Happy 8th Birthday, Ethan!!

It is 1:30 in the morning—really late—I need to get to bed. But I wanted to get Ethan’s birthday post done early, so I thought I would stay up until it was done. Since it is now April 25th, today is my nephew Ethan’s 8th birthday. What a special day!

Ethan was born on April 25th, 2001. That also happened to be Jan and my 30th birthday (is that correct grammar? I can't tell--it's way too late!), which was so special. It has been so fun to share a birthday with Ethan the last eight years.

Ethan was only the second grandchild, and was the first boy. He came at a time when I was really struggling with being single, and so was such a gift to me. I still remember when Seth called and told me they were having a boy, I started crying, because I wanted to have the first boy in the family. But one day when Ethan was only a few months old, Karla was over with him. I was having such a hard night—feeling like I would never get married and have my own kids. He turned and looked at me with such a sweet and wise look. I felt like that look was telling me to keep trusting that God had good things in store for me. And who would have guessed that he would become so precious to me, and that eight years later I would have 19 sweet nieces and nephews to love?

From the very beginning, Ethan and I have had a special bond. I don’t know if it is because he was born on our birthday, or if it’s because he was the first grandchild that was “mine” (since Holly was “Janice’s” baby). As I said above, he really did come at a time in my life when I needed him, and I’ve been so grateful for him every day since.

Since he is one of the older grandchildren, I had SO many pictures of him. I really did try to cut them down, but there are more than usual, so warning, this will be a LONG POST. But I just had to put in pictures of my cute Ethan!

This was the earliest picture I could find of him. He was crawling up the stairs toward me. I love the look on his face--so sweet and trusting! I think he was about this age when he came up with a sign for me. I was always trying to get him to say my name, and so would point to myself and say, "Say Jen!" His Mom's parents are deaf, so he made up a sign for me--he would take his hands, and point to himself. So precious!!

Here he is in the car with Grandma in June 2002--the day Mom and Dad moved from the family house in Orem. I love how he is helping to drive the car.

This is Halloween night, 2002. Logan had just been born a few days before. I'm wearing a dress because I had worked at the temple that night. But I had to see my little Ethan in his costume!

I LOVE this picture. He looks so darling!

This is he and I outside of our house in Pleasant Grove. He used to come visit all the time, and we had so much fun together. I love the sunglasses.

I had to put this one in. This is Ethan and I dancing to "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" by Barry Manilow. He loved dancing to it with me!

This is one day when Ethan fell asleep cuddling with me. What a sweetie!

One thing I loved about working at BYU was that I was able to go to lunch so often with so many of my neices and nephews. This is me reading to Ethan and Logan on my lunch break in 2004.

Here is Ethan and I at our birthday party in 2004.

Here I am with Joshy and Ethan, Christmas 2004.

Here we are at our birthday party in 2005. It's so fun to sit with all the kids.

This was in June, 2005. Jan and I took the Three Musketeers to my summer work party. It was so fun! I love Ethan's look in this picture.

I had to put this one in. I think it's so cute how he is leaning in to me. This is at the Orem Summerfest, one of our favorite summer traditions.

And here we are in July, 2006 doing sparklers.

This was in January 2007 at Joshy's birthday party, playing with Logan and Brendan.

This is December 2007--showing Janice his missing teeth!

We really are getting close to being done. This is with his brothers on the 4th of July last year.

I had to put this picture in, even though it is the one I use for my blog. I just love it--this was last September when we were getting our family pictures taken. I asked if I could get one with Ethan, and I love how it turned out. One cute thing about Ethan--he always lists my name first if he is talking about Jan and I. A few times someone's been helping him with prayers, and will say, for example, "and thank thee that Janice and Jenny could come over," and he will say, "and thank thee the Jenny and Janice could come over." I just think it's so cute!

And finally, a picture from a few weeks ago, when we went to conference together.

I'm just so grateful for Ethan, and for the wonderful blessing he has been in my life. I can't believe he is already eight years old! I know that before I know it, I will be watching him get the Priesthood, then go on a mission...I know I will be crying. And watch for a blog post next Saturday about his baptism. But for now, I have to get to bed!!!

I love you, Ethan!

P.S. I realized that I really should also recognize Jan on our birthday. I came across this picture of her when I was looking for pictures of Ethan. It has been such a great blessing to have a twin! I don't know what I would do without her. We are best friends, and she has done so much for me! I'm so grateful for her. Happy Birthday, Jan!

The tulips are out in force...

The title of my post is what my co-worker said when she came in today from walking during lunch. I hadn't gone to lunch yet (2:00--it's hard for me to get away sometimes), so I decided for my lunch hour, I was going to walk around Temple Square and take some pictures. It was such a beautiful, sunny day today! I'm so glad spring finally decided to come. So, here are some pictures from my walk today. One of the most beautiful things to me was how the sun was shining through the flowers and lighting them up. It was just so pretty. I love spring!!

