Faith is like a little seed

We had another exciting Family Home Evening tonight (1/28/08) so I'm sharing it with all of you (click here to see the last one I mentioned). The "I Can Develop Faith" (or something like that) lesson in the church FHE manual suggested we show seeds to our family and talk about how faith is like a seed. I thought that was a great idea-- and decided it needed to go one step further-- so after explaining to Susanna how faith can be employed in gardening we planted some flowering chives. Here's an action shot of Susanna pouring the dirt onto the chair instead of into the pot.

Onward Christian Soldier

Gordon B. Hinckley, long time leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed away January 27, 2008. Click here for full article from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints newsroom.

I am so very grateful for his tremendous faith and the labor he put forth on behalf of all his brothers of sisters on this earth. And though I will miss his sweet sense of humor and his wonderful testimony, most of all I am so happy that, after 97 years of the joys and sorrows that this life brings, he gets to move on to the next (click here for more information about this "next" of which I speak). And so I bid "onward," to this most stalwart of christian soldiers.

Three Decades Old

Scott turned 30 on January 25th. Can you believe he is in his thirties? As he said about himself "I'm old." Profound words (he also said, "Old but I'm not yet wise). Of course, I don't really feel like 30 is old (I have to say this both for my own sake-- I will soon be 30 too-- and the sake of my 30+ readers), but I was just waxing reflective a couple of days ago as we celebrated at a delicious restaurant (Nell's for all you locals who have money to burn-- we could only afford to get dessert): but 9 years ago I didn't even know Scott and here we are, sharing our lives with each other! Here's to the best of men, who only gets better.

One day...

I went to the dentist's office today and I decided that I love going to the dentist. Is that wierd? Before you all say yes, let's think about it: everyone at the dentist's office is nice (Today someone even told me that I have the best gums they've ever seen. How exciting! True, I left out the part where she qualified that remark, but when am I ever the best at anything?), you get to sit in one of those cool reclining chairs, and they give you gifts when you leave. But my favorite part is the teeth cleaning. It is surprisingly relaxing (I almost tipped over when I tried to get up to leave, although I suppose that could have just been clumsiness) and then you feel so clean! I told the dental hygenist how I feel and she laughed and said she doesn't hear that very often. I also told her that one day, if I am rich enough to afford luxuries I don't need, I will have a dental hygenist clean my teeth every month. Doesn't that sound wonderful?

More Pictures from Christmas 2007

In no particular order, for anyone who cares (and, I suppose, any of you who don't as well), here are some more photographs from the Christmas holiday.


This is Susanna as Mary in my family's live nativity:


Scott and Susanna choosing a Christmas tree at a local farm:

Amy and her mother snowshoeing at Little Mountain Summit (Emigration Canyon) in Salt Lake City:


Susanna looking at the lights at Temple Square:


Susanna and her grandmother sledding at Bonneville Golf Course in Salt Lake City:

Scott and Amy snoeshoeing (also at Little Mountain Summit; we were with my mom-- pictured above-- and my sister Rachel):

Saving for College (or whatever)

Scott's parents gave Susanna a fun little ceramic piggy bank for Christmas. I think it is a great idea: it will help to give her a sense of money and is an easy way to start saving for the future. And she absolutely loves it. The bank came with some coins that she also loves: she loves to look at them, touch them, and drop them into the piggy bank over and over again.

As those of you who read the "Susanna's word of the Week" sidebar will know, she says something like "oln" for oink. It is one of my favorite sounds she makes. And now she makes it all the time. All the time. She'll say (getting progressively louder and more intent) "oln, oln, oln" while reaching her entire body, starting with her index finger, for the bank on her chest of drawers. If we suggest she do something else, such as, say, get a diaper change, she goes beserk. She flails her arms and legs then, after making herself as skinny as possible so that she'll slip out of our hands, drops her forehead onto the floor crying. And then she'll get up and look at you with the face of one who has lost her most beloved and say sadly "oln, oln, oln." But it wasn't until I noticed how much she loves to kiss her bank that I began to wonder if I should get worried about her mercinary tendencies.

Once we get her successfully transferred to a new activity, she is happy as a clam again. So I think as the novelty wears off so will the passion, and in the end we all love this fun and practical gift.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We went to Salt Lake City and had a fabulous time. Susanna followed my mother around saying "hi" over and over again while waving her new wrist wave (think "elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, wrist..."), and she called out "Papa" whenever she saw Scott's dad (or his pen) and then jumped on his lap to take apart and eventually put back together the University of Utah pen that is always in his pocket.

Unfortunately, we have no photographs from the trip (we left both our video and still cameras here in Seattle, batteries all charged up and ready to go). The photograph above is from a live nativity we did in Seattle before we left town. Susanna played the role of Mary, I played Joseph, and Scott played a shepherd, a wise man, and a donkey. The African doll was baby Jesus (and the white blanket in the background was Mary's headdress that Susanna did not want to wear).

All in all it was a wonderful holiday. It felt like Susanna's first Christmas because she was still so young last year. This year she loved tearing up wrapping paper, running around the house pointing to all the showflakes and stars we hung from the ceiling, and most of all, pointing out and often kissing any Baby Jesus she could find.

Note: If you see the white-ish stuff on her face in the photograph-- you can't miss the large wet spot down her front-- you'll know how much she loved the egg nog we also had that night. Oh if only I'd thought to videotape that!

Cookie Shape Revealed

Baby Jesus in a manger! I loved the creative guesses.