plain and precious truth

This morning Alea woke up before Ava and we had some alone time together. This does not happen very often so we made the most of it by snuggling on my bed(her idea)and eating breakfast together. While we were eating breakfast Alea looked at a picture of Jesus that hangs on a wall by the table then looked at me and asked me if I could hear Jesus. I was not quite sure how to answer her question, so I replied with a question of my own. I asked her if she could hear Jesus? She replied yes. I then asked her what he was saying to her? She said He is saying "Alea I love you". I could tell she actually felt and heard Jesus telling her this. She knows she is a child of God and that he loves her. It made me wonder how many times my Heavenly Father tells me he loves me and I am not listening. I want to hear Him say Melissa I love you.

Family photos

My oldest friend Jenni has become our family photographer. She does such an amazing job. She has been taking our photos before we were even a family. While Adam and I were dating we decided to get some pictures taken at a local studio it turned out to be a disaster that left me in tears when we got the pictures back. I told Jenni about the session and she volunteered to take some pictures for us. She did such an amazing job. We used the pictures on our wedding announcements and she was also our wedding photographer.

Jenni has been taking pictures of the girls since they were born. Two small children with short attention spans have been known to stress out photographers but Jenni handles them wonderfully. I think she really captures their individual personalities in their pictures and that is what I love about them.

I love to see the temple. I'm going there some day....

I like to take Alea and Ava to visit the temple grounds when we are in tri-cities. They love to walk around and talk about the temple and I tell them about when Adam and I were married. It seems to be an activity they really enjoy. It makes me so happy to see them so excited just to visit the outside of the temple...I look forward to the day when I can take them inside the temple for the first time.

We recently purchased a new washer and dryer and the girls and I have been having fun turning the boxes into a castle. I love to see their imaginations grow and develop more everyday.