I love the temple

Tonight Matt and I were supposed to go to the temple...I had everything set up with my friend watching my kids, etc. Matt was caught up at work and called last minute to say he couldn't go. I was bummed because I love to be at the temple with him. I was ready to tell my friend never mind that I would take my kids home, but instead I decided to go myself. I needed the extra spiritual boost, and our Stake President encouraged us to go this week in preparation for Stake Conference.

I went and I am soooo glad I did. I really had a very spiritual experience. I ran into a lady that I knew on my mission. She was just coming back into activity and my companion and I visited her often to help give her encouragement. And there she was at the temple! How neat.

Then as I was sitting in the session I looked over to see Steve Udy, a friend of Matt's from the singles ward whose wife died about 9 months ago, from breast cancer. I glanced over at him during the session a few times and noticed how he was very attentive and I wished I could be inside his head to hear his thoughts. I thought of myself and thought if I lost Matt I would definitely want to go to the temple often, it would feel like Heaven on Earth. At that moment it really did feel like I was in Heaven! The world felt so far away, and the Plan of Salvation seemed so clear and simple. I cried as I looked over at Steve and he made me feel more attentive too, I realize all the blessings promised to us and the beautiful Plan of Salvation made possible by our Savior.

I am so grateful I went to the temple!

A day off!

The kids had school off today and it was so nice and relaxing!!! (In fact I never made it our of my pajamas!) I actually sat down and read a book WHILE they were all awake. Usually I don't get the chance. I watched my nieghbors kids, Nicholas & Brooke, and then Luke went with his friends Grant and Ethan to a skateboarding park. Grant's mom sent the cutest pictures of them. Seeing the pictures I'm amazed that Luke came back with only the one cut on his ankle...the skate park looks pretty intense!

Then tonight Emma told me she would make dinner since I always do. She was so proud of herself. It turned out to be a fun night, she made spaghetti and meatballs and then we went and rented "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". A very cute show. Gotta love days like this! What a relaxing day!

Matt is gone to our Stake Priest/Laurel retreat and won't be back until tomorrow afternoon. Let's hope they don't get too much rain!

Emma's dilemma

As Emma and I were washing dishes together, I was asking about how her day was. She told me she couldn't tell me, but that she would write me a letter. So she slipped upstairs and after she came back this is the letter she wrote...

In case you don't read Kindergartner here is what it says...

"I had a bad day today. One person stepped on my fingers, it hurt, ow! And someone hurt my feelings. So is that a bad day?"

I hate when you have those kind of days! Not only do people physically hurt us, but emotionally too, all in one day! Bummer. I asked how her feelings got hurt and she said that when she was first in line then one girl said first isn't the best and that last is the best. Bummer deal :)

The Happiest Place on Earth...

My mom's cousin had 2 extra Disney tickets that my mom mailed to us and I had to use them before Feb. So I woke up this morning and decided today was going to be the day. I told the kids at breakfast that we were going to Disney and they needed to stop their whining (my kids are not exactly morning people), because we were going to the "happiest place on Earth", as Disney says in their commercials. To which Emma replied "NO it's not, the temple is" :) CUTE! I stand corrected!

We had the best day with all kinds of fun little stories along the way... and you know how I like to write novels, and so yes of course I am going to tell you each and everyone of them :)

• After we purchased our tickets we took the monorail over to the park entrance. I put the little tickets in the scanner and had the 3 kids in, then I went to put in the 4th ticket, the one I got from my mom's cousin, and it said it was DECLINED! They said it had already been used! I was sick! I didn't want to pay for a 3rd ticket...that was the whole reason we had come, because I only had to pay for 2 of the 4! The lady went and got her manager and he came and tried the ticket and sure enough it still didn't work. He went to his office for a minute and I thought when he came back he was going to make me pay for the ticket. BUT NO!!!! He had a new ticket in his hand and gave it to me! HOW NICE! That was a miracle.
• The kids LOVE the little cars that they get to drive. So we went to get in line and there is a sign that says you have to be a certain height to drive or you have to have an adult. In my mind I thought Luke could drive with Emma and I could be with Gavin. BUT LUKE wasn't tall enough!!!! Yikes! So I told the kids they couldn't ride on that one today, that they could next time when we have Daddy. A little later in the day it hit me that this is DISNEY, the happiest place on earth :) I knew they would probably help me! So we went back to the cars and I explained to one of the employees that I was alone with three small children and wondered if they have one of their staff that could accompany one of my kids. He said they could and as I was walking away he told me to follow him. He walked me through the little gate and got me to the FRONT of the hour long line! SCORE! Luke and Emma got to ride with one of the Disney workers :)
• In the evening we decided to punt on watching the parade and we went to the jungle cruise and we were the ONLY people on the boat! NO LINE! That has never happened to me in my history of Disney park attending :) So the worker let Luke drive part of the time! He felt SUPER cool! He was the funniest employee too....at the end he said don't forget your children because after 24 hours they become Disney property and then they take them to It's a Small World and nail their feet to the floor and then make them learn the song in 27 different languages :) Funny stuff!
• The kids kept wanting to be in the first car of each of the rides...it was definitely their lucky day. We would get to the front of the line and the worker would say please go to line 1 or to the first car...so we were in the front of the little roller coaster in Toon Town & at It's a Small World, and I'm sure a few more I can't even think of. The kids thought that was the coolest thing ever! :)

So there you go, we had such a fun day!

Ah hem...a little immodest Ariel!

Don't mess with Gavin!

Or Luke...

Or Emma!

I have got to get one of these for "time out" :)

Enjoying a "little" turkey leg :)

I think this picture is HILARIOUS...Look at Gavin staring at his finger as he is trying to figure out how to do a thumbs up! Funny stuff! The kids got these cute little drivers license

Captain Luke!

