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!

Ten Years Together

Happy 10th Anniversary!

It all started with just some chance encounters and a few people in common and we finally had a chance to talk we just spent all our time together until we just knew it was right. It was fast and crazy but it was right and it was worth it. Then 10 year ago today, December 27, 1997, Doug and I were sealed together for time and all eternity in the San Diego temple. It was a beautiful day and the beginning of forever together. The years have gone by so quickly and yet at the same time, it all seems so long ago! So much has happened in these ten years and we're still here, still in love and making a life together. Everything changes so much everyday, it's a constant challenge to bend and mold ourselves to make it all fit together. We've had our ups and downs but through it all we continue to realize we are truly stronger together than not. If we stick to each other's side, we can make it through anything.

We have 3 beautiful boys who we adore even when they are driving us completely mad! We live for our family! Each member bringing their own special charm and love to our home. We've learned much about ourselves, both emotionally and physically. In ten years' time, we have learned about Fragile X and more about genetics than I think either of us ever thought would be necessary but we have learned to see it all as a blessing. We wouldn't change David or Nathan or Jonathan no matter what. They are who they are and we love them each individually and equally. David with his "catch phrases" that are always changing and evolving. We have watched him grow and learn and develop in so many ways, some things we never thought would be possible and he has proved us wrong many times. Nathan is such a sweet brother. He takes care of his big and little brothers better than anyone else could. He is truly their guardian angel! Jonathan has shown us that Fragile X doesn't have to be so scary. He is such a blessing, a miracle to us. I have watched each of us respond to him in a way that I've not seen before. David adores him and is constantly wanting to help in any way he can. He will stop whatever he is doing if it means he can spend time with Jonathan. Nathan is a great big brother and he loves to teach Jonathan games and make him laugh. Doug and I have been touched by his sweet spirit as well. We really believe he is our miracle baby. He was meant to be ours and we have embraced that completely. He has brought us closer in many ways. Doug has been so much more involved in the everyday things with Jonathan than he ever has been before. I think Jonathan is just too precious for anyone to resist spending time with him, even if it is changing his diaper or feeding him a bottle in the middle of the night!

As for Doug and I, we've both experienced our ups and downs physically and emotionally but we've learned so much about ourselves and about each other and we continue to learn new things all the time. I have no doubt that Doug and I were meant to be together forever and we will be. He is my strength and my rock and my best friend. No matter what happens, I always know I have him by my side. He has supported me in many various endeavors from new hobbies to a local Fragile X conference, spreading Fragile X awareness, to picking me up when I've been down and just being there, holding me when I needed someone to love me. I know I can always be myself, totally and completely, free of judgement, with Doug. He loves me completely even with all my faults and quirks, he loves me unconditionally and that is why I love him so much. He loves me in spite of all my craziness and ups and downs and his love is always there. He is a wonderful father and I see my boys eyes light up when they get to spend time with him, wrestling or going to the park or playing ball or just watching tv or a movie and sharing a bowl of his special parmesan popcorn. That makes me love him even more to know that he is such a wonderful dad to our boys and that he makes a point to spend special time with them. He loves them and he loves me. What more could a girl ask for?

We Love Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was Jonathan's first so that was special plus Nathan and David were really into the whole Santa thing. Nathan made sure we did everything right, right down to the cookies for Santa and the carrots for the reindeer.

For Christmas Eve, we went to Grandma & Grandpa's house for dinner. While everyone else started eating, I fed Jonathan his baby food and everyone got to enjoy his "Mmmm!" with each and every bite. It's very cute. Dinner was wonderful! Thanks Mom! Then we all chatted for a while and just enjoyed being together. After a while it was time for the Nativity. Now, growing up, us kids all used to dress up as the people in the nativity story and "act" out the scene but that' s a bit difficult now because we didnt' have any little girls to play Mary! We thought about dressing up David, Nathan and Jonathan as the 3 wise men but in the end I just decided they wouldn't be too thrilled about it. So instead, Nathan was given the job of putting the people and animals into the Little People Nativity set as Grandpa read the story to us from the scriptures. He did a wonderful job! After all of this, the kids were rewarded with their traditional Christmas eve gift of new Christmas pajamas and I also gave them each a new Christmas book. They loved their books and their pjs! The looked adorable too! We then took them home and put Jonathan to bed and then David and Nathan and I made sugar cookies for Santa to have a treat when he came to our house. The boys had a very hard time going to sleep that night but eventually they did and Santa was able to come and complete the task of setting out all their Christmas goodies.

This was the first year that David and Nathan actually did what we told them and came straight to our bedroom when they woke up instead of going to the living room first to see what they got! This was a huge accomplishment for them! And then they had to wait for little Jonathan to drink his bottle before we could proceed with the Christmas morning festivities! Such a hard wait it was! They were finally allowed to see their gifts and they were so excited! Santa brought David a handheld video game player with 50 different games one it and Battleship Torpedo Attack. He also got some new clothes, a DVD (The Wonder Pets Save the Reindeer). Santa brought Nathan a set of Legos in a box so he can built all sorts of cool things and a handheld video game player like David's. He also got some clothes and a DVD (My Friends Tigger and Pooh: A Super Sleuth Christmas Movie). Of course, 5 minutes later they were ready to open all their other presents but it was all ok. We let them open presents and they eventually settled down to play with only one or two things at a time! From Grandma & Grandpa they got the Ultimate Bumblebee, Optimus Prime and Megatron Transformers which they love but have not learned to transform by themselves yet which means Mom and Dad have to do it and we're not that great at it either! From Nana, David got a Power Rangers toy and Nathan got the new Spidermand 3 web blaster! They also got some clothes and a computer arts and crafts program that looks really so as soon as we can get them a computer monitor we will set that up for them! They love everything! Jonathan was not interested in opening any presents. He really only paid any attention to 2 of his new toys and then he just sat on the floor in the middle of it all and ignored it all! I think he might have been a tad bit overwhelmed by all the activity! I finally let him play in his exersaucer and he was a happy little boy once again!



Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Mandy came over for breakfast and to see what the kids had gotten for Christmas. I made french toast for everyone. It was yummy! We all ate up and even David had some! Then they headed home to relax until dinner time. Soon it was naptime for Jonathan and me and David and Nathan just played with their toys all day. We stayed in our pj's until it was time to go to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner and then we put them right back on when we got home! Again, dinner was delicious!

All in all it was a very fun and relaxing day once all of the morning chaos subsided. Doug was able to be with us for Christmas eve and Christmas morning but then he had to work Christmas night but he was here for all the best parts so that was a huge blessing. We miss him when he can't be here for those holidays and special times. Merry Christmas!