The Atonement

I know, I missed last week. I'll post about why in a few weeks, I hope.

Anywho, I'd rather post the thing I missed, which is my spiritual thought for the month, rather than pictures of what I've been making over the past month, so here goes.

Here in Edmonton, we, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have been doing a media blitz over the past couple of months. This month's "thing" was to post a picture that shows what The Book of Mormon has taught you. Here's mine:

I wrote about this to my nephew this week, who is currently serving a mission. Too often, I think we forget that the Atonement covers so much more than just sin. The peace and comfort it can give you during your trials is nothing short of miraculous. I could not have gone through several things I've been through in my life without the comforting power of the Atonement. Even when I feel my most alone, I am NEVER truly alone, and how amazing is that?

Thankful Tuesday?

Let's be honest, I have no plans to be blogging on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I have far more important things to focus on at that point. Really, even at after 10 pm tonight, I still have 2 of the 3 kids awake. But they're happily watching Disney Junior and I just finished preparing my lesson for this coming Sunday, so I figured I would take care of this now while I'm thinking of it and have the time.

1) I am grateful to have John home for the next 2 weeks. Oh so grateful! I think he's pretty grateful for it as well.

2) I am grateful to have evidence that Caleb's medication really does make a difference for him. I accidentally forgot to give it to him the other night and let me tell you, the next day was QUITE the experience. So it really does work, and I'm grateful for it.

3) I am grateful for a baby boy born hundreds and hundred and hundreds of years ago. For His life, His sacrifice, His death and His resurrection. He is the reason that I am celebrating this week, and the person who gets me through it all in life. I am so grateful for all that the Savior has done for me and for us all.

The Big '8'

8 is kind of a big deal in our church, as that's the age when you  can get baptized. Well for me, today is 8 years SINCE I was baptized. It's very seldom that it feels like it's only been 8 years. Prep work for camp is the only time I really feel it because I don't know how anything works for camp. Most of the time it feels like ages and ages since I became a member of this church and made promises to Heavenly Father. So 8 years ago today, I made the best decision of my life. I can say best because every other good thing that's happened since then has happened BECAUSE of that decision. I love this church, I love my Heavenly Father, I love my Savior and I am incredibly grateful for the 2 men who taught me about it all.

Christmas Questions, Advent and More Weight Loss

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I like wrapping paper for Christmas. Birthdays and everything else can be gift bags, but there's just something about wrapped presents under the tree that I love.

2. Real tree or Artificial? I'd like the smell of real, but not the short life or clean up, so we're all about the pre-lit artificial ones.

3. When do you put up the tree? I try to wait until the first week in December, I usually fail and it goes up shortly after Remembrance Day. I made it to December 1st this year, though.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually on or around January 8th so that it's up for Ukrainian Christmas.

5. Do you like Egg Nog? I love the light stuff, but won't be having much this year as it's very high in calories.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Hmm, Tinker Toys always seem to stand out to me.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My Dad, every single year.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Caleb, he's always the easiest.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, my mother in law got me 3 parts to the Willow Tree set and I love it.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I usually mail them all, but I only mailed a small amount this year. I love getting them in any form, though.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Nothing is really standing out, except maybe Caleb puking all over the place last year and having a disorder relapse...Wasn't the best gift, ha ha.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Forgotten Carols, all the way.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually October, but have started in September a time or two. I'm usually done by December 1st. I just have John's stocking left to do right now.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I remember

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas and favorite Christmas dessert? Stuffing, stuffing and stuffing. I also greatly miss doing the appetizer dinner at my mum's house on Christmas Eve. My favourite Christmas 'treat' is Almond Roca.

16. Lights on the tree? How can you have a tree without lights? I like the coloured ones while I have kids at home, but will probably switch over to clear many years down the road.

17. Favorite Christmas song? I have several and none are traditional. Christmas Carroll, Christmas Candy...Mary, Did You Know?...Breath Of Heaven...Old City Bar...

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? This will be our last year of travelling. We are very much looking forward to doing Christmas in our own home after this year.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer’s? Sure can

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have an angel because that's what I grew up with.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We usually do pajamas on Christmas Eve night and the rest Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Having people dictate the kind of festive greeting that I'm allowed to give. You wish me what you celebrate and I'll wish you a Happy Christmas because that's what I celebrate. How difficult is that?

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I'd love to eventually do teal, red and silver or something like that.

