Young Women in Excellence & New Beginnings

Tonight was our ward Young Women in Excellence and New Beginnings. Our YW presidency worked so hard to make this special night for our girls. The theme was "Walk in the Light".



Savannah did an amazing job with the vintage decorations.



Some of our amazing girls and the projects they had on display.



Katie got to attend as a upcoming Beehive. She was so excited, and is really looking forward to going into the Young Women's program.



She is the only (active) girl moving up into the Beehive class this year.



We are so pleased with the beautiful and sweet young lady that she is becoming and look forward to watching her continue to blossom as she enters the Young Women's program in a few months. She is such a blessing to our family.

8 point

Aaron got invited to go hunting with his friend and his dad on their lease. He debated whether or not to go, and I'm glad he finally decided to just do it. He needs more time to unwind. He had only been in the stand for a few hours when he saw this buck and took him down. He was so excited! His second buck this season. A new personal record. When I told the kids that Daddy shot another deer and showed them the picture, John David said, "He shot a buck!" I had no idea he even knew what a buck was. He truly is Aaron's mini me.

of good report

The girls got their report cards yesterday and they both made Honor Roll. Wahoo! Things have been better this year. Katie is doing so much better than last year. She is being so responsible and finally works on her own, most of the time, to get her assignments done. And her being in band has really been good for her. She does well because she already knows how to read music, and it has helped her to be more excited about piano. HUGE BONUS! Sarah still requires lots of help with her assignments, but since Katie is doing so well, I do have hope that Sarah will get there someday. So, since they made Honor roll again, we took them to Orange Leaf for a little reward. They were cracking me up!






My how I love these silly kids!

what a compliment

Conversation with Katie this afternoon after I jokingly said that no one likes me.

Katie: That's not true. I like you.
Me: Thank you Katie. What a sweet thing to say.
Katie: Well, I do. I like my parents. Most of my friends at school don't like their parents, and say bad things about them. But I'm like, 'Well I like my parents!'

She continued telling us how lots of kids at school say terrible things about their parents and say that they hate their parents. It made me sad for those kids and parents. But it also made my heart happy to hear our sweet girl tell us that she likes her parents. We are really grateful to have a relationship with her where she feels that way. I love that she feel comfortable enough to be able to talk with us about how she is feeling and things that are going on with her. I just hope and pray we can keep those lines of communication open during the critical years ahead. Now that would be amazing!

Science and Spaghetti Bridges

I'm not really sure how these two things are related, but this is what Katie decided to do her science project on.



She had to build two spaghetti bridges and see which one held the most pennies.



Daddy built the first bridge.



His bridge held 12 pennies.




Then it crashed.




Then Katie built a bridge.



I thought hers looked more sturdy than Aaron's bridge.



But hers only held 11 pennies.



And then hers crashed too.




Even though I thought this project was strange, she learned some things and she had fun with it. And that's all that matters.

our little sunbeam

Since Sarah was sick this morning, she and I stayed home from church. I was so sad that I wasn't able to go to church with my big boy who had his first day in primary. However, the good news is...I did think to grab my camera and take some pictures of my sweet, handsome little sunbeam.



Does he look handsome or what?



This is what I get whenever I tell him to smile. He cracks me up!




This pose was his idea. Not sure why he was doing this.



But he sure is stinkin' cute!



He loves his Sunday shoes "like Daddy's"....even though they really aren't like Daddy's.



And he loves having his own scriptures.



It makes him feel grown up.



And while I had the camera out, this girl was more than happy to pose for some pictures too.



Can't believe she'll be leaving primary in a few months. CRAZY!!!



Love these sweet kids!



And how they love each other! :)

Flat Stanley visits LA

Our nephew, Charles Allen, sent his Flat Stanley to visit us over Christmas break.



We introduced him to the Cajun cuisine. He really liked the boudin balls. ;)



We took him to the visitor's bureau.



We hoped to see an alligator, but it was too cold and wet.



We did have a close call with an alligator inside.....



.....but Sarah saved Flat Stanley just in the nick of time.



We told Flat Stanley all about Mardi Gras and even sent him home with some beads to share with Charles Allen's class.



Thanks for coming to visit us Flat Stanley! Next time, bring Charles Allen and his family too!

Ringing in the New Year

Last night we celebrated the coming of the new year.



We donned our New Year's party hats and horns.



We ate pizza and lots of leftover Christmas treats.



We invited the Gibsons over and played Monopoly.



And Twister.



And Clue. And yes....I am the reigning Clue champion. :)



At midnight, we watched the ball drop in Times Square.



And we yelled and screamed. And face timed our cousins....at least that's what Katie did. That's actually most all of what Katie has been doing ever since she figured out that all of her cousins her age in NC got ipods for Christmas. Which I think is pretty cool, especially since we didn't get to go to NC for the holidays.



Then we went outside and lit some sparklers.





Look at those cuties!



I am so thankful for them.



And look forward to a great year with my little family.



Welcome 2013! We are excited to see what you will bring!