Our beloved Prophet

Today in church we sang "We Thank Thee O God For Prophet"

I've probably sung it about a thousand times,

give or take a few.

"We thank thee, O God, for a prophet to guide us in these latter days.  We thank thee for sending the gospel to lighten our minds with its rays.  We thank thee for every blessing bestowed by thy bounteous hand.  We feel it a pleasure to serve thee and love to obey thy command."

I have it memorized.

I sang it without looking at the hymn book.

"When dark clouds of trouble hand o'er us and threaten our peace to destroy, there is hope smiling brightly before us, and we know that deliverance is nigh.  we doubt not the Lord nor his goodness.  We've probed him in days that are past.  The wicked who fight against Zion will surely be smitten at last."

The third verse really sunk in with me today though:

"We sing of his goodness and mercy.  We'll praise him by day and by night, rejoice in his glorious gospel, and bask in its life-giving light.  Thus on to eternal perfection the honest and faithful will go, while they who reject this glad message shall never such happiness know."
Really just the last sentence here, "while they who reject this glad message shall never such happiness know."  The message that we have to share is a message of happiness!  I know that is definitely true, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has brought me so much 

joy.

happiness.

peace.

comfort.

knowledge.

It is a wonderful thing to know that we have a true prophet on the earth today.  President Thomas S. Monson is a wonderful man.  He listens to the whisperings of the spirit and he guides our church well.  In the April 2008 conference (the first one after President Hinkley's passing) many speakers started out their talks by testifying that President Monson was the Lord's prophet on the earth today.  That helped to strengthen my testimony of President Monson.  He is a wonderful man and I am so grateful that I have the knowledge of a true prophet on earth.  I'm so grateful for the joy it brings me.

Love this man

We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet was written by William Fowler, if you want to listen to the song go here

7 months

This is coming a week late but Avery is now 7 months old!

here are her stats for this month:  

26 3/4 inches long (90th-95th percentile)

18 pounds (50th-75th percentile)

She's is still growing so great!  These measurements are just approximate because they were just done by me at home.  I calculated the percentiles at babycenter.com.  It makes me so happy to see how healthy she is, I just love that chubby little face!  

and I say chubby with the deepest love any mother can have!

6 months seemed like a big milestone to me and now that we're past that it's incredible!  Only 11 more months until she's in nursery!  We just have the most fun with Avery, I love spending my days with her.  I know the more she grows the more fun we're going to have!

Some new things she's been doing:

We started on formula and the transition went pretty smoothly, I wish I could have nursed longer, but it just didn't work out for us sadly.  She loves her bottle though when she sees it she lunges for it and get's upset if it's not ready for her yet!  She's also started having juice from a sippy cup, it took her a while to figure out how to use it, she would just be sucking on it like a binkie then be surprised when something came out of it.  She's really good at using it now though!

Also along the lines of eating, she's tried some new foods this last month.  The ones that she really liked were pancakes and pickles!  The pickle she just tried on Monday and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Avery hasn't been saying any words yet, but she does make a lot of noises, all the time!  She screams a lot, not so good at controlling the volume of her voice yet.  I whisper to her a lot so hopefully she'll get the idea.  She makes  a lot of sounds, ya ya ya is her favorite, she also says na na na, bwa bwa, and she blows raspberries a lot too.  I think she tries to say hi, when I say it to her she looks at me with great concentration  and kind of say ha ha.  So maybe that'll be her first word, time will tell.

Avery is awesome at sitting up now, even when she's on her back she gets up on her elbows trying to sit up.  She also bends in half when she's sitting down and eats her feet.  One time she fell asleep like that.

Looks comfortable doesn't it.

When she's on her stomach she kicks her legs a lot trying to move.  She doesn't get up on her knees yet though.  She does use her arms though to move around in circles and rolls around a lot to get where she wants to go.

