President Hinckley

When my mom called me last night to tell me that President Hinckley had died, I was a bit more sad than I thought I would be. Then when I was watching a look back at his life on the news this morning I was surprised when I got teary-eyed. This is why I was surprised: When President Hinckley was made the President of the Church, I actually said that I hoped he would die soon so that Thomas S. Monson could be our prophet (hey, I was 12 and he was 84). For a few years I think I was waiting for that to happen, then I smartened up (and grew up) and realized what a wonderful man President Hinckley was and how much he was doing for not only the church but for the world. I have grown to love listening to him speak, enjoying his wit, his sense of humor, and his straight forward way of teaching. So now, with the loss of such a great man, I am starting to wonder if President Monson will be able to fill his shoes. It's funny how even at the last conference I was thinking about how much I enjoyed listening to President Monson speak, but now I am thinking about how much I am going to miss hearing President Hinckley speak and having him lead our church. I'm sure that President Hinckley is so happy to be back with Marjorie, but he will surely be missed here on Earth.

“The time has come for us to stand a little taller, to lift our eyes and stretch our minds to a greater comprehension and understanding of the grand millennial mission of this, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
( Conference Report, Apr. 1995, 95.)

Photos of St. George Trip

Here are some pictures of our trip. Again, there are so many pictures that I didn't edit any of them.
I have to explain one thing; Ethan's pretty white sweater was worn because it was either borrow a sweater (which was made by Nana) from Addison (his cousin) or wear his dress shirt hiking. Shaun chose the sweater and I thought he looked great in it. :)

Ethan and Great Aunt Shannon looking into the cave

Ethan in his pretty sweater

Gramma, Ethan, and Great Aunt Gwyn

Spencer and Aunt Sarah

Spencer holdin' on

Ethan and Addison playing

Ethan and Daddy hiking

Addison and Ethan

Ethan loved the rocks

I thought it was hilarious that these pictures were captured this way. They are each showing the camera their dirty hands. I love their faces.

New Element

I have added a new element to my blog on my sidebar (Memories to Keep). It is where I will be putting stories or things I want to remember about the boys that I don't necessarily want to write a separate blog about. It may also read like a brag page. This is mostly just for me because I have a bad memory and I'm not very good at writing in their baby books, but if you'd like to check it out, I will probably update it quite often (If I remember to).

Our Weekend

We spent the weekend in St. George for a visit with family. It was nice to see everyone. The boys did GREAT in the car both ways. We only stopped because we wanted to, not because we had to. That was new. I enjoyed the fact that I stayed at my mom and dad's house with Spencer and Shaun stayed at his sister's house with Ethan. Although it provided some inconveniences, it was nice to have the responsibility of only one child for 12-14 hours of the day (night). We enjoyed mild weather, and when we got home I wondered why we ever moved from there. Now that both of us have family there again (including three grandparents for the kids), I am seriously considering going back. It wouldn't be for quite a while since we just moved, and I would have to talk Shaun into it. We'll see. I guess there's a chance I could change my mind also. Back to the trip: Ethan enjoyed doing some hiking in Snow Canyon with Shaun and his family. It's a good thing Shaun enjoys being outside (no matter how the weather is), because Ethan loves it, too and I'm a bit of a 'fair-weather friend' when it comes to outdoor activities. Spencer loved having so many faces to smile at, and I enjoyed meeting two of Shaun's aunts that I had never met before. It was great to see Mom and Dad's new house for the first time. It looks really good, and although it seems small, I think it's the perfect size for them. R.Jay did a great job on the entry-way tile, and mom and dad did a great job choosing the design, etc. I might actually pick some of the same things they did (namely: floors, light fixtures, appliances, blinds, and plumbing hardware) if I were building my own house. We went to Mom and Dad's ward on Sunday. We enjoyed being able to hear them speak. They really do live in an 'elderly' ward. This was a little weird since I definitely don't think of my parents as elderly yet. Anyway, we had a good trip, and we hope it won't be too long before we get to go to St. George again.

