journal - may.11.2011

It's a little more of a challenge to get the kids in bed with the sun going down so late.  But oh isn't it great to have so much daylight?  Here is Seth running around in the yard at about 8:30 tonight.

Seth is the worst.  He gets all wound up at night.  And Sam is there to help him out... the problem is that Seth doesn't settle down and crash like Sam does.

Wow is he learning a lot.  He is saying so many words.  He can completely undress himself in seconds... and he doesn't like to wear clothes.
Camille lost another tooth today... she is a couple of teeth ahead of Spencer and he doesn't think that's very fair.

Oh, did I mention Camille is an animal on the monkey bars.  For quite some time, she has spent her entire recess time at school working them.

Love the smile shots...

And Seth is finally down. 

Earlier this evening, I was at John's house with his tomatoes.  I think I have bit off more than I can chew.

Mind you, that is 7 different kinds of tomato plants, about 30 each. They need to be about 3 feet apart.  When John grows these, they reach between 8 and 9 feet tall.  I think I am going to need to farm these out to the neighbors in a few weeks.  

Parting shot: 

Seth trying to eat a noodle off the floor.  He was sharing my dinner with me and he dropped a few.  When I came back in the room, here he was.  I guess those are a little hard to get with the fingers.

new lighting

Mommy's helpers (better than whining at her legs for food)

Yep, starting to sit up on his own for a few seconds. And rolling over both ways now. His smiles are contagious and plentiful.

Spence is doing great in school and looking forward to his baptism.

Camille is a big helper.

Amber's first blog entry!

For my birthday, one of the things that I wanted was for Tyler to show me how to Blog. Last night I had my first lesson and today Tyler took some pictures of the kids. so here is my first post. ( I think that Tyler will still do most of the entries)


Camillle got a new dress today and was modeling it for her Dad.

Scott has caught on to saying 'cheese' when we take pictures of him now.

Tyler was playing with flashes

Sam loves his baby brother

Happy face

a word on kids and teaching doctrine

Does everyone have a "favorite apostle"?... one that seems to talk directly to our heart and mind?... one that, more often than not, seems to say exactly what we need to hear? In the days of my youth (which sometimes I think I am still in), Neal A. Maxwell was my fav. President Eyring now fills that seat at my table. In searching for New Testament doctrine re: the Resurrection today, I stumbled upon this powerful talk entitled The Power of Teaching Doctrine
Some of my favorite exerpts were as follows:

…Simply hearing the words of doctrine can plant the seed of faith in the heart. And even a tiny seed of faith in Jesus Christ invites the Spirit

…Your descendants will teach doctrine to each other because you taught it.

…A wise parent would never miss a chance to gather children together to learn of the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Such moments are so rare in comparison with the efforts of the enemy. For every hour the power of doctrine is introduced into a child’s life, there may be hundreds of hours of messages and images denying or ignoring the saving truths.
The question should not be whether we are too tired to prepare to teach doctrine or whether it wouldn’t be better to draw a child closer by just having fun or whether the child isn’t beginning to think that we preach too much. The question must be, “With so little time and so few opportunities, what words of doctrine from me will fortify them against the attacks on their faith which are sure to come?” The words you speak today may be the ones they remember. And today will soon be gone.

...In my own family there is a story of a young woman who had the courage to start to teach doctrine when she was only a new convert with little education. And the fact that the effects of her teaching haven’t ended gives me patience to wait for the fruits of my own efforts.
[followed by the story of Mary Bommeli]

May we all seize the moment to teach the simple truths that bring us so much joy when lived.

I know that the true Church was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. God's authority to seal us His exists in His Church - even the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. May all come unto Christ through the principles and ordinances of His gospel, that we may prepare the earth for His coming.


photo found at byustephen's flickr page

kids, strobes, and sunsets

well, here are the results... I used two SB-600 flashes (camera right 45 degrees and camera left 45 degrees) shot through umbrellas. The one on the left was set at full power and the one on the right was set at 1/2 power. On Spencer's shots, only 1 fired (camera left) and on Camille's silhouette, neither fired. It was a fun experiment... but I think I wore Spencer out... that's a lot of jumping.

From Aug 08