Happy Birthday Dannan and Mieka!!

Now it's 1:00, and it has been a crazy morning. I started downloading pictures for this post at 8:00 this morning while I was getting ready, and thankfully Jan dowloaded the rest for me. But this is the first time I've had time to sit down and work on this post. We had our Stake baptism this morning, and then I found out someone from our ward was being baptized, so I stayed for that. So now, finally, I can get to this blog post for my two darling nieces!

Dannan and Mieka are our youngest girls (so far), and it's so fun they were born on the same day. Since Dannan is older, I will start with pictures of her.

Dannan

Here is a picture of me holding Dannan the day she was born. We were so excited that she had brown hair, and we swore she would have Seth's hazel eyes (her three brothers all have blue eyes like Karla). We were right about the hazel eyes, but she turned out to have beautiful blonde/brown/strawberry hair (depending on the light).

Here she is at 2 months old. Karla was so excited to get her little girl, after three boys. And, even though she looks small here, Dannan is a tough one (she has to be, with three older brothers! : )

Here she is with her dad, (my baby brother Seth. I can still call him my baby brother, even though he's taller than me).

Here she is at Artic Circle with cousin Brayden when she was six months old.

And here she is, a month before her first birthday. Here's where her eyes were starting to turn hazel...

Eating her cake on her first birthday. So cute!

This is also her first birthday party, but I had to put this one in as well. I love her big eyes!

I love this one. Here she is with her mom, looking at cousin Mieka, her birthday buddy, on Christmas Eve 2007.

And here she is again with her mom. Doesn't she look great in pink?

And once again with her mom (lots of cute pictures of Karla!). I love Dannan's expression in this picture.

This one is a little blurry, but I wanted to put it in anyway. This was Thanksgiving last year. She had gotten hurt, and came to cuddle with me on the couch. I think it's so cute!

And here she is with her dad at Grandma Spendlove's funeral this spring. Her hair is just such a beautiful color!

Here she is playing with counsins Jenni and Emma.

This was with me on big brother Ethan's baptism day. She's so darling with her hair all done up!

I love this one--her mom and dad are doing a "Dannan sandwhich" at one of the barbeques this summer. She's having so much fun!

And finally, here she is with cousin Joe-Joe at the Spendlove reunion last month. I love my little Dannan! I'm so grateful for her cute smiles and little hugs--and her fiesty little personality!

Mieka

Now we turn to Mieka, born exactly one year after Dannan....

Here is little Mieka on her birthday, with me and cousin Emma. She was such a sweet, darling little thing!

I love this picture of big sister Annika holding her. They are so cute together, and Annika has always been so protective of her little sister.

Here she is playing with Aunt Janice on Christmas Eve, 2007. I love her little smile!

And here she is with her dad in March of last year, when she was six months old.

In June of last year, when she was nine months old, I got the opporunity to watch Annika and Mieka while I wasn't working. It was so fun. Here she is on one night after I gave her a bath. She looks so cute in her ducky towel!

This is from the same week--she was trying to learn how to crawl, and almost made it. So cute!

Here she is with Aunt Jan and sister Annika right before her 1st birthday.

And here she is with me in December of last year. I love the red bows in her hair, and she has such expressive eyebrows! (She really was happy that day--even though she looks rather solemn in the picture!)

Here she is in January this year--I had to put this in, because it was when she started doing her "Ahoy Matey" smile when she's getting her picture taken. It is so cute!

And here she is with Uncle Dan in March. Her hair is starting to get so long!

And here she is bowling with her mom in April. She looks so darling--what a big girl!

Here she is sitting on her dad's lap eating cake. She just has such cute little expressions!

I love this one of her and grandpa at one of our swimming parties this year. Again, she looks so cute in her ducky towel!

Here's another one of her cheeser smiles. I just can't get over how cute they are!

I love this picture of her reading a book. She actually can't read quite yet, but is so smart that I'm sure she'll pick it up in no time!

And finally, here she is just a few days ago, holding little duckies and with a cute little smile!

So, there you have it, finally--my post for Dannan and Mieka. I know I say this all the time, but I am just so grateful for my neices and nephews. I still ache at times to have my own babies--I know I always will. But I can hardly feel sad when I am surrounded by so many little ones that I love so much, and who give me so much in return. Truly, "my cup runneth over!"

Happy Birthday Dannan and Mieka--preview...

It's 11:50, and I was planning on staying up late, as usual, to do a birthday post. But I've been up late almost every day this week(working on Stake Primary, canning 85 quarts of peaches and pears, etc) and am so tired, and we have two birthdays tomorrow, so that's going to be around 30 pictures. Blogger is going really slow tonight, and it would probably be after 1:30 in the morning before I got it done. So, even though I already feel guilty for not having the post all done for their birthdays, I think itwill be a better post if I wait until I'm not dead tires. (I was just reading over this post to make sure it made sense, and realized I said, "dead tires," instead of "dead tired." I think it's a good thing I'm not finishing this post tonight. Who knows what would come out of my mouth?)

