Ty's Blessing Day...

Ty's blessing kind of snuck up on us. About Monday we realized that the following Sunday was fast Sunday...and that both of our sisters who live out of town were home. It was naturally the best time to do it. It also happened to be Easter Sunday- so it made it extra special.

It is always a neat experience to hear Cory bless our babies. I am so grateful for the priesthood in our family.

Ty was blessed with a heathy body and mental and spiritual strength. He was blessed to be found where service is needed, to be accompanied by the Spirit and recognize promptings. He was blessed to get along with his siblings and to bring peace into his home and be a peacemaker. He was encouraged to seek to be kind and soft-hearted. He was blessed to be able to serve a mission, get married in the temple and raise a family of his own.

Cory said that he felt very specifically prompted to bless him with the ability to recognize promptings and be accompanied by the Spirit. That was neat and something that I hope Ty will always strive to be worthy to realize that blessing.

We are so grateful for the addition of Ty to our family and are eternally grateful for the Savior and that because He lives and was resurrected- our family is able to be together forever.

Stones and Light...

So parenting can be hard.  Like really hard. Don't get me wrong- I love it with all of my heart.  It is always what I have wanted to do and there is nothing I would rather be than a full time mother and wife. Oh- I love it. But I have mentioned before how three kids has been tricky for me. 

I feel like I have a lot less patience than usual and I get grouchy so much easier. Well this sweet picture of these three adorable kiddos was taken on one of those days.  The kind where bedtime can't come soon enough but is hours away and I have already had to repent so many times for yelling at one or two of them and I was feeling a bit frazzled. One of those days.

We had to go somewhere that evening and I just wanted to take a picture of them because I knew that even though things were hectic and we weren't really on our A-game- I loved this. I chose this. Well it made me start to think...

Something had to give.  I knew this was fairly normal to have chaos with three kids and be impatient and messy and have occasional fights (or frequent fights) between siblings...but I didn't think it had to be that way. So, I wanted to change something. And I turned to my scriptures. I read the story of the brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon.

To summarize: He has built boats for his people to cross the sea and go to a promised land, but they had a problem- they needed light. So, the brother of Jared is instructed to come up with a plan. He finds 16 stones and asks the Lord to touch them and be filled with light that when they are crossing the ocean, they don't have to be in darkness when they are being tossed around by the waves. Read it... it is way better in real life:)

I knew this story is true and that Heavenly Father could indeed touch something and fill it with light. And I knew that we needed light in our family...so I prepared my proverbial 16 stones. I came up with a plan and then I asked Heavenly Father to bless that plan that we would not have as much contention and more peace in our home.  Here were my "stones:"

-We have always done Family Home Evening but we had started to get a little too relaxed about it...I knew that there are so many promises from the Lord if we will be obedient to this counsel and so I wanted to have a renewed effort. We would pray, read the scriptures, testify and of course have treats:)

-I would wake up 30 minutes early each weekday and exercise.

- I would buy more underwear for Ellie (I know this seems silly but her accidents were a huge trigger to frustration for me)

- I would be more consistent about immediately disciplining the kids for fighting...as soon as they start to fight- I try to take away the object of contention and they sit in  a time out where I can see them.

-I have also tried to increase my personal study and worship time. I try to listen to a talk from General Conference when I exercise and read my scriptures earlier than right before I fall asleep so I can be more alert.

-We also had a family meeting where we each set goals that we would work on to try and be happier in our family...Mom and Dad would not yell, Brig would listen and not whine, and Ellie would try to not have accidents.

 

 

Our family is no where near perfect! But I can testify that Heavenly Father has blessed our family with light! We are doing so much better and I know that if we let the Savior be a part of our parenting...he will touch our families- and whatever he touches- lives!

Jase's Blessing...

This sweet boy was given a name and a blessing on Sunday, February 2, 2014.

The name: Jase Henry Walker

The priesthood holders that helped: His dad, Grandpa Madsen, Grandpa Walker, Uncle Ross and his Great Grandpa Walker.

 

 

The blessing:

He was blessed to be strong and healthy,

 

a friend to his brother and sister,

 

 

a calm and leveling influence to his family,

 

 

a support to his mother,

 

 

 to be a righteous father and husband and to have a strong testimony.

 

 

Jase is such a blessing to each of us! He already brings so much happiness to our family.  I am so grateful for the joy that each additional member brings to our family and I am ever so grateful for the priesthood and how Cory honors it and blesses our lives through it.

 

Singing Sensations...

Here are a couple of videos of our super adorable ;) kids singing some of our favorite primary songs. 

 

 

 

Easter {Part 1}...

