Date with Carter

Laun, Carter and I went to Salt Lake to pick up some shelves Laun bought on a auction. They only cost $21 and he’s using them to organize the garage.

Then we went to one of Carter’s favorite places ever, Cabela’s. He takes looking at animals very seriously. He makes the best noises and facial expressions. He was in heaven. We also ate lunch there and I purposely had his chair facing the mountain of animals, so he could see them as he shoved his face full of french fries. As we left he waved goodbye to the animals.

Clayton had a soccer game tonight and they won 1 to 0. They’ve now won two in a row, so hopefully they are out of their losing streak for good. Clayton can’t play in soccer games if he has any C’s in school and I was happy to see he stayed after to bring up 2 of his grades, so he wouldn’t miss the game tonight. Way to go T!

He’s home

Laun got to go fishing in the rain today. He flies home tonight and I’m so glad.

I’ve been sick most of the time Laun’s been out of town. In fact, all of us except for Marlee (including Laun) have been sick. I was so thankful when my neighbor Rebecca brought us dinner, potato soup and bread. It was delicious and just what we needed.

We got home pretty late from picking up Laun at the airport. He brought back some goodies, as he always does when he goes on a trip.

family is everything

I put his braces on and he walked great with his walker, until he tore off his braces, as usual. I can’t get over his cuteness with a walker. He gets faster and faster.

 

Laun is fishing the Cowlitz River in Washington today. Just look at that beautiful salmon.

While Laun is away I play blog catch up. Carter is very helpful;)

Laun cut Marlee’s hair short recently, but it was uneven and he asked me to take her to someone to have it cut. I think he was nervous to try and even it out and cutting it too short.

She thought the hair dryer at the salon was awesome.

She looks darling as always.

Marlee made this really cool stuff at her after school club today. It’s like silly putty.

You can tell Laun’s out of town. I’ve made pumpkin smoothies, muffins and pancakes (he’s not a fan of pumpkin) and I have the remote control, so we all watched the voice. Pumpkin and the Voice is great in all, but I’ll take my husband any day. I’m so excited he’s coming home tomorrow and that we will have some salmon to eat. Salmon is way better than pumpkin.

early to rise

All the kids laying on the couch, waiting for family prayers. We are saying them extra early today, since Laun is leaving for a trip. 

I took Laun to the airport this morning. He is going on a business trip for 3 days, put on by Arm and Hammer (they make products for cows). They invited him to Washington for some salmon fishing.

My favorite scripture, just ask the kids, they probably have it memorized by now.

Carter’s physical therapist who comes to our home every other week (and we meet her every other week for pool therapy) dropped off this walker for Carter. HE LOVES IT! Not only is a baby with a walker the cutest thing ever, it’s also pretty emotional to see your baby take steps like this and be so excited to walk. He’s already 19 months old and he only takes steps while holding on to the couch, so I’m sure the feeling of walking is incredible for him. We all got so excited and of course I sent a video to Laun since he’s out of town. Carter just kept walking with it over and over again. Go Carter!

Tonight we did face time with Laun and Carter waved night night. These two are so cute.

General Conference Weekend-Sunday messages

Mary has this great tradition, that I totally need to start with my family. On General Conference Sunday, she gives each kid a bingo sheet. It has things like scriptures, Book of Mormon, Holy Ghost, etc. They get a bowl of candy and when they get a BINGO, 5 in a row, they get to eat one piece of candy from their bowl. When they have a blackout, every section is filled, they get to pick out a big candy bar/treat. The kids totally listened and it took them around an hour and a half to finish and each kids sheets vary on what words/pictures they have. I love this idea! My kids loved it. And it really makes them look forward to conference.

I had a very hard week. These messages couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I know God is aware of me and loves me and it helped me hang on. Sometimes I feel alone, but He’s always there.

 

Some of my Sunday notes from watching General Conference:

-Express feelings of compassion to others.

-Elevate and uplift each other. Don’t be too embarrassed to ask for help. Trust in the Lord to build spiritual strength in yourself. Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. The more we persist the brighter the light gets. We have not been left alone.

-He does not answer just to respond to curiosity, but to real intent. Pray and quit complaining. To receive continual answers to prayer, ask in faith and keep commandments. Don’t complain, answers will come. Never give up. Bare with patience your afflictions.Make scripture study a daily part of life. Prayer and fasting will allow us to get revelation. Don’t let doubts lead to unbelief, turn to Him. Be sincere. Laman and Lamuel doubted and murmured, we need faith and works.

-He can help the weak become stronger. Ask of me receive, knock it will open to you.

-Faith and doubt cannot exist at the same time, choose faith.

-We must see each other through a parents eyes and then we can love and serve them. See other’s through God’s eyes. Have eyes that see and ears that hear. Plead with God everyday for this love.

