Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice

Today's Friday Fact is a little different, as it's not about me.


Fact: Tomorrow morning, afternoon and evening and Sunday morning and afternoon a prophet of God will speak to the world.

Yes. I believe this.
And I kind of wanted to tell you all about it.

People like to ask what the difference between Mormons and "other Christians" is, as if there is one defining thing.
And if there were one defining thing, it would be this: we don't believe that God put prophets on the earth to testify of Christ in Bible times, but not modern times.
We believe that God has a prophet on the earth today. Just like Noah, Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, John the Baptist.
And that man's name is Thomas S. Monson.
The reason that Mormons may do or say other things that are different from other Christians (like believing the Book of Mormon is a scriptural companion to the Bible, for example) is all because of the prophets and the things they teach us.

Our church is organized the same way the Christ's ministry was organized when he was on earth.  There is a prophet, and underneath him -helping to teach and organize the church- are twelve apostles.
Just as Matthais replaced Judas as the twelfth apostle, there are always 12 apostles of the church. Above them is the Prophet and his two counselors, and above them - always- is the head of our church, Christ himself.

Every six months, these fifteen men and other leaders in the church, (yes, including some women) gather together and hold a "General Conference" where they teach and preach of Christ for the enlightenment of the entire world.
This conference is translated into about hundred languages and includes talks by men and women from all over the world.
They're probably not teaching things that are unexpected or especially revolutionary.
In fact, the last conference included talks by these titles:
"The Sabbath and the Sacrament"
"Guided by the Holy Spirit"
"Establishing a Christ Centered Home"
"The Holy Temple - a Beacon to the World"
and "The Miracle of the Atonement"

Each and every one of those talks could apply to Christian men and women everywhere, whether or not they are Latter-Day Saints.  And many talks apply to men and women, even if they are not Christian or even religious (such as "Finding Joy through Loving Service," or "Face the Future with Faith.")

So I would like to encourage every single person reading this blog to listen to Conference tomorrow and/or Sunday.  I know that you're busy and I know you probably have plans for the weekend BUT, if you're finishing up some sewing or baking a pie or hanging out in your underwear eating potato chips you can turn on your computer and go to {LDS.ORG} and just have it on in the background, so you can listen.
God works in mysterious ways, and maybe you'll hear something you needed to hear.

If you can spare two hours, to sit down and watch conference, then I would suggest making an effort to listen to the Sunday morning  session, as it is always my favorite, because that is when the prophet and at least one of his two counselors speaks. (Although they speak multiple times).

The times for General Conference are as follows:
Saturday: 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm
Sunday: 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm
(Mountain Time)

So here's what I think you should do:  I think that you should say a prayer, asking (even if you don't believe) that the spirit of God will touch you and help you hear something that you needed.
Or maybe you have a question about something happening in your life that you've been praying for an answer to?
The prophet is going to speak God's words to the world this weekend! And I bet that God has something specific for you, so you just may find your answer in the talks.

And I think you should pray as a family, with your husband or children, if you're married, that God will help strengthen your family and help you to hear something that your home needs.

And I think you should go to LDS.org and listen to a prophet's voice.
And you can have a sit, and listen.

Happy Conference Weekend (I'm SO excited!)

.

Micah joins "The Tough Brets"

Okay, first of all, if you understood that title, Kudos. It's the name of Bret's gang in Flight of the Concords.
Second of all, Travis and I have always wanted to join The Tough Brets.
Third of all, (are you getting sick of the "of alls"?) I don't really have free time and should not have been spending my time this way... but those pictures of Micah yesterday needed to be more fully utilized.

So...

This baby runs with a pretty rough crowd.

Also, updates about breastfeeding, cloth diapering, and sleep are all on their way next week.
Today is the first day in almost 7 months that I haven't felt engorged with milk. It's weird.

sharing

I'm trying to teach the boys to share.
Doesn't it seem a little soon to you? It seems soon to me.
All day long I am saying "Please don't, Grey, your brother is playing with that" or "No no, Micah, Grey had that toy first."
They're not even seven months old yet! But they know which toy they want, and they'll be damned if their brother or I try to stand in their way!
The most popular toy by far is a soft-covered little photo album with pictures of Travis' family in it.
I've been meaning to print out pictures of my family and buy a second little picture-book, but I haven't yet.
But now it seems like I'll have to!

