It is a momentous day. Our beloved prophet has passed away and while listening to the broadcast celebrating his life, the testimonies being shared are amazing and truly touching. I am sure he will touch millions and millions even in his death. How many lives has he touched, how many people has he met (the sheer numbers must be ...) ?? I look forward to hearing more about his life, faith and service in the coming days, and while his loss is a tremendous loss to us, I am sure he couldn't be happier.

"There is no end to the good we can do, to the influence we can have with others. Let us not dwell on the critical or the negative. Let us pray for strength; let us pray for capacity and desire to assist others. Let us radiate the light of the gospel at all times and all places, that the Spirit of the Redeemer may radiate from us.

In the words of the Lord to Joshua, brethren, “be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God [will be] with thee whithersoever thou goest” (Josh. 1:9)." - President Hinckley, April 2006 Conference Address

Quotable Quotes

What type of food person are you? Do you let the potatoes touch your meat, and freak if your jello salad or ketchup touches anything (like me), or do you pile your food high on a plate (potatoes, salad, vegetables,even rolls!), basically all on top of each other because you figure it all reaches the same place at the end anyway (like David)? Well, last night I promised Ethan french toast for dinner. I cooked, cut, powdered sugared it and poured the syrup before the prayer. Ethan said the prayer, and while pulling all the french toast up the side of the plate, said, "Please bless the syrup won't slide down the plate", along with about one other thing. Anyone wonder what type of person he is??? Neither do do we :)

Quotable Quotes

Ethan and I (and Ava) were in the car today driving, and Ethan said, "Who is he mama?" (said intently), and I said,"Who is who?" and he said "the guy singing... the guy said 'I just want you to know who I am.' " It was absolutely hilarious!!! I am sure many of you know that song - "and I don't want the world to see me, cuz I don't think that they'd understand, when everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am"- or something like that. Yes, I know I shouldn't go on the show "Don't forget the lyrics". Anyway, pretty funny!

New Years Resolutions

Do you believe in them?? I definitely do. Anything to get me to do better than I am today is a step in the right direction (even if it only lasts a day), my only problem is that I think about them so long, I don't really set them, so if anyone has some really good ideas, let me know.

Also, since I like looking at pictures on other blogs, I wanted to add some more from Christmas time with our family. My sister-in-law always says "you want your boys sweet and your girls sassy" and Ava definitely has some sass- if you ever see her clapping in a picture, chances are it is for herself. She is as fun as she can be- kids are so great!

Welcome 2008!!!

I don't know about you all, but does anyone not LOVE Christmas?!!! This vacation has been so amazing- ok, so Dave took two weeks off, and I think I am ready for him to retire! We took Ethan skiing last week and he did an amazing job. He kept getting mad at Dave for trying to help him, but then would be even more mad that Dave wasn't there to stop him right when he wanted him too- I think Ethan has a lot of faith in him and Dave was determined not to let that go unwarranted. Well, the second run I came with them on (4th run for Ethan), Ethan lost it- I mean really lost it- laying in the snow and crying, mad at everyone and everything and David had more patience than I could dream of having. Dave asked if he wanted to ski with me and Ethan said yes, and I said, "you know your Daddy is probably one of the best skiers on this mountain" and Ethan said "no, I am the best skier on the mountain"....at least he has confidence in his skiing abilities. They went again last week and he skied all he way down the hill with David behind him- like father like son!!! They had a fabulous time!

We also went to my brothers annual New Years Eve party - the food was far too good and I now know where Ava gets her eating abilities- ok, from both parents. They have fireworks and a pinyata for the kids every year, but can I say, for me it is painful to watch kids of different ages with a pinyata- how many kids end up crying every year?? Too many, but although Ethan only got like four pieces of candy last night he was so happy because he got m&m's for Ava- Ethan is an amazing brother.

Ava is as crazy as ever. She got a signing book for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Whisenant and has learned (kind of) to sign sleep- it is pretty funny. Also, he idea of dancing is to turn around and around and around until she is too dizzy to stand. And she gets up and does it over and over and over. I remember doing that to my friends's little brother when we were little, but i never saw him to it to himself. Ava claps for herself everytime she does it- in fact she claps for herself when she does most things :) Well, I hope all of your Christmas's were merry and bright, and that you get through January and February ok- after this week I will anxioudly be awaiting March!! Happy New Year!!

Back To Blogging!!!!

