Blessing #12

Encircled about in mercy's arms

Neil L. Andersen:
"I have thought of the Lord’s invitation to come unto Him and to spiritually be wrapped in His arms. He said, “Behold, [my arms] of mercy [are] extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.”1
The scriptures speak of His arms being open,2 extended,3 stretched out,4 and encircling.5 They are described as mighty6 and holy,7 arms of mercy,8 arms of safety,9 arms of love,10 “lengthened out all the day long.”11
We have each felt to some extent these spiritual arms around us. We have felt His forgiveness, His love and comfort. The Lord has said, “I am he [who] comforteth you.”12
The Lord’s desire that we come unto Him and be wrapped in His arms is often an invitation to repent. “Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you.”13

christmas in a nutshell

Christmas Eve
Matt had to work on Christmas Eve, so the children and I went and spent the evening with our friends the Smiths. We had a yummy dinner and then played games. It was so much fun and Patrick, Jessica, and Jared were all so good to my children. Thanks Smith family for thinking of us.
Madelynne and Jackson put out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer. As you can see, Jackson, didn't really care if Santa got cookies or not because here he is trying to help himself! My favorite Madelynne quote of the night was when we reminded the children they needed to put cookies and milk out for Santa. Madelynne turned to Matt and said, "Daddy, can you put them on the roof for me?" How cute is that? I love the magic of the true believers at Christmas.


Christmas morning
I thought for sure our kids would be up at the crack of dawn , banging down our door for us to get up and see what Santa brought. Ironically, because that was what I was expecting our kids actually slept in until 8 o'clock! Now, anyone who knows our children knows they wake up at 6am, 6:30am, or if we are really lucky 7am. Never, ever 8am! So, that was our first Christmas present of the day-sleeping in! Oh, how heavenly it was to stay in warm, cozy bed for an extra hour or so! What a great way to start Christmas.

Madelynne was excited to find that Santa had brought her the dollhouse she has been begging for the last few months.



The dollhouse comes with a Mommy, Daddy, and twin babies.

The feature Mommy likes the most? It folds up, so it doesn't take up as much space. And let me tell you space is at a premium around here!

Jackson discovered Santa brought him a train set and promptly turned into Godzilla and went crashing through the tracks to get to the train.


The fondest memory I will have of Jackson from Christmas morning was how he was hungry, so until, Matt, got him some bread and a sippy of milk he wouldn't even consider opening presents. Even then, he was more interested in the small little tidbits of wrapping paper we managed to coax him into tearing off. If the present actually got unwrapped then we would be so enthralled with whatever new thing he opened he was completely closed off to the idea of having to do the whole thing over again. It was pretty funny to watch. Oh the memories!


Santa, our family, and friends were all so incredibly good to us this year. Thank you to everyone who made our Christmas so wonderful!
We invited our friends, the Ellingsons, over to share our Christmas dinner. We enjoyed turkey, mashed potatoes, salad, homemade rolls and a veggie tray. It was all so good. Sadly, I didn't take one picture of us all together. :( However, I did remember to take a picture of the turkey. It turned out so well! Sometimes, I surprise myself...

After dinner we sat around talking and laughing and of course enjoying Christmas cookies and candy. The children had a splendid time playing while the adults just chilled. Thanks for sharing Christmas with us Ellingson family!

Blessing #11

...brown paper packages tied up with string. These are a few of my favorite things!

I love getting packages in the mail! Even if it is something I have ordered online and know it is coming in the mail, there is just something delightful in receiving a special delivery from the UPS man. This year because we didn't get to spend Christmas with family, they sent Christmas to us. Thank you so much to everyone who thought of our little family and made our Christmas merry and bright! We love you all even more than we love brown paper packages! :)

the most wonderful time of the year

There is something wonderful about a time of the year that has it's own music, food, and movies! I thought I would share my absolute favorite Christmas movies of all time. These are my must-see-every-Christmas-season-movies. So, so good!

Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
Barbara Stanwyck is a newspaper columnist who portrays herself as a happily married 1940s Martha Stewart. But in reality she's a single gal who knows more about shopping for furs than cooking, cleaning and sewing. Trouble starts when her magazine invites a war hero to spend a perfect Christmas with her and her perfect family.

Holiday Inn (1942)
This is the movie that originated the song "White Christmas," which is probably why we still think of it as a Christmas film. Jilted by his fiance, Bing Crosby gives up show business to run a farm only to find that farm life isn't as easy as he thought. He opens Holiday Inn, staging shows only on national holidays and falls in love with his star. But the man who stole his fiance ( Fred Astaire) threatens to steal his new leading lady too.

The Bishop's Wife (1947)
Loretta Young is a bishop's wife watching her ambitious husband lose sight of what matters. Then an angelic Carey Grant steps in and uses a little magic refresh the bishop's wife and save her husband from ruin. Don't miss the scene where Carey Grant decorates a Christmas tree with a few flicks of his wrist.

White Christmas (1954)
Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas" is the definition of the holiday season. And this happy, colorful 1950s musical is the perfect medicine for a holiday season filled with worries and fears.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
The uplifting story of a little girl who's cynical about life and the department store Santa who teaches her to believe in magic.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Oh, George Bailey! Our hearts break for him every year as we watch him do the right thing and only to be knocked down again and again. If you don't cry at the end -- when George is surrounded by all the lives he changed -- then you might need to take up residence with the Grinch.

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
Boris Karloff's wonderful narration. Max, the dog-turned-reindeer. Adorable Cindy Lou Who. That nasty green Grinch with his too-small heart. And a feel-good message love and eschewing materialism. How can this NOT be on your Christmas watch list?

Bundle of Joy (1956)
A musical remake of the comedy film Bachelor Mother. Debbie Reynolds plays an over-eager clerk in a large department store and Eddie Fisher plays the boss' son. After getting fired from her job, she finds an adorable baby on the steps of the foundling home and the folks inside mistake her for the mother. Fisher, well-meaning, but obtuse, tries to help her out with the baby, and the buds of romance begin to appear. Meanwhile old Merlin, the owner of the store, thinks he just might be a grandfather...

Ornament Exchange

After wanting to do an ornament exchange every year since we moved here, I finally hosted one this year! It was a fun night of girl talk, food, and of course exchanging ornaments.

The girls (left to right):
Tanya, Rochelle, Kristen, Nikki, Camila, Noy


The ornaments!

dropping the "A" bomb

So, the doctors finally dropped the "A" bomb on us. That's right Jackson has asthma. For pretty much the last year, Jackson, has had trouble breathing and seemed to catch everything that went around, even when the rest of the family was healthy. There were several times he was put on prednisone (steroids) to help him breath when the albuterol nebulizer treatments were not helping enough. After awhile they added duo-nebs into the mix (a double bronchodilator) that is taken through the nebulizer.

Well, a couple of days ago, after trying all the tricks the doctors had up their sleeves to help Jackson breath it was finally determined he needed to be hospitalized to get him stabilized. The poor guy had double ear infections and a fever of 104 degrees which was making his heart race. Add the breathing treatments into the mix and his little body was working w-a-y too hard.

Despite absolutely hating the idea of my little man in the hospital I felt very blessed that modern medicine was able to help Jackson. While in the hospital Jackson was able to receive the steroids and antibiotic (for his ears) through his IV and they worked so much faster. Jackson was diagnosed with the ear infections on Wednesday morning and by Thursday morning they were mostly cleared up. After two days the infection was completely gone. Isn't modern medicine amazing? When Jackson only needed breathing treatments every four hours instead of every two he was okay ed to go home. We were grateful it was a short stay of a day (even though when you are in the hospital it seems much longer). We feel so blessed for the wonderful nurses and doctors who took such good care of Jackson. And to our friends, Kristen and Ryan, for taking care of Madelynne, so Mommy could stay at the hospital with Jackson. A thousand thank yous for being part of our "Cleveland Family". We don't know what we would do without you!