She loves playing with her toys, she'll pick them up and play with them for a while and when she's done she'll chuck them to her side and pick up a new toy.  She also has started playing peek-a-boo.  I will put her blanket over her face and she'll pull it off and look up at me with a huge smile!  All in all Avery is just fantastic and still such a happy baby she smiles all the time.  I'm so blessed to be her mother.

Temples

Ogden, UT temple

"The temple was a place of learning for the Savior when He was on the earth; it was very much a part of His life. Temple blessings are available once again in our day."

James E. Faust

I love going to the temple, during my senior year in high school I would go (with Nicole and sometimes Kristy) to do baptisms for the dead before school just about every Wednesday.  Also for my senior trip Nicole, Kristy, and I went on a temple trip!  We started in Logan and went down to Provo doing baptisms for the dead at every temple in between.

  I love the feeling of the temple, you feel completely at peace, it is a sacred place, when you enter you leave the world behind.  It helps you remember God's plan for us, and think in more of an eternal perspective.  I have received a lot of comfort in the temple.  Towards the end of my pregnancy, around 34 weeks I think, the doctor said I was measuring a little small so they were scheduling another ultrasound to make sure everything was okay.  I started getting a little worried!  The week before the ultrasound I was able to go to the temple and in the Celestial room I decided to pray about this.  When I started my prayer I felt so much peace and I just thanked Heavenly Father for the healthy baby I would be able to bring into this world.  If any of you remember my earlier post about this ultrasound, it turned out that Avery was measuring ahead of my due date!  So I really had nothing to worry about!  

I love the work that I am able to do in the temple for those who have passed on without the opportunity of receiving these ordinances.  The spirit I feel from these people and the gratitude I know they are feeling in wonderful.  The last time we went to the Ogden temple before it was closed we did sealings, I love doing sealings.  The sealing ordinance is so special to me and doing it for these families who have waited hundreds of years fills me with the spirit.  Feeling how happy these families are to finally be sealed together for all eternity.  

"Through the power of [the] priesthood. . ., husband and wife may be sealed, or married, for eternity; children may be sealed to their parents for eternity; thus the family is made eternal."

Joseph Fielding Smith

I love the temple and i feel so blessed to live in Utah where they are so convenient to me!  The Logan temple is closing for cleaning soon and the Ogden temple is now closed for the next few years for remodeling and Louis said he heard someone complaining that they're going to have to drive all the way to the Bountiful temple.  Are you kidding me!  We're so lucky!  Some people have to drive hours to go to the temple, some people have to wait years to save the money to take their family to the temple so they can be sealed. I'm so grateful that we have temples on the earth today and so so blessed to have the knowledge that I have of the restored gospel.

Salt Lake City, UT temple

San Diego, CA temple

The temple lifts us, exalts us, stands as a beacon for all to see, and points us toward Celestial glory

Fathers

 I found this quote on lds.org and I wanted to share it:
"Second only to the title of husband is that of father. Next to eternal life, the greatest of all gifts that our Father in heaven can bestow on a man is the opportunity of being blessed with sons and daughters."

(L. Tom Perry "Father-Your Role, Your Responsibility" Ensign, November, 1977)

I have some great father/grandfathers in my lives. I can't think of anything better for Father's day than to share a little bit about each one and why they're amazing and why I love them.

My dad my dad I love my dad. He is an amazing man, he makes me happy and is one of my very favorite people in the world. I have so many great memories with him, one that I know I have mentioned many times is when I would go and do papers with him in the middle of the night. It was fun, we'd have a lot of good talks and I got to form a great relationship with him. Another thing I love is that when I was living there he'd ask my opinion on things for what to get for my mom for her birthday, anniversary, Christmas etc and I'd also sometimes wrap his presents to her for him. I just thought that was fun and I liked that he'd appreciate my opinions. My dad always supports me, even when I've done things that weren't the smartest he always let me know he loved me and he wouldn't get mad or frustrated he'd just be supportive.

