Almost Seven

I remember sitting in bed by lamplight in the darkness of my bedroom one night when I was about fourteen, and I looked over at little Rikki (the cutest little bundle of cuteness alive), and I was filled with emotion and love for her.  To this day I remember writing in my journal: "Little sister, almost seven, sometimes seems a gift from heaven."  And then I could not, COULD NOT, figure out anything else to come after those lines.  It has haunted me.  I've probably thought about it a thousand times since then.  

Well, this past week, as I've interacted with the angelic little ladies in OUR home, similar lines have run through my mind: "Precious daughters, gift from heaven, oldest one is almost seven."  It appears that this poem has come full circle with similar emotion and gratitude for the sweet associations I have with these women (young and old) in my life.

I had the chance to watch the Young Women General Broadcast tonight for our Church while I was sitting at home folding laundry and eating grapefruit.  Yum.  I felt this overall sense of appreciation for the vision and foresight of our church leaders.  And such an uplifting dose of God's love for me and all of His children personally, especially his daughters.  And that, of course, trickled down to my little life, and the love I feel for my daughters and for all the women in my life.  I watch you, and I am inspired by you.

These pictures were taken last week before all of the snow hit us again.  We had a surprisingly warm and sunny day, so we packed up the girls, a couple of pizzas, and Dallas' remote control airplane and drove four minutes to this riverbed near the high school.  

We searched for the neatest rocks we could find, and we all took turns flying the plane.  And we even got dirty.  Kensington went exploring for the first time in water and mud, and we were thrilled to see her get in and get her feet wet.  (It was cold water!)

Madeline and Kensington side by side

You can see Madeline's pockets are stuffed full of rocks to sort through later.

Mama and Choobs

Dallas and the Girls