This is THE day!

Last Saturday Bronson was BAPTIZED and Royce had his Baby Blessing!!!!!

Here are the two boys together on their special day.

John 3:5 says, "...Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

We get baptized to follow the Savior's example and to show that we have entered into a covenant with God. Through baptism we covenant to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, always remember him and keep His commandments. As we keep our part of the covenant, God promises the constant companionship of the Holly Ghost, remission of our sins and being born again.

Just as the Savior sought out John to baptize him, since he had the authority to do so, baptism now days also has to be by someone who has that SAME authority from God.

Biblical history shows many instances of God talking to prophets and it also tells many instances of apostasy. God has shown His love for us by calling another prophet and giving him priesthood authority to restore His church once again on earth.

A few hundred years before the Savior's birth the people once AGAIN fell into apostasy. While Jesus Christ was here on earth He established His church once again, the priesthood and the organization of the church (12 apostles, etc.). (Trust me, I'm getting somewhere...... :) )

With the death of the apostles, the priesthood keys were once again taken from the earth, but only after the apostles had foretold of a universal apostasy.

In the early 1800s a 14 year old boy, Joseph Smith retired into the woods to pray after being much confused on WHICH church to join and WHICH one was the SAME church Christ established while He was on earth. As a result of that humble prayer prompted by a scripture he read in the Bible (James 1:5) he had a vision where God the Father AND His Son, Jesus Christ appeared to him. Heavenly Father and the Savior gave Joseph Smith the authority to once again establish HIS church here on earth. He never professed to starting his OWN church, but restoring the very same church the Savior did while on earth.

And with His church here on earth, the authority and God's power/priesthood was also restored to perform the ordinance of baptism and also the laying on of hands to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost just as Paul did in Acts 19:6.

Knowing and having it confirmed to me by the Holy Ghost that all these events did infact happen, you can understand how thrilled I was for this day to arrive.

With THAT being said and what a special occasion this was, HERE is how Emerson drove to the baptism......sitting next to Grams.

Here is our HAPPY family picture........okay, so maybe just Bronson, me and Brooks are happy. Camden may be the only one w/ an excuse though being as sick as he was.

Wow, I should REALLY have this one framed.....or a new blog title picture in the making, right?

Here is Brooks with his dad, brother and my dad on the end. They all participated in the baby blessing and when Bronson received the gift of the Holy Ghost.

My parents

Brooks' parents (this is obviously taken before RA gave his talk and cried through it)

3 of Bronson's school teachers from school even came as well. (2 from Colombia and 1 from Chile) I was so glad because the two on the left are Camden's teachers this year and he was able to wrap himself up in a blanket and just lean on her the whole baptism.

Without getting too sappy, I just love this kid. He is truly a "good" person and really just wants to do right. He studied and prayed hard to get to this point and I love him all the more for it!

Here they are before the baptism, all dressed in white. When I saw Brooks and Bronson down in the water w/ eyes closed getting ready to start the baptismal prayer, I couldn't help but take a mental picture of the most beautiful scene I think I've ever seen. It was so touching and made me a basket case the rest of the time. Great. (don't my boys just look great in white?)

After we enjoyed all the family at our house for Bronson's big lunch he planned:

-Taco Salads

-Shaved Ice

-Caffeine-free Dr. Pepper

-Little chocolate cheescakes

-Big raspberry cheesecake

Such a funny kid and really, such a wonderful and touching day. I will always remember it.

4 days of Family Fun!

Bronson's ACTUAL birthday on Wednesday, and that night he was in a city level Free-throw contest. And since I DON'T want to be "that mom" that brags, I will NOT tell you that he made it there after winning his age division at our Rec. Center and that he was the youngest person competing in the 8-9 year ages and that he got 3rd place. I just will NOT go there.

Then the next day grandparents started arriving...........

There was sitting around and talking

(Darn, I didn't get a picture of Brooks' mom w/ the kids. Oh yea, probably because she was busy taking them swimming, giving them hot chocolate and suckers at the hotel. That's right.)

Speaking of swimming......is it like this in every other family that when brothers get together w/ their dads (regardless of age) that it turns into an all out wrestling match to see who is stronger? And no, I'm not talking about my boys, I'm talking about the ADULTS....Brooks, his brother and his dad! Just wonderin'......

