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!

Tribute

My dear sweet grandpa is very close to being able to return to his Father in Heaven. He is excited to reunite with his loved ones who have passed before him and is at peace with what is happening to his poor, tired body. I just wanted to pay tribute to him and hopefully find some peace of my own in doing so. He has always been one of my biggest fans when it came to music. It was a passion for him, and he passed that along to several of his grandchildren. It didn't matter what I played, or what I sounded like, I always knew he appreciated it. He has been so crafty his whole life. He found joy in making projects that he then would pass along to others. Woodworking, plastic canvas, painting.....the list could go on and on. One of my most treasured possessions is my hope chest that he and my father made for me, by hand. I remember visiting Utah as a child and sitting by the kitchen window with him, looking for deer, or enjoying some popcorn or chocolate. I remember when he used to come visit us, we would climb into bed with he and Grandma and giggle while they argued about which one kept the other up through the night with their snoring. I remember him being there when I was sealed to my wonderful husband in the Nauvoo temple. He made sure to remind the sealer to speak loudly enough so that everyone could partake of his words of wisdom. He's been there when we needed him, he's helped us out when life got tough. He's such a sweet man and he has passed on an amazing legacy. We sure love him and hope he continues to be with us in spirit forever. I love you Grandpa. You are in our prayers.

Celebrating the true meaning of Christmas

After reading Mary's blog today, I was reminded of a post that I had wanted to write after reading the Dec. Ensign earlier this week. I was so touched by Elder Neal A. Maxwell's talk/testimony from right before he passed away. He said everything so eloquently, and it says everything I have ever felt and more. It's the way I wish my testimony of our Savior sounded (which could maybe happen someday if I didn't get so darn emotional every time.) I love that he says his testimony is the verbal equivalent to a child's finger painting, because to me, it compares much more to a beautiful painting that you can't take your eyes off of. If you would all take the time to read this, I think you will be touched. This is my testimony also........

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=5e1241dc0d186110VgnVCM100000176f620a____

Dancing Queen

Sorry the video is sideways. Our quick time video player didn't give an option for me to rotate it. So you will have to suffer through with your heads turned. This video was too cute not to post. Lainey loves to dance, and here you get to see some of her best "moves"! Enjoy!

Checkups

I took Aleece and Madelaine to their new pediatrician yesterday. We kind of found her by default, after Aleece ended up being in the hospital for the first week we arrived in Memphis. Aleece had to be rechecked since she has now been out of the hospital for about 5 weeks. She is picture perfect, much to our relief. Lainey was there for her 12 month checkup, a month late I know! I was crossing my fingers that she was going to have grown exponentially. (One can hope!) Well, our little peanut is a whopping 15 lbs 10 oz and 27 inches long. Luckily she is very healthy and has even hit all of her milestones early. She's just a little nugget! She is just barely wearing size 6 month clothes! Oh well! It is much easier to carry her around! She also recieved 4 vaccinations, which I was dreading. I always feel like you are completely helpless as a parent when your children are getting shots. You have to stand there and help hold them down, all the while looking into their eyes, telling them everything is going to be okay. Lainey only cried for about 20 seconds though and then she was back to her happy self. She is such a joy to have in our family! And Leecy T is such a great big sister. She was right there with me, helping tell her sister what a big girl she was and that she would feel better soon! She loves to "show Lainey the ropes". Mind you this involves everything from jumping on the bed, to yelling, to hiding, to pretty much anything you can imagine! They are the best of friends and I feel so blessed!

Vamanos

Aleece loves to play make believe, as everyone who knows her is aware. She has a phenomonal imagination. Well, today I caught her playing make believe bi-lingually. Yep, that's right, she was pretending in both English and Spanish, and was using the terms correctly. I mean I have never studied Spanish, silly me took Latin in high school, but I have seen Dora and Diego enough to know the basics. What's great is that she was playing with Madelaine, and kept using the words vamanos and delicioso and Lainey seemed to understand each of the commands given. For those of you that aren't proficient in Spanish that translates to let's go and delicious, respectively. Leecy T would say vamanos, and Lainey would follow. This was really pretty amusing to watch. I'm so grateful for such smart little girls! What would I do without them? I sure wouldn't laugh nearly as much as I do now!

Thanksgiving 2007

The Thanksgiving feast!
We actually got us all around one table!
The girls!
Sweet Leecy T and Sully dog.
Little Lainey bug--happy as always!


