Discovery

This morning little Lily Bean found her toes. She was laying on the bed while I changed her and for the first time found and started playing with her little toes. She seemed confused when she kicked and they would disappear, then pleased when they'd turn up again.

Little Blue Truck

Cousin Mary sent us this cute book called "Little Blue Truck Leads The Way". The boys love it, especially Benson. He has heard it so many times that he has it memorized. Now he likes to "read" it to us, as you can see. One of my favorite moments is his interpretation of the Street Sweeper sounds. Instead of "Swish, Swash, Swoosh" Benson says, "Fwish, Fwash, Fwoosh". Love you little Benson Boo.

Sledding in Pine Valley!

So the beginning of our trip began with McKay screaming that he wanted to go back home for 2/3s of the trip up there. This because he didn't want to wear snow pants... That kid sure has a strong will. Anyway, after some persuasion, I convinced him to come out of the van and play (I let him wear his "Sport Pants" which did a decent job of keeping the moisture out).


This was McKay's first time down the hill on the sled - something I was sure he would never dare to do, but somehow Dave and Trisha talked him into to going down with them... I can't tell if the look on his face is says "This is Awesome!" or "What was I thinking!?" Apparently it was the former because he ended up going down about 4 or 5 times... I was amazed.

This was supposed to be a picture of the sledding team, but McKay thought it would be funner to play on the snow bank (you can see him in the background).

This was pretty darn funny... McKay was playing on the snow bank, lost his footing, and fell head first into the snow. It was straight from a cartoon... hilari...I mean... Poor McKay :)

These next pictures are of Benson being pulled in a makeshift sled-train concocted by Angie... sheer brilliance. We owe it to her that Benson had a good time on this trip. PS - Thanks to Izi for lending Benson her purple boots, mittens and flowery coat.

 

 

After a while, being pulled on the train wasn't enough.. he had to pull the train by himself...

We had a blast and I was so happy that we could spend some time up in the snow - Something that I have very fond memories of when I was young. Now, next time we'll have to whip out the snow mobiles!

PS - A big thanks to Dangie (Dan and Angie) and Trave (Trisha and Dave... I guess we could say Dish or Trivid... but I think Trave rolls off the tongue quite well) for making this snow trip a success!

Christmas Eve

This was the first Christmas since we've been married that we didn't travel and it was AMAZING! The whole season was more peaceful knowing we wouldn't be dealing with packing winter clothes and presents, flying with babies, leaving our home over the holidays, and all the mess that goes with the afore mentioned. We loved being home for the holidays without the travel.


Here is Lily wearing her special Christmas Eve outfit. She looked adorable in her little Candy Cane shirt and red pants. I sure love having a girl to dress up!

This Christmas Eve we enjoyed the Nativity Pagent with the Cox cousins. The Robertsons came too and brought along Nativity costumes made by my mom and my Grandma Robertson shortly before Grandma R. passed away. They were beautiful and added a special element to our pagent, knowing Grandma had a hand in it too. Here is McKay as a shepherd.

Lily played Baby Jesus this year.

After the pagent we went to the St. George Tabernacle where BJ and I presented the Christmas Eve program. We sang 6 of our favorite Christmas duets and joined the audience in singing several other favorite Christmas Carols.

Here's a close up of use dressed for the performance. We really love to perform together and it was a pleasure to be able to do so on Christmas Eve.

After all the singing we returned to Nana and Papa's house where we all got our traditional made-by-Nana matching pajama pants. We put the kids to bed and had a fun time wrapping presents and watching Christmas movies together.

Kissable cheeks

This little princess has the most kissable cheeks ever. They deserve their own blog post. Lily has quite a small mouth which I think adds to the drama of her cheeks but they are none the less quite big, squishy, warm and perfect for kissing.

Honestly, Lily is just such a sweet cuddly little darling that I can't resist giving her lots of kisses. She is nearly 5 months old already. The time passes too quickly. She'll only be a baby once and those cheeks (hopefully for her) will eventually retreat, so we all have to get our kisses in while we can.

Sometimes I wonder if babies know they're loved. I mean, they don't understand us when we say it. However, a baby feeling loved can make all the difference in their physical well-being, their mental capacity, their rate of development, their emotional health throughout life, and the over-all person they will become. That love is pretty important.

Lily is so easy to love. When you speak to her, her face absolutely lights up into a huge smile and her eyes twinkle. Though she can't speak, her little face and really her Spirit respond so keenly to attention. She loves people already and delights in social interaction. She is such a happy little thing, she brings light to all who interact with her.

We all love you so much Lily. You couldn't be more loved and adored by your family. You are such a blessing to us all. You and your kissable cheeks!

RED 5

This year our bishop asked everyone in our ward to participate in a program called RED 5 (Read Every Day). It is a program to read 5 pages of the Book of Mormon each day. We were presented with the program a few days before Christmas with the invitation to begin the program on January 1. I have to admit that a spent a fair amount of time between Christmas and New Years wondering how on earth I would be able to keep this commitment I had made to our bishop.

I know it sounds terrible to say that I couldn't imagine making time for a more serious scripture study program. However, the demands on my time with my three little ones are so constant. I feel like I am running from one need to the next all day long. Not to mention the teaching that I do and the housework that ALWAYS needs to be done. I kept thinking to myself, "How can I do this when I run around all day? I never even sit down." I made it a matter of prayer and one day I realized...I do sit down to feed the baby multiple times a day. I can't talk or sing to her while she eats or she gets too distracted, so I read instead.

It has been a great blessing already and we're only 9 days in. I love the beginning of the Book of Mormon. Within the first chapters, Nephi--valiant, bold, and faithful Nephi--sees one of the most beautiful and merciful visions in all of scripture. He gives a powerful witness of the Bible and the Book of Mormon. He shares some of the most important events in this history of the world. As I read this time, particularly through chapter 13 & 14 I was amazed at the scope of his vision. All my life as I've read the Book of Mormon I've often been a little envious of Nephi for the things he saw. Today as I was reading, it hit me, he shared his vision so that we could "see", at least in our mind's eye and in our hearts, the things that he saw. He recorded it so that we, a few thousand years later, could know as he knew and feel as he felt the love of God.

1 Nephi 13:40 is in reality a two-sentence description of the purpose of the Book of Mormon. It (the Book of Mormon) "shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved."

I know those words are true. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world. I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon that testifies of Him. I look forward to feeling His love more constantly as I read each day.

Happy girl

Gingerbread Men 2012

Robertson Family Tradition states that we must decorate gingerbread men or it's not really Christmas. So we did. And it was fun, as usual. Exhibit A (above) is David's tribute to Becky. It's a gingerbread teacher with a book in one hand and a pointer in the other. And some sweet hair too!


Exhibit B (above) shows one of Benson's creations. We had toothpicks to help with the fine detail work. Benson decided to use them as spears instead. After all, nothing says "Merry Christmas" like an impaled Christmas tree.


The whole crew (except Mom and I) doin' da dec'ratin


McKay and Benson had a fabulous time. They get more fun each year.


He was the sprinkling machine this year. Everything had to have LOTS of sprinkles. But who could resist that happy face.

Daniel and McKay displaying their versions of each other. Daniel made a gingerbread McKay, complete with the 12 on his shirt. McKay made a gingerbread Daniel, complete with a green face, a handle-bar mustache, and pants that go up to his arm pits. Quite an impressive likeness, really.

Haha! We had a great time. Hooray for family traditions and family around to share them with!