July 25th, 2001 - My Sweet Boy

Just a quick one to show how sweet Mitchell is.  This is not uncommon for him.  Blue was one of Keith's favorites and now is one of Mitchell's favorites.  He's such a sweet spirit that he is likely to tuck his stuffties in for a nap quite often... usually when HE is the one that's sleepy!

07-05-11  See, here he was doing this again a few weeks earlier.

July 16th - Lagoon

4Life, where Ben works (or worked at the time), has a summer party every year, and they tend to prefer doing it at Lagoon.  It's the only time we go because it's so expensive and NOT so much fun for me and Ben.  We don't much care for roller coasters or pretty much any of the rides.  But the kids like the kiddie rides!

Keith going down the water slide.

Mitchell loved the water but ONLY the water slide!  He didn't much care for just being in the pool.

Kiersten was too small to do anything but she liked sitting in the water with me!

Keith and Mitchell - I think those are the same size shirts.

Kiersten with Daddy

Keith eating a big ol' chicken burger!

Kiersten passed out from the water!

Keith gave up on the burger and just stabbed the chicken!

Didn't she have a cute swimsuit?  While actually in the sun she had a swim shirt though.

On to the rides!

This was their first, Mitchell and Keith rode with their cousin, Melanie, who is in the front.

Kiersten is like me and enjoys watching other people having a good time!

The boys loved this ride, though it's totally lame!  They just got in the car that drove on a track by itself and that was it.

Aren't they cute holding hands going to get in line again?!

They loved that lame ride so much that they did it twice!

Planes that go up and down in a circle over water...

Helicopters that went up and down in a circle...  (I'm detecting a theme/pattern here)

This was one of two ways Kiersten rode around the park...
Have I ever told you how much I love my ring sling?  www.poppysnaps.com YOU ROCK!

...this was the other way.  Nice double stroller and a sleeping baby!

Needless to say, the kids were ALL asleep in the car by the time we left the park's parking lot!!

4th of July

Yes, I know.  It's November and I'm blogging about July.  I hadn't emptied my camera onto my computer until yesterday, so I've got a lot to catch up on.  SORRY!

Because the 4th was a Monday, we did fireworks twice.  Once on Saturday the 2nd (lots of people did this) and then again on the 4th.  In Utah, we do them on the 24th also for Pioneer Day!!

So, on the 2nd, we joined up with our next door neighbors.

Mitchell with his glow stick.  They eventually made these into necklaces.

Kiersten being beautiful!!

Keith with his glow sticks already made into a necklace and bracelet.

 Then here's the 4th of July.  This time, we got more into it.  We bought a HUGE thing of fireworks.  I heard that the big ones that are cool in the air are pretty expensive for each one, yet we saw LOTS of them going on BOTH NIGHTS!  I don't know how people afford that!  We had fun with our street fireworks.

Kiersten - 6 months old in the Bumbo we borrowed from a neighbor.  LOVED IT!  If you don't have one for your baby, I highly recommend getting one!

This was the closest to a picture of the 3 of them that I could get.  Aren't they all just Red, White & Cute?!

This is what Keith thought of the fireworks!

Some of ours.

We did a LOT of them!

Keith LOVED the sparklers!

Testimony

MY CONVERSION

or, what I like to call

HOW I CAME TO KNOW THE TRUTH

Growing up, it's not that we weren't religious, or I should say, it's not that we didn't have religion.  I can say that we believed in God, but not that we *knew* God.  We were a military family, and between moves and after retirement, we lived with my mom's sister in Missouri.  The only times we attended church (that I was old enough to remember anyway) were when we lived with my aunt.  Then, we attended the "family church."  I call it the "family church" because my family had helped build and were always members of the small country church.

Despite church attendance not being a regular, constant thing in my life, I remember praying as young as 1st or 2nd grade.  Anytime I felt sad, scared, or in need of help, I would pray for help or comfort.  Sometimes, I would even pray to give my thanks.

