The many faces of...

Laurie!
This is my favorite! (above)

Nana's gone

But we had a lot of fun. Here are some Nana pictures for you to enjoy! She has more on her computer that she will probably put when she gets home but this is what I have.

Beloved

I am sure all of you will be putting up your own posts, however, I just want to put in my note.

We found out this evening that Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley passed away at his home. It is a sad message to hear, however, I feel in my heart that he was ready. I have felt so blessed to have been alive while he was the prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I feel blessed to have the gospel and such wonderful priesthood holders to lead and guide us under the direction of our Savior. I loved listening to him speak. He could always put a smile on my face and a warm feeling in my heart! I am happy for him that he is with his sweetheart, and that they will be together for eternity. I am also happy that we will see him again. I know I will be able to hear him speak again someday. I know he was called of our Heavenly Father and I also know that our new prophet will be equally called. I am grateful for my Savior and his atonement. I am thankful to Him that we have been so blessed by Pres. Hinckley and the work that he did for this church and for the gospel.

Happy moments

We have surely been having happy moments in our family lately. Nana has been staying with us since Christmas and we really enjoy having her here. She has been here so much in the last 7 months that it feels normal to have her here. We have been taking small shopping trips, dancing, exercising, moving Sarah, eating, baking, reading, sleeping etc. It has been a lot of fun. We are going to miss her when she leaves in ONE WEEK! :(

Also our new family of 5 took a trip to NC this last weekend for the blessings of Ben and Cooper. It was Laurie's first trip, although I forgot to take pictures of her traveling! She did really well on the 3 hour drive. On the way there she slept the whole time. We had a great time watching snow fall and then were a bit disappointed when they canceled church for safety reasons and the boys weren't able to get blessed. Unfortunately now we might miss it! :( BUT we did have a great time with the family. Miriam, Elaine and Logan tried to have a little slumber party on Sunday night (Mon was a holiday) and they were playing so much we finally had to separate them. After all, they needed their sleep!! We played fun games and laughed a lot. Our drive home was fine as well. Laurie slept most of the time, but it took longer to get home because of the attached trailer we were bringing home. The chain was dragging and someone drove up along side us at 60mph to tell us, THANK YOU! We stopped at a little cafe to get some food cause Miriam was STARVING!, and so was Laurie :).
Anyway, we came home to a clean, laundry done house because Nana cleaned it for us! Thank you!! It took about 2 hours for us to destroy what she had done though! Sorry!
Well those are a few happy moments we have had. There have been many more and I am sure will still be more to come! I love my family!!

Shrek and Elaine

The girls had been requesting Shrek the 3rd for a long time and we finally got it on our Netflix list. They love it! They especially love the parts with the babies! Anyway, since watching that and then getting their princess stuff for Christmas, Elaine has taken to a new way of playing princess. She puts on the stuff, stands in front of the mirror and sings like Snow White when they are about to attack the castle, with the same face! AaaHHHAAHHHHHHHHHHAH!!! It is very funny! No dainty princesses for her...unless she is playing with Miriam, then she is the princess and Miriam is the queen, her majesty.

Here are some pictures of them being princesses!

Queen Nana

Wonderful Sunday!

Today was a great day. This weekend most of Carlos' family and some of mine were able to come to church with us to witness the blessing of Laurie Adeline. We got everything ready and went to church all together. I dressed Laurie in her little blessing outfit.

We sat together in the first two rows of the chapel (our favorite place). Mom substituted as the chorister because ours just left on her mission. After the announcements and other business it was time for the baby blessing. Carlos, Abinadi, and other ward members got up and stood in a circle and held Laurie while Carlos gave her a blessing. It is a humbling and heart warming experience for me to feel the spirit and listen as Carlos, a worthy priesthood holder, gives my children names and blessings when they are born. It was a great blessing in which he said, among other things, that she should look to her sisters' namely Miriam for an example. Miriam thought that was fun and chuckled the rest of the blessing. :) We sang the sacrament song, but not before the organist started playing the wrong song and we had to start over :) Hehe, (he is a very good organist and is 13!!!) we all, including Elaine, took the sacrament. (We don't have our children take the sacrament until they are old enough to understand and be reverent. Usually when they join the primary and become Sunbeams!) Then it came time for the speakers. Carlos was the first of two. He talked on preparing for a mission. It was a great talk!! He is a good speaker and I could listen to him speak forever....on most things....hehehe. The other speaker was a member of the Richmond Mission Presidency. It was a great sacrament meeting. The girls were pretty good, Carlos did a great job and for the 'rest' hymn we sang Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel and the girls were singing so loudly and beautifully it made my heart soar! What great girls!

Then most of us went home to eat and socialize. We ate lots of yummy food and desserts (homemade super chocolaty brownies, and homemade pecan toffee!) Hot apple cider and talked, took pictures, fed babies (4) and had fun!!

It was a great day. I felt the spirit of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in church as the speakers bore testimony of the gospel and the privilege it is to have the truth and blessings which come from it and our obligation to share it. And the love of family and friends who are there to support us not only in our times of need but at important milestones in our lives and the lives of our children. So thank you to all who were able to come and thank you those who weren't there but I know would have been if distance didn't separate us! I am so grateful for my blessings!

All who came to the blessing, minus Nana who is taking the picture!

Abinadi (holding Cooper), Uncle Bob, David, Carlos, Elaine, Miriam, Cindy (holding Mason), Rose-Marie, Ana-Christine (holding Ben), Me (holding Laurie), Catie-Lynn, Sarah (holding Evoly), Logan

Nana Ogden (Laurie) and Laurie Adeline Chacon

1 MONTH!!

Hurray Laurie is one month old! On the 5th she had her one monthaversary! :) Today she had her appt and got a shot :( She did really well. She weighs 9lbs 5 oz 21 1/2 inches! 75% in both. She is a pretty good baby and loves to be held and she is starting to focus on things and follow them around. She is also starting to make noise and smile volunterily! It is so fun and cute! Here are a few of her one month pics and some others. 1/1/08
1/4/08
1/5/08
1/6/08
1/6/08