Praying for a Miracle

I'm not usually one to talk politics (mostly because I don't feel I know enough about politics to hold my own in a discussion), or to express my feelings about such things on my blog, but after last nights primary in Florida, I'm really concerned. I know Mitt Romney has been ahead in total number of delegate votes, but after McCain took all Florida delegates last night, I'm starting to really worry. Romeny says in his campaign letters to us that he is the only Republican that stands a chance against the Democratic Party in November. Of course he would say that, but, I have to agree. I don't think McCain stands a chance against Hillary. Ooohh, I just cringe everytime I even mention her name. I told Doug that if she becomes our President, I probably will turn the TV off anytime she comes on to give a State of the Union, or any other kind of address to America. I can't stand listening to her. I fear, deeply, for our nation if Hillary becomes our leader in the White House. I prayed this morning for a miracle in the next Super Tuesday 21 state vote. I'm really hoping, and praying, that Romney can pull through. I feel he is the right man for the job. I'm not completely convinced that he would win if put up against Hillary, but again, at this point in the game, I'm praying for a miracle.

We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet!

President Hinckley passed away tonight. I was talking to my family on a conference call around 8pm and saw the text message on my phone that he had passed. I was shocked! However, I felt that just 2 days ago I had my moment of personal goodbyes with him as I sat studying this picture and expressing my love for President Hinckley and my testimony of him in my journal. It was as if the Lord was preparing me for today. I am so happy for him as I know he was waiting for this day to come when he could be reunited with his sweet wife and "girl of his dreams" as he said in her passing almost 2 years ago. What a marvelous legacy he has left for us and his posterity. As my last journal entry from two days ago states, "I KNOW President Hinckley is (was) a true prophet of God. I know it!" I'm so grateful for his wonderful example of pure love, dedication and honor to his God and his family. I hope to always remember the advice his father gave him, "Forget yourself and go to work." Though the world is in mourning, I know there is much rejoicing in Heaven! President Gordon B. Hinckley will always hold a very special place in my heart.

P for Personality

Just some captured moments from this week...

"Cheeeeese!"

"I'm singing!"

Showing off her ONE tooth!

Afraid of heights?

"Duh, as if!"
"Look, I finally have more teeth coming in!"

Holly practicing her acting skills by reinacting a part from the movie "Somewhere in Time":

"Richard! RICHARD!"

(Miss McKenna, aka:Jane Seymore to Richard Collier, aka:Christopher Reeve when he finds the penny in his suit pocket with the current year instead of the year he went back in time to.)

Stylin' Baby

This is Holly in her gift/hand-me-downs clothes. The jacket is from Aunt Tricia (SO CUTE) and the skirt is from Shannon Dixon. I have to say, I think the hand-me-downs I received are far cuter than what I buy (not to mention they are all from Gap, Gymboree, Old Navy and all the places I can't afford to shop.) Thanks to all those who have contributed to Holly's wardrobe and made her look so cute!

It's officially official =)

Well, she's finally officially walking. We knew all she just needed was a confidence booster. It was late Thursday night, we had just put Savannah to bed and Holly was wired! Daddy was chillin' on the couch and I was laying on the floor with Holly. I told her to go tickle her daddy's toes so she crawled over to the recliner, puller herself up and tickled his toes "Geegle, geegle, geegle." All of a sudden, Holly let go of the recliner and took off toward me...FIVE STEPS! We were so excited. She took 7 steps twice after that and could tell she had done something wonderful because she would crawl around in circles going ,"Aaahhh, aaahhhh, aahhhh, aaaahhh." (I'm not sure what was in the juice we gave her at dinner.) Anyway, we weren't sure if the confidence would last through to the next morning, but sure enough, I stood her up and she walked across the room. Yeah Holly! She's still quite unstable, but she's getting the hang of it. I think my favorite part is the "plop" when they all of a sudden lose their balance. Makes me giggle everytime. Hee hee hee.

Holly's various methods for getting around

In order to get around this week, Holly has used the following methods:

and FINALLY...(drum roll please)

Yeah Holly!

Christmas in San Diego

Cousins

(Allison, Cole, Savannah, Holly, Cameron)

One of the highlights at Christmas...the TRAIN!
Holly fell on the tracks more than once. =}


CHRISTMAS EVE TRADITIONS

Luminaries:
Every Christmas Eve the community of Westwood puts out luminaries along the front of their house and all along the main streets. My siblings and I used to fill the white bags up with sand and put the candles in, then at 6pm we lit the candle and then drove around the neighborhoods to see all the glowing luminaries lining the streets. It's so cool. It was neat to have our kids carrying on the tradition!



