Hearing the Prophet's Voice

I always come away from General Conference weekend with a desire to do more and to be a better person. However, since the boys have joined our family, the experience has been somewhat lacking because it's difficult for two little boys to sit and pay attention for 8 hours (which in turn makes it impossible for a certain mommy to pay attention). This time I decided that things needed to change. Although my boys are only 4 years old, I had to somehow teach them how important it is to enjoy General Conference as a family - to listen to the Prophet. I did some research on the internet and, inspired by the ideas of others, I came up with a brilliant plan...

Just before Conference, Jeremy and I sat down with the boys and told them about the story of King Benjamin. We told them about how the people of all the land came from everywhere to hear what he had to say to them. They pitched their tents around the temple and King Benjamin stood upon a tower so all could hear him. We then explained that we were going to pitch our own tent at the feet of the Prophet (in our living room at the base of the TV) so that we could sit together and listen to him. They got SO excited at the prospect of camping out in the living room together. I then also presented each of them with a "Reverence Bag" filled with some quiet activities that I got from the dollar store (crayons, coloring books, books, play dough, puzzles, etc.), treats and conference activity pages that I printed from online. Before each session, I refilled their reverence bags with new things. They would get excited for the next session because of the anticipation of seeing what was in their bags.

I seriously thought this would last a whole ten minutes before they would get bored of the whole tent thing. My boys are obedient, but they're 4 years old and very active. I didn't have much faith that I could get them to sit still very long. I was so surprised though! During the breaks between sessions they would actually ask us when we could sit and listen to the prophet again! If Jeremy and I spoke to each other during the talks, then one of them would say something like, "Shhh! This is important!" Ha! :) I think a couple reasons why it worked so well is because the boys were inside the tent and couldn't get distracted by their toys and other fun things. The other reason is that they genuinely loved the fact that we snuggled up together for hours on end. They got mom's and dad's attention for a full 8 hours and they were in heaven! My butt was sore from sitting on a tent floor for 8 hours, but the reward was so sweet to see Matthew and Jordan happily sitting in there with us, doing their quiet activities and occasionally listening to the words being said. I'm telling you, this was genius! I got more out of General Conference than I have in 4 years. :-)

Our Reverence Tent

Reverent Bags

I love General Conference. I love spring and this Easter time of year when I take special time to reflect on the gift of our Savior. I'm so grateful that God has blessed us with a living Prophet to receive modern revelation and guide us on Earth today. I know that God lives and that I can speak to him daily through prayer. He is aware of my needs and the desires of my heart. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, and I know that He sacrificed and died for me. I know that He was resurrected and that He lives; and I know that I will live with Him again someday, eternally with my family.

Indy Children's Museum

We LOVE the Indianapolis Children's Museum. My parents have a grandparents pass there, so we go quite often. I haven't posted any museum pictures for a while because it's always the same pictures, but this time they had a super cool exhibit, so I thought I'd show it off. The exhibit is "Incredible Costumes from Film & TV". They had all kinds of costumes that were used in Hollywood. We're somewhat of movie buffs, so it was really fun. The best one was a 2-story tall Bumblebee the Transformer that was used in a few scenes of the Transformer movies. My boys were in awe! Another fun thing about the exhibit was that they had lots of costumes to dress up in. Matthew and Jordan had a blast trying on superhero costumes. :)

(Sorry for the blurry picture phone pics)

Sickies

I mentioned in a previous post that I felt so glamorous cleaning up puke from the boys' bedroom floor. I must say that the clean-up was not at all fun, but taking care of your sick children can be quite rewarding. Poor Jordi was SO pitiful. For a couple days, all he wanted to do was snuggle, and I didn't mind that at all. ;) My sweet little boy needed me and I expended all of my efforts just to make him feel better. At the end of the day, I felt like I had actually accomplished something. It's nice to feel needed. :)
Just to show how pitiful this poor kid was - this is a picture of Jordan lying on the kitchen floor. I had told him that I needed to go fix dinner and asked him to just stay in bed. He refused to let me leave his side though, so he followed me into the kitchen. Eventually he ended up like this:

And then like this (completely konked out):

Matthew and I both caught the bug by the time Jordan recovered (which took him a week!), and we were kind enough to share our germs with a couple of the boys' friends (sorry, friends!). Needless to say, I'm so glad to be back to normal around here!

Rockin' Out

I have no clue why, but for some reason my boys have really been into being rock stars lately. They dress like rock stars and then totally "rock out" on their little toy guitars. You should hear their rock star singing voices - it's not pretty.
It's not like I watch MTV or anything. In fact, I mostly listen to country music... Well anyway, I'd be remiss if I didn't post this adorable picture. This is what a rock star looks like, according to Jordan:
Side-ways hat...check
Cool rock star shoes...check
Awesome rock star shades...check
Guitar slung over shoulder...check

They kill me!

#57...Check!

