Pass The Torch Tuesday

So I never did get a Pass the Torch Tuesday done last week. Oh, the joys of having a sick child! I mentioned that I was going to try to post a little late for last week. At this point, I am not going to worry about backtracking. So with that this Tuesday I want to honor my little girl Natalie. I took the kids home to my parents house for the weekend. My sister that lives in Jerome, couldn't come over until Saturday afternoon but asked if I would watch her little girl Alice. I agreed. My kids were so excited to spend time with their cousin. Alice was so excited to play with Sam and Conner but spent most of her time playing with Logan and Natalie. On Saturday, my mom pulled out a bin of clothes that she has bought on sale and was going through it to see what she had. She had a little book about a mermaid. The pictures were actually little puzzles. Alice was so excited to play with this book. The only problem with this book was there was only one of them and there were two little girls who really wanted to play with it. Alice had had it for quite a while before Natalie decided she wanted it. My dad who happened to walk through the room at just the right time, noticed a little squabble between Alice and Natalie. He decides to try to reason with Alice. He asks Alice if it would be alright to let Natalie look at the book because she is just a baby and then in a little bit she could have the book back. Natalie now had the book and had gone into the living room and was sitting on a chair looking at the book. Alice pitches the biggest temper tantrum, throwing herself on the floor and crying. Natalie immediately goes over to her and gives her the book and tries to cheer up Alice.

Way to go Natalie. I am so proud of you!

Wordless Wednesday -- A Few Days Late

With my week, I think I missed Wednesday all together. Whenever I talk to my sisters or parents they tell me they don't have any snow. Even last Sunday when we were down in Idaho Falls, they seemed to have significant less than we do. These pictures are proof that I am not exagerating about how much snow we still have. I took these pictures today. The sad thing is, it has still snowed the past few days. I know we need the moisture but couldn't we get it in the form of rain now?!?

We Are Still Alive But Just Barely

My blog seems real lonely and sad. We have had the crud at our house this past week. I have had a sore throat but haven't felt extremely bad. I do not know if that is a good or bad thing. Good because I have been well enough to take care of everyone else that is sick and yet bad because I don't have an excuse to sit down and relax. Conner has been sick for almost a week. Last night he started complaining of a sore throat. So this morning I broke down and took him to the doctor. Wouldn't you know it, his fever broke and he acted more like himself just before we went in. Just a bad cold is what the doctor told us. So no prespcription and the doctor really thinks he is on the downside of this. Then like three hours after getting home, his fever gets worse and he is sick in bed tonight. I feel so bad for him. Bryon is at the store as we speak getting new batteries for our thermometer and more pain reliever. If he isn't better by morning, we will be calling the doctor again! Logan and Natalie are participating in some testing for BYU-Idaho this week and so it seems to have taken every spare minute I have working with them and meeting with college students. So this week has been hairy scary to say the least.

I have failed to post anything this week and I am so sorry! I have a billion things I want to say and add to my blog. Before I leave town tomorrow, I am hoping to post Pass the Torch Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday, and Favorite Things Thursday. They might not be in that order but I will get them posted shortly.

Favorite Things Thursday

Okay this is something that Bryon and I shared last week and I have been dying to post about it. My parents told me a while ago about a movie that was a must see: The Bucket List. It came to the cheap show last week. It is only playing at 9:15 for now and so last Friday night, Bryon and I got a babysitter and went to the late night show. This show is a must see.

Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman star as two terminally ill cancer patients who decide to live their last days to the fullest. Though initially the pair seems to have nothing in common, conversation gradually reveals that both men have a long list of goals they wish to accomplish before they kick the bucket, and an unrealized desire to discover what kind of men they really are. But one can't accomplish such lofty objectives from the confines of a hospital bed, so now, in order to live their lives to the absolute fullest, Edward and Carter will have to make a break for it. These two terminally ill men will do their best to fit a lifetime of experience into their last remaining days while forging an unlikely, but truly remarkable, friendship.

I really thought this movie was going to sappy and a real chick flick. I was quite surprised to find that it had it was as funny as it was sappy. I found the whole movie to be heartwarming and uplifting. So if you haven't yet, I highly recommend watching, The Bucket List.

Wordless Wednesday -- All Grown Up!

8 Things About Miss Natalie

Natalie was "tagged" by her twin Brooklyn. I say twin because I think they share a birthdate (November 13, 2005).

1. Natalie came to our home when she was two and a half months old. She had been released from the hospital to another foster home. When she and her brother came to stay with us, they were only supposed to stay for 30 days. It's funny how things just work out like they are supposed to!

