Dear Heavenly Father

I heard the sweetest little prayer this morning. My Dear Gabriel Was looking slightly heavenward with his eyes open and a dead little fire bug in his hands. Hyrum was kneeling next to him, saying "He was our friend" over and over again.
This is the prayer Gabriel fervently prayed
Dear Heavenly Father,
I killed this little fire bug. I am so sorry. Could you take care of him and make him alive again. We love him. Could you take care of him better than I did. I am so sorry
Hyrum said "He is our friend" and that was it. They were off playing a different game.

Oh the tender heart of a child!

My Dear Gabriel

Ahh, I am not sure if I should be concerned or not. So, I am blogging, because I can't find similar symptoms on the web-to get an idea of what is going on.

Here goes. My Gabe is 3 1/2 years old. I like to say that he is raw Gabe. That seems to be the best way to describe him. He seems to have no barriers. When he gets sick-while the other boys are sick-he is always the sickest. They get a sniffle, he gets a knock down drag out flew, where there is no relief or end in sight. When he is angry, he unleashes a ball of fiery that you had no idea a 3 year old could conjure. He has been kicked out of nursery for throwing a dresser at a teacher-Later she did come to me apologetically to tell me she antagonized him. Still it just seems he has no protective wall. So, that has been a worry to me. But, then recently I have noticed a few new symptoms. He grinds his teeth during the day- I am not sure if he does it at night. He also breaths very shallowly when he sleeps, and holds his breath with a quick intake and a forceful release all through the day, no matter the activity. That is how I breath when I am in pain, ie. popped out rib, labor, or Gall bladder attack.
He takes about a 2 hour quiet time during the day- but never sleeps. He goes to sleep about two hours after he is in bed. And he hates to have his light off.
Do you all think these are related. Do you think it could be sleep apnea, respitory, behavioral, or I should just not worry?
Everyone who reads this, please leave a comment- I am up for any suggestions!

Some Pictures from Minnesota

Well, I finally got the coupon I wanted and got my pictures put on a CD. However, this is just one roll of film, so they are kind of sparse. I used most of the roll on Hyrum, because he is normally down for a nap and misses out on the photo sessions. Please enjoy!


This is Cutie Pie Hyrum on the Swing set. He is 2 years old. I am loving the stage he is at right now. He always walks around saying "Your my best buddy, huh." To whoever is near. You just can't help yourself picking up this guy and kissing him all over until he begs for mercy.
The swing set is one of those blessings from Heavenly Father that I just shake my head, because I feel so blessed. A man from our ward called us up and asked if we wanted a swing set. He thought we could use it. So he brought it over and assembled it for us. Why is Heavenly Father so good to us?

Gabriel- 3 years old
Every night for scripture study we try very hard to be reverent. It is the only way I can make it through one chapter a night on my own- when Tom has to work late. So, if someone isn't reverent whether it is during scripture study or family prayers, they have to sit on the reverence chair. Gabe got 10 minutes for being irreverent during family prayers. I went up to help the other 2 get to bed, and when I came back down, this was what I found with 6 minutes left on the timer. He was trying so hard to be obedient, but he was so tired. What a sweetheart! He scooted that other chair up to his chair so he could lay down and wait for the timer. He was completely asleep when I took him up to his bed.
Here is my sweet little Setherdoo-Seth for short :) -5 years old
This is the baby room. We made it off limits from the beginning so we wouldn't have a hard time keeping the kids out when the baby comes. However, when Seth builds towers he needs complete concentration and no little hands stealing cups off of the bottom row. So I let him build in the baby room. This is one of his favorite past times. I think we may have an engineer on our hands. :)
This is "our" raspberry patch. It isn't really ours, it is our neighbors. Though he is more than happy to let the boys graze all summer long. Behind the Raspberries are Huckleberry and Blackberry bushes. These along with the apples from our apple tree have been such a treat to us since we moved here.
On one of the last warm days of summer, I decided to let the boys fill one of the gardens with water for a pond. So they could have leaf boat races. When the leaf boats sunk, we decided to make it a sort of slip and slide instead. Hyrum thought it was a terrible idea. But, the other two had a blast. They played in the mud for almost 3 hours after Seth got home from school. I sprayed them off the best I could and carried them each very carefully to the tub. It was such fun-I might not plant that garden spot next year and let them do it all summer long. Just look at Gabe and the water next to him-:)
OK last one. I was trying to get the boys to do the "See no evil" "Hear no Evil" "Speak no Evil" But they followed their big brother and they all thought they were so cute that I had to take the picture any way. This picture is taken in our "fortress". It is actually our porch, but the boys call it their fortress, and it has made a great place for 3 little boys to fight the dragons and save me from the bad guys for countless hours. Sometimes however it is my fortress to go to when I am talking on the phone, so I can get away from 3 very loud little boys.

