Ponderosa Ward Youth Conference-Joy in the Journey

Day 1-3 Coming soon!

Nursery secrets

Look what Annie “stole” in nursery!

Shhh, it’s a secret.  Sorry Camille, but Annie just wanted to see how cool that “mouth” thing is!

First of all, I have to tell anyone who wants to know, that I love nursery!

I love the little ones, I love the sweet woman I serve with, and I LOVE teaching them.

Nursery is a place where you can literally feel your testimony weaken or it is a place where you can find it again.

For me…a wonderful finding.

This is a place where no one judges me.  No one thinks I should be doing more.  No one complains about the food.  No one criticizes the lesson.  Just love.

Ok, we do have one little one who associates me with a “monster.”

However, he does ask to come back each week, so I am going to think positive and just think that he means the “cookie monster” who counts out cookies to him each week.

There is also a wonderful feeling of accomplishment, as we pack up each Sunday, where you are happy that everyone came out injury free and smiling.

I remember giving a talk in California the second week we lived there on callings in the church.

There was this beautiful story that I am sure has been told dozens of times, about thinking of your bishop as the Lord asking you to accept a call to serve. 

Who would turn down the Savior?

None of us would.

I remember saying in that talk that the best people in the church should serve in the nursery. (Of course saying that because I had two in the nursery at the time.)

But today I am grateful to be there.

I love their faces.

Just think of the amazing people they will someday be!

It really is the first place the Savior would peak his head in on Sunday, because sometimes Ward Council is just all business and no play!

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A while ago I was reading some blog entries from an amazing mother.  She had been inspired by yet another wonderful mother to take a few minutes each birthday and record the things that she was currently doing with her children as a way to share with her future generations what her life was like with little ones.  Capturing, perhaps, the little memories that over the years would be forgotten.

I loved this, so today I decided to share mine.

…I love being your mother.  Sometimes it is really, really hard and other times it is really, really great.  We also have a lot of good times in the middle.

…I love watching over each one of you as you sleep.  Yes, even you A.J.!  I have such amazing dreams for each of you.

…I spend most of my day doing your laundry, preparing your meals, and driving you EVERYWHERE, but I wouldn’t trade with daddy.  I LOVE my job!

…Speaking of daddy, I am still madly in love with him and every one of you know this, because I am often heard saying, “Guess who I am totally in love with?”   Brooke and Ellie, you always smile and answer, “We know…daddy!”

…You trust me.  I can tell because if I ask, you will almost always tell me.

…I love tucking you in at night.  You each share great details about your life that I would have missed.  Thank you!

…I cry often.  Not because I am sad, but because of a lot of other reasons…joy, happiness, the Spirit, fatigue and sometimes just great commercials.

…You know I have a strong testimony, because I can see you believing me whenever I share it.

…You are mine forever.  I never forget, but sometimes I am not so great, but I try really hard every day.

…We always stop and smell the roses, literally.  Sometimes we are at Costco, sometimes it is the grocery store.  On days I forget, Ellie you remind us all.

…I am not a great cook, but I rock at baking.  Ok dinners, but awesome desserts!

…I love my friends and they make me want to be a better person, so I encourage you to choose friends wisely. The friends of yours that I really like, I always let you hang with.

…I love making you “detail” your rooms.  You guys usually hate it (except Madie who can do it in her sleep now.)  But every one of you find a treasure you have lost every time we do it.  Yeah mom and chores!

…I think you should read your scriptures for 30 minutes every day.  You think you should read them for 10, so you read for 20 minutes.

…I take every opportunity to capitalize on every single teaching moment.  It is one of my great talents.  Sometimes you love it, and sometimes you don’t.  I am sincerely grateful every time I have the opportunity.

…I love reading to you.  It doesn’t matter if it is Goodnight Moon before your nap Annie, or your current chapter book, Easton, I love it.

…When I pull in the driveway and open the garage door after being gone, I love the moment just before each of you funnel out the garage door to greet me.

…I know that Captain Crunch and fruit snacks are terrible for you teeth, but every once in awhile I surprise you and they say hello for breakfast or in your school lunch.

…I always make you show me your teeth before school.  Easton, you win for having to do them twice the most!

…I love the smell of rain, and I always make you come outside and smell it with me.

…I love having teenagers.  I know it is crazy, but I have been waiting to talk to you as the adults you are becoming.  A.J., you are so teachable and Madie, you are a better mother than me some days!

…I love sitting together in our pew at church.  Not every Sunday, but the good ones are REALLY great!  It is like my forever is just contained in that pew.

…Everyone groans almost every night over scriptures and prayer, but I know that it is the right thing to do, so we push through.  I pray that you will drag your kids to read and pray together someday too.

…I love to sing to your music (and sometimes mine) in the car.  It doesn’t even matter if we have company.  Your friends love it, you roll your eyes, but deep down I know that I am the coolest mother around.

…Nothing makes me happier than when you are helping each other, and nothing makes me more angry than when you fight.

…Today I am 38 years old.  Halfway done, but I couldn’t be prouder or happier about the choices made in my first half that brought me the six of you.  It is a true joy to be your mother!

…Forever, your mom.

 

In his next 40 Years…

In John’s next 40 years may he be so blessed to experience as many wonderful things as his life has had thus far.

To celebrate his BIG DAY, I thought that I would just remind this amazing man, just how blessed he is!

Forty amazing things, to celebrate his forty years!

