The Lord's Will

We had a couple of excellent talks given in sacrament meeting yesterday on obedience. One person shared this quote by Neal A. Maxwell which i have always loved:
"The submission of one's will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to plant on God's altar. The many other things we 'give' are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God's will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truely ours to give!"
The sacrament hymn was 169 in which it says, "For courage to accept thy will, To listen and obey. We love thee Lord... We'll walk thy chosen way." I noticed these lines years ago and they gave me strength. I contiplated on the commandment- if ye love me, keep my commandments. That's what its truely about. Someone also shared the thought that part of becoming "truly converted" is when obedience changes from being a burden to being our quest.
I am such a control freak and super organized that i always just have in my head, "If everything just went according to my plan then everything would be perfect and work out the way it is supposed to." But, wow, i am so off the mark! Heavenly Father has his plan for our family, and for me as an individual, and i need to constantly be asking him what that is instead of having my own plan. My favorite scripture mastery has always been Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart: and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
My thoughts seem somewhat jumbled as i reread them. I am just so grateful for the gospel! I do not use the resources and knowledge it gives me to the fullest. I strive to do that better. Its amazing to me to look at the living prophets and apostles and realize that they just have it all figured out :) I am grateful for their words. I know Heavenly Father only wants what's best for each of us and for us to succeed in this life!

Home for the Holidays

Going on a walk

Christmas Day

Four Generations!

A family in my hom ward was doing a little traveling nativity and ask Mike and I to be Mary & Joseph with Halle as baby Jesus. It was short and sweet but such a cool experience for us! It made our Christmas

Kisses from Carden

Hugs

Halle

Dancing with Dad

I just think this is such a funny little face she's making :)

Yay for new babies!

My brother and his wife Marin just had there twins about a week and a half ago! Rhead and Brooke. They are SO cute and tiny! Halle is only 12 weeks but its crazy how quickly they change! Marin is a studette and did an amazing job during the delivery. We are so excited to meet the precious little ones at Christmas!

Pirate's Cove

We had so much fun last weekend at Pirate's Cove! Mike's work took a bunch of us there for a long weekend getaway. It is a private resort just outside of Vegas. It was a pretty incredible place! It was literally like spending 5 days inside the ride at Disneyland!! Here's just a few pictures:

Halle's first swim! :) She seriously loved it!!

Halloween

Ever since Halle was one day old she snorts when she doing a frustrated mad cry and its always made us laugh, so sometimes we call her our little piggy or piglet. So we decided she needed to be a pig for halloween :) We found a Piglet stuffed animal and Mike decided we should just take it apart and use the pieces to make her costume. SO We used the tummy and the hooves, then i sewed the face onto a little pink hoodie she already had. She was so cute! :)

This was just a cute little smile i captured

Halle and her blessing day

What a perfect day it was on Halle's blessing day! She looked adorable and Mike did a wonderful job! I'm so grateful for an amazing worthy husband and a big Thank You to Halle's uncles and grandpas who could be there! We sure missed uncle Sean who's on his mission!

Everyone

Oh she is so precious!! She changes so much! Halle has already graduated into size 1 diapers :) and sleeps between 5 and 7 hours straight every night, then feeds for like 40 minutes and goes back to sleep for another 2 hours which has made life so much better! She smiles ALL the time and OOOoooo i just love it so much!!! I feel like a real mommy now with a little buddy who loves me back and really really knows who i am and likes to play! Hopefully i'll get some more smiling pictures soon- she seems to get distracted when i pull the camera out and i can never get the split second right when she's smiling good!

So mike thinks its pretty cool that Halle is so "flexible", SO he loves to put her toe in her mouth because then she sucks on it! It actually is really hilarious! :) I think this is something only a dad would do

Driving the Alpine Loop right as the leaves began to change