Father's Day

I am so grateful for all of the Father's in my life. 

I love my Dad very much and I am grateful for the example he set for me and the love and support he has always given. I appreciate his forgiveness. I love that he is creative, thoughtful and humorous. I love that he loves my Mom. He is an awesome example to his children. I am grateful that he went on a Mission, does his Home Teaching and respects his Priesthood Authority.

I love Brian's Dad. What a great Father-in-law! I love that he lives on a tropical island that I have been blessed to visit. I love that he is adventurous, loves all people and is very willing to serve. I love that he teaches and cares about his students. He is a great example to his sons and daughters. I am grateful that he went on a Mission, serves his callings well and respects his Priesthood Authority.

I love my Grandpa Doty. I am grateful that he joined the church and was sealed to my Grandmother. I am grateful that he served his country. I love that he is so passionate about Family History and involves me in the work. I love that he is a frequent Temple worker and that he respects his Priesthood Authority.

I love my Grandpa Rackham. I have always been impressed with his open heart. He really loves everyone. I am grateful that he set a good example for my father. I love his smile. I am grateful the he served his country I really appreciate his respect for the Gospel and his Priesthood Authority.

I love my Husband!!! He is my best friend. I am so lucky to be sealed to him for all time and eternity. I love that he went on a Mission and remains missionary minded. I appreciate his willingness to serve. He has been a great Father and I love seeing his joy in his children. I love that he has traveled and desires to show me the world. I love that he knows how to dance and never said no to a first date. I appreciate the sacrifices he makes to be a part of our family and for the time he puts into furthering his education for the betterment of our family. I love that he loves going to the Temple and that the Gospel is so important to him that it is just a part of who he is. I really appreciate that he brings the Priesthood into our home and that he understands and respects that authority. I really appreciate that he treats me as his equal and his partner in all matters. He is a great example for our children. 

I have been blessed to have great men in my life. I know that this is early, but Brian will not be around for Father's day so we had a mini celebration today. We had steak, brownies and ice cream. We will miss him very much but are grateful that he recognizes answered prayers and the importance of following His will. 

I love you, Brian!!!!

Battle Creek tornado Mormon Helping Hands cleanup

A tornado tore through part of Battle Creek last night uprooting trees and ripping off roofs. After church we decided to go see what the damage was. While there Leah suggested that we should be helping rather than looking. She was absolutely right so I called Pres. Saye (counselor in the stake presidency), and Bishop Torrance to see what they thought about organizing some of the brethren to help with the clean up this afternoon. They both thought it was a good idea and Pres. Saye authorized us to use the Mormon Helping Hands jerseys for the project.

I called the mission president to enlist the help of the missionaries and he called the zone leaders in Kalamazoo who brought the jerseys with them. We also had the missionaries from Battle Creek and Marshall helping out. Others who helped out included Jake McNees, Torrey Hutchison, Tom Koopman, Eric Petty, Cheryl Anthony and her daughter Courtney and Carrie Quintano with her kids. We had a wonderful time helping our neighbors clean up tree branches and debris. If you watch the news link above you'll see Torrey and Jake on the news video. They went on ahead while I waited for the missionaries (and jerseys) to show up.

Tomorrow we will be meeting at the Chapel Hill United Methodist Church (which lost a large portion of its roof in the storm) to help them continue clearing debris. It was wonderful to be out in the community helping our fellow brothers and sisters. Here is a slide show of some of the damage and some of our service efforts.

I Won!

I won the Shabby Apple dress giveaway! I am so excited! I picked the Bon Voyage dress. I hope it fits. I get scared ordering clothes online. You can see the announcement on the Tattertots & Jello blog. This is a great blessing to get something brand new for free on our tight budget. WAHOO!!!!

Ellie quotes

Ellie's vocabulary is growing so we are having more opportunities to laugh when she says something new. This morning at Sacrament meeting she ate her piece of Sacrament bread and said a bit loudly "Good bread! Mm Mm Mm Mm Mm!" It was difficult not to laugh out loud.

Lately she's been saying "Wowie Zowie" when she gets excited about something. Yesterday when we brought out the cupcake with the candles on it for the birthday party with friends she exclaimed "Wowie Zowie Birthday!" and then blew the candles out before we were even done with the song. It was so cute.

The other morning she pointed at her spoon and said "it's not working Daddy" because she was having trouble getting her yogurt onto the spoon. I think she just wanted me to put it on the spoon for her. She is so cute it is difficult not to oblige, especially when she is using her words instead of whining or crying to get something.

Shabby Apple Queensland Swimsuit Giveaway

Shabby Apple Queensland Swimsuit Giveaway

If I win this one, will I get a body like theirs too?

I hope I Win

A giveaway. I have been looking at the Shabby Apple website for awhile. I really like their dresses. So when this giveaway came up, I jumped at the chance.

These two dresses are my favorite: the Atlantic Fog and the Upper East Side.

The giveaway is at another one of my favorite blogs: Tatertots and Jello.

Ellie Dancing @ KUB YSA Dance

For our date night we took the babies to the Kalamazoo University Branch to go swing dancing. We didn't get to dance much, but we did have a blast watching Ellie tearing up the dance floor.

New science education resources blog

Last night a friend asked me for some resources for science curriculum because his sister home schools her children and has difficulty finding good curriculum. I've received other requests in the past from parents who home school. I've never really had much useful accessible information all in one place that I can give them. Leah and I were talking about it and she suggested that I could market science professional development to parents who home school. That sounded great, but I'm trying to get my dissertation proposal done and search for jobs at the moment so it won't happen right away. However it did get me thinking about putting a lot of the resources I have collected all in one place so I could send inquirers there and they could have access to a lot of varied help rather than just doing a dreaded Google search. So I started the Junior Science World blog. I'm excited to be able to share this resource and develop it in my spare time. Please remember it is a work in progress so I hope you won't expect too much at first, but I'm happy with the way it is turning out so far. Happy science trails.

April 2010 slideshow

March 2010 slideshow

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all our Grandmas!

Jan & Feb 2010 slideshow

We didn't have working cameras for part of these months and some of the pictures from these months are already posted on the blog with different posts. But we wanted to get caught up. Happy Mothers Day Grandma and Nana.

Leah's talent

Leah is very talented and has great vision for ways to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Here is her most recent project.
Before & After

I am very blessed to have such a wonderful wife who makes our home and lives beautiful.
I love you, Leah!
brian

Happy Baby Mikey

Mikey is growing and getting more mobile. He is also such a happy baby it is hard to believe. Here are some videos we wanted to share with you.

"Happy Mikey"



"Mikey on the move"



"Mikey with GM & GP Doty's dog Buddy"

Ellie Dancing

We watched Disney's The Princess and the Frog tonight. Ellie was getting into the music and we just had to capture it on video.

"Daddy! Look at me!"

It was a beautiful evening so we went out on the front porch to enjoy the nice weather before putting the kids to bed. Ellie was still dancing up a storm so we took another video.


"Dancing, dancing. Wiggle wiggle."