Happiest Halloween :)

I'm pretty proud of my creations this year. Halloween gets more and more fun when you have a child.

John's children are going to play with this airplane... If it survives that long with tune ups :) 

And Seth gets the best husband and dad award! What a sport!

Videos and more pics tomorrow! 

We're pretty tired. It's been a long day.

Happy Halloween! 

Getting excited!

I didn't know I could get so excited about Halloween! Just look at that smile!

He's very official

All the way to 13! Amazing!

John is so adorable in these pajamas, I can't even take it all in! The cuteness is overflowing! I couldn't get him to stay still enough to take a really good picture, but you get the idea. 

And John counted all the way up to 13 correctly, by himself today! I was so impressed! It was really cute, when he got to 13, and he went back to 12 because he didn't know what with next. John also really loves saying "amazing!" And he really is Amazing!

Halloween Preview

If only we had an airplane!

...

Remember that time when..... I heard John wake up in the morning, but I thought he'll be okay for a few more minutes. So I didn't get out of bed right away. And then when I came in his room, it turned out that he had the worst blowout diaper of his life! And then it took me 40 minutes to clean it up!

Yes. I remember that time.... I know it's totally unrelated to the adorable picture above, but I just had to post it somewhere! Thank the Lord for my friend Allison who took John this morning so that I could do therapy! 

Abram Shepard Dimond

Pickles has a name! Abram Shepard Dimond, born in Seattle, on October 22, 2014 to Hannah and Michael Dimond.

I already love this baby so much! So excited for Christmas!

I'm proud of my sister Hannah! She's a trooper and a wonderful mother!

James is already a good big brother!

I'm an aunt again!

How precious is he?!!!  Here is the little guy still known as "Pickles" - that's what his big brother James called him :) Born at 10:08 pm last night He is 6 lbs 15 oz and 20.25 inches. My sister Hannah and the baby are doing well. It's great that my sister Martha is in Seattle to help with James so Michael can be with Hannah. Oh I can't wait for Christmas! 

A Visit From the Barkers

New friends!

We went to see "Meet the Mormons" with our friends Elliot and Cristi. Elliot us one of Seth's classmates. The movie was awesome again! Although John was slightly less mesmerized and loved running around the theater. Thankfully, tonight, only one lady wanted to meet the Mormons with us, so hopefully he didn't bother her too much.

Then we had a nice dinner of noodles and company. We brought it back to our house, and we had such a great time together! It is so fascinating to get to know friends of other faiths, and I love that we can ask questions and be candid. We are really looking forward to our new friendship with Cristi and Elliott. John really likes them. He gave them hugs and high-fives when they left! 

Wish I had gotten a picture… Next time! Here is an adorable one though, a preview for tomorrow's post 

PS, you might still have a chance to see "Meet the Mormons" tomorrow! Please go see it, it is so informative. It clears up many misconceptions about us. Go to http://meetthemormons.com to find out if there is a theater near you that has a showtime.

Invisible growth

My dear friend beth sent me this wonderful article. Whether you are a mother or not, this idea of invisible growth is true for everyone! Read it! Here it is: http://powerofmoms.com/2012/06/invisible-growth/

Family night

Monday night is family night for us. Tonight, we sang songs about Jesus, we prayed together, we had a very short lesson  (with pictures) about the earth and how Christ was the creator of the earth under the direction of His Father and how everything was made by him even the stars in the sky. (See John 1:3 in the New Testament). John is very interested today in space shuttles, we watched some YouTube videos about space shuttle launches and he loved them! 

Then, we had a yummy treat, Apple slices with peanut butter and dairy free chocolate chips. And we built towers with Jenga blocks and knocked them down. Simple, easy, fun! Great family time. 

One of my favorite talks from general conference was by Richard G. Scott. One thing he said was this:

"Family Home Evening

While you are working to strengthen your family and cultivate peace, remember this third tool: weekly family home evening. Be cautious not to make your family home evening just an afterthought of a busy day. Decide that on Monday night your family will be together at home for the evening. Do not let employment demands, sports, extracurricular activities, homework, or anything else become more important than that time you spend together at home with your family.

The structure of your evening is not as important as the time invested. The gospel should be taught both formally and informally. Make it a meaningful experience for each member of the family. Family home evening is a precious time to bear testimony in a safe environment; to learn teaching, planning, and organizational skills; to strengthen family bonds; to develop family traditions; to talk to each other; and more important, to have a marvelous time together!

At last April’s conference, Sister Linda S. Reeves boldly declared: “I must testify of the blessings of daily scripture study and prayer and weekly family home evening. These are the very practices that help take away stress, give direction to our lives, and add protection to our homes.”⁸ Sister Reeves is a very wise woman. I strongly urge you to earn your own testimony of these three crucial habits." 

For full address, See: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/make-the-exercise-of-faith-your-first-priority?lang=eng