Our Prophet

I got this from my friend Katie and I tried to forward it but the pictures wouldn't forward so I thought I would post this on my blog....

THOUGHT YOU MIGHT LIKE THIS...

Our Prophet

By Scot Facer Proctor




President Hinckley always uses his cane, just not much for walking. Accra, Ghana.





See what I mean. He was told to carry a cane and that's what he does - he carries it.

Elder Russell M. Nelson is at far right. Accra, Ghana.




Not all of us have such a fancy pointing stick as President Hinckley. Kirtland Temple.





We marveled at the contrast of Joseph Smith's visit to the White House to meet with President Van Buren and President Hinckley's visit to the White House to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given aUnited States citizen.

The White House, Washington, D.C.

President Hinckley said that "Sister Hinckley would have loved this event."

The White House, Washington, D.C.

You just can't help breaking into a smile when you are around Gordon B. Hinckley.

Kirtland Temple .



President Hinckley is patient with all the photographers who are constantly taking his picture. He did say to us one time, in a quiet tone , that "if all the cameras in the world were thrown into the ocean, there would be a great flood." Kirtland Temple.




Who can resist President Gordon B. Hinckley's warmth?

Kirtland Temple .



President and Sister Hinckley were just the trademark of happiness in Ghana..
No one could keep their eyes off of them. Their warmth was infectious.
Their kind waves of the hand always made everyone feel loved.

Accra , Ghana



These two are love birds, no less. Kirtland, Ohio.




I'll never forget when President Hinckley invited his precious wife to the stand in Moscow and introduced her to the 2,000 present as his "Babushka.''

It brought the house down - they loved it. Moscow, Russia.



When we first published it, one woman wrote to us and said,

"If people don't believe Mormons are Christians, just have them look at this picture of Sister Marjorie Hinckley." I so agree.

Nauvoo , Illinois .

How blessed we are to live during the administration and ministry of President Gordon B. Hinckley.

Nauvoo , Illinois .

You were generals in the War in Heaven and one day when you are in the spirit world, you will be enthralled by those you are associated with. You will ask someone in which time period they lived and you might hear, "I was with Moses when he parted the Red Sea," or "I helped built the pyramids'" or "I fought with Captain Moroni." And as you are standing there in amazement, someone will turn to you and ask you which of the prophets' time did you live in? And when you say "Gordon B. Hinkley" a hush will fall over every hall and corridor in Heaven, and all in attendance will bow at your presence. You were held back six thousand years because you were the most talented, most obedient, most courageous, and most righteous. Elder Boyd K. Packer

I just wanted to add that I am so thankful for Heavenly Father's Plan and that we have a prophet to lead us and guide us. We have blessed to have had such a loving, genuine, funny, insightful prophet. I was thinking today about how different our church would be without a prophet to guide us and receive revelation from Heavenly Father. We are truly blessed.

good movies

Shane and I have seen 3 movies lately, all of which were so good! We 1st saw National Treasure 2 and loved it. We loved the 1st one and I think this one is even better. I love the history you learn from this movie. I also loved that there is no bad language, no scenes where you say "I loved the movie only if it didn't have this....". None of that. All around a great movie!

2nd we saw Juno. We didn't know anything about this movie except my friend Lisa said she and Aaron loved it. I trust her opinion on movies so we went and loved it! Such a great message about adoption in that movie although I do have to say the "adoptive father" was a real loser. He just couldn't seem to want to grow up and take on new responsibility. We both loved the music from that movie-hello I-tunes!

3rd we saw August Rush. I have been wanting to see that since it came out in November, but haven't gotten around to it. Can I just say this may be my new favorite movie???? LOVED IT! I am a big Keri Russell fan anyway (loved Felicity) but she was so great! The kid that plays her son did amazing and has the cutest dimples ever. Jonathan Rhys Meyers was awesome, and not a bad looking either. I have one of his songs from the movie on my playlist and I am finding myself listening to it over and over again. He has a great voice to boot! We went to this movie with our friends Jacy/Curtis, and Susan/Sean. I think everyone loved it but Curtis and Jacy were both teary at the end-so cute! It is definitely a movie I want to buy.

Last but not least I saw PS I love you with Kim, Sandee, Kara, and Rachel on a last minute late night show while Kim was here from Iowa for her grandpa's funeral. This movie was good, but I have a love/hate relationship with it. It was a good show, but the subject matter was so hard to take. (hello-it's about her husband that dies-who wants to even think about going through that). I was seriously crying throughout the show. I turned to everyone I was with and said "this is worse than The Notebook". I seriously couldn't keep from crying. Now-just so you don't think it's sad all the way through there are some really funny parts and in the end you go away feeling good. More than anything this movie made me appreciate my husband more and want to cherish our time together. I have an awesome husband. I am blessed.

