Sunshine

Oh how the kids love the sunshine! Our dining room faces south and it's the warmest, sunniest spot for the girls (and boy!) to play. We moved our table against a wall and now we've got so much more room to stretch out in the beautiful light. After breakfast, Maddie will open the curtains and lie there on the floor. Abbie follows suit. Brayton is now able to stand in his exersaucer (YAY!) and likes to coo at the girls while I clean up table and start the morning dishes (I'd love to think I do dishes after breakfast each morning, but it depends on everyone's mood). The girls eventually get their clothes and shoes on and play in the back yard. Sunshine makes us all happy.
Madeline decided that she wanted to stick her feet in some dirt. I figured it had been awhile since she felt dirt between her toes. She's washable.

Abbie enjoyed the chalk and sitting on her sister's bike. She couldn't pedal, but she was sure proud that she could climb up there.

Brayton stayed inside with me and showed me how much drool he can produce. He's a sweet, mellow boy...and don't his ears look cute? :)

The Family Is Of God

The other day Madeline was doing her normal singing and coloring when I realized it was a new song, one I haven't heard before, but one she's learning in Primary at church. I asked her to sing it to me so she stopped coloring, put her hands out in a "calm down" motion and said, "OK mom, it goes like this..." and then started to sing to me. It was perfect and sublime and so inspiring. I was moved to tears. It has such a beautiful, true and vital message that I want to share with each of you. Please take just a moment to listen to it HERE.
I am so thankful for my family - my fiercely loyal husband who would do anything to make us happy, to let us know that he loves us and that God loves us and my sweet children who have a pure, unconditional love for everyone. I am thankful that I can be with them forever, as the covenants of a temple marriage afford us that great blessing.

"God gave us families, to help us become what He wants us to be. This is how He shares His love, for the family is of God."

Oklahoma City

Jeremy's mom, Dee, is in OKC for her FAA training and we thought that after 7 months of not seeing one another(or her not yet getting to meet Brayton) called for us to travel on down the road. Abbie started saying "Dee" on that trip and it's soooo darn cute! So here are our adventures from last weekend:
We parked on Mickey Mantle Drive right in the heart of Bricktown. It's a really neat part of downtown OKC with, you guessed it, tons of refurbished brick buildings. Maddie enjoyed climbing on this buffalo, which were also spread throughout the city. We realized it was made out of fiberglass and decided she shouldn't try to ride anymore of them.

We stopped to let the girls throw snowballs into the fountain. Here are the girls on the snow & ice.

It just amazes me that the fountains are still running in February - quite uncommon in Alaska.
There are canals that run throughout the neighborhood and from April - September you can even take a boat ride. We found a hole in the ice and fed the ducks Cheerios.
We then walked about 1 mile to the Oklahoma City National Memorial. As you can see we only had this one stroller between the two girls. By the end of our trek, Jeremy had Maddie on his hip and Abbie on his shoulders. The stroller carried the diaper bag.
The fence outside the memorial was covered in memorabilia for the bombing victims (flowers, photos, trinkets). The girls were very reverent on the memorial site, as well as Yoda (Dee's dog who was smuggled in under her coat). I felt a deep reverence for those who died - it was such a sad, but peaceful scene to see the empty steel chairs for each victim in the field just south of the reflection pool. I've been to only one other memorial site (The Arizona Memorial in Hawaii) and have felt the same feeling of loss for innocent people. It was a quick visit, but very touching and very memorable.
We then hopped on the trolley back to Bricktown (as I figured Jeremy would have a mutiny on his hands with us having to walk back on empty stomachs). Abbie just sat and looked out the window and Maddie got tossed around as she wouldn't stay firmly planted in her seat while the trolley was in motion.

We did as the sign said and ate at Joe's Crab Shack for some yummy seafood. As we pulled into the parking lot, Jeremy asked, "Is it supposed to look run down?" We had a good laugh at that.

Jeremy and Brayton in a pre-dinner hold. I get to hold Brayton during dinner until Jeremy finishes (he eats super quick), then he holds him so I can finish. We're good baby holding sharers.

Then we headed to south OKC to visit my friend April! She was in our ward at church back in Alaska where we had callings in the Young Women program before the military moved her family in 2007. It was so good to see her and her boys (her daughter was working and her husband is deployed) and have a few laughs while catching up.

Time to relax at Grandma's! She was such a good hostess while we were there. She really took care of us! On Sunday we headed to church. The chapel was being renovated so we met in an elementary school next door. Sacrament meeting was in the cafeteria and all the beautiful children's art was a bit distracting, but we loved having the chance to have Grandma with us at church.
Here's our parting shot before loading up in the car to drive the 5 hours home. It was so good to see you Dee - we all had a great time visiting. Maddie asks daily, "when will Grandma Dee come visit us?" hint hint...