Andrew's baptism

Everyone related to us (plus a few extra) that came to support Andrew at his baptism. Aunt Rebecca, Kevin, Natalie, Brandon, Danika, Tyler, Tim and Adriana (Blake) Binetez, Jared Blake, Jeff, William, Andrew, JJ, MaggieMae, AnnaLisa, Kristina, Grandpa Williams, RosiLee, Jade, Grandma Williams, Kathy, Jordan, Trent, and Isaiah.

Andrew and Daddy

Mommy and Andrew

Andrew got baptized on April 9, 2011. When I woke up in the morning with William, I noticed that Andrew was not in his bed. I came down stairs and noticed all the lights were out. He was smiling sitting in the dark in the family room covered in a blanket, but still sitting up very alert. I smiled to myself and asked him if he was excited about getting baptized today. He smiled even bigger (if that is possible) and said he could not wait.

We had a wonderful time at his baptism. He was a little down hearted to learn he was going to have to wait until second to be baptized because he was given the opportunity to allow a girl from our ward to be first (darn that chivalry). He had to get dunked twice because his foot came flying up. After Jeff was done baptizing him, Andrew told him he was very scared because he was not sure he would come back up. After his baptism I got to share a little about Andrew and the importance of following the Savior's example. I truly believe that Andrew knows what he is doing and is making a committed step in his life. Yes, he probably knows this is something that we as his parents value, but when you discuss this with him, he has such a strong knowledge of why baptism is important and what it means to him personally. I am amazed at the depth of his understanding and desire to do what is right.

We are very thankful for all our children, but on this day we are especially excited about Andrew's choices and are thankful for his wonderful happy countenance he adds to our home.

Bedlamites in the Garden of Weeden

We watched General Conference today and one of the speakers spoke of sometimes parents are trying hard to teach their children the gospel and their children are causing all kind of bedlam. He then commented that it was worth it doing these important things (like daily family scripture study, family prayer, etc) even in the midst of Bedlamites. I loved it. Sometimes that is how it feels, like I am swimming upsteam and all my children are just going in the opposite direction because they don't yet know the importance of such activities in our home. That doesn't mean I should give up, just smile, remind myself they are being Bedlamites, and keep on lovin' away.

At the moment all these thoughts were running through my head, I glance over at Jeff and see him chuckling and nodding his head. I am not alone. There are two of us against the Bedlamites, we just might be successful yet.

Garden of Weeden

Lately we have taken to paying the kids a penny a weed. One of the joys of having a large yard is that there is more space for weeds. We have had many waves of family weeding parties. I don't know who thinks this is a desert area we live in, we find plenty of lush green weeds! We all go out and weed together. After the first 25 or so kids really lose desire to be out there. Paying them has encouraged greater help. JJ has managed to earn about $1.50 in three weeding adventures.

JJ is using his new found wealth to finance another family adventure - Entanglement (a google puzzle game). They have the usual teasers of letting you play a few levels and then they pitch a paid for game for the low price of $3.95. The free version has been enough to satisfy Jeff and I. However the kids, JJ especially really want to get this paid for version. We told them to save up their money and JJ has already turned in about $1.20 towards the price. He is a hard worker.

As far as our Garden of Weeden goes, well, while we aren't looking forward to the work, we are very thankful for our very large yard even if it means we have weeds to take care of.

pizza time and the snitcheroo

Here I am rolling out pizza dough and here is Rosi helping by taste testing it for me. Whew! No poisons or nothing in it/ :) Rosi loves to cook with me. She also loves eating dough (bread or pizza) as well as fresh ground flour (I have weird kids). She is just too funny to ignore.

Below is a picture of two loaves of bread that I made and while I chatted with Jeff a few minutes about how the babies were in need of a snack, Rosi comes around the corner holding the loaf of rising bread off of the counter and was plucking pinches of dough from the loaf. We were a little frustrated, but just busted out laughing at our determined and self-directed young girl.

AnnaLisa at the piano

I love seeing my kids developing their talents. AnnaLisa has learned the basics of piano play and is working to develop it into a stronger talent. She has also recently gotten a recorder from school that she loves to play around on, but has yet to learn any songs.

We hope that she will continue to develop her wonderful piano skills as well as learning new ones! We love our beautiful girl and enjoy her music talents as well as other talents.