New year...new you

I love the New Year!!! I makes me want to set and achieve all sorts of goals for myself and our family. One goal that we are working towards this year is ....baby#3! We are in the process of getting our adoption papers turned in and getting approved, so if you know someone who is pregnant and looking to place the baby for adoption...let me know!!!

Goal #2-Read the Book of Mormon together as a family. We had an awesome lesson yesterday to start the new year with a new course of study. I am so excited to be studying the Book of Mormon this year. I found a cute website (at Shane's suggestion) that has a really great reading chart. http://www.laceyblodgett.com/bookOfMormonReadingChart.pdf
We printed one off for the family, Shane, Peyton and me. We put the family copy on our fridge to remind us to read and also show us where we've been. We also printed this great quote by Marion G. Romney about reading the Book of Mormon and hung it next to our reading chart.
“ I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity-the pure love of Christ- will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness.”
President Marion G. Romney
Conf. Report April 1980
What a great promise!!! Why would you not want those blessings to be with your family? Can you tell we are excited to read the Book of Mormon together?

Goal #3- Work-out 4-5 times a week and get in shape! This is a hard one for me. Once I get to the gym I don't mind working out, it's getting there. I have been doing pretty good-some new I-tunes totally help. I also got a new Eddie Bauer water bottle so I am not adding to the landfills, and I got 2 cute new workout tops. Love new workout clothes!!

Goal #4- Go back to school. I am happy to report that I have been accepted to SLCC and I plan to apply to their nursing program as soon as I am able to. I think I only have 2 pre-requisite classes to take and then I can apply. Once you get accepted to their program it is usually about a 2-3 year wait before you actually start the program. So I am a good 3-4 years off, but I want to get the ball rolling. I am very excited about this prospect as I knew that at some point when the kids are all in school that I want to work very part-time, but I am not willing to work for peanuts! I want a career that I will have the ability to make some decent money. Back in my Snow College days I was pre-nursing and that idea never left me, but a bit of a detour. 14 years later and my AS from Snow College is starting to pay off-ahh good times! I am a bit nervous about starting school again, will I be able to understand the classes? will I be able to keep up? Thankfully I am starting slow-one class at a time, and in this day and age I will try to do as much on-line as possible.

So that's about it for me-what are you new year's resolutions??? Let's make 2008 a great year to remember!!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

It's snowing tonight and we are loving the Christmas feel around our house! We finally got all the shopping done, and the presents are all wrapped. We get to spend Christmas with Shane's family this year, and we can't wait for the party! Seriously, Christmas with his family is so much fun- it's fun with my fam as well, however we switch every other year since they don't live close to each other. We just all hang out at Shane's parents house and eat, play games (bring on the Fear Factor, Adi) talk to each other and just enjoy being with one another. Shane and I learned a new game from our friends Lisa and Aaron called Peruado. It's a dice game that involves a lot of bluffing. It's actually really fun and we can't wait to teach Shane's family. We usually always play dominoes which is another family favorite.

We have had a lot of fun with our kids this year and Peyton is so excited for Christmas. He wrote and list to Santa and left it by his shoes for Santa to pick up and leave him a treat. This is a fun tradition he learned about in school. He was so excited the next morning when Santa left him 3 dum-dum suckers in his shoes. He told us that Santa would for sure get him everything on his list. We told him to choose his 3 favorite things for Christmas. He couldn't quite narrow it down to 3 so he came up with "back-up". Shane asked what back-up was and Peyton explained they are the "back-up" gifts Santa can bring him if he can't find one of the top 3. So clever! Connor just wants 3 "McQueen's" from Cars and a Hippo Hungry. Seriously that kid cracks me up! I don't know where he decided he needed 3 Lightning McQueen Cars, but he's pretty set on needed 3 of them.

Another fun tradition we started this year was chocolate making. The girls in my family came over to my house the other night and we dipped chocolates, made white mint chocolate popcorn (so yummy), and made carmels. My Grandma Moses is a great cook and taught us how to make the carmels. (note-make sure you have a big enough pot to boil the carmels as it's a mess to clean up if it boils over) She also made most of the centers for the chocolates we dipped. The coconut creme's were so good! We had so much fun-this is definitely a tradition I want to keep. We missed MelAnnie and Holly, but hopefully they can make it next year. Jenni brought her cute friend Angie who we have started to refer as the 4th sister. She is so sweet and it was fun to have her join us. Jenni and she used to live across the hall from each other in Louisville. Ang and her family are back in Utah so it's been fun to get to know her better. A funny thing-I found out she knows my really good friend Lisa. So crazy! I love getting new connections with people. Speaking of connections if you are from Alta, link to Kim's blog on my side bar, she has a really cute post about blogging and finding old friends through blogging. If you haven't left me a comment, stop in and say hi! It's so great to connect with old friends. Don't you love getting Christmas Cards at this time of year? I love seeing what old and new friends have been up to and their cute families. Merry Christmas to everyone!

