Christmas Choir

JUST SO YOU KNOW: Before you play this scroll down and hit the play/pause button on my playlist so you can actually hear it!:)

Oakley's elementary school has a few wonderful teachers that volunteer their time to put together a Christmas Choir for the 4-6th grades. This is Oakley's 2nd year participating and she LOVES it. I LOVE listening to them.....how can you not love children's voices?! I do hate however the 7:15 am practices that they have to do atleast 2 mornings a week starting in OCTOBER! They sound great though. I just happened to remember to record a few minutes so I could share with everyone....it isn't my FAVORITE song they sing, but atleast you can hear their sweet little voices.

THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS

On the THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS, my Savior gave to me, knowledge that there are THREE members of the Godhead. God our Father, Jesus Christ His Son, and the Holy Ghost. I am a literal daughter of God. Jesus Christ atoned for my sins so I can return to the Father. The Holy Ghost was conferred upon me as a constant companion to testify of Christ and Heavenly Father.

We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. Articles of Faith #1

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. John 15:26

That knowledge comes from the word of scripture, and that testimony comes by the power of the Holy Ghost. It is a gift, sacred and wonderful, borne by revelation from the third member of the Godhead. I believe in the Holy Ghost as a personage of spirit who occupies a place with the Father and the Son, these three comprising the divine Godhead. Gordon B. Hinckley

To be a daughter of God means that you are the offspring of Deity, literal descendants of a Diving Father, inheriting godly attributes and potential. As daughters of God, you cannot imagine the divine potential within each of you. James E. Faust

I am so very grateful for the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father, who truly is MY Father, and Jesus Christ, His Son, MY Brother, and the Holy Ghost whose influence can lead me home where I will be able to once again live with them.

SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS

On the SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS, my Savior gave to me, TWO hands to serve, TWO ears to hear, TWO eyes to see, TWO knees to pray upon and TWO feet to go about doing good.

And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. Mosiah 2:17

Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes - lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed. 2 Nephi 16:10

And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.

But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform anything unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of they soul. 2 Nephi 32:8-9

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10

FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS

I just wanted to share with you an uplifting 12 Days of Christmas my sister put together. I lovey, love, love it! I hope it helps you, as it did me, remember just how very blessed we truly are.

On the FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS, my Savior gave to me, ONE heart to overflow with love.

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 1 John 4:7

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 1 John 4:9

An understanding, loving heart is the pinnacle of all human emotions. As the Apostle Paul said, charity "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endurteh all things."

1 Cor. 13:7

We become closest to becoming Christlike when we are charitable and understanding of others. Marvin J. Ashton

The Spirits voice of goodness whispers to our HEARTS. A better choice than evil's anguished cries. Loud may the sound of hope ring till all doubt departs, and we are bound to Him by loving ties.

Our Father, God of all creation hear us pray. In reverence awed by thy Son's sacrifice. Praises we sing. We love they law; we will obey. Our Heavenly King, in Thee, our HEARTS rejoice.

Hymn #113

Make-Shift Summer

Laiklie is a little bit like her mommy in the fact that she just needs a good hot day every once in awhile to lie around in the hot sunshine and just take it all in. Too bad it is December at our house. She has been begging to run through the sprinkler alot lately. I keep telling her it is cold, but that doesn't seem to bother her. So....we made a make-shift summer the other day for her and she literally played in the tub with this floaty and her swim suit for an hour. She was in heaven and hasn't asked about the sprinkler since!

Christmas Dance Recital

Last night we had our Christmas Dance Recital.

Oakley's group are good little cloggers. (She is 3rd from left) They did 2 dances. This is the only picture Ryan got that wasn't fuzzy (he was incharge of still shots while I was videoing....you know it is a tag-team-effort this whole parenting thing) because the girls were bouncing around so fast. We love watching her clog. I instructed Ryan to take a super short video of each of the girls Christmas dances on my regular camera so we could upload it here, but he MISUNDERSTOOD (or just wasn't listening) and recorded almost the entire dance so the video is too long and won't upload. :( (Sorry gramp & gram Romrell....I was hoping for you to be able to see a little dancing.)

It was Laiklie's first recital. She told me yesterday morning that she wasn't going to dance, and was a little cranky when it was time to get her clothes on. I tried to keep her happy.....you can see the red ribbons tied on both sides of her t-shirt.....HER IDEA! The shirt was a little too big so I thought I would tie a cute bow on the one side to pick-up the slack and it was super cute....she decided she needed a bow on both sides. And....because I was trying to keep her happy - she won! She did her first dance which is one with their teddy bears and then she did a Christmas dance to Rudolph. She did a great job on both dances. Her pants were a little too big we discovered part way through when she was having to tug to keep them up, oh well....I guess we know for the next recital.

Merry Christmas Little Cloggers!

And we are DECORATED

Last week for FHE we got out our Christmas Decorations! This is one of the very most looked forward to days at our house all year long. The kids ABSOLUTELY LOVE getting out the Christmas decoration. I remember being a kid and the feelings I felt when the Christmas boxes were brought up from the basement. I am guessing my kids feel the very same excitement as I felt. How can you not love this time of year?!

We had a crazy week last week and, of course, FORGOT the camera! SO ANNOYING!! Dallin had is first "Pack Meeting" for scouts. He was MORE THAN EXCITED! They played an old indian game and he and his friend Taveh tied 3 times for 1st place and Taveh finally beat him. He was so excited for Taveh to win. I was very proud of his good sportsmanship!

Oakley sang with the Elementary School Christmas Choir at Snake River Landing and we froze our bums off listening to them, but had warm hearts. I LOVE listening to children sing and Christmas songs especially get me. They did a great job. They have 2 other performances so hopefully I can remember to take my camera to atleast one of them.

Some other things to look forward to......Oakley and Laiklie have their Christmas Dance Recital this week. We are all super excited to watch Laiklie perform for her first time. We are just hoping she does the dance the teacher taught her and not one she makes up on her own! :) For those of you who know Laiklie you KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!! We are also counting down the days until we can start our 12 Days of Christmas for our newly widower-ed (is that even a word?) bus driver and until school gets out for Christmas break!! YAY! So many fun things to look forward to!!