Hope

Elder Neal A. Maxwell explained: "This is a gospel of grand expectations, but God's grace is sufficient for each of us if we remember there are no instant Christians....the Lord has clearly promised to succor us in the midst of our temptations...Such divine, close-in support as is promised in the scriptures means that God's grace will be sufficient for us if we are humble.  However, we must turn ourselves over to the Lord, so that we can be succored by Him and so that our weaknesses can even become strengths...thus we are to keep everlastingly at it, being nourished by these great promises, knowing that our journey is not the journey of one day but of a lifetime...in so far as we are proceeding we are succeeding."



This gives me the courage I need to keep trying, and the hope in a better tomorrow.

Best Buddies

I have to admit that some days I wonder "what on earth were we thinking having these 2 so close together?!?"  But most of the time, I am SO glad.  They are best buddies.  If Logan can't find Mara he wanders around with his hands up saying Wara?  Wara?  and I'm pretty sure that Mara's favorite time of day is when Logan gets up from his nap!  She is always so excited to run in the bedroom and see him again.  I don't know what I do without these 2!  I love them so much!  It so fun seeing them play.  Just today they made themselves into a choo choo train.  Love it.

Church History Museum

I had heard that the Church History Museum in Salt Lake had a pretty cool children's exhibit, so we decided to go check it out!  Of course, any outing is made better when the cousins come along!  Mara would live with Kayden and Maddux if I let her.  She absolutely adores them, and lucky for her they seem to like her too!  By the way, the Children's Exhibit was SO cute.  We of course picked a pretty crappy day to be running around Salt Lake, but the kids loved it.  Logan's favorite part was the TRAX ride up.  He kept yelling go!  and choo choo!  It was pretty fun!

 Mara loved dressing up a dancing to the music

 Mara and her best friends.  The other day the boys were fighting over who got to marry her.  Poor kids, I didn't have the heart to tell them that they can't.  They'll figure it out one day!

 Dylan really did love the train, just not getting his picture taken

 I kept finding Mara back at this station "abridging" the plates.

 Of course, this was Logan's favorite spot!

Aquarium

We had so much fun at the Aquarium this year.  Logan kept running around yelling "ishies!  Ishies!"  Mara loved it a lot too.  It was worth every penny!  

 This picture totally cracks me up.  Her face is hilarious!  As is Logan's right below.  They are such hams!

 Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks?

Blowing kisses at the camera never gets old!  

Logan loves Mara

I've been praying for help with my weaknesses lately.  The biggest one is a lack of patience.  I see some moms out there who can see the joy in the little moments, and laugh through the hard stuff!  I wish I was one of those moms!  I get way too caught up in the bedtime routine to enjoy the cuddles.  I feel overwhelmed with 2 littles climbing all over me all day long that I don't realize it's just because they love me.

Tonight shortly after I tucked the kids in bed I heard giggles.  I went to investigate.  I found Mara in Logan's crib.  Normally I would've taken her out, spanked her bottom, and told her not to do it again and left the room with both kids crying.  Instead, I saw how darn cute they looked all cuddled up together.  Their little heads peeking out from under the blankets.  Instead of immediately picking Mara up, I asked her why she got in the crib.  She told me, "Logan was sad, and wanted Mara.  He even said Mara."  How can you get mad at that?  I decided to get out the camera and record that cute brother sister moment instead.  After the pictures we cuddled some more, I told her that she shouldn't do that again, or next time she would get a spanking (judge me, I don't care),  tucked them both back in, and left the room feeling better than I did before I went in there.  Wasn't that the better choice?  I'm so grateful I was able to enjoy the moment!  I've still got a looooong way to go, but hey-it's progress!

Pearls

I recently had the opportunity to write a couple of articles for this blog: LDS Pearls.  It has been such a great experience.  Alicia (the founder of the blog, & my good friend) asked me to be a more permanent part of the blog, and I couldn't be more excited!  Go check it out and let me know what you think!