My Favorite Things

So I missed Oprah's favorite things this year so I thought I would share mine:

1-Pureology Volumizing or Pureology Hydrating shampoo and conditioner

2-Bath and Body Works lip balm (mint kind)

3-Bath and Body Works Cherry Blossom lotion, body wash, etc, etc.

4-NY&Co. jewelry (got the cutest silver oval link necklace)

5-BKE Jeans

6- My IPOD

7-Maroon 5 (love "I won't go home without you")

8-Truflex shoes

9-Sammies flatbread sandwiches from Quiznos (Alpine chicken is so yummy!)

10-Cheddar Broccoli soup from quizno's (a cup along with a sammie is just the right portion)

11- Diet Coke with 2 Ibuprophen-cures most headaches

12-mint brownines from Peterson's

13-My fake Burberry wallet (love it-can't find another one like it and I need a new one...whaaaaa!)

14-Kiwi aerosol hairspray (I know it reminds you of Aquanet, but this is some good stuff)

15-Big Sexy Hair smooth and seal

16-OPI glitter toenail polish

17-Orbit gum-wintermint flavor

18-Dancing with the Stars (so sad that the season is over)

19-Cybex machine at the gym

20-Arrowhead flip top water

21-clean sheets

22-Dooney and Bourke zebra print purse (this is a want!!!)

23-Bare Escentuals lip gloss in celebrity

24-The yummy plate of goodies that Shane brings home for Christmas from Shauna every year-I can't wait!

25-The new sweatsuits from Express (I would love one in velour or cotton)

Ok-so this sounds more like a wish list than a favorite things as several items listed I do not own, but I would love to. Shane- in case you read this remember to add: I-HOME!!

kids say the darndest things

So Peyton came home from school, and like always I gave him an after school snack. So about a 1/2 hr. later he was chewing on his sleeve which I told him to stop doing. He then said to me "I'm trying not to, but I'm hungry". What? Seriously.
I tell ya-kids say the funniest things.

the the most busiest time of the year

Busiest??? Is that really a word? I'll have to check that one out. We have been busy at our house as I'm sure everyone else is. We had a fun Thanksgiving this year. We went to my parents house and everyone was there except Jenni, Josh, Abs and Parker. We missed you guys! As tradition, we all went around the table to say one thing we were thankful for. Shane went before me and said he was thankful for me and our family-so cute. Of course I was pretty choked up listening to everyone and feeling particularly grateful as we just got a letter from Connor's birth grandparents earlier in the month. In the letter she told us that Connor's birth mom had gotten married in the temple in August. That was such an answer to our prayers. We haven't had any contact since Connor was 6 months old so you can see how excited we where to hear such great news. Since we got that letter I have been overwhelmed by the sacrifice our sweet birth mom's made for our family. I look up to them with so much admiration for the faith they had to place Peyton and Connor with us. Now that I am a Mom I honestly don't know how they did it. They are amazingly strong and faithful women who we are so lucky to have in our lives. Anyway all these thoughts have been going through my head and I expressed my gratitude to them as the thing I was grateful for-of course I was crying. So then it came Connor's turn to say what he was thankful for-he said " I am thankful for wipes". The whole table started cracking up. It was so funny. Well my little buddy since you aren't potty trained, I'm thankful for wipes to. It's the simple things really.

The day after Thanksgiving I made a run to Target at 5:30 am. I ended up getting everything I was after, however poor Jeff didn't. Hollie and Jeff met me at Target and they were after the $199 LCD TV for their bedroom. Jeff is not the type to shove and push or make a fool of himself and run after merchandise. He's so nice and polite! By the time we made it back to electronics they were gone. I'm pretty sure the store only had like 20 of them since they were only on a small end cap. Poor Jeff. He said he was never waking up that early for a sale again. I felt really bad he didn't get one, and I even asked a guy hoarding 3 of them if he really was going to buy all 3. Yes- yes he was. Maybe Hollie will go with me again next year and Jeff can stay home with their new baby!! Happy Thanksgiving Jeff!