President Gordon B. Hinckley

Today was President Hinckley's funeral. It aired on t.v and I was able to watch it. It was such a beautiful tribute to an amazing man. The Church put together a video on his life and included in that was his testimony that he gave at Conference in
2006. I am so moved by his powerful testimony and the example he has been to me all these years. I will greatly miss his sweet spirit, his sense of humor and his wonderful guidance. He was truly a man of God.


"I hope that all of you will remember that on this Sabbath day you heard me bear my witness that this is God's holy work. The vision given the Prophet Joseph in the grove of Palmyra was not an imaginary thing. It was real. It occurred in the broad light of day. Both the Father and the Son spoke to the boy. He saw Them standing in the air above him. He heard Their voices. He gave heed to Their instruction.

"It was the resurrected Lord who was introduced by His Father, the great God of the universe. For the first time in recorded history, both the Father and the Son appeared together to part the curtains and open this, the last and final dispensation, the dispensation of the fullness of times.

"The Book of Mormon is all that it purports to be—a work recorded by prophets who lived anciently and whose words have come forth "to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations" (Book of Mormon title page).

"The priesthood has been restored under the hands of John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John. All the keys and authority pertaining to eternal life are exercised in this Church.

"Joseph Smith was and is a prophet, the great Prophet of this dispensation. This Church, which carries the name of the Redeemer, is true.

"I leave you my testimony, my witness, and my love for each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

President Gordon B. Hinckley
April 1, 2006, Sunday morning session of the 176th Annual World General Conference

Ballet!!!

Jocelyn started ballet class! She LOVES it! We thought about joining the ballet class at The Little Gym, but decided to go with a studio so we could enjoy an actual recital. She is still attending gymnastics class at The Little Gym, so we are very busy with all of her activities now!

The day of her first class, she was complaining about her stomach hurting and I was thinking, "Great! Her first class and she's not going to even go in!" Then we went outside and she saw a hot air balloon and was happy after that! I think she might have just been nervous or something! I was so proud of her, she went right into class even though I could tell she was a little apprehensive! She stood there for about two minutes, not sure what to do and then they started jumping for their warm up! She was sold! :) It was so cute how hard she tried to stay up with her teacher! I was really impressed with how well she did! They are just starting their recital routine, so she's not behind which is nice. Anyway, I LOVED watching her! I probably had a smile on my face the whole class b/c it was just soooo cute!

Here are a few pictures of her in her ballet leotard and skirt. She wants to wear those ALL the time! She insisted on taking pictures with her new horse, Smores! :)

More Aiden pics!

Aiden Christopher

I am an AUNT!!! Even better, my nephew is ADORABLE! John and Myrica have had a VERY long week! Her contractions started on Sunday and they've been in and out of the hospital a few times before the were finally admitted! Poor Myrica! Goodness!

They went in to the hospital Wednesday bright and early (ONE A.M!) and she was dilated to a two, so they were sent home! They went back Wednesday around three and she had dilated to a seven! She got the epidural and Aiden's heart rate dropped, so around 8:30, they decided to do a c section. Aiden was born at 9:19 p.m. and he was 9 pounds, 12 ounces and 22 inches!!! WOW! He is the cutest little thing and he has a head full of dirty blonde hair!

John is a VERY proud daddy! He told me that every time Aiden is crying, he will go over to him and start talking and Aiden will stop crying and look for him! How adorable is that?!?! The whole time Myrica was pregnant, John would talk to him, read scriptures to him, and pray into her belly! So he definitely knows his Daddy's voice! The nurses had to tell John not to talk to Aiden for a minute b/c they needed him to scream to check him out! How funny! I think John holds Aiden every single chance he gets...hopefully he'll put him down sometime before Aiden starts college! ha ha!

Everyone is doing well and expected to be home on Sunday! Love my little nephew and I haven't even met him yet! :) Jocelyn is VERY excited and tells everyone, "Baby Aiden is MY cousin!"

Big day for Jocelyn!!

Today has been such a good day! I wrote last week about Jocelyn going to Sunbeams. Well, this week she was asked to give a talk in sharing time. I had no idea what to expect b/c she's never had to do anything like that before! Every week, a different class is in charge of saying the prayer, scripture, article of faith and then a talk at the beginning of primary. This week was the Sunbeams turn and they were SO CUTE! We worked on Jocelyn's talk with MiMi last night and found some pictures that we could hold up to go along with it. Jocelyn was soooooo tired last night and didn't want to practice, so I was a bit worried that she wouldn't want to do it infront of all those kids and teachers!