Happy Birthday, Joe Joe Bear!

Today is my baby sister's baby boy's 3rd birthday (how's that for a hard to understand sentence?) I can't believe our little Joe Joe is three years old already! So, since we have another birthday, it's time for me to do another blog post (I feel like I am doing blog posts for my neices and nephews all the time--but when you have 19, that's bound to be a lot of posts!)

I got to be at the hosptial when Joey was born on April 19, 2006. Steve came out with him right after the C-section, and from the first look, I could tell he was his Dad's baby. He looks just like his Dad and his Grandpa. I said that to his Grandpa once in the temple, and he said, "Yeah, he's a handsome little devil, isn't he." He is such a cute little boy, with his big blue eyes and blonde hair. So, as usual, here are some of my favorite pictures of my Joe Jo Bear:

Here he is with his mom right after he was born. So cute!
Here he is with his dad and big sister Jenni. Jenni was obviously worn out from the long day!

Here he is, a few months old, with cousin Brayden, who was born just a few days after him. They are both blonde haired blue eyed little angels (well, if not angels all the time, at least they look like angels :) Besides, I'm the aunt. I can exaggerate!)

Here's me holding him and Jenni in October 2006.

Here he is with Grandma in December of 2006. You can start to see his beautiful blonde hair.

Here he is with Aunt Janice and sister Jenni

I LOVE this picture. It is so Joey, with his infectious smile and big blue eyes!

Here he is chilling with Dad on the couch.

This was on our birthday last year--he had just turned 2. Joey loves all things sports--notice his hat and shirt. I love his cute expression here.

As I said, he loves all things sports--and was tuckered out this time. I love how he is holding his ball.

Here he is in November 2008--I love the cake all over his face!

And this is a few weeks ago, showing his Easter eggs!

Okay, I've got to get to church! I'm going to be late. If you see any mistakes, just ignore them. I'll edit them when I get back. I love you Joe Joe Bear!

Time to update

It's been way too long since I posted--but I've been so busy that I haven't even had time to download pictures. So I thought I would take some time today to download pictures and make a quick post about the last little while. I started my post with three pictures I got a week or so ago (back when it really was spring...) at Temple Square. It is so beautiful in the springtime, with the flowers and budding trees. I'm hoping it will be warmer this week so I can get some more pictures.

We had a great Easter this year. On Saturday our whole family got together at Mom and Dad's for the annual Easter Egg hunt. We had everyone there--all 19 kids--and it was so fun to watch them. Jan gathered them all around before they went out to find the eggs, and talked to them about the real meaning of Easter, and then told them the rules for finding eggs (we divided them up into three groups so the little kids would have more time). I didn't get very many good pictures, but here are some:

These two pictures are of all 10 kids gathered around listening to Janice. It was hard to get them all in one picture!

As I said, I didn't get too many good pictures of the hunting--but here' s a cute one.

Then here's one of the kids looking at their loot. It's so fun to have so many little ones together. I love my babies!! (Well, I guess a lot of them aren't babies any longer, but they will always be my babies).

On Saturday night we got together with Dave and Melissa to color Easter eggs. The kids were so cute, and had tons of fun. Here are some pictures. I especially love Mieka's "Ahoy Matey" face she's making below. So. Totally. Cute.

On Sunday I taught a lesson in Relief Society about Liberty Jail. It turned out really good--I was able to tie it into Easter by talking about how the Atonement of the Savior helps us to endure anything we have to suffer. I loved this quote by Elder Holland:

"Whenever these moments of our extremity come, we must not succumb to the fear that God has abandoned us or that He does not hear our prayers. He does hear us. He does see us. He does love us. When we are in dire circumstances and want to cry “Where art Thou?” it is imperative that we remember He is right there with us—where He has always been! We must continue to believe, continue to have faith, continue to pray and plead with heaven, even if we feel for a time our prayers are not heard and that God has somehow gone away. He is there. Our prayers are heard. And when we weep He and the angels of heaven weep with us.”

On Sunday afternoon we had dinner at Dan and Emilee's house with Mom and Dad, and Dan's mom Tamara. Here are some darling pics I got of Matthew and Emma:

Work has been SO busy this last week. I am loving it, but these new responsibilitites I have keep me super busy. I worked yesterday from 6:30-5:00 (not counting commuting time). I am grateful for my good job though, and for all the great people I get to work with. Even though it is busy and stressful at times, I feel like I am able to do so much good at my job, and I love being right up on Temple Square. There is always such a great spirit there.

