cuddle time with halle this morning.  It was nice to just have Halle and Mom time!  Love that little girl.

breaks in the day... sometimes you just need a break from the different things that you are doing throughout the day.  Grateful to just take time to relax and enjoy this life that I have been given.

grateful for Air conditioning... it is real hot and it is nice to be able to come home to a cool home!

8 Months OLD!!!

Where does the time go...

This sweet little boy of ours is already 8 months old.

He sure is busy.

He has 6 teeth.

He is army crawling around.

He is pulling himself up on things.

He is falling a lot

He is finally acting more normal.. now that he is not teething

still loves ALL food

Is happy and laughs a lot

likes the jenny jump up

likes to bite on things

bites on his pointer finger

loves to snuggle

takes two naps

Abel.. you have been such a blessing in our life.  You have taught us a lot about patience this past month... thank you for these lessons... They will, I am for sure, help up in the future.

We love you BABEL!!!!!

grateful for my job and that I am able to stay at home with my kiddos... what a blessing!

the atonement.  grateful that I/we never have to go through anything a lone in life.  He is always here for us.  He will carry us when he can not carry our self through situations.

Date NIGHTS!!!! so grateful that I am able to hang out with Alan tonight!  I love our relationship.  He really is my best friend and I am so grateful that we can still hang out together, go on dates, and have the best time ever TOGETHER!!!

So grateful today for family nights.. Love that Alan can come home for dinner every night and we can eat together as a family!!! LOVE HANGING OUT WITH THE FAMILY!!!

gratitude

I am going to try to write down something or somethings that I am grateful for each and everyday.  I want to always remember what a blessed life I have been given.  I want my kids to remember what a blessed life they have been given.  I want to remember who these blessing are from and thank him each and every day.

Today I am grateful for family that lives close.  It is a blessing to have my kiddos so close to both set of grandparents.

giving thanks

I was reading in the Ensign this week and read something that was an answer to my prayers.  I have had a really tough summer with my emotions and thoughts.  This is something that I know Heavenly Father put in my path to read.  It is an article from President Henry B. Eyring entitled Recognize, Remember and Give Thanks.  Here is the article:

Recognize, Remember, and Give Thanks

God asks that we give thanks to Him for whatever blessings we receive from Him. It is easy for us to become mechanical in our prayers ofgratitude, often repeating the same words but without the intent to give our thanks as a gift of the heart to God. We are to “give thanks … in the Spirit” (D&C 46:32) so we can feel real gratitude for what God has given us.

How can we remember even a part of all God has done for us? The Apostle John recorded what the Savior taught us about a gift of remembrance that comes through the gift of the Holy Ghost: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26).

The Holy Ghost brings back memories of what God has taught us. And one of the ways God teaches us is with His blessings; and so, if we choose to exercise faith, the Holy Ghost will bring God’s kindnesses to our remembrance.

You could test that in prayer today. You could follow the command “Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things” (D&C 59:7).

President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) suggested that prayer creates time to do that. He said: “The Prophet Joseph said at one time that one of the greatest sins of which the Latter-day Saints would be guilty is the sin of ingratitude. I presume most of us have not thought of that as a great sin. There is a great tendency for us in our prayers and in our pleadings with the Lord to ask for additional blessings. But sometimes I feel we need to devote more of our prayers to expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving for blessings already received. We enjoy so much.”¹

You could have such an experience with the gift of the Holy Ghost today. You could begin a private prayer with thanks. You could start to count your blessings and then pause for a moment. If you exercise faith, with the gift of the Holy Ghost, you will find that memories of other blessings will flood into your mind. If you begin to express gratitude for each of them, your prayer may take a little longer than usual. Remembrance will come, and so will gratitude.

You could try the same thing as you write an entry in your journal. The Holy Ghost has helped people with that since the beginning of time. You remember that the book of Moses says, “And a book of remembrance was kept, in the which was recorded, in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration” (Moses 6:5).

President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) described that process of inspired writing: “Those who keep a book of remembrance are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrance in their daily lives. Journals are a way of counting our blessings and of leaving an inventory of these blessings for our posterity.”²

As you start to write, you could ask yourself, “How did God bless me and those I love today?” If you do that often enough and with faith, you will find yourself remembering blessings. And sometimes you will have gifts brought to your mind that you failed to notice during the day but that you will then know were a touch of God’s hand in your life.

I pray that we may make a continuing effort in faith to recognize, remember, and give thanks for what our Heavenly Father and our Savior have done and are doing to open the way home to Them.

Here are somethings that I learned from the article.  ALWAYS remember the good things in life.  Always give thanks to Heavenly Father for the blessings and write down these blessings so that the people in your life know that Heavenly Father is real and is aware of our every need.  

Abel is really getting the crawling thing down... I AM SCARED!!!

Love this man!

I am beyond grateful for the relationship that I have with Alan.

He really is my best friend.  I love spending time with him.

I hate having to wait all day for him to get home.

I love watching him play and nurture our children.

I love him too much.

So grateful that I found him... and married him! I am one blessed woman!

This is Abe's new trick!

Grammie holds the binkie in her mouth and then Abe comes and grabs it from her,

He thinks he is pretty cool!

Amnicon Falls

Today we loaded everyone up and went to Amnicon State park to walk around the falls and trails there.  We picked a perfect morning and enjoyed every second of it!

 Abe missed out... he was napping!

 our family!!!

 running around on the trails...

 EXPLORING

 Crossing the river... this got a little scary at some points!

Halle wanted a ride in the carrier.. and SHE LOVED IT!!! had a huge fit when we she had to get out of it!

It was a great trip to the park and we were excited to get back to the cabin and enjoy the nice clear sunny day!

this morning we hung out at the cabin and then headed over to Hayward to enjoy the town and eat some good pizza!!! We had a great time at the candy store.. everyone getting their own little sweet treat.  We also enjoyed some shopping at the thrift store... and some what enjoyed our ice cream in Hayward... we all decided that cedar crest ice cream is MUCH MUCH BETTER!!!

 Alan dressed Halle this morning!!!

 On our way to the streets of Hayward!

 Carson hanging out with the MOOSE!!!

Grandma and Papa with the kiddos!!!

Grandma, Papa, and Carson came up to spend time at the cabin for this weekend.  

We have been looking forward to this getaway for a while and we had a great great time together.  

Here are some happenings from the first day!

 Halle embracing swimming in the COLD!!!

 Keith and Carson are catching some fish!!!

and the two men in my life!! LOVE THEM!

boat rides

these two love taking boat rides on the pontoon!!! We will miss boat rides this winter!!!!

SCRUNCHY FACE!!!

He does this when he is mad... happy.... angry... frustrated...

and i finally captured it

AND WE LOVE IT!!!

She is really looking like a little girl..

LOVE YOU HALLE!!!

 FUN WITH BUBBLES!!!!

Jamming it up!!!

Halle was a great helper with making peach freeze jam!  

YUM!!!

Como Zoo

We decided to make a trip to Como Zoo and the temple yesterday!  It was a perfect day to be outside and enjoy the Zoo.  We were also able to get to the Zoo earlier because our temple recommends were expired by three days!!!! so we just headed to get some yummy breakfast and then when to Como Zoo.  Here are some of the pictures to sum up the fun that we had!

 looking at the RIO birds!!!

 teasing the tiger...

 Abe was one tired baby!!!!

 trying cotton candy for the first time.. YUM!!!

We had so much fun exploring the zoo with Grammie and Grandpa!!!