Our Beloved Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley

On Sunday evening, January 24, 2008, our beloved President Hinckley left this earthly life to reunite with his beautiful wife, Marjorie Pay Hinckley. As I heard the news I was both shocked and not. This man who has seemed to reach my heart and soul for so many years had passed. I cannot say that it was not expected as he has been ill for quite some time as is expected with a man of his 97 years. However, the news struck me with a great force and although others have said they felt peace and calm and did not shed tears, I cannot claim the same. I must admit I cried. I am happy for this wonderful man who has served others for most of his life and led our church with a love and kindness that is admired by many. I know that he no longer feels the pains of his mortal body and that he will continue to do the Lord's work in Heaven just as he has done here on earth. However, I am sad for the loss I feel for myself. President Hinckley is the first prophet that I have ever really felt a connection to. I felt that I knew him and I could feel his love for me personally each time I listened to him speak or saw his picture. He radiated love and affection and acceptance for every person in the world. Not only did he embrace us all with his words or wisdom and truth but he touched our hearts with his humor and that wonderful smile. I will miss him very much. I don't know if I felt so much affection for him and so much connection because I just wasn't old enough to really feel that for those who came before him or if there was just something special about him that reached out to me in a way that others had not before. Either way, he was truly a man of God who loved all and carried out the Lord's work until the end of his mortal life. I love him and will always love him. I look forward to the calling of a new prophet for us all to know and love as we have our beloved President Hinckley.

I found many tributes to President Hinckley but this one was one of my favorites and I wanted to share it with you. I have been thinking of the words of the hymn "We Thank They, Oh God, For a Prophet" and I want to share those words with you also.

We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet

We thank thee, O God, for a prophet to guide us in these latter days. We thank thee for sending the gospel to lighten our minds with its rays. We thank thee for every blessing bestowed by thy bounteous hand. We feel it a pleasure to serve thee and love to obey thy command.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11Wh2x8ybxo

My Boys & Their Toys

David and Nathan love to ride their bikes around the block but with the world as it is these days and with a registered sex offender just a few streets away, we won't let them go alone. So, Doug usually gets on his motorcycle and rides slowly next to them. They think it's so cool and have a great time. The other day they did this and I took Jonathan in the jogging stroller and walked along with them, well behind them since they were going much fast than I was! Jonathan loves his stroller and then when the boys were tired of riding their bikes, they got very SLOW rides on the motorcycle with Daddy!!!! Have a look!!!

Our Budding Photographer

David has always loved to play with cameras. We used to buy him those disposable ones and figured that he would just keep using them but he always knew when the film ran out and then he wouldn't use them anymore! Last year, Grandma gave him and Nathan the Fisher Price Kid Tough Digital cameras and they loved them. Nathan still uses his but David doesn't think it's a "real" camera now! He keeps saying he needs a "real" camera! He loves to take pictures. On Christmas eve he borrowed Aunt Mandy's camera and took some pictures and now every time he sees her, he wants to know where her camera is. She's promised to send me some of his shots when she can. He then borrowed my camera on New Year's Day and took some pictures at the park. He is actually getting pretty good and it's fun to see his viewpoint through the lens! Here's some of the pictures he took that day and some that I took of him on Christmas eve when he was taking pics with Mandy's camera. You can tell he's having the time of his life!

1000 Hands Park

On New Year's Day, we went to this park that is pretty new. It is huge and there was this huge playground. There's a half wall all the way around it and they are doing these tiles with handprints on them and then putting them on the wall. It's really cool. Here's a pic of what they have so far.

Anyway so my mom & dad bought tiles for all their grandkids. We just barely did my kids' handprints so they aren't up there yet but it's really cool. Plus the playground and the whole park is so cool! The kids had so much fun! Here's a few pics...

Happy New Year!!!!

We had a wonderful time at the Pace Family New Years Eve celebration! It was a blast! (Thanks Mom!) We had our traditional fondue which was delicious and then we munched on desert fondue the rest of the night! Hello!!!! Yummy cream puffs dipped in chocolate fondue! MMMMMMMM!!!!

The kids all donned their New Years hats and tiara (Katie) and then they finally went to bed.

With the kids in bed, what else is there for the adults to do but.... Play BUNCO!!!! We had a great time although neither Doug or I got any buncos and just didn't come out that well overall but it was still a fun night! My poor wrist was in no shape for bunco but I played anyway and paid for it later but that's ok!

Then we all donned our hats and tiaras and feather boas to ring in the new year with glasses of sparkling lemonade, and cider! After the new year, we released the balloons and started popping! We each got to pick 3 so we just went around the room. Everyone got a little something, gift cards to Jamba juice and In N Out or Fandango bucks. Some got money (I got a dollar! I got a dollar! I got a dollar! Hey, hey, hey, hey! --Little Rascals) and some got fortunes. It was a lot of fun!

Thanks again to Mom (and Dad) for all the hard work to make it all happen and to everyone else who helped out! It was a blast!