My wonderful husband

Elder James E. Faust said: “In the enriching of marriage the big things are the little things. It is a constant appreciation for each other and a thoughtful demonstration of gratitude. It is the encouraging and the helping of each other to grow. Marriage is a joint quest for the good, the beautiful, and the divine”

(in Conference Report, Oct. 1977, 13–14; or Ensign, Nov. 1977, 10–11).

I just had to take a picture of this rose that Bob recently brought home, for no special reason, other than that he loves me! It bloomed & looked so pretty, this picture doesn't really capture it. I really have the most wonderful husband on earth. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing this, but this is an e-mail he sent me the other day:

"I am reading a few selections from Anne Bradstreet, a puritan poet, and so far have really enjoyed and, I think, understood pretty clearly her thoughts and feelings. I read the poem "My Dear and Loving Husband" and it expresses pretty well my feelings for you, but I have to change it to be from a husband to his wife.

So I will make a few changes in the first four lines and the rest will be untouched. This is how I feel:
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever wife were loved by man, then thee;
If ever wife caused happiness in man,
Compare with me, all husbands, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee, give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
That while we live, in love let's so persevere
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

love you babe,
Bob"

I have always loved this quote by President Spencer W. Kimball, because it describes exactly how Bob has always loved me:

“We need an unspoiled companion who will not count our wrinkles, remember our stupidities nor remember our weaknesses; … we need a loving companion with whom we have suffered and wept and prayed and worshipped; one with whom we have suffered sorrow and disappointments, one who loves us for what we are or intend to be rather than what we appear to be in our gilded shell.”

--The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball (1982), 310.

Bob has always loved me for what I "intend to be" someday. He ignores my faults and treats me as though I'm the most perfect person ever. I'm so lucky to be married to him!

Mom & Dad L. leave on a mission!

Bob's parents are leaving tomorrow morning for their 23-month mission to Romania.

You can stay updated on their mission at: http://bobandpeggy.blogspot.com/

We will miss them a lot, but we are so excited for them.

Mom & Dad, we are so proud of you!

Our spring visitors

Here's what we saw out the window a couple of days ago. There are a few more deer in the trees.

Spring is time to ride bikes

Our kids enjoyed the recent 3 days of warm spring weather so much. Zach decided to go get his bike helmet & kneepads out of the garage, so that he "wouldn't get hurt when he rode his bike." This is how he looked.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I came home from Cub Scouts on St. Patrick's Day, and found this cute little red-headed leprechaun in my kitchen. Courtney was babysitting, and she helped him make the hat & other props. The green blocks are "clover", and the yellow is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

Grandma Sorenson

Bob's Grandma, Darle Sorenson, passed away on March 2. She was 92 years old. She was very loved by all of us. She found out she had cancer only two weeks before she passed away. Although we miss her, we are so happy that she did not suffer long, and that Bob's parents were able to attend her funeral before they left on their mission to Romania.

She was buried in the cemetary near the Manti, Utah temple.

Bob was one of the pallbearers

Katelyn Ebright

Courtney & Amber were cleaning the headstone

Our kids inherited their fanatic BYU attitude from many Grandparents.

Notice the BYU flowers?

Here's Zach trying to stay warm. It was freezing cold.

We enjoyed being in Utah. It was wonderful to visit with so many family members. Almost all of Bob's siblings were in Utah, you can imagine the entertaining chaos. We all enjoyed it. The funeral was Friday, and then Bob's parents spoke in church on Sunday. Unfortunately, all my kids and I were super sick on Sunday, so we had to stay home from church.

Hail the conquering fisherman!

A little bit of water has been flowing in the river behind our home. Jace went down and saw some fish swimming in it. He caught them both with his bare hands! We cooked one and ate it, it was delish!

A whitefishMeasured like a true fisherman. (Doesn't 14 1/4 round up to 15?)

A rainbow trout. 19", weighing 2 lbs.

Mallory's Journal

Mallory (age 6) wrote this in her journal. I think it is adorable!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

On March 2, Andrew turned 3. We were excited to celebrate his birthday, because he always finds bits of wrapping paper and miscellaneous objects that he wraps up, brings them to someone, sings "happy birthday" to them at the top of his lungs, and then has them open their "present". For his birthday, he got more tracks and another train for his and Zach's "GeoTrax" train set, and a train book. I love this little guy so much. His blue eyes melt my heart at least once a day.
On his birthday, Jace was helping him say a prayer. Jace: "and we're thankful for my birthday..." Andrew: "...we're thankful for Jace's birthday..."

