Two good quotes

It's been way too long since I posted.  As usual, I've gotten busy and haven't taken time to keep this blog up to date.  I need to get to bed, so I won't take time to do a whole update (not much is going on--just busy at work and looking forward to the holidays).  But I read some good quotes today that I thought I would put in. 

The first is from Elder Holland.  This morning I was thinking about all of my little nieces and nephews who are growing up so fast.  I started feeling worried about all they will encounter in this evil world as they grow, and prayed to know what I could do to help them and influence them. Then today I was working on a project at work and no one was around, so I decided to listen to an Elder Holland talk.  I have done a compilation of many of his talks, but haven't finished it yet, so I picked the next one on my list to listen to, and it was his "A Prayer for the Children" Conference talk from April 2003.  It answered perfectly the concerns I was feeling this morning.  Here are the parts that really touched me:

I too pray for the children.  Some days it seems that a sea of temptation and transgression inundates them, simply washes over them before they can successfully withstand it, before they should have to face it. And often at least some of the forces at work seem beyond our personal control.

 Well, some of them may be beyond our control, but I testify with faith in the living God that they are not beyond His. He lives, and priesthood power is at work on both sides of the veil. We are not alone, and we do not tremble as if abandoned. In doing our part, we can live the gospel and defend its principles. We can declare to others the sure Way, the saving Truth, the joyful Life. We can personally repent in any way we need to repent, and when we have done all, we can pray. In all these ways we can bless one another and especially those who need our protection the most—the children. As parents we can hold life together the way it is always held together—with love and faith, passed on to the next generation, one child at a time....

Be believing. Keep loving and keep testifying. Keep praying. Those prayers will be heard and answered in the most unexpected hour. God will send aid to no one more readily than He will send it to a child—and to the parent of a child.

Isn't that great?  There is so much hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I am so grateful when I find little answers like that. 

The other quote is just a short one that I had in my journal from a year ago today.  I'll end my post with it:

 “I express gratitude for the Lord’s hand upon me through the years. He has answered all of my prayers—even though at times I had no idea what His purpose was, nor perhaps still do. He has blessed me with many wonderful days—more of those than of difficult days of suffering and despair. And yet even in those difficult days I have felt the Lord reach out to me, felt the darkness disperse, and felt His personal love fill my very soul. I bear witness that He is a God of love. He does love His children...(Gene R. Cook, BYU Devotional, February 1, 2005)

Happy Birthday, Logan!!

It's time for my last birthday post of the year--and Logan is the star this time! As I said before, I've sure loved doing these posts. It is so fun to go back and remember how darling my little nieces and nephews were when they were little, and it always makes me feel so grateful that for the last 11 years I've had so many little ones to love. I am so blessed! So, here is my post dedicated to Logan, who turns 7 years old tomorrow. By the way, just a disclaimer--I have worked an insane amount of hours this week, and it's now 10:45, so I hope this makes sense. If not, please forgive me (but I promise, Karla, not to call Logan by Truman's name this time) :)

Here is a picture of me holding Logan the day he was born. What a sweet little boy! I glued the picture into my journal, but unfortunately it scratched it all up. Still, I wanted to put it in.

This picture is a little bit better. This is me holding big brother Ethan, and 8 day old Logan on Halloween in 2002. I had worked at the temple that night, (and got off early because who goes to the temple on Halloween? It was the slowest night I ever worked at the temple), and stopped by to see the boys afterward. Wasn't Logan just tiny? That didn't last for long...

This is me visiting Ethan and Logan on Valentines Day of 2003, when Logan was four months old.

I love this little picture of Logan, looking all pensive. This was at our house in our banana chair. His eyes look so dark, but as you'll see later, they are actually a beautiful bright blue.

This picture and the picture after it were taken right after I got my digital camera in 2004 (and thus the pictures are much better). I kept both of them on my camera for over a year because I couldn't stand to delete them. They are so cute! This is me tickling Logan and Ethan at Chuck-a-rama.

This is one of my all time favorite pictures of Ethan and Logan. I used to go over to their house at least once a week during my lunch hour to visit, and loved reading stories to them. That is the thing I miss the most about my job at BYU. I love my job in SLC, but I miss so much getting to see my little ones all the time.

Isn't this a darling picture? I love how blue his eyes are, and how his overalls are falling off. This was when he was almost two years old.

And here he is on Christmas Eve with Aunt Janice and some of his cousins. I'm not sure why he and Joshy had their shirts off, but he sure has a cute look on his face!

This was when he was almost three years old, sitting on Grandpa's lap and watching fireworks at the Fourth of July party at Mom and Dad's house.

Here he is with cousin Kate, who is only a few months older than him. I love how you can tell they both have been playing hard--their shirts prove it. :)

Another one of the things I loved about BYU is that the kids would come and trick or treat at my office. Isn't Logan a cute superman? This was right after he turned four years old.

