These, Our Little Ones

That is the title of the article you have got to go read right now. I mean it. Come back later after you've read it. The computer will still be here.

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=e77141dc0d186110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=true

I know this is going to sound trite but the prophet's words in this article have reached out and shaken me. To be painfully honest, I was on my knees last night asking to be reminded of what I'm doing here....as a mother. To be reminded of what I should/could be doing. To be reminded of the importance of my title. Then I read the Ensign. I LOVE it when things like this happen. I LOVE it when I see heavenly Father's hand so blatantly because usually I feel like...hello?

My favorite quote from the article comes from E.T. Sullivan: "When God wants a great work done in the world or a great wrong righted, he goes about it in a very unusual way. He doesn’t stir up his earthquakes or send forth his thunderbolts. Instead, he has a helpless baby born, perhaps in a simple home and of some obscure mother. And then God puts the idea into the mother’s heart, and she puts it into the baby’s mind. And then God waits. The greatest forces in the world are not the earthquakes and the thunderbolts. The greatest forces in the world are babies."

Wow.

No one can tell me that there isn't a God in heaven and that He doesn't care about us, collectively, and me, individually. No one can tell me that there are no prophets on the Earth today, I know who they are.

Good Find

I just found a great new site! I'm really excited about it. Its called "Sugardoodle.net" I was looking for ideas to use for Sharing time this month and I found so many great ideas for all kinds of activities for all ages and a cooking blog. I just wanted to pass along the info. Check it out! http://www.sugardoodle.net/index.shtml

We're painting....

the living room again. Steve finished drywalling the kitchen window and drywalling the hall so we've moved on to painting. I'm sooooooooo glad we are done with the dust (until Steve works on the other five windows, ugh). Thank you Mae and Clay for all your help yesterday! Here are some pictures of the progress.

It actually looks like a window now, instead of a construction site. Now just imagine the backsplash beneath the cabinets and paint around the window. Anyone have any suggestions of what color we could paint in the kitchen?



Steve prepping the wall behind the entertainment center for paint.

One wall done! It looks really blue. I'm feeling the beach vibe here. We had to get the wall behind the t.v. done before the BYU basketball game started so we could plug the DVR back in. Priorities people!

I am also going to be re-painting those chocolate and green canvases hanging over the couch. Stay tuned for pictures of the completed project.

Corteo

Steve and I went to see Cirque du Soleil's Corteo show last Wednesday night. It was a great show! We are always amazed by their acrobatics and that they come up with something new every time. My favorite acts were the Helium Dance with the Clowness and the dead Clown and Paradise.

She was adorable flying around the tent by the balloons. It must be so fun to do that!

All of the acrobats are incredible and I can only imagine their physical strength but this Paradise act really blew my mind. Underneath them was a trampoline stretching the entire length of the stage! We highly recommend the show.

Thanksgiving Bliss

It came and went too quickly. I was regretting my decision to run in the Turkey trot when my alarm went off at 5:40am.....ouch. But I did it! It was a great run along the shoreline with the cool ocean breeze. I got a new personal record (aka PR) yesterday of 1:03:39 for my 10k time (average 10:04 mile). I am really excited about my time! I was really glad to see Steve, Ethan and Luke and my mom at the finish line. Thanks for cheering me on!

This isn't the most attractive picture but, hey, I was running and its off of Steve's Blackberry.

What's even more fun is that I burned close to 800 calories....show me the food!!! Hahahaha.....The rest of Thanksgiving went by too quickly. We got together and had dinner with my family and even my Grandparents came! It was so good to see them again. The food was all delicious and I ate my little heart out, I think we all did. It was a great Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for.

And today we're back to life as usual. Steve is making a huge mess of my kitchen as he finishes our window by casing it out. It already looks so great I just wish we could avoid the mess....



And I am enjoying some leftover cranberry jello salad after putting Ethan and Luke down for naps. Mmmmmm.....

T minus five days until Turkey Trot 10k

I'm registered! I pick up my bib and timer chip on Wednesday. I'm getting excited to run the Turkey Trot. I'm kind of bummed that no one is doing it with me though. I got some new shoes this weekend and I'm looking forward to breaking them in tomorrow. This will probably count for my long run this week and then next week I bump up to seven miles.....13.1 here I come!

Anyone want to join me for either of these? It would be lots of fun :)

the good

Does anyone recognize this? Mmmm.....its just a a few pieces of coconut heaven. My mom just got back from a two week trip to Brazil and she brought me back some homemade bala de coco - translation, coconut candy. If you like coconut like I like coconut than this is the candy that tops them all. These delectable tidbits are melt-in-your-mouth bliss. Thank you, thank you Mom!! I'm going to have to control myself so that I don't eat them all tomorrow.

I'm also really excited because she brought back really cute children's books for the boys. We're going to have so much fun reading our books in Portuguese!!

the bad

I made Dr. Oz's green drink that Oprah called a cup of "fresh" this morning. Yikes! I thought "fresh" would taste a lot better than it did. Steve and I couldn't stand it. I forced myself to choke 3/4 of this cup down but only after I added some yogurt to it and tried blending it some more. But it turned into an experiment. I took it to my parent's house tonight when we got together for family dinner and told everyone about it. Only the brave tried it....Dad, Mae and Clay. Clay actually said he liked it!!

Sorry Allen

I won't spell your name wrong again. But you really should get on Steve's case that he didn't even notice his brother's name was spelled wrong....that's a little fishy eh?

Short list of junk

1. Decided to train for 10k Turkey trot so I've been running three miles at the track and my times are 2 minutes faster than last year's....so cool! 2. Went for my long run, 5 miles, yesterday and ended up with moderately severe dehydration. I felt dead all day long. Mental note: stock Gatorade at home. Steve really stepped up to the plate and was superdad and superhusband! I want to be like him when I grow up. 3. I'm going to do the OC half marathon too...no more dehydration episodes. I want to beat my 2:37 of last year. 4. Ethan was doing really well with #2 in the potty....until this morning. I guess we're not through the woods yet. 5. Luke and Ethan miss their Grandma Powers who has been in Brasil since last Monday but they had a blast hanging out with Grandpa Powers on Friday night while we went to celebrate Clay's birthday. Still jumpy Clay? :) 6. I think we're all finally adjusting to the time change. 7. We (or I) are still going strong with our use of Deceptively Delicious recipes. Our favorite Deceptively Delicious recipes so far are: 1. Pasta with Bolognese sauce 2. Spaghetti Pie 3. Chicken Nuggets 4. Macaroni and Cheese 5. Brownies 8. We are trying two new ones tonight: Beef stew and Mozzarella sticks....I'm excited!!