Happy Happy Birthday Abby Dear

Little Miss Abby has finally turned five and she's happy about it! After saying for the last few months that she was going to be four forever and never going to kindergarten, she finally aged! You know it really made me think about how my childhood was at that age and why she wouldn't want to age. I can't remember that much of my fifth year but I do remember how excited I was to go to kindergarten, remembering the little school bus that would take me home afterwards. I remember Tara and Shauntel (and i think Carla too) from primary and how they told us later in life that as sunbeams (at 4) we would argue over who got to set by Wayne Morch in primary (because he was so cute at that age). We spent so much time at my Grandmas with Gammie and my aunt Debbie, it was definitely the time of our lives, no wonder she wanted to stay 4 forever!
Now, time must go on, but we must help her learn, grow and enjoy it to the fullest. To Abby, being a princess, is as close to perfect as she can be. She loves to dress up, dance and twirl, and act as if she were royalty. She had never had a princess party and so I decided if it was going to happen, this was the year. Jennifer and I made the cake, thanks to Julie for the great cake idea. It was actually quite easy and decorating only took about 1 1/2 hours.
We had lots of friends over and played some awesome super fun games that I found on a few others blogs and Facebook.

Kiss the prince while blindfolded (like pin the tail on the donkey but with lips instead of a tail) We used the beast because he needed to be kissed to turn into a prince, needless to say none of those little girls turned him into a prince.

Princess Aurora's freeze dance, when the music stopped they had to practice freezing

Find Snow White's poisionous apple

Pass Cindarella's shoe around the circle until midnight when it turned into an old dirty tennis shoe

Before any of the games though, we started out with a tea party on my nice china. It was right after school for those friends that are kindergarteners and so I thought they might need a little snack. It was lemonaide or chocolate milk with tea sandwiches and grapes, perfect for a little princess. Then the girls each got to make a crown for themselves, thank goodness for glue dots and my large collection of bling. We also had a fashion show where each princess was presented at court as she made her way down the stairs.

I think the party was a big success and the girls were all so happy to get a feather boa, big flower for their hair, and little satin gloves to complete their princess attire.

White at last!!!

This morning we woke up to snow at last!!! Of coarse John was the most excited for the snow, but our little girls all shared a little bit of the excitement with him. Up until today we have had no snow and I mean zero, zilch, nothing as far as snow goes. John was going to take Hailey skiing over Christmas vacation but there was only 15" of man-made snow at sundance ski resort. Hailey still went skiing with her 4th grade class this week, but there wasn't much to work with (and she didn't know what to do on ski's)

So as soon as John saw the snow he got the girls a hopping around the house preparing to go sledding on the Timp View hill. As you can see there isn't a lot here, but it was something. They wern't the only kids out early trying to have a little sledding fun either, lots of kids from the neighborhood were there to join them. Hailey even tried to "surf" down the hill on the sled (she doesn't know it's called snow boarding). Of coarse me and snow don't really mix and so Macey and I stayed home to take some fun pictures in the snow in our yard.

Her favorite thing to do was throw snow up into the air and let it fall back on her head.

She did try to make a snow angel, but I didn't get the picture before it was time to get up and throw some more snow up in the air.What a fun morning, too bad the snow will be melted and gone in a few hours. Lets just pray that the mountains around here can get a little more snow. It looks like Mt Timpanogas had more snow in July than it had this week.

Make it count!!!

Happy New Year everyone! With a new year coming in, many of us tend to create resolutions of what we want to accomplish during this new year. Last year's resolutions, I can honestly say, that I have no clue what they even were. I do remember that our stake president in Kauai, Pres. Gonzalves, made a resolution for every member of the stake to read the Book of Mormon. Well we tried as a family, but didn't quite make it, hopefully together that can be done this year. Hailey and Alyssa are really good at reading in the scriptures and Abby is a great reader also.
It makes me a little sad that I didn't finish my goals from last year, but how many people really do? I guess I'm just normal.

Last year went by so quickly as does every year, things happen, children grow and time seems to just slip by. This year my goal is to Make it Count. I want my children to remember the fun we had together. Abby starts school in a few months and so this is the last time we can spend all this quality time together when I'm her mom, friend, and teacher. I'll still be that later, but not so much in her eyes. Hailey is almost 10 years old, I don't know where her childhood has gone, but it's important to treasure each moment and Alyssa isn't that far behind. Macey is my last baby and well, she's not so much a baby anymore..... You get the picture. This Make it Count isn't just for time with my children though, it's all my time. It's a time to ask myself, am I studying the scriptures in the right frame of mind, reading worthwhile books and watching TV that is worth watching?

Each week I teach primary and so I see children from all over and from all different age groups. As I said before, Hailey is almost 10 and well she's getting a little sassy with an attitude. I see with all these children, and a lot with my own, the lack of respect they show others today. So, my second resolution is to teach my children to love others and respect others as the Savior would.

These two resolutions:
1. Make it Count and
2. Teach my children to love others and respect others as the Savior would
are enough, they entail a lot and will help me become a better person. I'll try to check back in with these and give updates once in a while to show the progress.

Once again Happy New Year and best wishes this year with all you try and wish to achieve!