Youth Conference 2010

Another great year of Youth Conference has come and gone! We absolutely loved it again! The theme this year was A.R.M.Y - A Righteous Mormon Youth and we really focused on the battles that we all fight everyday. A few highlights of the week:
1. We had TEN girls with us this year - thats right....I said ten. And we loved them all! They were such a fun group of girls and we miss their sweet spirits in our home!!
2. We were paired up with the Morris Family and had so much fun getting to know them even better. I love Shannon's ability to talk to anyone and Joel's laid back personality.
3. We had an actual battle that consisted of a large game of capture the flag (300 youth!!) with actual swords. Ok....so they were made of foam and tape but they hurt if you got hit with them. It was a lot of fun to see all of the strategy that went into it and just seeing the pure nature of war with 300 youth running around with swords.
4. Brother Decker once again spoke this year and he never disappoints. His talks are some of the best I have ever heard!! One thing that really hit Jacob and I was when he talked about the world today and how we can no longer just defend ourselves against evil. It is now time that we have to actually pick up a "sword" and fight. So inspiring!!
5. Sword fighting at home - The girls constantly tried to ambush Jacob with their swords thinking that a group ambush would work but he got them everytime. So hilarious!!
6. Hayley Stayner was a girl in our group who has an amazing talent of singing and song writing. She brought her guitar and graced us with some of her songs. I write this in my blog to have proof that she sang to us in our home before she was famous.

This week we feel like we have been so uplifted and we feel renewed and ready to keep fighting the battle. The Stake presidency fireside was amazing and the testimony meeting was the best we have seen. It was amazing to see the youth get up and bear their testimonies, with each one actually keeping it centered on Christ. We are so appreciative of the opportunity that we have had to do youth conference again. We kept getting thanked for doing it this year and for taking so many girls but we are the ones who are thankful. What more can you ask for than to spend 3 days with 300 youth who are ready to fight on the Lord's side?? Youth conference 2011....here we come!!

Maddie - She's growing so fast!

Maddie is getting some personality!! She loves to eat crackers (she will yell at you if she thinks you are taking them away), she finally has some teeth coming in, she's on the verge of crawling but hasn't actually moved yet, she still sucks her middle two fingers, she loves to stick out her tongue and then just leave it there (hence the picture), and she has the biggest, prettiest eyes!!! We love her!

Emma - Our little Rascal!

Emma is cracking us up lately with her little antics!! She says and does the funniest things these days. A few of her phrases lately:

"Oh my gosh! Are you kidding me?"
"I don't like it."
"Yeah!!! Mommy went pee-pee!"
"I want MB and Nathan."
" I wanna go to Disneyland."
"I want soba". (Yes, she pronounces it that way....not "soda".)

Gotta love that kid!

Disneyland!

We wanted to go on a fun vacation this year but we didn't feel like going very far so we decided to go and stay at Disneyland. It was so much fun! We stayed at the Grand California Hotel for two days and it has its own entrance into California Adventure AND Disneyland. It was awesome! We would go and run around for a couple of hours, then go back to the hotel room and take naps, and then right back out to play some more. Emma was so much fun to take on this trip. She loved the rides and especially loved all of the characters. She would see Mickey Mouse, call out his name, and then run to him to give him a hug and a kiss. It was adorable. Maddie was also the perfect baby just babbling and looking at everything. She never cried and just stayed happy wherever we went. Our favorite ride was the new Toy Story ride and Emma's favorite ride was Monsters Inc. We went on it like 7 times! We got her a stuffed animal with Sully and Mike that she carries everywhere! She calls it "Monster Mike". She even sleeps with it now. We definitely loved it and think that everyone should stay at the hotel there at least once.

Fun at Pop 'n Play Gymnastics

A lot of people have told us about this gymnastics place and we have been taking Emma now for a couple of weeks and it is so fun! You just pay $4 and your little toddler can run around for an hour and play on all of the equipment. At first, Emma was a little scared to do a lot of the stuff but now she loves it! I teach a class on the days that she goes so its a little Daddy/Daughter date and they enjoy the time together!

Maddie's Eating Extravaganza!

So back when Maddie was like four months old, I tried to start feeding her solids. It did not work out! She has the longest, craziest tongue and she could not figure out how to keep the food in her mouth. So I waited until she was six months old and tried again and it has turned out much better.....although she is still figuring out how to control that tongue. My favorite is when I start to get the food ready, or when I hold out a cracker for her to eat. She gets so excited and starts kicking her legs and reaching out her hands while making the most hilarious panting sound. It kills me everytime! The pictures don't do it justice.....luckily I have it on video.

Updated.....Finally!

Ok folks....I finally updated our blog from way back in September until now. Take a look! Be sure to check out our Utah trip......probably the worst trip ever but it made for one funny story. Enjoy!