A Special Moment in Time.

Andrew Paul Forest has not been feeling well. At all. I don't like it when my chickies are ill.!

This photo was from last week and I hoped and prayed he would be on his way to full recovery. He had an ear infection in his right ear and fever blisters covering both lips. He was miserable.

He started to recover with the use of the antibiotics prescribed so on Tuesday, I sent him to school. He came home saying his other ear hurt. I blew him off at first because he is still taking the antibiotic. By about 9 pm last night, he was laying in his bed whimpering. I gave him some Motrin and hoped for the best. About an hour later, he invaded my awesome king-sized bed, with tears evident in his voice and tension throughout his body.

I gave in and let him lay with me.

He was balled up in the fetal position, whimpering. I had just decided to take him to Urgent Care when I thought to ask a golden question:

"Andrew, would saying a prayer help you feel better?"

A vague affirmative nod of his head and I hugged him close and prayed for him.

A prayer that he would be relieved of his pain so he could rest and recover.

As I closed the prayer with "...in the name if Jesus Christ, A...

the rest of the sentence was punctuated with a gentle snore from my precious 8 year old boy. 

His body had entered into a deep, restful slumber in a matter of seconds.

Gratitude entered my heart.

For my son.

For the healing power of prayer.

For the strong faith of my little boy.

And especially for my own faith and knowledge in a Heavenly Father who knows and loves me.

I owe him everything.

My Baby is 4!

 I can't believe my Makenna is 4!

I decided to add some if my favorite pictures of her to my blog,

since I haven't been very consistent this year with my blogging.

 Halloween 2011 as Dorothy.

Has sparked an obsession with all Tom and Jerry's version of the Wizard of Oz.

I don't want to count how many times we have watched it!

 Wearing Grandma's glasses.

Possibly my favorite picture of Makenna this year.

 Until I see this one!

 Or this one!

With the early morning sunlight filtering onto her through the bush behind her.

 This was a great morning!

Makenna playin' in the rain with her brothers!

 I took this one this morning.

 Right before she was "officially" 4. (9:00 am!) 

With one of her favorite toys.

And feline brother, Helaman. He was tolerating her!

TADA! The birthday cake!

Some memories of Makenna this year?

She and Sam started preschool this year.

And riding the bus.

They both love it, but not the early mornings.

Makenna is very driven.

She doesn't wait for anyone to do anything for her.

If she wants it, she will happily do it for herself.

This includes climbing on kitchen counters, shelving.

She is fearless.

This, of course, scares the heck out of her mother!

Makenna loves to play dress up and will go through

numerous amounts of clothing changes through the day.

She is profoundly left handed,

so she gets a little annoyed while trying to play Angry Birds

on my cell phone.

She is finally figuring it out, though.

Makenna loved seeing the movie, Tangled.

She loves the idea of "magic, healing hair".

She adores her brothers and is very close to Samuel.

However, she tends to go to Andrew for hugs and for protection from Sam

when they are fighting!

She calls Adam "T" and has forever.

She loves to play with him and get him in trouble!

Makenna gets super excited and gets LOUD.

And shrill.

Drives Aunt Debbie nuts!

She still sucks her thumb and will just head to bed when she is tired.

We are very blessed to have her in our family!

We love our Baby Mak!

Happy Birthday You 5 Year Old You!

S sweet

A amiable

M masculine

U unique

E eloquent (especially when he cusses ;)

L loving

My baby boy is 5.

I love his snuggles.

I love his heart.

I even love his temper.

I love that he still loves me even when I take him to the

dentist the day before his birthday.

You are da bomb, my little Simba Sam!

Andrew is Official!

Andrew was baptized today and is the newest member

 of our ward (covers our geographical area)

Andrew was baptized and confirmed by Brother Thor Thorson.

It was truly a spiritual experience.

Andrew was so excited to make this commitment to

his Heavenly Father.

Friends from the area that came to support Andrew today!

Aunt Debbie, Samuel, and Grandma waiting for the

meeting to begin.

Grandma gave the closing prayer.

My handsome boys!

Adam gave a wonderful talk on Baptism.

Andrew was especially grateful to hear his

big bother bear his testimony of the truthfulness

of the Restored Gospel.

The day would NOT have been complete without

Aunt Debbie's brownies!

Just before leaving the church this afternoon, I knew

I had to get a picture of my mom with her grandchildren.

They love her so much!

Andrew was very surprised to receive his very own set of

LDS scriptures from the Thorson family.

It includes The Pearl of Great Price , The Book Of Mormon ,

The Old Testament and the The New Testament.

As soon as he got home, he used them to prepare his talk for Primary tomorrow! 

Before bed, he insisted on reading in them.

I am so proud of Andrew!

And very grateful that his dad was there

to assist him in the restroom

when he needed to get changed.

I must tell one funny about the day.

Andrew and I were driving to his friends home

this afternoon so he could hang out for awhile.

We stopped to get a slushy on the way as we discussed

the happenings of the day.

He went to take a drink and jammed the straw into his lip.

I told him it really hurts if you accidentally get your nose!

He said, "If you drank it through your nose, you would get a brain freeze super-fast!

Can you imagine if you sneezed icicles??"

I said, "Oh, Andrew! They would be "snot-cicles"!"

He began to laugh and then he said,

"Mom, I don't think that is appropriate conversation for someone that is just baptized."

Have I mentioned how much I love this boy? :)

Andrew is 8!

"learning to dance in the rain"

Andrew, Samuel, and Makenna

A week or so ago, we had an awesome rain storm.

They are always worth a comment or two because

 we just don't get to see them very often

in this grand desert of ours.

I playfully suggested to my husband that we should

 take the kids out to play in the water.

 He shot that down fairly quicky!

TOO MESSY.

I posted that on Facebook to which

my niece responded like this:

"Life is all about the experiences we remember... You of all people know that.

 Go now!"

Obviously, I took them and played.

Their dad even joined us for a bit!

As we walked back to the house,

Andrew was holding my hand.

I asked him if he had fun.

 He looked up at me and said,

 "Mom, I will remember this day forever!"

So, to this very special "sweetest pea" of mine,

I say this:

 I love you.

You were so worth the wait

 and

 I hope you have an awesome birthday.

 And I hope I can give you

 many more happy, memorable occassions in the future.

HaPpY 8Th BiRtHdAy, Andrew Paul!