Stake Conference

What we learned in Stake Conference this weekend:

"Don't be the Kamakazi pilot that flew 100 missions"

(Commit to something)

"Be like a stamp and stick to it!"

(Endure)

"If you buy a new boomerang, don't waste your life trying to throw away the old one."

(Once you repent, move on. Stop dwelling on the past.)

"Be the father your children think you are."

(Children don't see it all...)

"Be the missionary your mother thinks you are."

(Some missionaries are, others just have mothers who think they are.)

and Rob's favorite...

"Wives should have a hot meal waiting on the table when their husbands get home, and make sure their husbands feel appreciated." (Although she was serious when it was said, the message was about service to others inspite of our own trials.)

Marshmellows...in January?

Family Home Evening found us around our fire pit making smores. I had to go to the grocery store to get graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmellows. That's all I got. The cashier looked at me funny and said, "S'Mores?" What can I say. We had a fun night. The Lee's came and joined us from next door.

Honor Thy Children

What a powerful message this video relates. I hope it touches your heart like it has touched both Rob's and mine. We can't let these kinds of things remain hidden in the dark. They have been "family secrets" for too long... Call 1-800-4-A-Child to report child abuse. It is not "other people's" problem it is our problem as well.

Cosette is...

I must tell you about Cosette. A while ago she was frustrated that she could not read the words herself to one of her kids books. We told her that if she practices saying the letters it will make a word and soon she will be reading. Now she picks out words at random places and on random things sounding out letters to everything. Just the other day she wrote, I km hom frum rschool and... This says, I came home from preschool and... I think this is one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time. WOW how our kids grow up so fast.

Getting Better

Ethan's nose is healing quite well. Here he's enjoying his dad's Swedish rice and you can just notice the red under his right eye. The medical facility has called twice to check up on him. He's a trooper.

Green Nose

He's really starting to look good now. The swelling is mostly gone and the only real color is under his right eye.
Cosette did say something funny though..."Mom, why is Ethan's nose green??"

Our Little Bruiser

48 hours later

60 hours later

Ethan is such a trooper. The broken nose doesn't even phase him. He's still climbing on anything he can get his foot on...

More Color

This is 24 hours after the accident. It is a nice side shot of our boy who now looks more like a dinosaur than a boy.

The rest of these are 36 hours after the accident. Look at the size of his nose...ouch.

His eyes are starting to turn black and he is more swollen in the morning than evening.

His eyes are not swollen shut we just took the picture in the middle of a blink but it looks good anyway.

Broken Nose

Tonight was a little tense for us. While Rob and I were cooking dinner, Ethan decided to climb a dining chair. He tipped over and hit the cross beam of a stool on the way down. Rob popped his nose back into place, but we still visited the Urgent Care to make sure the bone didn't enter the sinus cavity. All is well...but quite scary.

Maybe Ethan will have black eyes for church tomorrow.

"We all want Grandpa's nose..."

New Years For Old People

This year we had Tricia and her two kids over as well as two of Janet's kids over and our other nephew Jefafa (Jeff). They all stayed a couple of nights and we had a blast. The kids spent most of the 30th and 31st sledding outside with the neighbors. Throw in a couple of warm movies down stairs and the day is spent. On New Years Eve we had nothing planned out of the ordinary. We each made home made mini pizzas. Some of the girls played a couple games but the older kids watched episodes of Gilmore Girls for most of the night. All of the kids had put together a theatrical play that was really fun. It was full of drama, tears, fighting and yelling (that was just the rehearsal). Check out the movie shots at "There Is No I in TEAM" The finished product was actually pretty good. The neighbors set off fireworks and Emma and I, with Cosette and Faith went to watch and play with sparklers at about 10pm. Emma and I were ready for bed but chose to stay awake until at least 12:01am. Faith was asleep by 11 and Cosette made it all the way without a problem. After the whistle blowing and hugs we were all asleep.

Ian on the other hand went to the New Years Eve party on the ISU campus and didn't come home till the next morning and crashed for the rest of the day. Jefahfah went to the youth dance and was home by 12:30am. He said that there were thousands of kids there and he had a lot of fun.

Emma and Rob have officially made it to acting like old people. Not really caring that it is a new year, just wanting to go to bed early. No sparkling cider or cake, no crazy glasses or outfits and certainly no late nights. We did get paper horns to have the kids ring in the new year.

So we made it another year and we pray we will make it many, many more.

California

Emma and her brothers Alan and Larry played in the annual San G Water Polo Alumni game. This is be the only time Cosette will wear a polo cap -- they just don't play this sport in Idaho. Cosette had to get in the pool with mom to play around for a bit. Emma lasted 5 minutes before she was swam out. At least she can say she did it!

Giddy up Nicole!!

We spent the afternoon with our good friends, the Rauch's. Logan is teaching Ethan how to turn the television on and off.

Cosette and Aunt Nic made gingerbread houses.

We came home to 12 inches of snow. Monday morning was a perfect snowman day. Cosette had received a snowman making kit for Christmas a couple of years ago and we were able to make a great one here.

Happy New Year.

We pray your year will be filled with many blessings.