Making Progress

As most of you know, Ben has been diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech. Basically, this means that his mind is moving very fast, and he has trouble helping his mouth catch up! We deal every day with his frustration, since communication can be very difficult for him. But he is a trooper, and with therapy he is making great strides. A huge leap happened on Sunday. Nate was helping Ben get dressed for church, and Ben said "I put on shoe." For Ben, this was amazing! In a similar situation, he would usually babble incoherently and then say "shoe" at the end. Nate was floored, and very proud of his little guy! We work with him every day, and we get so excited when he makes such wonderful progress.

The Draper Temple Open House

Yesterday, Sylvia and I went with some of the sisters in the Relief Society to the Draper temple open house. When we went, the weather did not look like this, and none of my actual pictures turned out. (Actually, they're embarrassing...) So please gaze upon this lovely picture instead. Sylvia's favorite part of the temple was the "diamonds," or the crystal chandeliers in many of the rooms. My favorite part of the temple was the Brides' Room. Gorgeous! The temple was absolutely beautiful, and surprise surprise--Sylvia behaved herself the entire time! She is so easy, and we had great time.

Just Being Silly

Ben and Sylvia decided to hop in an empty box and play for a bit. They're so cute, I just had to grab the camera. They're seriously hilarious!

The BYU Earth Science Museum

A week or so ago we took the kids to the BYU Earth Science Museum. Since we all have toddlers, we decided that the Earth Science Museum would be a good choice to visit. It is much smaller and less busy than the Bean Life Science Museum. The kiddos got to get up close and personal with dinosaur skeletons, a 150 million year old dinosaur egg, and other very cool fossilized pieces of Jurassic awesomeness. It was really neat that the kids could get hands on with many of the exhibits, and there is a lab on-site for the kids to check out. We had a very fun time!

Pajama Love

Grandma Susan buys the kiddos new jammies for EVERY major holiday, which means I never have to worry about purchasing any. These are the newest pajamas added to our collection, and I just love how sweet my babies are being in these pics. And save for a few exceptions, this is how they are all the time. They are two peas in a pod, and one rarely does anything without the other. They love each other so much!

A Winter Poem

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

~Robert Frost

It's Official

I'm kicking myself because I didn't bring my camera, but last night Sylvia made her recording debut! In January, a documentary about our Aunt Janie will be airing on BYU television. We are so excited to watch a show dedicated entirely to crazy Janie! Anyway, Janie wrote a children's song, and asked if all of us with little ones would come and record it especially for the documentary. There were eight or nine of our little children, aged 3 to 10 all with their headphones on at a recording studio in Provo singing their little hearts out! (I got to sing too, just to help the kids stay in tune...) It was a lot of fun!