24. Handmade ornaments or store bought? I like both.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I just want my in-laws to like what we're giving them. I put a lot of thought into it and I'm very excited about it. As long as we all enjoy the day and remember our Savior, then I'm good.

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We have done 2 advent days in December so far. On the 1st, we put up and decorated the tree. Yesterday we made 2 different kinds of chocolate covered cookie balls. Today the kids are writing letters to Santa.

I knew the weight I'd gained yesterday was water weight...I have now officially broke my pre-Ty pregnancy weight!!! I have 3 more pounds to lose by the end of December to reach my goal. I'm hoping to do that by the 16th instead, but we'll see how it plays out.

Christmas Comments

It's not a well hidden fact that I LOVE Christmas. I listen to my favourite Christmas albums year round and I get super excited for decorating every year. I love the spirit of it. I'd love to start decorating on November 1st every year and have at least 2 full months of decorations. I don't, though. I always wait until November 12th at the earliest. Because I don't want my focus to be decorations on November 11th. I'm Canadian to the core and have no idea what Veteran's Day is like in the States. But up here, I do my best to give Remembrance Day the respect that it deserves. I wear my poppy for 2 weeks before the day. I often read books that remind me of the sacrifices that people made in wars for freedom. I have already started collecting books that will help my kids to become educated about the World Wars. So many lives were lost and so many more were scarred to ensure freedom, that it feels disrespectful to decorate for Christmas before then, at least to me. But you'd better believe that I'll be unpacking my Christmas tote on November 12th!

On another note about Christmas, I keep wondering why everyone is allowed to have rights during the holidays (or year round, for that matter) except for Christians. Seriously, if someone wishes you a Happy Hanukkah or Happy Kwanzaa, no one's going to correct them or chastize them. Happy Holidays is considered perfectly acceptable, politically correct and highly encouraged. However, if you wish someone a Merry Christmas or Happy Christmas then all of a sudden you're discriminating and offending people. HONESTLY?!? Take a step back and realize just how lost and corrupt our society has become so that someone can't even give people a pleasant festive greeting anymore. So whatever people wish me this year, I'll smile, say thank you and wish them a Happy Christmas. Because I don't answer to cranky atheists who want to control the beliefs and morality (or lack thereof) of the world. I answer to Heavenly Father, and it's the birth of His son that I am thankful for this time of the year, and always.

*Takes a step off of the soapbox*

Sick on His Birthday

I have really been enjoying working on the Personal Progress program. I have passed off 13 goals and am currently working on 2 goals and 1 project. It has been wonderful to take more time to stop and think about my testimony of the Savior and our Heavenly Father's plan for us.

Caleb's party went well on Saturday. He had lots of fun and was very happy and appreciative of all the presents that he received. He ended up puking that night (too much sugar) and so John was up with him for most of the night because he didn't want to fall back asleep. In the morning, on his birthday, his ear was still hurting so John took him to the Medicentre but thankfully there was no infection. He felt better in the afternoon and was still able to enjoy his birthday supper and have Grandpa M over to visit.

Not a whole lot else is really new with us, I just thought I'd quickly write up about these 2 things since I'm severely slacking in the paper journal department. I hope you all had a good weekend. We are really looking forward to General Conference this weekend and being able to hear from our prophet and to know of the things that our Heavenly Father wants us to know at this time.

It Has Returned, Sort Of

I am pleased to announce the return of Attitude of Gratitude. However, it will only be once a month instead of once per week. So here we go:

1) I am grateful for a wonderful little boy who is turning 5 on Sunday. I have been sick the past few days and yesterday I felt totally run down. Before he left for school he decided he was going to clean the living room all by himself. He tidied everything up and even did half of the vacuuming. Then in the afternoon when Ty was throwing a raging fit and I was dealing with that Caleb came up and asked me what he could do to help me. He is such a wonderful person!

2) I am grateful for the weather right now. It's not too warm and not too cold, it's nice and comfortable and I'm loving it:)

3) I am grateful that I have such a great relationship with my brother. Seeing other people who don't have a good relationship with their siblings or even one that's fairly good but not great makes me appreciate how much Roo and I love each other and care about each other. There is no better brother, save Jesus Christ alone.

So there you have it. The return of Attitude of Gratitude.

The Personal Progress is going well. I have passed off 2 goals already and am in the middle of working on a third. It has been a great feeling so far as I do these goals and I'm so glad that I decided to do this.

