Our Big Boy!

I am a little slow at posting... but we celebrated out little guy's first birthday this last week.  I couldn't feel more grateful to be his mamma!  Peter is such a special little boy with such a light.  I feel such a need to protect that light in him and also help nurture it so that he can share it with others as he grows.  Some of the things I absolutely adore about our little Peter and have enjoyed so much about him during this first year are...

• His natural curiosity and desire to share with us all he's observing as he points at all things that catch his eye and "talks" to us about them.
• His very loving personality.  He has on multiple occasions taken out other babies in his pure little desire to hug and "kiss" them.  Something he's constantly doing with Todd and I.  I do need to eventually teach him that proper kissing isn't sucking on someone's face :).  But for now, I think it's the sweetest thing and love his kisses he gives me in between playing.
• His sweet face, beautiful blue eyes, and tiny little body.  I could stare at him all day.  I love to "behold [my] little one."
•  I love watching Peter eat.  I know it's funny but I think it's hilarious and stinkin adorable.  He's very careful at picking up his food with his little pointer finger and thumb and then attempting to get that food in his mouth.  I also love seeing his preferences, like how he bounces up and down when he sees the graham cracker box or a cup of yogurt.  I must say he also inherited my sweet tooth.  Must have been all that ice cream during pregnancy...  oops.
• He has a great love of balls and is developing quite the good throwing arm.  His aim isn't too shabby for a 12 month old either.  This is important in our family.  My husband LOVES basketball which has naturally made me love it as well.  So of course Peter will have a choice in the sports he plays (with only some parental influence...) but he is off to a good start. 
• He makes me want to be better.  Having Peter has helped bring me to my knees more often.  I feel of what a special and precious spirit he has and feel such a responsibility to love and nurture him so that he can reach his full potential.  I know that he was entrusted to me from Heavenly Father and I feel of the importance of my role as his mother.  I am so grateful that Peter is helping me to reach my full potential.
• I also have to mention that I do love having a little buddy to go everywhere with me and that he's a total mamma's boy.  It makes my heart happy knowing he loves me to love him:)

I love being a mother.  I love our little guy so much and I can't believe the first year is over!

Sprint Triathlon

Last week Todd and I did a sprint triathlon and it was SO fun!  It was my first one and I'm a fan of them now. We signed up for it with about 2 weeks of training time so I was a little nervous (especially because we found out when we got there that the actually swimming distance was twice as long as we'd "trained" for... during our 3 swims), but it ended up being just fine.  My husband is the best and stayed with me the entire time even though I know he could have gone much faster.   He was also very entertaining.  We didn't have any music with us for the running portion so we provided our own music.  And those who really know us, know that we're not super into pop culture... so we sang a lot of  Disney songs and the little phrases we could remember from songs like "because I'm happy, clap along if you know...", and "we are the champions my friend..."  It was actually quite motivating.  I'm sure we sounded great singing them at the top of our lungs as we ran too.  Luckily there weren't many people around us.  

Here are some pictures...

We also had an awesome cheer leading section with my sister, parents, and our sweet sleepy baby.  I was seriously SO grateful they were there to cheer us on.

We are definitely going to do one of those races again.  It felt great afterwards, unlike the inability to walk for a few days after a half marathon:).  Next time maybe we'll do one where the swimming portion is in a lake or something.  NOT, that would totally scare me.  Lake sharks could be real...

A Living Prophet on the Earth

Last weekend was general conference, a time where we get to listen to LIVING prophets and apostles. The things they teach are "the will of the Lord,... the mind of the Lord,.. the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation" (Doctrine and Covenants 68:4). We've been given such a gift from our Heavenly Father to have "watchmen" on a tower for us in these latter days to guide and protect us and help lead us safely home.

Last Monday for family home evening, we talked about how to digest all that we are given from General Conference. My sweet husband brought up a great lesson from the Book of Mormon. When the prophet Lehi taught his son Nephi of a vision he'd had from God, Nephi responded, "after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord" (1 Nephi 11:1). Nephi then had an incredible experience were his father's vision was expounded unto him and he gained a personal witness of its truthfulness.

In a similar situation where Nephi wanted to know and understand what his father had taught him he said, "I did cry unto the Lord" (1 Ne 2:16) and the Lord visited him and softened his heart, which prepared him to do the hard things the Lord asked of him.

I love looking at the pattern Nephi gave to seek the Lord in prayer, even to "cry unto the Lord" in order to understand how to apply the words of the prophets to ourselves and to gain a personal testimony of what the prophet teaches. That's really how to gain knowledge of any truth, to study it out in our minds and then ask God if it's true, and the Holy Ghost will always bear witness of truth (Moroni 10: 3-5).

So if anyone happens upon this that hasn't had the opportunity to watch conference, I invite you to do just that and pray to know that what you hear is truly from a prophet of God. Here's a video highlight of what conference is



and here's the link to the October 2014 General Conference. You can watch all of it, or pick the talks that seem most applicable to what you're needing in your life at the moment.  It's worth every minute though! Thanks for reading:)

Did you think to pray?

