Mother's Day at the Hawaii Temple - Day 3

On Sunday morning (our third day in Hawaii) we went to church service at the local Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints. It was a wonderful service and a lot of fun to see all the Hawaiian dresses and leis. The coolest part was this is MOTHER'S DAY! What a way for Connie and I to spend our Mother's Day!

After Church we went over to the temple grounds and walked around. We also went inside the visitor's center and talked with the missionaries and looked around. It is such a sweet spirit!

Ben giving a very goofy pose...silly boy.

Three more of my handsome young men.

My handsome hubby and me standing in front of the temple.

The whole family.

Standing in front of the Christus Statue. The last time I was near one of these was when my brother left on his mission and it was the one on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Very cool!

Nick standing by the statue, "Lehi Blessing Nephi". It has a plaque with it that had 2 Nephi 3:21 out of the Book Of Mormon.

A precious picture.

Our BEAUTIFUL daughter with the fountain and the temple behind her.

OUR ETERNAL FAMILY!

Ben picked up some literature...because he liked the pictures. The missionaries were very kind and said he could have them.

What a beautiful morning!

General Conference Sunday

On April 3rd was our annual General Conference of our church. This is when the Prophet, some apostles and other general authorities speak to the whole church. If you are able to, you can go to Salt Lake City and see it in person at the huge conference center. Or you can watch it on TV or the internet on a live stream. We do not get the TV channel that broadcasts it, so we watch it on the internet. I always love General Conference, they are always so inspiring and uplifting! It builds my testimony of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father every time!

We let the kids put up tents to listen to conference in, just like the people who listened to Kin Benjamin. King Benjamin was a righteous king and prophet who lived in ancient America. When he was really old, before he died, he called his children to him and blessed each one. Then he asked that all of his people be brought together to hear him speak. All the families set up their tents with the doorways facing him, he climbed up on a high tower and spoke to his people. He gave a beautiful sermon and gave the people wonderful advice. Because of king Benjamin, his people lived in peace for many years. This story can be found in the Book of Mormon, in Mosiah chapters 1 through 6. If you would like to read a brief summary with pictures for the children follow this link. http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=7447c106dac20110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=e36d5f74db46c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD You can also click on the little scripture reference under each picture to read the actual scripture out of the Book of Mormon. It is perhaps one of the greatest lessons on discipleship ever given. And it is one of my favorite scripture stories!

So here are the kids in their "King Benjamin" tents all ready with their General Conference coloring and activity packets I printed off for them.

After Conference, Andrew took a little "Sunday nap". How cute!

Looking foreword to next General Conference!

A BIG month for Nick!

February was a big month for our Nick. First of all he turned 12!!! I cannot believe my baby is 12 years old! I cannot believe I am old enough to have a 12 year old! I was sneaky and after school the day before I left him to babysit the boys and I went and put up a couple signs in his locker. Nothing too embarrassing, just something to surprise him and make him feel special when he opened his locker on his birthday. He really liked it. Of course I used Garfield, what could be cooler than that?

He opened presents and cards from grandparents. The kids look forward to getting Great Grandma Zimbelman's homemade cards every birthday. She does elaborate cards. She enjoys doing them, she is good at doing them, and the kids love them. Here is Nick holding this year's card. She tries to do it around something they are currently into or like. This year is all Martial Arts for Nick's card.

Here is the inside. We love how she also always incorporates pictures of the kids into the cards.

On his birthday we had ice cream cupcakes from Cold Stone. He was anticipating another birthday cake when his grandparents came for the weekend and another one of auntie Angie's famous cake creations later in the month. So we went with the ice cream cupcakes so we didn't get caked-out.


The day after his birthday Nick had his first Boy Scout Court of Honor. He received several merit badges and his First Class Scout rank. We were very proud of him. It was a little weird for me because I was in Cub Scouts for all those years with him and now he is a big Boy Scout. My little man is growing up!



Nick got sick on the Friday of his birthday week. The poor guy had the stomach flu last year ON his birthday and this year again the day before we were to do all him birthday fun with the family. We were all hoping he would feel better by morning and that no one else would feel sick. Thank goodness everyone woke up well and we were able to continue on as planned!

Nick is growing up and maturing. He decided that instead of a "friend party" this year, he would rather spend the day in Portland with his family. So what did we do for Nick's special family day? Well, first we took our scientist to OMSI where his siblings and he could do all sorts of scientific and engineering cool things. And then we took our LEGO maniac to the LEGO store and let him pick out something (we gave him a spending limit of course.) He loved that!



On Sunday, the 13th, we had another little party for Nick. It was a VERY SPECIAL DAY! First of all, grandma and grandpa Tolman were here. But what made the day SO SPECIAL was Nick was ordained to the office of Deacon and received the Aaronic Priesthood! His dad performed the ordination and a few other worthy priesthood holders, including his grandpa Tolman, also stood in. I was overwhelmed with emotion, but held it together pretty good. Wow! Our son is 12 years old! Wow! Our son is worthy to hold the Aaronic priesthood! Wow! Our family now has two worthy priesthood holders in our home! Wow! What a glorious day!

Tatiana really wanted to make Nick's birthday cake all by herself. So she did! She even decorated it! I think she did a very good job!

She made it look like the LEGO sensai and it also tasted great too!


Nick with his proud Father and Grandfather.

The missionaries also came over for dinner and cake. They have been such a good influence in Nick's life. Really for all of our kids! We couldn't ask for better young men for our son to look up to.

Happy Birthday Nick! Happy 1st Class Scout Nick! Happy Aaronic Priesthood Ordination Nick!!!

Ben stories...

This post has a couple pictures of Ben. This is a day I want to make sure I blog about.

First of all Ben was having an "off day". He wasn't feeling well and I think coming down with a cold. We were going to be going to the Stake-wide Church Christmas program that evening and I had just threatened him that "if you keep this up, we will find a babysitter and leave you home." He then sighed and said, "huh, I think I need a nap." Andrew was playing in their room and I said, "that sounds like an excellent idea, why don't you go lay in mommy's bed." He walked in my room, but didn't shut the door. A few minutes, and I mean literally a few minutes later, I walked in to check on him and shut the door and this is what I found. Ben, fast asleep, in this adorable position. How cute is he?!?!

Later he was feeling much better and came to the program with us. He was so glad he did because his preschool teacher, Mrs. Burton (also known as "Sister Burton" at church), was the Angel in the program! He was so excited when he saw her come on stage! He kept wispering to me, "Mom! My teacher's an Angel! My teacher's an Angel!" I kept saying, "I know, I know!" After it was over he just had to go up and say hello and give her a hug. We also got this picture of the two of them. It was very sweet.

The program was so amazing! The music...the words...the costumes...the decorations...all of it was so beautiful and touching. I love Christmas! I also look forward to the Stake Christmas Program every year. Those Mormons know how to put on a show. What can I say, we love our Savior!