We became a civilian family in time for me to begin 7th grade.  That was when we began going to church on a regular basis.  During Sunday School, we would each take a different translation of the Bible (New International Version, King James Version, New Revised Standard, etc) and would look up passages that we would then compare and contrast to see if we could decide the meaning that the passage was meant to convey as compared to what the lesson manual presented.

In another instance, I asked the pastor what the Bible said about drinking alcohol.  She gave me a list of passages to read and study so I could make up my own mind.  Half suggested that alcohol consumption was acceptable, half suggested that it was not.

As I was in college, religion was confusing to me.  If you died without having heard of Jesus Christ, could you still be saved?  Did saying the words "I accept Jesus Christ in my heart/as my personal Savior" qualify you for heaven regardless of your behavior or future feelings on the subject?  Is there even a god?  If God is so loving, why has He left us without a prophet to guide us even though times are supposed to be increasingly evil as we approach the Second Coming?  If there is a god, why doesn't he love me enough to make my life easier?

With all my questions and doubts, I still continued to pray.  When I got home to an empty apartment after work late at night, I would pray for safety.  At bedtime, as I pondered the struggles and difficulties in my life, I would pray for help and guidance. I would imagine a large chair with a large man sitting in it, kind of like the Lincoln Memorial's statue of Abraham Lincoln.  Except, instead of a 28 foot tall statue of Lincoln, in the chair sat Heavenly Father.  And on his lap, I would sit curled up, tiny as can be in comparison.  He would hold me, and I would cry, and He would tell me that things would be better soon.  I longed for a relationship with this being called God.  But I still questioned His very existence, so more than anything else, I prayed and prayed and prayed for proof of his existence.  I prayed that He would appear to me physically, or whatever He could do to show me that He was there, without a doubt.  I had been praying for that ever since I was little, and it continued as I was in college.

Finally, one night as I cried and prayed myself to sleep, I asked God again to prove himself to me.  Only this time, instead of making some physical appearance, I begged for happiness.  "Please God, if you're really there, just let me wake up happy tomorrow.  I'll never doubt you again, just please let me be happy," I cried.

It's not that my life was horrible.  Things had just not been going quite right and I was sinking out of my normal cheerful mood into a bit of a depression.  I was a part of an Air Force ROTC detachment at a college that I didn't attend for my regular classes.  I had to travel 2 hours each way twice a week every week for my ROTC class.  That school started a week later than my own.  During that week, the first week of January, I chose to go on a Base Visit, so I emailed all of my professors to let them know I'd miss that first week of class and to please give me my work.  Everyone was fine with this, except one professor who never did forgive me for choosing ROTC over her class.  Once I did start school, someone had mistakenly assigned us to wear short sleeved blues as our Uniform of the Day despite the frigid weather.  With a passenger in my car, my alternator went out leaving us stranded in the snow, ice, and freezing temps out in the middle of nowhere.  (A blessing I didn't realize at the time: I had a blanket in the back of my car, and our cell phones worked so we could call someone to come get us.)   In February, I left classes early one day because I had a sore throat that I looked at in the mirror to find a big gray patch!  I went home and slept, tried to go to work but was promptly sent home where I slept more.  In the morning, I couldn't even stand up in the shower long enough to clean up before going to my appointment at the campus clinic.  I had to call my cousin to come drive me there.  Apparently, I nearly died!  I had a bacterial infection that was taking me slowly.  So I missed more school, which did not improve my standings with that already disgruntled professor.  Then in March, things came together where I was no longer qualified to continue in the ROTC program.  My dreams of being an Air Force officer were shattered a second time.  The first was because costs demanded that I transfer away from a college with the program to one without.  Now my dream was gone again.

My boyfriend had been stationed in Korea for a year, and was now headed to Germany for another 3-4 years.  My cousin had gotten married and moved out, leaving me with a couple roommates that I rarely spoke to.  My classes weren't going well.  Everything seemed to be headed downhill.  This is when I prayed for happiness.