My Grandpa is the coolest. Anyone agree? Yes I thought you would. He is. . .I want to say 87, am I wrong? Anyway, he's 80 something and he still competes in the Senior Olympics, and he get's all the golds. He says his strategy is to outlive his competition. Which he's doing a good job at because last year when I went to go see him compete, he was the only one in his age group! I have some great memories of him, he's such a fun person and loves to joke. When he lived in Utah he would come over for dinner most Sundays and that's where most of my best memories of him were made. He is a great man and a fantastic grandpa!

Louis Dad Joel, and Grandpa grandpa to Avery. Joel is a lot of fun, he cares so much about his children and will do everything possible to help them out. I have benefited many times from this in just the two years I've been in the family. He can also always get a killer deal on things. Louis has called him many times to have him go somewhere or call some place to get a better deal than he could have gotten on something. It always works! Ever since Avery was born she's had a special bond with Joel. When she was tiny tiny and wasn't even smiling yet she would still respond to Joel so much! He made a comment that they must have been friends in the pre-existence and I think he's probably right. Avery loves her Grandpa grandpa and I'm glad she has such a great grandfather.

This is Louis' grandpa Brandley. He is always looking for the chance to serve people. In fact we have helped him move dozens of people. One of which we moved three different times. He knows every one. We can hardly go anywhere without him stopping to talk to some acquaintance. Whenever you need him he'll be there. Even if you just need a ride. That was from Louis and I want to add something in here too. I agree with everything Louis said about him, he's such a wonderful person who absolutely loves to serve. He is always willing to serve, he loves doing missionary work, I'm pretty sure most of the missionaries in Ogden know him. I loved Grandpa Brandley even before I was a part of the family, some of you may know that I met Louis through my good friend Katie Brandley who is Louis' cousin so I knew Grandpa Brandley before I even knew Louis. He makes you feel very welcome and loved.

And of course my Louis, the father of my beautiful daughter Avery. It's only been 7 months, but he's a great father. It has been great to see him change into a father. It happened the very first day Avery came into our lives. Those of you who know Louis well you know that he really doesn't show his emotions. Well if you know him like I know him you know what his emotions are, but he can be hard to read for some people. When we were in the hospital about 20 minutes after Avery was born I caught him doing a little dance. This is remarkable for Louis, and it showed just how EXCITED he was and how much he loved that little girl. He is so great with her and helps me out so much. Louis is such a fun person and loves being silly and just has such a fun loving spirit. I just know when Avery gets a little bit older she's going to love running around with him.

Happy Father's Day

Random Thoughts and Pictures

I have many pictures that I love, but they aren't really worthy of having a whole post dedicated to them, so I'm going to do little post with snippets of our days. And yes let's face it they're mostly going to be of Avery because come on, she's more photogenic and a lot more fun to look at.

Well this guy is pretty fantastic to look at too, but

I'm sure you all think Avery is cuter

See, she even knows it! "Miso Cute"! This is one

of the onesies that was made at one of my baby showers

I watched Maya for the day while Jake and Celestial got

ready for a garage sale and we made cookies

She was a great helper and always asked "Can I do it?"

I went through all of Avery's stuff to see what

I wanted to add to J&C's garage sale and as I was

going through her newborn clothes I couldn't believe

how tiny she used to be. This onesie used to be baggy on her

Ever since Avery started reaching out for things she would

lunge at my water bottle whenever she'd see it.

She totally knows how to use it now

Avery fell asleep in Teancum's swing

doesn't she look so comfy?

Avery wearing Louis' hat

She is getting really good at sitting up,

but sometimes she gets too excited and. . .

tips

over

This was just today she did this herself while she was just rolling

and rolling and rolling around as she tends to do now,

tangled up in her blanket it was so funny

And here she is after I freed her, I love her so much!

There is my rambling I'm done now. I love all these pictures, hope you enjoyed them too