Time...

I have been thinking a lot lately about time and how precious each moment we have on Earth is. Yesterday we watched some of our friends bury their one-year old little boy. It was one of the hardest things I have ever seen let alone for them to be going through. I feel so sorry for them. They had so little time with their sweet little boy. I am so grateful for the knowledge we have of the plan of salvation and forever families. I know that this is what is helping them through this difficult time.

On Sunday in our Relief Society lesson there was a quote that has been on my mind; it is from the May 2008 conference talk that Elder Ballard gave, it was from the author Anna Quindlen, she said: "The biggest mistake I made (as a parent) is the one that most of us make...I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of my three children sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."

I am starting to understand what it means to "live in the moment", and how important it really is. The most important thing we do in our lives is our how we treat those we love and the relationships we cultivate; not how clean our house is, or what we make for dinner, or how cute our house is decorated, or all the other things that we spend so much time worrying about.

I don't want to have any regrets when my kids are old. I want to remember all the little things, and I want them to remember how much I loved them. Because we never know how long we have here, I guess my challenge to you all is to live in the moment and enjoy all the little things in your lives that make it great.

I love Fall!

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love everything about it. I love the colors, the coolness in the air, the smells, pumpkins, leaves, hunting season, the food, the holidays everything.

I also love the fun things to do in the fall. We have started a few fun traditions with our families. Last weekend we went to Herriman's Pumpkin Festival with my family. My girls had a blast. It is targeted towards kids, but we had fun too. The girls got to dress up in their Halloween costumes and they thought that was great. They had a costume contest, some fun games, lots of candy and some fun blow up toys. It was way fun to be with my family. We also love to go to the pumpking patch in Centerfield with all of the Gordon's. It seems like a lot of you have that same tradition but it's a great one. The girls had a great time finding the perfect pumpkin and I think we found some fun pumpkins. This year on Halloween (Durke's birthday) my parents are coming down, and the girls are way excited. We usually go to the Halloween carnival at the elementary school and go trick-or-treating. I think Durke and I like that part more than the girls.

I also mentioned that I love the food! I love anything made with pumpkin. Pumpkin pies, cookies, dinner-in-a-pumpkin, my mom's pumpkin roll, and any other yummy dessert I can find.

This is by far the best time of the year, I hope you all enjoy the season!

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My dad's birthday was on Sunday, and I wanted to wish him a happy birthday then, but I am a little slow. I don't get to see my parents often enough because they live in Salt Lake and I hate it. My dad and I have always been really close and I think the world of him. He has always made me feel like the most special daughter in the world and he thinks I am perfect.(Little does he know!) He would do anything for his kids and does. He has taken all over the state doing high school rodeo and sports and him and my mom are our biggest fans. He spent countless nights out in the barn teaching me all that he knows about horses and I cherish those times in our lives. He is so cute with my girls, and they love him to death. Dad I love you and think your the best. Happy Birthday!

Abi's 2!

Abi turned 2 last week and had a great birthday, I think! We had all of the family over again and my mom brought a really cute pinata. We made her a cute Dora cake and she was way spoiled. Some of her favorite gifts were her cute car from my parents, her princess castle, and her new Scooby Doo movie. Thanks everyone for spoiling us so much in September. Happy Birthday Abi! We love you sweetie.

Cash Louis Bawden

My cute little sister and her husband had their baby! We were able to go and stay with them for a few days and try to help her out, although I don't know how much we really helped. He is so darn cute, I wanted to steal him. Here are some pics. The girls loved him I think it might be time to add a little boy to our family what do you think?!