Well, that's about all that's new for today. Have a good one:)

Health, Magrath and Brettley

This weekend involved a lot of thinking. John and I have decided to really focus on our spiritual health and on our physical health. We have started using Lose It again and will be doing 30 minutes of exercise every week day. What happened to the running you might ask. Well, my hip is not in any condition to handle it right now. I'm hoping that once I lose some weight that I'll be able to handle it, but if not, the main priority is that I'm doing my best to be healthy. In focusing on my spiritual health, I have 1 book left to read in the series I'm working on, and then I will be focusing on just spiritually uplifting books for a few months. At least for the rest of the summer, but probably longer. Also, we will be refocusing on holding FHE every week and will be studying the new Marriage and Family Relations manual from the church. I want the things that I do to be reflective of what's really the most important to me, which would be Heavenly Father, the Savior and my family.

We are excited to head to Magrath late next week. The boys and I will be staying for at least 2 1/2 weeks. Caleb and Ty are enrolled in swimming lessons, which should be lots of fun. We are looking forward to getting to spend lots of time outside and with John's family.

Today Brettley turned 5 months old, adjusted age 3 1/2 months. We are sure that he is at least past the 4 month mark in development now. He had his first meal of rice cereal yesterday. He has been acting hungry shortly after downing a whole bottle of formula, so we decided to give it a try. He seemed to enjoy it and didn't fuss at all. He would have sat nice in his high chair, but John and I find it easier to have someone hold the baby the first time they try baby food. He'll be back in the high chair tonight.

Brettley's Blessing

Truly, it deserves it's own post because he's so cute and special. Today my father-in-law blessed the baby that we were never supposed to be able to have. When we found out I have bipolar we should never have been able to have another kid. I even gave up hope for a bit. Then we got our answer. I still struggled hard to have him. It was a fight from the beginning of the pregnancy through to weeks after his birth. However, he is here, he is healthy and he is amazing. He is so loved. It was a short and sweet blessing. The part I remember the most was that Brettley would be a light when there is no other light. I hope that we can help teach him to be worthy of this, that he will shine virtuous in a world where virtue is rare and ridiculed. That he will develop a testimony that will strengthen him in the toughest of times and that he will know that his Heavenly Father and Savior should always come first in his life.

We love you so much Brettley and are so happy to have you as a member of our eternal family.

Letter To Myself

I love when I read thought provoking blogs. This morning's was "What Would You Tell Your 18 Year Old Self". I've decided to make record of this in my blog for myself because it's so interesting (to me). Read if you'd like, but please note that I'm writing this for my benefit, not your's, so no negative comments, please.

Dear Younger, Skinnier Self:

Your life for the next 8.5 years is going to be several battles, but the best parts of your life will come during this time as well. First, learn not to test people to see if they sincerely care for you. This will end up costing you the relationship that you're currently in.

Don't end up going to school next year to get away from that person. It will only end up costing you money that you don't need to be spending. Instead, find a decent job, get out on your own and enjoy life. Don't get your eyebrow pierced, for several reasons (one of them being that it will get infected about a month after you get it anyway).

When you are 19 you will find yourself pregnant and the father of the baby is not going to help out, regardless of how much you try to convince him otherwise. Do your best to take care of the baby and you will know how to make the best decision for the baby later on. (Oh, it's a girl, so stop calling it Caleb)

While you are pregnant you will be invited to go to a baptism and church service. Do not under any circumstances turn this down. We have done that once before. The decision to go will change your life for the better in ways that you couldn't possibly imagine.

About 5 weeks before your due date you will realize that the baby girl you're carrying is not meant to be your's. When you hold her parent's profile, you'll know in an instant that it's them that she's meant to be with. Knowing that and having a testimony of the importance of an eternal family will be what helps you to get through after placement.

You will go into labour a week early and there will be no doctor in Wainwright who can deliver. It will be a complicated labour, so get to the hospital immediately. The doctors in L-Town will know what to do and the baby will be fine. You will make it through this. Stay strong during delivery (even if you have to tell your mom that you love her, but to shut up).

There will come a time that you will need to move away from home and to be with people who share the same beliefs that you do. Moving back to L-City may seem appealing, but you need to go to GP. Trust me. Just don't bother trying to work at KFC, you'll end up in the hospital over that one.

