A Great Man

I have many memories of President Hinckley. I had the privilege of being in the tabernacle when he was sustained as President of the Church. I camped out many, MANY times at BYU when he came to speak for a fireside or devotional. But perhaps one of the strongest memories I have of this great man was when he came to a regional conference in Alaska. It was almost 13 years ago, and he had been scheduled to come speak at our regional conference for some time. However, when he became the prophet, everyone said that they would send someone else to the conference -- no prophet had ever come to Alaska. But he came. I remember the minute he walked into the room, and instantly thousands of people became silent and stood. It was then that I knew Gordon B. Hinckley was a prophet of God.

One more memory -- Josh and his dad were able to go to the last dedication session for the San Antonio temple. Sam and Benjamin and I waited outside. We were the only people there for quite some time. It was beautiful and peaceful. About 10 minutes before the session was over, people started coming. And they started crowding. And before I knew it, we were behind a large mass of people. I found myself getting very angry. After all, we had been there for so long! I tried to get Sam to the front of the crowd because I really wanted him to see the prophet. But try as I might, I couldn't squeeze past the middle of the herd of people. I told him to stretch really hard and try to see, even though I knew it would be impossible. But someone turned around and said, "let the little boy through" (sounds like something you'd hear in a corny movie, but it's true!), and somehow Sam was right at the front. President Hinckley shook as many hands as possible as he made his way to the car. He saw little Sam standing by himself, stopped and patted him on the head, and then moved on. And I felt a powerful love for that man that he would take a moment to make my son feel like the most important person in the world. I will forever be grateful for that one small moment in time.

"Believe in yourselves. Believe in your capacity to do some good in this world. God sent us here for a purpose, and that was to improve the world in which we live. The wonderful thing is that we can do it." -President Gordon B. Hinckley

Number Four

Question: How can you tell for sure that you are baby number 4?

Answer: You make a major milestone step going from this

to this for the first time

with no one watching.

And if that wasn't bad enough -- then you go back to this

and still no one is there! Poor Eliana!

How is it that she is already five and a half months old? Where have I been?

Benjamin

(Not the best picture, but he was so uncooperative!)

Today Benjamin turns 6. I can't believe he is 6!! (That means that we've lived in Texas for 6 years.) In honor of Benjamin's birthday, here are six things I love about him.
1. He's the only one in our family with blonde hair.
2. He loves to use big words. When he was about 18 months old, we were in the grocery store and something scared him. He turned tome and said, "Oh, goodness, that startled me." Since then, he always wants to know the meaning of words and loves to use new words.
3. He is very kind and empathetic. He can't stand to see someone hurt. He loves everyone completely.
4. He's obsessed with gadgets. He loves anything electronic. And, he always has to have some small something in his hand.
5. He's shy, but at the same time, makes friends very easily.
6. He's got a talent for music. We used to play guess that tune with him when he was really small. And he got it every time. Now, he likes to sit at the piano and pick out a tune. Last night, he was playing the beginning of a song he didn't even know -- until I played it for him on the I-pod. He's got skills!

Happy Birthday Benjamin! We love you!

Sleep Help!!

We moved Nicholas to his new bed, finally! And he goes to sleep pretty well. But at night, he gets up four or five times and just wanders the house. Sometimes we'll hear him playing games or trying to turn on the TV. One morning we woke up to a pile of chocolate wrappers on the living room floor. We always hear him and take him back to bed, but who knows how long he's been playing around before we wake up! I'm sure I've mentioned before his need for adventure, so I can only imagine what catastrophe awaits us if we don't get him to stay in bed.

Neither Sam or Benjamin did anything like this. We need help . . . and sleep!!

What do we do?

Star Wars, Nothing but Star Wars

Josh and I nicknamed this Christmas the "Star Wars Year." Without meaning to, we kind of theme shopped and 85% of the presents under the tree had something to do with Star Wars. Which is fine, because all the boys (Nicholas and Josh included) love the movies -- and everything that goes along with it.

So for Family Movie Night on Friday, we decided to do something a little different. I told the boys that we were having a Star Wars night and the details were going to be a surprise. I must have been asked a million times what we were having for dinner. I'm not sure they were asking because they were excited, or because they didn't want to be surprised by the food. Josh picked up Uncle Dan's BBQ on the way home from work. And we cleverly stuck new labels on all the food: Brisket became Boba Fett Brisket, Turkey was Tie Fighter Turkey, Sausage was Yoda Yummies, Green beans were Kit Fisto greens and Baked beans were Ewok Pebbles. For dessert we had Wookie Cookies (giant chocolate chip cookies). Sam and Benjamin got a good laugh out of it, especially when Josh concocted a tale of how he flew his X-wing fighter to Dexter's Diner to get our special order of Jedi food.

After dinner we had a star wars video game tournament. Josh, of course, won. . . But we divided his score by three, so Sam came out the winner. And we ended the evening with an exclusive showing of Star Wars II (for the 4th time since Christmas!)

It was a really fun way to end Christmas Vacation. Which, by the way, I am so glad is over! :) I love my kids, but I've got to tell you -- Sam and Benjamin can create a mess in less than a minute flat! I hate it, but at the same time I marvel at the ability. Now if I could only find some way to channel this force of nature for good . . .