Baby Magnet

Don't know what it is about babies and toilets. Good thing it was recently cleaned! We can't leave any bathroom door open or this is what happens. What this picture doesn't show very well is all the drops of water on the toilet seat, his hands and arms and even around his mouth.

Lessons From Liberty Jail

If ever there were words that spoke more to my heart and spirit this is it! Thank you Mom and Dad for sharing this with us. Even though this was given last fall at a BYU address by Elder Holland, the Lord knew that we would need these beautiful words right now. Already the pages are getting worn with the reading and rereading that is taking place. While I could just copy and paste the entire talk here...I'm not going to deprive anyone the personal journey of reading it themselves. I'm just going to include some quotes that have really impacted me and some lessons we've learned as we've talked about this. This is definitely the most personal I've gotten on this blog, but I feel that it's important to share this for myself and also for my children.

• "You can have sacred, revelatory profoundly instructive experiences with the Lord in the most miserable experiences of your life--in the worst settings, while enduring the most painful injustices, when facing the most insurmountable odds and opposition you have ever faced...Every one of us, in one way or another, great or small, dramatic or incidental, is going to spend a little time in Liberty jail--spiritually speaking."
• "These difficult lessons teach us that man's extremity is God's opportunity, and if we will be humble and faithful, if we will be believing and not curse God for our problems, He can turn the unfair and inhumane and debilitating prisons of our lives into temples--or at least into a circumstance that can bring comfort and revelation, divine companionship and peace."
• "We are not alone in our little prisons here. When suffering, we may in fact be nearer to God than we've ever been in our entire lives. That knowledge can turn every situation into a would-be temple."

We have learned from our prison-temple just how strong our faith is. Admittedly I had some dark days and moments where I, like Joseph, felt like asking "Oh God, where art thou...and why?" But I know that He is right there with us, where He has always been! We have never doubted that the Lord has a plan for our family. We were lead here to Dallas for specific reasons. This latest course correction is part of that divine plan. Whatever comes of this will be better for our family. In this we have not wavered. (maybe just wanted to know the direction a little sooner then the Lord wants us to know.) This prison like experience has helped us understand our Heavenly Father's love for our family. He has a plan for us and a desire to bless our family.

I have learned from our prison-temple what it is to physically and spiritually be sustained through the faithful prayers of others. For truly I have felt what it is to be sustained and uplifted by prayer.

I have learned from this prison-temple the true meaning of charity. I am overcome with emotion every time I think about how we have been blessed these past few months through so many good people. From notes of faith and encouragement on our door from Christian neighbors, gift cards in the mail, items needed left on our doorstep and so many other countless acts of pure charity we have been blessed and seen the hand of God working in and through others. Because of this experience I feel that I now know how to reach out and be aware of others in their trials on a much deeper level then I ever did before.

As cheesy as this is we have learned from this experience just how much we love each other. I have been asked on more then one occasion if I am tired of having my husband around all the time. And the resounding answer is NO! It reminds me of when we were in Jerusalem on a study abroad and spent three months 24/7 together and another student (single) asked us if we ever got sick of each other. The answer is the same today as it was 9 years ago. Both of us truly love being around each other all the time. (Now if only we could figure out a way to bring in a pay check at the same time we'd have it made!)

In the last verse from the scriptures that come to us from the Liberty Jail experience we read, "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." D&C 123:17 In our own prison like experience we have learned what that scripture means to us. What an optimistic and faithful declaration. In cold and lonely hours, as it seems we have trail upon trail added to our family, we can and will do all things cheerfully. And in the words of Elder Holland, "And then we can justifiably turn to the Lord, wait upon His mercy, and see His arm revealed in our behalf."

As crazy as this may sound, truly we are grateful for our trials. For we face them together and with Lord.... learning, growing and developing along the way.

Men Will Be Men...Or So They Say

The following excerpt is from a recent article in News Week entitled Men Will Be Men...When guys lose jobs, the TV, den and gym win.

• "American men have responded to layoffs with consistency through the years: seeking solace in the bottle, railing against women, walling themselves away in all-male enclaves and searching for vicarious achievement through sports and popular culture."

THANK HEAVENS THIS IS NOT MY HUSBAND! In fact he couldn't be more opposite and how grateful I am for that! Bret has responded by helping around the house, taking care of the kids, hard work in his job search efforts and an always present positive attitude stemming from great faith. Having him home and around has been one of the great blessings of this whole thing and will be an adjustment, not only for me but the kids as well, when our situation changes.

Disney World

We ended our trip with two full and fun days at Disney World. Our first day at Disney World we spent at Magic Kingdom. The day started off a little on the cold side but ended up being a great day. Bret's parents met us there mid way through the day. The crowds weren't too bad and we were able to get on all the rides we wanted to with relatively no wait time. The second day we started out at Animal Kingdom then went to Hollywood Studios and finished the day of with fireworks at Epcot.

