Do y'all remember this post?........

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

The Dream
Last night Sydney and I were laying in her bed. We always talk and tell stories and snuggle right before bed time. This is what she said to me......"Hey mommy, last night I had a dream. I dreamed that Heavenly Father and Gordon B Hinkley saw eachother in heaven. They were friends and they hugged eachother."I could NOT believe it. How precious! I had no idea what to say! What a wonderful child and a wonderful dream! A little background....Gordon B. Hinkley is the living prophet of our church. He is an inspired man called to speak for the Lord, just as other prophets did in the scriptures. He is the only person on the earth who receives revelation to guide the entire church.

I'm so glad I posted that so I can always remember it! President Hinkley passed away this week. He was 97 years old and had his family by his side. I have a testimony that Hinkley was a true prophet of God. I know that he was inspired by our Heavenly Father to lead and guide us. He will be missed, but I know that he is with his dear wife now and that we will all live together again.

When I told Sydney the news, she said "Well, he was old and he was sick and he probably had pneumonia." She said it just so serious like that is what she thinks happened. So sincere.

This is the best day of my life ever!!!!!!

That is how Sydney descibed her life on Saturday morning!

YAY! It snowed in Alabama! It started around 8am and snowed for several hours. Everything was pretty much melted by lunch time, but who cares! It was fun while it lasted.

Here are the kids looking out the window at the snow before it started to stick.
Can you tell I had not changed John Evan's saggy diaper yet?

Our pitiful little snowman.
Have you ever seen anything cuter than this?
Sydney playing with the girls across the street.
Daddy trying to keep John Evan's hands warm!
The snow was definately worth waiting 10 years for!

Luke's 2nd birthday

Sydney and John Evan's friend, big ole huge Luke(that is what Sydney calls him), had his second birthday! We celebrated at his house with a farm party.
His talented mommy made this wonderful cake.....


John Evan out this sticker on his head and I was afraid it would pull out his hair, so I left it for a while. Looks like a pink bow!
Sydney loved the horse!
The kids had a blast with the game. Tammy made a bunch of baloon animals and had them "escape" from the barn. It was a big hit. Here is Drew having fun!
Thanks Hancocks for inviting us!

Christmas presents

Chris got me the most awesome digital picture frame for Christmas. It is 15inches and there are several different ways to put pictures on it and it plays music. I love it! Right now I have a slideshow playing of our family shoot that Mike did and I love it! Thanks wonderful husband!


Chris's mom got me a beautiful ring. No, this is not my birthstone just my favorite color. It is a lot prettier in person! Wow-I have a great mother-in-law!

I had to throw in a random shot of the kids helping me make pancakes.

Tuscaloosa Ward Christmas Party

Chris and I took the kids to the Tuscaloosa ward Christmas party. It was so good to see everybody. We sure miss them since we have been serving in Greensboro. We had dinner and watched a slide show on Jesus and had some Christmas music. I was really surprised when Santa came out! Here are a couple of pictures of Sydney sitting in his lap. He told her that she could be his helper since they had on the same outfit. She was very excited about that ! Santa gave her a candy cane and she immediately broke it in half and gave one half to John Evan. So sweet! I guess she knew there was no way he was going to get his own!

Thanks so much to Jennifer Morris for sending the pictures! Believe it or not, I did not have my camera with me!

I love being a mother!

Wow, is there anything greater than being a mother?
After I put Sydney to bed tonight I heard her singing, so I went to her door. She was singing "I am a Child of God". She sang it perfectly. Now, I am aware that she knows this song, but I have never actually heard her sing it all the way through all by herself. It was a great experience! She truly is a Child of God!


The other day Sydney and I were sitting in the floor playing and she got up and said, "Man, I'm so sore!" Apparently I say that a lot!

The other day we were sitting at the table eating lunch and Sydney said, "I am so tired and SO stressed out!" Then she said, "What does stressed out mean?" Man, she is cute!

John Evan is pretty darn cute too! He is starting to talk a lot more and it is hillarious! Our favorite word that he says is "chip". You would just have to hear it. So cute!

I love my kids!

I love my husband too. Yesterday he told me how much he appreciates all that I do for the kids and that I am a great mom. I really needed to hear that. He will never know how much that means to me!
Wow- I am blessed!

American Idol

I just have to say that I LOVE American Idol! I get pretty bored with it towards the end when the contestants start singing like three songs(that I have never heard of) each episode! But I love watching the tryouts! So funny! I just love to laugh! Did anyone see the guy singing...Let my people go?!?! Hillarious!!!!!!What about the Star Wars girl? Man people are crazy!

South Carolina

Me, Momma, Daddy, and the kids took a trip to South Carolina after Christmas. Elizabeth (my sister) , Brad, and the girls went too but they stayed with Brad's dad.

