Contemplation

The last couple weeks have made me think a lot about the Atonement and how we deal with tragedy in our lives. We have lived in MA for about 8 months now and have made a lot of new friends. About 2 weeks ago, one of our new friends lost both her parents. Almost the same day, another couple, also friends(and our Bishop) lost their 7 day old baby girl. Last Sunday while we sang the Sacrament hymn, my thoughts were brought to think about the Savior and his Atonement. As I have for quite some time known, but was very much reminded of by the spirit during that song, the Atonement does not only apply to a forgiveness of sins. Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane in order to also take away our sorrow and pain from tribulation. Today, the Bishop was conducting and therefore had the opportunity to bear his testimony. He and his wife are amazing people. They are very much in tune with the Spirit and know our Father's plan for us. While the Bishop was bearing his testimony, sharing that even though they are sad for their loss, he and his wife also know that their little girl is with our Father in Heaven. He expressed his comfort in knowing that his family will be reunited some day and that thought brought him joy. As he spoke I couldn't help but think about Nephi's Psalm found in 2 Nephi chapter 4. At this time in Nephi's life he has just lost his father and mother, his brothers basically hate him and he is feeling weighed down by the hardships in his life. As he talks of these feelings, he realizes the goodness and love and mercy God has for us and it brings him out of his despair to in verse 30 proclaim "Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation." Just like Nephi, our Bishop and his wife, our dear friends, rejoice in the Lord and know that he has done all for us so that we may once again live as families for eternity.

Visitors

I thoughtlessly forgot to mention the best part of our lives here in MA. Last Nov, the 12th thru the 18th to be exact. We had 3 special visitors. Their names are Mike, Mary Lou and Mickey. We had a lot of fun and got to do lots of fun things.



Then on Jan 21st we got another visitor. Her name is Pataroo. Again we had a great time and we went and visited the Dr Seuss garden. It was a blast.



Sorry to our very special visitors for not mentioning you earlier. We miss all of you as well as those who could not come. We love you.

Finally an Update

Well a lot has happened since we last updated our blog. We have not been as diligent because since our last post, Damian, the little bug, stood on the laptop and ruined the screen. It is not difficult but rather inconvenient to go upstairs and use the desktop pc.

First we had October. In October, Kimberly took the boys to a pumpkin patch. They had a great time and got to bring back a bunch of gourds and small pumpkins.

Of course Halloween is in October as well. Sterling unfortunately had a bout with the flu on Halloween so he stayed home and did not dress up, but the other 3 had a ball and Tomy even took a bag around to all the houses so that Sterling would get candy too. What a good Brother.

In November we celebrated Tomy's birthday with a big party bash. He had cake and ice cream and lots of fun.


In early December we got our first real New England snow storm. It dumped about 4 inches of snow and they shut down the schools. Go figure.
On the 23rd of December we made a trip down to see Aunt Kathy...


and go into The Big Apple. We had a great time in New York City too. We visited an amazing toy store, FAO Swartz. The same toy store that "Big" was filmed in.


This statue of Chewbacka is made entirely out of Legos. Pretty darn cool.


Of course Mommy had to have her picture taken with all the animals...


And so did Daddy.


Nothing like standing next to a life sized bear and deer. This store is cool.


We saw a pretty cool big Christmas tree...



and the Plaza hotel. A must see location for any "Home Alone" enthusiast.


And what would a trip to New York be without visiting the world famous Rockefeller Center and see the magnificent Christmas tree there.


It is so unbelievably amazing. Words cannot describe what it is like to go to New York and experience that.

And of course, December culminates in Christmas day itself. Here are the crazy boys, standing next to our tree, all wearing their brand new sweaters. They all look so handsome.

Well that is the last 3 months is a very small nutshell. It has been a very good time and we really enjoyed it but it would simply take too long to share every little detail lol.

Our Labor Day weekend trip to Boston

Before getting to Boston, we stopped in Cambridge in hopes that we might spark some desires in some people we know to go to a school there.


Here is a man that is hoping that all four of his boys will go to Harvard.

They don't look like serious students, do they?

Zach and I sitting on the steps of the library at Harvard pondering the meaning of life.

Off to Boston

We walked on the freedom trail. We went as far as we could on it until the boys started getting tired. Some lady got her feet in my picture.

This is the picture I took when we got off the T (the subway). Downtown Boston. Very cool.

This cemetery is in downtown Boston. Many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here like Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Some of the headstones looked like they were sinking into the ground.

Our day in Boston was so exciting, we think we will go back for more. Stay tuned for our future adventures in Boston. We'll scope it out so we can take all our family and friends when the come and visit soon (Hint hint)

Sights on the way to MA

Damian and Zach wanted to pose by the Sinclair dinosaur at the gas station in the middle of all the corn fields on the way to MA.

Me and the boys at the Kirtland temple.

Aaron and I at the Kirtland temple. I think we look like our eyes are glazed over. At this point we are very tired of hearing "Are we there yet?"

The boys and Aaron's first time at Niagra Falls. It was beautiful, just like I remembered it. The boys were distracted by sticks and dirt. Boys are so weird. Oh well.

I don't know how that boy on the bottom got into the picture. Must be someone else's kid.

Aaron almost jumped. Who could blame him? He's got a few nuts on his hands.