And here is is playing with his cousins in January, 2007. He has always been such a rough and tumble kid. I tease with Seth and Karla that he will be a football player someday.

Another example--we had been working in the yard, and Ethan, Logan and Joshy (the three musketeers) decided to paint the fence with mud. I had to get a picture of the evidence. Isn't it cute?!

Here he is with Jan and the other musketeers again on Christmas Eve last year. I love the way he is posing in his wise man costume (and holding his gift for the baby Jesus).

I put this picture on at the beginning of the year, but had to put it on again. This was at Dan and Emilee's rental center, when Dan was giving skateboard rides to the kids. Logan is having so much fun!

I love this picture from March of this year. I was trying to get a picture of him eating his cake, and he looked down and smiled. But I love it because it shows his darling freckles over his nose, and it shows the sweet side of his personality. I'll never forget one time he was at my house, and we were listening to "I Am a Child of God," on my computer. He was standing next to me singing along, and I just got such a sense for what a good boy he is--even though he often gets into trouble, he has such a tender side to him. I know he will do a lot of good in his life.

And finally, this picture is from a few months ago at our family reunion in the canyon, with brother Ethan and cousin Jenny. I think it is such a darling picture!

I'm so grateful for Logan! He is such a fun little boy, and I just love to hear him laugh. As I said at the beginning of this post, I am just so grateful for all of my sweet nieces and nephews. They have brought so much joy into my life, and I am so glad I get to live close to them and watch them grow up. My greatest wish is that they will all stay close to the gospel, and grow up to be, as I read in Nephi the other day, "armed with righteousness and the power of God." I can just picture right now what a great missionary Logan will be--keep your sweet personality, buddy, and happy 7th birthday!

Happy 11th Birthday, Holly!

It's time for another birthday post! I realized tonight that I only have two more of these--for Holly tomorrow, and for Logan on Friday. The only other birthday this year is Annika, but I started these birthday posts with her last year. So, I'm almost done! But I sure have had fun doing them, and they've made me more grateful than ever for my sweet nieces and nephews.

Today's post is devoted to Holly Berry, my oldest niece. Holly was our long awaited baby--my sister-in-law Tiff was so patient with us. Jan and I had wanted a niece or nephew for such a long time, and so when Holly came we were so excited that we were always asking to hold her. She was such a cute baby, and so tiny. We started calling her Holly Berry because she was born close to Christmas time, and was our sweet little holiday baby.

We actually almost lost her the day she was born--it was so scary. They rushed a pediatrician into her room as soon as she was born, and I called Jan (who was at our house laying sod while I waited in the waiting room with Mom and Tiff's Mom) and had her come down right away. Jan was really worried, (she is a nurse and so knew how serious it was). Thankfully Holly got a blessing from her dad, and started doing really well, and Jan and I got to go with Jon into the nursery to see her (since Jan knew some of the nurses). It was such a blessing to have her doing well, and I was so grateful! What a wonderful blessing to have such a sweet little girl in our family--our first little one. (Who knew that 11 years later we would have 19?) Holly has always been a little leader to our other nieces and nephews, and is growing up into such a sweet girl. So, here is my post dedicated to Holly!

This picture below was actually the day after she was born--she wasn't too happy about being unwrapped.

I had this picture up at work for a long time. I love her little smile in this one, and her white hat. She looks so precious!

I've had this picture in my purse forever--I just couldn't take it out because it is so cute. This was taken when we were on a vacation in St. George, and she was in that darling stage where she said cute little words and made little expressions with her hands. I just couldn't get enough of her.

This is also a picture that I had up at work for a long time. I love the expression on her face as she kisses her baby brother Brendan.

This was with Aunt Jan at Emilee's wedding reception. Janice watched Holly at least one day a week for a year after she was born, and they have always had a special relationship. Holly has such a sweet, trusting look in this picture!

I love this picture--it was at the temple at Mike and Janelle's wedding. So cute!

Here's Holly with her dad and brother Brendan at our house in 2002.

And here she is out on the backyard of Mom and Dad's Orem house with Aunts Emilee, Chelle, and Jan. Holly was a much loved and adored little girl--and probably a little spoiled as well. :)

Here she is at our Pleasant Grove house, chilling in her sunglasses.

And here she is on our porch swing, again with Aunt Janice and also with cousin Jenni.

I love this picture. She was six years old, and this was taken with me and cousin Joshy at Dave and Melissa's wedding dinner (lots of wedding pictures here--but she looks so cute in all of them!)

Here she is again with Aunt Jan and cousin Lizzie in September 2004. She looks so beautiful in pink.

