Scriptures and Snow-Covered Mountains

While I am not a fan of public speaking and I am no master teacher, I love teaching Sunday School to the 16 and 17 year olds in my ward/congregation (I co-teach with a friend who inspires me, hi Debbie!). The youth are incredible, and I feel blessed to be able to teach and discuss spiritual topics that are so close to my heart. Today in class, after we watched this awesome video on my laptop, we talked about how fortunate we are to have the scriptures at our fingertips, in paper print and online, and how studying them helps us learn about our Heavenly Father and how it brings us closer to Him. At the beginning of class I asked them to write on the board things they know about Heavenly Father...who He is, what He does, His characteristics, His purpose...and I loved seeing what they shared (above). They also searched the Topical Guide for scriptures that held those truths and shared them with each other...those kids are awesome. I displayed and read a few quotes from past prophets and apostles about our Father in Heaven that touched my deeply...and my favorite is this one:

"We once knew well our Elder Brother and His and our Father in Heaven. We rejoiced at the prospects of earth life that could make it possible for us to have a fulness of joy. ... And now we're here - our memories are veiled - and we're showing God and ourselves what we can do.  And nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us."

--President Ezra Taft Benson, 'Jesus Christ--Gifts and Expectations'

God is good. I'm so grateful that I know He is my Heavenly Father, and that He loves me no matter what. If I look, I can see His hand in my life, every day. Even in small things like a lovely Sunday with blue skies and the view of snow-covered mountains from my backyard. :)

PS - I adore your giggles in the tub

It's dark in the video, because I didn't have the light on and there was only the evening sunlight coming in the bathroom window...but oh your sweet and hilarious giggles are clear as day and I love it! Thanks for humoring me with my ridiculous noises and faces...I'll do whatever it takes to hear your laughter sweet Ava. :) And when your brother decides to wake up from his late nap, he'll hop in with you and you'll have a giggle-fest together. I have no doubt about it.

Dear Ava,

You're in my arms right now (writing this on my phone), my favorite feeding time...when it's just us in the quiet night. Usually it's dark out, but with the street lights illuminating the fresh blanket of white snow, a bright glow is coming through your bedroom window. I can feel your breath on my skin, your head is nestled in the bend of my right elbow, and with my left hand, I'm holding your cute bum. Your legs are all cozy in your white and yellow striped footy pajamas, and they're dangling off my lap. When did you ever get so big?? Slow down a bit, pretty please? Yet, you're still quite petite. You weighed in at the 28th percentile for your age, as of today. More solid foods is our goal. :) After weighing you and getting your measurements at your wellness checkup today, I loved talking with your pediatrician about how you're developing and becoming more of an individual every day. 

At almost 10 months old..."Da-da-da" comes from your sweet lips often, you're cruising along furniture, crawling (in your own army/scoot/drag/sit-to-rest/crawl kind of way), you get anxious if your Dad or I aren't in sight (anxious is an understatement, we need to work on this, for both our sakes), you're not a fan of baby food and always want whatever's on our plates, you're a mama's-milkaholic, you think your brother is hilarious, but he doesn't think it's hilarious when you pull his hair, and you just started to make this adorable expression where you get all bright-eyed, raise your eyebrows, open your mouth while pursing your lips and say, "Oh! Oooh!" I think you learned it from your little friend Bailee, and we love it! Oh, and you're a night owl like me...another thing we need to work on. ;) Ava you bring such a sweetness to our family. I can't imagine life without you in it. Thank you for letting me see things through your eyes...everything's new and thrilling. The light blizzard that just hit us was too tempting, so while your sweet brother was napping, I stepped just out the front door with you and loved watching your eyes as you watched the snowflakes hit the ground...the bright white was mesmerizing to you, and we both got the giggles before coming back inside to snuggle and get warm.

And hey sweetheart, I'll end this little letter with a some wise words from the lovely Audrey Hepburn..."For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone." Remember that. And remember I love you. Always.

Love,
Mom

PS - Here you are on the scale at the doctors earlier today...goodness I love that perfect little body of yours. It takes all my self control not to just eat you up.

Sledding

It's been a winter wonderland here since Christmas. Icicles line every roof in sight and the ground and trees are covered in sparkly snow, so much that some days it feels like we live in a snow globe. :) But because we were sick over the holiday, we weren't able to get out and enjoy it. New Years came around and we were all feeling better just in time to get out and do some sledding with my parents and sister who were in town. It was so fun! Even though she was all snow-suited-up, Ava was a peach and slept in her carseat the whole time. And Brooks, he loved the snow but not the sledding, after one run he was done. But he did love watching us sled, and every time we reached the bottom he'd tell us to, "Go, go! Agaaain!" So we did. :) The hill was tiny, but I still couldn't help but scream all the way down.  Thank you Kira for letting us borrow a couple sleds! Our freezing buns were thanking us for that soft pad on the long one. ;) And to warm us up, we all enjoyed some hot chocolate we picked up from Maverick (my favorite).

As the sun began to set Adam and "Gram-mom" taught Brooks to blow the powdery snow from his gloves and he thought it was pretty awesome, love that boy. :) 

It was a good day.

"Gram-mom" and "Gram-pa"

My parents and sister Celeste came for a quick visit before taking her back up to BYU-Idaho. Brooks was beyond giddy to spend some time with "Gram-mom", "Gram-pa", and "Se-yest".  It was a couple wonderful days filled with card games, trains, snuggles and hugs, delicious breakfasts at home and at our favorite Sill's Cafe, a dinner and sweet visit at my darling Grandma Smith's home, sledding, and we opened our Christmas present from my parents' (a tent and Jetboil, we can't wait to go camping this spring!)...and with all of that in two days they even helped around the house with fixing doors and doing dishes. They're the best. We miss them so much!  And it boggles my mind to think the next time we see them Ava could be walking. Thank goodness for Skype and Facetime to make the distance between Utah and Washington a little shorter. We love you Mom & Dad!

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{ In the snow }

{ In my arms }

I've seen a few blogs out there start this series...a portrait of their littles once a week, every week in 2013. I love it and I'm definitely hopping on the bandwagon, a day late. ;) Excited to see all 104 photos compiled at the end...oh how I adore those two kiddos of mine.

No matter how long it's been...

You know those friends that you don't get to see nearly as often as you'd like...as in, years pass between hugs? But no matter how long it's been it only takes a few minutes of talking that you're cheeks hurt from laughing so hard (that's for you Shay;) and it feels like you're back in middle school all over again, talking about cute boys and sharing Lip Smackers...except now you're talking about your cute husbands and sharing red lipstick. haha!  Well, that's what it was like last week. I loved kicking off the new year going out to lunch with old friends...two of my best friends, Makinzie and Shalyn. Goodness I love those two! And it was pretty awesome watching our three little ones together (missing Brooks who spent the afternoon with Daddy) who were born just weeks apart. Ava was one lucky lady spending the day with cute Brody and Lincoln. ;)

Love and miss you ladies already! xo

PS - Remember this Kinz and Shay?? General Conference weekend, April 2007...good times. :)