International Awarness

Alison has a class that lasts for 6 weeks in International awareness and she asked me to come and do a presentation on Brazil. We prepared a lot of information to share with those six graders. She was really excited to share her heritage and the kids had really good questions. I was also able to share the same information with another class and my boss' daughter is in that class, she was also able to help me and she was also thrilled to have me there.

Alison had a basketball game today and her team won 14 to 10, she did not make a basket but at least she was able to touch the ball a couple of times. She was happy that they won, but she really enjoyed having played this season.

Tyler has also played basketball and he really enjoys it also. Tyler and Eric have been learning how to ice skate in school, and every time they do it is the highlight of their day. Tyler also has the privilege to learn how to cross country ski in school. I am so glad they are going to this new school, because of all the wonderful things they are learning.

Alison The Great

Alison is such a wonderful little missionary. She has been preparing herself to play a special song for Sacrament Meeting.

This last week she came home so excited because she has a very special missionary moment. She was talking to a friend and she was able to testify the importance of going to church and paying Tithing. Her little friend was really excited about the church and Alison invited her to come and see her playing the violin this last Sunday (1/11). She told her about Primary and how wonderful it was to be there. We picked her friend up before church was to start and she loved every minute of it. She was glad she was able to recognize a lot of the kids in Alison's class because they all go to the same school and she new she was among friends.

Alison also wanted me to invite two ladies that work with me. Christine was able to make it and it was awesome to have her there. She loved seeing Alison playing. After Sacrament Meeting, Christine went with me to Primary to listen to the words of the song Alison played - I am a child of God. She was also welcomed in Primary and we sang to her. She thought it was pretty cool.

Alison is a great example to me of just how simple things are. We just invite them to come and share with us the wonderful Spirit of the Lord. I am grateful to have Alison in my life. She makes the sun shine warmer because of her proximity with her Savior.

By the way, she did a FABULOUS job at playing with Sister Hicks the simple and lovely song "I am a child of God". I am grateful for such a wonderful opportunity she had to play with Sister Hicks.

New Years

Well, Happy New years to all. I can not believe it is 2009 already. We started this year with some goals to start working on and others to keep at it.

• We would like to become a more active family. We started snow shoeing and the kids love it. We went again during New Years break to the Highlight Canyon Reservoir. We had to cross a small creek and I seriously thought the kids were going to fall in, than I realize they made it clear and I was the only one left to cross, I really thought I was going to be the one to fall in. It is not deep but I bet it is COLD!!! Troy had the same thought and I could see that all he thought about was, "great now I'll have to go in to rescue my clumsy wife!" Thank goodness, I made it through. We came to a fork on the trail and it started to snow, so we decided to make our way back to the truck. I am glad we chose that too because by the time we got to the truck my face felt like I was attacked by pins and needles. It stung even though we had neck warmers and sunglasses (which became so foggy we couldn't see a thing) and hats. We still had to try to protect our faces with our arms. It was fun but I prefer hiking in sunshine!!
• We have done really well in having FHE, and Family Council weekly and reading our scriptures as a family daily. We will strive to continue that because I have felt the difference in the atmosphere at home.
• We need to improve our Temple attendance and we will start now! We have a Temple trip scheduled for this Saturday and I am thinking about bringing the kids with us since it takes us all day to go back and forth. The kids are so excited about seeing the Billings Temple. We are talking about "Our Eternal Families" in Primary and I think this will be very important for them to know and have a strong testimony about the importance of Temple attendance.

We have other goals also and I won't bore all of you with all the details. But Our Stake President has summarized some of our responsibilities into what they call: "The Seven Simple Things"

1. Personal daily Prayer
2. Personal Scripture Study
3. Daily Family Prayer
4. Family Scripture Study
5. Church Attendance
6. Monthly Temple Attendance
7. Weekly Family Home Evening/Family Council

We have been working one concept at a time to incorporate in our good habits and I can not express my gratitude to know that if we do those simple things we can improve in so many other areas in our lives. We were not doing what we were supposed to be doing and as we started one concept at a time our family has grown closer together and we are able to feel the presence of the Spirit in our home more often. We are able to share with our children our testimony of this Gospel and teach them the importance of a Priesthood holder in the home to lead us and guides us his family and teach the Gospel to his children with love, that is the only way we can grow closer and have an eternal family.

I love my husband and my children and I want to be with them for all eternity.

Christmas highlights

We had a fabulous Christmas. Quiet, relaxing, fun, and long!!!

Troy and I were hoping to sleeping in but to no avail. Eric woke up at 5:30 in the morning and was soon followed by Tyler. We had to finally send the boys upstairs to wake up Alison because she was being good and sleeping in.

We made the dough for chocolate chips cinnamon rolls, opened up Santa's gifts while the dough was rising, than we opened the stockings things after we rolled out and prepared the rolls, than finally the other gifts while the rolls were rising and baking. The kids think we should make it a new tradition and have chocolate chips cinnamon rolls every Christmas.

Some of the highlights of Christmas were:

• Troy went from not having a watch to having 4 of them. One I put in new batteries and gave it to him way before Christmas. I than fixed two others that were broken for quite some time and re gifted to him. We were clever on the wrapping. We made an I Spy jar and put the watches in there. He thought the kids were being creative and giving him their toys until he found the watches. Than he opened one of the gifts from Karen, another watch - A Mickey Mouse Watch. We had quite a bit of fun with that. He put them all on, Alison took a picture but she ended up on erasing the picture by accident.

• Alison got a digital camera and she used it all day long. She took pictures, made little videos, slide shows, changed colors on the pictures, and erased pictures she had taken a few times. She used it so much that she went through two sets of batteries in one day. She also got some really good books and was really excited about them. She also got a real Japonese Kimono. That was absolutely beautiful!!

• Tyler got two books on how to draw comic strips and a sketchbook to keep his comics. He loved it. He got a t-shirt from Japan and he was really excited about it.

• Eric got transformers. To anyone out there that has a child that wants transformers, be prepared to transform them ALL THE TIME!!! I am getting to be a pro on this transforming business. Eric loves playing with them but they are way to complicated to go from truck to action figure and back. What a project!!! He got a summer Japonese kimono. He put it on top of the clothes he already had on, a while later he came to me saying that he was burning up. He had at least 4 layers of clothes on. That was pretty funny.

• I shopped for myself this year and had to act surprised, which the kids had fun with. When I saw something I needed I got it and said "Merry Christmas to myself" Troy had a good laugh. I than wrapped it and guess what I actually forgot what I had gotten for myself. So it did end up on being a surprise. Karen gave me a beautiful neck less.

We had a very enjoyable Christmas break. We went sledding and Troy hit his head hard and had a headache for three days. We went snowshoeing and that was so much fun. We relaxed and played games. I won at Monopoly for the first time in my life... Watch out Tim, maybe I am ready to take you now!!!! Just kidding!

Troy stayed home on Monday after Christmas and I had to go to work. That was a first in the history of our married life, or at least after we started having kids.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and always remember why we celebrate this season. If not for the birth of our Savior we would not have had the Atonement, and we would not be able to return to the presence of our Father in Heaven. That is why that precious baby's birth is celebrated.

Thank you to all of those who made this Christmas possible. Thank you for your thoughts, phone calls, gifts, love and prayers for us. Even through distances we can show our love and appreciation to each other. We hope that all of you are in our prayers, and that we love you dearly.