Disney World here we come!

1. give a day get a disney day ticket

2. flight to florida

3. 4 pairs of tennis shoes

5. 2 back packs filled with food

6. Disney World!

the beautiful castle. i took some pictures
of the night parade with the
fireworks high above the castle, magic!

i love the jungle cruise. it usually has a 30 min
wait but the fast passes helped us
breeze by. i love fast passes.

it was florida's spring break so it was a little busy
but the longest line was 45 minutes. not bad.

we only stood in a couple lines, and had
fast passes for all the rest.

you use your disney ticket
at the fast pass machine but only 1 of the 4
disney tickets would work, bummer!

well, being the strategic person i am...
i used this to our advantage.

i would ask the employee at the
fast pass machine for help and they would
print out fast passes or give us
a "fast pass ticket" to use all over the magic kingdom.

well, we had 16 fast passes at a time!

hey if it's broken, try to make it better.

the last comic standing....

so i shared with you a few weeks ago about jacob's sweet testimony.

well, we had fast and testimony meeting last sunday
and jacob wanted to bear his testimony.

stephen mentions to him to focus on Christ.

jacob walks up and grabs and microphone and says

"by the raise of hands, how many of you
have a dog as a pet?"

i look at stephen and say "where is he going this this???"

so people laugh and raise their hands to acknowledge
if they have a dog, did have a dog, or ever
in the future... plan to have a dog.

then he goes on to tell

about his dad who served a mission in africa

south africa to be exact. and tells

about a game that the missionaries would

play called "kick the pigeon". because there were

so many pigeons walking leisurely on the grass

the missionaries thought it was great fun

to try to chase and kick them. of course

the church members are laughing at all of this and it

motivates jacob to tell more stories!!!



then jacob talks about stephen

getting kissed by a monkey!!

it was a slow, agonizing death!

the bishop sees are look of horror and steps

up to jacob and says

"go ahead and bear

your testimony".

so he does, thankfully!



well, now jacob is a huge hit with all the deacons at church.

as stephen and i walk down the hall way to class we are getting

high-fives and getting comments like

"that was the best testimony ever"

"jacob rocks"

"so, you kicked pigeons???"

needless to say, our family home evening

lesson on monday was about sharing our testimonies

about Jesus Christ, and helping others feel the spirit.



but, he was asked, by our friend, to give a baptism talk this evening

at her baptism. pray that it goes well.

at least this time

the walk up to jacob will be a little shorter distance.

Amen!

jacob's baptism story

Baptism Day

sorry it has taken me so long to get these posted. i have
one word for my excuse TAXES!!

but they are done and we should get
our $$$$ next week, yes!

here is our cute boy

jacob finished the book of mormon friday evening

before all the family arrived.

it was a sweet experience to read

with him. he went into his room and prayed to know

if it was true and he said "i had a warm feeling in my heart

and i know the book of mormon is true!"

our family after the baptism.

did you notice that the gangly tooth is gone, yes!

here is the big group picture. thank you
all for coming. we had a great time!

don't ya love jacob's enthusiastic expression.

that's my boy!

this was the swim party at the hotel.
the kids
loved time with their cousins.

sizzler will never be the same! it was
a little crazy with all the kiddos
at the salad bar.

my apologies to all the patrons
who got to wait behind our group.

ya... we were a little loud, but it was a "happy loud!" ;)

jacob has been waiting to bear his testimony
until his baptism.

he was so cute at the pulpit.

he said "i'd like to tell you a little

bit about my baptism."

then he talked about reading the

book of mormon and praying to know if it

is true! the spirit was so strong and

bore witness of the truthfullness

of this sweet 8 year old.


i'll always remember that moment.

love, mom

Lose the Tooth!

don't ya just love that tooth!

well, I broke down and took the
baptism pictures when he finally lost 2 of the loose teeth.
but this front one was hanging on for dear life!

i asked jacob to get dressed up so i can take his picture to
send in his baptism announcment picture. he said

"okay, but you can only take 1 picture! do you promise?"

One picture, but i'm a mom i can't take just one picture!


so we had some fun! here is the "normal" announcement picture.

can you believe his is 8 years old?

i remember when he looked like this

i love you jacob! thanks for being such a

fun, loving, kind, smart, amazing boy!

love, mom

Can the Tooth Fairy live with us?

Jacob has three teeth that are dangling, hanging,
out of his mouth. He is constantly pulling on them,
feeling it with his tongue, and the new permanent teeth are coming
in so the loose teeth are sticking straight out.

I need to take his baptism pictures to send out the invitations

but it is hard to take Jacob seriously in a church suit
with 2 teeth sticking StRaIGHTt OUT! This picture does not show the side profile!

So, Jacob was at school yesterday playing with his friends and a girl
kicked him in the face (it was an accident, mom!) and knocked the not-sticking straight out tooth out. So Jacob is excited about the tooth fairy coming and
made a long list of questions for her.

First, he tells her (the tooth fairy) that he LOVES her, so sweet! Then he asks
if she will pull out his front tooth. That would be a very brave tooth fairy!

Jacobs's questions Kristy's answers

1. what is your name? Kristy

2. do you have any pets? yes

3. are you a boy or girl? girl

4. do you have wings? yes

5. do you have any family? yes

6. do you like being a tooth fairy? yes!

7. where do you live? fairyland

8. can you please leave me a star wars lego set and a dollar circle yes or no

well, the tooth fairy must have thought the question was about leaving the dollar, but jacob is searching the house, like a boy with a mission, to find this star wars lego set.

jacob woke us up at 7:30 am to tell us about the letter and asks
stephen to help find the lego set.

I love this age and all the excitement with santa, tooth fairy, and coming up is the ever cleaver leprechaun trap.

i hope you do this with your kids! you make a trap to catch a
sneaky leprechaun
and then he leaves some gold behind,
because they are SOOOO hard to catch!

Ode to the Vacuum Part II

I guess my sweet husband was tired of seeing my new Oreck in the box.

So, this weekend he put it together for me and took my old vacuum away.

I tried the Oreck and it is light weight so there ya go! I guess he will need to find a new Valentine's gift. Maybe he could give me the new coat I bought at Old Navy. It was regulary $99.50! Would I pay that, heck no! Not $49 or $25, it was only $17. Yes, a new coat! I've had my little red riding one since my college days.

This is cute and cheap, score!

Reading for Fun!

I loved it when a new magazine would come in the mail. I love books. I remember when we lived in a town of 250 people, the book mobile would come every couple weeks! I could hardly wait because there was a new adventure waiting. In 2009, I read over 20 books. Some of my favorite were A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Running Up the Mountain.

I love this quote...You'll be the same person you were last year, except for the books you read and the people you meet.

I read with two book groups, so it keeps me on my toes. I constantly have at least 3 books that are partly finished.

Over the last several years I have thought about the idea of less is more. Less clothes that I don't LOVE, and a few that I do love. Less toys around the house, less mess, and more conversations, and connecting with my children through games and reading.

So when I saw this free book from one of my favorite blogs I thought of you! Do you like a free book mobile that comes to your computer????

Free ebook: Thriving on Less--Simplifying in a Tough Economy

Download a free copy of Thriving on Less--Simplifying in a Tough Economy here.

What are some of your favorite books and how did they move you?