Saint Louis

Zech has had this entire week off from school.  This only comes around....well let me think....NEVER.  So we decided we were going to take advantage of it and drive to Saint Louis so we could go to the temple.  On the way there, we drove through Springfield so that we could get our military id cards.  Of course no stop in Springfield would be complete without a trip to...

 The Abraham Lincoln tomb.  It is such a beautiful monument. 

 We loved learning little details about Abraham's life. 

 After the monument we proceeded to Saint Louis where we...

 Got to go on a carriage ride tour of down town.  It was so beautiful, there were Christmas lights all over downtown.

Elai loved the horse.  He talked about it all night.  After the tour we were lucky enough to have dinner with an old friend from Pocatello who now lives in Saint Louis.

Note to Everyone: EATING AT DAVE AND TONY'S BURGERS IS A MUST IF YOU ARE IN SAINT LOUIS.  Best burger I have ever had.



A Tree Just for Kids~!~

A friend of mine told me about this great idea of putting a felt tree on the wall for children to redecorate.  The idea is that the little ones will play with the felt tree and leave the real Christmas tree alone.  I thought the idea was wonderful.  Every holiday I try and come up with activities that Elai and Josie can do relating to each holiday.  Well here it is!

Elai loves the tree.  As soon as it was up he started playing with it.  The best part is that it only cost about $3- $4 to make (thanks to Joann's black Friday sale.) 

 I started by cutting out the tree.  I used a piece of felt that measured 3/4 yard and hand sketched a tree.  Yes hand sketched, that is why it looks so horrible.  I have never claimed to be an artist.  There was a template online for ornaments, however I didn't want to waste the time or energy to print it off so I used some ribbon to trace the circle.  I had five different colors of felt squares and traced three circles of each color.

 This is Elai helping.

 Next I cut up the circles and decorated some, Elai had a blast helping with this part.  Next I used bonding tape to stick the felt pieces together. 

 Then it was time to hang the tree.

We are going to have a great time with this tree.  The best part was that it only took about 20 minutes to put together.  The idea for this tree along with ornament templates can be found on this site.

{Faith}

I love Sundays.  All week long I look forward to this day.  

The day I get to rest with my family.

The day I get to be spiritually edified, and that is exactly how I feel today.

What a blessing it is to have the gospel in my life.

Today in Sunday school I learned about faith:

- what faith is

-how to maintain

-how to grow

-how to exercise

As the teacher was giving this lesson, I thought about my own faith.

Lately I have been feeling that my spirituality has been lacking.  

Well NOT ANYMORE!

It's time I take charge of my life.

It's time I execute faith.

It's time I turn my life over to my Heavenly Father and do as he would have me do.

A Plummer?

A business owner?

A Biologist?

How about a doctor like his daddy?

No, Elai is going to be....

 An Artist!

 This boy loves to paint.  I have found that the easiest way to keep the paint contained is to just put him in the bathtub.  He uses the sides of the tub as his canvas. 

Truly Thankful

Today  I ran across a disturbing video of a drug intervention. 

It broke my heart to watch it.

It broke my heart even more to know that I too put my family through that.

It made me think of all the "could have beens."

And it made me thankful.

Thankful for sobriety.

Thankful for the disturbing image that changed my life forever.

Thankful that I have been true to the promises I made myself.

Thankful that I don't have the urge to use or drink.

Thankful that it has now been over seven years since I used drugs.

Thankful that it has been 5 years since I have had a drink. 



My Dishwasher!

Elai has become such a big helper.  He is always wanting to help me do the laundry, wash the dishes and give Josie a bath.  Sometimes I will even catch him pulling a chair over to the sink and turning on the water by himself. 

I often find that when he "helps" I end up cleaning up an even bigger mess but how can I say no to his willingness to help me.  I know his eagerness won't last forever so in the mean time I say bring on the memories.

A Little Dress

From the time I found out Josie was going to be a girl I have wanted to sew some dresses.  However the thought of button holes and elastic scared the life right out of me, and I found myself putting it off.  Well here she is she almost 10 months old and I have finally made her a dress.  And it turned out very cute I must add.

 

 Of course Elai needed to jump in front of the camera as well!

Oh my what am I going to make next? 

Maughan Family

I am lucky to know the Maughan family.  They are the cutest couple with a very handsome little boy.  We met them at church and feel very blessed to have got the opportunity to get to know them.  So when they asked me to take there photos I was overly excited.  Here are a few photos from our session.

I couldn't have asked for better weather, a better place or a better family.  I am thankful that Heavenly Father has blessed me with this new found talent.