I'm Baaaack!!

Well, it has been almost 3 months since my last update!! Sorry! Lots has been going on!

I will take you through the last few months, starting with Halloween!

Faith was Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. Hyrum was originally going as Dumbledore (the Headmaster from Harry Potter), but when we were informed just a few days prior to Trunk-or-treating that Dumbledore was, in the eyes of the author, a gay man, we changed Hyrum's costume to Young Merlin. Vilate wore one of the two "store-bought" costumes and went as Sleeping Beauty. While I am really love homemade costumes, an exception was made because she finally wanted to dress in a girlie costume. Helaman and Gloria were Mickey and Minnie Mouse...so cute!! Just 3 years before Hyrum and Vilate wore the same costumes!! And finally, Nephi was the world's cutest clown!! They sure were cute!

As I am thinking of the next thing that happened...the month of November seems somewhat of a blur! I had to go and get the calendar to see what really happened. In my World Music class we were required to attend a concert and then write a report on it. David and I took Nephi and went down to Sacramento City Community College and were lucky enough to hear Mary Youngblood, a Native American flute player. It was beautiful. She is a GRAMMY winner and it was so cool to not only hear the wonderful music but her flutes were fantastic to see!! So, concert report done (I got 200 out of 200 by the way!) then it was onto just reading and taking all the tests, there was one or two a week. Then add to that all the papers(4), journaling, peer edits and discussion boards that had to be done for English. It was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed this last semester!!

Okay, so back to November...I was really lucky that I was offered a job at school...if I worked on Make-up Picture day I could get all my kids school pictures for free!! I was all over that!! On November 13th I worked at school for just about 3 hours and walked away with school pictures of my 3 older kids....Sorry Mom, I meant to give you some when you were here...I will have to mail them to you! The lady that coordinates the picture days said that she will always call me to come and work this day so that I can get all the kids pictures for free...AWESOME DEAL!!!

November 14th, 15th and 16th were full of feasts, ice skating, goodbyes to a favorite teacher leaving for maternity leave, and parent teacher conferences. The kids are doing fabulous in school and loving every minute. On the 17th Nephi cut his first tooth with the second coming through the next day. He was really not as fussy as some kids were, but boy his bite HURTS!!! Then came the week of no school...in Sacramento we get the entire LONG week of Thanksgiving off! We had fun eating, watching TV, eating, sleeping in, eating and playing!! We took the kids to Thanksgiving at Grandma Morgan's office, the Institute of Religion at ARC. It was a blast. We played hockey outside, rode bikes, played air hockey inside and pool. After dinner we went over to the track at American River College and the kids and David had a fabulous time running around the track and practicing the long jump, while Nephi and I stood around and froze!! It was really fun!!

The day after Thanksgiving we had our annual Christmas Kick-Off. We ate homemade cinnamon rolls and decorated the tree. The kids each took a turn trying to put the hat on the top of the Christmas tree. We started using the Santa hat when Faith was a baby as a joke, and it stuck!!

Then I cooked another Thanksgiving dinner. It was yummy...I must say, I am an amazing cook!! But the bad news....I got really sick that night and through all the fantastic food up! It was awful. Then we spent the next week with various people getting sick with the flu. It made for a very long last week of November. Faith was in the Forgotten Carols this year. Our Stake, at church, put it on. It is a great Christmas play. Faith had a great time participating in this play and I really enjoyed the one night that I got to attend!

Then on to December. With all the school work - college and elementary, we were swamped. I completed both of my classes. I got an A in both classes!!!! Wow! I was really concerned about the English class, but I really did enjoy it and I learned a lot! We sped through December with 2 children's concerts, 5 Christmas parties, 4 school Christmas parties, 2 birthday parties, a great Morgan Family Christmas party, and Christmas. I started and finished my Christmas shopping on December 22nd and David did not get to go out until December 24th at 5:15pm. Between work and school and finances there was really no time before that. Then, David went out again a few days after Christmas to finish up!! We really enjoyed the two weeks off of school. We spent the two weeks staying up late and sleeping in. We watched a lot of movies, played outside, played video games, and went shopping. It really was a well deserved break for all of us. We have enjoyed the time together as a family!

On December 15th we got a phone call from President Smith letting us know that David's application for his Restoration of Priesthood Blessing had been approved. We were thrilled and on December 16th, Liz and Ryan Meinzer stayed after church with our kids while David and I went into the Stake President's office and all of David's blessings were restored. It was awesome. We immediately set the date for our family of 8 to go to the Sacramento Temple and be sealed for time and all eternity!