Yesterday afternoon (just before naptime) the boys were fighting over the book.
Micah had the book first, so I tried to keep Grey entertained elsewhere, (but it was hard and he had a right little fit.)
 When Micah finally crawled away to look at other toys, Grey snatched the book up and sat happily opening it and closing it for several minutes.
Then Micah noticed that Grey had the book and came crawling back at full-speed.
I tried to let Grey keep the book and distract Micah, but Micah just screamed and reached for it. He pulled my hair, he arched his back and slammed into the floor, he had a little meltdown.
And finally I scooped him up and put him down for a nap.
Then Grey went down for a nap.

I felt like I was putting them in time-out.
(You can come out when you're willing to share.)
But seriously, isn't it soon for that?
They're already throwing little tantrums!

All moms have to teach their kids to share, but I guess moms of multiples probably have to teach their kids sooner than otherwise.  Any advice?
I have hidden the book for a short time, but I don't want to just take things away.
Neither do I want to buy two of everything! There must be another way.... right?

So moms, fess up. How do you teach your kids to share?
Especially when they're so little?

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday {part 2} - Micah Monster

Two wordless(ish) posts in one day?

It must be your lucky day!

I needed a picture of Micah for something, and set him on a blanket in our front yard, and started snapping.

This is what I got:  A monster.

I also took the liberty of adding speech bubbles, so you can see the sort of things he was yelling at me.

Don't judge him for not having wittier things to say, he's just a baby after all.

 A baby MONSTER, that is.

Just imagine a lot of sniffing, snorting, maniacal baby-laughter and it will be just like you were there in person.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Summer evening

Those first two pictures (above) are my favorite pictures from the whole evening, even though you can't see either of the boys faces.

There's just so much movement and personality in the pictures. 

Micah is looking back to see what his brother is doing and Grey glances at me, distracted midstep as he plays with his dad.

Sigh. I am so in love with these boys.

So our little family headed up to north Provo on Sunday night to visit our friend (and Travis' business partner) Julie.  She promised us lots of fruits from her garden and we just couldn't say no to that!

So the boys and Julie and I played on the trampoline while Travis picked us some fresh produce.

What a lovely way to spend the evening.  

Micah is such a little ham! I love that face. 

And playing with my phone... he loves that phone.

I had so much fun photographing the boys on the trampoline! Because it was all black, it worked almost like a backdrop in a studio.... but way more fun, obviously.

Oh man, I love those big blue eyes. 

The look of determination in Micah's eyes makes me smile. I'm sure he's coming after my phone or camera. (I'll get it.) 

Then we went on a little walk to visit a house that was for sale and peek in the windows and sigh and wish we had 40,000$ for a down payment.

And the house may have had a swing in the backyard...

Bahahaha, this picture makes me laugh. Grey's made that face ever since he was a newborn. I think it makes him look like a basset hound...

The cutest, gloomiest basset hound ever.

But see? Sometimes he has a sneaky little smile hiding in there. 

Click to vote for two of the cutest babies of all time:

Scatterbrained

I have lots of little things to say. Nothing really worth a whole post, probably.

Travis is gone. It makes me sad.  He will be gone for about 1/2 of the rest of the year.
Seriously.
Two weeks a month.

I made homemade applesauce for the first time, and it was delicious! Grey loves it. I think it's his new favorite food, but Micah doesn't like it.
He clamps his little mouth shut until I bring him something else to eat, like bananas or peaches.
Here's my apple sauce recipe: Peel, seed, and chop up apples into chunks.
Put in a pot, and cover with a combination of water and pure apple juice. (If you live in the Provo area, then I would highly suggest Allred Orchards apple juice, or the apple juice from Sunflower Market that comes in a big glass jug).
Simmer until your apples are mushy.
Then, depending on how smooth you want it, you can bash them up yourself with a potato masher or  stick them in a food processor.