Hello friends!!! Ok, so because of all the social pressure :), and a lot of admiration I have for all my blogger friends out there, I am once again attempting to keep a blog, and to keep it a bit up to date. Again, if you are the type to look at blogs twice a day to see what new posts there are, you will be sorely disappointed with mine, but hopefully I will get a few posts in on occasion.

We are just living in our little Howell Heaven. Ethan has been hugely into soccer and tells me daily that he and his soccer friends are having a "real soccer game" today and everyone is going to be there- All the moms and all the neighbors. I hate to let his little ego be smashed because I know that outside our little haven, NO ONE is going to show- not even the team. So we may attempt to put something together for some of you with four year old kids. He has been delightful lately. It is fun to watch him grow, to write his name and just seeing all that he is learning and how sweet he is to me.

Ava is... well, let's put it this way... everyone told me that girls were so much easier than boys in regards to their activity level. Ethan was always eating rocks, pulling the dirt out of plant pots, getting into grandma's laundry detergent... but Ava makes Ethan look tame. Ok, I am in the one year old stage, and I know everyone has been through it and just laughs, but I tell you, I don't remember it this way!!! Within the last week Ava has turned on the tub and filled it with 7 inches of water (where was her mom you may ask??? Washing the tupperware she put all over the floor) and through Ethans remote to his new tarantula in it. She has put his sippy cup of vanilla milk in the toilet, played in the toilet (I have way too much potty talk on this blog- I will try to clean that up) at the worst times, turned on the tub at least 75 times, emptied the dishwashing soap (thank goodness for individual packets) at least 17 times, eaten crayon of multiple colors, broken 3 ornaments, knocked down the Christmas tree, she plays in the garbage any time she can get to it ... but I have to say she is also as sweet as any little girl can be. She makes all of us feel like we are her favorite, and is so funny when she is being mischevious, that you can't even get mad at the little rascal.

Sorry this post is so long, it has been a while since I have written. I am also going to include a few pictures from what we have been up to to last - wow, 5 months. Ethan and Ava have each had birthdays, Halloween has come and gone as has Thanksgiving. Welcome to our crazy lives!!! Dave is still is still as active and busy busy busy- whether it is building snowmen with Ethan, being flattered by Ava's admiration of him, meetings, work, fixing things around the house playing soccer, he never seems to get tired. The other day I ran by him on the treadmill and was shocked by his average c 8.5-9.0 mile per hour pace- yikes!!! It made me tired just watching him. Well, here we are!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!!

Yesterday was David's birthday -the big 3-0 - and we pretty much spent the entire weekend celebrating. Saturday we went water-skiing and that night we went to a FABULOUS restaurant called Chef's Table. It was incredibly nice and the food was excellent. I would highly recommend the mushrooms for the appetizer and the butternut squash soup- they were both truly outstanding. Ava would definitely recommend the blackberry lemonade (she pretty much insisted on having her own and got it after her many screams). The only thing we definitely should have changed about the evening was to leave our kids home.

As wonderful as they both are, they were both cranky and tired from a long day, and there was not another person in the restaurant under the age of 18. It was a good experience for both of them though (just not for us)- the Chef and owner of the restaurant came over and sat by Ethan (while I was out with Ava) and asked him how his ice-cream was and what his favorite kind of ic-cream was wo which he replied ...Cookie Dough. The Chef said he would have to get some of that on his menu which I thought was very kind.

Lavell Edwards (BYU's legendary coach of 25 years when he retired) was also dining with his wife. If any of you know how I feel about BYU you will understand why I just stared at him in awe- he waved at Ava and talked to her from afar returning her firtations ever so cordially for probably 30 seconds. The staff was very kind and patient with us even though we were louder than the rest of the restaurant combined, and not in an enjoyable way.

Yesterday we had carmel apple french toast for breakfast, and Ethan and I decorated D's office at the church to surprise him (powerbars, gatorade and balloons. We went to his parent's for dinner. We had been getting ready and it was finally time for D to come in- we were all waiting with candles lit, crazy spray in our hands and lining the hallway and Ethan went to get David. Running back into the room and with pure concern in his voice (he was in charge of getting the birthday boy, he said, "Daddy is taking a dump"- there was no hiding it. Ahhh, I sure don't take the credit for teaching him that.

Then we topped off the evening with one chapter of Harry Potter. We bought it Saturday and D vowed not to start it until the middle of next week as he is so busy right now. We are now on chapter 4... oh well, it will probably be finished before his busy 7-10 days ends. As I like to say, it's all about priorities. Happy Birthday David!!! We sure love you!!!!