prayers are answered

Well, we've been looking for more land, and it has come down to the day to make a decision of whether we will sell our house and get land (5.25 acres in Payson) or stay here and refinance. We all wanted to move to that land, and we've been praying about it and haven't felt like we've gotten an answer either way. Well, we had to decide tonight, so we said a prayer that we would know for sure what we should do since we HAD to make a decision tonight (refinance rules are changing April 1). Right after that Todd opened the scriptures to this verse:
D&C 48: 1 It is necessary that ye should remain for the present time in your places of abode, as it shall be suitable to your circumstances
Later it says this: 4 It must needs be necessary that ye save all the money that ye can, and that ye obtain all that ye can in righteousness, that in time ye may be enabled to purchase land for an inheritance

So as excited as I was to move to that 5.25 acres in Payson, it looks like we should stay here and save our money and maybe we could buy land later.

The scripture we just happen to be memorizing right now is 3 Nephi 27: 27-29
28And now I ago unto the Father. And verily I say unto you, whatsoever things ye shall ask the Father in my name shall be given unto you.
29Therefore, ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened


The power of prayer!

Precious

Todd and Katherine just got home from their first daddy-daughter dance rehearsal! Katherine was so so excited!! They showed me their dance and it's SO cute! When I read the lyrics to the song they're dancing to I got teary eyed:

She spins and she sways to whatever song plays
without a care in the world
and I'm sittin here wearin the weight of the world on my shoulders
she's pulling at me saying "Dad I need you"
there's a ball at the castle and I've been invited
And I need to practice my dancin'
Oh please, oh Daddy please

So I dance with Cinderella while she is here in my arms
Cuz I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella, I don't wanna miss even one song
Cuz all of too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone.

She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress,
She says "Dad the prom is just one week away and I need to practice my dancin
Oh please daddy please"


So I will dance with Cinderella, while she is here in my arms
Cuz I know something the prince never knew
I will dance with Cinderella, I don't even want to miss even one song
Cuz all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone. She will be gone

She came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowin and tellin us all they had planned
She said Dad the wedding's still 6 months away
I need to practice my dancing. Oh please Daddy please

So I will dance with Cindereall while she is here in my arms
Cuz I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella, I don't even want to miss even one song
Cuz all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone.

-steven curtis chapman "Cinderella"

Abbie's first step!

Abbie took her first step last night!! She's been standing on her own for a while now. She's 10 months old. She has to keep up with the older kids! She can do patty cake and she'll imitate some sounds. If I yell "Todd!" up the stairs, she'll yell "'odd!" She's a very happy, easy going baby. At the mall the other day, a ton of people told me she was the cutest, happiest baby they'd ever seen. She smiles at everybody and when she smiles she scrunches up her nose and she has big blue eyes that look right at you--SO cute!!

We're still looking at houses with land. There's two possibilities left, both 5 and a half acres in Payson/Benjamin and we'd build a house. I really hope it works out! We'll probably find out this week if we just stay here and refinance or move and start a farm (slowly, of course).

Right now Katherine is watching Nutcracker Ballet in her tutu (but no shirt). She also likes to get ballet books at the library and we spent some time this morning looking at ballet books. Abbie is standing up in her high chair (she will NOT sit down in a high chair. If I strap her in, she wiggles and whines and cries) eating strawberries. The boys are outside checking for eggs. Nathan said he got another egg, which means he has a dozen now to sell. He's going to buy fertilized eggs so we can hatch them in our incubator. We started 7 eggs in our incubator, but when we went to Bryce Canyon for the weekend, we left them for the neighbor boys to watch, and the temp was down too low. So we cracked them open and only one had a chick growing, but it was really cool to see a chick embryo! It was tiny and you could see the outline and a circle for the brain and the blood vessels. We're going to hatch the new batch of eggs right before Easter and sell the chicks.

Todd is working on his talk for Sunday because he has to speak in another ward for his stake calling. I'm supposed to be cleaning...uggg! I hate cleaning! I'd much rather be outside working in a garden or taking care of animals, even cleaning animal poop than cleaning my house!

P.S. I forgot to mention Katherine's imaginary friend that she named "Emily". When she pretend plays, she plays with her friend Emily. I don't know where she got that name even! It's very cute! Right now she's riding horses with Emily.

