President Hinckley

We were sad to find out that the prophet, President Hinckley, passed away on Sunday, the 27th. But at the same time I couldn't help but be happy for him to be back with his wife that he loved and missed so much. One thing I was very impressed to hear on the news last night was that the high school kids texted each other to tell each other to wear their Sunday best to school on Monday in memory of the prophet. What teenagers do that for anyone else? That's a testimony of everyone's love and support of this wonderful man. He was an example of love and compassion, work and service, faith and obedience to the Lord and His commandments. He knew when to have a fun sense of humor, and when to humbly reprove. He was so sensitive and loving, never belittling, and helped us want to be better than we ever thought we could be. He touched millions, and will be missed by us all. Can you imagine his homecoming up in heaven? I almost wish I was there to see it!

The first presidency: Pres. Monson, Pres. Eyring, and Pres. Hinckley

Pres. and Sis. Hinckley in the Days of '47 parade

Pres. Hinckley at his 90th birthday celebration in 2000.

"We thank thee, O God, for a prophet,
to guide us in these latter days.
We thank thee for sending the gospel,
to lighten our minds with its rays.
We thank thee for every blessing
bestowed by thy bounteous hand.
We feel it a pleasure to serve thee,
and love to obey thy command."

Kid Quiz

I got these questions from Valynn's blog. I liked her kids' responses so much, I had to ask the same things to my girls, and here are their answers:

1.What is your favorite color?
Kortney: "Pink, purple, yellow, gold, and silver."
Taylor: "Blue and black and green" (Kortney helped her on the last one, as if she didn't have enough favorites)

2. What is your favorite song?
K: "I Am A Child of God", and "Picture a Christmas"
T: "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus"

3. What is your favorite TV show?
K: "Whatever's on TV" (yeah, because we only get 2 channels)
T: "The Dora one" (what's TV?)

4. What's your favorite movie?
K: "Ponies" (We rented a My Little Pony movie the other day)
T: "Brother Bear" (meaning "Little Bear")

5. How tall are you?
K: she walked up and stood against the back of the couch, and looked behind herself, then back at me with a questioning look.
T: she looked down at her feet , then said, "I'm this little, Mommy."

6. How much do you weigh?
K: "Umm... 35 pounds? I think so."
T: "Uh, 40 pounds!"

7. Who do you want to be when you grow up?
K: "a cowgirl"
T: "a cowboy!"

8. What is your favorite thing to do?
K: "Ride on Grandma's horses"
T: "Ride on horsies"

9.What is your favorite food?
K: "Chicken and fries"
T: "Chicken! Um, no. Life."

10. Who do you want to marry when you grow up?
K: "I don't know" (in a grumpy voice)
T: "Daddy!" (Kortney said, "Taylor! Mommy already married Daddy. You can't marry the same person somebody else married.") So she tried again, "Dalton?"

The Lord's Hand in My Life:
I'm blessed to see the world through a child's eye, and remember that the most important things are the simple, everyday things that are right in front of me.

Rexburg Idaho Temple Openhouse

Well, we finally got to take our girls to the open house of the new Rexburg temple last night. It was beautiful, and it was a wonderful experience. I hope anyone who wants to, can make it there to see it by the end of the month. First of all, we dropped Emmrie off at Neil's aunt and uncle's house, who live about a mile from the new temple, and they loved her, and she had a great time there, so it worked out so nice for us. She would've been a handful walking through the temple. But we did take Kortney and Taylor, and they were SO excited to go! They gave each of us our own pamphlet about the temple once we walked into the church building before the tour, and Kortney wouldn't let hers go. They took us in groups of about 30 people and showed us a video first, about why we have temples. In that room, the guide for our group told us that more than 1,500 people had shown up that night without a ticket (yeah, four of those were us...), so it was very busy. But they didn't even ask who had a ticket and who didn't (in case any of you were wondering, since you may not have a ticket, no one asks if you have one). And then they took us from the church building where we started, up the hill through a heated tent-tunnel, all the way to the temple where they put booties over our shoes and led us through the tour. Kortney held her pamphlet open like a map, and as she pointed to the photos of each room, she would proudly announce, "We're going to this room next!" It was so fun to see her so into it. She didn't want to miss a thing. And we couldn't keep Taylor contained. She had no idea how to wait in line as we walked through. She just kept slipping past all the people in front of us to get to the next room. She didn't care where we were at all. She definitely felt right at home there. Thankfully, everyone just smiled at her and said, "how cute." When we got to the sealing room where eternal marriages are performed, they let us sit down for a while, and then look through the mirrors. I held Kortney, and Neil held Taylor so they could look through the mirrors' reflections that go on forever. They thought that was pretty cool. Neil told the girls that that's the kind of room we wanted them to get married in, so they could be married for eternity, and that he and mom, grandma and grandpa, and everyone that loved them would be there with them the day they get married. It was a very special moment with them, especially with Kortney, who was just glued to everything she saw and heard. As we walked through the temple and saw the beautiful rooms, and the detail in every painting, in every cut of wood, in the hand-sewn carpet, in the beautiful glass of the windows, I couldn't help but understand that the Lord will have only the best for His house, and no detail is too small or insignificant. If this building is the closest to heaven on earth, it deserves the very finest. And its beauty only mirrors the joy you feel inside, performing the work He has asked us to do so we can be united as families forever. How can we not know how much He loves us? I'm so glad that we got the chance to go, and to be able to share it with our girls. I hope they grow to love the temple as much as I do, and live so that they will be able to enter it for themselves one day.

Christmas, New Year's, playing catch-up

Well, I guess since I have no camera right now, and I have a roll of film that has been at the store for the past week ready for me to pick up that I keep forgetting to pick up, I haven't had much of a desire to post anything. It's so much better with photos. But really, it's because nothing too exciting has been happening, or I think I'm busy, or I can't get anything done when my girls are awake. Pick one.
Christmas was good. Santa came to our house on Saturday, the 22nd, then we went to Neil's parent's house so we could spend Christmas there. It was so much fun to see how excited our girls got as they opened their presents. Poor girls don't think they get enough toys throughout the year. Does anyone else know kids like that?...
All of Neil's siblings were in town for New Years, so we went back the next week to celebrate the new year with them. And it was awesome! This was the second year of Game Show night. And it was bigger and better than last year- probably because everyone was there for it, and some of the games included our kids. Neil's mom and dad came up with the funnest games. We played a candy-stealing game with the kids, like a white elephant game, and then a paper airplane game with them, to win money (yeah, Emmrie won $20). The kids were supposed to go to bed, but they didn't, and I think all of mine were awake when we rang in the new year and popped little firecracker things, and threw confetti. We played the Price is Right, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Deal or No Deal, and Let's Make a Deal. Then all of us married kids played the Newlywed Game, which Neil and I practiced in the car on the way there, asking each other any kind of question we though they would ask, like, "What's your favorite color?" which I told him was blue. So, we get to the game, and they ask Neil what my favorite color was. I was so excited they asked a question we had thought about! So when the women came back into the room, I answered "blue", and he looked at me and, in true Newlywed Game style, said, "No it's not! I thought it was purple!" I blurted out, "You asked me this on the way here! I told you it was blue!" Yeah, just like the show. They even had more interesting questions, like what was Neil's least-favorite chore, and what was Neil's favorite feature of mine, and what was my bra size. I have to admit, we did pretty darn good, but we came in second to his sister Rhonda and her husband Jon. We still won lots of fun stuff, ate lots of good food, and had tons of laughs with family. It was a good time.