This week Grey learned how to sit, going from his hands and knees to his butt all by himself.
Micah learned how to do that last week, and has become very difficult to put to sleep, since he just sits right up in bed and plays with his stuffed puppy and blanket.

Grey

The boys also spent yesterday with dirty hands, feet, and knees, since it doesn't matter if I lay out a blanket for them to sit on, they're only interested in being in grass (and shoving handfuls of grass in their mouths) and they crawl right away as soon as I set them down.

This is a video of Micah in the grass, but it's not very exciting, it's just a bit of our day. You can also see him trying to get up to sit and look at that leaf, but he's having a hard time because he's on a teeny bit of an incline.

There are like 8 billion flies in my house and they are driving me CRAZY. I want to kill them and don't know how.

Micah has started doing this thing where he scrunches up his nose and sniffs loudly instead of laughing, or when he's excited. I think it's hilarious.
I also think he learned it from his dad, who makes all kinds of silly faces and noises to make the boys laugh.
Micah makes this face when he does it:


Also, do you have a baby (or two, or three) about the same age as my babies? (Like anywhere within a year) and do you live in the area? And do you read my blog and think to yourself "We could totally be friends in real life"?
Because I'm worried about being super bored in the winter and also confined to our house, and I am thinking of starting some kind of once-weekly baby play group.
And we can go each other''s houses and play with each other's babies.
Email me if you're interested in this, even if you think that it would be weird.
If it's weird, we just won't hang out again. (rebeccah.louise@gmail.com)

Tomorrow I am taking the boys to a class on campus, and we are being part of a lecture. As far as I understand, (I'm not totally sure what's happening, except that an old Prof. of Travis' asked me to bring the boys in) the teacher is going to ask me questions about how motherhood has changed me, and the class is going to admire how adorable my children are.

Oh, and maybe you noticed on my sidebar that I kind of have a sponsor thing going on? Yes. Starting in October, if you would like to sponsor my blog for 15$ a month, I will put up a 130x130 ad and link to your blog or website.
And also, I will write a blog post about all my sponsors and how awesome you are.
So email me at rebeccah.louise@gmail.com if you're interested.

Okay. That's all.
Oh, wait.
Before you go, could you give us a vote please?
Just click the button below and then click the left-hand side owl.
Thanks!

Babyfaced

My boys make faces.

Although their faces (actual faces, I mean) are very similar, the faces they pull are very different.

Does that make sense?

So Micah is constantly making this face:

We call it his duck face. He sucks on his bottom lip constantly. Perhaps in lieu of a pacifier?

And Grey makes this face:

This big, wide open, whole-faced smile. Like he's shouting and smiling at the same time.

People like to ask us how we can tell them apart, and I usually say "Well, Grey's a little bigger so his cheeks are rounder and his shape is different."

But really, there are a million little things that they do that are different.

And their faces are just one of those things.

Also, yesterday we took about 1 billion adorable pictures, and this is just the tip of the photo iceberg. 

So you have that to look forward to...

Perhaps for Wednesday?

a love story

Once upon a time there were two people very much in love.
They talked about getting married, and they both prayed about it.
The girl got an answer (He's the one.)
But the boy didn't.

So they kept waiting.

And the girl was very impatient.
She was ready to get married, and she felt confident about their future happiness.
But the boy was more nervous than her.
And he just kept praying and waiting.

He only had 120$ to his name.
And she was practically a teenager.
And they were both still students, so how could they get by?

But one day, he took a leap of faith and he went and took all his money out of the bank, and he bought a ring for 120$.
Just a plain, white gold band. No stone.
And he carried it around in his pocket for a few days.
And he felt okay about it. He even felt good about it.

And he wanted to marry the girl, because he loved her very much.
So one night, he decided it was time.
He called and asked her dad if he could marry her.
And her dad said "Sure. (I've been expecting you to call.)"

