Merry Christmas

We started celebrating Christmas a bit early while we were in Utah-- we went to Trolly and to the lights at Temple Square in SLC! Cold but beautiful. At home, the kids acted out the nativity for grandma and grandpa Johannesen-- they each had to play multiple parts-- Jordan was the angel bringing "good tidings of great joy" and the next picture shows the 3 wise "men" kneeling before the baby Jesus and brining him gifts. I read from the scriptures and whispered their lines to them and then they repeated their lines from the scriptures. O Holy Night-- what a blessing it was to watch their angelic faces as they took on this great and sacred story. We ended the night by spreading reindeer food out on our lawn.

Tree Climbin' Girls

While Seth played Soccer this last month, Jordan and Kailey climbed in the tree!

"Whose Child Is This?"

Recently Grandma Brock came to visit... Seth thought it would be funny to hijack her wig and see if he could confuse his parents into thinking Seth was gone and there was some other new child living with us. Evidently we "ain't" that dumb....

Reading the Dictionary?

For some strange reason, Seth has been reading the dictionary as of late... Is that in the gene pool somewhere?

How long does it last?

So how many years do I get to stay at the top of Seth's good list? I know that, at some point, the sign may be switched around, but, for right now, I am honored to be the girl that can always be part of his world! Sometimes it just takes my breath away to be a mom. How can I slow this train down! I hope I love every stage of this process as much as I love today!

Autumn Festival!

What a day! We had a fun packed day filled with everything autumn (thank you Aunt Jamie!!) Jamie et al planned an event filled day: apple press, kid crafts, decorating sugar cookies, dairy/cheese farm, pumpkin farm, tractor ride, face painting and fabulous "October fest" dinner!

I hope you noticed the moments today

I came across a great quote from James E Faust and another from Barbara B Winder that were nice reminders to me that it is important to strive for balance and to move away from thinking that we have to do it all when we are in the stage of our lives where “Mother” is our top and most urgent priority any given hour of our day. Faust refers to the balancing act in terms of sequencing. In this day and age, we certainly can “have it all” just not all at once—seasons, sequence, balance. These are quotes that I happened upon were a blessing to me personally:

James E. Faust:
“Important ingredients
Women today are encouraged by some to have it all: money, travel, marriage, motherhood, and separate careers in the world. For women, the important ingredients for happiness are to forge an identity, serve the Lord, get an education, develop your talents, serve your family…
However, you cannot do all these things well at the same time. You cannot eat all of the pastries in the bakery at once. You will get a tummyache. You cannot be a 100-percent wife, a 100-percent mother, a 100-percent Church worker, a 100-percent career person, and a 100-percent public-service person at the same time. How can all of these roles be coordinated? I suggest that you can have it sequentially.
Sequentially means to do things one at a time at different times. The book of Ecclesiastes says: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under … heaven” (Eccl. 3:1).
I would encourage you to develop all of your gifts and talents to move forward the work of righteousness in the earth. I hope you acquire all of the knowledge you can. Become as skillful as you can, but not exclusively in new careers at the expense of the primary ones, or you may find that you have missed one of the great opportunities of your lives”.

The message is so strong: You will never regret the quality time you spend with your children. Your self esteem and personal growth will be strengthened as you continue to learn and grow as an individual, as a daughter of God. Prayer will help us to know how to prioritize and balance. God esteems you for the great work you are doing as a woman of faith.

Another quote that aligns to this topic is from Barbara B. Winder, she was asked this question in an interview:
"how can women make time for everything, let alone enjoy what they are doing?
When we find the answer to that question, we will have found the secret of contentment. We want to be involved. We want to grow. And we grow when we stretch a little and do just a little more. But it is important for us to learn balance and to set priorities. Sometimes we go through a period of trying to do everything all at once. I have had people tell me, “Oh, you’ve done so many things,” and I tell them, “But I’ve lived so many years!” There really is a season for everything. I couldn’t possibly do today what I am doing as Relief Society general president if my children were small and still at home and I were caring for them. My emphasis is a bit different now, though my priority is still with my husband and family.
This is a lesson we all have to learn. Only we can judge how much we can handle. We often think that someone else is doing everything. But usually one sister is doing one thing, and another sister is doing something else, and yet another sister is doing another thing. Then we try to do it all! And when it all comes tumbling down around our feet we realize that we can’t do it all. As we learn what we can do, we are growing; and then sometimes we can take on a little more—perhaps because of what we have learned in the process".

I love these quotes and reminders! I am often in conversation (with myself or with one of you) on the concept of balance. I typically find myself lacking. In reading these quotes, it would seem that our definition of balance and our definition of what can and should be done may be the thing that needs to be corrected. I need to be better at valuing those moments in each day when something happens to remind me that I am in the right place in my life and I am making the contributions that are important to me. Did I grow today, did I contribute today, did I show love and kindness today? If I can answer yes to each of those questions—it has been the day that God intended.

I hope you noticed the moments in your day today!

Cheryl's visit

Thanks so much for letting us celebrate your birthday with you Cheryl! What a treat to have a weekend full of sister fun!

Playing guitar

Whenever Alan gets the guitar out to play and sing, he always has a load of ready helpers. Jordan had to be between daddy and the guitar on this day. Alan has learned to play through the chaos of helpers!

Kailey and Daddy

Alan had a Kiwannis dinner one night-- no babysitter-- so we decided to send Alan and Kailey on fancy night out. She was really cute about it. She picked out her outfit and wanted her hair "just so". She had a vision in her mind and was very pleased that she "hit her mark"

Soccer!

Seth has really loved soccer this year. He is in a league that doesn't keep score, so, he takes upo the role of human scoreboard-- he LOUDLY announces the score every few minutes. They don't play positions, but, he can almost always be found in front of the goal, making sure the opponents don't score on them. His coach has had to encourage him to play offense. The last few games, he has really kicked in on offense as well. He has now decided that he wants to play soccer year-round...
Note the size difference between Seth and the other kids-- hopefully, he will have a growth spurt one of these days!!

the stars align!

So, a picture of empty laundry baskets...seems like ordinary baskets, but, when I emptied the clean wash out of the laundry basket tonight, I had to relish the moment. All of the wash in the house was washed, dried, folded, put away! It's just the little things that make me smile!!

A day at the lake

We went to Lake Padden and had such a great summer day. There was so much to do there: hikes, picnic lunch; swimming; playground-- what a great day!

Kailey and Skyler

Just thought I would post some pictures of Kailey and Skyler. They spend quite a bit of time together and I realized that we don't have any pictures on our blog of our two cute girls!