"The purpose of Pearls for Latter-Day Saint Women is to uplift, edify and strengthen women to live our lives in harmony with what Heavenly Father expects of us. Life is not intended to be easy, and every circumstance is different, but women have always been an incredible source of support and encouragement. As a group of women with the same eternal goals, I really believe Pearls for Latter-Day Saint Women is something that will benefit women temporally and spiritually." -Alicia, founder of Pearls


The only way Pearls works is if women just like you and me submit articles.  You don't have to be an amazing writer, all you need is a testimony.  If you're like me, standing up during Testimony Meeting is probably the last thing you'll ever see me do.  Standing up in front of people makes me physically ill!  However, I do have a strong desire to share my testimony with others.  Mostly because I know that it strengthens my own testimony when I share.  So if you feel the desire to contribute, please do!  You can email me or go to the contact page on Pearls.  I hope to hear from all of you soon!!

Why I Love You

Brittani is so awesome! I know everyone who reads this already knows that, but it never hurts to give a reminder ;-). So the fam left to the great white north (Idaho) today, and lucky me found a super special note just for me from the love of my life! I won't make you read all the mushy details, but in a nutshell she just made sure to let me know how much she loves me and is proud of me for everything I do. Just one more reason to love her. She takes such good care of me and always does her best to let me know.

So as I'm sure you can see, I've attached a music video to this post. If you are having trouble, it's the big box with the play arrow underneath what I'm typing here. I would take a listen before you read on if you haven't had a chance to yet. Also, if you don't know, I may be very quiet and reserved if you've ever talked to me, but I'm also one of the most sarcastic people you'll ever meet. If you don't believe me just ask Brittani. She will give you too many testimonials I'm sure.

So back to the video. If you listened to it then you should have at least enjoyed the last four minutes if you're not enjoying this post. So again, Brittani leaves me this note and all I can think is how much more I should be doing to try and make her happy every day. Back to the quiet and reserved thing; I know I don't tell her often enough how amazing she is. Yes, I tell her I love her pretty much every day, but that isn't enough. I need to let her know what makes me love her every day. As this music video talks about, I need to be strong for her when she needs me. I need to be the person that God has called me to be. It's easy to say you love someone. It's hard, at least for most guys I know, to say exactly why. If we don't though, then we run the risk of leaving them feeling alone.

I think letting the person you love know why they are special every day is important because after being together for so long it's easy to take for granted everything the person you love does and is. Saying why you love someone does more than make them feel good, it reminds you why you want to be with that person. Taking a step back each day and reminding yourself why you love someone lets you forget all of the insignificant shortcomings someone might have and remind you why that person is special to you. More importantly, why you want to be with that person for the rest of forever. Brittani is everything and more than I ever expected out of the person I wanted to be with forever, and here are some of the reasons why.

Brittani, you are an excellent mother. I know it's a hard job but seeing the smile you have everyday when you get the kids out of bed makes me know how much you care about them. It doesn't matter if you're in a good or bad mood, you get a smile regardless when you see our sweet little kids and I love you for it. You make our home, wherever it may be, a special place. I don't know too many people who could make a little basement apartment glow like you make ours glow. Walking downstairs each day is a reminder of how creative and imaginative you are and can be. One more reason I love you. I tell you this all the time, but you're too humble so I think this belongs on a post that everyone we know can see. There is a reason so many of your friends and family come to you for advice. Whether it be about decorating, baking, dealing with depression, or whatever else, people come to you because they know you are a strong, confident, capable woman who has the strength to tackle whatever obstacle may come your way. They see this in you and know that you can help them as well. You have more than enough goodness to go around.

Well Babe, I hope you're not embarrassed by this because you shouldn't be. You are an awesome person, I love you, and I'm the luckiest guy in the world to be able to call you my wife. I promise I'll be better about letting you know why I love you every day and I hope everyone who reads this and watches the video will feel motivated to do the same to the people they love and care about.

Way to go! You found the video!