Leah Turns 2!

Wow! Where did the time go? Our little girl just turned 2! And it was such a fun event! I think I like celebrating a little one's second birthday even better than their first one. This year, Leah understood a little more what birthdays are all about, so she was SO excited for her birthday to come. We hyped her up for it all through the month of May. Although, she still hadn't caught onto the present thing yet. Whenever anyone would ask her what she wanted for her birthday, she would say "Candles!" and then "Treats!" She didn't quite understand that presents could be so much greater than that. But I'm pretty sure that she gets it now.

The celebration started the Monday before her birthday when we went to the Miller's for a BBQ dinner. As it turned out, none of the Millers were going to be in town for Leah's birthday, so they surprised us by throwing a little party for her at the BBQ complete with presents and Elmo cupcakes (obviously they know what our little girl likes). They even invited Leah's Grandma Leslie to come join in the fun. They gave her lots of great gifts including several cute summer outfits and pajamas which she really needed. Here's a couple pictures of her opening the gifts.

Here are some of our wonderful Miller family members that were there for the little party. These guys are so great! We love them so much!!!

Leah loved getting clothes! She couldn't wait to try on her new shoes. And she tried to put a new pair of shorts over the ones she was already wearing.

Leah loves these girls--Madi, Makenzi and Morgan. And they adore her too! (They belong to Ross's cousin, Brad.)

Can't forget the candles! She blew them out before we even got done singing.

The frosting was messy, but Leah and the kids loved eating them.

Leah was so happy when her actual birthday arrived. I had put up some balloons, streamers and a "Happy Birthday" sign for her to see when she came down in the morning. She loved them. Later we went to the library (one of her favorite places to go) and then to the store, where they gave her a balloon because she was wearing her "Birthday Girl" ribbon. Here's a few pictures of her hamming it up for the camera.

For dinner, we invited a couple from our ward (Frank and Penny Brown) who have a little boy Leah's age to join us at a local pizza place. Parker is only a couple weeks younger than Leah and they are good buddies. Parker slept through most of dinner, but when he woke up Leah loved playing with him and his Woody doll.

After that, we took them over to the Provo Beach Resort to play on the toddler playground. They had a ball! They went down the slide a countless number of times. It took Parker a little longer to get brave enough to go down, but once he figured it out, he was hooked. (I wish the netting hadn't shown up in this picture. It was so cute to see them checking out the slide together.

Leah couldn't wait to ride the carousel. She went nuts anytime she saw it! She was a little unsure when she actually got on it the first time, but then she just wanted to ride it over and over again and cried when we wouldn't let her. It's too bad it cost money every time she rode it, otherwise she would have been able to ride it all night.

Leah and Parker also loved the arcade dance game. They didn't actually play it, but they seemed to think they were. They played on it every chance they got! Here's a little video of them "dancing" together.

The day after her birthday was Saturday and we had invited our families and the Browns to join us for a BBQ lunch and party at a local park. That morning I decorated Leah's cake. She LOVES Kermit and the other Muppets. So I wanted to make her a Kermit cake. She loved it. And it turned out even better than I had hoped it would.

 I love this picture. She likes to help unload the dishwasher and thinks she needs to wear my apron to do it because that's what I wear when I do the dishes.

 As luck would have it, the morning of her party a storm rolled in. The wind was strong and cold with rain imminent. So about a half hour before the party was supposed to start, we quickly straightened up our little town home and told everyone to come there instead. I was glad I hadn't taken down her birthday decorations yet. It was a crowed fit, but turned out to be just fine and was much better than sitting out in the cold trying not to let our plates of food blow away. Here's some pictures of us all crowed into our little town house.

When it was time to open presents, Leah was excited at first. But then she just wanted to sit on her Grandpa's lap. He had to keep sending her back to open more presents. But Parker wanted to be right there where all the action was.

Money from Great Grandma and Grandpa Putnam. I was so glad that they could be here to celebrate with us. I love them SOOO much!

She loved it when we sang happy birthday to her and just wanted to blow out the candles. I had to keep pulling the cake away from her until the song was over. And of course Parker was right there to help her blow them out.

After the party she got to go shopping with Aunt MoMo and picked out a baby doll and stroller which she has pushed all over the house every day since. Since Lyndsee, Jason and Kynee were going to spend the night with us, we took the girls over to the park after dinner and let them run the rest of their energy off. By then the weather was a little better and they had a blast playing on the playground.

