Reminder

From D. Todd Christofferson "Moral Discipline," Ensign, Nov. 2009

"Each must be persuaded that service and sacrifice for the well-being and happiness of others are far superior to making one's own comfort and possessions the highest priority."

H5

I love that Hadley has gone from H3 to H4 and continues on with H5.



It was with grace that she turned H5.



Breakfast in bed (crepes).




Cupcakes for Preschool.



Bowling and Costa Vida for our family party.





Her request for a cake?

Costco cake with a rose.



And what did she want for her birthday?

"Some straight jeans like Jadey's"

Welcome the New Year

We welcomed in 2010 by staying up late and making lots of noise.

After not too many hours of sleep, we packed up and headed for the mountains.

We met our good friend Chad and two of his boys there, along with their Alaskan Huskies.

Chad races with dogs.

He has two sleds and his 8 year old son knows how to run one of them.

Talk about an opportunity.

A couple days before Reed and my Dad went up and made tracks with the snowmobille.

The dogs were great.

They had so much energy and ran and ran around the track.

All of us got at least one ride.

The weather was perfect.

We sat our fold up chairs out in the snow.

The men built a fire on a big pad of wood.

Hot dogs were roasted and roasted.

So were some marshmallows.

There was hot chocolate to sip and water to drink.

Once the dogs were done running we pulled out the snowmobille and four wheelers.

Sleds were hooked up to the motorized vehicles and kids jumped on.

We even assisted in getting a lost bloodhound back to its owner.

It was a wonderful way to welcome in a new year.

Welcome Layla

My littlest sister and her husband just had their first little baby.

A little girl.

They are such good parents.

My sister in law took pictures. 

They are so cute.

Christmas with a toddler

We had our fabulous tree hunt.

The weather was great and we hiked around while my dad took the little ones on rides in the four wheeler and trailer.

The tree is up.

The decorations are up.

Sam is in love with all balls.

So all glass balls are hanging high.

He also loves the manger scenes.

He has free reign.

It is so fun to see where they are and how they are set up (the 4 year old and 7 year old help with this).

Today I looked over to see him under the tree with an ornament from Reed's youth.  A plastic house with a snowman next to it.  He was knocking on the door.

Man I love him!

Walks

Photo via Kelly the magnificent (see side link).
I know long time....we'll skip the excuses.

Nearly every morning Sam and I go on a walk.

Throughout the nearly 2 miles of the same trail each time, he points out the same things:

"woof woof's" (dogs)

Balls: pumpkins, on the tops of fences, on the steeples of churches

We have our rituals of smelling the roses at that one house where they still smell good even though they are dying, picking up a walnut that has fallen from the walnut tree, collecting acorns, him pushing the button to cross the street, a stem of grapes to eat on the way home from the branch hanging over the fence (of course those are all gone now).

I don't want to forget these moments.  His little chubby finger pointing at the pumpkins "uh, uh".  Even now with his mittens on I can see it pointing.  I am soaking it in.

We're busy...

We're busy...

There is walking being learned

Climbing being mastered

Eating by oneself is being further skilled

Removal of baby quails from window wells (6 to date)

Daily check of window wells for baby quails

There is jr life guarding to be done

Soccer tournaments have been attended and cheered at

Weeds have been pulled and pulled again

There are friends to help move

New callings vying for attention

And friends to play with

Before summer ends.