-Be a faith filled women. Show strength and courage. Covenant keeping women reflect righteousness, distinct and different and happier than the ways of the world. Women have virtue, light, love, knowledge, wisdom, character and be righteous. Women teach and speak out. We need women who know how to make important things happen by their faith. Women who know how to receive revelation and teach fearlessly.

 

 

Then we had dessert and headed home. The kids watched Frozen and Carter screamed every time he dropped the soccer ball and Marlee was a real sweetie for repeatedly getting it and giving it back to him.

General Conference Weekend

We drove to Fillmore today, since we are going to spend conference weekend with Brandon and Mary’s family at Mary’s parents home.

We listened to the first session over the radio while driving and I think we got a lot out of it, since no one could get up and leave during a talk;)

 

We took a little pit stop on the way there, Carter and Porter.

Then we watched the second session at the Mace’s home.

 

Some of my conference notes:

Start with where you are. Weak things can become strong. Focus on simplicity that is in Christ. The gospel is simple.

Looking for human weakness in others is a mistake, look for the good.

The center of our lives must be Jesus Christ and the gospel. We will be happier when we live the gospel.

It will all work out (sometimes not now, but in the eternal outcome). Love God more than yourself or your agenda.

To be a better mom, stop complaining. Count your blessings instead of your challenges. Don’t interrupt people when they are talking. Pray for what you need to change and then do it. Improve 1 thing at a time and then work on the next thing. It’s our duty to be better each day. Make spiritual growth a priority.

The Lord will give us strength.

   Our choices matter.

Build up with attitude and language. Be positive and happy. Believe in each other. Raise your children on faith.

Motherhood is a sacred trust. Mom’s be peaceful. Believe in yourself, you are doing better than you think you are.

Be engaged in intentional parenting. Help children grow roots of deep conversion and help them understand important truths. I’ve been where you are and I’ll help you get through it.

 

 

After a wonderful day of conference messages, we all piled into Brandon’s 12 passenger van and headed up the canyon.

That is a lot of Hall boys right there.

I’m loving the fall colors.

Jaron and Clayton

Carter fell asleep on the way there, so he slept in the van while the other kids played.

Laun and Brandon

Off to Priesthood Session-

Marlo (Mary’s dad), Jaron, Brandon, Caden, Clayton and Laun

Afterwards they brought home ice cream for everyone.

improvement

I’m back in the gym as of today! I haven’t been back in the gym since my hip replacement, almost a year ago! I did a lot of physical therapy after my surgery and walking, but now I’m ready for classes again. My friend Corrine in the ward asked me if I would join her 3 days a week for the 5:30 am classes and I’m so excited. Today was pump (a lot of weights) and I did so much better than I thought I would. It feels good to be doing normal exercises again.

We love reading time.

The boys both got their PR on the mile and a half at the cross country meet today.

Clayton got 34th place out of 90 boys with a time of 10:42.

Porter got 42nd place out of 90 boys with a time of 11:02.

happiness is your choice

Today I got to see and hear Stephanie Nielson “Nie Nie” speak at UVU.

She gave a message that I needed to hear. I’ve been grumpy lately and hearing her story and how she decided to choose happiness was so inspiring.

Some of the notes I took:

-desire to be strong and happy

-happiness is your choice and you can look at life that way

-have faith in family

-we don’t have time to criticize others

-choose to see and feel joy

-your life could be so much worse, look for the good and grateful for who you are and what you have

-take what you have and just keep going

-you were born with all the tools you need to be a good mother

-your bodies are amazing and can do great things

-there are strength and lessons in your trials

-don’t look back, look forward

-you can do hard things

-support and love each other and sympathize with others

 

And then she waved goodbye!

Carter was babysat while I was at the speech by a mom in the ward. There’s a group of moms in our ward that do a babysitting trade off. You all start with 20 popsicle sticks and each stick is worth 30 minutes of babysitting for 1 child. So I gave the lady who watched Carter 6 popsicle sticks, since she had him for almost 3 hours. And then when I babysit for someone they give me popsicle sticks. We have a google calendar that is marked babysitiing co-op and we sign up for times we can babysit and if there’s a time you need where no one is signed up you can send out an email asking if anyone is available for the time you wanting. I’m loving it and it’s good for Carter because he’s hardly ever babysat and gets him used to other people. Plus, even though Laun and Clayton help out a lot with Carter, they aren’t around during the day when I want to go to stuff like this.

I took the kids swimming tonight at the neighborhood pool, because it’s starting to feel like fall and I wanted to go before it get’s too cold.

Carter

Carter is my baby. My sunshine. My joy. My peace. He makes me feel loved and happy, despite how rough things are and no matter how many mistakes I make. I struggle a lot and seem to repeat the same wrongs, but it’s like he believes in me and just loves me so much. Before he was born I had the strongest impression that he was being sent for me and would be a great comfort to me and he is. He’s a great comfort to our whole family and we all just adore this baby of ours. Thank you Heavenly Father for blessing our family and home with this sweet baby. Love you Carter.

Picture taken by my sister Laura at the Turley reunion this summer.