I looked at Stephen and he said, "does that mean I could go up?" I nodded and said, "you wanna go?" "As long as you will come with me" I said of course and stood up.  We were sitting in the front of the chapel so we ran up and joined right when the piano started.  We sang Come, Come Ye Saints.  He sang his best and I could tell he was pretty proud of himself.  After the meeting, 3 different men came up and to tell me how handsome Stephen is.  Men! That's usually what the little old ladies say on our way out ;)

Here's Stephen's Talk:

Families Are a Part of Our Heavenly Father’s Plan

My name is Stephen and I’m going to talk about Families!

Everyone who comes to earth has a mommy and a daddy.

EVERYONE! 

You can’t get to earth without a family. 

Even Animals and insects have a mommy and a daddy.   

Heavenly Father made it that way. 

We even lived in a family before we came here.

That is why God is called Heavenly Father. 

He is the father of everyone. 

He sent us to live in a family for lots of good reasons:

Our parents can teach us good things like

·         being obedient

·         how to repent when we make mistakes

·         and that Heavenly Father and Jesus love us. 

We live in the same house as the Spencers.

Yesterday their granddaughter Lily came over and we were playing but we got noisy and we got in trouble. 

I felt terrible. 

My mom and dad helped me know what I could do to make things right. 

I wrote Lily’s grandma a note to say I was sorry. 

Parents can help us learn how to make things right.

Heavenly Father also sent us to live in a family so we wouldn’t be lonely. 

·         We get to spend time with our families. 

·         We can work together. 

·         We can serve each other. 

·         We can  have fun together:

·         Making things– My mommy helped Lincoln and I make animal crafts, I made a jaguar and Lincoln made a monkey.  It was lots of fun to make them together.

·         Cuddle - I also love to cuddle together with my family and just talk together.  It’s one of my fun things

I have the best family! But that is another story.  

Families are so  important that Heavenly Father made it so we can be with our families forever!  I'm so grateful for that because I love my family.  My brother's are my best friends.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

 

4th of July Fun!

Happy Independence Day!!

I'll write more later, for now I'm just getting pictures up.


Festive flag photoshoot:

 

Off to Midway for an amazing 4th of July bash at Aunt Laura's aunts house:

 Running to see the cousins

 Taking care of his little brother

Pit stop to check out a bug - a must!

 Super huge water bounce house with slides!

 First time with sparklers!

We can't pull them away at nearly midnight because they found the castle!