• On February 5, 1970, he was brought into this world by an amazing mother who was actually under hypnosis for the delivery. (She was very ahead of her time!)
• As a child, John would try anything.  I imagine him as this versatile kid who could climb anything, just like our children can now.  Nothing was out of reach for him.
• John was blessed with one sister, who, probably pushed him to do better more than he will ever admit.
• John had parents who were raised in two different worlds, but created a beautiful and safe one for him.
• He had only one family friend who his parents would trust to watch he and his sister, once a year, as they went Christmas shopping.
• He was taken on wonderful family vacations, because his parents believed in working very hard and playing very hard as well.
• His parents taught him the value of work.  This trait is immeasurable even to this day.
• As a youth, John was able to have the opportunity to train with the top swimmers in the world.  He had his sights set on the 1988 Olympics.
• His loving parents supported him in everything that he did.
• His father would drive him 25 minutes, every morning, at 6am to swim practice, only to take him back later after his current sports practice.
• They also had the chance to travel all over the country for competitions.
• He also liked to race Olympian hopefuls down the Colorado slopes as a teenager.
• He did well in school without even trying, imagine Anne and Paul if he really tried.
• John had close friends that, even as adults, would love to know where he is and how he is doing.
• John appreciates traditions.  I love this!  His mother is an amazing example of this, and John loves all the little traditional things that his mother instilled in him.  May I be so wonderful to continue in her steps.
• John had his own room as a child.  This may seem simple, but coming from a family of seven children, I would have LOVED that some days.
• John started a car on fire, while he was upside down inside it fixing something!
• John is a meat and potatoes guy.  For Valentines, we had, meat and potatoes!  So romantic!
• In college, John had the opportunity to play football and he loved it!
• He attended a school where it seemed that every returned missionary KNEW he was the ONE!  I think he was an answer to many R.M.’s prayers concerning WHO they should share their beliefs with.  What a blessing for me!
• He was also raised to believe what you felt to be true, which eventually led him to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• After college John had reconstructive surgery on his knee, only to ROCK at an NFL combine just months later.
• His knee wasn’t meant to live an NFL packed schedule, which led him right to a job in my neighborhood.
• John loves biscuits and gravy, which will always be a part of how our story together started.
• I knew the first time we ever talked at length that he was the one for me.
• The day of our wedding, our cake fell all over the floor, our groomsmen bridesmaids were ticketed for parking in the wrong spots, and the church caught on fire after our reception!  Great day!
• John wiped a tear from my face as we knelt across an altar, in a holy temple, and covenanted to forever together.
• On our honeymoon, our luggage was lost, our flight re-routed and was the best time of our lives.
• The first day we fell asleep on the beach, with spectacular sunburns to prove it.
• The day we moved into our first home, I realized that our family had begun.  Not because of the purchase of the home, but because I couldn’t keep my eyes open long enough to unpack a box.
• That Monday, I called John and ask how “dad’s” day was going.  The excitement in his voice will NEVER be erased from my memory.
• The look on his face as he held A.J. for the first time will hold that same permanence in my mind.
• As he looked with concern as Madie’s tiny blue body was looked at by hospital staff, and the smile that replaced it as she had an Apgar of 10 two minutes later was one of relief from a loving father.
• Easton was shot out of a cannon right from birth, and John has been the perfect dad to keep up with him ever since.
• It was John’s turn to name our little Brooke Elizabeth, and how perfect that name has been for her, a gift from her favorite person in the whole world.
• John is loved by Ellie in every way.  She looks for him first thing each morning, and is sad on the days when she has slept later than expected and missed him.
• John was blessed to hold our little Gabrielle and give her a name and a blessing.  The experience that he had is proof that there is life after death, and he intends on seeing Gabby there.
• I was physically and emotionally drained at the birth of Annie, but John was there to see her arrive.  His eyes lit up and gave me the needed adrenaline boost to witness such a sweet miracle.
• John is a believer.  If he wasn’t, he would not have chosen to have this large family, believe in the truth of the gospel and teach that truth everyday to our children.
• He is loved by youth.  He isn’t the conventional leader, but they love him because they want to be like him and they know he loves them!

I love this man!  He is the one for me!  May your next 40 years be filled with even more blessings and opportunities to bless the lives’ of those around you.  Thank you for who you are and who you are becoming!  I love you John!

~Laura

 

Annie’s adventures

These pictures are GREAT examples of the adventures that little Annie goes on.

She gets toted to Pack meetings, New Beginnings, Primary Activity Days, and lots of lots of basketball games!

She is beginning to be a real handful in sacrament meeting and grocery stores, but that smile…just makes everything ok.

She wouldn’t be a Cecil if she didn’t have that amazing energy and the most incredible sense of adventure.

Life sure is busy over here, but every night as I say my prayers, I am thankful that it is my life.

The understanding I have been given makes every day worth every effort!

 

   

 

 

Did I mention she LOVES Brother Gneiting and blowup football guys?

Easton got his Bear!

Now he just needs his Lion and Tiger.

Oh, you’re right…that’s something different!

We had pack meeting last night, and I just wanted to include this in our family memories for 2010!

Easton achieved his Bear along with several of the other boys in the den.

Thank you, thank you to all of their leaders, past and present!

 

Just a few other mothers risking their lives with advancement pins.

Love our boys!

Planting Sunflowers for Spring!

Yesterday, was our quarterly Primary Activity.  I took some cute photos of our little ones to share.  Just highlight, copy and paste yours for the keeping.

Cute kids and GREAT leaders!