Marriage its what brings us together today

My cousin Kelsie messaged me a little bit ago asking me a question for one on her college assignments. She was writing a paper and needed to hear from a few couples about what they thought has made their marriage successful. It got me to actually stop and think about my marriage. I wanted to post this in my blog because my goal is to document our family history through it and hopefully get a blog book each year. Thats the goal at least. :) So here were a few of my thoughts...

"Hi Kelsie!! I would love to!! thanks so much for asking!

This is a great question! Nobody is perfect so no marriage is 'perfect'. but whats the fun in that, right??  as i was thinking about your question, i thought about how people have different things that are important to them to have in their marriage. And how that would in turn effect how successful they believe their marriage is. For me, i needed to feel 100% trust for my spouse, i needed to be loved ALOT, and I needed to feel that who i was (how i looked, who i am now, my past, my weaknesses) everything was accepted and ok. I felt all those things when i married brice and it gave me the courage to move forward. but when you get married you learn so much more about each other and yourself. so its a journey...here are some things that have been so important to me in my marriage so far.

1. Remembering life is a process and so is your marriage. there are ups and downs just like with your own life. it doesnt mean anything is wrong. it is normal and healthy.

2. Show respect....i love this one! Brice and I always try to say thank you and excuse me and just show common courtesy. We dont just let everything go because we are married now. i really like this about our marriage.

3. Take care of each other....I am so grateful that brice is that kind of man that helps with house stuff and baby so naturally. Sometimes he will say let me give you a foot massage. You've had a long day! And i say no let me give you one, you are the one with the crazy long stressful day. we try to help lift each others burdens when we can.

4. Be one in family life...this one was so important to me too. not saying this is your job and that is my job so I wont help with anything else but we help each other. we both love cade so much and want to be good parents to him. we both want a strong family so family is first for both of us.

5. Be quick to forgive, let go, and assume the good in our spouse's intentions.

6. Lastly i would say brice being my friend. i feel so safe with him because i can be myself, be silly, ramble away about whatever, and feel that who I am is enough for him.

These are the six things I would say has helped our marriage to be successful. I hope this helps!!! Good luck with your project 

FunFriday11 Temple Square

This last Friday we made it up to Salt Lake to see the temple lights!! It surprisingly wasnt too cold. It was so fun to have our friends Matt, Cindy, and Gavin meet us and Cousin Clara, Uncle Nate, and Aunt Kelly too.

Inside Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Cade's face cracks me up

                                       

 After we went to the food court at the new mall. It was so packed. It was crazy.

Cute Kelly and Clara

Cade and Gavin. They were such good boys. 

Thanks so much for coming everyone!! We love you guys! It was so fun :)

FunFriday10 A little Christmas Service

After hearing the horrible news about the shooting, I just didn't feel like I should do anything on the FunFriday.  It was such a sobering day.

But when Brice got home we ran an errand and then went to dinner at Jdogs. There is one now in American Fork which we were very excited to see.  I saw an old student there who I taught in rotations and his mom who works at Barratt too. It was so fun to see them!

Being a big boy at Jdogs

Loved the napkins. Pulled and pulled until there were only shreds. 

The next day Ben and Sarah came to babysit Cade so we could go out on a date. We went to an authentic mexican place and then to the temple to do sealings for some of Brice's family. I had never done family names before so it was neat to have that experience. Thanks so much Uncle Ben and Aunt Sarah!

 Then on Sunday we made treats for people in the ward and we passed them out. Cade was a good boy and even though it was pretty cold, he enjoyed it. I bundled him up and put him into my carrying pouch. It felt good to show appreciation for the people who serve us in our ward.

Trying to find peace after Friday

Ever since hearing about Friday, I havent stopped thinking about it. It is so hard to wrap your mind around something like this. Its bothered me so much as it has I'm sure everyone in this country and around the world. It is beyond disturbing and I wish I could unknow what I know. I wish it wasn't true. I think about this situation as a teacher and as a parent, and it is heartbreaking. My heart just aches for all those who have lost their children and loved ones needlessly.  It has affected my mood over these few days because I can't stop thinking about how horrible it all is and how for these poor families it is their nightmarish reality. 

As I was saying my prayers that night, I prayed for the families of those who are suffering the shock of losing their loved ones. I couldn't help but express deep gratitude for the Savior's Atonement. Without it, how can any of us deal with this horrible knowledge that someone has done this to innocent children and women? It is unthinkable the suffering of them and their families. And as I thought this I thought, how can the Savior bare it? This is one event in one day. And then to think of all the suffering known and unknown throughout time. I guess I had always pictured His Atonement like a deep well that took in pain and sorrow of this life. But then I thought the words "infinite atonement" and what that really means.  It is infinite because it is really that, it has no limit. It has no beginning and end.  He can bare all this. What a miraculous thing. It is so humbling. 

