Quote about America from a modern prophet, President Harold B. Lee:

"Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail. This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this earth began in the Garden of Eden. This is the place of the new Jerusalem. This is the place that the Lord said is favored above all other nations in all the world. This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple.. This is the favored land in all the world. Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won't fail. I have faith in America ; you and I must have faith in America , if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges. I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through." (Ye Are the Light of the World, 350-51)

Thanks for sharing this Mom!

Last Days of Winter

We enjoyed the last weeks of Winter. The weather would fluctuate from mid 60's to low 30's, and of course every degree in between.

Elden wasn't feeling so hot in this picture. I think his second tooth came in at that time.



I found the girls like this one night. Too cute!


A couple weeks ago we had a Family Home Evening on prayer. Lee gave each kids a stick (yes, we let our kids play with sticks...hey I have an eye doctor on hand, why not?) and each stick (sorry Elden, you didn't get a stick) represented the fours parts of prayer--intro, thankful-fors, ask-Thee, and the closing. Lee picked a child and would ask them, for example, how the intro to a prayer should go. Then they would say it or we would practice it, and that child would throw their stick in. I thought it was a great idea.



My new creation, which I may have mentioned, is putting roasted marshmallows in between chocolate chip cookies. It's so good! And I rarely buy bars of chocolate. And as you all know, that my real reason is that chocolate chip cookies are cheaper to make, than buying 6 milk chocolate bars!




One of the "nice" days

Elden is the Big 0-1!

Can one WHOLE year have passed already? My "time" in the hospital seems so distance, yet contemplation at times makes the sadness almost fresh again. With my mounting complications, Elden must have wanted to come earth ASAP--all 2 pounds, 9 ounces of him. My problems were his quick ticket here, born at 28 weeks! After three or so blood transfusions, different shots, a level 2 brain bleed, hours under the bili-lite, successes and un-successes with bottle feeding, an MRI, multiple doctor visits, 5 RSV shots along with other immunizations, and physical therapy sessions thrown in, we're sure glad you are here Elden. It would tickle me to death if you were my biggest child!






And you can't forget the equipment! It cracks me up that at the entrance to the NICU there is a sign stating to turn off your cell phones, as the babies need peace and quiet. HAH! These machines are much louder than cell phones. I don't know as if I ever turned mine off!

Elden spent 2 months and 1 day in this box

Elden wore the middle diaper

For awhile Elden's diapers were weighed

Oh the hours I spent with you...I don't miss you one bit!



His first time finishing a bottle in a 1/2 hour






Can one WHOLE year have passed already? Happy Birthday little Guy!