This is with cousin Jenni, cousin Ethan, and me at Truman's 1st birthday party in 2005 (my head is cut off because I had a random expression on my face. But the kids all look so cute!)

I love this picture. This is me, Holly, and Jan, on Holly's baptism day in November 2006. It was such a touching thing to have our first niece baptized--I couldn't hold back the tears. I was so proud of her!

And here she is with cousin Emma. Holly has always been so good with the younger kids. She is going to be such a great babysitter in a few years!

Once again, holding another baby, this time cousin Matthew. I love the look on her face. She is getting so old. Where did the time go?!

This was last year with cousins Logan and Ethan when Holly had just turned 10 years old.

This was in January of this year--she looks so old and so cute in her glasses. And her hair is getting so dark. It's so fun to see her growing up into a young woman!

And finally, this picture was from July of this year, with cousins Briana and Ethan.

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I'm so grateful for Holly. I don't get to see her as often as I would like, but I think of her often. She is doing so well in school, and each time I see her, she more mature and grown up--and yet still has her sweet personality. I'm so excited for her to be growing up. Next year she will be in Young Women's, and before I know it she will be grown up and going to college. But I know that she will always be my sweet little girl. Happy Birthday, Holly!

Happy Birthday Brina (1 day early)

It's time for another blog post--one day early this time (at least by the time everyone sees it). Sabrina's birthday is on Wednesday, October 14, but I am going out of town tomorrow and won't be back until Sunday night, so I decided I'd better do her blog post early. At least it's not midnight--in fact, it's only about 9:20 as I'm typing this, so I'm doing much better than usual!

Each time I do one of these blogs posts, I just love it--it is so fun to look back at pictures of my little babies and see how much they have grown. What a blessing to have so many little ones. So, here is my tribute to Sabrina!

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I got to be there in the hospital when Sabrina was born. Actually I went there around 2:00 and didn't get home until 2:00 in the morning, so I was there for 12 hours. But it is always so fun to be there!

Some funny things about Sabrina's birthday--first of all, she almost wasn't born on Otober 14, because they had decided to send Janelle home, and I'd actually headed home when Mike called and told me they'd decided to let her stay (thank goodness)! Then, wonder of wonders, when she was born, she wasn't whisked right off to the NICU like the other girls. Mike came out 10 minutes after we left the room and told us to come in because she'd been born. He was so unused to having the baby in the room, that he gave her to me to hold before Janelle had held her (I rectified that immediately when I realized it). She was so darling, and it was so fun to get to have her there in the room and to get to hold her.

Here is a picture with me and the proud daddy right after she was born.

And I had to put one more picture in--we were just so amazed at how white blonde her hair was. Here are Mike and Janelle checking it out. One other funny thing about her birthday, is that she was actually named Savannah on her birthday. In fact, in my journal for that day, I have written, "Savannah Janelle was born today." It wasn't until the next day that they decided that Savannah just wasn't right, and that her name was really Sabrina. Oh, and she did end up having to go into NICU after all, which was a bummer. But thankfully she was only in for a few days.

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Now I've waxed long in talking about her birthday--that's what happens when I write a post at a normal hour of the night and am not dead tired. Now for the picture progression...


Here she is at eight months old, just learning to crawl. Still just a light dusting of white blonde hair!




I love this one--this is at her 1st birthday party, and I just can't get over her beautiful blue eyes above all of the brown cake. So darling!

Here she is at Thanksgiving with Aunt Jan, me and Emma, who is four months older than her.


This is from the same day, but I had to put it in, because she looks so cute with Grandma.


This was on the 4th of July when she was almost two years old. She was so sick that night, poor little thing! But I love how she's finally starting to get some hair.

This is with her family on Halloween of 2007. She looks like such a little elf in this one!

And here she is withe me at Christmas time in 2007 when she had recently turned two.

I love this one in March of last year. I just can't get over the beautiful blue eyes--and doesn't she look beautiful in pink?

I've put this picture on before, but I just love it--here is Brina with her two sisters, and cousins Jenni and Brianna. So darling!

And here she is on Christmas Eve last year, being an angel with her sister Lizzie.

I love this picture, from January of this year. Look how long her hair is getting--still so white blonde. I also love her red cheeks.

Here she is with big sister Lizzie again. I love how they are posing....

I think this one is so cute, at cousin Ethan's baptism in April. Once again, she looks beautiful in pink, and I love her hair in pigtails. However, the pigtails weren't to last long...

As you can see from this picture, she found some scissors one day and chopped it all off. Silly girl! But at least she still looks darling with short hair. She's having so much fun with daddy tickling her in this picture.

And finally, here she is with cousin Truman a few weeks ago. What a cute girl!

I'm so grateful for my little pixie elf Sabrina. She is so such a joy! Happy (early) Birthday to my sweet Brina Beth!