As I laid in bed an image came to my mind that has helped me too. It was a picture of the Savior in the middle of a group of small children. They are hugging him and He is hugging them.  I could see him holding them and comforting them and see His peace in his soft smile. I could see Him look up at me and in His face I could feel that all was in His hands and that He was loving and caring for them now.

Also, I read this today that helped me. I love what Stephanie Nielson said in her blog. (http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/2012/12/angels.html)

 "All I could say to them (her own 4 children) that brought comfort and peace was that I believed that angels were there at school with them that day.

They were close by, holding and caring for the children who were
frightened, scared, hurt or taken... 

I KNOW angels were there with those children...
I want to be diligent in praying with my children before school each day.

I want them to know that we started our day dedicated to God and

If anything should happen we prayed, and we know that

He is in control, He can bless, and He can and will heal broken hearts."

These two scriptures have helped me sort through this a bit more...

3 Nephi 17: 22 - 24"...and he took their little children, one by one, and ^bblessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them. 22 And when he had done this he wept again; 23 And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones. 24 And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and ^aencircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them.

I wonder if He had wept that day not just because of his great love for those and all children but because He knew the bad they would experience in this life and what would happen to them and felt deep sorrow.  I like to believe angels were given to those children that day too. 

Matt 18: 6 "But whoso shall ^aoffend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."

Justice will be served. Death is not an escape. The cowardly boy who did this will face the consequences and he will pay under Gods justice. 

Although it is not something we can understand because it was evil at work, the Savior can help us work through this. I just feel so much for these families. We will move on and it will be in the past, but for these poor families each day will be a reminder of the loved ones they lost. 

Cades New Tricks and Favorites

I could also call this...'All The Ways Cade is Getting Into Trouble' haha he has discovered so many new things now and its so fun to watch what he comes up with next. He cracks us up. He is crawling all over the place and faster too and loves to see how many things he can pull himself up on ha :)

Helping with the dishes :)

Playing on the Ipad

Face timing with grandparents

Look at that sweet smile :)

Diggin' in the dirt

Playing with any kind of plastic he can get his hands on

taking a rest :)

Loves the pantry

Holding his bottle and feeding himself! So nice :)

Crawling under things

Finding new toys in his basket

playing with treasure box decoration in our room

helping mom with dinner 

Looking at his bath water 

ha :)

Next week standing looking at all his toys in his basket

Doing the laundry ha

Found him like this when I went to get him from his nap :) 

Christmas at the Timothy's

Christmas is the best time of the year! I love the lights, the decorations, the smells. I love singing the Christmas songs at church. More than ever I feel so much the spirit of Christmas. I think I have just had more time to think about others.  Im working on a blanket right now to give to a homeless shelter (we will see if I can get it done by Christmas) and we made treats for those that serve us in our ward and passed them out as a family. I've enjoyed thinking of others as we have shopped for our family and thought of other ways as a family we can serve. 

Traditions have been on my mind too since this is our first Christmas by ourselves and hope to make it special.  We have done a 12 days of Christmas scripture chain and we have followed this book for our Family nights that helps us to focus on Christ. Its really fun because each lesson focuses on someone at the Nativity scene and what we can learn from them along with an activity. And then at the end of the lesson you place that person in the nativity. I hope we can continue this tradition because I really like it.  Another thing we are trying this year (we will see how it goes :) is focus our gift giving for each other on three things the wise man gave Jesus: Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. Each of our gifts we got fit into each of these categories (we kind of did it our own way and got a few things in each category and then marked it on the package) Gold stands for a gift that is joyful, Frankincense (used in temples) stands for a gift that meaningful, and Myrrh (used for burying the dead) stands for a gift that is needful.  

We got an Elf on the Shelf too and hes out but cant wait until next year when we can but him in different places for Cade to find. :)

Im a dork and wanted to take pictures of all the places we decorated in our house for Christmas haha :)

Love this picture my dad bought me I think two years ago

wall above TV

This is a shelf in our Hobby/office room. Cant really tell but it has different nativities on it. 

Might be my favorite one of all the ones in my collection.

More nativities in Hobby/Office

First Haircut

It was time!! I dont know what it was, but cutting his hair was a hard thing to do. I put it off way too long until his overgrown toupee (yes I had to google how the heck to spell that word) was in his eyes. He is semi calm in the bath so we decided to do it then and while Brice distracted him with various toys, I combed and cut. I was proud of myself that it didnt look half bad :)

                                                                         BEFORE...

AFTER.....

Handsome little boy hair!!! :)