Jan, Ems, Mel and the kids came up to see me on Tuesday, and I was hoping to be able to walk over and see them at the "I Am a Child of God" exhibit. It ended up being too busy for me to get away, so I missed some really cute pictures (hopefully Ems will blog about it!) But thankfully I was able to get away to have some lunch with them. Mieka had a hard time during lunch with all the people around, but I did get this cute picture of her playing hide and seek:

These next two pictures are from Thursday, when it snowed 6 inches--where is spring?? I had to wait ten minutes for the bus, standing in the snow in my Sunday shoes. But there was a beautiful sunrise!

Last night we went to dinner with Mike and Janelle. We went to IHOP, which was really quiet--and I was grateful, since yesterday was such a long day at work. It was relaxing to talk and play with the girls. Kate told me a whole story today about when she got on the wrong bus, and how she went up and told the bus driver, and the driver took her to the right place. Later I took Lizzie and Brina to the bathroom. Brina just danced around while we waited—in her bare feet, since she had kicked her shoes off. Lizzie-Beth had to show me how if you waved your hand, the paper towel would come out. They were just so cute, and I don't get to see them as often as I would like, so I was glad to see them. I didn't get any pictures though...what was I thinking? I guess I was too tired to think about taking pictures. :)

Well, this post is getting too long. That's what I get for waiting so long to write. I need to go clean my house now--since Saturday is my only day off. I'll write again soon!

Conference

What a wonderful weekend! I love General Conference, and have been so grateful since I got my job that I am able to attend some of the sessions. It is just such a blessing to be in the presence of all the Brethren, and to get to feel of their goodness. I always feel such a gratitude at Conference time for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and for His servants who so faithfully teach and testify of Him. Their messages are filled with counsel to help us get through the hard times of life, but also always so much hope and comfort.

This year for the Saturday morning session I took my nephew Ethan, who is turning 8 years old in a couple of weeks. It was so fun to be there with him. He slept over the night before (and had a migraine, poor thing. But thankfully he was well by the next morning). We went up early to get a good seat, and he was such a good sport. Janice was working as a nurse for the Saturday morning session, so we got to park under the Conference Center, which was so nice, since it was snowing Saturday morning.

As Ethan and I sat and waited for Conference to start, we did a little Conference packet a friend sent to me with word searches and pictures of the Twelve and First Presidency. It was fun as they started walking in, because I could point them out to him, and he would find their picture and make a note of what color tie they were wearing. In case you're wondering, it seems that red is the favorite color for the Brethren. They were all wearing red except for a few of them. Ethan took his paper home, but I think it was President Uchtdorf and Elder Bednar that were wearing blue ties, and President Packer was wearing a black tie. So now you know.

One really neat thing--while we were sitting there waiting, President Dahlquist of the Young Men (who was released later in Conference) came up and talked to Ethan. He had him stand up so he could see how tall he was, and shook his hand. Then when we told him Ethan was being baptized soon, he was very excited for him, and said, "That means that soon you will get the Aaronic Priesthood and then get to go on a mission." It was really neat to have him pay such kind attention to Ethan.

Ethan was so reverent during the session--even though after the second talk he asked me if it was almost over. Thankfully I remembered that we had a conference bingo sheet in our conference packet, with a bunch of topics for him to mark off. He loved listening for the topics. Then after Conference was over, we watched together as the First Presidency and the Twelve walked by with their wives, right in front of us, and he got to smile at them. It was just such a neat experience to be there with my precious nephew. Also, since Janice was working as a nurse, she got two tickets as well, so Seth and Karla got to come too. Here are some pictures:

Ethan and I before Conference started

Ethan, waiting patiently for Conference to start.

Here is a note Ethan wrote to me while we were waiting. It says, "Dear Jenny. I love you so much. This is [the best] sleepover ever! Love, Ethan. XOXOXOXOX." Isn't that sweet!?

I love the Conference Center!

Here's Ethan with Seth and Karla after conference. I'm so glad they were able to come.

And here he is with Jan and I after Conference. Notice her official nurses badge...

On Sunday afternoon I was lucky to be able to get a couple of extra tickets, so I took Jan, Ems, and my Dad. It was fun to have four of us there, although we wanted to have Chelle with us, but she got sick. But I loved getting to spend time with Dad, and to have Ems and Jan with me. The three of us all love watching for the Brethren and seeing how sweet they are with their wives and each other. The picture above shows how close our seats were. I loved being able to see the expressions on the faces of the brethren, and to watch their wives, who were sitting right across from us.

Here's a picture of us after conference with one of the ushers. We met Gwynne way back in 2001 on a Church History tour, and she has been a great friend ever since.

And finally, here we are walking back to the parking terrace after Conference. Dad didn't want to be in the picture, but he took one of us.

I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to be able to attend Conference, to feel the spirit so strongly, and especially for the love and goodness of the Brethren. With the world getting increasingly darker and more evil, I am so grateful for the light of the gospel that shines to show us the way to go. I know that if we follow the Brethren closely we will find safety and peace in this life, and eternal life in the world to come.