When we truly pray from the heart, we open our innermost feelings to our Father in Heaven: we tell Him of our challenges, our feelings of inadequacy and weakness; we share our emotions and feelings about decisions that face us or trials and adversity we experience; we freely express our sorrows and joys. Now, God knows our innermost thoughts and feelings even better than we do, but as we learn to share them with Him, we make it possible for His Spirit to enter our souls and teach us more about our own selves and about the nature of God. By making ourselves totally honest, open, and submissive before God, our hearts become more receptive to His counsel and His will.

From a BYU Devotional by Elder Bruce D. Porter. I'm so grateful for this reminder to have more sincere prayers and that our loving Heavenly Father is really listening and will help us with every detail in our lives.

Father's Day

This year Father's Day and Mother's Day have meant more to me than ever before.  I'm not a mom quite yet, but will be soon and I am so excited for it.  I'm so grateful for my own dad, grandpa, and other wonderful examples of fathers in my life.  I am most excited for my husband to be a dad though.  I think it will be wonderful to see him grow into that role.  I'm so glad I got to marry someone that I would be so happy to see my children turn out to be like. I love this little clip about the influence of a father.

One thing I have thought about throughout my life is how the love a parent has for their child is a reflection of a fraction of love our Heavenly Father has for us.  I have felt so much love and trust in my Heavenly Father throughout my life. I know my parents have helped me to feel that way from their own examples.  I'm looking forward to the gift of having that type of love for my own children.  Parenthood is truly divine and teaches us so much of the Divine!

The Epic Pioneer Woman

I love the pioneers! This is an incredible story Elder Holland told Fall of 2010 in a regional conference. For the entire story, you can read this talk given by Elder G. Homer Durham in "The Future History of the Church."

Two hundred and fifty LDS pioneer were called in 1879 to settle San Juan.  The shortest route they found was through Glen Canyon, with a river running 2,000 feet below the red cliffs.  A path was made for the wagons to descend down the "hole" to get down to the river where a raft was built to carry the wagons across the river.  Twenty men and boys with ropes attached to the back of each wagon with chains on the wheels for brakes were required for each wagon to make the descent.

Arabella Smith and her husband Stanford were traveling west with a wagon company and when they had this experience (in the words of Elder Durham)...

Joseph and Arabella Smith's wagon was the last to descend for the day.  Joseph had been helping preceding wagons all that day and had himself been evidently forgotten by the others.  After making the 2,000 foot climb to the top of the cliff, he found Arabella sitting on a quilt, holding the baby, patiently waiting.  His outfit and their two other children in the wagon were hidden behind a huge, mountainous rock. 

Stanford Smith got his load and moved it to the edge. A third horse was hitched to the rear axle. Stanford and Arabella looked down the “Hole.” 

He said, “I am afraid we can’t make it.”

The wife replied, “we must make it.”

He said, “If we only had a few men to hold the wagon back we might make it, Belle.”

Replied his wife, “I’ll do the holding back.”

A quilt was laid on the ground. There she placed the baby between the legs of three-year-old Roy. “Hold little brother til papa comes for you,” she said. Ada, the older girl, was placed in front of them. Behind the wagon Belle Smith grasped the reins of the horse hitched to the rear. Stanford started the team down the “Hole.” The wagon lurched downward. The rear horse and Belle were thrown from their feet. Recovering, she hung back, pulling on the lines with all her strength and courage. A jagged rock cut a cruel gash in her leg from heel to hip. The horse behind the wagon fell to his haunches. The half-dead animal was dragged down most of the way. The gallant woman, clothes torn, with a grievous wound, later said, “I crow-hopped right along!”

On reaching the bottom, Stanford and Arabella heard a faint call from the children. Joseph Stanford Smith climbed to the top to get them. They were safely in place. Carrying the baby, the other children clinging to him and to each other, he led them down the rocky crack. As they approached the river’s edge, they saw five men carrying chains and ropes in the distance. The Smiths had been missed. The men were coming to help. Stanford called out, “Forget it, fellows. … My wife here is all the help a fellow needs.”

I love this story because it depicts the legacy of courage the pioneer women began and reminds me that we need to have that same courage as women in these latter days.  We need to and can be a powerful force for good.

chocolate milk

I have a precious boy at my work that I am basically just supposed to be buds with when he goes out to recess. We've formed a special little friendship playing made-up basketball games everyday. So today, during the school's lunch time I realized I was quite hungry. I just wanted a little snack and I forgot to bring one. I was kind of thinking/talking to Heavenly Father about how I really just wanted a snack and I wished somehow I could get one. THEN, my little recess buddy came up to me and handed me some chocolate milk and just told me he wanted to give it to me because he already had 3 other cartons :) It made me SO happy because 1) what a nice little answer to my silly prayer and 2) I LOVE chocolate milk.

That was one of my happy moments today. I hope I can recognize those chocolate milk moments more throughout my day.