Here is what Jackson's crib at the hospital looked like. It looked more like a cage for circus animals to me and it made me sad to put him in there. I am glad I was able to stay with him or he would have just been trapped in there the whole time since the nurses can't just hold him the whole time since they have other patients to tend.

Even though Jackson didn't feel good you can still see a smile peeking out from behind his sookie. Apparently they didn't have any blue jammies available and he was stuck wearing these peach ones. He really didn't like them and kept trying to take them off. I don't blame him. When you don't feel good you just want to be in your own bed with your own jammies.

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We are so glad to have all of this behind us and to get back to normal life.

Tinkerbell Party

For literally every single day of the past year, Madelynne, has been talking about what kind of birthday party she wanted to have when she turned 4. There was quite a variety of choices that ranged from Woody (Toy Story), to Star Wars (daddy's influence), to princesses and Tinkerbell fairies. When she F-I-N-A-L-L-Y turned 4 she decided on a Tinkerbell party. These are such huge decisions at this age.
Here is Madelynne with her friends. Left to right:
Lily, Madelynne, Evie, Madelyn, and Gracie.

At the beginning of the party we played sort of a musical chairs variation where each girl would "earn" her fairy wings if she landed on the picture of a Tinkerbell when the music stopped. Obviously we played until all the girls "earned" their wings.
The next two pictures are of the girls' fairy wings. No two are alike as they each designed their own. Amazing what you can make out of knee high pantyhose, wire hangers, ribbon, elastic, and a little glitter glue. The girls applied the foamy stickers and came up with these beauties!


Madelynne's friends were all very generous and knew exactly the kind of things she likes. Dress ups and accessories as well as lip gloss and Strawberry Shortcake dolls to name just a few. She is one lucky girl!

Since Madelynne had a cake on her actual birthday we went with cupcakes for her party. A little white frosting with "fairy dust" (green sanding sugar), and a Tinkerbell in the middle made for most cute and delicious bites.

Somewhere between Madelynne's actual birthday and her party we seemed to have lost the birthday candles and could only find one, so she only got to blow out one candle. Which actually worked out pretty well since there was not a whole lot of room on the top of the cupcake with Tinkerbell perched in the middle.

That night Madelynne cooked us some dinner wearing her new apron and chef hat complete with fairy costume and wings over her pajamas. What a cutie.

Being four is fabulous!

the halls are decked

I have decided that children are what make the holidays so magical. When seen through their eyes everything is so exciting and wondrous. Jackson wasn't quite sure what was going on, but he definitely thought it was fun. And was so, so excited about all the decorations-whatever they were.

Room at the Inn?

“Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus!” (Neal A. Maxwell, “Settle This in Your Hearts,” Ensign, Nov. 1992, 66)

The first time I heard these words spoken by Neal A. Maxwell they touched my heart deeply. They continue to do so today. I find myself asking this question not just at this "most wonderful time of the year" when we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, but through out the year. Pondering on the fact that he was born, lived, and died for each of us. Giving birth to the greatest hope we could ever have-to have the chance to repent and become more like Him, so that someday we might return to live with Him and our families forever.

Howard W. Hunter said so eloquently:
"Even in our day, although two thousand years have passed, there are many who say the same thing that was said on that night in Bethlehem. ‘There is no room, no room’ (see Luke 2:7). We make room for the gifts, but sometimes no room is made for the giver. We have room for the commercialism of Christmas and even pleasure-seeking on the Sabbath day, but there are times when there is not room for worship. Our thoughts are filled with other things—there is no room.” (The Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, edited by Clyde J. Williams [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997], 42.)

So, I guess the message I am sending to each of you this holiday season: how can we make room for our Savior in our everyday lives?

Just a little food for thought.

Madelynne Turns 4!

Birthday presents.


Special birthday dinner. (Cheeseburgers and fries as requested by the birthday girl.)


Birthday cake.




It's good to be four!

30 Days of Thanks

This is what 30 Days of Thanks looks like when you are a family of four. Every day in November each family member wrote what they were thankful for on a leaf and placed it on our "Gratitude Tree". It was an excellent way to remind all of us that Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in one day and we really are so blessed every day of the year.