I woke up the next morning happy.  Not just content, but joyful.  There was no real reason for my joyous mood, I just was.  I quickly prayed again that April morning, thanking God for my happiness, expressing that I would keep my promise to never doubt His existence again.

Things still weren't great, but I wasn't as depressed anymore.  In late April, as I was working at Subway, two young men in suits came in, instead of the guys in military uniform I was used to seeing.  We talked as they ordered their sandwiches, the last in the line after lunch.  "Have you ever heard of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints," they asked.  I proceeded to tell them the two misguided things I had heard about "Mormons" to which they quickly dismissed.  Then, at the register, I began hearing things that I had always thought had to be true if God really was as loving as He was said to be.  There was a prophet on the earth today, and his name was Gordon B. Hinkley.  I think my whole world changed as Elder Boehme made that one statement.  I think I even responded with something like, "I KNEW IT!!!"

As I learned more and more, I knew I wanted to join this church.  I had told my mom that I was talking to the missionaries, and she had said, "If it makes you feel closer to God to hug a tree, then hug a tree!"  When I told her I wanted to join the church, she responded with, "I told you to hug a tree, not chain yourself to it!"  None of my friends and family were very excited about my decision, and they all tried to talk me out of it.  But knowing there was a prophet, a prophet that I just knew had to exist if God really was loving and kind, I knew I had found truth.

Over the next few months, I quit smoking.  I was embarrassed about it already, so I don't know if the missionaries even knew I was a smoker.  I also had one last party and then quit drinking, another something I don't think the missionaries were aware of.  I studied everything I could find, which probably got in the way of studying for my finals, but eternal salvation is more important anyway, right?!  I read the good stuff, the bad stuff, the ugly stuff.  I prayed.  I studied more.  I prayed more.  Then, after attending another person's baptism one night, I decided I'd had enough time researching.  It was time to make a decision.  I prayed to know for sure if I had found a church of truth, to know if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was the one church on earth with a fullness of gospel truths.  After praying, I opened The Book of Mormon to a random page.  I had the distinct impression that this book and all I had read within it had been good, and that nothing that taught these goodnesses could be evil as some others had told me it was.  I called the missionaries, probably later in the night than I should have.  I told them that I wanted to be baptized.  I picked a date and plans were made.

On July 16th, 2003 I was baptized a member of the LDS Church.  My family came to support me, despite their objections.  My mom was pleased that I took out all piercings because of it, and had quit smoking.  Every day since then, I have been so thankful for my membership in the Church.  It is filled with some of the best people I've ever met.  It teaches morals and values unmatched by any other church or institution I've attended.  And above all else, I have gained a relationship with both my Heavenly Father and with my dearest Savior, Jesus Christ.  As I look at pictures, statues, and other images of Joseph Smith, I am overcome with love and thankfulness that he was worthy to restore the gospel's fullness to the earth.  Images of Christ fill me with love and a familiarity that I hadn't previously had.  Both President Hinkley and after his death, President Monson give me those same feelings of love, happiness, and trust.  I know in my heart that they would never lead us astray, as they love us and want us to reach our potential.  I know, without a doubt, that these men were/are called of God as prophets.  I know that our Heavenly Father leads and directs this church through His prophets.  No matter how awful things may sometimes seem, I feel like my Father in Heaven is there with me, holds my hand, and gives me guidance and direction when I need it.  I know He is the source of my happiness.  I know that He loves me.  I know it with everything inside of me.  I know it because I have felt it.  He has answered my prayers.

He will answer your prayers, too.  I encourage you to talk to your Heavenly Father, get to know Him, and allow yourself to feel the love He has for you.  It has made my whole world better.  I feel blessed to have the opportunity to now teach my three beautiful children about these wonderful truths.  I hope they will always know Him and of His love for each of them.

I leave these thoughts and my testimony with you, in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Also, thanks to Scott Boehme, Jake Neeley, and Jake Frandsen for being willing and worthy to teach me!!

