Last night when I went to tuck Rachel into bed, I found her sitting in a big circle with all of her animals skirting the edges of a huge blanket.  She was just getting ready to read to them.  The girls had cleaned their rooms earlier, and instead of putting all the toys away, Rachel had set up all her animals and dolls for story time -- she read to them for 40 minutes before bed.  I love her so much!

Just something to Smile About...

So, today I was downstairs doing some cleaning and I could hear Sky just playing with her dolls in the other room.  At one point during her game, Sky brought one of the dolls into a different room, and this is what she's saying in the sweetest voice ever: "I'm sorry, but you have to have some time by yourself because it's not okay for you to just scream at the other babies.  So, you'll have to be in time-out for the rest of your life.  I love you."  I was laughing so hard in the other room.  How many times have we had that exact conversation (minus the "for the rest of your life" part)?  Ah, one of the many joys of Sky.

Snow Days

We have had so much snow here in Layton this year.  Seriously, we have been shoveling like 2 or 3 times a day for the past week or so.  We've probably shoveled more this year than in all the previous years put together.  I say "we", but I actually mean Jon and the kids.  I've only had the misfortune of shoveling twice, and it made me so glad that Jon was home to do it the other times.

 

 

 

 

With all the snow, the kids have been loving exploring the backyard.  We didn't put away some of our plastic bikes, etc. and the snow is so deep that they are covered.  The kids walk around the yard and try to find where they've ended up -- they think it is so much fun.  Luckily they're not very heavy, so they don't sink all the way to the ground like I do.  They just magically float above the deepest snow -- except the time Kale's leg went clear to the bottom, and when he pulled it out his boot was lost for like 10 minutes.  He just layed on the ground with his foot in the air until we found it.  Pretty hilarious!  Too bad I didn't get a picture of that.

Rachel's Baptism

Jon and I are officially getting old because our sweet, little Rachel has been baptized!  Her baptism was so special, and she was so excited all morning long.  We still did the music school thing, and then the kids came home to help Jon get ready for the baptism while I finished teaching my last class of the day.  All the Hansen's came (excepting a few who were not in the area), and Robby and the Snarr's.  Rachel was so happy to see each and every person as they came in.  Anna and Steve gave talks and Rachel had her cousin Taylor say one of the prayers.  She was the only person getting baptized so she got to choose who did what.

 

After the baptism the family came back to our house for some lunch and playtime.  Robby was the super uncle who went downstairs and threw the kids onto the bean bag chair.  Brinly came up to tell me about it, and these were her exact words: "He was throwing us like more than five feet onto the beanbag -- I've never felt so alive!"  High praise indeed.  So, thanks to Rob for keeping all the kids in playland bliss

  

This is Rachel's post-baptism dress compliments of Anita.  It is truly so beautiful, and this picture does not do it justice (I was not the photographer, and so wasn't able to keep taking pictures until I got one that was just right).  We'll have to take a picture the next time she wears it.  Also being worn in this picture is a beautiful heart necklace from her Grandma and Grandpa in Georgia.  I think part of Rachel's excitement for this day was being able to wear these 2 beautiful gifts.  She had them all laid out the night before so we wouldn't forget the dress or the necklace.

It was a wonderful day -- we are so proud of Rachel and the decision she made to be baptized!

 Oh yeah -- speaking of feeling proud.  Rachel also finished reading her Book of Mormon on Saturday morning before her baptism, thus meeting her goal to finish before she got baptized.  We celebrated by going to Deseret Book and choosing a new game to play as a family.  Hooray for meeting our goals!