This morning I asked Jocelyn if she was excited to give her talk and she said, "yes! In the microphone!" We got to primary and she sat up in the front, ready to go. Let me say, the parents all come in the primary room and will help their child say their parts. Anyway, the prayer and the article of faith went well, but when it was time for the scripture, the little girl got nervous and didn't want to do it. I was thinking, "oh boy! That's going to be Jocelyn!" Well, I went up there to help her and she marched right up to the microphone and she did SO WELL! I whispered the talk to her, line by line, and she said it all! I actually got teary eyed b/c her little voice is just so sweet!! I can't believe my little baby is to the point of giving "talks" in church!! AHHHH!

Here is her talk...
"Heavenly Father has a plan for me. I lived with Jesus and Heavenly Father as a Spirit child. I chose to come to earth and follow his plan. I came to a family and received a body. While I am on earth, my parents and teachers will teach me about the gospel. Because of what Jesus did for me, I can live with Heavenly Father again."

I'm so proud of my girl!! :)

A new year, a new class....

This year at Church, Graham and I are teaching a primary class together. We have the CTR 7 class which is 6 year olds who will be turning 7 this year. They are really cute! We have a huge class! Eleven kids! WHOA! Of course, there are only two girls and the rest are very energetic boys! Last year, I taught a class with all boys, so I was hoping for some balance this time!!

Oh! Jocelyn is in Primary now (instead of nursery) because she is three! Her class is called Sunbeams! I feel sorry for the two guys who teach b/c there are 13 sunbeams!! That is just crazy! Not all of them come every week, but still! Anyway, for some reason, Jocelyn has not wanted to go to nursery the past few months. She was doing so well and then they put new teachers in the nursery and she would have a meltdown if I tried to drop her off in there! Poor girl. Actually, poor Mommy! She would cry out, "BUT MOMMY! I LOVE YOU!! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!" Talk about a guilt trip! Like I said, I taught a class last year too, so I didn't have time to argue with her, so she would end up coming with me to class. It was pretty funny though. At first, after she had decided she didn't want to go to nursery anymore, she would start pleading with me to let her come with me when I started getting her dressed for church. Soon after, she would start SATURDAY NIGHT! Don't know how she knew it was Saturday b/c I sure wouldn't tell her, but every Saturday night, "Mommy, I don't want to go to nursery! I want to go to your class!" UHHH! Well, this didn't give me hope for the new year and her big girl class! She has the NICEST teachers, but for some reason, she doesn't like them. They always try to talk to her in the halls and get her to go to class, but she just ignores them! Well, they told me that those teachers would be moving up to Sunbeams from nursery! GREAT! I was hoping for a fresh start (only b/c she doesn't like them! I think they are great teachers!).

So! Last night at Church they had a "Pajama Party" to let the kids meet their new teachers. Jocelyn and I bought her adorable, new pajamas and I told her all about it. She was VERY excited all day UNTIL we got there and she saw her teachers! UHH! So she ended up staying with me half the night! I was joking with one of the other teachers and said, "Would you like to adopt Jocelyn into your class?!?!" I was teasing, but she said "YES!" and took Jocelyn! Now, this would be great news, but she teaches the ten year olds! Somehow I don't think this will work all year! :) But Jocelyn went to class with her and was completely happy! UHHH! Kind of makes it even more frustrating b/c I know she will go with someone, but not her teachers!!

Anyway, the good news is, with a lot of help from the primary leaders, JOCELYN WENT TO CLASS TODAY!! WOHOOOO! I didn't think it was going to happen!!! Graham and I were sooo excited! I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but trust me....for us, it is! :) The Primary President is awesome and she checked in on Jocelyn and when she was crying for me, she distracted her and let her be the "big helper"!

Keep your fingers crossed for next week!!! AHHHH! :) Good thing we love her so much!

Christmas pics

Diamond ring...