And there was much music and singing....

(this picture was touching to me because my dad used to always accompany me when I would play the piano)

A lot of smiles............

Of course, some snuggling (however, maybe TOO much. Iris would NOT leave my mom alone....probably making up for lost time.)

And of course, volcano shooting.

(Anyone that knows my dad would not be surprised at this.)

4 days of fun with family. I'll give it 2 thumbs up......anytime!

How to throw a successful Birthday Party!

Here is your step-by-step guide to throwing a successful birthday party for a VERY good and cute 8 year old:

Step #1- Exhaust Energy

So I sent Brooks to Bounce-U (a place with a ton of inflatables to get the boy-energy out) with 8 boys and 1 girl.......ALL piled in the Yeti. (That IN ITSELF would be a party!) I must say, sending the party w/ Brooks and not with me was a GENIUS move on part.

Step #2- Wait

Brooks came BACK from Bounce-U with 7 boys and 1 girl.........meaning he left someone there. (maybe sending him wasn't so genius afterall) Of course, it had to be youngest one....my little Emerson. However this step in the party is CRUCIAL to having an exciting party so that all the guests remember it! So do NOT omit it.

Step #3- Admire

After being left at Bounce-U, Emerson had the honor of hanging out with 3 (yes, THREE) cop cars. All he could tell them was his first name and his age! Nice. However, our last name wouldn't have helped much anyway. They gave him a sticker and a sucker (that apparently when you stare at it to admire it's beauty you go cross-eyed). According to Emerson "they were SUPER nice. And they didn't even take me to jail!"

Step #4- EAT

Need I really say more? He wanted the usual ice cream sandwich cake, which I've mentioned before is the BEST b-day cake to eliminate the whole scooping up ice cream and dishing up cake thing.

Step #5- Pinata

EXCEPT when the FIRST string that gets pulled lets all the candy out. But hey, they got their candy, right? And I didn't even have to make a pinata this party because some lady gave that pinata to Camden at a yard sale thing and he said Bronson could use it! Score.

Step #6- Play

What would a party of boys be w/o the whole running-around-the-house-with-guns thing and basketball in the driveway?! I mean, really.

So there you have it. I laid out the simple steps to a party that now YOU can throw one too! You can thank me later......or pay me in sweets. Whichever.

Quick Answers about Emerson:

On the way home all the kids told Brooks Emerson was missing, but of course he thought they were joking. When they came home the kids told ME Emerson was missing and I thought they were joking too. (they've tried that one on me before) Then when Brooks came in and we realized he WASN'T there, Brooks rushed out the door and I got on the phone to call Bounce-U. (the lady had him there) When Brooks got there he expected to see Emerson sad, crying, horrified, or whatever.............not. the. case. One of the workers was holding him and he was laughing. Apparently he had the BEST time w/ the cops and the teenaged guy worker there playing air hockey, etc. He was so proud of himself that he BEAT that worker in air hockey as well. So I'm SUPER glad that he LEARNED HIS LESSON to stay by us, because heaven knows he would NOT want to go through all the game-playing, sucker-eating, sticker-getting, policecar-tours torture again!

Royce's song

Okay, so yes, I think of "Moonlight Becomes You" during the night w/ Royce, but during the day I have NOOOOO clue why, but I kept singing "I'm the Royce Man" (to the tune of "I'm the Scatman"............please tell me you've heard it and you danced to it during all your middle school dance parties like I did. Brooks had never heard it!)

I found the song on youtube to show the kids what I was singing and now they ALL sing it! They giggle sooooooooo loud through this whole song and they can't help but dance. Okay, so it's a long song, but ALL you have to listen to is the first 10 seconds because the kids listen to that over and over again and giggle and giggle when that guy is scatting around.

Now whenever you hear Royce's song, you can sing, "I'm the Royce Man" with us!
Come on, you KNOW you want to join in the dance party here!

I have a HOT mailman

OR.....at least he TOLD me he was hot going down there, but I don't believe him.

I DO have a cute and warm snow bunny though!

