The Reason

"We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles—that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son."

The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles

Happy Father's Day Dad!

If I could, I'd show off my Dad by creating a collage of pictures of him. The collage would show him talking on the phone at his office, on a plane flying across the country for work, happily laboring in the garden, happily mowing the lawns, happily working in the orchard, riding his horse, wearing his uniform over the decades he's been involved in scouting, wrestling with all four of his kids at the same time (when we were smaller), wrestling the boys who came over to visit us (when I got older) and pinning everyone, getting out of bed before his alarm at 5:30 AM on a regular basis, on his knees praying, reading a fatty book about economics or history, executing his 'daddy suspender school' on the ski slopes, playing the piano, strumming his guitar, heading out the door to Church 3-4 times a week, opening his wallet, hiking or camping--usually with a pack of crazy teenagers, "watching" TV while fast asleep, flying in his airplane over the Carson Valley, making his crazy list of tasks to be completed on the few Saturdays he's at home, and being pretty much the best dad a girl could ever hope for.

As it is, I have only a few pictures that would do my collage justice. I love you Dad. Happy Father's Day! (And welcome home from China!)

Dad at the top of Frog Lake, with 3 of his crazy teenagers on the way to Lake Margarette, at the park with Grace, strumming his guitar with Grace, and the last is a picture I took from Dad's plane as we flew over the Carson Valley.

Happy Mother's Day

What I've Learned From My Mother

- Remember the eternal perspective

- Everything is a little easier after you've found a way to laugh at it

- The power of open communication

- There's nothing that a big embrace can't fix

- Reverence for Dr. Pepper, good hamburgers, and cherry cordial kisses

- The Lord loves me

- How to stand up for myself

- Life is supposed to stink once in a while

- To expect fantastic things

- The sacrifice that motherhood requires

- To let go of little things

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What I've Learned From Motherhood

- That my mom has been right about everything

- Joy

- Children understand "I'm sorry" as well as they understand "I love you"

- Patience

- A deep love for all sanitizing and disinfecting products

- It is easier to have a little helper than to keep little hands busy doing something else

- I have a very important job- day, swing, and graveyard shifts together

- To treasure my friends

- The value of taking a day at a time

- Its okay to ask for help

- I need the Lord everyday

- I'm happier when I've spent the day putting others first

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Thank you Mom. Happy Mother's Day!

Thank you Gracie (and our little Lindstrom man), for making mine so special.

Christmas in London

I don't think we could have asked for a more perfect Christmas this year~ 7 ideal days in and around London with family. I feel like I got the biggest gift of all being able to share my favorite places with everyone. The trip was not with out its little set backs, international travel rarely is, but everyone weathered it well and we did so much. I'll just give some highlights here, with more to follow in future blogs.

The day we flew out ended up being a really lousy day to travel, both in the US and in the UK. A massive storm over Denver had caused the cancellation of thousands of flights in the US and severe fog had caused the cancellation of all domestic flights in the UK. Cori, Grace and I made our flight without a problem, but the rest of my family got held up and missed several connecting flight options and ended up flying standby. My sibs got into London just 3 hours after we did, but my parents didn't get there until the next afternoon. And even once we were all there, only Cori and Grace had luggage. Fortunately, our hotel was conveniently located just a block and a half off of Oxford Street- one of the major shopping strips of London.




So we made a little shopping trip our first night there. As nice as it sounds, I had a hard time buying much. The dollar is so weak against the pound right now ($2.11 to the pound), so if it looks like I'm wearing the same thing in a lot of the pictures, I am. Fortunately, Thea had an extra pair of levi's I could borrow. Otherwise, I would have spent our first weekend there in yoga pants! We didn't get our luggage for another 3 days. And poor Sara had to wait until the day before we left to get her bag. Even missing luggage couldn't keep us from having an amazing week.

Here is a list of the places we got to visit over the course of the week:

Trafalgar Square, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, Harrods, Portabello Road, Hyde Park Ward on Christmas Eve Day ( a very special service), Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Bath, Warwick Castle, Stratford, Anne Hathaway Cottage, Oxford, The British Museum, Covent Gardens, The National Gallery, Mme.Tussuad's, The Sherlock Holmes Museum (on 221 b Baker St.), Green Park, and Hyde Park. We went to a Christmas Eve performance at the Royal Albert Hall titled, Carols by Candlelight. The tidy orchestra was dressed in knickers and white wigs. The conductor sat at a harpsichord. They performed every carol imaginable, and we got to sing along with many of them. There were readings from the KJV gospels and Dickens. It was perfect. We also saw Wicked with the original Broadway casted Elphaba performing.

At the Tower Bridge

This is how Gracie spent her nap times.

At Stonehenge

At Warwick Castle

How many Whitakers can we fit in here?

The family infront of the British Museum

At Trafalgar Square

Of course, the best part of the vacation was being together. Thanks, Dad, for such a great trip!

Cali. Christmas Forcast

That's right folks. 70 degrees forcasted for Christmas morning here. We are glad that we got to enjoy our favorite Fall/Winter things over our last trip to Utah. We went skiing, played in the Fall leaves and really soaked up all the cold weather. The L.A. temperatures have dropped into the 50's in the mornings. It feels pretty cold to us actually, but we realize that we've been spoiled for the 6 months that we've been here.



Meanwhile, the temperatures in London are hovering in the 30's at night. And they had snow showers last night. We may end up with a white Christmas after all.

We're Here

At last, I've joined the modern world. I wanted to get this up and going before our big trip. We'll be spending the Christmas holiday in London with my family. But that's not the only news happening around here.

We have been in a whir of busyness. In an act of preparation completely unlike me, 99% of our Christmas shopping was done before December even rolled around. So we've been able to focus a lot of our time thinking of and planning for people outside of our family. It has made the season so special for us. There have also been parties and dinners with more to follow. We are loving all of it. We have made such wonderful friends here, and count our blessings everyday.

Gracie is quite the little lady these days. Lately, she can be found near anything that produces music, singing and dancing. She has figured out the buttons on the TV and will turn it on and wait for her cue. Her other favorite pass times include 'reading' her books, building with and then knocking down her blocks, and exploring. Its hard to believe that she is 14 months old. C'est trop vit!