Me and the kids were supposed to stay with my cousin in their new mansion of a house, but they all ended up with the stomach virus so we stayed with my Uncle Mike and Aunt Jeanie. They were great hostesses and we are so thankful that they let us stay with them!



John Evan was a pretty tough traveler! Could it be because I accidently gave him month old milk? That one definately gets me the Mother of the Year award!
Sydney was a great traveler-as always!

Me and my Daddy took turns getting car sick in the back seat!

John Evan only broke one ornament while we were there-so that wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, they had 2 trees up so I had to work double hard to keep him away from them!

Sydney and her cousin, Brianna, watching a movie. Brianna was pretty upset when she found out we were not staying with them so she stayed with us!
It is so funny to me to see the kids with Mike. Mike picks on EVERYBODY! I can remember as a kid being terrified of him, but my kids just loved him!

The girls making silly faces!
This is the only picture I was able to get of AJ!

OUT OF ORDER!

Hudson spent the night with us Christmas night. They had a blast playing with all Sydney and John Evan's new toys. Sydney got this thing that colors your hair, so after a lot of begging I finally let them do it. Here are the results....

John Evan taking a picture backwards
Grandma Jones is the main reason for our trips. Isn't she cute? She is not doing very well right now, so it was hard to see her that way. Sydney just loves her and prays for her every night. You should hear them on the phone together, it is so cute!

Grandma holding her newest great granddaughter
Our cousins-Ben and Luke
Me and cousin Kristen.

Christmas recap

We had a great Christmas this year! The kids are at such fun ages. The sad part about Christmas is having to take down all the decorations! Sydney decided to decorate the tree with bibs, towels, and pom-poms after I got all the ornaments off!

Christmas afternoon we went to Chris's mom and step-dad's house. We had a wonderful lunch and opened presents. Check out those candles on the mantle. They are flameless candles that you plug in and they were so beautiful. I would have never guessed that they were not real.
Sydney posing infront of all her presents. You can't really tell, but this was a HUGE pile. She actually got tired of opening and gave up at the end.

John Evan with his pile.
Chris helping him with his books.
Sydney trying to get off the ribbon.
Ya Ya and Sydney
Christmas morning....

Sydney came in our room about 7am and told us that we had to come see what Santa brought. Apparently she had been in the living room looking but not touching. When I asked her how long she had been in there she said about an hour (but she has no concept of time) so we are not sure how long it really was. So, Chris and I went in the living room with her and checked out all her stuff and then John Evan woke up about 20 minutes later. He saw his Elmo stuff first and said "oh Melmo!"

They both got a chair that they love. Sydney's is Cinderella and John Evan's is Thomas the Train. He sat in the chair all morning. He would stand up just long enough to grab a toy and then go right back to it.

We watched the Christmas parade on TV and I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. No-they were not homemade-do you know who you are dealing with here?
Making a train with their chairs.
John Evan got a scooter.
Sydney playing with John Evan's Mr.Potatoe head.


Cookies(that Sydney and I made together) and milk for Santa and yogurt covered raisans for the reindeer. Sydney wanted to put the raisans on the front porch, but we talked her out of it.

Sydney with her new barbie house, which she calls her barbie princess castle. I think her favorite present is her pink digital camera.
couple of shots of the kids with their new toys.....





I love cute pajamas!

Christmas Eve we all went to my Mom and Dad's where we are tons of food and played Dirty Santa. I ended up with an Alabama bag and Chris with a GC to Taco Casa. We were both pleased! Mom and Dad gave us all a printout of the beach house in Panama City that we will all be staying in this summer! YAY~

Some of the grandkids eating

My dad always piles us the grandkids to read Luke 2 out of the bible. Chandler usually helps him read it. This has to be my favorite part of the night!

All the sister....

Elizabeth, Ashley, Heather, Valoree, Mary, and me

The Saturday night before Christmas we went to Chris's dad and step-moms's house to exchange presents and then over to his aunt's for an untraditional meal of hamburgers.

Here we are with them and Chris's half-brother, Cody.

Sydney and her cousin Selma Brooke reading a book.
The Sunday before Christmas we went to Chris's aunt and uncles for lots more food and gifts. Chris and I got our names pulled out of a hat for a free weekend in their brand new 3 bedroom condo in Panama City!

They had the most beautiful Nativity Scene set up in the living room.

Sydney and Matt waiting patiently to open presents.
John Evan with his singing reindeer horsie thingy.




Well, here is a start of our Christmas. More to come! I will post some pictures of some of my great presents that I got!

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family! I really enjoyed teaching Sydney the true meaning of Christmas and I hope she carries that with her always!