Our Indoor Track

We have a space in our house that we let Sami run. We call it her track. She runs there on most days. And we let her. In fact, we encourage it. Why? Because it wears her out! One time she ran it 32 times and the whole time Jonathan and I were chanting "one more! one more!" She was so tired she could barely walk by the time she was done. And she was laughing so hard she fell down. And that's when we knew she was ready for bed. :)

Joy in the Small Things

The other day we were reading in the Book of Mormon when Jesus came to visit the people in America. My favorite chapter is 3 Nephi:17, where Jesus calls the little children to him. He heals them, loves them, and blesses them. Angels come down and circle them about. As I sat there reading with my girls on my lap, I understood better than ever before why Jesus loves the children & wants me to become like them. Their innocence, their love, and their desire to learn are so endearing. And they find joy in the simplest things...like swinging at the park. I love these pictures of Janie as she experienced the joy of swing sets.

I want to find more joy and appreciation for the little things in my life. When we go for walks, there is a spot where Sami always wants to stop and smell the flowers. I think I'll bend down and smell them will her next time.

I love it!

I love photshop. It's amazing how a hobby can bring joy into life. And it helps that my girls are so stinkin' cute that I love to look at them all day and all night. :)

Family Home Evening Lessons for 2010

We are really trying to do Family Home Evening every Monday this year. Sami loves it and Janie is starting to get interested as well. Some wonderful person has put together FHE lessons for the entire year of 2010 that correspond to the primary theme "I know my Savior lives." The lessons include song, lesson, and activity. My girlies are still a little too young for these lessons, but I have saved them and am going to use them in a year or two to supplement our FHE then. Go to sugardoodle.net to get your copy!

Happy 2010!

We had a really nice New Year's Eve this year. Really low key. We had a fun dinner of 7 layer bean dip and bbq chicken wings. We all went to bed early, thinking that the best way to start the new year was to not be grumpy by staying up too late. But our plans were foiled when a business alarm near our house started blaring at 3:30 am. And the crazy thing is that it didn't turn off until 11 am! So we started our new year a little tired and a little grumpy, despite our good intentions to have it the other way around.

But we are really excited about 2010. Good things are going to happen this year. Jonathan is going to graduate. Sami is going to put all her poo poos in the potty. Janie is going to walk and start talking. And me? Well, I'm going to put together our 72 hour kits! And I'm kind of excited about it. I also have a New Year's resolution to be more grateful and complain less. I have too much to ever complain. So I'm really going to work on it.

I couldn't post and not put in some pictures. And it's so fun to post pictures of the cute girls. The top picture of Janie is a photo I edited in my online photoshop class. It's so fun to learn new techniques and skills. I will probably be posting more pictures that I edit as I continue this little class. So be warned :).