The other morning, Jocelyn asked me if she could wear my diamond ring. I told her that she will get one when she gets married. I then asked her who she wanted to marry. She said, "Uncle John!" I said, "Well, what is Myrica going to do?" Jocelyn said, "Umm, make our rings!!!" ha ha. That girl!!!

Say a little prayer...

I am going to put Christmas pictures up here soon! Jocelyn and I just got back from Texas, so I have lots of pictures of Jocelyn and her cousin, Adam!

I couldn't help but write down this story of Jocelyn. It's pretty cute!!!

We rode to Texas with one of my friends and her three kids. We had a car full! We were driving down the road in Texas and Shea said, "oh boy. I just saw that cop turn around." Well, we weren't even going eight over the limit, but of course, we see the lights flip on and so we pull over. As the cop was walking up to Shea's car, I look back at Jocelyn and she has her arms folded and says, "Let's just say a little prayer!!" I have NO CLUE why she would say something like that b/c we've never been pulled over before and we haven't even really talked about police officers, but she sensed something!! The funny part is.....we got off with a warning!!! :)

Our little horseback rider!

We went to Graham's moms house the other day to celebrate Graham's 30th birthday! Grandma has eleven horses and Jocelyn always LOVES to go see them!! She would have a horse in her bedroom if she was allowed! :) She loves to go say hi to every one of them and give them kisses and she LOVES to feed them! She'll carry hay that is bigger than her, just so she can help out! It's so cute! She also gets to ride the horses. She usually rides Dirty Face b/c that is Grandma's favorite horse and she is good with kids! Anyway, here are some pictures of Jocelyn riding.

Turkey Day and Hide and Seek!

Well, I have been horrible with writing in this!! We have been so busy lately, so I thought I'd sit down while I have the chance and get caught up!

We had a great Thanksgiving Day! We went out to Mom and Dean's house and of course had wonderful food!!! Mom makes the BEST stuffing....yum yum!! Mom and I made this dessert together called Chocolate Wonderful. My aunt always made if for the family on holidays and since I don't get to Tulsa much, we thought we'd give it a try!! A little nerve racking trying to re-create something so good, but it turned out yummy!

After dinner, Jocelyn wanted to play hide and go seek with Mom and I. She LOVES this game! Usually right before bedtime, Graham will go upstairs and hide and Jocelyn and I will go find him. Daddy came up with that idea b/c sometimes it's a battle to get her to go upstairs at bedtime, so with that game, there's no fight! :) Anyway, Mom and Jocelyn went to hide and I was suppose to find them. It was the funniest thing!!! On one side of their house there are three bedrooms and the bathroom all next to each other. I would step in each room and say, "Are you in here?" Soon I heard this little voice saying, "Huh uh!" (meaning no). It was so hard not to laugh! I went in two more rooms, each time asking "are you in here?" and each time getting the sweet little reply, "Huh Uh!" Then I heard Mom laughing so hard! I find them lying on the floor next to the bed and both of them are just shaking, laughing so hard! It was soooo cute! Such a fun memory to tell Jocelyn when she gets older! :)

Jocelyn's new dollhouse!!!

This dollhouse is amazing! Cutest thing I've ever seen! It is three stories tall, has eleven rooms and came with eighty pieces of furniture! The furniture is so cute....it has a treadmill, plasma tv, vacuum, mop, playroom, a grill, bunkbeds, chandelier, ceiling fans, and so on!!! Adorable! Here are some pictures of it....

Birthday pics

Jocelyn is THREE!!!

Wow! I can't believe my baby is three! She has changed so much in three years! She is so smart (I know all parents think their child is!), beautiful, energetic, playful, a goof ball, so sweet and caring. I am so amazed by her! I hope she continues to grow up happy, healthy and with the sweet spirit that she has. Don't get me wrong, she has her moments.....oh boy, does she! She has my temper, that's for sure! I can see glimpses of teenager in her...it's scary! :) But I adore her and she definitely makes up for the frustrating times! She loves to just hang out with Mommy and Daddy and her new thing she loves to do is play games. For her birthday she received Hi Ho Cherry O, Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land and this bean bag toss game. She would play games all day long with us if she could! It's so much fun and she is so smart that she has all the games and rules figured out! :)

