Court of Honor

Caleb advanced to Second Class rank at the Boy Scout Court of Honor last night. I am very proud of him for sticking with scouts and I'm so thankful for his leaders in the scout program. He'll be an Eagle Scout before you know it!

President Hinckley

Our beloved prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, has gone back to be with our Heavenly Father. What an amazing man. He will be greatly missed.

Boston Temple

My parents were spending the weekend in Boston to see a show so we decided to drive down last night with the boys and have them babysit in the hotel room while we went to a session at the temple. Well, my mom decided to go with us and we left my dad with Jordan and Tanner in the room. Little did we know, they decided to have a hotel party! When we got back at 10pm, the room was trashed! My dad had gone out and bought soda, candy, cookies, toys... The T.V. was blaring and the boys were jumping on the bed shooting eachother (and Grampa) with these nerf gun things. They were sooooo hyper and we had a 2 hour drive ahead of us! They didn't sleep the WHOLE way home. Marcus and I had the biggest headaches! The good thing was, we did get to go to the temple, and it was awesome. Thanks Dad!

Game Night

We had the elders over for a fun game night. Who doesn't love an intense game of Rummikub????

Love Pink!

Just let me be a teenager just until Valentine's, okay?  I LOVE Valentine's Day!! I also love V.S. PINK.  That's why I have the silly background and icon.  I love to give (and receive) Valentine's!  5 years ago I got the cutest little Valentine ever!  Jordan Noi Simagna was born on that very special day!  Today I spent some time making cards getting ready for the big day.   So... I promise I'll change the background on February 15th.

Happy Birthday Aunt Pat Pat!

We drove 2 hours north to the beautiful coastal town of Thomaston, Maine for my Aunt Pat's birthday! She's amazing! She was there for the births of each of my children! She's so much like my mother, people think they are twins! It was so fun to see her and my cousins and all their cute children!

View of the ocean from her living room.

Aunt Pat with her three children.

My brother, Jon, and sisiter, Kristin.

My sister-in-law Laura looks so beautiful with a child in her arms...*hint hint*

Last time these kids saw eachother they could barely walk!

Cuties!

Children's Museum

Today we went to the Children's Museum with Jordan's preschool group. I totally wish I was their size so I could climb through the tree house, drive a fire truck, fly a space ship, and race a racecar!

Good, Better, and Best.

Those three words are my New Year's resolution. I really love this article by Dallin H. Oaks. He teaches that although a certain activity or hobby may be a "good" way to spend our time or other resources, there is usually another option that is better or, even, the best option. He gives this example of when Christ visited Mary and Martha:
"Jesus taught this principle in the home of Martha. While she was “cumbered about much serving” (Luke 10:40), her sister, Mary, “sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word” (v. 39). When Martha complained that her sister had left her to serve alone, Jesus commended Martha for what she was doing (v. 41) but taught her that “one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (v. 42). It was praiseworthy for Martha to be “careful and troubled about many things” (v. 41), but learning the gospel from the Master Teacher was more “needful.” The scriptures contain other teachings that some things are more blessed than others (see Acts 20:35; Alma 32:14–15)."
So that's my focus this year. I know I should just go ahead and shoot for the "best", but I'm not going to disappoint myself, and I'm just going to do better.

eeeek!

I'm so excited! I'm pretty sure I won't even be able to sleep tonight!! Ok, that was a little bit of an eggageration. I can always sleep. But tomorrow night is the premiere of American Idol: Season 7. It's a 2 hour special of auditions! Yay! I lovelove to watch the people who can't sing but think they can - like me!

7 years ago...

...my handsome little nephew, Hunter, was born! Hunter is my sister Karinne's son so they live out in Utah. We only get to see them once or sometimes twice a year which really sucks because Hunter is the coolest kid! He's super smart and extremely athletic! We really miss and love you, Hunter! Happy Birthday!!

Another great book.

I just finished this book. I loved 'The Kite Runner', so I was pretty sure I'd like this one too. I actually liked it better. It focused more on the women of Afghanistan. It's fascinating. I love to read novels that educate or enlighten me at the same time. This did both!

Nara Sushi

Friday night after Nara's swim meet we all went for sushi at Nara (not our Nara) Sushi! It was YuMMMyy! This is Jay, our new exhange student (I'll explain in another post). He's also from Korea. Marcus and Jay are buds.

It's here!

My mom got me this beautiful framed picture of the sacred grove for Christmas. It was back ordered and didn't come for Christmas and I was so sad! Well, it came yesterday! I already knew where I wanted to put it! I love it sooo much! Thanks, Mom! It's hanging in the dining room, I'm not sure what I'm going to put on the shelf yet.
Jordan loves it when big packages come because we make a little towns for his cars and tractors on the laid out cardboard. There's all the important places: airport, our house, grampa's house, walmart, library, playground, and the church, oh, and a construction site for the bull dozers.

Perfect for blog stalking!

For those of you (like me) who have a million different blogs you like to stalk check out, you need this! You just "subscribe" to all the blogs you like and it lets you know which ones have been updated! You view the post right there! It has saved me a ton of time! To think, I used to go through and check each individual blog and get bummed when it hasn't been updated! It's easy, and free and has a ton of other features! This totally sounds like a cheesy commercial, huh?