Yummy Sweets

I was so cold today and my favorite way to warm up is by making chocolate chip cookies. Tenley and Ryder were more than willing and excited to help me! It was a fun (and yummy!) little afternoon activity with them. Then Heidi came over later to visit with the most delicious homemade cinnamon rolls ever. They were so good! I'm glad she brought a whole plate full because I want more than one.

Coloring

Since the holiday is changing and the decorations in our house are changing, the kids are wanting to change their art on the wall as well. Tenley spent a lot of time drawing Christmas pictures and Kade and Tenley both colored the whole time I made dinner. I always love it when they color at the table while I'm in the kitchen cooking dinner. It makes me happy!
Later they helped me finish most of the Christmas decorations and then they wanted to watch a show in my room. We rarely watch the T.V. in mine and Brad's room, but when there is a beautifully decorated tree in there, how can you resist?

Christmas Decor

We made it home today! The drive was long, but it was pretty fun in a new car. The kids did so well and Brad and I listened to a lot of good podcasts so that made it really enjoyable as well.
Right when we got home the kids started begging to put up Christmas decorations. I have them all out now, but there is a lot of work ahead! Maybe we'll get it done tomorrow. The kids got the tree in their room all decorated at least so they were pretty happy about that!

Gratitude

We joined my parents at their church this morning and the Murdocks ended up joining us as well! I love going to church with family. It always keeps my kids entertained!
One of the young women that spoke during the sacrament meeting spoke about gratitude and she shared a perspective that I really loved. She said gratitude comes to us as we come unto Christ. That is such a true statement! It is good to be grateful for things, but things aren't what is truly important in life. Things come and go and don't have any real lasting value. A gratitude for things may bring us happiness, but when those things are gone we risk our gratitude and the happiness from that gratitude leaving with them.
True, lasting happiness and joy can be ours, though, as we come unto Christ. Christ heals our broken hearts, mends our wounds, restores what we may have lost, cleanses us, identifies with us, strengthens our weaknesses, and transforms us into better people. As we come unto Christ and allow Him unto our lives we benefit from these things and the result is pure joy! And with that joy we're able to recognize His hand in our life. We realize that all that we have is because He is willing to bless us. And with that recognition we feel incomprehensible gratitude to Him. It is truly an amazing feeling.. It is that kind of gratitude that has changed me and changed my life.
How grateful I am for my Savior.

BYU Games, Awesome Parents

I haven't talked enough about how awesome my parents are yet this week, so I'm going to some more! Today they watched our kids for us pretty much all day! This morning Brad and I went to another car lot to look at more cars so my parents played with my kids then. And, surprisingly, we actually bought a car! Brad doesn't like spending money so I wasn't expecting us to actually buy one. But we really need a new car so I'm glad it worked out! We now have a car 12 years newer than the old one! It is quite the difference and we love it!
My parents watched our kids again this afternoon and all evening so Brad and I could go on a really fun date down to Provo to see the BYU basketball game and the BYU football game. We met up with the Murdocks and the Bryan Hobsons. It was fun to be with family for the games. I'm pretty sure after I met Brad we never missed going to a basketball, baseball, or football game while we lived in Provo. It was a huge part of our life so it brought back a lot of good memories to do that again with him. I love his passion for sports and I definitely love seeing a game live and in person! Next time we can't forget going to the creamery for some good ice cream!

Days with Grandma and Grandpa

Every Monday when we FaceTime with my parents we talk about our weeks and what we've been up to. I always get to hear fun updates about them and how they were able to be with my brother Jason and his family and hang out and go to lunch, or go to my sister's house for a get together. I really love hearing about it, but it also makes me miss being a part of everyday little things like those. Well, today I actually got to be a part of some of that and I loved it!
In the morning my Dad made us all French toast while Ryder and I cuddled by the fire. Then we all went to look at cars because Brad and I are hoping to get a new car sometime soon. After that we headed to lunch! Jason and Jihye weren't able to join us there which was too bad. But the lunch was delicious! Later Tenley and Kade were able to go to the grocery store with my parents and they really enjoyed that. But the kids favorite part of the day was eating popcorn and watching a Mickey Mouse Christmas movie. It was great.

