President Gordon B. Hinckley 1910-2008

Be grateful, Be smart, Be clean, Be true, Be humble, Be prayerful.
I remember sitting at the fireside, listening to President Hinckley speak these words. He truly emulated everything which he taught and testified and I feel so blessed to have been able to learn from his words. He was an example to all. May we all live our lives so that our return to our Father in Heaven can be as glorious as I'm sure his reunion was.

15th week

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and thought I would update you all on the little one. Everything looks good right now, I am measuring right on schedule (and actually lost a pound from my appt. last month!) and the babies heart beat was 162 beats per minute. Some more exciting news is that at our next appointment (Feb. 18) we will be having our "big" ultrasound and will be able to determine the sex of the baby! So I thought I would put up a poll to see ya'll's thoughts. Boy, girl? What do you all think?

As promised....

Trey and Leecy on New Years Eve
first family photo of 2008
Bubba rockin out to the New Year!
Lainey enjoying some sparkling grape juice (welch's of course!) Cheers!

Mom and Lainey--New Years Eve
Mary and Adam
my cute parents dancing the night away!
Enjoying the New Years festivities!
Aleece and Abby ringing in the New Year

Lainey with her new Pinkie Pie pony--enjoying it's bottle!
Sharing!
Sitting in Great Gpa's wheelchair at the care center.
Cheese!
Dad and Leecy on New Year's Eve.

Leecy opening stocking presents.
Lainey opening stocking presents.
Aleece opening family gifts.
Leecy T with Uncle Eric and Aunt Patty
Leecy T opening family gifts.

Here are some pictures from our holiday excursion out to Utah! Sorry they are in reverse order and that there are so many! But there were just too many fun ones not to share! We had a great time with family and are so thankful for the memories that get us through each day!

Officially...

I am now in my second trimester! I can't believe I haven't blogged about this before, but we are expecting baby #3 the beginning of July, for anyone who wasn't previously aware. This first trimester was very different from my previous two pregnancies. I have been much more nauseated and tired. Although, I wasn't chasing two children around in my previous pregnancies either! It has slowly gotten better, and I am looking forward to that second trimester energy!

Our little indulgence....

So, I hate to reveal all of our little secrets, but with the chaos of the past few weeks, we have chosen to be a little lazy in getting back to real life. We have indulged in watching one of the new tv shows that premiered this week, American Gladiator. For those of you as old as I am, you probably remember this show from when it originally aired, back in the late 80s and early 90's. Well, it has made a comeback, and I hate to say it, but it's one of those shows you just can't turn away from. The best part of all of this is that apparently it is Aleece's new favorite show. She loves that both guys and girls compete against each other. She will stand in front of the tv and mimic everything that the gladiators are doing. So who knows? Maybe we'll have a future gladiator on our hands! :)

Aleece's Lists...

Aleece makes me laugh on a daily basis. For a 3 year old she is incredibly witty! One of her new habits that developed while we were out in Utah is her list making. She will take a pad of paper and pen and make a list. Trust me when I say this is not the amusing part. The funny part about this is when she reads her lists aloud. Last nights list went as followed (as we were leaving Sam's club.....)

"Food...check"
"Family.....check"
"Money....check"

Now, I'm not quite sure where she learned this from. I love lists, but I know for a fact that I don't read and check them off out loud. She makes lists for everything. While we were in Utah, she made lists of her Christmas presents, of things at the hotel, anything she could think of.
She is growing up so fast that I can't believe it. She is even now at the age where she prefers showers over baths! Where did my baby go? I love watching my children grow and enter new phases of their lives. It reminds me of what this life is all about--the constant need for us to grow and better ourselves.

Finally getting around to it....

I know it has been forever since I have posted. Things have been a little crazy since my last post. We left the day that was written to Utah to say our goodbyes to Grandpa Henderson, and with the holidays and everything else that goes on in our little family, I haven't had much time to sit and blog!
We left, Tennessee with the intent to make it to Utah in 2 days, covering approximately 800 miles each day. Little did we know, that weather was not going to be on our side. The first day, what should have taken us about 13 hours, took us 20! Yes, you read that correctly! We came across a horrible snowstorm across Arkansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. The snow was what Val likes to call "warp speed snow". You know, the kind that flies straight at you, and you have very limited visibility! Also, the roads were horrible! We didn't see any plows for hours and hours and there were many people driving like maniacs! For a good 4-5 hours we didn't go faster than 20 miles per hour! Anyways, we arrived at our hotel at 8am and the staff was nice enough to let us still have our room. We slept for about 4 hours and then were on our way again. The second day was a little better, but the weather was still bad, and by that point we were exhausted! We were so happy to finally make it to the hotel and to see Granny and Grampy! There were never two more welcoming faces!
We were able to spend a little time every day with Grandpa Henderson while we were in Utah. Despite all of the doctors predictions, and all of his test results, he continues to amaze us. He is still coherent and even though he has lost a lot of weight, still manages to get out of bed some and do physical therapy. He is truly an inspiration. The doctors said that they had never seen someone with his results last longer that four days. Well, now we are about to enter week 3. I don't know if we will get to see him again on this earth, but I am grateful for the time we got to spend with him, and for the goodbyes we were able to say. I will cherish that forever.
The best part about being out in Utah was being able to see and spend time with family. We love Memphis, but hate living so far away from everyone. The girls were ecstatic about being able to spend time with Granny and Grampy and all of their aunts and uncles, as were we!
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were absolutely wonderful. On Christmas Eve, we were able to perform some Christmas music at the nursing home, and the Spirit was very strong. That memory will be treasured. It was so nice to be able to listen to everyone singing, and to share our talents with each other. Later we performed the nativity story, as always, as Grampy narrated the wonderful story of what took place in that little stable in Bethlehem so long ago. We opened our Christmas jammies, ate some delicious food and awaited Santa's arrival.
The girls were so fun to watch as they opened their gifts. Aleece had a funny comment for every single thing she opened and Madelaine followed her big sisters lead in opening presents and giggling!
We were all spoiled this year with our many gifts. Our family members are so kind and generous and we loved every single thing we recieved! The best gift of all was being in their company and creating new memories that will last forever!
New Years Eve was fun too! We were able to spend that with family also and the girls were both awake to ring in the new year!
We had many adventures while we were out in Utah, far too many to blog about in one sitting! I will have to catch up slowly! Pictures will follow soon!
We are so grateful for our families and the love and support they offer us! We don't know what we would do without them! Happy New Year!