So, as a preview, here is a picture of Dannan, who is turning three, and Mieka, who is turning two, and who were both born on September 26. Aren't they cute?! Mieks is doing her standard cheese face, and I love Dannan's folded arms.

Watch tomorrow for a longer post about each of them (but I have a Stake baptism in the morning, so it probably won't be until afternoon sometime). But rest assured, there will be a great post about my two youngest neices!

Until then, goodnight...

Some more good quotes...

I had the chance to read some BYU-Idaho Devotionals today, and was really struck by two quotes, so here is another post with uplifting quotes. I love beautiful words and how they speak peace to my soul and bring me the comfort of the Spirit!

"When I come to the Savior with my burdens, my problems, my challenges, He doesn't hand me an off-the-shelf, one size-fits-all yoke. He knows me intimately. He loves me infinitely. Therefore, the help that He offers me will be perfectly fitted to my needs, my abilities, and my circumstances. How profound are those words. “Take my yoke upon you.” …There is no burden, no sorrow, no suffering that He doesn't fully understand. And because of that, there is nothing we can take to Him that brings a response of, “I'm sorry. I don't understand.” …

Why would He willingly offer Himself as such an infinite sacrifice? It was because He was meek and lowly of heart. He was submissive to the Father. Even in the hour of His darkest need, pleading to escape from the bitter cup that lay ahead, He immediately added these words to His prayer. “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). Thus, as Abinadi taught, His will was swallowed up in the will of the Father (see Mosiah 15:7). …

If we who labor and are heavy laden come unto Him, and if we do so because we understand that His meekness and lowliness of heart brought about the Atonement; and if we take His yoke upon us and learn of Him, then the promise is very clear: And you shall find rest unto your souls.

Here again is the promise of rest, but here we learn that this rest is not just for the body, not just for the mind, but for the soul. The soul is the whole man, the body and the spirit knit together. It is our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual dimensions all wrapped together. What a promise. “Ye shall find rest unto you souls.”

Brothers and Sisters, I testify that in the Savior Jesus Christ we can find rest to our souls. We can have our burdens lifted. (Elder Lund, BYU-I Devotional, "Come Unto Me," September 23, 2008).

"He is there for you and for me. He knows our needs, our desires, our circumstances, and our challenges. He stands ready to succor us, to strengthen us. His promise is sure and is extended to each of us—individually, personally:

. . . for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your [heart], and mine angels round about you, to bear you up. (D&C 84:88)

It takes faith and effort and a bit of practice to see the hand of the Lord in our individual lives. We can begin cultivating that ability by taking time each day to ponder the following questions suggested by President Eyring last October in general conference: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch [me] or [my] children or [my] family today? . . . Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life . . .?”

I promise that as you consistently reflect upon these questions, evidence will come that the Lord loves you—individually, personally—and that He is involved in the very details of your life."

(Betty Oldham, BYU-I devotional, July 1, 2008)

When times are tough...

There are some people in my family who are going through some hard times right now, so I thought I would do a quick blog post of what I've been thinking about today. I've been thinking about how Christ is able to heal even very difficult situations. He can bring good out of things that seem incredibly hard. He is over all, and as President Hinckley used to say: "Things have a way of working out." We never know when Heavenly Father might be ready to work a miracle in our behalf.

I've been thinking about how important it is to trust in in Heavenly Father, who is always there for us, and to remember that Christ suffered all things, and including my pain and sorrow, and the pain and sorrow of every person on the earth. He knows through personal experience what we are suffering.

I've also been thinking about how many loved ones we have on the other side of the veil that care about us and are still watching us, and who are doing all they can to help us. I was in the temple yesterday, and wishing that I could feel the presence of those who have passed on and still love me. But just knowing they are there gives me strength to keep going.

Here are a few quotes that I found today that go along with what I have been thinking about:

"In the gospel of Jesus Christ you have help, and you have it from both sides of the veil. You must never forget that. When disappointment and discouragement strike, and they will, you must never forget that if our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye could see riding at reckless speed to come to our protection (see 2nd Kings 6:16-17). They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham's seed." (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "For Times of Trouble," BYU Devotional, March 18, 1980)

"...we knew our Elder Brother and our Father in heaven well. We rejoiced at the upcoming opportunity for earthly life that could make it possible for us to have a fullness of joy as they had. We could hardly wait to demonstrate to our Father and our Brother, the Lord, how much we loved them and how we would be obedient to them in spite of the earthly opposition of the evil one. And now we're here--our memories are veiled--and we're showing God and ourselves what we can do. Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us.

God loves us, he's watching us, he wants us to succeed, and we'll know someday that he has not left one thing undone for the eternal welfare of each of us. If we only knew that there are heavenly hosts pulling for us--friends in heaven, whom we can't remember now, who yearn for our victory. This is our day to show what we can do--what life and sacrifice we can daily, hourly, instantly bring to God. If we give our all, we will get his all from the greatest of all." (Jesus Christ--Gifts and Expectations, Ezra Taft Benson, BYU Devotional, 1974: The whole talk is amazing, and can be found here: http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=6019)

I'm grateful for the comfort of the gospel, and the knowledge I have that we are never alone in our struggles. God truly will help us if we will turn to him!