Anyway, we had such a blast at her birthday party this year. The theme was Tinkerbell, just b/c she decided that's what she wanted one day. :) She has been watching Peter Pan, but not until after she picked out Tinkerbell. It turned out really cute and she LOVED the fact that the whole day was just about her! Anytime I told her we had to run an errand for her birthday party, she'd say, "why?!?! Because it's my birthday? Is everyone going to sing happy birthday to me?!" It was so cute! Graham and I got her this HUGE dollhouse. I don't even know if I should call it a "dollhouse" b/c it's insanely huge. She really could fit in the thing! It took us over two hours to put together and it won't fit through any doorways, so if we move, we have to take it apart! Oh boy! The cat loves it b/c he can walk through the rooms! It has eleven rooms and 80 pieces of furniture.....I know, insane! She loves it and I know it will get played with for years and years! Her other favorite part of the party was the pinata. They have new pinatas for younger kids where it has probably twenty strings hanging down and everybody takes a turn pulling the strings and one of them opens it and all the candy pours out. It was pretty funny b/c all the kids probably had five turns each before Jocelyn FINALLY pulled on the right string and it poured down all over her! She jumped b/c it surprised her so much! Of course, the cake was what she had been waiting for all day. That girl loves cake! :)

By the time we were ready for bed, it was around ten oclock. I know, I'm a bad mom. :) She was sooooo overtired that I told her she could come lay in bed with me. (Daddy had to go to work). The minute her head hit the pillow, she sprung up and said, "Okay Mommy! Let's talk about my day!" It was soooo funny! She talked about EVERYTHING for TWO HOURS!!! It's hilarious b/c that's how I was when I was younger. I'd be so tired and then I'd go to bed and TALK, TALK, TALK. Right Ashlee? When Ashlee and I would have sleep overs, she'd be falling asleep while I just talked forever! Well, Jocelyn does the same thing! It was hilarious! Finally at 12:30, she wanted to get a drink of water and go in her bed! I will remember that night for a long time...it was so cute! I am going to put pictures up, but the program doesn't want to work right now for me! UHHH!

More pictures

These are the pumpkins Ashlee and I did when they were visiting. She did the harder one! :)

This pumpkin was done by someone in our church. Thought it was pretty funny! :)

Halloween

Well, I guess it's about time to put up Halloween pictures! I've been meaning to and now I'm finally getting around to it! We had a lot of fun this year. We went to our church "trunk or treat" party. Everyone decorates the trunk of their car and the kids go around the parking lot at church and get candy. Jocelyn LOVES candy and so she is soooo excited when she gets to have her own bag of it! :) She becomes a little bossy when it comes to her candy. This is pretty funny...I tell her she can have ONE piece for the day. Well, she thinks if she finishes a piece of candy, like a sucker, three-fourths of the way then that means she can have a different one!!!! She does this to me all the time! She hands it to me and says, "here mommy, I want something different!" Oh boy, that girl!! Anyway, we decorated our car with spider webs and spiders all over. It was pretty cute! Halloween night we went trick or treating in my neighborhood with Jocelyn's friend, Brianna. Jocelyn dressed up as Lady from the Disney movie "Lady and the Tramp". She's never seen the movie, but she loves dogs, so she was happy. It was funny b/c Jocelyn's costume was so fluffy and poofy so she had a tummy. She didn't know what to do with it b/c it stuck out so much so she'd go around rubbing her "doggy tummy"! It was pretty funny! She is almost three and fit into a 18 month old costume! She's a tiny little thing! Brianna was a cute little pirate. Jocelyn called her a captain instead. :) This was Jocelyn's second year trick or treating, so she really got the hang of it. Here are some pictures from the church party and halloween night....

First haircut!!

Jocelyn is almost three and I've never really given her a haircut. I've trimmed her hair before, but nothing major. So, the other day I got the scissors and decided to take off an inch or so. Well, after I finished getting it straight.......yeah, it's short. :) After I got over the shock, I decided I love it b/c her hair is so fine that it looks cute short. Daddy says he liked it better long. Oh well. Here are some pics. What do you guys think??? :)

We MISS our friends!