A month after you move there you will meet a guy wearing a really ugly tie. Don't take too long to warm up to him, that man will end up being the best thing that ever came into your life. He will be the answer to your prayers and the man who takes you to the temple to give you an eternal family of your own. (Oh, and HE will be the one to throw the air hockey pucks at you, not G)

Choose your wedding party carefully. Don't ask people out of a sense of obligation, choose them by who is actually more important to you now. You will spend years regretting it if you don't. Also, make sure to invest in some really good cold medicine when you realize that you're sick a week before your wedding. Drink NeoCitrin like it's going out of style.

When you and your husband find out that you're pregnant, make sure that you get yourself to a doctor as soon as possible and give Diclectin a try again. If you don't, you'll end up spending almost 2 months in bed, and crawling to the bathroom will be the only exercise you'll get.

3 months after you've had your first beautiful baby boy you will end up being told you have post partum depression. Trust me when I say that it is a LOT more complicated than that. You have bipolar. Do NOT get medication for it from the doctor, it will work for only a very short period of time and will cause weight gain that you would probably spend the rest of your life trying to get rid of. There is a vitamin supplement that will work for you. Start researching EMPowerplus.

You will have 2 more amazing little boys. The last one will come early, but he will be fine. When nurses give you a hard time about not being there more, know that you are doing your personal best and that Heavenly Father is pleased with what you're doing. It will seem like hardly anyone cares about what you are going through while he is in the hospital, but if you stick close to the Savior during this time it will be fine. Remember, not everyone thinks about things the same way that you do.

During these 8.5 years there will be comments made by family members that will really hurt you. Do your best to shrug them off and not hold a grudge. There were said without tact, but not meant to be malicious and you will only end up hurting yourself.

Above all else, never ever ever fall away from the things you'll gain a testimony of while you are pregnant. This testimony gave you the wonderful things in your life that you have. It is what changed your life for the better. You will remember what your life was like before and you will know that it's not worth going back to. You are a wonderful person who is trying very hard. Don't think poorly of yourself. It doesn't matter if you don't look exactly the way that you want to. You will look beautiful to the guy with the ugly tie, and that's all that matters. You are beautiful within and that's the beauty that TRULY counts in life.

One more thing...There is a friendship that you've known for years is only out of a sense of obligation. Slowly phase it out now and don't look back. Trust me, you're far better off this way.

Hang in there. It will be rough, but it will be worth it all.

Love:
Your Future, No Longer Skinny But Even More Loved, Self

Time Out Experience

I learned some important things this weekend:

*I am born to be a queen
*I am never alone
*To never be the one thing standing in my way
*Hope is wanting what I want, faith is wanting what God wants
*Give to the Lord and keep back nothing
*I will know my children as adults for eternity but as children for only a few precious years
*Instead of worrying about my weaknesses, I should build on my strengths
*Stop trying to feel happy and feel grateful instead
*Instead of trying to get help with my problems, learn to help others instead
*Ask Heavenly Father every morning what the most important thing for me to accomplish that day is and then do it
*LIFE IS TO BE ENJOYED, NOT JUST ENDURED

A song kept coming into my head during the weekend and this was the part that kept coming:
"Long before the time you can remember
Our Father held you in His arms so tender
Those loving arms released you as He sent you down to Earth
He said "My child, I love you, don't forget your great worth" "
The song is called Walk Tall, You're a Daughter of God and can be found on the Church's website.

How could I experience all of this and not come out feeling the way I did?

The Real Meaning of Easter

I went to an amazing Relief Society meeting last night. The theme was "Come Unto Christ". Did you know that's an LDS term? It isn't used at all in the Bible, but is one of the last verses of the Book of Mormon.
"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." - Moroni 10:32

One of the things that was brought up that I have really pondered on since hearing it is why we spend 6+ weeks every year celebrating the birth of the Savior (not even on his birthday, mind you), yet we are lucky if half of our Easter Sunday is spent celebrating the Risen Lord. Without Easter, we wouldn't have Christmas. It would be the equivalent of celebrating my birthday for 6 weeks (not that I'd complain, ha ha). However, if the events that we celebrate at Easter time hadn't occurred, Christmas would mean absolutely nothing. If Christ hadn't suffered in Gethsemane, been crucified on Golgotha and risen from death then we would have no hope beyond this life.

