Gettysburg

Well, we had the opportunity to do a bit of a history tour this summer. Our first stop was Gettysburg, and we thougoughly enjoyed seeing and understanding the things that went on there.

 The battlefield on Weatfield Drive (right across from the famous peach orchard)

The painting of the battlefield in the museaum's Cyclorama, done by a french artist a few years after the battle.  It was 42 feet tall, and 360 degrees around.  Pretty cool!

 One of the monuments out on the battlefield

 The kids and Nels sitting with Abe Lincoln in front of the museum

 Nicolas couldn't get over how cool everything was, especially these authenic cannon balls (he posed with a surprised face for almost every picture throughout our entire trip)

Shaylin, Brynlee and Sarah in the Gettysburg address room

Haley's pastime

Where's Haley you ask?? No one's seen her in three hours, where could she possibly be? Oh, there she is--she's reading. I had always wanted to be into reading like some of my friends were when I was growing up, but definitely never got there as a child. Haley, however, reads more than, not only every child I know, but every adult as well. During school she was reading a new book each afternoon. And not just little 100 page books, but over 300 pages, a lot of them, and she'd be done before dinner, bedtime at the latest. She's amazing!!!

Six months

Sarah is six months, infact, she's almost 7 months, and we are still loving every second! This month has brought quite a bit of fun for us all. At the beginning of the month, she started rolling all over around the floor, then she really got into eating food, and looks at us longingly during every meal. She has also started doing a very excited grunt that sounds like she's trying to show how excited but very tough she is, and has become so loud that I've had to leave 2 sacrament meetings due to her enthusiasm :) She also broke through her first two teeth this month! And the last and most fun thing (I think) is that she's starting to sit up. We had a friend come over to play for a few minutes, so we sat her up to say hi. I expected to have to hold her up, but she sat there for more than 5 minutes. She's gonna be a pro before we know it!!

 Very happy to be together

 Claire and Sarah

You can see one of her little teeth in this one!

Relaxation

I got the most pleasant surprise the other day.  I was sitting down nursing Sarah, and very ready to close my eyes for a little R&R, when Shaylin and Brynlee asked if they could give me a foot massage.  They had found some foot lotion, and wanted to practice with it, and I was in no way going to stop them, nor did I expect what I got.  It was not just a 2 second, have hearted little rubbing of my feet, but it was a 30 min. amazing foot rub!!  I was more than happy to stay all day in this chair!  What a treat!!!

I Never Expected #2

Ok, it’s July, and I feel it’s time to let you in on another of my, I never expected’s.

Life is good, my children are wonderful, but somehow when I began having children, I had this false assumption that things would remain clean.  

What everyone neglected to tell me was that they don’t. Our house would quickly be filled with inanimate objects that will be spread anywhere they get flung by anyone with the hands or the ability to do so. And they don’t find their home until someone decides it’s time to clear the floor. I know that sooner than later, the children will be gone and I'll be missing these messes, so I do accept this fact (most of the time). I did however capture a few of these crazy messes one morning before I cleaned up.

So, here are some pictures of these inanimate objects that seem to be completely happy in the middle of the floor, and almost seem to be asking for someone to step on them (especially the really sharp ones). 


We had a friend walk in on our apartment when we had just one child, and her toys were strewn everywhere. He commented, "We know who rules this house." Well, if anyone comes over and questions who rules this house, these pictures just might give you the answer!  So...

I never expected that I wouldn’t see the floors (or any other surface in my house) for many, many years. 

 Shaylin and Brynlee’s room before and after:

Haley and Elise’s room before and after: 

 

The office before and after: 

 

 Nicolas and Kaden's room before and after:

 

The basement before and after:

Inspiration!

I find myself tonight, completely moved and inspired by a book that a dear friend recommended to me.  The book is “Heaven is Here” by Stephanie Nielson.  For those of you who have not heard of it (I had not) I too highly recommend it!  I cried more than once, more than twice, okay, I cried off and on through the entire book.  In it, she spoke of her recovery from a plane crash, and the many challenges that life still holds for her.

It was both inspirational and uplifting.  It also reminded me to reflect upon everything good we are blessed with each and every day of our lives.  On her blog- nieniedialogues.com, she said in one of the videos, “I am Stephanie Nielson, and I am not my body.”  What a profound statement.  We are all so caught up with what we need to look like, we forget that we are not our bodies...we are our spirits.   We are who God made us.   We are who we become as we wake up and work toward new goals each day.  We are who we want to be, and no one can change our attitude toward life but us.

There is a passage in her book which was a quote from one of Elder Holland’s conference talks--one that I plan to put up in our house.  It states, “I testify that bad days will come to an end, that faith always triumphs, and that heavenly promises are always kept.”

I know this to be true, and I hope to always remember the things she shared, and use each day to bless my children’s lives, my husband’s life, and the lives of those I come in contact with each day.  If I can accomplish this, I will have lived a good life.  One worthy of the blessings my Heavenly Father has in store for me.