This is just a little of us in Minnesota.

A little piece of heaven

I have been so blessed! I just read next weeks lesson from the Joseph Smith manual. It talked about all the trials that he endured through his life time. Even one sad occasion when some of his "friends" turned mobbers came into his house, drug him out, suffocated him until he passed out, ripped off his clothes, scratched him with their fingernails all over his body, and then poured hot tar and feathers all over him. At the time his little boy had the measles and when they drug him out of the house, the little boy was exposed to the cold and died 5 days later. After he was able to recover enough from the attack, he crawled to a friends house, where they spent the night cleaning the tar off of him. The next morning he spoke during the sunday service(the mobbers attended) with such faith in the Lord that 3 people were baptized after the service. After reading this lesson, I realized how much I complain. I think if I were Joseph at that time, I would have said, Lord haven't I done all that you asked me to do. I have been your humble servant for all these years, and this is what I get in return. But, not faithful Joseph. He knew that this life was a time to be proved and tested. He bore testimony of it time and again. I ask myself how he gained such great faith. I remember more than a few times in the last several months, complaining at little trials ie. not finding the right house, not being able to get everything done as I moved out, not seeing my husband enough, not having enough money to pay all the bills. What little trials and yet each time I gave into the temptation to ask Heavenly Father why. Each time I was reminded of Job and all that he endured with a great love for God that never waivered. I realize at this time that my faith muscles are pretty weak and prone to give out if the trial lasts for to long. But, luckily we have the Faith of other to help build our own.
So, after I read this lesson, I started looking at things in a little different light. And realize how truely blessed I am and how easy my trials really are. I hope that I can remain faithful no matter what trials I face, and I am so grateful for the reminders that the Lord sends my way!

Oh the places you'll go

When I graduated from high school my Grandma Twila gave me a luggage set. She said she just new I was going places, and that it would come in handy. What a remarkable way to encourage me to follow my dreams of travel! She was right. I have used them many times. This year alone, I have traveled a great distance every month. This is going to be a travel log, but if you have never read the book by Dr. Seuss, I highly recommend it, go to the link at the bottom of the post and check it out!
In January I went to Florida as 1 of the top 100 future beauty professionals of the country.
In February I went to the opposite coast, and California as a guest speaker for the Paul Mitchell Schools to talk about a new philanthropic based program the schools were adopting, called "Be Nice".
In March I flew with my family to the beautiful new state called Minnesota. Where we have started a new chapter in our life which I like to call "growing up".
In April I took a month off to approach the state of being pregnant :)
In May Toms company flew us to Arizona for a wonderful mothers day weekend.
In June I again opted to stay home to get over a state of morning sickness :(
In July we made a trip out to Idaho, where July 31st we drove through Iowa and onto Nebraska.
Then August made up the bulk of our trip, where we traveled through Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
By September I reached the state of exhaustion :)
However in October I packed my suit case once again to go see my beautiful cousin be married. We traveled from Minnesota to Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.
I love to drive across the country and think about the early settlers of the country and how they may have viewed it. I was especially blessed on this most recent trip to view the vibrant sea of colors of the Midwest. There are trees everywhere, and they are all changing to match the fall temperature. I saw brilliant maroons, bright reds, deep greens, pumpkin oranges, and golden yellows. What a beautiful world the Lord has given us, and I feel so blessed to be able to enjoy it.

http://schools.fsusd.k12.ca.us/schools/fhs/teacher/link/GigioC/Dreamweaver%202/Oh%20The%20Places%20you%27ll%20Go.htm