I am thankful for Forgivness!~Maddy

I am so thankful that even If I make a horrible sin Heavenly Father will still forgive me!!! What would life be like If every time we did a sin and we wanted to forgive, but we couldn't. I would be in so much trouble at the judgment seat If Heavenly Father held me accountable for every little sin I have done! God promises us that every time we deeply forgive of our sins, He will forgive and COMPLETELY forget! I am so grateful for this wonderful gift, and I will never take it for granted.

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I am thankful for Temples! ~Maddy

Temples are such an amazing thing, for me they are just more proof that god lives and protects us, and wants us to live back with him in Heaven! It says that Temples are a tiny-tiny glimpse of what Heaven will be like. Whenever I see a picture of the temple I feel so relieved and comforted, and at that very moment I feel no need to think about the world around me, I just think about my goal and where I am headed to. I love temples, through the temple I can baptise family members that never got the chance to when they lived on this earth,   that is a true gift, because I am doing exactly what God wants us to do; serve others!!! I know someday I will be able to go into all of the different parts of the temple and see the wonderful house of god, I cant wait!!!:)

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Happy Groundhogs Day!

Here's Anamarie's drawing from groundhogs day. It looks like the groundhog saw his "chado", so it's another 6 weeks of winter :( Here's Anamarie's description and artwork: "the groundog wus skrd. He saw his chado. uono".

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I am thankful to be a Mormon!!! ~Maddy

I know this may seem pretty obvious, but i truly am thankful to be a Mormon! I am lucky enough to come into a family that supports, and teaches me everything I need to know about the church. Without the church I really don't know how I could live, In the hardest times in life It Is the most amazing feeling to know that someone has gone through so much pain and suffering, even more than we can imagine, it makes me feel good when I know that he knows what we are feeling, and that even if we are feeling lonely, God is ALWAYS there for us, and loves us no matter what!

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Thankful for support, friends and service by Taylor

I'm very thankful for my family, friends, and service. I'm thankful for my family because they give me so much support. About 2 weeks ago the second term for school was ending and I was freaking out because my grades weren't the best. I had worked really hard in all my classes but my grades weren't turning out so great. On the last 2 weeks I worked so hard but my parents were the ones who really helped me the most. They were able to wake up early and take me to school to take tests, or pick me up after school when I was finishing something up. My grades turned out a lot better than what they would have been but I wouldn't of gotten my grades up if it weren't for the help of my wonderful parents, and there support to my brother's, sister's and I.

I am very thankful for my friends because they are very kind and are always there for me. Some kids don't have great friends and I feel really bad for them because my friends are so kind to everyone and they like a lot of the things that I like. My friends that are surrounding in my life are the people who like me for who I am. They build me up, like the things I like, are giving, and work hard to be the best they can be.

The last thing that I'm thankful for is service, because service is a way to show your kindness and gratitude for others or when it's something that helps you. I love giving service because I love seeing the face of the person I've served. I love it when I'm able to help the needy or just do something nice for my family. Service is so great because it comes with being kind, outgoing and being a leader.

I am thankful for all these wonderful things and I know I'll love these things for the rest of my life.

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I am thankful for a house to live in~Maddy

Every day coming home to a warm, safe house makes me so happy! Even though I may not talk about it very much, I truly am thankful for it! After years of being in church and school I learn so many dreadful stories of people that die from freezing weather and not having a roof over their heads, there are so much more stories that make me appreciate the home, time and area that I live in!! Thank you mom and dad for giving me such a wonderful home!!;)

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William @ 19 Months old

Our little William is 19 months old! I know he is officially a toddler now, but he's holding onto his "baby" title as long as he can. He doesn't have any desire to talk. He's even decided to not say words he once said, like; "mama", "dada", "hello", "uh-oh". So I have decided to start teaching him sign language. We did this when Anamarie was a baby, and we loved it. So, we started with the thank you sign, and he will do it, when we say thank you (most of the time). Little by little, we hope to have him speaking in full sentences, even if it's in sign language :) However, this month, he has mastered coming down the stairs!!! Once again, this was something my other children accomplished when they were 12 months old, but little William has his own time frame here. He still loves books, giving open mouth kisses, and is a little scaredy boy when it comes to a lot of things, like; the bear in his animal book, the Gorilla stuffed animal, loud noises, and certain G rated animated movies. He loves the Uno Attack game, but not the way most people play it, he likes to hit the button over and over again, just to watch the cards randomly come flying out. This can keep him entertained for a long time. Playing Peek-a-boo in our curtains is one of his favorites games as well. He's our widdle cute boy...baby :)

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Snow Flakes in the Bedroom :)

Yes, this just happened!! Every day that goes by, I try to be patient when something like this happens. Anamarie was inspired by the beautiful snowfall last night, and wanted the same effect in her bedroom. With an entire roll of toilet paper, 15 minutes of freedom (while mommy vacuumed), and creativity, Anamarie's bedroom became as beautiful as outside. I wasn't even upset, (I've had many episodes to practice this), but I told her she could continue shredding very small pieces of toilet paper, as long as she cleaned it when they were done. Thankfully, she and Brett already have her room looking tidy again. Brett is getting very handy with my new Skark hand vac, and loves vacuuming any chance he gets. What you see in the picture, is just a fraction of the "creativity". The beds, toys, stuffed animals were also decorated in beautiful whiteness as well :)

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Boys are better than Girls!

Anamarie's informs me why boys are better than girls tonight:
Anamarie: "Hey mom, you know boys are better than girls!"
Me: "hmm, why is that Anamarie?"
Anamarie: "Because Jesus is a boy!"
Me: ____________________________

That's right, I was totally speech-less, there's no arguing with that response.
Jesus wins every time :)

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Seminary Centennial Broadcast

Brady, Taylor and I enjoyed the 100 year anniversary of Seminary Broadcast at our church tonight. President Erying talked about how his mother was in the very first Seminary class in 1912. At the age of 16 years old, she must have been invited to attend that class as her own family was inactive. He showed the original attendance book with his mothers signature on the pages; it was a really cool story. Next was showing the growth of the Seminary program these past one hundred years. Showing a map of the world, starting with Utah, and branching out into the surrounding states, then almost every country in the world except the middle east has this Seminary Church Program, it was very touching. Boyd K. Packer was next to speak. During his introduction, I learned some very fascinating facts about him

• He was born on September 10, 1924
• He was a pilot in WWII
• He received his B.S. & M.S Degrees from Utah State University
• Received his Ed.P. from Brigham Young University
• He and is wife had 10 children
• 60 grand children 
• 78 great grand children
• He became an apostle in 1970 at the age of 37
• He became President of the Quorum of the 12 in 2008

He spoke on the importance of Seminary in the lives of our youth. He spoke about how our identity and gender was given to us in heaven before we came to earth and that our destiny here on earth is to love our gender, which converged him into the standpoint on homosexuality and how the church will never support same sex marriage. He talked on keeping yourself physically and spiritually clean. How the church designed the Word of Wisdom program back in the 1800's before they knew anything about the lasting harmful effects of Tobacco, alcohol, teas and coffees. That our bodies were created in God's image and we need to respect our bodies and keep them clean. He also mention to refrain from tattoos and piercings (other than ears)  because it's a form of disrespect to our bodies. He talked about how we all need to learn how to discipline ourselves, which derives from the word Disciple meaning "people who were devoted followers of a great religious leader or teacher of philosophy". His words were very encouraging and left me wanting to be better  to be the best parent to my children.

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