I took Leah to the doctor today for her check-up. She now weighs in at 22 lbs. 4 oz. and is 33 1/2 inches tall. We were surprised at how much she had grown in the past 6 months. She gained about three pounds and three inches during that time. She is a little chatter box lately. She can string several words together and speaks more in sentences now. She loves to count and can sing most of the ABC song with some help. She can remember people's names with amazing skill, yet can't figure out colors (we sometimes joke that she's colorblind). We love our little girl and we are so excited that we could celebrate this special time with her. We're so glad you had such a happy birthday, Leah Ru! Here's to another great year with you!

"Our" Temple

Ross and I got to experience a unique and special experience for us. We went to the groundbreaking ceremony of "our" temple, the Provo City Center Temple. It is not often that your city gets a new temple, especially if you already have one.

I was excited when I heard that we could get tickets from our bishop to attend the groundbreaking ceremony. Our only problem was what to do with Leah. We weren't sure how long the ceremony would be and we knew we had to be in our seats 40 minutes early, which meant way too much time keeping Leah still and happy. We weren't sure who we could ask to babysit her. Who wants to babysit at 8:00 am on a Saturday morning??? Plus anyone living around here would probably want to be at the groundbreaking too. So Ross had decided that he would stay home and I would go by myself. However, Ross's mom (who was already babysitting two other grandkids) came to our rescue! After hearing about our situation, she called Ross around 10:00 the night before and asked if she could bring the two other kids to our house and watch Leah so we could go together. What an angel!!! I would have been ok if I had to go alone, but it was so much better with Ross there too.

For those reading this who don't already know, in December of 2010 the Provo Tabernacle caught fire. The damage was extensive, including having the roof collapse. No one was really sure what they were going to do with the remaining structure. Then in October of 2011, President Monson announced in General Conference that the Provo Tabernacle would be renovated to become a temple.

(A lot of people enjoyed watching this hot air balloon float up and down behind the tabernacle while we were waiting for the ceremony to start.)

The Groundbreaking ceremony followed your typical church program: singing hymns, speakers, musical numbers, etc. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was the presiding General Authority. After his remarks, he offered a prayer dedicating the site for the building of the temple. Then he and several others in attendance used some golden shovels to turn a patch a dirt just north of the Tabernacle. Afterwards he invited anyone who wanted to come turn some dirt also. Here are a couple of pictures of Ross and me helping to "break the ground" for our new temple.

I also wanted to record a few thoughts and feelings I had about the things those who spoke at the groundbreaking shared. If you're interested, go ahead and keep reading.

The temple of the Lord is something very dear to me, so I really enjoyed the remarks they shared that morning. (By the way, we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful May morning). Several speakers thanked those in our area for our faithful temple dedication and attendance, because without it there wouldn't need to be a second temple in Provo. (On a little side note, the current Provo temple is the busiest temple church-wide. I don't think this is because the people here are so much better, but rather because the area is so densely populated with members. The Provo temple district encompasses all the missionaries at the MTC and the students at BYU and it takes 1000's of temple workers to keep it running.) I definitely feel like I should go to the temple more, but it seems harder now that we have a little one that needs a babysitter. But this comment was a reminder to me of how our obedience to the Lord brings greater blessings. And it also reminded me that I need to increase my dedication to temple service.

Another thing I thought was interesting was when Elder Holland shared some of the history of this building. One US President has spoken there (William Howard Taft) as well as at least 12 LDS church presidents and two General Conferences have been held there (not to mention the countless other ways in which this building was used for various church and community functions.) He also shared that when two of the rooms were dedicated years ago by Abraham O Smoot, he prayed that they would be used for "gathering and learning the ways of the Lord." I thought that was pretty cool, and prophetic.

The other thing that struck me that I wanted to share was that almost all the speakers talked about what happened when they heard about the Provo Tabernacle fire and how devastated they were. I got to thinking about this during Sister Holland's talk, and these are the notes I jotted down about it: "What we thought was devastation turned out to be a celebration. The Lord takes good things and makes them better. Sometimes the "purifying fire" seems like the end, but is really the beginning of something greater."

I really feel like the Lord knew what he was doing when he let the fire burn in the Tabernacle. We didn't realize it at the time, but he was preparing the building to fulfill a much greater purpose. I think he does the same thing with us when we are put through hard trials. Those trials are just "purifying fires" that prepare us for something better and help us realize that the Lord needs and wants us to become someone greater.

