My name is Haven Grace

Prayer time is more than a daily thing around our house and still it seems like there just aren't enough opportunities for everyone to "get a turn." The boys are all at school during the week so for breakfast and lunch the girls switch each days who says which prayer. I'm telling you all of this to explain that Haven gets ample opportunity to pray (not to mention their personal prayers as well) and one would think she has gotten the technicalities of it down by now but... She kept closing her prayer without saying the "in the name of Jesus Christ" part. For months I corrected her and we went to the next day knowing that she would get it right this time. SO... a few days ago, we were at the table and it was again Haven's turn to pray and again she ended with the appropriate "Amen" omitting the "in the name of Jesus Christ " part... again. But this time she adds, "in the name of Haven Grace, Amen."
So now I ask her... "Haven? !?!? Why would you say that? You're supposed to say...."
She then cuts me off to interject her reply of, "Mom! My name is not Jesus Christ! It's Haven Grace!"

The logic of such little ones never ceases to amaze me. I guess our next family home evening lesson should be about the difference between signing a correspondence and saying a prayer. In any case, I have no doubt that Heavenly Father hears the voices of his precious little ones regardless of what they say before the "amen." I rest assured he knows Haven Grace's heart and am ever so grateful she's learning of his.

Little Buddies

Trevan is my nurturing guy. Brayden is my guy who needs it. We have a long driveway leading down to the house and Rylan is the first to get off the bus and sprints down the driveway. Then comes Trevan with Brayden. I don't know exactly what it is but Trev must have some intuition into Brayden and follows through with it.
Pictures like this I just don't want to forget.

Sweet Dreams

Every night before I go to bed I check in on my babies just to get that last minute reassurance that all is well in dream land. More often than not this is how I find my girls...



Looks like all is well in dreamland.

Special Day

On Sunday Spencer and I got the opportunity to go with Bryan to receive his patriarchal blessing. Moments of those "spiritual highs" have not been coming as often as they used to so I was (and still am) very thankful to have shared that experience with my two big guys. There was a moment when our Patriarch asked me to share some things about Bryan and it caught me off guard. I immediately teared up as I thought of what I wanted to share. I have been with this kid for longer than I have been with any one in my entire life. His life has not always been easy and I know I was far from the best Mom at times so I marvel at how awesome he is and I'm glad I had the chance to put it all right out there for him to hear. I don't think I do that enough. I honestly truly do feel so blessed to have shared his life journey with him this far and can't wait to see what's just around the corner.

Braydenism

As a Macy's clearance rack is to me; so is Home Depot to my Brayden. Spencer is building some new movie shelves so when he asked Brayden on Friday if he wanted to go get the wood with him on Saturday, he could hardly sleep. So yesterday he asked me when it was going to be time to go and this is how the conversation went.

"In a while babe. You excited?
""Yes. You want to know what the best part about Home Depot is?"
"Sure do". I say.
"The very huge doors at the front. I mean, how do they make doors that tall? They must have a very very huge motor on them. You know what my favorite part about Home Depot is?"
"Tell me pal."
The have very huge rows of all kinds of wood and tools and paint. You get to buy some stuff from the Home Depot guys and then.. listen to this part Mom.. it's the best. You buy all the wood you need and then you get to bring it home and BUILD STUFF!"
"That is very cool Brayden. Is your Daddy the best builder in the whole world?"
"No. I am because last week I built a huge mansion house out of my soft blocks like the one I'm going to build for you and Dad when I get bigger."

Let's just say I'm banking on that one! Thanks Brayden for being the coolest six year old out there. Love ya big guy.




P.S. Brayden lost his front tooth on Thursday. I think it's adorable when that happens. Keep smiling Bradyen Boy.

Girl's Day Out At The Zoo

Man! Going out to big busy places is a lot easier with just two girls! My good friend Nina (who also has three older boys of her own) and I took our three girls to the zoo today. We left with no stroller, did not have to visit the reptile house, never had to yell "Hey! get down from there!", and simply got to stop and smell the roses. It was a beautiful 83 degrees today and we had a really good time. We took the train ride first then ate lunch and then went animal watching. Once again I'll state that we didn't even step foot in the reptile house. :-) Instead we stopped for plenty of photo ops (notice the owie below Ella's eye. She's still learning to look out for those "flying books" around the Draper house.) and our girls got to be little models today. We had a lot of fun.