The BIG 4!

Look out world Adelaide is turning 4 this week. She's been looking forward to this day for months! Turning 4 in our house is a BIG deal...you finally get to have gum and move into a booster seat in the car. Today we got to celebrate a little early with family.

Blessing Day

Rowan received a beautiful blessing by his daddy today and he was perfectly quiet with his little hands clasped during the entire thing. He's such a sweet, patient, and happy baby boy. We've been so blessed to have him join our family.

Thank you to all the family and friends who made the effort to come and share in Rowan's blessing today.

Birthdays and Blessings

Glenn's birthday was a little different today than most birthdays since it fell on Sunday and it was the chosen day for cousin Ellie's baby blessing since Russ and Jennica's family were here from Boise for the long weekend.  It took awhile to get him convinced to stay for the entire meeting and not rush back for our ward.  He really didn't want to miss being sung to in church for his birthday.  I talked with Sher and she arranged to make sure they had something little for him in their primary and that convinced him that he could get sung to twice.

To help make it still a special day I decorated the house for him like I usually do for all the kids.  He was so excited to wake up to streamers hanging down from his bedroom door.  As he came into our room that morning is said he had forgotten it was his birthday till he saw the streamers and was then so excited.  How I love that boy of mine!  I gave him some birthday cuddles and then we headed downstairs so he could see his decorations.  He was so anxious to go and see them but I'm weird and love to video their reactions so I made him wait till I was down and ready for him.  He's sweet and waited for me.

Rebecca came over to enjoy crepes with us enjoy his birthday breakfast.  I made everyone one batch with regular milk and another for me with almond milk.  They turned out okay (not as easy to cook as the milk ones but tasted just as good!). Glenn was thrilled with having crepes which always makes me happy when the birthday kid is happy!  After breakfast everyone showered and dressed.  Thankfully Rebecca was there to help up get everyone ready.

We made it to church just in time which was nice. It was fun to see the Rial's there (on the anniversary weekend get-away) and the Wills' came too.  Ellie looked beautiful in her dress and was perfect during her blessing.  Greg gave her a sweet blessing:

Give you a name and Blessing

Ellianne Serenity Salyards

Bless you to grow strong in the gospel.

Follow the example of your family, leaders of the church, and those around you

Recognize the good from the evil in the world

when the time comes you will find a husband that will take you to the temple

you will develop spiritually as you should.

Church in a different ward really let Kevin and I know that we really can't move from our ward.  It's really interesting how much some people teach what they think and not the doctrine they should. I focused on reading my own scriptures at the time and that helped to not get too frustrated.  We got to hold the baby during Relief Society which was fun.  We all took turns enjoying sleeping Ellie.  

After church we headed home for a little rest (I sadly didn't get much of a nap with disruptions but at least I got to rest a little) we headed over to Nana and Pa's house for a waffle dinner to celebrate Glenn's big day with everyone.  We got help from everyone to make waffles and they turned out great!  Lilly helped make whip cream and Sher even made some waffles that were dairy free.  They were so good!  I was so worried about this day when Glenn told me what he wanted.  I was thinking my tummy was going to die.  I told Kevin we needed to make eggs, bacon, and sausage to help with our stomachs from dying with all that dairy.  With the almond milk crepes and dairy free waffles from Sher I felt great!  I loved it and was super happy.  We forgot to bring eggs but Kevin did make the bacon and sausage which everyone loved.

PRESENT TIME

Yeah, Twister.  They played it with the cousins afterward

Clothes...nice but not his favorite

Loving his new Star Wars fishing pole from Addie

For is "cake" I brought watermelon to put a candle in for him.  It worked out wonderfully and that way we weren't on a complete sugar high with more cake.  Glenn loved that gave him an entire circle round of watermelon.  :-)

I Like to Look for Rainbows

James Elliott Salyards II got baptized today!!!  I'm so happy for him.  It was an extra special treat to see that Mitchell was able to baptize him.  What a wonderful experience.  The midwife that Sher had to help her with Ellie gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.  It was perfect for James dealing with wood and building a fire and then she went into depth about the Holy Ghost and relating it to Fire.  It was wonderful and perfect for James the Wilderness Survivalist.