Our weekend trip to Bryce Canyon

We were going to go to Bryce Canyon (in southern Utah) for President's Day weekend, because they had a lot of fun free activities there, but all the kids had the flu! So we rescheduled for this weekend, which was great because the weather was gorgeous and we still had more than enough activities to do. There was still a lot of snow on the ground, but the temp was probably in the 60's. The pictures never do justice to the beauty of it!

Todd and the boys went on a ranger/naturalist led snowshoe hike. I stayed with the girls (I got to go on the last snowshoe hike). We shared a brownie sundae and read children's books in the gift shop. The boys all came back with sunburned faces!

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Katherine jumping on the hotel bed:

Abbie calling for room service:

Cute pic of the girls looking at each other:

Abbie with her cute scrunched up nose smile, and Katherine holding her hand (which Abbie doesn't like, but Katherine wants to be sweet.)

At Bryce Canyon they have a "light pollution" rule so star gazing is great there. They had an astronomy class and afterward everyone got to look into their big telescope at the moon. Katherine is dancing during the astronomy class:

We ate lots of good food at the hotel restaurant (and spent lots of money! Next time, we'll pack a cooler of food):

The boys enjoying the view:

Looks like Alex fell off:

This past week Abbie has become a blankie-thumb-sucking girl:

We had fun throwing snowballs off the cliffs. Notice the snowball in the upper left hand corner:

Bryce is at a really high elevation (9,000 highest) so the snow was really deep at some places. Notice Katherine and I are wearing sandals! The weather was nice, though.

We also did a lot of swimming in the hotel's indoor pool, but I didn't get any pictures. We had a great trip and we all want to go back in a few months! We're going to get a toddler carrier and go on some hikes, and do some horseback riding, and other stuff that wasn't open during the winter season.

your opinion

We're paring down on extracurriculars and I'm trying to think of the things that I want the kids to know by the time they are 18. Of course the academics and the gospel, but other than that, I'm thinking of this so far:


-how to build something ( at least a dog house or chicken coop, how to use tools)

-how to take care of an animal

-how to cook

-how to do computer programming to make a website

-learn a second language

-how to start a business and earn money (like Nathan's chicken egg business)

-learn to play an instrument and read music

-do volunteer work

-how to manage their money

-how to eat well

-how to exercise (and to do it in an enjoyable way)

-how to manage house cleaning

-how to sew

-have one thing they stick with and work hard at, that can be part of their identity and self confidence (Alex-piano, Nathan- violin? art? pottery?, Katherine- dance, Abbie- ??) We're trying a lot of things this year to try and find the thing they excel in and enjoy that they'll focus on.


Any suggestions on things to add or take away? I'm learning they don't have to learn everything, and that they don't have to learn it right now. Maybe I'll make a plan on when and how I'll teach them. I'm not going to make them do every sport, and I wanted them to learn ASL and Spanish and...etc etc, but this is my basics list.
Comment or email me at snuggles2901@yahoo.com

Alex's first piano performance!

Today was Alex's FIRST piano performance! He played in primary. He played "If I Listen With My Heart"- both hands and memorized! He was really nervous but he did it anyway-I'm so proud of him. I couldn't find his church pants anywhere this morning, so I had to go to the store and I got him a suit and he looks SO handsome and grown up in his suit. He definitely has a talent and love for music. I took a video of his performance but somehow it didn't work:(.

pictures of the kids, dog and chickens

Abbie can push the shopping cart by herself:

The boys on a frog at the Salt Lake Aquarium:

 Katherine on a frog (she has to do everything her brothers do):

 Manzo's dad being bad chewing on something. He got caught here:

 Manzo with his dog mommy:

 One day we went up Payson canyon and explored. It was such a beautiful day!:

 She was eating snow:

 The little orange dot is Nathan (and Alex) climbing the big hill:

The chicken coop. Notice there are chickens in the chicken wire and some escaped:

 These are the Barred Rock chickens:

 The red chickens are the Rhode Island Red:

 Manzo with human mommy. Notice he's trying to eat me:

 Crazies:

 The cute fur ball:

 He's so little!

 I haven't taken enough pictures of Abbie so I took a lot:

 This is the cutest smile she gives me whenever she sees me. All I have to do is call her name and when she sees me she smiles like this!:

 The unpotty trained in the house:

 Making friends:

 Only one little bottom tooth (adorable!)

 Heart shaped pizzas with heart shaped pepperonis for Val. Day:

 Katherine went on a date with Todd to BYU's Cinderella ballet. Here they are eating ice cream:

 I curled her hair for their date:

 Here she is anxiously waiting for it to start. She sat mesmerized for the whole 2 hour production!!