Anyway, thanks for letting me share my thoughts with you. I am really excited to see the completed temple. For four years I worked across the street from the Tabernacle and drove or walked past it nearly everyday. It does have a dear place in my heart and I'm looking forward to seeing it become "something better." My only disappointment was when Elder Holland mentioned that the dedication would be a couple of years away. I was hoping it would be much closer to being done by now. Oh well, in the meantime I'll just keep my ears open for word on how our temple is progressing.

Saying Goodbye to Emily & Kylie

Ross's cousin, Emily, is a real life Army Wife. Her husband, Jeromy, has been serving in Afganistan and recently returned home safely after a year-long deployment. During that time, Emily and her daughter, Kylie, have been living with her parents. Kylie is about a month younger than Leah. They get along great and we have really enjoyed having them around.

But now that Jeromy is back, they have returned to Washington where he is currently stationed so they can be a family again. The night before Emily and Kylie flew back, we went to the Millers for one last dinner and evening of game playing with them.

Just before everyone went home that night, we snapped a few pictures. Kylie is on the far left, on her cousin David's lap. Kenzie wasn't thrilled about taking pictures, but they are still a bunch of cute kids!

Leah is going to miss seeing "Ky Ky" when we go to the Miller's house especially since she calls it "Ky Ky's House". But they are planning to come back for Christmas. And hopefully will permanently be back at the end of 2013 when Jeromy's service in the army is scheduled to end. Here's a picture of Leah with Emily and Kylie and another picture that we tried to get of Kylie giving Leah hugs (but my timing was a little off). 

BYU Women's Conference 2012

At the end of April I got to enjoy one of my favorite traditions, BYU Women's Conference. I debated blogging about this because I didn't have any pictures from it (mostly because I know my mom hates having her picture taken), but I wanted to make sure it was something that I remembered.

I was introduced to Women's Conference by Lesley's mom many years ago (I think this was my 13th time going). Over the years I have enjoyed spending that time with Lesley, her mom and her sisters who are like family to me. Then several years ago my mom decided to come too and has been joining with us for the event ever since.

This year was different, however, because Lesley's mom is currently serving a mission in Nauvoo, IL. So of course she couldn't make it. And for various reasons, Lesley and her sisters decided not to come this year either. But this turned out ok because that meant that I got to spend two days of one-on-one time with my mom (something I don't get very often).

For those who don't know, BYU Women's Conference is a two-day event where about 15,000 women (and a handful of men) take over the BYU campus. Each day starts and ends with a general session in the Marriott Center with three hours of break-out sessions in between. Each session focuses on various gospel related subjects like overcoming trials, improving marriages, strengthing families, relying on the Lord, etc. The crowds can be rather daunting, but after so many years of experience, I have learned several "tricks of the trade" that help me avoid the throngs. (I hardly ever had to wait in line for the bathroom!)

One of my mom and I's favorite things about Women's Conference is all the service opportunities. There are several places on campus where you can work on a service project while you listen to the speakers. And on Thursday evening after the general session they have even more service projects for all the women to work on. This year we helped make yarn beanies, keepsake envelopes and fleece blankets.

Thursday night after the service, they have a concert with several LDS performers. In the past, the concert hasn't really been my favorite part. Typically the most amusing part for me was watching a bunch of middle-aged and older women go gaga over these artists like they were the latest teen sensation. But this year, to honor the 170th anniversary of Relief Society, they did a tribute to the legacy of Relief Society. And I really enjoyed it. It was a great reminder of just what Relief Society is really about and the amazing strength we can gain from our sisterhood. Towards the end, they had the audience join in singing "As Sisters in Zion" and I was feeling the spirit so strong that I couldn't even sing.

I did get a couple pictures with my camera at the concert. Apparently they had a bunch of battery opperated candles that people could grab by the doors, but my mom and I totally missed them. But it was still cool to see them all lit up symbolizing how we all share our "light" through Relief Society.

I'm so glad that I've been able to go to Women's Conference all these years. I love the spiritual boost it gives me, the spirit of sisterhood I feel, the service I get to give, and most of all the time I get to spend some of my favorite women. I would love it if my sisters or sister-in-laws came too, but I really do like this time I get to spend with my mom. And the BYU brownies are really good too!!!