Sade is THREE !!!

Sade turned three on September 23rd! She has been so anxious to be three "like Leila and Mia" (her two best friend who are half a year older than her).
According to Sade, she is now officially "big" and is ready to take on the world :)

For here birthday we went to Disneyland with My parents, Nate, his girlfriend Aubry, Cherryl, Kayla, and Kyle. It was the first day of Disneyland's Halloween decorations (which we have never seen before) so it was a lot of fun!

We love our "Sade-Sade" and feel so blessed to have her in our lives!

Happy Birthday Sade, we LOVE you!!!

Guessing Game

Ok so I know a lot of people who are pregnant right now and I thought it would be fun to post my predictions here. So far I've had a very good track record at guessing hopefully I don't jinx it...

Alicia: Boy, because the first child tends to be what ever the parents feel most ready for.

Carline: Boy, because I think Matix needs another boy to go on wild adventures with, and you guys are just such awesome parents for Matix.

Jamie: Boy, I can see you having an easy time with either one and Katelyn seems like she will adjust well either way. So I guess boy in case your husband is feeling out numbered :)

Sarah: Boy, because I think Lilianna will always be the only princess in your family.

Sarah (Jason's girl): Girl, defiantly! I can just see Jason being the perfect dad to a little girl, and we all know that no boy will ever be good enough for her, right Jason :)

So those are my predictions. I hope I'm not leaving anyone out!

Boy of Girl?

So on October 2nd I have my Ultrasound!
We are so excited to know more about our sweet little baby.
The big question of course is boy or girl?!
I thought it would be fun to post a poll on our blog!
The poll is anonymous though so if you want to claim your guess you can post it in the comments section here as well :)

This began as a reply to a comment on our blog, but it quickly (by the second sentence) evolved into a journal entry I have been meaning to write.

I watched both political parties’ conventions. I think it is important to pay attention to each party and each candidate. It is so easy to only listen to the media’s break down of the topics, speeches, etc. but I think it is crucial to hear the speeches and debates for yourself and to form your own opinions.

I had an interesting experience while I was listening to the DNC. Nyah came and sat on the couch and started watching. She noticed me smiling a few times and saw how the crowd kept cheering and applauding. Soon Nyah began cheering too, (after all we just got through the Olympics and we cheered along with that). I took notice and just smiled. Then Nyah turns to me and says something like, “We like them huh, they’re the good guys”.

Our conversation then went something like this:

(Me) I think they are OK. They believe different things then I do.

(Nyah) But why were you smiling?

(Me) Because I thought it was funny that he left out something important.

(Nyah) Do we like them?

(Me) I am sure that they are nice people but for the most part, I just don’t agree with them. You can like a person who thinks differently than you. You can also like a person without liking what they do.”

(Nyah) Like when Heavenly father sees people doing things that are bad, it makes him sad, but he still loves them.

(Me) You’re right, he loves everyone. I don’t think these people are bad though, they just don’t believe the same things that I do. I think it is important to hear what they have to say because it helps me to understand them better. It also gives me a chance to think more about what I believe and why I believe it.

The conversation went on longer as I tried to explain to Nyah more about the political race and that we get to vote on who will become the next president of the United States. To this she brought up President Monson and I had to explain the differences between the President of the United States and the President of the Church :)

I was immediately grateful for the opportunity to have such a conversation with Nyah and have pondered it many times since. Discussing our beliefs as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is fairly simple. In other matters, I love that my kids ask “tough” questions and it is an exciting challenge to get to answer those questions. I really make an effort to explain matters of opinion as “mine” and not “ours” or to say things like “your dad and I think…” The point is not to exclude them from the opinion but to give them a chance to decide what they think.

Jeremy and I are trying to raise intelligent children who know what we believe, and who understand that it is OK to disagree. Most importantly we want them to learn how to think and reach conclusions for themselves. If learned this will benefit them their whole lives in all matters, especially in religion because I think this is where true conviction comes from.

Sade was so tired and fell asleep on the couch.
Nyah saw her and put a blanket over her.
I came into the room and had to capture this moment.
Sade is an angel and I think this pictures proves it :)