Love Story meets Viva la Vida.

{You may have seen this already since it has over a million hits but I just saw it for the first time this morning}

I have grown tired of hearing Taylor Swift's song on the radio/blogs/stores, etc. but THIS is different. The guy on the piano makes it personal because he LOVES HIS LITTLE GIRL. We all know Dads who go "over the top" for their little girls! 8 minutes long, but worth listening to.

Maura turned 8 today!

We are featuring an exclusive video with Maura as she celebrates her 8th birthday. There are a few distractions I should warn you about such as wind noise and an old airplane droning overhead. Yep, that's all the distractions there are.

Video from the beginning of our trip.

I forget what all he says here but I will tell you that he makes noise constantly. Especially on a road trip.

Blast from the Past

2006~ Landon got a quad for his 2nd birthday and was just learning to ride it.

Landon with cookie dough

I found a couple of cute videos this week. Landon wanted to watch them over and over while laughing at himself.

Landon RediWhip

Found this one too....Aug 06- he had just turned 2.

Why a Son Needs a Dad

This is why:

I would never allow Landon to try this. Too scary for the mama, I couldn't even look the first time they did it. Lucky for Landon, Daddy was QUITE agreeable and they had tons of fun doing this. I was able to overcome my fear factor enough to photograph it. (Then I made an iMovie from the stills! Yeehaw- so excited about that!)

There is a third one I still need to make which shows him sliding down all by himself.

Landon and Dad on the stairs. from heartfulhome on Vimeo.


Landon and Dad Stairs Sliding Part 2 from heartfulhome on Vimeo.

cute video I saw this morning.....

This video is so adorable! The little boy had some dental work done and the dentist gave him some laughing gas. Here is his trip home from the dentist with his dad, the gas has not quite worn off yet. Enjoy!

Video of Uriah Snowboarding

Snow Boarding

Gordie towing Uriah behind the Ranger in the snow storm yesterday.

Build a Bear

Landon and Maura used their Christmas money from Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry to buy new Build A Bears. It was Landon's first one and Maura's "manyeth" so she was a little more experienced with the procedure.

First, you pick your bear from bins, they are unstuffed and it makes it a little hard to tell what they are going to look like in the end. Maura was very careful, picking two or three before settling on the Hannah Montana white bear. Landon grabbed the dinosaur as he was walking by it and that was the extent of his decision making.

You can then choose a saying for the bear, we skipped this because it adds about $5 to the tab. And it makes the bear very annoying.

Then you stuff the bear, with help from the worker. This is the cutest part, as you will see in the video that they stick a heart in the bear after you have kissed the heart and made a wish. Then the worker sews the bear up and you have to go to the bathtub and wash the bear. Maura told me that we did this part wrong, apparently you step on a floor pedal and it makes air come out of the "shower heads" - we missed that step.

Next you buy outfits for the bear. The selections are so amazingly cute and adorable and tempting and makes you want to run back and make a teddy bear for yourself and dress it up! Maura choose a cute outfit suitable for a Hannah Montana character and Uggs boots. Landon chose a Superman shirt and camo shorts and a football. He is dressing his teddy just like himself. Shorts in the winter and mandatory mismatch.

Then you go to the computers and swipe the Bear's barcode and enter all kinds of info, name your bear and you get a birth certificate our of the deal

Here is some of the procedure- note that Landon named his Dinosaur "Alligator".

Videos by Maura and Landon

Two videos that Maura and Landon made themselves- I think they are both the full three minutes that the camera allows (just warning you)

The Michael Phelps Diet

Michael Phelp's diet was the subject of conversation here very frequently during the Olympics! Here is a primer for you to get started on the diet and attain a body like MP's.

Stick with Maura

Landon is starting to see 'great divides' between boys and girls. Yet, it is all at his own discretion, for example he won't use a pink cup because it is a girl color but he uses Maura's old pink bikes and doesn't seem to realize that they are quite blatantly pink and girly. So, his knowledge of what is girly and what is not is spotty at best. I've been seeing it play out in other ways, pairing Maura and I off since we are the girls, him and the brothers unite with Dad. I happened to catch it on video on our recent kayaking excursion. We had paddled over to an island and explored for a bit. As we were walking back to our boats he mentions to me that I should "stick with Maura" grrr.

Desmond | Family Tribute Slideshow

This was a slideshow which was shown at Desmond's funeral. It was prepared by Jim Vallance. He had to break it into 4 videos for YouTube.








This last one was not from the funeral, it was from the viewing. This is a note that was found in his journal from Dec 11/06.

this is so cute!

This group is called the Cactus Cuties and I couldn't resist sharing it with you. They are ages 8-13.

Selah

On May 19th, Selah will be recording this song written by Angie Smith, the wife of lead singer Todd Smith. Recently, they lost their baby to Trisomy 18, she was their 4th daughter. Angie and Todd have praised God throughout their storm and it has been an incredible testimony to the strength God provides to those who trust in Him. This has truly been a week of sadness and disappointment. When I read the words Angie wrote and heard the amazing voice of Amy Perry expressing Angie's words with a God given understanding, I thought this might help our hearts today.




Todd and Angie Smith's blog

Don't try this at home.

Disclaimer: The person flying this plane is NOT a family member, lest you think any of us have lost our minds.

Shout to the Lord | Idol Gives Back

This was a nice surprise......beautiful job!

Eating Cookie Dough

I love when movies have surprise endings. Like in "the Usual Suspects" when Kevin Spacey walks away without a limp; or in the "Sixth Sense" when Bruce Willis discovers he is a ghost too. I certainly don't want to spoil this one on you, but there is a little surprise ending. I know I was surprised when I dragged it out of the archives a few minutes ago.

It's from August 20, 2007: