Tears of JOY!!

My experiences being a mother and wife have been some of the best in my life!! Not a day goes by that I don't think of how truly blessed I am to have a beautiful daughter and another child on the way!! I did not know that I could love someone, besides my wonderful husband Scott, as much as I love Emery. It really helps me to better understand the great love that our Heavenly Father has for each of us, HIS Children.
Today Emery and I had a few conversations that have made me cry tears of JOY all day!!
First Conversation...
First to set the scene: Emery and I were getting ready to eat breakfast and had just said a blessing on the food. (Emery said the prayer) When she finished there were a few short moments of silence and then...
Emery: "Know Jesus?..."

Me: "Yeah"

Emery: " Jesus is in heaven. And "Whintey" in heaven. "Whintey" is in heaven with ours baby"

Whitney is my sister who passed away last year in March. I don't know what triggered Emery to say that but it was just one of those moments that my heart just skipped a beat and I couldn't help but have those sweet tears of JOY!! I knew Scott had spent a lot of one on one time with Emery lately so I called him right away to tell him what she said and to ask if he had been talking to her about Whitney or the baby being in heaven. Neither of us had recently. We have told her about Whitney being in heaven but it has been awhile since we remember talking about it. But we were just amazed that she was able to put that together. Children are smarter than you think and they are so impressionable!!

Emery seems to be quite smart. Mostly because her memory is AMAZING. She will bring things up from months ago and remember so much about it. So my mom had suggested to me that we start teaching her to memorize poems and songs or something that will help keep her mind active. We decided that we would start teaching her the Articles of Faith. We started with the First Article of Faith and talked about it for Family Home Evening. We kept reciting it with her whenever we remembered for a few weeks and she had gotten it down pretty good so we decided that we would move on. So last night for FHE we decided to start learning the Second Article of Faith and we talked to Emery and taught her about what it meant. When we were reciting it we got to the word Transgression and told her that it was like a sin. And we told her that sins are things that we do wrong. Things that make Heavenly Father sad liked not being kind, etc.(we had to bring it down to her level) And when we do things wrong we need to say we are sorry and fix it. So this morning I was reciting it with her again and when we finished she said....

"I don't hit my friends. I say sorry my "gressions" huh?"

Once again another moment that brought those sweet tears of JOY!! She actually learned and understood the things that we taught her!! We are so very greatful to have such a great knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father and the plan that he set out for us to follow. He loves us even though we are not perfect. It is so wonderful to learn about and teach to our children the perfect example of His son Jesus Christ so that we can strive to become more like Him and to enjoy the blessing of being together as a family forever!!

CHECK THIS OUT!!

For Valentines Day my cousin and his friends did this for the "Girls" in their lives!! I just thought it was great!! Phillip is my cousin... his is the first one!! He is one of the most quiet, and reserved people I know. But after watching this I don't know any more!
Just click on the link to view it:
http://tothegirlsinourlives.blogspot.com/
If this is not the cutest Valentines greeting I don't know what is!!

Valentine's Celebrations!!

I remember when I was growing that my parents always made Valentine's Day a very special day for us!! A lot of times they would make a fancy dinner and they would always have a special gift for us. SO Scott and I decided that we would try to make this a tradition in our family!! We did our special dinner the day before Valentine's Day because Scott was at school on Valentines day. Scott is always helping in the kitchen so I decided to make it a bit more special that I would just do it all to make it a surprise for him. We also decided to dress up to make it feel more special, especially for Emery. You can't tell because of the flash but it was a candlelight dinner(not lights)!! I planned it all out just right so that we could do it in courses and it would all be hot and fresh as I served it.

We started off with Course 1:

Cheese fondue with Multigrain French Bread

Then I brought out Course 2:

Caesar Salad (Scott's FAVORITE!!) and I snuck away to put the Main Course in the oven...

Course 3:

New York Strip Steak, Salmon, Steamed Veggies, and Baked Potato

Note: I had alread eaten the salmon before I remembered to take the picture!!


Dessert:

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries!!

I learned a lot making this dinner...I love to cook and try new things. This was all pretty easy. We just never go all out like this and learned that this was so much food!! We just ate a little bit of everything but none of us could eat everything served. Which actually was not bad because it made for some great leftovers!! But we enjoyed it very much!! It was a blast and we will definitely keep this tradition going!! At one point Scott commented, "Boy, you are way more Romantic than me!!" I just laughed. Scott can be romantic too!!

On Valentines Day he woke and made me breakfast in bed, which I totally LOVE!! With it he brought me a little gift and a card. The card had this in it:

Yes it is a HUGE pin! He told me I had to wear it all day!! So I did, and with PRIDE! After I read the card he said, "I was looking through all the romantic cards and they were great! But, they're just not me. So when I saw this one I just had to get it!!" Scott also got me some perfume that I have been wanting. It is Dolce and Gabanna's Light Blue. This is what my sister Whitney wore and every time I smell it I think of her!!

IT SNOWED TODAY!?!

I just had to post this because this just makes me laugh!! This is a picture of our house this morning. We had been hearing on the news that there was a POSSIBILITY of snow flurries this morning. So, when I woke up this morning I looked outside and sure enough there were flurries. Always when it is bad weather or snowing here everyone turns on the news to see if there are school closings. Sure enough NO SCHOOL!! My family just always gets a laugh out of this because they live in Utah where this winter there has been 3-4 BIG snow storms a week and they have not had any school closings yet!! We don't often get snow here and don't have much equipment to keep the roads safe. There are a lot of back country roads that the busses and parents have to drive on to get the kids to school so really they just keep the safety of these people in mind when they are detemining the closings. They allow for something like 13 snow days before they have to make it up at the end of the year!!
So, needless to say, there are a lot of happy kids and teachers out there today that are just happy to have the day off!!
Note: There was just a little bit more snow on the ground when I first woke up. This picture was taken about 30 min. after when I realized it was starting to melt.

President Gordon B. Hinckley

As many of you may already know the President and Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Gordon B. Hinckley, passed away a week ago Sunday. This dedicated man was 97 years old, had a love for the word of God, and brightened the life of anyone he met. Ever since childhood I have had fond memories of President Hinckley giving inspired talks that have shaped the person I have become. When I turned 19 I had the great opportunity to serve as a full-time missionary in Salt Lake City, Utah. This put me close to all the action! One of my favorite quotes came when he visited our mission and told us, "Don't be stupid!" Besides that profound doctrine I have learned many great things from this man. He is an example for anyone to follow. He was a hard worker with a determination to get the job done. His list of accomplishments is to long to list. His love for those he came in contact with was too strong to be measured. In short, throughout his life, he emulated the life of our Savior Jesus Christ. I myself have taken on a covenant to follow Christ and to strive to be like Him. I know that as I do, I may also have opportunities to bless the lives of others. I encourage you to read more about the life of Gordon B. Hinckley and see for yourself the great life he led, and maybe you will see how he has changed mine.

We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet...

ONE IN THE OVEN!!

We are finally past our first trimester and are so excited to announce that we are expecting a new little one in JULY!! We feel so blessed to be able to have another child. We have been reading baby books with Emery to help her try to understand that she is going to be a big sister. I don't think that she will really understand everything until the baby is actually born. But she loves to sing to the baby and talks about how the baby eats through the "bela-cord".

Only in the South...
At our last Doctor's Appointment I was talking to the doctor about not being able to sleep at night and he was giving us some suggestions for that. He runs a Christian Based Practice so he told us that he knows we are people of FAITH and to use that to our advantage. He told me that the LORD is very real and I should be PRAYERFUL. He also suggested that when I am awake at night that I can read the BOOK of PSALMS and that I can feel a lot of peace when I do that. YA GOTTA LOVE THE SOUTH!! I don't know of anywhere else that your doctor will give you that kind of advice.

UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATERS!!

We were invited to an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party and were so determined to find just the right sweaters to wear. All 3 of us found sweaters with bears on them (that was kind of our family theme). Well Scott knew all along that he want to find one that was too small just for greater effects. He found one that was a Women's Medium. It was perfect. And he won the "Most Ilfit Award" and was given an exercise wheel. He demonstrated for every how it works. Oh and notice his yucky mustache. I could not take him seriously with that.

GIVING THANKS!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! We visited Scott's sister Amy's(Egnew) family in North Carolina. It was a short and sweet visit since we left Wed. and came back Fri. The Egnews live on a little farm with a cow, 2 goats, and a bunch of chickens. I think that the neighbors Pot-Bellied Pig thinks he lives there too as he would frequently come to visit. The kids had so we had much fun feeding the animals our scraps from our Thanksgiving Dinner and chasing them around. And for some reason I never got pictures of anything except us feeding animals. Oh well!! We had a blast with all the family there. I will tell you that we have not laughed as hard as we did there in years. The Allen family knows how to have fun!! Oh I did get on picture of all the girl cousins together. The boys were nowhere to be found.

Miss Mischief!!

Emery has really been keeping us on our toes!! She is very much a busy body, as most toddlers are. As posted before she is very intrigued by mommy's makeup. Luckily she has only gotten into it 1 time!! Well one day it was quiet a little bit too long so I went to go check and see what she was doing. Well, I could see all the traces of her along the way to the kitchen where she had pulled the chair to the sink and was "Keening". Now that wouldn't be so bad if she had only stuck to cleaning the dishes but she had taken the soapy sponge and tried to clean the couch, the TV, the carpet, you name she was cleaning it!! Everything that she "cleaned" had soapy bubbles all over it!! So of course that gave mom a lot of cleaning to do.




One night recently, Sharalee came over with her girls to watch Emery so that I could go out with the Missionaries. When I got back Sharalee was leaving so I went outside with them to say goodbye. While Sharalee and I were chatting for a bit Emery had gone back in the house. It had been a few minutes so I ran inside real quick to see what she was doing. She was having a great time!! I asked her what she was doing and she said "I eat it, Chocolate!!" She had gotten herself a spoon and was digging in.



I don't have a picture of this next one but.... I teach piano lessons and while I teach Emery usually takes a nap or she will just play in her room. She really does pretty good. Well one day I had left her Humidifier out (I know this was really my fault!!) and she was curious and playing with it. She got water all over and instead of leaving it at that she pulled the filter out and shredded in a million pieces!! I just about died when I realized what had happened. But what do you do?? She is just curious!!!