So they went on a bike ride.
Then got kicked out of the park by the police.
Then they broke into a water park and climbed up slides and screwed around.
And generally had lots of fun, were silly, and very much in love.

They were lying in the grass in front of the water park when he asked her.
And she could barely say yes, because she was laughing so hard.

So they started preparing for their wedding.
Her sister bought her 150$ dress on eBay as a wedding present.
They paid a student to take their photos.
They printed their own invites on his parent's printer.
And asked her best friend to bake their wedding cake.
They found some friends who would let them hold their reception in their restaurant for like 200$ (although they later moved their reception to an art gallery down the street.)
They served pie instead of cake, because pie is better.
And they biked away from their reception on a tandem bike, with a basket full of flowers.
They honeymooned in Salt Lake and Park City, which are both less than an hour from their new home.

Their new home was a old, spider-filled, one-room apartment in a house.
They paid less than 500$ a month to live there.
It had big windows and white walls.

They hung their copper-bottomed pots and pans on the wall across from the yellow stove and painted the bricks around their fireplace Martha Stewart turquoise.
And their home was happy and clean, and usually smelled like cookies or fresh bread.

They both worked hard and studied hard, and thought happily of the future time when their family would grow with the addition of a baby.
Or a puppy.
And they sold their car to buy a camera, so they could record all their happy memories.
But their landlord said "no puppies."

And one day they decided that they couldn't wait one more day, but they wanted a baby as soon as possible.
And the next week came, and when it went, she was pregnant.
But the home pregnancy test said that she wasn't.
And so did the second home pregnancy test.
And the third.

But she was so tired and sick, and was quite certain she was pregnant.
So they went to the doctor and he said she was already two months along.
And she started this blog about being pregnant, and how she was making a baby.

The couple was very excited. Soon the boy would graduate and the girl only had one year left (which she could totally do with a baby.)
So they started planning.
And one day in November, they went to the doctor to learn if the new baby would be a boy or a girl.

But there wasn't a boy or a girl.
There were two boys.
And the girl couldn't stop laughing again.
Or crying.

And she got very sick. And very sore. And very big and tired.
So the boy took care of her.

They moved from their first home to a new apartment, with three bedrooms and white walls, big windows, and all their pots hung on the walls.
He painted the nursery grey, and she made pillows and curtains for their room.

And then the boys were born.  Perfect. Beautiful. Healthy. Amazing.
Sometimes when she looks at them she cries, because they are so wonderful.
Sometimes when she thinks about how much she loved that boy two years ago, she is flabbergasted that they got married.
Because she thought she loved him then, but it's nothing compared to much she loves him now.

And she finds it hard to imagine loving anything or anyone as much as the three boys in her life.
Some mornings, the boy gets up and plays with the babies and lets her sleep in.
And their house is a bit messier than they'd like.
And sometimes it smells like sour milk instead of cookies, and diapers instead of fresh bread.

And they're still pretty poor.
But you'd never know it, looking at them.
Because they are exceptionally happy and still very much in love.
And the boy has a new business which takes care of them all very well, and the girl writes on her blog instead of going back to school.

And they still don't have a puppy.
But someday they will, and then their life will be even more perfect.
Until then, though, they are pretty happy waiting.
Since so far, the waiting has been perfectly ideal.

Fact: it is Friday {Christmas}

Fact: it is Friday: Where I talk about myself. On Fridays.

I don't talk about my babies, unless I want to, which sometimes I might. But mostly Fact: it is Friday is when I'm going to maybe tell you something you didn't know about me.
Or maybe a story from my bucktoothed-childhood or bratty teenage years.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned on this blog how I feel about Christmas. (Like {here})
But in case you missed it...


Becky Fact 13: It is September, and I am already in Christmas mode.


All it takes, apparently, is pulling out a quilt for the bed and putting pjs on the boys before they sleep instead of letting them sleep in their diapers.
Because quilts and footie pajamas could only mean one thing: it's getting cold.
And cold = Christmas.