Because of this renewed passion for Easter, we are making some changes in our house. This year the Easter Bunny came a few weeks early. Next year he won't come at all. Instead we will do an egg hunt in darkness to remember the 3 days of darkness in the Americas after Christ was crucified. I have several activities to do with the kids in the 2 weeks before Easter and I will be doing the 14 Day Walk With Christ (found it on sugardoodle in the Easter Ideas section). I also have a goal to read Jesus The Christ by James E Talmage by next Easter.

Since my next few days are going to be busy, I wanted to share my testimony right now while I'm thinking about it.

I KNOW THAT MY SAVIOR LIVES AND THAT HE LOVES ME!!! I can't say this enough. I know that He was born in the most humble of circumstances, that He lived a perfect life being the perfect example. I know that as He took upon Himself the sins of the world in Gethsemane and bled from every pore that He felt every single pain that I've ever gone through or will go through. He understands me like no one else can. He suffered a death that was perfected to be disgustingly painful in order to satisfy a mob. However, the most miraculous part of it all is that on the third day He broke the bonds of death and was resurrected. I know that because He lives that I will be resurrected as well and that because He took my sins upon Himself that I have a chance to return to my Heavenly Father again someday. I know these things with every single part of me and I wish I could scream it to the world because it's the most amazing thing. I know that Jesus lives, I know that He loves me and I love Him.

Yesterday, Today and Attitude of Gratitude

Wow! What a big day for my blog. This is my 200th post! I'm not going to be doing much of anything special, though. Also, according to my ticker on the side of my blog, there are officially less than 100 days until Brettley is due to enter this world.

Yesterday we read How The Grinch Stole Christmas together. The boys sat so well through the entire thing, I was really impressed. I also read Cat in the Hat to them since Caleb saw that story when I was opening up to our Christmas one and wanted to hear both. Have you ever noticed how your mouth almost seems exhausted after reading 2 Dr Seuss stories in a row?

Last night was date night in our house since Saturday is Christmas Day. John and I played Lord of the Rings Monopoly (and I totally beat him) and ate strawberry rhubarb pie. Lots of casual fun:) I'm glad that we made sure to do our date night this week even though the weekend is booked up.

Today we are playing a board game together and drinking hot chocolate. This will have to be done during the morning since I have to fast during the afternoon to do my glucose screening at 5:20, which means I will be gone until 6:30 at the earliest. I'll definitely be bringing a book with me.

Today also happens to be Attitude of Gratitude day, so here we go:

1) I am grateful for an amazing man who was born in the humblest of circumstances, lived as a perfect example, suffered pain so great as he took upon himself our sins, infirmities, afflictions and more that he bled from every pore, went through the perfected (oh yes, the Romans had pretty much perfected it) painful death of crucifixion and rose again from death on the third day. How can you not be grateful for such a man at any time?

2) I am grateful that I've gained more perspective and am learning to stop wishing my life away. John and I were talking about this yesterday and we realized just how much of our time we spend wishing it away. It's sad, really.

3) I am grateful for this Christmas season, where everything seems to radiate a spirit of festive cheer and people tend to treat each other a lot better than they do the rest of the year. Christmas time always seems to have a magical feel to it, and I love it. I have a carol I listen to by Anne Murray and my favourite line from it is "Thank goodness this season will never grow old". That's how I feel. It hasn't mattered yet how old I am, this season is still so special each and every year.

2 MORE DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS:) :)

Gifts To Jesus, Polar Express And More

Caleb decided that his gift to Jesus is going to be to start asking for permission to do/use things. Ty's is to stop hitting and kicking. I won't post John's just in case he doesn't want everyone and their dog to know. Mine is to get better about saying my prayers every night.

Today's activity is to watch Polar Express. Caleb has watched it a couple times already this year, but don't think that Ty has. Hopefully he'll enjoy it. Then I have to assemble a broccoli salad to bring to our ward's Relief Society Christmas Dinner tonight that requires Sunday dress so I will have to do my chiropractor appointment in Sunday dress. Should be interesting.

