An Eternal Family

         It struck me that my blog says little about my faith, which is everything to me. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, otherwise known as Mormon. One of my core beliefs is that my family can be together forever. My relationship with Rob and my children will continue as it did here in this life. In our holy temples we are sealed by the priesthood authority of God as husband and wife, parents and children. The Savior gave his disciples this authority when he said, "And I shall give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven..." (Matthew 16:19). Those same keys to bind on earth have been restored by our Savior through the prophet Joseph Smith and are now held by our current prophet Thomas S. Monson and those who have been called. I am so grateful to know without any doubt that my family is forever.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

We went to Grandma Martinsen's 86th birthday this year. Mom and Dad threw a huge party - tons of great food, as always, decorations, a family tree chart that everyone put their pictures on and wrote their names, etc. Lots of his Dad's family came to celebrate, so it was great to meet and catch up with cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. It was really fun to hear stories about her childhood and to visit with Grandma. What an amazing lady!

Miraculous that Mom still had a voice after our visit. She read so many stories to Olivia - for nap/bedtime and in between. I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, how many times Mom - 27? 34? You're a great sport!

Between cousins, the hose, swimming pool, and eating ice from the tub of sodas, Brooky kept herself very occupied, and very happy. Vigilance was required to keep her away from the tub after I observed Brutus (the 150 pound English Mastiff) drinking the water and washing his face in it.

Mom had a great time doing the granddaughters' hair all fancy and making them smell like cucumbers:)

The first thing Olivia says in most of her prayers is how thankful she is for her cousins. She just has the grandest time and gets so excited when she finds out she gets to play with them. I love this picture of her and Halle.

Liv still does the strained face smile when you say cheese - so cute and funny.

Still timid in the presence of such a large creature, standing in the background, yet wanting to be a part of bathing Brutus. Oh, what a dog!

Enjoying Mom and Dad's fancy expanded patio! We were a bit worried about how hot it would be in Arizona, but the weather was perfect. Rob had a great time bonding with cousins he hadn't seen forever. Fun trip to AZ as always!

The Days are Long but the Years are Short

 I've been reading a book called The Happiness Project, which I highly recommend. The author realized while sitting in a city bus, "Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter." So she dedicated a year to a happiness project. Her goal for April was Lighten Up: Parenthood. She told a story that made me cry (at 3 1/2 months pregnant it doesn't take much:)). Here it is:

A friend of mine told me that when his sons were five and three years old, they woke up at six every morning. On the weekends, week after week, he and his wife tried to persuade them to go back to sleep or to play quietly with no success. 

So finally he gave up. He'd let his wife stay in bed, and he'd get the boys dressed and out the door. He'd stop for coffee, then the three of them would head for the park, and he'd watch them play for an hour before they returned home for breakfast.

These days his boys sleep late on the weekends, and now, my friend told me, those mornings are some of his clearest and happiest memories of that period. The morning light, the quiet park, his little boys racing across the grass. 

The days are long, but the years are short.

I love it and it is so true. Some days seem to stretch out forever and the next thing I know a month has gone by. My babies are growing so fast. As hard as parenthood is at times, there is nothing sweeter than hearing the words, "I love you Mommy," and feeling those little arms around my neck and hearing the pitter patter of little feet running across the floor upstairs and the squeals of delight for the tiniest and most random things. Oh they are precious!

We went to the park today, so I thought I'd include my little muskrats.

All Things Brooky

I started this post quite a while ago, so there has been a lot of growth in our little wombat. 

It's high time for an update on Brooky and all of her developments. She has a very content, happy, and inquisitive nature and is more inclined to wonder, "What in the world is Uncle Tyson doing?" than to laugh at his crazy antics (our family picture). She really, really wanted to go up and down the stairs and after falling halfway down twice, she has mastered them.


Brooklyn loves to make a mess. Smearing, spreading, spilling, such great fun!

Her personality has really started to show itself, as you can see below. She makes all sorts of hilarious faces and loves to do it with her older sister. They get each other laughing so hard, it's so darn cute. I do have to say that she is a picky eater, much more than Olivia. The 2 veggies she will eat are cucumbers and green beans. Much of the time she takes a bite of dinner, then proceeds to spit it out and drop it on the floor. Stinker. She does have a few favorites: spaghetti, pizza, lasagna, shepherds pie, and of course, grilled cheese. 


Brooky loves the outdoors and often goes to the door and jibber jabbers something that means "take me outside now!" She is starting to talk. Her vocabulary is hi, bye, mama, dadda, gone (milk in her sippy cup), and no (Liv taught her that in a hurry).

                       
                        
 Brooky is also super musical. She is often humming little tunes and as soon as music comes on, she lights up. She doesn't do it as much as she used to, but she would start leading the music when she heard it, especially in church, just like the ward chorister. She loves to dance and one of her favorite things to watch is the Mormon Message "I am a Child of God." Oh what a cutie pie! I rock her at night and sing songs to her. She has started singing some songs with me (mostly she jabbers and gets the last word of each phrase really well - Twinkle Little Star, I am a Child of God, and I Love to See the Temple are the ones she's getting really good at. It's a precious time.


  Why is it so stinkin' cute when kids try on shoes way too big for them?

  

Just kickin' back a churro at Rob's Espanolandia (BYU activity). Brooky has gained a great love for snacks - crackers especially, and sugary foods. I was so diligent not letting Olivia have very many sweets, but it has been harder with my second. How do you say no when big sister is eating crap? I want to eat crap too!!

Fooling around with Dad's bike helmet. She is talking a lot more now (this post has really spanned a lot of time). When Rob comes home the garage door always goes up so he can put his bike away and she hears the sound. So now whenever she hears the garage door she says, "Daddy's home!" Brooky can now mimic almost anything we say and can say a lot of words. She does still often break out in absolute gibberish and it's pretty hilarious because she's so sincere in what she's saying. Oh we love our Brooky!