Maybe I've been listening to Christmas music. But if I have, it's only mostly the Sufjan Stevens album, and that's hardly even Christmas music.
It sounds exactly like his Seven Swans album (both of which I would highly recommend, by the way.)


And maybe I spend all my free time browsing Christmas boards on Pinterest and sketching outfits for the Nativity toy set that I'm making for my children. (Using little doll patterns from {this} book, and it's going to be FREAKING ADORABLE.)
But you have to get a head start on those things anyway.


And perchance I spend lots of time looking for a new house to move into, but that's because we want more space anyway. It has (almost) nothing to do with the fact that our apartment isn't big enough for a good-sized Christmas tree. 


And so what if I happen to have several sketches of possible awesome Christmas card picture ideas in my notebook? That's normal, people. 
Normal, I say. 
Come out of the closet, Christmas lovers. 
Are you out there? Are you preparing for Christmas yet?
Are you checking out books from the library with titles like "A Homemade Christmas?"


Because I am. 
Yeah, yeah. I'm thinking about Halloween a bit, too.
But only because I finally have two tiny people willing to let me dress them absurdly. (Tell my husband that he HAS to wear a costume, please. I promise it won't be so bad.)




 




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Fact: it is Friday. 

I think you should do it too. 

And here are your instructions (not really rules...):

1. Write a fact about yourself.

2. Elaborate.

3. It can be long or short, detailed or not.

4. Don't write about your kids. (Unless you want to. Because, I mean... it's your blog. I can't stop you from writing about your kids.)

5. Link up to this blog, so we can all read some facts, and not feel bad that we dropped out of school to be stay-at-home moms. (Since if we're reading facts, then we are still learning.)

6. You're not a dropout like me? Or a stay at home mom? No biggie. You can still play.

Can't think of what to write? Start like this:

Fact: When I was a kid I was really good at...

or

Fact: My biggest pet peeve is...

or

Fact: I have a third nipple.

Etc.

Fact: I would love it if you clicked below to vote for me:

iPhone weekly

Two days is apparently enough time to accrue an absurd number of pictures on one's phone.

Actually, to be honest, I'm a bit glad that my phone went on the fritz, since it's memory was full of pictures already.

Can I help it I have the cutest babies ever and I love to take their picture?

NO.

And speaking of taking their picture....

The boys at the park, and me with (can you see it?) a DUCK! Her name is Maisy and she is our neighbor duck.

 The boys and I, though these pictures are actually like a month old...

The boys and their aunt Tessa (also like a month old) before she left for college. 

An assortment

So last week my phone stopped working.
Luckily, I've been sent a brand-spanking new one, but the week that I went without it is sadly quite picture and video free.
But I've spent the last 36 hours since receiving my new phone taking an excess of video to make up for lost time.
And I learned how to upload things straight to YouTube from the phone, so now you'll have lots of things to watch all the time.
Here are some of my favorite videos from the last day and a half.
(Oh, and if you have my number, shoot me a text so that I have your number again. Again.)

Yesterday at the park:

The boys have decided that they love the swing, and we played on the swing for over 15 minutes before calling it quits, and only because I was sick of the swing, not them.

And apparently you're supposed to wean your kids off bottles by the time they're one. (Who knew?) So We've been letting the boys drink from cups a bit whenever they eat.
Micah thinks it is a fun new game:


And lastly, I filmed this just this morning. Grey is super crabby (which is rare) because he wants to crawl, but he doesn't like face planting. Micah is unbelievably chill (which is also rare) because he was up in the night, and so I think still tired.
But if you're wondering, "What's it like to have six and half month old twins?" THIS is what it's like 90 percent of the time:

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Bathtime

When the boys were very small, we tried to have bathtime be part of their "bedtime routine." But who really has time to bathe two small boys every single day?

Turns out, we do. Now that the boys are eating real food, (and smearing real food into their hair) they need baths almost every night.

And suddenly baths are WAY more fun, too, since they can sit up mostly by themselves. 

And do remember {this}? The first time that we photographed them taking a bath in the NICU. 

They were so little.

I love it.