He did it!

After over a year of consistent effort, Reed finally reached his goal of finishing the whole Book of Mormon before his 8th birthday.


About 18 months ago Reed decided that he wanted to start reading the actual Book of Mormon instead of the Book of Mormon reader we had read countless times. I was of course thrilled and supportive of his desire, but I worried about how much he would comprehend. He read about a page a day for the first year and he understood enough to tell me what he read about. However as his 8th birthday crept closer I noticed he started flying through the pages a little too fast. Reed is a very fast reader, but I didn't love him speeding through the scriptures. I knew he was concerned with reaching his goal, but I was concerned with him getting something out of it. I wasn't sure what to do until my mom suggested that he listen to the scriptures online and follow along in his own. The idea turned out to be a great solution and the perfect way to reach his goal.




I'm so proud of his commitment and love of the scriptures.


When Reed asked why I was taking pictures of him I told him it was because I always wanted him to remember this day and how he felt. I hope this is just the first of many times through the Book of Mormon and that this is a day he will never forget.

It snowed...

...back in October. This is has been one crazy winter and certainly not what we expected from our first winter in Maryland. When it snowed at the end of October I thought, "Oh no...here it comes"...but then nothing came. And with less than 2 weeks of winter to go I'm thinking that nothing is what we are going to get. I'm glad we had at least one real snow day and even happier I have these pictures to document the only snow we got this year.

It goes without saying, but here I go "saying" anyways--The boys were thrilled to see the snow.


Reed carrying out his big brother duties on a poor unsuspecting Max. All I can say is that he's lucky Max is such a good sport.


Ruby mostly enjoyed the first (and only) snow.


She especially enjoyed it when she joined her brother sledding down the driveway. That girl is a thrill seeker.


It didn't take long for sledding to turn into snowboarding.






and snowball fights...


The rest of the day was spent working on a snowman, which sadly I did not get a picture of.







We must have had an inkling that this was going to be our only snow because, looking through these pictures, I am going to say that we successfully checked off our entire snow "to do" list for the year in one day. If only I had had as much foresight when deciding to buy snow clothes after the first of what I assumed would be many snow days. I guess there is always next year. (No growing--ok kids?)