2. How Natalie's name came to be -- I am from a family of all girls. My mom always wanted to name one of us Natalie. I know Jennifer, Lori, and Alyson are a far cry from the name Natalie. I always said that if I ever had a girl, I would name her Natalie in honor of my mom. Natalie's middle name is Ann. We chose it because her Grandma Dorothy's middle name is Ann, her Grandma Roskelley's middle name is Ann. Also, Natalie came to us with the name Annie. So her middle name is after her two grandmas and a reminder of her past.

3. Natalie loves to have her hair done. She will sit still forever for me to do her hair. Just Friday night, I got this hair-brained idea (no punn intended). I decided to put Natalie's hair in all these little braids so her hair would be kinky the next day. It took me over one hour to put all those braids in and she sat still the whole time!

4. She is 100% Girl! Not only does she love having her hair done but she always hast to be dressed. The other day I sat her on the toilet and walked away. I kind of forgot about her. She comes walking out with her pants pulled up. I then realized that I had sat her on the toilet. So I went and grabbed a pull-up and pulled down her pants only to realize she already had a pull-up on. She had gone into her bedroom put on her pull-up and put her pants back on. On top of always being dressed, she always has to wear her "pretties." She got her ears pierced when she was about eighteen months. Ever since then, she will bring me her earring tree every morning so she can have earrings to match her outfit. She also loves having her fingernails painted. She also loves purses and hauls a purse everywhere we go!

5. She LOVES shoes. I think she got this love from her Grandma Roskelley. She always has to have shoes on her feet. She will also bring shoes to anyone that doesn't have shoes on her feet. This fall she went to the toddler lab up on the campus of BYU-Idaho. I had also bought her these really cute brown boots. One day when I went to pick her up from school, they commented about how she really couldn't get around in her brown boots. When she would fall in them, she couldn't get back up. She also couldn't walk in them. She was basically banned from wearing her brown boots to school! One day, Bryon was home and he went to pick her up. The commented about her not wearing her brown boots anymore and they said they hardly recognized Natalie without her brown boots. She currently has seven pair of shoes up in her drawer. (Almost as many as her Grandma Roskelley!) I love it. If I can't find the boys shoes, we always do this mad dash around the house in search of shoes. If Natalie is missing a shoe, we simply pick out a different shoe.

6. She LOVES her doll. She got a doll for Christmas. She hauls this doll all over. She is rarely seen without her doll. She has even tried to take her doll to church and therapy with her. She is always feeding her baby a bottle, giving it loves, and dropping it off for her dad or me to babysit. Just recently she has started sitting the doll in the high chair for it to pretend to eat.

7. She is a blankie girl. She hauls her blanket all over the house and can often be found sitting down holding her blanket and sucking her thumb. She knows she is not allowed to have her blanket unless she is going to bed. So recently she has said cold as an excuse to take it out of her room. She will also point to her doll, meaning she needs it for her doll. Yeah Right!

8. She has the most adorable smile. Everywhere we go, everyone always comments about how she is always smiling. She really is a happy girl (as long as you don't tell her no!).

Natalie tags her cousin Cidney.

Pass the Torch Tuesday

Today is Pass the Torch Tuesday. I have been so excited for this one. Today I am honoring my oldest son, Sam.

Bryon and I are firm believers in not letting our children get up and bare their testimonies until they can do it on their own. Sam turned eight last April. Bryon and I really started encouraging him to bare his testimony in Sacrament Meeting on Fast Sunday around his eighth birthday. We had not been able to convince him. I was beginning to wonder if Bryon and I had done the right thing. Now he is old enough to do it and won't because it is something he hasn't practiced. We have held countless family home evenings on baring your testimony and I have even had his primary teacher encourage him but to no avail. Sunday when we got to church, Sam went in the bench first. After the Sacrament, he started inching his way to the other end of the bench. I could see the determination on his face to get up and bare his testimony but as soon as he had the courage, someone else would get up. He finally made his way up to the front and bore his testimony.

His testimony was so simple but yet so beautiful. He said, "I want to bear my testimony. I know the church is true. I know Joseph Smith was a true prophet. I know Joseph Smith. . ." Then he paused. He paused for what seemed like forever. I wish I could describe the expressions on his face. It was so funny. The guy sitting behind me leaned over and whispered, "He is waiting for revelation." I don't think Sam was waiting on revelation as much as he was trying to come up with the word translated. He never could find the word he was looking for so he finally said, "I know Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

When Sam got back to our bench he could not hold still. He was alsmot "giddy". I kept telling him to sit still. He kept telling me he couldn't. I know that he was feeling the Spirit that we each feel when we have done something good.

As a mom I find it a huge reward when your children are able to feel the Holy Ghost and recognize it as such. I know Sam recognized it as the Holy Ghost because he wrote about it later in his journal.

So today Sam, I want you to know how proud I am of you. I know how hard it was for you to get up and bear your testimony. I am so proud of you!