Caleb's big accomplishment right now is that he can play Mario Party on the Wii all by himself. This may not seem that big, but it's only been about 2 months since we allowed him to start trying to play the Wii at all. It's kind of nice for us because if he earns game time (being really good in the grocery store or something like that), we don't have to sit through a whole game with him because he loves to play a star battle game by himself now. We also bought him Mouse Trap on Friday and he loves to play that with me. It's probably a good thing that he has 2 more board games coming for Christmas:)

18 Days Until Christmas!!!

Christmas Wrapping, Christmas Party, Christmas Tree

On Friday night I wrapped all of the Christmas gifts that I'm responsible for wrapping. I've never had to sit for well over an hour on the floor trying to wrap Christmas presents with a pregnancy belly. It's interesting and not very comfortable. I'm very glad that I was motivated to do it all in one sitting so that I don't have to sit down to wrap more in the next few weeks.

This past Saturday was our ward Christmas party. We made brownies for it. Caleb had a hard time with it because he was very hungry (we ate about an hour or so later than he's used to eating supper at), but he was really excited to see Santa and was fine once he got some food. Ty wasn't a big fan of Santa, apparently, but I'm sure he'll do better next year.

Last night we put up our Christmas tree. Caleb was very happy and excited. He also left out his boot by the door for Saint Nicholas. Today we'll be starting our Daily December Activities. I wasn't going to start it until next year, but I felt really prompted to do it starting now until Christmas. I really only missed the first few days, so it's all good. Today we get to think of a gift that we want to give to Jesus this upcoming year, write it down and put it in our stockings (next year we'll have a separate stocking for the Savior).

Anyway, that's about all I have to write about for now. I hope you have a great week! 19 Days Until Christmas:)

Day 12

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?

I believe that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only church in the world that teaches the fullness of the gospel and believe what the church stands for. I believe that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and a Savior, Jesus Christ, who suffered and then rose again for me. I believe that there is a Holy Ghost who helps to guide me and comfort me. I believe that there is a prophet on the earth today, President Thomas S Monson, and that he, his counsellors and the Quorum of the 12 Apostles are prophets, seers and revelators. I believe that the priesthood keys have been restored to the earth. I believe that families can be sealed together and that marriages are meant to be eternal, not until death do you part. I believe in trying my hardest to do what's right and to try to become like Heavenly Father.

Day 6

A SONG THAT MAKES YOU CRY (OR NEARLY) AND WHY

The first is From God's Arms, To My Arms, To Your's (written by Michael McLean). If you've ever heard it and know anything about me, there's no explaination necessary. If you're missing one of the other, here it goes. It's a song written for a birth mother to sing to the adoptive parents that she was placing her child with. I am not that birth mother, but I am A birth mother to the most beautiful girl in the world, L.

Another is I Was Not His Father, He Was Mine (also by Michael McLean). It's from Forgotten Carols and it always makes me think about how hard it would have been to know that you're raising the Son of God and that no matter what, you would never be better than this perfect child that you're raising. I can't imagine how inadequate Christ's mother and Joseph must have felt while they were bringing him up.

Yeah, so those are my big 2 songs. There are other ones that have ocassionally made me cry such as I Stand All Amazed, How Great Thou Art, The Reason by Hoobastank and others.

Have a great Sabbath Day!

Day 4

SOMETHING YOU'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO

1) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I on the IMAX next Friday. I am WAY excited for this, in case you couldn't tell by the counter on the side of my blog, my blog background and if you have me on Facebook I've been counting down the weeks for well over a month now.

2) Christmas, definately! The whole Christmas season is just so much fun. The spirit in the air, the decorations, the baking, the reminder it gives us about the humble birth of our Savior. It's all just so amazing. Our favourite albums this year are Christmas Carroll by Carroll Baker (mine) and Phineas and Ferb Holiday Favorites (Caleb's, although I love it as well).

3) Brettley Eoin Bly. We are very much looking forward to welcoming him into home and have him here to love even more and enjoy watching him as he grows. Last night I felt him kick my hand for the first time, so John is definately looking forward to getting a boot or two now.

General Conference and Easter

Okay, so I'm assuming everyone has now had their chance to read the story about when I was pregnant with L and her adoption. If not, go and read my last post. I just want to say that it's the first time I've ever told the whole story at once. It was pretty hard to get through at some points, but I'm really glad that I did.

So this weekend we just had was General Conference weekend as well as Easter weekend. How many of you have the story to do with your kids about Easter and you have stuff hidden in the plastic eggs that go along with the story? We have one and I did the story with Caleb twice, once on Saturday and once on Sunday. Ty was just interested in taking off with the eggs. I think Caleb finally understood after a while a whole 1 sentence. "Bad men wanted to hurt Jesus" Next year he'll get more out of it, though.