Missour Trip - Days 5-8

LEISURE TIME

After Neil & Amy's wedding on Saturday, we stayed over with Neil's sister, my other cousin, Sarah.  They've got a beautiful new house and we basically had an entire floor to ourselves.  We were slackers and were so exhausted from the day/night before that we didn't wake up on time to go to church.  I would have loved to have gone because that's the ward I was in when I was first baptized 8 years ago.  There were many people I would have loved to see.  Alas, I couldn't drag myself up.  And if I had, the boys would have been on their worst behavior considering how tired they were.  That's not the impression I would have wanted to leave my friends with.  So we slowly got showered and dressed and headed back up to my mom's.  It had been a shorter drive to get to Sarah's late at night, and everyone else was at a hotel all night, so it just made sense to stay there with them. 

On our way back up to Mom's, we stopped to take THIS picture:

Isn't that fun?  Being a Ginger who has had Gingerbread items gifted to me for years, I have come to love them!  And wouldn't you just want to travel down this road to see if you'd find a happy little house made of sweets?  Anyway, I'm silly and I liked it, so we stopped to take a picture.

That Sunday night, my mom went out to mow "the back 40" (it's really 7 acres and a lot to mow, even on a riding mower) and the boys ended up riding in the little trailer behind her with blankets.  They enjoyed it so much that, even when Mitt started falling asleep, they didn't want to go back inside!  It was adorable!

That night, as we lay in bed, there was one heck of a storm!  You've all enjoyed a nice lightening storm every now and again, right?  Yeah, well, this was NUTS!  There were some tornado watches and warnings across the northern part of the state where we were, and the lightening was constant.  The wind was blowing at 70+ mph according to the weather reports, which sounded like it may as well have been a tornado trying to blow the house away.  And the lightening, really... it was so constant that the sky stayed lit an interesting blue color more often than it went to the dark black of the night sky.  It went on for hours.  In the morning, we found large branches broken off of trees and blown far away from where they came from.  It looked like the edges of a tornado had ripped through.  It was absolutely crazy.  There were even shingles from the roof blown off the house.

 As we were surveying the damage, Mitchell had come into our room and cuddled into the bed with his borrowed stuffed animal... a bear that he called Monkey.  Isn't he cute?

Monday night was crazy, too!  I had about a 5 hour nosebleed, very similar to the one my mom had a month or so before.  Hers was so bad that they had to cauterize it and pack it tightly for several days to make it stop bleeding.  I had Ben give me a blessing, and it slowed and finally stopped after that.  Guess it's time to start taking my Floradix (iron supplement) again.  I was glad that it hand ended on time for us to leave Tuesday morning!

 After saying goodbye to the kittens and cats....

 

more goodbye's to Grandma after having a large and delicious breakfast...

 it was time to hit the road with some very sleepy boys.

 

One more goodbye to Grandma...

 and a big goodbye to the tiny town of Mooresville.  Yes, it really is as small as I've told you it was.

 Old Chicago in Nebraska for lunch...

 and a dead bird on the front of the car later...
and we finally were in Wyoming for the night at a hotel.  We spent a little time eating dinner and talking/playing with Ben's family before quickly getting to sleep.  We had left early, early, early since the last time we made this trip was the day we had the big flat blown out tire.  We wanted to be sure we had plenty of time to get there and play with family.

 The next day, Wednesday, and we were ON THE ROAD AGAIN!  I absolutely LOVE having the DVD players in the car, and especially the headset so that we didn't have to listen to their movies over and over again.  Instead, Ben and I listened to "Ender's Game." 

 

And because I think it's adorable, here is my van full of sleepers!  All 3 of them!  I adore them so much!

Well Grandma, Ashley, Elizabeth, Aunt Mary, Neil, Amy, Sarah & Family, Philip, Sarah, and little Lilly...  It's been fun!!  Can't wait to see everyone again!  I'm not excited about the drive, but it's not so bad that I wouldn't encourage you guys to drive on out sometime!!  We loved seeing you and the boys begged for you days and days later.  It was a great visit, a great REASON to visit, and made some wonderful memories for us and the kids.  Thanks for making it great!!