What Matters Most

Sunday, November 8, 2009

What-Matters-Most

What-Matters-Most
Please watch this short You tube clip because I think it says best what my blog is all about. And what I believe life is all about.

Last night, just before bed, I asked Marc if we could have a day with no TV on Sunday. (Unless it was a movie about Jesus or along those lines.) He agreed. What followed was a wonderful day as a family. After church, everyone napped and I was able to contemplate what I could do this month to help serve others around me. Then we had dinner together. After dinner Natalie asked if she could watch a movie and here came the real test, sticking to my goal for the day. I told her if she wanted to watch something we could watch a DVD called Finding Faith in Christ. For those who haven't seen it, it basically shows the life and ministry of the Savior. Throughout the movie I explained things to Natalie that were happening and took some concepts down to her level. I love teaching my children, especially about their Savior and how we can live like Him to get back to Him someday. I love the way their faces light up when they learn something new.Or when they point something out that I think is way beyond their years of understanding. One of the parts of the movie that touched me is when Jesus said, "...become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God." It is through having children of my own that I have realized the power yet simplicity of this message. Children have a bright light in them, an innocence that we can only strive to emulate. If you guide them and teach them, they develop strong testimonies of their Savior. That he loves them as he loves each one of us. I believe that to be true with all my heart. I am so blessed to be a mother. To have the responsibility to teach and protect my children in such a troubled age in society. I don't know where I would be without the strong foundation my family helped me to build. And the strong testimony that I have kept since my ages of childhood simplicity. I believe what has been said that the family is central to the creator's plan. We must protect it and guard it with our lives. I hope to keep this goal of not watching TV on Sunday(besides such movies) and look forward to the blessings that can be ours and we strengthen each other in our family.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Natalie's Birthday party

This is Natalie's birthday party with her friends. First I have to say thank you to Terica for the amazing cupcakes and cake balls. You did such a good job and relieved me of a lot of stress. They turned out so pretty. Secondly thanks to Faith for helping me decorate and keep my cool when I was stressing for no reason really. And last but not least to everyone else who came and played with Natalie and gave her fun gifts. She really loves them and had a blast. This was a dressup party cause that is all Natalie likes to do these days. I swear she is never in regular cloths except when I make her. You can see she traded dresses with her cousin Jadeyn and when it came time to give it back she was so sad. But besides that the party was a success. I think I'm going to be sad when the dressup and princess phase are over. But for me it's still going on just on a different level. Love you Natalie. Don't grow up too fast okay? By the way, I made the bow. It's supposed to be Rapunzel with brown hair like Natalie. She thinks she is Rapunzel and that's why we can't cut her hair, she wants it to keep growing.

My baby is 4! Party with Maddox's

Grandma Maddox always spoils my girls and they love it. She got Natalie a dressup that Natalie calls Rapunzel, paints, a sleeping beauty barbie, and a cute brown dress and puma socks. She loved it all of course. We also gave our gifts that night and she got a Yo Gaba Gaba video (Julia was excited about this too, and Marc had some other motives in buying it so he could show Jack Black to his brothers on there.) And she got a sleeping beauty video game which is hard for her, but Marc likes to play it so that's ok. Anyway, then we had cake which had red and pink sprinkles on it which happened to match the dresses the girls were wearing that night. Needless to say she had so much fun and wants her next birthday to come a lot sooner then I do.

So the coolest, unexpected thing happened to us. A lady in my ward called one day and asked if she could bring over a gift for Natalie. She said it would be her daughter's 4th birthday that day and they try to remember it every year by giving a gift to someone else. She gave her probably the cutest jacket I've ever seen and a coloring book. It was sooo nice and I'm so grateful. The cool thing too was that she wrapped it in yellow which is Natalie's favorite color. Sweet huh?

Monday, September 14, 2009

Fun with the Walkers

BYU Football in Dallas, TX

Alpine Slide / Maddox Shootout

For more pictures of out trip to Colorado, visit my facebook page for a more complete album.

Leadville Train

Vacation pics from Colorado

Marc

Isn't this a good picture of Marc? He's the father of our home and the center of his 3 girl's worlds. He recently got a job with Colliers Int. and we are very excited. He's an accountant who loves sports, spending time with family, sports, being the dad, sports, watching movies, and did I mention sports? And of course mixing sports with spending time with family. All I hear all day long is "Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, (dadada from Julia) where's dad, I want to be big like dad, my dad doesn't like me to do that, that's my dad's favorite color,my dad said I'm too heavy, I WAANNT MYYY DAADDYYY!" Can you tell they love him?

Natalie

Our little ballerina princess- Natalie loves to help around the house, especially in the kitchen. She is such a good big sister. She is very helpful with Andrea and loves to play with her. She gets along so well with Julia and they love playing together. She loves to read books and write letters. She also loves to paint. She also likes to sleep in just her underwear. She says she loves to feel the softness of the blanket against her skin. She is getting so big and I am already wondering where the time went. She loves her dance class and she is such a little star performer. Natalie says the most beautiful prayers. I love it. She says things like "help us to have our strength", and "help us to be rightous so we can be very blessful." She always mentions her aunt Nicole in her prayers as well. That she can find people to teach the gospel and listen to others. Natalie starts kindergarten this year. I know she's almost 6 but I can't believe it came so quickly! She is so excited and I'm the one who's sad to see her leave me every day. She is so smart! I know she'll do great.

Julia

Our pretty girl- Julia is full of life and energy! But can also sit quietly and read books or play with toys (talking to herself) for long periods of time. She usually plays well with others, but is also content playing by herself. She adores her sisters. I love when she asks to hold the baby and she says, "I hadn't holden her." She has the biggest blue eyes. Everyone says she looks just like her dad, and I agree. She is quite a talker, her vocabulary is very high and she's very smart. She has learned her letters and we are now working on reading simple words. She loves books, story time before naps and bed are her favorite parts of the day. At night before bed she likes to give a squeeze, a squeeze kiss, a hug, and a hug (gentle) kiss to each one of us. She also requests "spiderman kisses" from Andrea (a kiss with Andrea hanging upside down). I call her my fruit baby because she LOVES all kinds of fruit. She loves vegetables too. I love that she's not a picky eater. She has a very infectious laugh. She loves going on "huge" dates with her daddy or really any time she can spend with him. It will be good to have some time together while Natalie is at school. She will love having more attention and getting more of a say in what we do together. It will be fun.

Andrea

Babies grow way too fast for me! It seems like their first year just flies by. Andrea is the best baby that has ever lived, in my personal, unbiased opinion. She is so content all the time! She only cries when she needs to eat or be changed. She has been sleeping through the night since about 6 weeks old. She is very tolerant of the kids playing with her and being pulled in multiple directions. She has a new facination with her tongue, it's so cute! When she does want to eat she is very patient and easily distracted if I can't feed her right away. But she will get upset if I put her off too long. Even in the car she will start to cry, but gives up quickly when she realizes she can't get out and waits 'til we get where we are going. She's my first baby with no interest in a binky, but that's fine with me because she sooths herself. She easily goes to sleep at night, or whenever without one. She is such a huge blessing in our lives! We all feel so blessed to have her. The girls remind me, "Mom, she's not Your baby, she's all of ours". Sometimes I have to be reminded to share. I just love holding her and kissing her and playing with her so much that I get little else accomplished. I figure enjoy it while it lasts. The important things will get done and everything else can wait. Hence the infrequency of blog updates.

What Matters Most

Sunday, November 8, 2009