Candy Trains: If you ever visit Grandma Humberstone's, Krystal's, or our house on Christmas Eve, chances are you'll receive a sweet choo choo treat! We've made these candy trains at Christmas time for as long as I can remember. It's great for the kiddos!
And of course, the Caroling, oh the caroling, while Grandma plays piano.
(Cousin Tanner, Aunt Merrilee and Uncle Steve Boyack)

Parker Boyack and our one and only "Singin' Daddy-o". You can tell he really gets into it! =)

James, Leah and Cameron (well, his backside anyway). =)

Krystal and Allison

Christmas Traditions

Stockings:

The first thing a kid wants to do on Christmas morning is check the milk and cookies and their stockings to see if Santa really came. So, of course, we always have Savannah wake us up before going into the family room so we can see her reaction. Since we were staying at my parent's house, Savannah was upstairs in the new bedroom and Doug and I were downstairs, so I told her to softly talk into the monitor in her room and say, "Mommy, I'm ready." So, at around 7am, I heard her say softly in the monitor "MOmmeeee. I'm reeeeaaaaady". So we woke up Grandma and Grandpa and ran up stairs to get Savannah.

It looks like she's flying down the stairs. She was pretty anxious!

Savannah asked for a scooter for Christmas, but since we were at Grandma's in San Diego, Santa left her a letter on her stocking telling her the scooter was waiting for her at Nana's (who lives two blocks from our house) because he knew we wouldn't have room for it in our car to take back to Utah with us. That Santa is so clever!

We couldn't tell if she was excited about the scooter...

...or about getting a letter from Santa.

She had to call Nana immediately to make sure the scooter was really there waiting for her. And of course, it was.

Stocking time!
Santa always leaves a HUGE apple and orange in our stockings. They are the best apples and oranges you'll ever taste!

Holly got a candy cane in her stocking...

...and she was pretty excited about it. =)

Opening Gifts:

Savannah is into dressing up, and doing hair. So, we added a few things to her collection.

Doug really spoiled me this year. He got me this camera (Cannon SD 800 Power Shot) with an 8GB card to go with it! WAHOOO! But that wasn't all. Sitting next to me are two more wrapped gifts...the small one being a 2 GB card which I opened with a bit of confusion thinking, "I just got an 8GB card for my camera...what could this be for?" I opened the last gift only to pull out a professional grade Cannon digital camera! My hands were shaking as I pulled it out of the box and I kept saying, "Are you KIDDING ME!?!" I couldn't believe it. I was in tears and completely ecstatic! (Now I just need to take some classes to learn how to use it!) Thanks Duger for an awesome Christmas! XOXO

Doug's comment when he opened this gift from Savannah was, "I'm officially a dad" having received a tie for Christmas from one of his kids. Too cute. Grandpa and Grandma with the kids.

James and Leah did gifts for our family this year (they rotate families each year) and these are the gifts we got from them!
Leah makes these purses and sells them. I was so glad she gave me one. I love it!

This Christmas for my parents and siblings, I wanted to make something meaningful, so I did a 4 generation project. The one for my parents was a quilt with a family tree on it that said, "Our Family" at the bottom. (I was planning on making it myself, but when I found this one, it was so perfect and so much better than what I would have done, so I just had to get it.)
The project I did for my siblings was a 12x12 scrapbook page with the 4 generations.

They all seemed to like it as much as I hoped they would. Yeah!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

December 21st - Holly turns ONE!

Where has the time gone?
Love this.

Birthday girl opening her presents

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want too!"

Okay, so we're two for two on kids that don't like to get their hands dirty. =)

Happy Birthday Holly Grace

Christmas at Nana and Papa's

We had Christmas with Nana and Papa before we left for San Diego. The kids were spoiled with gifts (no surprise there!) and we had a very nice Christmas dinner with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, peas, corn, rolls, jello and pecan pie (made from scratch for the first time by yours truly)! Everything was so delicious!

Nana has this small reindeer and sleigh that Savannah loves to ride. "To the top of the roof, to the top of the wall, now dash away, dash away, dash away ALL!"

Hey look! Another deer to ride. =)