Chubby Cheeks

I love those chubby cheeks and the cute little baby lip
overbite that newborns have. Love you Abigail!

Sleep in Heavenly Peace~ this is when she was 2 weeks old

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello

We went to Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia, with Grandma and Grandpa Wride in January 2007. I decided it was okay for Joe and Mel to skip out of school that day. :)

Washington DC

Washtington's Tomb at Mount Vernon

I loved living back east! DC, Virginia, Pennsylvania, I loved seeing the sites and learning the history.

In front of George Washington's home at Mount Vernon

A quick shot of Corey during a date at the Mall

The kids in front of the Lincoln Monument

The historic Braddock Road in Pennsylvania, near Fort Necessity National Park, used during the French and Indian War 1755

Ok, who got in the markers?

The face of innocence.

There is a little face with a tongue sticking out on his right calf. Funny!

So, I said, "Who got in the markers?" I know it wasn't Wesley, cause not only can he not draw smiley faces yet, but I'm sure it would be hard to turn himself enough to be able to draw on himself in these particular place.
Melodie?!?!

Brandywine, Pennsylvania 1777

Ethan posing in front of a Contintental Soldier. Grandma and Grandpa Hibbert and Aunt Beka came out to see some sights on the east coast before she started school (she just returned from her Church mission in San Fransisco). So we (Tiff, Ethan, Hyrum, and Wesley) drove up from Virginia to spend the day with them (Joe and Mel were in school, and Corey was at work). We went and visited the Brinton Farm home, the Brandywine Battlefield, and then to Valley Forge. It was a great day, I loved living back east!

Hyrum with Aunt Beka

Kirtland, Ohio

Just some pictures from our visit to Kirtland, Ohio, last year.In front of the Newel K. Whitney Store

And the Whitney home where Joseph Smith and Emma stayed for a time when they lived in Kirtland. The home has been restored, but the front step that we are standing on is the original. It was neat to think of walking where the prophet Joseph walked. It would be fun to travel back through time and meet the early Saints.

Joseph Smith and The Sacred Grove

In the Sacred Grove in Palmyra, New York.
Look at Wesley's eyes, he seems to be
pondering things of eternity~
July 2006

Standing in front of the Smith Home
(a replica built where the original cabin stood)
July 2006

Well, Corey and I have been following the campaign coverage since we were in Virginia, and really followed it in Brazil when our mail contact with the US was YouTube (we enjoyed watching the debates online). Anyway, seeing how there is lots of talk out there about Mormons, I thought I'd write. I love this transcript from Glenn Beck's show - http://www.glennbeck.com/news/12052007.shtml Amen. Today I found a comment on Townhall.com to a Michael Medved article about how Mormonism is a cult with a link to a YouTube video with animation that I find ugly, here is the link in case you want to watch it -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5dscqcNOGM (a cartoon supposedly "banned" by the church. I mostly have a hard time watching it because I think the drawings are gross and it has spooky music that gives the message they want to imply "Mormon's are freaky!") But for anyone who wants to know what I think, here's two links I whole heartedly endorse -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHcnnkshRyg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghYCqOWhIBM&feature=related

I firmly believe that Joseph Smith was not only a good and honset man, but I believe that he was a man chosen by God to be a prophet, the prophet to usher in the last dispensation of time before the return of Jesus Christ. If anyone has any questions about the teachings of the LDS church, I'm willing to try and answer them as I know them. I do think there is some explanation to the cosmos (see my post about the Universe on November 7th - so I do believe some things said in that animated documentary are true, but they mix it with ideas of their own creation.)

Happy Birthday, Dear Melodie!

Melodie is 7 years old!
Holding her cake

... with ambiance

Wednesday, December 12th was Melodie's happy birthday. And here's a picture of the gang with Grandma Hibbert. As you can see from the expression of Joseph in the front, he was a bit rowdy. He and Ethan were tackling each other and running around screaming. Mom called me the next morning and said that after we left she watched a Dateline documentary about the 7-tuplets, so she called to reassure me that my kids were not abnormally rambunctious, they are just normal kids (who had too much sugar and cake).

Clutter Buster

I don't know if any of you have seen the show Mission Organization on HGTV, but I think it is my favorite show. I went over to a friends house on Wednesday and helped her clear out a desk in their kitchen, and it was so fun! I am her visiting teacher for church, and somehow we starting talking about messy basements and clutter, and I told her I'd let her borrow my book "CLUTTER'S LAST STAND" By Don Aslett (thanks to Mother for introducing me to that book). She took me to her kitchen desk, where she was unable to close the bottom desk drawer because it was full of junk and something fell behind the drawer when she opened it and now it wouldn't close. So I came over and we did a complete overhaul. Using the techniques that I learned from watching probably a hundred episodes of Mission Organization during our 9 months in Virginia, we were able to clear out her desk and filled three garbage cans full of trash. We were easily able to find places for her other things, and I just thought it was so fun, and she says she knows that there are tons of people that need help clearing out stuff and that I should do it for a business if I really like it. I do think that would be a fun job. Any suggestions for what I could name my business if I did that? I'm doing a little research online. I am going over to her house again on Monday and we're going to tackle her boys' rooms. Should be fun!

Snow!

Wesley - what a cutie!

We are enjoying the snow this year. Last year in Virginia we barely got an inch. They did cancel school that day though, so that made it seem like we had a lot (but honestly, they gotta toughen up out there). So this year we are having fun. We haven't made any great snow caves yet, but the kids have a fort out front. I'm waiting for another fresh fall of snow to go out and make a serious fortress, if I can get Abi to sleep long enough for us to make some good progress. Below are Joe and Mel with a snowman (probably more of a snowkid).