Crossing over on the boat to Magic Kingdom was really cold in the morning.

Abby did not like doing the race track all on her own. She said her leg hurt from pushing the pedal and her hands hurt from steering.

We had great front row, sunny seats for the parade

McKenna and Zachary got up to dance during the parade at Hollywood Studios.

I'm not sure who was more excited to meet Prince Caspian, McKenna and Abby or their Grandma! I told McKenna I'd give her two dollars if she kissed his hand when she met him, but she got so flustered she forgot.

And here are those shirts...it was too cold most of the time to not have our sweat shirts on, but we did get at least this one picture out of them.

We had a great time on all the rides. We had seen all the characters on the boat so didn't need to go stand in line to meet any of them. McKenna loves roller coasters and went on all the big ones, including the new Everest at Animal Kingdom. You know I love my children when not only do I go on tea cups with them (below) and Tower of Terror as well. All five of us actually went on that together and I'm surprised with how great Zachary did. He didn't even scream or cry. I was holding Abby's hand and the hand grip and well, lets just say that her hand was a little red and hurting for a little while after that ride. I guess I was gripping a little too hard and my ring dug into her hand pretty good.

It was wonderful to share this experience with Grandma and Grandpa Crane. We're so grateful they met us there and we got to spend some time together.

Cast Away Key

Disclaimer: I know there are tons of pictures...it's hard to pick only a few when there are so many that I love and bring back so great memories!
In spite of a the weather being a little chilly and windy we had an amazing day on the Disney Island. But how can you not when all you have to do is sit on the beach, play in the sand, look at beautiful blue water, and eat yummy pineapple! Because of the windy weather it did take a couple of attempts to bring the boat into dock. I wish they would have two days at this wonderful Island. One day went by way too fast!

Zachary wasted no time getting in the water

I love these two pictures...how one is focused on the sand with a blury McKenna in the background and one is focused on McKenna with blury sand up close.

The sand was amazing and we spent hours building sand castles. Of course part of the fun of that is stomping on them when you're finished. One reason this day was so fun was that Bret was feeling a little better and able to spend some time with us on the beach. By day three he was fully recovered.

There was some occasional blue sky that would blow in every now and again.

What day at the beach would be complete without Bret throwing the girls in?

Love hammocks!

The kids and I headed back to the boat after spending about as much time as we possibly could on Cast Away Key. (Towards the end of the day Abby kept asking what time it was. She didn't want to leave but she really didn't want the boat to leave us.)

Disney Cruise

(I'm finally getting around to posting this...it's about time for some happy news)

After saying goodbye to Gavin and dropping him off with friends and family we headed to Florida for a family trip of a lifetime. We had the best time. As we were boarding the boat the girls kept saying "somebody pinch me, is this real?" It was so cute. We had a four day cruise and then spent a couple days at the park. Here are some of the highlights from our cruise.

The ice cream...McKenna had been waiting for this. The ship hadn't even left port yet before she had her first taste

Sail Away Party...we all had butterflies in our stomach with excitement.



Food, food and more food...there were three different restaurants that we rotated through. The kids favorite was Animators Palate where it changed from black and white to color throughout the meal. My favorite was the adult only restaurant...oh so yummy!



McKenna had one of these Mickey Ice Cream bars every night for desert. And every night she got it all over her face!

The first day we were at Nassau in the Bahamas. We just got off the boat long enough to walk around for a few minutes and get the girls a few braids in their hair. Then we headed back to boat for some fun while Bret stayed in the cabin with a Kidney Stone episode.

The shows...every night there were Broadway style shows. The kids loved these and couldn't wait for the next one the following day.

All the Characters...they were everywhere all the time and no lines to meet them!

The windows...the kids loved these! The loved looking out day or night and seeing how fast (or how slow) the boat was moving. It was a given that if we were walking past the windows anywhere they were stopping at each one to look at the water below.

Zachary the pirate! While he was not in the best of moods for the Pirates in the Caribbean Deck Party one night (it was a little too late for him) he did love the pirate lessons he had at the kids club. And his new favorite joke...What is a pirates favorite food...marshed potatoes.

Cast Away Key...Disney's own island (this deserves a post all its own)

Swimming and the Disney Slide...in Zachary's words this is awesome fun! For kids who love to swim this was pure heaven. The spent hours rotating between the family pool and the Mickey kid pool and slide. Even on the day at sea when it was a little chilly and they were passing out blankets and hot chocolate on the deck the kids had a blast swimming.

Not that this was a highlight...but I just liked the picture!

Just hanging out

The kids loved going to movie theatre too. They saw High School Musical 3 (twice) and Bedtime Stories.

The best highlight of all was just having so much fun together!