Thanksgiving

I loved being here in Utah for Thanksgiving! The kids had an easy going morning hanging out with Dan and Grandpa while my mom mom and I (mainly just my mom) made a lot of food for our feast. The kids also played in the snow in their pajamas. They were sad that I hadn't packed their snow-boots and snow-pants, but I'm glad they were willing to go out and play in the snow anyway!
We all got together with the Woodruff side of the family at a church building which ended up working out really well. My kids played in the nursery and the bigger kids played in the gym. It was fun to see a lot of my cousins that I haven't seen in years. And I got to play some volleyball which was a lot of fun but would have been more fun in tennis shoes!
After dinner we drove over to my sister's house to join them for dessert. My niece Lexi made a delicious caramel apple cheesecake. It was so good! I loved hanging out at my sister's and catching up with them. I love my family! Ryder has been saying 'Grandma' all day. I think he's pretty happy to be here too!

Safe Travels, My Parents

We made it all the way to my parents house in Utah today which was quite the crazy drive. It takes 10 hours in the car, but it was extra stressful today because there was a big snow storm in Utah right as it was getting dark. Visibility was low and slush kept getting thrown up on our windshield from the other cars on the freeway. But Brad did a great job driving and we finally made it safely! Phew!
My kids are so excited to be here at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Ryder had fun playing with my mom most of the night. I'm so glad she's so willing to get on the floor and play with my kids. She's the best Grandma!
After I put the kids to bed I went with my Dad to help put Kathy to bed. She's a woman here in my parents ward who has MS and is unable to move from her wheelchair to her bed without help. So every night two men from the ward come over to help put her to bed. They've been doing it for eight years now! There was actually a very inspiring movie made about it called "Lift." It's one thing to see the video and another to actually see it in person. I was very humbled and touched by the kindness and compassion my Dad and the other man there showed. It was a sweet experience I hope I won't soon forget.

Thanksgiving Feasts, Baby Models

Kade had a Thanksgiving feast and program in his class at school today and Tenley and Ryder and I got to join! He and his classmates were dressed up as Indians and pilgrims and they taught us all about Thanksgiving. Then we got to eat a yummy Thanksgiving feast together. They all looked adorable and did a great job!

Latley Ryder has been really good at posing for me and smiling for the camera which makes it fun to take pictures of him. I pulled out some new pj's for him (hand-me-downs from Kade) and he loved them! He looks so cute and snuggly in them as well!

Group Nights

Yesterday as I was talking to the kids about church and what they learned in their different primary classes, they both said they learned about forgiveness. Kade said he learned a fun game that he wanted to share for family night so we decided to collaborate for our family night tonight instead of it just being one persons night. Tenley taught the lesson, Kade was in charge of the game, and I got to choose dinner and the movie. It was a lot of fun.
Tenley gave a great lesson on how forgiving can make us happy. For Kade's game, Brad came up with different situations we encounter from day to day and asked if we'd be angry at that person or if we could forgive. For example, "Kade, you just get home from school and Tenley takes your iPad away so you can't play it. Will you be angry at her, or can you forgive her?" If you were willing to forgive you got to move forward so many spaces. It worked out really well and Ryder definitely enjoyed playing along and copying everything we did.

Texting

Brad recently taught Kade and Tenley how to text message Brad and I from the iPad. Every once in a while Kade likes to text Brad just for fun but today he had an urgent request for him while he was away at a church meeting so he texted him. He had just gotten dressed in his Captain America t-shirt and he wanted to make sure Brad wore his as well. He asked me how to spell 'America' and he did the rest all on his own. It was really cute. I'm amazed, but not surprised, at how much Kade looks up to Brad. He's his best friend.

Science Experiments

Kade missed school yesterday and he was really sad about it because he was missing his first ever science experiment, so I promised him that we'd do a science experiment together today. We decided to make volcanoes. Even though it took all day, the kids really enjoyed helping me with every step. They had a lot of fun painting the volcanoes and their little people and they were a little sad to see the 'lava' mess up their work of art even though it was cool to watch. It was a fun project!