Midwinter break-part 2

We also spent a portion of our week in downtown Seattle.

At the Science Center we learned about water flow in toilets, sea creatures, and periscopes to the skyline. A majority of the time was spent at the new Mars Exhibit.

Another day was spent at the Children's Museum. That place gets two thumbs up from each pair of thumbs in the family. Braden has been asking to go back everyday this week!

The kids' sushi shop

After exploring the fascinating country displays, we ventured to the art studio. It was a clay, paint, and crafting heaven. Translation: an unending supply of markers, tape, colored masking tape, glitter, glue, scissors, staplers, hole punches, streamers, construction paper, curling ribbon, paints, clay, sculpting tools, and a pile of recycled goods.

The highlight was the dress up and pretend section. At one point Tanner was a firefighter who was riding on the Metro bus with his grocery cart full of vegetables and canned goods! (He somehow managed to get the entire grocery cart inside the bus!)

Tonight at Church

I was asked to speak on my divine calling as a mother tonight. While public speaking makes me super nervous, I love the opportunity it gives me to reflect and count my blessings. Because I hope my calling of motherhood continues I want to share my randomn thoughts here. I also want my family to one day see and always know how priviledged I feel to be called "mom" and "wife".
Here you go.

Russell M Nelson said "Each daughter of God is of infinite worth because of her divine mission". I am lucky enough to be filling the divine role of motherhood which I get to discuss with you briefly tonight.

President Faust said "Being a mother is not only a great challenge; it is a divine calling." I well remember the earlier years of exhaustion as a mom of a newborn, 18 month old, and 3 1/2 year old, married to a counselor in the bishopric, in the middle of his busy season. I remember noticing more of the challenges of the feeding, bathing, wiping, nursing, and laundring everyone but myself and wishing that I was more able to keep up with everything. Now, a short four years later, life has slowed down a little and I realize that my calling as a mother with children in the home won't last much longer. I find myself missing those earlier, exhausting days with little loving hands and snuggly babies.

There are SO many roles to fill as women. I am so GRATEFUL for the roles I have been trusted with as a wife of Ryan and mommy to Gracie, Braden, Tanner and hopefully another one someday. My hope is to be able to be worthy of that trust in the sacred callings my Heavenly Father sees fit to give me.

I know that our Father in Heaven planted women here for a purpose. Gordon B. Hinckley once said, "God planted within women something divine" and I know that to be true.

(Then I accompanied a sweet soloist who sang this song that I got to be a part of with a student composer at BYU. "A Woman's Prayer" by Cheri Magill is still one of my favorite songs about women. Here are the words...)

Working hard, down on calloused knees,
The woman claimed her pay.
With much to do and more to learn,
She humbly hurried on her way
to give the Lord her only coin,
but He saw a willing heart.
Lord, help me to be more grateful to Thee for the honor of doing my part.

She struggled through the anxious crowd, just to touch His clothes.
Barred from life and any loved ones,
She risked all to be made whole.
As she fell to her knees, her faith set her free.
Lord, help me ignore the crowd and faithfully follow Thee.

Women of the past and women today
with hearts full of love and desire
Please bless us Lord that this spirit
may continue to burn as fire.

She gently wiped a tear from her cheek
as they roughly handled her son.
She remembered when she cradled him
til the hours of the day were done.
The little child that she held would change the world eternally.
Lord, help me endure to the end
to be worthy of embracing Thee.

Women of the past and women today
with hearts full of love and desire.
Please bless us Lord that this spirit
may continue to burn as fire.

Midwinter Break activities

Our school district allows for a week's break of school in February for skiing or other family trips. Since Ryan is in the middle of busy season, we don't get to travel anywhere far away, but I did my best to make it an exciting time for the kids.

*Gracie and I got to go out for a day at the ballet. We got to see the Sleeping Beauty at McCaw Hall. We went to the special matinee where Gracie got to try on some of the costumes, watch a magician, and pick out a little souvenir. SO FUN.

*We spent one day in Yakima visiting family. We brought some friends along for the visit to my Uncle's farm. The kids had a blast feeding the animals and riding in the bucket of the tractor. We also got to visit my sister and brother in law.

The kids and I didn't participate in this fun but Ryan did so I'm going to post it here too. Ryan's facial hair has been out of control in efforts to win the Tom Selleck look alike contest at the office. He won a mustache comb for his efforts. What do you think? Any resemblance?

I should have had him show off his chest a little more, huh? Oh, and wear some tighter jeans.

I have about 90 more pictures to go through so I'll have to add another post soon. Stay tuned...

Playroom makeover

A couple of weeks ago, the boys and I made a trip to Michaels for some Primary supplies. As we were walking through the aisle, I noticed that canvas was on sale BOGO! I couldn't pass it up, so we grabbed two and headed home. Braden had been discussing Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night, so he was very pleased to create our own Starry Night.

After the boys and I had our abstract art sesson, I went upstairs to hang it in the playroom. I took a step back and felt like the place needed a new look to make the art pop (plus the room needed a new personality).
BEFORE

AFTER

Can you pick out our abstract beauty below?



The kids are loving this room now. When I finished hanging the bulletin boards this morning, Braden came in and said an enthusiastic, "WOW". Awww, that feels so good. He knows how to butter this mama up...

More Fun Facts About Us

{Ryan}
Age: 32
Height: 5' 10"
Hair: brown- Right now it's super thick and bushy as part of the Tom Selleck look alike competition at work.
Eyes: brown
Occupation: Accounting manager for a public firm- audit
Languages: English & (fluent in) Spanish
Heritage: English





{Jen}
Age: 31
Height: 5' 5"
Hair: Naturally...Medium brown with some red. Currently-Blonde on top with brown stripes and brown underneath.
Eyes: Green
Occupation: CEO of the household, Owner of my non-money making Interior Design business, & occasional High School Dance/Drill Team judge.
Languages: English & American Sign Language- used to be able to interpret, & High School level of Spanish
Heritage: English, Croatian, & German. I'm hoping to find some Irish but that hasn't worked out yet...

A month in review

We went to NM over the holiday break to visit family. The highlights included sledding

rockets

game playing

and visiting Grandma.

I also got to see my cute friend Renatha who I went through BYU's design program with. It was so great to catch up with her and meet her cute family. We picked up right where we left off almost 8 years ago!

Daily Dinosaur Digs

On Monday's MLK holiday we headed out to run some errands. While shopping, I found this great Dino Dig kit on sale and figured it could be exciting for the kids. I had no idea the hours of entertainment this would provide for the whole family.

The three have been working on this kit any chance they get. We even pulled out the headlamps so they could work on it after dark! And they have made some good progress. Four out of 8 pieces have currently been unearthed. See the velociraptor rib cage and leg below?

Braden has taken to the blue goggles that came with the set and even wore them on our trip to Costco the other day!

I think we need to head back to the store and pick up a couple more sets.

Ryan's favorites

And now I send them off to be printed.

Ryan's paintball picture in the top right hand corner looks a little intimidating to me. It's a good thing I don't paintball... And I hope that it's clear that Ryan built the crib in the pictures. It's listed as one of his favorite school subjects but I probably should have made it more clear. Oh well. Don't you love the little detail of the inscription on the crib? It's surely an heirloom.

Hard Copy Profile update

I have disappeared from blogging in attempts to finish our hard copy profile. I have Christmas break pictures, Primary activity, and other fun things to post, but I thought I would publish my latest finished portion of our profile. These are the "favorites" pages:

Ryan's pages are almost ready to go. I have to find a paintball picture of him and add it to the page before I finish.

We're almost done and that feels so good. Aahhhhh. More to come soon.