Things that make me smile

Last night Justin brought his globe and put it on my lap and said,
"Mommy can you show me where Jesus lives?"

This morning Dawson asked to hold Chase and while he had him on his lap he said,
"I feed Chase" and proceeds to lift up his shirt and shove Chase's face into his tummy.

Now for Chase, he makes me smile a lot, but especially when he flashes his new found smile!

He's been smiling since he was about 5 weeks old, but I could never catch it on the camera until this week! He's also started rolling over (way too early if you ask me!)

I am continually amazed by each of my children. I feel so blessed to be a part of their lives. Thanks boys for being so awsome!

You tell me

I have been asked repeatedly if Chase looks like Justin or Dawson when they were babies. Well I can't tell, so I thought I'd get some outside opinions. First you have to try and guess who is who, then you can decide if they look alike! Let's see how well you know my kids!

These pictures were taken on Tuesday. We went on our annual day trip to Big Bear. We knew that there had to be tons of snow since it had been raining down here. We didn't realize that they would still make us put chains to go all the way up. Since we were ill equipped, we decided to just find a hill off one of the main roads and go sledding for a bit. After what seamed like eternity, we found a place you can pay to play. The place was not that crowded and we had tons of fun (well, with the exception of Mr. Dawson) He didn't like the snow last year and not much changed this year. However, with some sneaky bribing from his mom(you can get Dawson to do just about anything with some candy:) he was tolerant. After we were done, we got some food from this hole-in-the-wall. They charged us $4.50 for 5(Costco purchased) imitation chicken dinosaurs and some ghetto fries. An editor's note.. When there is a sign on the window of a restaurant that says C it does not stand for Cool or Clean.

All in all, we had a great time and we have plans on going next year!

PS. The big mustard yellow blob that deAnne has attached to her is Chase. He loved it!!

DeAnne and Chase

We have taken over a thousand pictures over this holiday season. I am sure that only a handful of those photos have a shot of making the cut. I just thought that these two pictures important enough. The first one because it gives some prospective to both Chase and his parents how small he was and what an amazing gift he was. And the second to help us remember the tender moments that can be shared by mother and son that make this whole child bearing opportunity that God gave us worth it.

Please indulge with me for a moment to share another thought... Last Sunday in church our Sunday school teacher(Joseph) asked us what we have learned this year from the New Testament. After some contemplation, my answer was the simple question the Savior asked those he was about to heal... do you believe? At first thought, one might not fully understand the importance of such a question. Would we not all naturally say YES to the Savior? In those three little words lies the fiber of anyone’s testimony. What is incredible to me is that those that had the correct heart felt answer to this simple question qualified them to receive some of the most amazing blessings the savior gave to men.

Now I am in no way saying that I truly believe. I merely have the hope that someday I too will be able to look into my Savior's eyes and truthfully answer that question with a positive response. Until that day, all I have to go by is the still small voice that tells me that this life is worth fighting for. Everyday I wake up I am obligated to make a set of decisions that ultimately will define my destiny. I pray that I am strong enough and brave enough to continually choose the right.