Here are the Thanksgiving pictures I promised! We had such a great time, and wish our visit could have been longer!

ElfYourself

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9609657433

Okay, this is too funny. I copied it from the Mauri's site and couldn't resist posting it on here. It adds a little holiday cheer, don't you think? :)

And if you are not feeling that holiday cheeriness, maybe this next site would be more suited for you! It's equally as amusing!

http://www.scroogeyourself.com/?id=9607748580

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was so much fun this year! It was nice to be with our family, and to create some very fond memories. Here are some of the highlights.....

-Amazing food! Grampy never can make too much stuffing!
-Fantastic company!
-Surprises!
-Games....Balderdash is always a good time. How can you not laugh when you are playing that! And Apples to Apples...need I say more?
-Nice long visits and being able to catch up and reminisce.

We all have so much to be grateful for and family is always number one! Thanks to everyone for all of the good times! We love you all! Pictures will follow shortly! :)

Navigation system

Aleece has become quite fascinated with the navigation system in our car. It is really quite amusing. The woman's voice will come on and announce where we are supposed to go and Aleece will repeat it verbatim. Ie "Mom, the lady said to stay to the left and follow the signs for 40 East." Occasionally she will ask if we should go where the lady says. Ie "Mom, should we really go that way?", like the voice is completely untrustworthy. It makes me laugh every time. She's just way to smart for her own good! :)

Things that make me smile...

Aleece and Madelaine make me smile every day. They are getting to be so grown up and I cherish being their mother.

We had a family home evening last night about being thankful. We explained why we celebrate Thanksgiving, what we are thankful for, etc. At the end of our little lesson I took our corncopia and emptied it of it's fruits and veggies. I then asked Aleece to tell me one thing she was thankful for, for every item I put back in the cornocopia. The first thing out of her mouth was "that Jesus is in my heart". Okay, how precious is that? Val and I looked at each other and said, okay, how can you top that? Some of her other answers included family members, Pres. Hinckley and his counselors, and the Nephites. She is one smart cookie.

Another quick story......we've always known Aleece has a love for music. Madelaine has proven to enjoy music just as much as her sister. We were in Target the other day, back by all of the Christmas paraphanalia, and someone pressed something that played music. Madelaine had been down walking around, and stopped abruptly once she heard the music. I looked down at her to find her standing their TAPPING HER TOE! It was too cute for words. Another shopper noticed this, informed me that I needed to videotape this and make millions off of it! If only it were that easy! I mean, she is that cute......anyone interested in hiring her out? :)

No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

I couldn't resist blogging about what happened the other night. It makes me smile every time I think about it. I went into the girls bedroom, to retrieve something from their closet, and left the girls in the living room. It was super quiet and I totally thought I was by myself, until I turned around and found Madelaine had climbed onto her sisters bed, had a HUGE grin on her face, and was jumping up and down! She is so little, she wasn't even making a noise as she jumped! Mind you, I don't encourage jumping on the bed. It's quite the opposite, but who wouldn't smile at a barely one year old, trying to copy her sister. She stopped when I saw her, and I would say, "Are you jumping on the bed?" and she would jump some more! I'm trying to get a video of her doing the jumping thing, so stay posted!

Visit from Granny and Grampy!!!

We really liked this quote. It reminded Mom of Bubba!
Granny and Leecy T on the carousel!
Grampy and Lainey on the carousel!
The leaves were gorgeous! We had so much fun at the zoo!
What a great day!

We had such a good time with Granny and Grampy this weekend. It was so nice to have them here for Lainey's first birthday and to let them see our new home. We love every minute we are with them, and wish our time together could have been longer. Thank you Mom and Dad for driving all the way down here and for all that you do. It meant a great deal to us! There is no greater gift in this life than family, and we have truly blessed!

Halloween!

Look how grown up she looks!!!
Cheese!!!
They were having such a good time! They are definately best friends!
Mom and her girls!
Daddy helping the girls trick or treat!

Leecy T as Glinda!
Gorgeous!
Lainey bug as a munchkin!
I don't want to wear a hat and you can't make me!
I don't think we got one of them both looking right at the camera and smiling, but they are cute no matter what!!!

We had such a good time taking the girls trick or treating this evening. Their costumes turned out pretty well, I think! Aleece made a beautiful Glinda and Madelaine was an adorable munchkin!