I've been meaning to put pictures up here of when Ashlee, Gavin and Tanner were here, but we've all been sick and I haven't! Until now! :)

We had SO much fun with Ashlee and her boys! Gavin and Jocelyn are too cute together and get along so well. Jocelyn will randomly tell Gavin that she loves him! Ashlee and I are hoping those two get married someday! :) Jocelyn adores Tanner too. She says, "Ahhh, Tanner. You are so cute!" Gavin and Jocelyn's favorite thing to do together was to run upstairs, lock one of the bedroom doors and all we would hear was screaming and laughing. I think they were jumping from one bed to another in the guest bedroom. We only had one bumping of the head incident, so that's pretty good. :)

We did so many fun things while they were visiting. We went to Chuck E Cheese....always a favorite for two year olds. :) We attempted to go to the Balloon Fiesta (the whole reason I flew them out here that week), but unfortunately they cancelled the balloons b/c of the wind. It was so disappointing, but after watching the fireworks and hearing Gavin's "oohhhs" and "aahhhs", it put me in a good mood! :) He's adorable.

We went to a pumpkin patch, which was lots of fun. The kids rode this "cow" train ride. I thought Jocelyn would be okay with it b/c Gavin was with her. Well....they took the kids around a big building and when they came back, Jocelyn had tears running down her cheeks. I look at Gavin and he tells me, "I didn't like that!" Well, I can imagine with someone crying in your ear, it wouldn't be too enjoyable. Sorry Gav!! :) We all rode the hayride, which was fun. They drop you off in the middle of the pumpkin patch and you get to pick your own pumpkin. It was quite the experience. I didn't realize how many vines were all over the place until Jocelyn and Gavin tripped probably twenty times each!! Their little legs would get all wrapped up in vines and down they'd go! Poor things! No tears, though, so they must have thought it was fun! :) Anyway, we had lots of fun that day. The kids feed the goats, saw the bunnies, played in a sand box filled with corn and lots of other fun things!

We also went to the zoo, carved pumpkins (the kids decorated theirs with stickers), played air hockey. Jocelyn and Gavin surprised us with how good they are at air hockey. They would get going and hit it back and forth a lot. The puck would get stuck in the middle occaisonally, but for the most part, they were hitting it.

It makes it so hard to not live close to Ashlee and her boys! We all have so much fun together. I am blessed with the best friend! Ashlee and I have been friends since we were 12 years old. It's so nice to have someone in your life who knows so much about you and you don't have to explain your life history...they were there for it. I've found it's hard to make really close friends the older you get b/c life just gets so busy, so I am especially grateful that Ashlee and I are still so close. I admire her strength and her attitude towards life. She is such a wonderful mother too. She's just the best!!!! :)

Here are some pictures from her visit out here!

Jocelyn, Gavin and Tanner on the slide at Chuck E Cheese.

At the pumkin patch

The picture above makes me laugh. We were at the zoo looking at the elephants and Gavin is falling here, grabbing ahold of Jocelyn! No one was hurt in the making of this picture. :)

I'll put more pictures up in a minute. This is getting out of hand! :)

Two things....

Jocelyn keeps giving me funny things to write about. She is our never ending entertainment! :)

One, anyone who is willing to fund Jocelyn's Christmas list, feel free...this is her humble wish list...
1) "A horse, a black one"
2) "A dollhouse"
3) "A Purple motorcycle!".....daddy loved that one!

Yeah, we'll think about number two, other than that...this child is OUT OF LUCK! ha ha.

Second, I now know how she feels when I change her stinky diaper. She decided her baby doll was poopy today and told me she had to change her. She got the diaper and wipes and started the process. Then SHE STARTED GAGGING!!! She told the baby that she stinks! I was laughing soooo hard! Anyone who knows me well, knows I can harly stand smelly stuff and I gag! My poor baby girl. Good thing we're potty training now. It's so much more tolerable than diapers! :)

Nothing gets by her!!

So I have another funny little story about Jocelyn. Usually Graham will ask me, "Is it time for b-e-d?" Or "Are we doing a b-a-t-h tonight?". We thought we were so sly by spelling things out, like Jocelyn didn't know what we were talking about. Well, she proved us wrong this weekend. Ashlee and her boys were visiting and we were all upstairs getting ready for bed. We gave them all baths and put their p.j.'s on, then I asked Jocelyn to tell Daddy it's time for bed and stories. She goes out into the hall and yells downstairs..."Daddy! It's time for E-B-D!" It was SO CUTE!! She had us all laughing! I wonder what else she knows how to spell....sort of! :)