Tonight I went to a wedding shower for Ashley Anderson. Her mom Stacy, was one of my Young Women leaders, and we have been close for many years. I was Ashley's main babysitter for much of her life. I know, I don't seem old enough to have babysat for people that are now in college. Atleast Scott, the BYU football player, was a kid when I babysat him, Ashley was just a baby.

Tonight for Family Home Evening I decided to update our 72 hour kits. I normally do this on my own twice a year when we change the clocks, but why not see if we could get it done faster with every one's help. We talked about why we need to be prepared, scenarios of when we may need our kits, and examples of people who have and have not been prepared.

First task was to empty all the kits and sort them into 3 piles - Clothes, supplies, and food. I soon realized, that for the first time, we no longer needed pull-ups, and that everyone in our family was capable of having their own backpack. Whew, new milestone. We went though the clothes and decided Emily's old clothes would work for Brenna, but everyone else needed to start again. They each gathered panties, socks, jammies, outfit, and I roll them up into these little packet (you'd think I was a scout with these good looking packets). From there, we did supplies. Anyone who still had a battery powered flashlight turned that in for a new LED crank one. We allocated the the can openers, emergency blankets, glow sticks, whistles (after a few deafening blows), ponchos, etc. On to the food. We loaded Dad's backpack with the large collection of Meals Ready to Eat (military food). Mom and Aubrey got some water and Pedialytes, and canned chicken. All of the girls got food they like: fruit snacks, crackers, granola bars, hard candy, etc. We got everything loaded back up and were done within an hour. Unbelievable. I'll never do this task on my own again. We made sure the weight was okay for everyone as they wandered around the house, maybe secretly hoping for a small disaster. We moved then all back into the rolling trash can right by the garage door, where they will live until we do this activity again; at least that's what we hope.

Barb wanted to see a picture of the new laptop. Here it is. It helps to have multiple computers in the house and I'm excited to have my very own, though I did open it recently to find a partially played chess game, and i don't play chess. Hmmmm.

Brenna is now 2 1/2, and I finally decided it was time for her first haircut. Most of the girls have had curly hair when they were young, but it went straight after their first haircut, hence my putting off cutting B's straggly locks. But today was the day. I took all 5 of them to Cookie Cutters - their favorite haircut place. Brenna chose to sit in an airplane seat and watch Tinkerbell during the haircut. They saved a little curl and put it in a little baggie for me. It was actually less traumatic-dramatic then I thought it would be. By the time I got all the girls haircut, styled, and paid for, I forgot the little baggie of hair. Oh well. She looks super cute with her shorter do-AND she still has some curls!

Tonight we had an Enrichment Night with Sister Julie Beck. She is the President of the Relief Society for the entire church. Relief Society is the Women's organization within the church that helps us as women to grow closer to our Savior Jesus Christ. She travels the world teaching the doctrines of the gospel, and building up and encouraging women of all faith. I went tonight with a prayer in my heart that I would be spiritually nourished, and I was.
She actually only spoke from the pulpit for about 5 minutes, and then proceeded to answer questions and share insight with those of us in attendance. We talked about increasing our faith and personal righteousness, strengthening home and family (ours as well as others) and being steadfast and immovable. I was able to be there with 2 of my favorite people who help me to live true to these principles and be the best that I can be.
I have been thinking a lot lately about the challenges we face in this life. I know that this life can be hard. We all face challenges, trials, sufferings, disappointments, setbacks etc. That is part of our Heavenly Father's plan, so that we can be humble, gain Christ like characteristics, and grow closer to Him. He provided a Savior, Jesus Christ, who atoned for all of these pains and sufferings, if we will but turn to Him. We are not promised the 'dream' in the life, but life's experiences are preparing us for the 'dream' of living with our families in the presence of our Heavenly Father again.
As I listened and thought about these things, my heart was warmed and I felt a reassuring peace that these things are true. I know that I can receive personal inspiration and revelation from God in my own life and for my own family and that is a gift from my Father in Heaven.

Sometimes people struggle with 2 year olds because they can't communicate their needs or wants. I don't have that problem with Brenna. But, she is always on the go, and sometimes I feel like I'm a few steps behind her, and can't quite catch up. Here's a look into my day today.

For those of you not dialed into the financial services world, you probably are unaware of some news that was a hot topic in our home today. This morning, it was announced that TD Ameritrade would buy the company Robert currently works for, thinkorswim. Unless you have been involved in a business transaction like this before (and Robert was on the buying company side of this a couple of years ago), you may not realize how much time and work go into these type of acquisitions. Well, let me tell you, there is a LOT of work leading up to a morning like today. While the vast majority of Robert's co-workers at thinkorswim were surprised by today's announcement, Robert has been working on this specific deal for quite some time now. There have been many late nights at the office, long trips to NYC, planned vacation days that turned into work days, and working weekends over the past little while. Unfortunately, at this point we don't know what this change means for us specifically, but we have faith that we will end up where we should be. In the meantime, if any of you know of any job opportunities for a highly paid finance executive, feel free to pass them our way.

This morning Robert and I had triathlon training at the gym at 7:00 am. We got up, got our suits on, and headed out the door. Unfortunately, it had snowed overnight, so Robert starting shoveling us a path in his swim trunks and huarache sandals.

I love New Years Day, not because I love football, but because I love the Rose Parade. There is no parade like the Rose Parade. Growing up so close to the Rose Bowl, I have a lot of memories from these parades. I think I went one year with the Callister's, one year with the Anderson's, several years of camping out on the streets with Robert and friends, one year with grand stand tickets (that's the most boring way to watch the parade). I just love it. The artistry they are able to create with flowers is absolutely amazing; the only problem is you can't smell the roses through the TV. When they show the aerial shots, and I see the familiar landscape and all the cars parked on Brookside, it makes me miss home. Maybe next year I'll be writing this post from a sleeping bag on Colorado Boulevard, who knows.
But for this year, we spent New Years Day in the snow filled streets of South Jordan, Utah. The snow has been relentless the pass few weeks, so today was a day to get out and play in it. Robert and the older girls decided to make a fort. This first picture was taken early on in the process. Once they completed it, they filled spray bottles with food coloring and gave it a splash of color and personality. (I think I missed taking a picture of the finished project. Sorry girls!)
Today was also a good day for Robert to deal with the snow on the pool cover. We love having a pool------in the summer. We don't always love having a pool in the winter. I think you can see why. You may remember that we had some snow vs. pool cover issues last winter, and this is now a brand new cover. Robert worked on and off at clearing the snow from the cover for most of the afternoon. It's one thing to stand on the driveway and shovel the snow to the sides. Even I can do that. It's another thing to balance on water and try to lift heavy snow up and over the side of the pool. That I don't think I can do. But he made it from the shallow to the deep, and for about 12 hours, the pool cover was snow free.