Not So Traditional

Our Thanksgiving this year was a little out of the ordinary, but boy did we love it!

Last year we had gone to Utah and froze for 3 days...it was that trip where we decided we were done with winter holidays anywhere north. Why would we leave a paradise of 72 degrees?

My brother had come the 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, so we already did a turkey with him, since he hadn't been home for Thanksgiving in 8 years! My step-dad, Ken, had back surgery the week before, so my parents were in no condition to travel or host.

What were we to do???

Play outside, watch movies, go to the park, go shopping, and decorate for Christmas! The weather was beautiful making it just perfect!

Here's Brooke helping me in the kitchen

Kent and Braelynn watching Megamind

Let's eat! Steak, baked potato, roasted pesto veggies, and yummy sourdough with butter, garlic, and cheese

Kent definitely approves of the new holiday menu!

More bread Braelynn?

Brooke barely made it through the prayer!

Peek-a-boo Brooke!

Ahh- get a load of that sunset!

I love my little sweethearts!

How's the view from up there?

Yes ma'am! Flip-flops in November :)

And now onto Christmas!

So in Love...

I know, you are probably thinking that this post is about Kent and the last 4 blissful years. Well, that post is coming in a couple of days, but in the meantime I just gotta tell you how much in love with Braelynn I am!

She drives me absolutely crazy many days, but there are so many days that I could just eat her up!

Sunday. She was just so cute! All of a sudden, our little mess-of-a-girl has discovered how much fun it is to get girly. We do ponytails and now we're even getting into curlers.

Call my crazy, but I'm even obsessed with the peach fuzz on her arms. She's not a baby anymore!

She's never been one to "crash" anywhere...until she decided she was too big for naps!

She was definitely a fan of the Halloween candy!

Silly girl! Daddy doesn't need curlers :)

It's so fun counting with her, and singing the alphabet.

San Diego, Baby Showers, Halloween and Other Stuff

Our "little dancer" in San Diego. Photo courtesy of Carly.

Nothing like a nice warm bath.

Braelynn's first trick-or-treatin' halloween.

Brae wearing the outfit Carly wore when she was a little girl (she's a clown, without the makeup)

:)

Messy Girl! Cupcakes!

Carly throws one heck of party (Jeanette's baby shower).

Brooke at our hotel room

Our little princess...

Brae! Stop dragging Brooke across the floor!

Braelynn's first experience with curlers - she wore them all night for church today.

Some Notes from my Journal dated April 12, 2010:

When Moses first communicated with Jehovah on Mount Sinai, he was commanded to remove his shoes, for he stood on holy ground. Taking off one's shoes was custom in those days for anyone with the status of being a slave. For slaves were to stay fairly close by and give strict heed to their master's call.

In the telestial, fallen world we find ourselves in, we too are slaves, brought up like the children of Israel in captivity to sin and the influences of evil.

Like the ancient Israelites brought up in bondage to Egypt, we wrestle with the realities of scarcity, competition, and the harshness of living in a sometimes fierce and cruel and unfair world.

However, the Lord has shown us a better way, a way out. We can live in the world without living of the world.

The night the children of Israel were delivered from the Egyptians, they were commanded to keep their shoes on in preparation for the speedy and quick deliverance the next morning.

As the children of Israel were delivered from bondage, first through the red sea (representing the first ordinance of baptism) and later by the cloud of light (representing the Holy Ghost) they found themselves wanderers in the wilderness for 40 years. They learned to depend upon the Lord for daily bread from heaven (manna, representing the word of God), and healing from the effects of poisonous serpents (representing the effects of sin).

In a sense, they were introduced to a new world, with new challenges and struggles... but at least they were free from slavery. They had the Lord to guide them. It was a time of purging and purification and preparation for the Israelites. Only after they were truly purged could Moses as the Lord's prophet and messenger introduce them to the promised land, though he himself did not enter.

To the extent we live in this fallen world, yet remain faithful to our baptismal and temple covenants, and we continue to walk in faith and partake of the sacrament worthily each week, we find ourselves living in a different world - a terrestrial world, perhaps - where we trust in and depend upon the Lord and His chosen representatives and fellow Saints for our nourishment and survival.

We work and we're diligent. We live in the world, but not of the world. We live, no longer captive to sin, but also not realizing our final destination just yet...knowing that this life we find ourselves in is not our final destination.

And so, we hold on. We trust in the Lord. We keep the commandments. We strive to purify our hearts, our words, our actions. We follow the prophets. Until the final day when the promised land is introduced to our view, and the veil is parted, and we see clearly then...and we return home to our true home, our heavenly home where our Father in Heaven dwells.

My prayer is that each and every one of our family members may live worthy to enter the Lord's presence at that great and final day. That we may all be one.