(Pictures taken on one of FOUR snow days from school......yes, you read that right FOUR days. But it was sooooo nice for me to have them home and get a little extra sleep in the morning. Also, I need to give a shout out to the bin of legos that helped entertain for countless hours! You ROCK lego bin!)

Lucky Him

Royce may be the smartest and luckiest kid of all!!!!

He has decided to get the whole teenage acne/zit/pimple thing out of the way NOW!

Wow, genius thinking on his part, I must say.

Me, on the other hand, I'm not too thrilled about it considering we have both sets of grandparents coming out next week AND his baby blessing (meaning a lot of pictures).

Oh well.

Here's a picture that could bring a smile to anyone of my sweet and VERY loud-singing girls.

It's Snow Comparison

We've had 2 snow days in a row here where school has been cancelled. Each day Emerson has come in with a different outfit to go outside. I still can't decide which is better........

Option A-

I like to call it the Girly Sponge Bob look.

Pros-

-He looks thrilled in it

- It must give him confidence (because he IS wearing Aleeya's jacket and it appears to not bother him)

- Exudes a masculine/Popeye look in him.....hence the muscles and Popeye mouth.

- His swimsuit is waterproof...........sort of.

Cons-

-POSSIBLY the swimsuit outside might be a little cold

- the lack of shoes......well, there is a slight chance his feet could freeze.....but I'm not certain.

Other then that, I don't see anymore.

Option B-

The Smirky PIgeon-toed Eskimo

Pros-

- well he IS covered, except the gloves....which even though I buy a package of 12 we STILL can't find any.

- shoes! Need I say more?

Cons-

- no real coat

- He's not smiling.

There you have it, Option A or B? I'm thinking Option A is the better outfit and beats out B, because after all, "You're never fully dressed, without a smile", right?

Happy Snow Days to us! Now if I could find a place to buy a sled, we would be SET!

My timer

Royce. Is. A. Timer.

In 3 hour increments.

Until recently, I could've started a recipe before I went to bed that said, "Bake for 3 hours and DO NOT OVERBAKE" and would've known that Royce would get me up in time to make sure it wasn't burned.

Of course during the day he's pretty consistent w/ the 3 hour thing and on a pretty reliable schedule. THANKFULLY, he thinks one time a night is good enough to see me.

(However he DID give me a first-day-back-to-school present last Monday and slept through the night for me. I knew it was a fluke at the time, but BOY was a grateful as that 6 a.m. getting everyone up routine sure would've hit me hard after a nice relaxing Christmas break)

I'm one of those keep-the-room-dark-and-keep-baby-sleepy -while-feeding-in-the-rocking-chair type of people. But my chair is next to a window and most times the moonlight comes in. Every night I can't get the song "Moonlight Becomes You" out of my head while the two of us sit there alone together. There's just something so sweet about his face.

Oh, and if you have NEVER heard this song, you're missing out. I'm ALSO one of those Oldies/musicals/black&white type movie lovers!!! Brooks always says I was born in the wrong era (meaning, I should've been born when the music was AWESOME, like back then!!!!) and that he hopes I can have someone in the family enjoy watching these movies w/ me one day like I always did with my sister and Mom and Dad growing up............because heaven KNOWS he won't!

Anyway, here's the good ol' Bing Crosby singing it in Road to Morocco..........maybe not as good as my 3:30 a.m. voice singing it, but I guess he'll have to do this time. :)

I hate it when....

-I am put on hold on the phone and have to wait FOREVER!!!!!!

- My pillow starts to lose it's shape and feel hard and ....... sort of boney

(not to mention get up and walk away!)

-No matter HOW you try to get away from it, you can STILL smell the B.O. of the person next to you.......I'm sure Royce can relate.

Amish Grace

I just saw one of the most incredible movies last night. It's called "Amish Grace" about the shootings of the girls in their school a few years back. It was so moving, touching and incredibly inspirational. It's a movie that aired on TV, but I Netflixed it (yes, I made that into a verb), so if you have that you MUST check it out. I think you can view half of the movie on youtube as well. Anyway, here's the trailer from it.

After seeing this movie I was left with such a good feeling and a desire to be better. It's based on the book, and I can't wait to get my hands on it. The acting in the movie is amazing and so believable. Really, you need to see it. It's a true testimony on the power of forgiveness!