Pathetic

Spencer has been sick with a fever the past few days. It has been pretty sad at some points, but he's been pretty good at others. With all of the sympathy he has been getting from Mommy and Daddy (but definitely not from Ethan!), I think he has learned what he needs to do to get extra love. He has learned to make his cries more and more pitiful. If you are a parent, you probably know what I mean; a scrunched up face with puppy-dog eyes, longer waaahh's and mmmnn's, pouty bottom lip, etc. I swear he has even learned to produce more tears than would naturally come from a sad baby. Now, I wouldn't normally think that he was crying just to get attention, but he does these silly things when he doesn't have a fever and he's been acting fine for a while. And although I feel that he is exaggerating some of his cries, it really is so sad that I can't resist giving him the extra love that he's begging for. He is sick after all, and he does deserve some pity. This picture was not taken in the past few days, but I thought I would include a visual aid.

Spencer

After finishing my last post I realized that people probably would like to see recent pictures of Spencer. Since I don't have any good ones of him on Christmas Day, I decided I would just put up some random pictures. Isn't he cute!?

Christmas

So although Christmas was not as relaxed as we would have liked, we had a really good Christmas this (last) year. Ethan got everything he (I) wished for (with lots of help from family), and although you can't tell from the pictures, he was very excited about his presents. He even loved his clothes which he said were "cute" as soon as he saw them. Ethan still doesn't really get Christmas, so he wasn't really all that excited until he started opening his gifts. He actually woke up pretty distraught that morning because he was sick, but as soon as he understood what was happening he cheered up. Spencer, of course, had no idea what was going on. In fact, he slept in while the rest of us opened our gifts and enjoyed helping Daddy rip his own open later. It was great to be able to spend the holiday with family. Grandma and Grandpa Dibb came for a short visit, but had to leave on Christmas Day with a load of furniture and such. That's what made the day so busy, but we're so glad they came! We also got to spend part of the day with John, Jenn, Jacob, Jason, Nathan, and Christine. It's always fun to see them, too. Oh yeah, and Grandma and Grandpa made us yummy bran muffins for brunch. We hope everyone else had a great Christmas, and has a great 2008!

Ethan showing the camera his "stocking"

Ethan with Grandma and Grandpa

Ethan showing Mommy and Daddy his new Legos

Ethan with all of his gifts (I know he looks soooo excited!)

Spencer and Daddy opening one of his gifts

Ethan ready to play in the snow with Daddy

Ethan sledding in the street

He looks like he hates it, but I think he actually was very relaxed and liked it.

Has it been long enough?

Well, I finally have a reliable internet connection (and extra time) so I guess I will post something. I don't know where to start since there is so much I have missed. We moved in to our new apartment which we really like so far. The only real problem we've had with it is the uninvited guest (in the form of a mouse) we had for the first week. I was very nervous that I would see it, or worse, that it would touch me. Luckily, I didn't see it until we caught it. It did take us a while to catch it, though. We first set four conventional traps. It ate all of the food off of them (even peanut butter) without setting them off. The only one who got caught by one of those traps was Ethan. That was sad! We decided we should try something else, so we got some sticky traps and we caught it. It was a lot bigger than I pictured and I was so glad to be rid of the thing. We do have some traps still set because I'm paranoid that there might be more hiding somewhere.
Ethan and Spencer are both growing so fast, I don't know where time goes. Ethan is still having sleep issues, and Spencer is now in the habit of taking cat naps. There goes my nap time! :) After spending a month and a half with my sister, I now realize how much I really miss my family that live out of state. I wish we could all live at least within reasonable driving distance so that we could see each other more than once a year! It stinks not to be able to watch nieces and nephews grow up. Although blogging does let me see what's going on in their lives, it does also make me miss them more because hearing all the stories makes me wish I could have been there. Anyway, I will be posting soon about Christmas and more things that I want to share about my trip (I'm just waiting for my pictures; hint, hint you know who ;) ). I really want to keep up with things from now on, so wish me luck.