Braelyn's Memory

Braelyn has memorized all 13 Articles of Faith. Hooray! They get to put a scoop of ice cream on their cone (Shannon's idea) for each one they memorize and now Braelyn's is about to tip over. I am very proud of her. The girls are amazing at memorization. They each are working their way to the top. When they finish they get an ice cream treat from Sonic! These 13 proclamations were written by Joseph Smith to sum up our basic beliefs as a church.

1 We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

2 We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.

3 We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

4 We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

5 We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

6 We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.

7 We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.

8 We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

9 We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

10 We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

11 We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

12 We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Joseph Smith

D Day

If you look at my blog from a few weeks ago you will see that we were toilet papered on our special g i r l s night. We found out that my friends, Nick and Eric, did it and we have been planning a payback ever since. I will not mention that Kensington prayed ONCE that we can get revenge on Nick and Eric (which I quickly told her we do not pray for! Yikes, what have I created???)

Today was our big day! D Day Baby. Last week Nick trusted me with his car keys on a whim when he needed someone to help get his car which was parked at the church building because he had to fly to California. So, how lucky was I that he gave me his whole key ring with his car keys and house keys on it. He did tell me that maybe he shouldn't trust me with his car when he knew we were planning to get back at them. I reassured him that I would not be doing anything last week because it's no fun when they are expecting it. Heck no! I just made copies of three keys on his ring because I didn't know which one was to their house. I tested them last week and I found my winner key! The plan was underway then. :)

Yesterday Shannon, me and the younger kids started to shred newspaper. Our little shredders couldn't hang and mine officially broke. I think Shannon's is broken too although there's hope for hers still. Mine is down for the count. Darn it. We managed to fill one large garbage bag with newspaper strips. We worked on it for about three and a half hours on and off. We also made signs to hang around their condo like 'Remember you started this. We are really just victims.' We bought packing peanuts and put them in their bathtubs and shoes and in their beds. We put all the shredded paper into all the drawers in their entire house, kitchen drawers, bathroom drawers, nightstand drawers and dresser drawers. To be quite honest, it made a real mess. The best part is that these guys are planning to move tomorrow! Yeah, good luck to them with that. They hadn't even started packing anyway. We also filled their bathrooms with boxes from floor to ceiling so when they opened the doors that's all they would see! Pretty genius if you ask us. We went with the whole packing/moving theme. We have gotten correspondence from them and they've said that although they feel bad cause I'm a single mom that I was warned and they will bring it now! Shannon and I are putting on our big g i r l panties and are awaiting the next attack! Which we were warned will be when we least expect it!This was our get away car! And this is us, the criminals. Well, technically, it's not breaking and entering if we have a key!

Do you all know any amazing pranks? We need to start planning for our next offensive move! Please email me if you know anything that will blow them away. We don't want anything that involves poop or food though. Yeah, don't ask. :)

Two Sealings, Two Cities, One Day

On Friday the girls and I drove up to Dallas. We hung out with the Rogers that afternoon and then I took the girls to Snowcone Lady for a treat and then to their dad's house that evening. Ku'ulei and I took Mason to Little Elm Park that night for a concert in the park. It was so fun!! She and I stayed up and watched Sydney White and crashed at 2am. The next morning we got up (kinda late:) and got ready for the temple. Angel gave me a ride to the temple and we were able to attend the Grumbles' family sealing at 2pm. It was beautiful and very touching. This family is so special! From the sealing I went straight to the airport and caught a 4pm flight to Houston. My friends here, Dave and Danielle, were sealed that morning in the Houston temple. From the airport I went straight to their wedding reception. It was a beautiful reception and you couldn't even recognize the cultural hall! I wish I had my camera to take pictures but Brae had it this weekend. I spent the night in Houston and went to the singles ward Sunday then flew back up to Dallas that night and got up early this morning (Monday) to pick the girls up and drive back home. It was a whirlwind weekend but it was exciting, spontaneous and fun! I am thankful to all my friends who helped me out this weekend. I was sad to not get more time with them, that was the downside.

Holy Smokes I am Exhausted!!!

So, just a little blog about all that has transpired. Cali's birthday was Wednesday, Bella's birthday was Thursday, Nasa was Friday, Schlitterbahn was Saturday. I got home after midnight after that whole day and still had to bake two birthday cakes for our family birthday gathering today after church. I think I started the baking at one am this morning. I took that time to also revise the last minute details for my talk today. I got to bed at two am with a projected sleep time of six and a half hours. I woke up well before my alarm with much on my mind and I can't sleep these days anyway so up and at em Sunday. I gave a talk during Sacrament today, then taught my lesson during Sunday school then after church ran home to get the cupcakes and cake, changed our clothes then went to Shannon's for the gathering. We ate good food, had good dessert and then shortly after I took my good friend to the airport. Tonight, I am totally and completely exhausted. I think it's been non stop like this for over a week and a half. Crazy life! But.... it's all good!

Schlitterbahn

We had the most amazing day trip to Schlitterbahn Galveston Island on Saturday. I went with my friends Nick, Eric and Maddi. If only I could fit their personalities and ego's on a blog (Nick and Eric, Maddi's great). It's impossible though! No one can ever be bored hanging out with them. It was about an hour and a half drive down South. The park was so fun! My favorite was the lazy river that had rapids and waves and went all around the park. It was a very fun, fun day. We had a blast. After a day in the hot sun we came back and got freshened up and went to dinner with a big group from the guys' work. It was a great day! I am thankful for such good friends here.

Our Trip to Nasa

This was our family lunch at Panchos before Nasa. Brennan, Rylan, Aaron, Braelyn waiting for our tickets to go into Nasa

Cali and Annie

Our toothless wonders!
Kamryn and Grandma

Partial Crew waiting in line for crazy fun ride

Jordan and the bungee tower! Let me tell you what, this tower was quite a workout. I went up and down about three times trying to make sure the kids got to the top who wanted to. It went from the ground to the ceiling I think. It has may layers of bungee belts and I was SWEATEEE when I came out. Wow! So fun though. We had a great time playing together.

So, this is one of the exhibits where we went into a mock shuttle. It was an amazing place! It's hard to believe Nasa has things about astronauts since we pretty much spent most of our time in the children's play area! Below is a video, this was no ordinary play place!

The worker told me that this was a great jump and I had nice form ;) A perfect 10 I think.
Our family who came to town for a visit went and did the grown up side of Nasa. They actually learned some cool stuff! We did this for hours which was good with me ;) We did get to see an Imax show which was amazing and we did a few other exhibits. All in all, a fabulous day at Nasa!!!

Isabella & Calissa

I am so thankful for these two beautiful ladies in my life, as well as their sisters. I have reflected on their birth this week and how quickly time goes by and how much change comes with time. Happy Birthday to Bella and Cali!