Our Little Landon!

Here is our little angel... with Hair! The delivery went well and he is a happy, healthy baby! And James LOVES being the big brother!

I am so blessed to have my three boys! They are incredible. Families are what this life is about. The relationships we get to build help us to reach our greatest potential.

As I was watching my new little one, I thought about how the relationship I have with him and James should be an example of the relationship I should have with God, my Father. The amount of love I have for my little ones is simply a beginning of the Love God has for me, and He desires to be as close to me as I am to my little boys. My Heavenly Father is there to love and guide and nurture me, and is the only parent that can do so perfectly. The only thing that keeps us from having that close of a relationship with God is ourselves. It is our choices and our desires that bring us or takes us from God. His arms are waiting for us.

I am grateful for all the witnesses of God and His love that surround us, if we open our eyes we will be amazed and humbled at the Hand of God that is manifested in our lives.

Bible Videos

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has begun producing New Testament Bible videos that can be viewed and downloaded for free at lds.org/bible-videos. There are some great videos with such a strong spirit of truth manifested in them. This is one of the newer videos and is one of my favorites. I feel that it is very powerful and contains beautiful truths taught by the Son of God.

It's a Boy!

The Ivies are proud to announce that another little boy is on his way! 

We are so excited to see our family growing and I'm sure James is very excited for another football mate. As I think about raising these boys, I get nervous sometimes. How am I going to teach them good and righteous principles in the world we live in. Some how I have to teach them how to overcome things that I never had to deal with as a youth. I am so glad that we have living prophets to help guide and encourage us in what is right. If I can help my boys can listen to the prophets and dare to stand alone for what they know is right, then they will be able to overcome whatever they have to face in life. 

Love, Love this video. And hope my boys will dare to stand alone too!

The full talk can be accessed at lds.org

The Life of a 2 Year Old: Eat, Sleep, Play Football

Last night, about 45 minutes after we put James to bed, we could hear some gentle banging on his door. When we listened more carefully, it stopped. 15 minutes later we could hear it again. I went to check on him and as I slowly opened the door, James said "Hi!" and came rushing toward me with a football in his hand. We realized that he had never gone to sleep and had been playing football all along. It was so hilarious!! Our little boy was playing football in the pitch black of his room at 10:00 at night. Football is in his soul.

This is how James plays football... 

(He especially loves to play when he can watch football at the same time.)

If We Truely Understood Who We Were

Lots of new/hard things have been happening in life lately. But as always, these things help me to more fully realize how much God does love us and how much His hand is truly a part of our lives.

Yesterday, I turned to Russell and said, "I sure wish I could see who I was before I came here, because God sure thinks I am someone that I don't think I am." I think we all have moments like that, when we feel overwhelmed and overpowered. We feel like we can't handle everything we feel we are expected to handle.

But despite our feelings of weakness God will shower us with His tender mercies. Although unexpected, God granted me my wish today and showed me a glimpse of who I am and who I can become. As I have sought Him, I have felt His loving arms encircle me and guide me when the path was unknown.

We are greater and stronger than we think we are! And I know that it is only through God that we can become all that we are meant to be. We may not see it, but He can and He will lead us as we let Him.

Year in Review

We have had such a wonderful year, so much has happened and our little family has learned and grown so much!

Jan 2011-James' first set of Carharts

James learned how to crawl

We went to Bear Lake, or should I say, Bare Lake? It was quite cold, snowy, and deserted. But James enjoyed his first go on a four wheeler.

Went swimming at Crystal Hot Springs

Played some football

 Went camping

Celebrated our 2nd Anniversary

Took a family trip to Oregon

 

Learned to be daddy's big helper

(And yes, we even got rid of the binky!)

Went camping some more

Learned to Walk

 Went surfing

Celebrated James' First Birthday!

Painted Pumpkins

Dressed up and played mini-golf for Halloween

     

 

Lezlie-Anne Graduated!!!

Played in the snow and leaves for the first time!

                                                           

Played some-moe football

Finger painted

Had a wonderful Christmas

And even got a tricycle!

It has been a wonderful year and we are excited to see what this next year has in store for us. If it is anything like this past year, it will be full of many of life's wonderful moments. Moments of joy, moments peace, moments of learning, moments of laughter, moments of love, and even moments of trial, fear, sadness, and frustration. But each of those moments make us who we are and help our family to grow...growing ivie...climbing higher, growing stronger.

Have Your Self a Merry Little Christmas

"  You can give a great and marvelous Christmas if you will remember the gifts God has given you, and as best you can, offer them to others as He would. That is the spirit of Christmas and true happiness every day."                  -President Eyring


(Quote from 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional- entire devotional can be found here.

Now that Russell and I have our own family and can start our own traditions, we really want to focus on traditions that bring us closer to Christ. We especially want our Christmas traditions to be focused on the Savior, his birth, his life, and what that means for us.

OUR TRADITIONS:

1)   As one of our new traditions, we have decided to create a gift that expresses the gifts that God has given us. (This year, we have also tried to keep a book that records how we have seen the hand of the Lord in our daily life.) We will use our book of remembrance to help us write lists for one another. I will write a list for Russ, he will write one for me, and we will write one for James. Our lists will include instances throughout the year, of God's hand in our lives and other gifts that we have seen God give our family members that may have not been recorded throughout the year. We will wrap these letters up and open them on Christmas, just like our other gifts. It will be a time of reflection and gratitude. We decided to write lists for each other instead of for ourselves, because sometimes people on the outside, who are close to us and love us, can see more than we can see at times. And it will become more of a gift than a task.

2)   We also plan on deciding upon a gift that we can give God this next year, and the following Christmas we will share with one another the gifts we have given God throughout the year. We will remember that we serve God by serving our fellow men. We hope that it is a tradition that helps our family remember why we have Christmas all year long and that it becomes something they strive to do better throughout the year so that when Christmas times comes they can be excited to share what they have given.

We hope as our children grow that these traditions will help them to become charitable sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, who see the hand of the Lord in their lives, and seek to be the hands of the Lord for others- not to gratify pride, but to express sincere love and gratitude.