Gordon B. Hinckley

Last night, our prophet Gordon B. Hinckley passed away. He has lead such an inspiring life. It is hard to imagine him not being there for conference. The happiness I find in this is picturing him rejoining his sweet wife who passed away almost four years ago. Sister Hinckley was the epitome of what "Grandma" means to me. I think the heavens must be rejoicing to have this remarkable brother and sister with them to do such amazing work on the other side.

This morning I told Alec & Lily that Presiden Hinckley died. Alec went right away into his room and colored a picture of our prophet in his suit and tie, and put a heart around the picture. I thought it was very sweet.

Happy 6th Birthday, Alec!!!

Happy Birthday Alec!!! Six-years-old already! He has been sooo excited for his birthday and more presents! We were crazy and invited a bunch of little boys to go sledding and then come and have pizza, cake & ice cream. It was a blast!

I'm not sure who had the most fun- Tim or the kids!

Some of my favorite memories were of my mom making us the coolest birthday cakes! I always thought she was so amazing in decorating us anything we wanted. So, when Alec said he wanted to have a Scooby Doo cake, I had to give it a go! Go Mystery Machine!

For more fun birthday pictures, check out Alec's Page!

Sunday, Sunday...

We now have the 9:00 a.m. time for church, and I wasn't so sure how this was all going to work, since I could barely get us all to church on time at 1:00 p.m. With Tim in the bishopric, he now has meetings from 7-9 a.m., so I started getting everyone ready early. I had fed Megan at 5:00 a.m., and she held out til 8:20 a.m. pretty well. So I figured I could have everyone already to go, bathe & feed her, and be at church even a couple of minutes early! Right... We were right on schedule until half way through eating, when as I was burping her she threw up all over the blanket, my shirt, skirt, the pillow & couch. Great!!! She hasn't done that in over a month- it was perfect timing!!! The only good thing was her dress was okay- miraculously! Even so, we got into Sacrament Meeting as they were starting to sing the openin hymn (sigh of relief- Just getting to church is half the battle!).
I was especially happy to be the Primary Pianist today, so I had an excuse to sit and watch Lily in her new Sunbeam class. Our little neighbor, Hailey, and Lily just barely turned 3 years old, so they are the sweetest little Sunbeams!!! Lily was so excited to go to the big primary like Alec. She always tells me she has a class, like Alec. Alec thought it was pretty cool to have Lily in there, too. He is such a nice big brother!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I know it's January 8th already, but Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!! We have had such a great year and a wonderful Christmas season. We have loved having all the family in town and the parties with such great food! (though Megan-the mean child :)- didn't let me eat any of the delicious chocolate treats that were everywhere!!! I have found that her not screaming as much is plenty incentive to avoid chocolate!)

We had Christmas Eve with the Drake Family, with the traditional Mexican dinner, followed by Grandpa Drake playing the guitar and everyone singing Christmas songs. Then we read the Bible story of the birth of the Savior, and open presents.

This Christmas was extra special, I guess, because over half the family got sick within a week of each other! I had the flu the day after Christmas, as well as quite a few other Drake family members, and then Alec, Lily & Tim all got terrible colds, along with many of the other Drake family members! Tis the season for sharing. Blah!

On Christmas Day we had lunch with the Smith Family. Yummy, Yummy! We are so blessed to live close by to so much of our family! My favorite part of the Smith party was watching the Early Years Movie of my brother, Adam, that I had put together from old home movies for him. The best part was a clip of him at 7 years old, dressed up in a wig; teenage mutant ninja turtle mask; superman cape; shorts; knee high socks & women's shoes, running around the front yard. It brought back so many funny memories! I love you, Adam!

Here are some of our favorites:

Santa brought Tim the remote control airplane that Alec asked for him. Yahoo! (Never mind that it got stuck in the neighbors tree on its' maiden voyage...)

Ah, the most Super Duper Remote Control Truck ever- complete with trailor and remote control four wheeler! Alec has been staring at this trucks' picture in the toy magazine for three months! Go Alec!

Lily and her special Baby Alive doll. She adores all babies! This one has a star button bracelet that you can push and she talks. Lily and Alec's favorite saying is, "Oh Uh! I made a stinky!" and then she giggles. My favorite part is she says, "I love you, Mommy," so sweetly, and then Lily snuggles her close and says so sweetly back, "I love you, too, Baby Princess."

Grandma Drake made Lily a special princess quilt, with a matching smaller quilt for her baby doll. We are spoiled rotten!