Cody's Primary Talk (Written by Cody)

Cody’s Talk    4-19-2015

         When my dad was 3 years old he asked his parents why they were not reading the scriptures as a family if the prophet told them to.  They started reading that night and never stopped doing it.  The scriptures are important if prophets ask us to read them. 

         In Preach My Gospel it says, “We show our faith by studying, believing, and obeying God’s revealed word. We diligently search the scriptures to understand the truth. We feast upon them because they open the door to revelation and show us what we need to do and become. We search the scriptures to learn about Jesus Christ and His gospel. Faith in Jesus Christ is a gift from God and comes through studying and living His word and His gospel. The approved scriptures of the Church, also called the standard works, are the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. We should study these sacred books daily”. 

         We wouldn’t have the scriptures if Joseph Smith didn’t translate them.  We should help other people learn about the scriptures and know the true gospel.  If we don’t believe in the scriptures we don’t believe in Jesus Christ.  The Book of Mormon teaches many true things and I know they are true. If we have a question about the Book of Mormon we should pray and the Holy Ghost will answer it.  I know that Joseph Smith was a real person and that he translated the Book of Mormon and he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

More Spring Break Photos FOUND!

Good News!

I'm not crazy.

I thought I was for a second because I knew I had more pictures from Spring Break but I couldn't find them!

Well, they've been found and here they are...

At the National Harbor we spotted a Peeps Store with this cool Peeps car. 

Then we headed down to The Awakening Statue and the kids had a ball climbing on the giant. 

In true boy fashion, Cody was cracking himself up by putting body parts in the giant's nose. 

Hands...

feet...

 and his whole caboose.

And after checking out the DC Temple Visitor's Center, we walked around the temple for a bit.

On Easter we had a great day relaxing together and watching General Conference. We died Easter eggs (or rather the kids colored boiled eggs with markers and crayons). We also tried out a recipe for Resurrection Rolls. You wrap each ball of dough around a large marshmallow before baking them and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. The marshmallow sort of disappears while they're in the oven and creates a hollow space representing the empty tomb. (You can see the hole in Cody's roll). They were a hit! A new tradition is born.

In the middle of all the fun of Spring Break Kylee asked me how many more days until General Conference and then told me that she was so excited for General Conference she could hardly stand it. That really impressed me since we had talked about the aquarium and the zoo and all the other fun things.

I realized as Easter was approaching that we didn't really have any family Easter traditions. So I decided that it might be fun for us to read and study the things that happened to Jesus during the week leading up to His Resurrection so I printed out a bookmark for each of the kids that listed what happened each day with the scripture references. The kids looked forward to it every day and were always asking us when we could do it. Cody even brought his bookmark and scriptures in the car on one of the nights we were eating at Cafe Rio so that we could discuss it on the way home. That will definitely be a tradition that is a keeper!

Spring Break 2015 and Other Happy Things

Right before Spring Break Cody got glasses. He kept staring at things around the house comparing them with and without his glasses. He was amazed at what he had been missing out on.

On the first day of Spring Break the kids and I took off to the National Harbor and the Temple Visitor's Center for the day.

At the National Harbor we saw The Awakening statue. The kids had fun climbing in his mouth and and on his hands and feet. They thought it was so funny when I sat in his armpit.

 Then we headed over to the Temple Visitor's Center to check out all the exhibits. I especially wanted them to see the giant model of the Washington DC temple that shows the rooms inside. They loved being at the Visitor's Center and after 2 1/2 hours didn't want to leave.

One day Cody went to a friend's house to play so the girls and I went to the library and got some ice cream. Really, it was a freezing and windy 50 degree day but we had to act like it was Spring Break. We ended up eating our ice cream inside so we didn't freeze.

 

Another day we went to the National Zoo with Steve. While I packed food the kids played Twister.

It was slightly drizzling at the zoo which kept the crowds way down. We had the place to ourselves.

Kylee asks me all the time why I don't make tortillas any more. I stopped right about the time we moved to Maryland and Livy was born so she was only three, but still remembered that my tortillas were her favorite. So during Spring Break we spent some time in the kitchen making tortillas together and had a blast. She was in heaven.

 We spent a day at the National Aquarium in Baltimore too. I have always wanted to go, but couldn't stomach the price.

Lucky for us, my friend has a pass and was able to bring all of us as guests for free. It was so fun to spend the day with Sydnie, Callie, and baby Brooke.

 Livy found a little turtle in the plants.

 We got to see a dolphin show.

 Dolphins are Kylee's favorite!

The jelly fish were cool.

Liv had fun with her sweet friend Callie. They held hands and stayed together the whole time. If Livy couldn't see the animal we were looking for Callie would put her arm around Liv and help her out. So cute.

In between General Conference sessions on Saturday we went to a deluxe Easter Egg Hunt that a family in our ward hosted. After all the kids collected a bucket full of awesome goodies we ate lunch and did other activities. Liv has always had a thing for trampolines and has no fear so Steve stayed outside with her. They laughed the entire time.

 I stayed inside with Cody and Kylee and made dioramas out of Peeps.

 The week after Easter and Spring Break the girls said goodbye to their friend Grace who was moving the next day to Utah. She is a great friend and they have already written a letter to her.

Gary, Carol, Heather, Jake, and Calvin stayed at our house this past weekend and I was able to get some things on the wall before they got here. Putting things on the wall is always a big deal because Steve has a hard time putting holes in the wall since we are always about to move in his mind. One thing I hung was Cody's quilt from Nana that she started when Steve was a baby and finished in time for my baby shower when I was pregnant with Cody. I never wanted to use it and always had intentions to hang it someday. Well, now that Cody has his own bedroom and it's painted and ready to be decorated it was the perfect time. Only 10 years later!! Not bad right?

We also hung these paintings in our kitchen that Cody and Kylee did at school. I got a text from Carol saying they were almost to our house and so I whipped out the frames and told Steve he needed to get the frames on the wall before they got here (all while we are cleaning up dinner and getting the kids showered and ready for bed). 

We had so much fun with our visitors while they were here. The time flew by and we didn't want it to end. And it just worked out that Emily Heyer was getting married in the DC temple while they were here. So we got to see even more family from all over the country. Steve and I feel really blessed to be related to so many amazing people.

Spring Time in Patapsco State Park

We had fun one Saturday hiking to Cascade Falls in Patapsco State Park (just 10 minutes from our house). It was finally warm enough to enjoy being outside!!

As soon as we got to the falls the kids took off their shoes and socks and played in the water.

Any of the pictures you see with the kids holding still and staring at the falls are strictly for Steve's photography enjoyment. He wanted to get a long exposure of the water falling but in order to do so the kids had to hold super still.

We had to cross the river multiple times along the trails. I was reminded many times by Liv that her shoes are waterproof and mine are not. Actually, everyone in our family has water proof shoes except for me so I was the only one that had to be super careful not to get a shoe full of mud.