Here's a few cute pictures of him from the last few months.

We love you Andrewshek!

Jace's 12th Birthday

Jace turned 12 on February 15th. I can't believe how quickly this moment has come!

I know people always say that about their children growing up, but it is becoming more & more true for us every day.

We had such nice discussions with Jace about the responsibilities and duties of the priesthood before he turned 12. He really has grown up and he takes these things very seriously.

It seems like just a little while ago since this is how Jace looked.

Or this cute CHUBBY little guy.

Here was his birthday dinner: lemon-garlic shrimp, baked potatoes, creamy tomato soup, and salad. Yum! Afterwards we headed off to a youth fireside with our two oldest. Thanks to Lisa for supervising Courtney as she babysat the younger kiddos.

Jace made his own whole wheat, honey-sweetened Devil's food cake, with cream cheese frosting. (Served with Breyer's sugary-as-can-be, but-all-natural, ice cream)

Since his birthday was on a Sunday, he was able to be ordained a Deacon in the Aaronic priesthood after church. What a neat experience. He has been enjoying being able to pass the sacrament and going to Young Men activities.

I'm so thankful for our church that assists us in the awesome responsibility of raising righteous sons. I'm so grateful I'm able to be at home with Jace & my other children each day, having the gospel truths to answer all their questions.

We love you Jace!

Scouting in our family

Spencer has looked forward to being a Cub Scout for a long, long time. At the beginning of 2008, he memorized everything he needed to pass off for his Bobcat badge, even though I told him he'd need to do it again when he turned 8 in 11 more months! So, when his birthday rolled around, he was ready. He passed off all the Bobcat requirements the day after he turned 8. This picture is at his first pack meeting when he was awarded his badge. He's now working hard on his Wolf requirements.

I am enjoying being the Cubmaster in our ward, its fun to get to be there with Spencer, and Jace who is our Boy Scout Den Chief, meaning he comes each week to Cub Scouts & helps out. The boys really respect him, and he helps keep them behaving well.

This is Jace & Abby at our recent Blue & Gold Banquet. The theme was American ABC's. We had sloppy joes, veggie plates, chips, and strawberry daquiris with whipped cream & blue sprinkles on top (made by a super-nice man in our ward!) For dessert we had apple crisp & ice cream. I'm sure glad that it is all done, and that it went well. Next month is the Pinewood Derby which is always a ton of fun.

I had just started taking my kids to a weekly jumprope class in Rexburg when we realized our schedule was over-filled, and we were just running around all week. So, we sat down and tried to decide what we could cut out. We found some websites that showed different jumprope skills just like they were learning in the class, so we decided that the jumproping class could go, even though it was a lot of fun.

The next day was a confirmation to me that we were doing the right thing by simplfying the schedule. Chris & Kathryn came over, and the kids were jumproping. Bob & Chris got into the act, and in the course of an hour or so, our kids learned more jumproping techniques than they would have learned in weeks at their class. Here's some footage (sorry for the bad lighting):

More Christmas pictures

Mallory opening her doll. She loves dolls and that is all she would ask for. When we reminded her that she already had five dolls, she replied, "but, I'm six...so I need six dolls." Her other dolls are baby dolls, so we got her one of these "Our Generation" dolls like Courtney has. We like to get similar toys for our children so they have fun playing together with them.

This is the gift Zach gave me. The top part is the wrapping & note, and the snowflake is what was inside. He was so, so excited to give me a present for Christmas. He went and made this himself, and Bob told me that he put his heart & soul into making this, and wrapping it for me. I love it.

Aliysa sculpts all sorts of character bears. She made this bear nativity set for me for Christmas.

Aliysa on Christmas - with her new BYU pajama bottoms, blanket, and a good book (wrinkle in time series.) She was in heaven (pajamas, reading, & being cuddly are all her favorite things!)

Abby tasting her first candy cane (FYI-it was organic, and with no artificial ingredients, and sweetened with evaporated cane juice. The lady at the health food store informed me that these were much less toxic than real candy canes. I think she may have just been trying to help me justify spending more on them :))

Spencer gave Bob a purple turtleneck sweater. Spencer had been joking about doing this for quite some time. Purple is Bob's favorite color, but of course, he doesn't buy purple clothes, and he never wears sweaters or turtlenecks. Spencer was pretty proud of this great joke. I'd post the picture of Bob actually wearing this, but Bob won't let me. He asked me to delete it.