Brent's Talk

Brent gave a great talk on Sunday... He of course didn't do it quite word for word but he did a great job! Click here to read it!

Happy Birthday!

Of course we're having Mariska's birthday party while we're in Utah, but we still celebrated yesterday! She had a great day. At church they brought her into primary to sing the happy birthday song to her, she was having a great time walking around the room, until the chorister held her up at the front and the whole room started singing, then she just burst out crying... it was pretty funny actually. Then it was home for a late nap and then when she woke up she came down to her new kitchen! We didn't get pictures of her with her cake, she was pretty afraid of the candles after she couldn't blow them out. But she had the greatest day! She was so happy after we put her to bed we heard her just cracking up for about 20 minutes! Sorry the videos are so dark, our house is like a cave.

Just hangin' out in a box.
This was a hard picture to get... she was so "busy" with her kitchen she would hardly look at us.

Washing her hands with her soap.

today

Some interesting things that happened today... Mariska was able to go to the playground in shorts and a tee shirt. And she also fell out of her crib... she wasn't really hurt, thankfully, I just hope it's not a regular thing from now on.

Lil' update

Well thanksgiving was really nice. We went up to Plano to my aunt's house and enjoyed dinner with about all of my extended family. It was nice to see some I haven't seen in years and even meet some I've never met before! My cousin's daughter Gracyn is about 5 and had a great time showing Mariska around. And Mariska spent most of her time as the dogs shadow.

I'm doing pretty good... I'm just itching to start getting ready for our trip, practically counting down the hours. I've just about gotten all of our Christmas shopping done, I'm having a pretty hard time finding something for my brother Joseph. What do you get for a young guy that can get anything free just by smiling at the right person?! We are just so excited for our trip! And here is a quick "shout out" to my brother Nathan, who just took his LSAT test! We were thinking of you Nate... whether you ACED it or failed miserably we're really proud of you! Doing things like that always gets harder with kids... I really admire how goal oriented you are and all of your achievements.

Brent is doing well. He's pretty busy with work and getting his student's grades all ready for the end of the semester. He's also busier at work with weekly tutoring, but it's also nice because he gets paid extra for that! I'm also proud to announce that as of today, he is now our ward's Executive Secretary. Our ward hasn't had one for about 6 months, so the Bishopric are very excited and he's certainly got work ahead of him. It's a little bit overwhelming but we know we'll be blessed.

Mariska is so excited to be turning 2! She really has no idea what it means, but Brent and I get excited about it and she joins in. We are so excited to set up her gift of a little play kitchen. Earlier this week she found a play fork and plate in our room and they've been her favorite toy all week. We also got her some baby bottles that have actual "milk" and "juice" in them. This last weekend we also put up our Christmas tree... it wasn't the warm fuzzy "feel good" experience you would hope to have with your kids... Mariska hated the idea that she couldn't keep the ornaments and screamed every time one got put up on the tree. But now she loves waking up every morning and pointing out the tree and watching the lights turn on. She's also a big talker now, although I'm sure Brent and I will have to do a lot of translating while we're in Utah.

That's it for us... things are good and we can't wait to see ya'll!!