Gavin begged ALL day to go on Dumbo but the line is always sooooo tediously long that I kept putting off the torture. We waited until right after the parade and ran to Dumbo and there was NO LINE!!!!! Another first in my Disney experience :)

It's Great to be 8 - Baptism Preview

Tonight we went with Luke to the Stake Baptism Preview. He was so excited that he had a "meeting" to go to. It's usually Matt or me that are off to another "meeting", so he thought he was big stuff. He said "what if one of my friends calls and wants me to play and I have to say sorry I have a meeting!" He was so cute. It is SO hard to believe that he is going to be old enough to be baptized this year! CRAZY! Where does the time go? This was the cutest and most entertaining baptism preview. The kids were soooo excited and they were saying the funniest things. My friend and I were wishing we had a video camera there to video all the innocent, cute comments. Here's a few that I remember...

At one point the Stake Primary President asked why we need to be baptized and one little boy raised his hand and started with this story about how if we don't get baptized then we won't have the spirit and we need the spirit to keep us safe...one time his mom was at the church and she was getting ready to leave. The spirit told her to stay...so we are all thinking this is a sweet story, but then he goes on.....BUT she ignored the spirit and then she got in a car accident! His story went on and on! It was pretty funny. The the Primary President says "Oh that is a horrible story!" And under her breath she says, "I don't know why I let that one go on!"

Then she asked what are some sins that we need to repent of....here are a couple of replies

• Tackling our mom


• Hitting our brother and then smashing his face in the driveway

The best was when she told them that if they memorized Mosiah 18:10 and John 3:5 then when she came around for ward conferences then she would bring them a candy bar. ALL the hands went up and they asked: When are you going to be at my ward? What time? What size candy bar? Chocolate? King size? And they went on and on wanting to know all the details :) I love this age!

I am so excited for Luke to be baptized. He has really grown up the last little while. He is so helpful at home, he talks so mature, if he does something wrong, or gets mad at me, he will come up to me shortly after and apologize! I love him so much and am so thankful to be his mom!

3 Things Tag...

My sister-in-law Julie, who I love and adore and miss like crazy, tagged me for this 3 Things Theme. It was hard to just put 3 things ...Thanks Julie this is fun!

3 Names I go by:
1. Sar
2. Mommy, Mom
3. Sister Rose

3 Jobs I have had:
1. La Bathtique
2. Dance Teacher at Calliope, Becky's School of Dance, Utah Academy of Performing Arts, Gotta Dance, and D&L Dance
3. Receptionist/Administrative Assistant

3 Places I have lived:
1. Salt Lake City, UT
2. Logan, UT
3. Orlando, FL

3 Favorite Drinks:
1. Water
2. V8 Splash
3. Hot Chocolate

3 T.V. Shows I watch (or more...):
1. So You Think You Can Dance/Dancing with the Stars
2. The Office, The Big Bang Theory
3. 24

3 Places I have been:
1. Thailand
2. Hilton Head, SC
3. Jekyl Island, GA

3 people who text me regularly:
1. Matt
2. Beckie, Amy, Barbara
3. The Young Women

3 Favorite foods:
1. Steak
2. Rock Shrimp/Boat Shrimp
3. CHOCOLATE

3 Favorite books:
1. Jane Eyre
2. Pride & Prejudice
3. The Twilight Series

3 Favorite Colors:
1. Green
2. Brown with either green, blue, or pink
3. Red

3 Favorite Hobbies:
1. Organizing
2. Dancing
3. Blogging

3 Things you can find in my refrigerator:
1. Milk
2. Apples
3. Mangos

3 Things I do everyday:
1. Nag at my kids :)
2. Make my bed
3. Drive

3 Things I am good at:
1. Nagging my children
2. Consistently kissing my kids
3. Laughing at a good joke :)

3 People I want to tag: (and a couple more...)
1. Luke
2. Anna
3. Alisha
4. Amy
5. Rachel

TOUCHDOWN!!!!!

Luke had his first flag football game of the season today and he scored a TOUCHDOWN!!!! Not to mention he was great on defense and pulled a number of flags. Great job Rose!

Maybe I'm not out of sight, out of mind...

This is the cute little picture that Emma drew at school of her and me. That is so sweet that even while she is away at school with all her little friends, that she thought of me! I love that girl!

Happy Birthday Gavin!!!!! 3 YEARS OLD!

I can't believe my little baby is now 3 years old...boy how time flies. I think having your birthday right on New Year's Day could potentially be a cool and fun thing, or it could be a flop :) It's a good thing Gavin is only 3 and doesn't mind that his birthday was VERY low key. We were going to go to Disney but it ended up being rainy and windy and kind of cold and so we scratched that. I hung around on the computer ALL DAY and didn't do much. Finally I made his cake (from the adorable HUGE cupcake pan my mom gave me for Christmas), and eventually we went out to eat. It's so sad, we didn't even have gifts, I like to blame it on the excuse that we were out of town and just getting back, etc. So we took him to the store and Matt, Emma, Luke, and I followed him around the toy section to see what he liked. He is hard to buy for because when you ask him what he wants he says "Toys". I swear we played with every toy in Wal-Mart and finally picked out the ones he played with the longest!


Happy Birthday to my sweet, sweet, boy! He is such a fun little guy to be with. He is constantly walking up to me and out of the blue he will tell me he loves me. One time he told me and I said thank you and he said "No I REALLY love you!" He melts my heart!!!!!!!

Dinner at Maria Bonitas!

Ok so I have yet to perfect the Huge cupcake pan and make it look cute :) It looks REALLY HUGE sitting in front of little Gavin and at the angle I took the picture, too funny :)