Cozy at the Care Center

Serving for fun

We made Christmas cards and hand delivered them to residents and friends. It was great. Some of the residents even joined us. It was fabulous fun. We are making plans to Easter Carol now.

Frisbie Construction Sweatshirts

We all got Frisbie Construction Sweatshirts this year for Christmas. It was really fun. We have our Family Name and advertising for Dad! Very cool. It was hard to get them back off of them though. They tried to wear them for days.

Campaigning For Mitt!

e have been putting up signs, passing out fliers and making phone calls. We have learned a lot about the voting process and will be attending the caucus en masse and so the kids get to see the whole process from start to finish. It should be really cool. We have already learned A LOT!

From Here To Eternity

Like all good stories, ours never ends. We met through a righteous desire to magnify a calling. Our first date, two hours in we knew we would be married and that our lives would never be the same. It's true!!! If you always put your marriage first and it doesn't hurt to have a healthy sense of humor, you can withstand and flourish. You have to have goals and working towards them. I have never had so many trials in my life, but never have a felt so much in the hollow of God's hand. If you really want to test your marriage, try remodeling an entire house top to bottom with 9 kids. By this act alone, I believe we have secured our place in the eternities as we are both still standing to tell the tale...; )

Christmas Town

Christmas Town

This started as a tradition to build our new family. We love the creativity it affords. We love seeing everyone's ideas every year as they pore over their work and plan for days or sometimes even months in advance. Since our work is construction related, it is fun to see how the kids build working doors and windows out of graham crackers. Every year it is different, and better. How sweet it is to nibble on the fruits of your efforts as well.

We Can't Be On Time

We were running on SCHEDULE, we closed our loan and showed up at home to pick up our kids. Grab a diaper bag and head out the door. As I am picking up my coat, I hear my kids scream, " There is a car flipped upside down in our yard. Somebody is hurt, their car is upside down! I yell back, "Call 911. Call 911. Now." I ran outside forgetting my coat. The guy climbs out his trunk as his doors are pinned shut. He is ok. Worried about insurance, but ok. It took several hours to clear everything and everyone but we made a new friend named Todd and put him at ease for what could have been a disastrous affair. We were grateful to have been home to help and to warm him up with Hot Chocolate and snacks and to help the wrecker get it flipped. We did make it to one of our Christmases eventually and had a great day but the highlight was serving another one of God's children. What great blessings we can find

Our New Tradition

As you see in the picture, we have a cradle in front our tree. We shredded multi-colored construction paper and we store it in a can. Every Sunday, we draw names and focus on one person to do nice things for. Every time we do something nice, we get to add a piece of straw to the cradle. Our point is to make a soft bed for baby Jesus by Christmas Morning. Every kind deed we do, we get to add a straw. The general consensus about our home has been that it has been really uplifting and helped us to really feel the spirit and give us a better insight into what we do and noting what we can do better. We have felt closer as a family and more love. We got the idea from the book, The Last Straw. See why we love Christmas?

Creativity is Vast in this family!

Can you believe how successful this Christmas has been thus far? We decided on a little experiment this year. We decided we didn't like all the commercialism this year and so in June we decided we wouldn't spend $$ this Christmas. We opted instead to "feel and experience" Christmas for the year. This was the challenge, You can only spend money that you had too to complete a project. We had a wonderful time being secretive and finding time to fulfill our projects. We have seen songs written that bespeaks a child's heart. Pictures drawn that speaks volumes of a child's creativity and heart and genuine love for her siblings. Poetry that stops ones thoughts and focuses your thoughts on how special people are to you. Things made of wood and fabric and crafts that are so adorable, all you can do is grin like a fool. I could go on and on and on but I digress... I am so proud of our family and the sacrifices they have made this year and the unselfish projects they have devoted with their whole hearts too. Even rocks and a leaf in a glass relish jar that is representative of the big and little things in our lives, making room for all, magnifying your callings, hope floating, the beauty of our Father's World that he allows us through His grace to inhabit and have the freedom to do as we please, but not the ability to choose the consequences. I am so grateful for our family traditions and the love that permeates our home as we develop and rise to the great potential that lies within each of us. Oh, how my children bring me to weep tears of joy and gratitude for the divine nature they are developing. In the grand scheme of things they are accomplishing a great and marvelous work.

Last Family Trip

This is from our last trip to Nauvoo. We had a wonderful time and met up with LOTS of friends and family. We were blessed to find loads of Family History!

Mosiah 4:15 -16 Family Laws

15 But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.

16 And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.