Goodrich Visitors

What a wonderful week we had with our visitors from Utah.  My Mom, Dad and brother, Brett came to spend a week with us before Lizzy's baptism.

 We did plenty of goofing around.

 We visited NASA, which was really quite amazing. 

 I guess I wanted to show my family what is unique and fun about living in Texas and so we had to visit Brazos Bend.  It's just not something you could experience in Utah.  Some people might say that experiencing a park with wild alligators is not something they regret missing out on.  But I would say that it was tons of fun especially since we didn't get eaten.  There were a ton of alligators out, more than I have ever seen. 

 It is hard to resist climbing on these branches.

 Even for the adults.

Thank you thank you for coming to spend this week with us.  Lizzy and Andrew are saving up money for a new house.  They've decided that we just need a big giant house so that everyone can fit and all of our Utah family can come and live with us.  I wish.  We love you tons and tons!!!

Love Is On YouTube!

For family home evening, and in honor of Valentines Day, we watched some Mormon messages last night, on the topic of LOVE!!  There are some good ones out there.  This one left me in tears. President Uchtdorf is just poetic and a wonderful speaker, but the spirit of his message in talking of God's Love is what was really powerful.  I needed the reminder and I'm sure we all do sometimes.  Watch and enjoy.

 

And then, we ended with this one, which also had me crying (surprise, surprise!) It is just cute and makes me so happy to think about the man in my life.  The best part, though was Sam.  Before anyone else spoke after it was over, Sam gave a big dramatic sigh and then loudly declared, "So tute!"  which is to say... he thought it was "so cute".  What a crack-up. 

   

Lizzy turns 8

Lizzy opted for a big party this year to celebrate her 8th birthday. After talking about several different themes, we decided to just make pizza's and play games.  The most popular game was fruit basket.  The one where you sit in a circle and yell our a fruit and them try to steal the seat of whoever gets up.  The kids kept playing that game for much of the night.   I never got them all together for a picture at once, because it was the busiest, loudest, most crazy group of kids I've ever seen.  Don't get me wrong... it was fun, but there was insane amount of energy at our home that evening. 

Lizzy  made me laugh because she kept sneaking away from the games and activities to play quietly in her room with a friend or two.  Everytime I came to drag her back down, she relented happily (because she was being a very sweet birthday girl) but also commented that it was just so loud downstairs. 

We decided afterward that Lizzy might be more of a small party type of girl.  and I guess I'll probably be okay with that.  :)

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Christmas Day

Forgive the pages of pictures...  but I just love those happy faces.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

A Laugh a Day

I like New Years.  I love the freshness of it, the clean slate, starting over sort of feel.  I set a bunch of resolutions cause that's what I love to do.  (I'm good at it too... making them that is... not so much on keeping them.....)   Among my many resolutions... I also decided to pick a scripture.  I picked a simple, but meaningful scripture to me.  It is in John 16:33

Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

I love that.  Not only is it our Father's wish for us, but when all is said and done... it's really what we all want.  Everything we do, all day... is working toward the goal of happiness.  So... I made it official and wrote it down and decided that everyday,I will look for cheer and joy and happiness.  Not just for me, but for my family as well.  I want to create a home that is a happy place to be.  A place where people smile, and laugh and play together.  I want my kids to look forward to getting home from school because they feel uplifted and simply... happy when they are here.  I want for neighbors to feel comfortable stopping by because there is always a smile ready to greet them.  I want Aaron to rush home from work, because he can't wait to get to our happy home.  And I want to laugh... because.. .you know... it just feels good to laugh.  A bit idealistic... I know... but there is nothing wrong with dreaming.  I know it won't happen everyday, but I'll bet it happens more often than if I didn't dream it up. 

I've laughed a bit more over the last few weeks.  Sometimes I forget how very funny kids can be.  A few that I want to remember:

*  Lizzy asking me on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to make her a sandwich for lunch.  She wanted to sandwich to spell out the words " I have a dream."  I also smiled at her planning when she made me a schedule for my day.  She figured that I needed to play more so she put in on my schedule from 5:00-5:20 each day.

*  When we found a tiny little lizard skull in our garden, Andrew pulling me aside to ask me "don't you think we'd better call a paleontologist?

*  Sam.  Well everything about Sam is funny right now.  The way he sings so many songs, but only sings the one line he knows like, "Five Golden Rings" and "Tommy Turkey" and "Joy to World."  The way he gets the giggles when he is being chased.  His insistance on doing just what Lizzy and Andrew do.  Even if that means getting punished like them.

Be of good cheer.  Wierd that I have to remind myself to do that.  But so glad for the reminder....

Wise Men Still Seek Him

Matthew 2:7-8

Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.  And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child. 

The words "search diligently" kind of struck me the other night when I was reading this.  It sounds like it wasn't easy to find the Savior that they wanted to go worship.  They had to do more than google His name or run to the closest store.  They had to make many sacrifices.   They devoted, perhaps YEARS to find Him.  And I started thinking about how even though this season is called 'CHRIST'MAS because it is a time to worship and remember Him... it is sometimes really HARD to find Him.  It is sometimes really hard to tune out the commercials and the blaring lights.  It is hard to wade through the busyness and commotion of parties and holiday cooking and of course shopping, shopping and more shopping.  Not that any of those things are bad, but they do sometimes make the SEARCH a little harder.  Isn't it a bit ironic that the time of year when we most need to tune out the world so that we can tune Him in... is also the busiest, most stressful time of year? 

So I suppose all of that is part of the reason that I love this video so much.  I love that these people, of all different ages and walks of life, fearlessly stood up in a busy, crowded mall and sang out their testimonies of our Savior.  You can see how it touched the crowd.  You can see how for a moment, what really matters was so clear that everything else faded away.  I hope this video and this inspired song touch you as much as they have touched me this season.