#57 Visit Emily S. & Siobhan in L.A.
- completed 5/21/11

Woohoo! Another one checked off the list. While we were in California, I made sure to make time to visit with a couple of good friends.

Not only has Siobhan been my boss for years, but she also has been my friend and mentor. She is seriously amazing, and I could go on and on about how cool, funny and sweet this lady is. :) Siobhan and her husband live in L.A. with their two cuties, Eoin (3) and Orla (2). Eoin and Matthew really hit it off in the few hours we spent together. Unfortunately I completely forgot to take any pictures. :( Suffice it to say that we had a great time visiting with them.

We also visited with Jared and Emily Scott, who used to live in Ohio until they deserted us for the sunny beaches of Southern California (I'm not jealous or anything). Emily is one of the funniest girls I know and I miss her dearly! I wish we could have stayed longer, but at least we got to have a few good laughs together. So glad we got to see you guys!

I didn't know anyone could make pregnancy look so good. You suck, Emily. ;)

My 101 in 1001

Escaping the Winter Blues

A few weeks ago we took Jeremy's brother's wedding as an excuse to go on a little California vacation. :) Daniel and Jessica were married in the San Diego temple for all eternity. If you'd like to learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and our temples, please visit mormon.org.

The wedding was beautiful and so was the bride! We're so excited that Jessica has joined our family. She's the sweetest girl. It was also tons of fun speaking Spanish with her family, who are from El Salvador. Here are some pictures of the wedding fun (including some super fun wrestling times with the Uncles and Aunt Katherine):


Aren't these two the cutest?! (I mean the two in the tux and the dress, not my boys)










While in San Diego, we took the opportunity to tour the town. We had such a nice time walking around Seaport Village, checking out the USS Midway and playing at Sea World!

Total studs

Thanks for the fun times, Grandma Vickie, Grandpa "Mac" and the rest of the fam that could be there. We love and miss you!

After the wedding festivities were over and everyone went home, Jeremy, the boys and I headed up to L.A. to see some sights and visit with friends. We went to a science museum and visited the La Brea tar pits - a super cool archeological digging site where they have discovered hundreds of fossils from the Ice Age. The coolest was a display of wolf skulls. They've uncovered over 1,600 wolf skulls in these tar pits, and they had 400 of them displayed in rows on a single wall. It was crazy. Here are a couple pics of us at the dig sites/tar pits:



By afternoon, the rain cleared and it turned into a gorgeous day, so we headed to the Pacific Coast Highway. We had a blast playing on the beach together:

Thirty, Flirty and Thriving

Thirty? It's true. Flirty? Well, some things never change. Thriving? Uh, I suppose it depends on who's judging.

I love the movie 13 Going On 30. Although 30 may not be as glamorous as depicted in the movie (somehow I didn't quite feel glamorous last week while I was scrubbing puke off the boys' mattress and bedroom floor), I must say I've enjoyed the small boost of confidence turning thirty has given me. I'm still young, yet I have 30 years of incredibly fulfilling experiences under my belt. I'm better looking (so says Jeremy), definitely more stylish, smarter and more spiritual than I was in my young twenty-somethings. While I still sometimes long for the care-free days of my 21-year-old self, in many ways 30 is better.

I also love the opening scenes of the 13 Going On 30 movie which are set in the 80s (because, let's face it, the 80s were the awesomest) - which brings me to my next point: the party. I threw myself an 80s-themed birthday party and it was awesome. Yes, I threw myself my own party - not because I'm pathetic and don't have any friends to throw me a party, but because I LOVE throwing parties (and no one throws a party better than yours truly). ;-) I had a Best Dressed contest, 80s Trivia and a Wall of Shame (adorned with the most shameful pictures of my guests from the 1980s). Plus, one of my good friends was kind enough to burn me 5 CDs FULL of the best 1980s hits. Here are a few pictures of the blessed event:

Jeremy made his signature 4-layer German Chocolate Cake with Coconut whipped cream. To. Die. For.

One of the highlights was the candy. I found all kinds of 80s retro candy for the party, including Zots, Rock Candy, Razzles, Orange Heads and Fruit Stripe Gum. So fun!





I had good intentions of dressing up my boys, but it didn't happen (Jordan decided on his own to be a sword-wielding cowboy). However, our friends did manage to dress up their little baby. He came as Richard Simmons (see baby below in headband and wristbands). Haha, it was the most adorable thing.

Notice my 80s make-over. It was totally unintentional that I ended up looking slightly like a 1980s hooker; and this made Jordan's comment even funnier... I was in the bathroom putting on the final touches of my look when Jordan walked in. He gasped and said, "Oh Mommy! You look like a real lady!" Ha! I have no idea what ladies he is referring to.




The party was a blast and I was so happy to spend the time with friends. My parents were able to stay over the Friday night before. We took the boys to the aquarium early in the day and went out to lunch. My mom and I did a little shopping. Then we all ordered in pizza and hung out at home together in the evening. All in all, it was a great 30th birthday.