James had asked me to play the piano for the closing song.  I tried playing it through.  It was horrible!  Really bad.  I then came up with a brilliant idea while talking with Mom to play my flute instead.  So much easier!  Yeah.  After running through it a few times I knew it needed more depth to be carried as the accompaniment for everyone to sing too.  I called my Dad and asked if he would play his violin with me too.  He accepted and I was so grateful.  We got together Friday night and practiced.  It was beautiful.  We wanted to go through it again Saturday BUT the weather was so bad driving into the temple (people going 30 on the freeway with inches of water on the roadway and water pouring down my windshield like someone had a hose on it) that I made a later session and didn't get back in time.

Thankfully everyone said that it sounded great.  I had a hard time at the end of the second verse especially with the high notes because I was running out our breath to help sustain it.  Thankfully with everyone singing you couldn't really tell which was a blessing!  It was so fun to play with my Dad and am so grateful the James gave us that opportunity.

After the baptism we had a potluck dinner at Greg and Sher's house.  The Rial's joined us along with the family (Nana & Pa, Dan & kids, Greg & Sher with kids, and our family).  Dad and I enjoyed playing duets together.  I played the songs I knew on the piano and Dad played the violin.  It was wonderful.  I really liked playing "As Sister in Zion" with him.  It was beautiful!!!  Boy I love music and the calming effect it can have on me.  I've been playing a lot the past couple days and love it.  God was so good to us to give us music to help see us through the good times and the sad.

Kevin took this photo while we practiced Friday night (1-10-14)

Christmas 2013

This Christmas was a bit different from our other Christmas'.  We usually stay home the whole day and others come to visit us but this year we had a busy yet fun schedule.  The kids, bless their hearts, slept until 8:15.  We then called the both sets of grandparents to come over.  Usually it's just Kevin's parents but mine asked to come this year too.  I think because Rebecca was here this year.  They figured Dan's kids would sleep in later and they could join in both celebrations.  It was fun to have them here!

After opening presents and making crepes for breakfast (a treat for everyone though it upset Kevin and my stomachs) we got our Christmas items put away and dressed for the day.  I helped each kid take a picture of their presents and then find a home for their toys and it was so nice to have that done early and not dealing with it the next day.  I had just finished helping the last kid when we only had 30 minutes before we needed to leave.  I was hoping for a nap but it wasn't going to happen.  I got dressed instead since Rebecca and then Jonathon took showers and I knew there wouldn't be any hot water left.  I just washed my hair really quick in the tub.

We headed over to Kevin's parents for a Christmas lunch with the exchange family from Mexico that Kurt and Kristi were trading with for the year.  They are such sweet people.  Their kids are so polite and understand and speak English pretty well.  After feasting on yummy enchilada's I headed to the couch to try and help redo the scarf I gave Rebecca for Christmas that got kind of funky at the end.  I got so sleepy that I laid my head on the couch and fell asleep.  I felt bad but was so tired.

We left Grandma and Grandpa's house and headed to Mom and Dad's (Nana and Pa's) house for Christmas Dinner.  The sister missionaries were there along with Dan and kids.  Greg and Sher's family stayed at home with Sher still recovering.  It was a yummy ham dinner and I loved the mash potatoes.  Kaila got to eat at the big table for both meals.  I think she realized how special that was with the beam shining from her face.  She's such a sweetheart.  After dinner Rebecca and I tried to help dad with the Switzerland pictures but it was taking way too long.  We finally stopped after the third day because it was already 7:30 and we were wanting to go to Greg and Sher's to make gingerbread houses and gingerbread men.

Thankfully the kids didn't fall asleep on the drive over...they were actually hyped up with excitement and counting the houses all lit up with Christmas lights.  We got to Greg and Sher's and the kids opened the presents Rebecca bought them that I helped pick out with her.  They loved it all which was great!  Then we created the gingerbread and the kids LOVED it.  After taking some quick pictures we headed out the door since it was 9pm and way past bedtime.

 

It was a wonderful Christmas and it was so nice to be able to spend it with so many family members.  We are truly blessed!