Easter is such a nice holiday.  First and foremost, it celebrates the most important event in history.  We really tried to focus on the Savior more this year.  In fact, for Easter dinner we decided to eat fish and honey (along with a few other things) because that is what Jesus Christ ate after he was resurrected.  It was really delicious and made dinner even more special.  (Plus my kids absolutely LOVE fish!) I was totally taken by surprise when I asked Brig if he knew why we were eating fish and he told me, "Because Jesus Christ ate fish and honeycomb." My hat is off to his primary teachers;)

I also love how everything is turned green and flowers are blossoming and it is warming up! We decided to take advantage of the beautiful Easter morning sunshine and take a few pictures of these adorable kids in their Easter clothes.

 

 

 

 

 

Ok...seriously? This boy is a deamboat!

 

 

And she is quite beautiful too!

 

 

I don't really have anything else to say except how happy these two make me...

I'm so grateful for the Savior and all that his atonement and resurrection means for my family!

 

Boise Temple Dedication...

Cory & I got to attend the Boise Temple Dedication. It was a really neat opportunity because the Prophet, President Monson, would be the one dedicating it. What a neat thing to be in the most sacred place on earth with the leader of our church. We felt blessed. We were able to sit in the sealing room and when the prophet walked by he peeked his head in and made a few silly comments to some of the kids that were standing in the front of the room.  I am so grateful for our prophet and his faithfulness. I know that he is guided and inspired by our Heavenly Father and that He is truly the head of this great church. I know that the temple is a holy place and I am so grateful that Cory and I were sealed there for time and all eternity. 

 

Falling For You...

The other day the kids and I went to help with a service project that the Young Men in our church were doing. Picking apples for the food bank!

 I have the opportunity to help the Young Men prepare for a performance in the Youth Celebration in honor of the Boise, Idaho Temple Rededication. They get to perform for the prophet and it is going to be such an awesome experience! Their dance is based on service so we thought it would be good to get off the dance floor and do some real service- they picked 2700 lbs of apples! That is going to make a whole lotta applesauce:)

I digress.

 

 

Look at these two cuties who helped pick a few apples but mostly just looked adorable!

I do hope we can help them learn how importance service is and how it actually blesses you just as much or more as the beneficiary!

 

It is an absolutely beautiful time with year...and personally, I think I have some absolutely beautiful children.

LOVE IT!

 

I Love To See The Temple...

The Boise Temple was recently remodeled. Before it is rededicated, it is open for the public to come see the inside and learn a little more about this sacred place. We took our family through the open house- it was really nice to be able to all be inside the place where Cory & I were married for time and all eternity!

 

 

The people who are in charge of the open house are anticipating so many visitors that there isn't enough parking at the temple, so we parked at a nearby chruch and rode a bus over to the open house. Brig was pretty excited about that part too!

 

 

Not to mention the fact that we were able to visit with some of our favorite people!

 

 

This next picture makes me smile becuase this is the "real Brig." He can be so shy in front of people, but when he is in a comfortable place- he really lets loose...literally! He has all kinds of moves...so he decided to just start dancing right outside the temple.

 

Cory & I had the opportunity, with many others from our church, to be tour guides for the temple.  It was nice to be able to serve and it was incredible to see all the poeple that were visiting. The day that we worked, they were expecting over 13,000 people! That was just in one day!! There were so many people that we weren't able to talk about the temple because of time constraints with trying to get so many people through.

 

 

It was really special to be able to show Brig the inside of the temple. His favorite part was the baptistry...when he saw that he said- "Whoa. That's cool."

 

 

I am so grateful for this holy place. It is absolutely beautiful inside and everyone is welcome to attend- you don't even need an invitation (but if you don't want to go alone...let me know! I would love to come with you!) but the most important thing is the beautiful feeling inside the temple. To us, it is the House of the Lord and is the most sacred place on Earth. In the temple, families can be sealed for not just this life but for eternity. I am so grateful for this knowledge that has been restored to the earth by the Prophet Joseph Smith and so grateful for my own eternal family!

 

And These Are The Words...

It was General Conference once again... and this year we wanted Brig to try to listen a little more.  We decided that he could always sit and listen when the prophet was talking. So I made him a little chart that whenever one of "his words" were said, he got to put on a sticker.  He did even better though...he was just playing the whole time and would all of a sudden yell... "he said missionaries!" and we would put on a sticker.  We were really proud of him...and his little chart makes me smile because he was so excited over it!

 

 

You may notice that the "missionaries" square has a lot of stickers...that is because so many people talked about the new "rule" (or whatever it is called!) Young men get to serve a mission at 18 (or after they graduate high school) and young women get to serve at 19!!!!! That is so exciting and we are so happy for what it means...Brig & Ellie both need to start saving their pennies in their mission banks now!

 

We are so grateful for the inspired words of our prophet and apostles.  I love the happy feeling that I get after I listen to conference...it sounds so primary like to say- but it's just that simple!

Light...

On a recent day trip to the mountains...we found some lovely light...

Which led me to think of a scripture in D&C 115:5...  Arise and Shine Forth...

...so grateful for the light that we have in an ever darkening world.