Conference was great. We missed the first session because Shaw was having difficulties and wasn't able to broadcast it, and since John was sleeping in our room (where the computer is), I decided to get some stuff ready for the family dinner instead. I loved the 3 sessions that I watched, though. Especially Elder Holland's talk. I think he's an amazing speaker and he is so bold, it's great. The talks that spoke to me the most were Elder Donald L Hallstrom's from Sunday Morning and Elder James B Martino's from Sunday Afternoon. They both talked about how to face our trials. I'm pretty sure you all know that since the last General Conference I've been through a rough battle with my bipolar, so these talks really helped to inspire me to deal with the challenges of bipolar in a different way. Which talks did you like the best or get the most out of?

We had a family dinner on Saturday with my dad, my brother and my brother's girlfriend. It was great. My brother had marinated the steaks and they were amazing:) And he made our mum's recipe for potato salad, which is increadible. I made devilled eggs and caesar salad. Everyone but me had carrot cake for dessert. I tried a bite, but I'm still not a big fan of it. Ty practically inhaled it, though.

Also, on Friday morning Caleb and Ty got to find their Kinder Eggs outside. We do our candy stuff on Friday because 1)we don't want candy to overshadow the message of Easter on Sunday and 2)we don't want our kids hopped up on sugar on Sunday. This plan seems to work well for us.

Well, that's about all for now, I guess. My nieces are getting in this evening and spending the week with us, so that will be fun. Also, one of our nieces is getting baptized on Saturday. I am giving the talk on baptism. I'm pretty nervous, but I'm so honoured that she asked me. Have a great week:)

Christmas Is Coming, HORRAY!

So I want to talk in this post about some of my favourite Christmas traditions. The first one of the season, other than spending a small to large fortune on gifts, is Christmas baking, YAY! Now I don't know about anyone else, but I LOVE Christmas baking. It smells great, it tastes great, and since everyone else is eating it too, you don't feel nearly as guilty intaking those extra calories. This year I'll be doing all of my baking on my own for the first time. It's exciting, but also kind of sad, because I've been blessed the past few years to be able to do the majority of my baking with my brother. So let me know, what's your favourite recipe for Christmas baking. E-mail me at blynikki@hotmail.com or send me a message on Facebook, I really need more ideas for this year:)

On the first Monday of December we put up our tree. We usually get a new ornament each year, however we made our own last year, and that was lots of fun too. We do this as our FHE activity. When I was growing up it was the first Sunday of December, but that doesn't work in the church with the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional being the same night, so I bumped it to Monday as an FHE thing and it works great.

The next tradition I guess is probably that we would go out looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve, each of us with our hot beverage of choice in hand (mine is either hot chocolate or a flavoured steamed milk when they're available). The past few times that we've done this in Wainwright or Edmonton we all pile into a van, grab our drinks from 7-11 and off we go. Christmas music is optional, but if I had it my way we'd be listening to Christmas music for about half of the year, ha ha.

After we get home from looking at lights it's time for an oldie but a goodie. We each get to open one present. As I was growing up, it was whatever gift we chose, as long as it wasn't a major gift, but John and I have changed this to a new pair of pyjamas. This year just the boys are getting them, since John and I have enough PJs to choke a dead horse. There is usually a book involved as well. I think last year Caleb got Tales of Beetle the Bard. Then we put out a cold drink and snack for Santa before tucking the kids into bed.

I realize I could be opening a can of worms here, but John and I have decided to give Santa a little space in our home. Enough for him to stop, have a snack and leave a movie for each of us. I think that's a pretty good amount of Santa. He's there, but he doesn't overshadow anything.

In the morning we'll be reading from the scriptures about when Christ was born before we head downstairs. I'm hoping this will remind the kids that their Savior should come before anything else in all things. Then it's downstairs to open presents and to have a nice big family breakfast followed by a nice holiday supper that night. This year we're having steak instead of turkey. Mutual decision that I'm very happy about. We'll also have perogies, cabbage rolls, stuffing and some other stuff with a birthday cake for dessert to remind us that we are celebrating the fact that our Savior was born. I'm thinking about doing a cake for April 6th as well.

Boxing Day was also a big day in my family growing up. That was the day that we went and visited extended family and did our Christmas with them. I really enjoyed it, since we got 2 Christmas Days in a row.

So what are your favourite Christmas traditions?