President Hinckley

Today is a sad day for me. The beloved prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckely passed away at 97 years. About 5 minutes before I heard the news, I was thinking that as we are in an election year, I wish we could have a president of the US as honorable and with as much integrity as President Hinckley. And then I walked into the next room and saw a news interruption that he passed away.

My emotions are overflowing right now.and rather than spilling those for everyone i thought we'd share our President Hinckley encounters.

Mieka: Both of my encounters were before President Hinckley was the president of the church. My first encounter was at the rededication of the Cardston Temple. Since my dad was in the Stake Presidency at the time I was lucky to be in the Celestial room with President Hinckley at other apostles.

The second run-in was literally just that, a run-in. :) There was a regional conference in Missoula, Montana when I was about 14. My dad found out what hotel the Apostles would be staying in and got us a room at the same hotel. That night i was sitting in the lobby and President Packer came in and shook my hand and said hello. That night I stayed in my friends room and the next morning I was running down the hall to go to my parents room to get ready. As I rounded the corner, wearing my Mickey Mouse nightgown, I ran into Pres. Hinckley. And that run-in was literal. I was speechless. And he just smiled and said "It's a beautiful morning for a walk." And kept on going. I'll always remember his sweet smile and twinkle in his eye.

Paul: There were three different times where I had fairly close encounters with President Hinckley, so obviously those are what I remember most. The first one was during the dedication of the San Diego temple - we were fortunate enough to get sat in the celestial room just a couple of rows back from where he was officiating the ceremony, and it was my first time to hear him speak in person, and up close like that was pretty special as well.

The second experience happened at my freshman year at BYU, where me and three other friends decided to camp out outside the Marriott Center for his yearly devotional at BYU in order to get good seats (most of campus comes to see that one). I remember it was November and we were on concrete and it was Utah, so it was pretty darn cold. However it was definitely worth it because we got front row seats to the devotional and I was once again able to hear him up close and personal and feel the goodness and spirit he exuded on a fairly personal level.

The third experience was pretty humorous, at least my encounter with President Hinckley - the circumstances were anything but light, as it was a funeral for the grandparent of some dear friends of ours the Lillywhites. President Hinckley was a personal friend of this grandparent, so he was at the chapel to participate in the service, however we didnt know that. So when I got to the chapel I needed to use the restroom, but when I got to the door two guards were standing out front and I was asked to wait for a moment, and a couple of minutes later President Hinckley came walking out. I then got to hear him give the eulogy, and as always we was ingratiating and a joy to hear.

Dane-isms

Dane has some adorable mannerisms that just make our hearts melt when we see them. So we decided to capture them so we can remember. He used to do this cute thing where he's such on his fist and put his other arm behind his head. Unfortunately he grew out of that stage. Below are the latest two things he does.

First - he bites or sucks his lower lip. And this is a great shot too becuase you can see how long his eye lashes are too.
#2 - Dane is always saying his prayers - hands clasped. And when he's really bored he starts to suck on his hands.
And i couldn't resist - I can't stand how peaceful my little angel is when he's asleep. I wish I could capture how sweet he is. this is the best i could do.
I started back into the office on Thursday. Paul is going to stay home with Dane and he is already trying to teach him independence. Here is Dane holding (or trying to) his bottle. Look at how big my boy is! :)

New blogs

I'm horrible about updating the blog all the time and since I'm starting back to work this week my time is going to be even more limited. So for all those that check blogs on a regular basis, I am going to blog every Sunday night and give highlights of the past week, including any photos that need to be added. Sorry if it's so boring, but i think my creativity has been zapped!

Unfortunately this week was pretty dull. I had the flu at the beginning of the week and Paul came down with something at the end of the week. On Friday I went to Centerville to visit my good friend Nicole that just had a baby. It was so great to chat with her and see her beautiful daughter.

On Saturday I spent the day at my mom's cooking. We've decided to get together once a month to cook some freezer meals. I'm really excited about it because now when I get home from work I can play with Dane rather than spending time making dinner. We'll see how it turns out - the first attempt was a success.

Here are a few photos of Dane laughing at his mom. He was sure loving me that day! :)

California New Year

On New Year's Eve we took Dane down to the beach for his first beach experience. The weather was great! It's nice having in-laws that live so close to the beach and to Disneyland. Our kids are going to love it as they get older.
Awww-kisses for mom.

Dad and Dane watchin' some football. This kid loves the tv way to much already. He is mesmerized by it!

cousin elizabeth

A lot of our trip to California was spent hanging out with all of Paul's family. We wanted Dane to meet and know his aunt and uncles. For the most part he did pretty good, but he did want to be with mom and dad. It was during this trip that he seemed to really differentiate us from 'strangers'.

The one person he did seem to enjoy was his cousin Elizabeth. And from the pictures that follow, it seems like the feeling was mutual. Elizabeth was so cute, always trying to pick him up and wanting to hold him. I can't wait for another year when they can actually play with each other.



Elizabeth loved giving Dane kisses - it was so sweet.

1st Christmas

This was a great Christmas because it was our first with our complete family: Paul, Mieka, and Dane. Dane actually slept in until about 9 so Paul and I opened our presents first so when Dane got up it was all about him (not that he'd be able to tell the difference anyway. He basically just got some clothes and toys but it was still so fun to open them with him.

Do you think someone was excited about presents and Santa??? Dane and his stocking. Funny how they are about the same size.
So Santa went a little overboard this year for Dane. For crying-0ut-loud, he's only 3 months!
Here is our family Christmas picture. We had a white christmas this year and it was Dane's first snow so we had to take a photo opp.
Dane was spoiled by Grandma Barlow this year. While the toy is a little big now, he'll be driving Paul and me crazy soon enough with it.

cute outfit

I love this outfit - especially the hat with ears. Two high school friends (Haylee and Julia) gave it to Dane. Doesn't he look so darling! :)

One of my dear friends, Judy, sent this outfit to Dane. The hat is still a little big but boy does he look adorable! :)