The day before our sealing was a terrible storm with winds reaching up to 60 miles per hour. We were determined to go to the temple that day and do a session, David's first in 15 years. We braved the storm, dropped our kids at 2 different houses, thanks to Tina and Jennifer, and we made it to the temple with 10 minutes to get dressed. We were met there by my mom, Nancy, and David's good friend (and mine) Sean Campbell. It was wonderful to be in the Celestial Room. It was so peaceful and I think that, while going through a session at the temple is an individual thing, I have never felt so complete being there as I did on that Friday with David being there! And being in the Celestial room was just fantastic.

On January 5, 2008, we took all 6 of our kids to the temple. It was fantastic. Here is the run down of our day:

6am - woke up with a start, we had fallen asleep in the living room trying to get Gloria to sleep and now I had woken up an hour late...let the stress begin!!!

got ready and got the kids up, fed, dressed, hair done (in curlers) and we were out the door by 8:40am, only 15 minutes later than I wanted to leave...pretty good!!

We made it to the temple only about 5 minutes later than we were supposed to be. Before our sealing, we sat together in our temple robes in the Celestial Room. While waiting to complete everything, we just sat there. It was the most calm and peaceful feeling that I have ever had. Just sitting there with David and being able to enjoy the peace and serenity, knowing that this day had finally come and then knowing that all our kids were there and that there were family members, wonderful friends, and temple workers helping them get ready was so wonderful. We sat in that wonderful room for at least 20 minutes just enjoying being there. There was another couple in the room with us. They were also going to be sealed and were waiting their turn. They appeared to be younger than us and I am pretty sure they were getting married and just starting their life together. It was kind of interesting to me. They sat there the entire time visiting and enjoying eachother. I sat there just holding David's hand and getting teary-eyed. For me just sitting in the right place with my husband, soon to be eternal companion was enough. It was really amazing and even now as I write this my heart is full of joy for this day!!

We were taken into the sealing room which was full of family and friends, it was wonderful to walk in and see all those smiling faces. We then were sealed by our old Stake President, President Alexander. During the part when it is mentioned to multiply and replenish the earth there were quite a few smiles and even some outright giggles!! Then we sat back down and waited for all the kids to be brought in. A huge thanks here goes our to Earline Fewkes. Earline is the nursery leader at our church and the Bishop's wife. She is also the most patient woman that I know and when I was trying to choose someone to watch our kids and keep them reverent in the temple, her name was the first to come into my mind. David and I really appreciate that she waited with them and helped them. Back to the sealing room...in came all these beautiful children dressed in white. It was so cool. There are no words to explain how happy it made me to see them. Then we knelt at the alter and were all sealed. As each of the kids' names were read, their faces lit up. It was amazing. I know that the right order of events is to be sealed first and then have the children, but being there with those kids, I would not change this experience that they had for anything. It was so worth the wait for them to be there.

After the sealing we were going to take pictures, but it was so cold and windy, that we only got 2 pictures and my friend has them on her camera. As soon as I get them I will add them in here!! Then we went out to lunch at Spaghetti Factory with our families and a few very good friends. It was great to visit. Then back to our house where we were able to visit with David's family that made the trek to be with us. Thanks to Mom, Dad, Bill, Tami & Brent, Ted and Ken for coming. We really appreciated that you took the time and money to come with us. The kids keep asking when they get to see you again!!! Tami & Brent made this awesome Christmas present for all of us. A DVD of the last 25 years in the Cox Family. It was so cool to see those old home movies and pictures, especially watching it will all of you!! We said good-bye to Tami and Brent, they had to get back to their kids in Fresno. Then we ate dinner and visited some more. It was great.

The following day, Sunday, we blessed our little, well not so little, Nephi. We were able to take some pictures of the Cox family that was with us. Lucky for us that Grandma & Grandpa Morgan could get in this shot with us!! What a family we have!! That day in Sacrament meeting we had 16 kids 9 years old and under. I think that is a record for the ward that we are in!! We took up 3 pews and it sure was great to see all those men get up to bless my little boy Nephi!! What a great example of priesthood holders that this little boy and all the other boys in our family have to look up to and emulate!! I am so grateful that all who came did and we missed those unable to make the trek!! We love all of you!! Here is a picture of Mom and all her boys!!! What a great group of returned missionaries to hang out with!!!

And here is my eternal family!!!!

From our family to yours we wish you the very best 2008!! We have had a great start and look forward to the opportunities that this new year will present for us!!! We love you all!! Please let us know what you are up to and how you are doing!!