Journey to Bethlehem

I know Christmas has passed but this is my favorite picture of all time. I share it with you in hopes that you can feel the spirit of it by looking at it. We have this picture hanging on the wall in my room. I wanted to learn more about this artist because this picture had a very special influence on my life the first time I saw it. I was serving as a missionary in Brazil in 2004. The Sao Paulo Temple was being rededicated in february of that year. A bunch of the sister missionaries in the Sao Paulo missions were able to serve making contacts, help people with questions during the tours and work hard to follow the spirit to know who needed the gospel truth in their lives. It was the most amazing part of my whole mission BAR NONE!! :) So yeah I was so physically and spiritually exhausted from getting no sleep and talking to a million people in a 12 hour period that I just needed some peaceful time for a couple minutes. One of the mission presidents wifes took us downstairs to one of the rooms that we hadn't seen yet before in the temple during the open house. I saw this picture and felt and knew that the Savior loved me!! The spirit filled my heart and an overwhelming peace helped me to continue being a missionary.
Something cool I learned about the artist :Joseph Brickey is that he served his mission in Brazil and that is probably why his art was hung in the Sao Paulo Temple! You can find more of his artwork at www.altusfineart.com

Journey to Bethlehem
As a foreshadowing of His future triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the Son of David and the King of Israel, the unborn Christ is carried by a donkey to Bethlehem to be numbered of the house and lineage of David. Mary looks tenderly, perhaps knowingly, at the shy shepherd boy they pass along their way. Would she have remembered the prophecy that spoke of her future son as the “Shepherd of Israel”? (Psalm 80:1) Mary’s hand is held to her womb as she meets the gaze of the shepherd boy as a reminder that “unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” (Isaiah 9:6). Joseph’s focus is on the path ahead, and his hands, one opened and one closed, reflect both the strength and gentleness of the provider and protector.

Meridian Magazine: Interview with Artist Joseph Brickey, Art that connects the senses and the spirit.

What a stinkin cute kid!!

This picture just makes me smile!! I love my baby boy :)

Elder Ballards talk at BYU HAWAII about sharing the gospel through blogs!

my bro-in-law brad call was grauduating and we got to see elder ballard in hawaii. Mayley didn't last the whole time at the graduation so we missed his talk so i wanted to hear it today and share it with you that are avid bloggers!! SHARE THE GOSPEL BY BLOGGING :)
PS its kinda long but its a great talk.
its also on the front page of lds.org

December in Hawaii!

Hawaii was beautiful and everything you could possibly imagine! I LOVED IT! I will post more later but here are some of the fun things we did while we were there :)



Bry got to go on stage at the Polynesian Cultural Center and play the drums and do funny things with a Tongan Guy that his Brother Brad knows Personally. He got a cool weaved hat for doing it!

We went to a true Hawaiian Luau by ourselves! We got pretty lay's too. I loved that part :)

This is an amazing and gorgeous walk we went on that is lush full of trees and plants. It was beautiful. At the very end is a fun waterfall that we swam out to see.

The famous shaved ice with icecream on the bottom called "matsumotos!!" It was delicious!

The Waiema Waterfalls. Mayley looks a little scared or sad here probably because it rained the whole time and we were all wet!!

A beautiful Sunset that we caught on our last night there!

On Sunset beach saying "HANG LOOSE"

Hunter had fun eating and playing in the sand!

Brutus the huge sea turtle!!

There is a beach where they come out to sunbath and they have people that volunteer and watch the sea turtles so that they don't get hurt! It was amazing to see a huge one up close!

Hunter Talking to Cousin Megan

Hunter is such a happy little baby! Here he is talking to his cousin Megan :) Megan loves him so much she grabs his bib to take a closer look at him. We were eating really good spinach artichoke dip that is why nancy is chowing down :)

Yummy Cheeseball!

Ok Guys!! This is Paula Deen's (from the foodnetwork) cheeseball recipe and I made my first cheese ball last night and it is soooooooooo yummy. I was so proud of it that I had to show all of you how yummy it really does look! I wish you all could come over and try some. Try making it..its super yummy. I didn't put in the green onions or the poppyseeds and still turned out good!

Temple Square Adventure!

Getting here was quite the adventure! We circled around 2 or 3 times temple square looking for a parking spot. Then we had to bundle ourselves and the kids up after getting out of the car which took a good 15 or 20 minutes then it took another 10 minutes to walk down to the temple grounds. It was soooooooooooo cold and are faces felt frozen! The sister missionaries took this picture of us and so many people would walk past mayley and just do the "OHHH how cute!" it was fun!

Then we traveled over to the galiven center to Bry's work party and Mayley got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus! You can see the huge bag of candy that she got! Wow! She was more excited about the candy then anything else that night :)

More pics of temple square!

She was in awwwwwe by all the lights!!!

Mayley loves the Doggies!

Do you lika da weenie dog?!

Parker had a companion on his mission that would ask him this quesiton..."Do you lika da weenie dog?" Growing up my dad had a weenie dog and then we were older my parents got us a weenie dog "neena" she passed away 3 years ago and it was soooooo sad to loose her. So we took mayley to the pet store the other day and we found a weenie dog at the pet store!! It was so much fun! We only got to play him for awhile. I wish we could've taken him home but maybe later :)

Bring on the Snow!

Mayley is wearing Bry's beanie that My mom makes for all of us!! This is a first! She never likes to wear hats so we were sooo proud of her! I think she will love playing in the snow this year! What a babe! She is just about the cutest thing in the whole world!

Mayley's New Words!

We had fun last night listening to Mayley say lots of fun words! These are just a few of the many that she can say...it's so fun to listen to her repeat back everything Bry tells her to say:

Grandma: Bama
Grandpa: Papa
Parker (She said it perfectly! Not even kidding)
Mommy: Mama (she never says Mommy) it is always MAMA!
Daddy
Window: Winow
Door
Chair
Bobo
Bubble
Hayley: Hayhee
Stinky
Bye Bye
Truck
Duck
Piglet
Pooh
Hunter: Hunner
Drink: dink
Juice
Baby
cheese
please: pees
Stuck: We read a book about a dog getting stuck in a tree log and she loves to look at it and say "STUCK" it's so funny
Bee

There are lots of funny things she can say but those are just a bunch she can say!! It's a riot to listen to her! I love watching her learn its one of my favorite things ever!

Can't find the Camera!

I'm known for loosing lots of things in my life and when it comes to cameras I have about the worse luck in the world. Just ask my mom or sister about it! I dropped like 3 when I was younger and they broke (I swear)!! Then on my mission the 1st one I had broke all of sudden and I had to buy another one in Brazil and then we got another one after me and bry got married and I had it in the bottom of the diaper bag and put a water bottle in the diaper bag and of course it spills and ruins the whole camera. So yeah we have a great one that we bought not too long ago but it is missing right now so I can't post any cute pics. I will find it soon!

Rhonda's birthday video

I found the video that I made for my mom's 50th birthday today. her bday was back in june but its super fun to look at for those of you that knows her and my fam! I love you mama!

Do my kids look alike?

Mayley when she was about the same age as Hunter right now. Hunter is the in the middle! I love Mayley's Hair. Wow! How her hair has grown! Hunter has about the cutest smile in the world and it just makes ya melt everytime he does. Mayley on the other hand was Miss Sober! Our friend katie made mayley this onesie! It is from the movie "What about Bob?" Bob wears this shirt on the movie. Just fun random pictures that I found of our babies! I have the cutest kids in the world and I'm soooooooo lucky to have them! I love them to pieces!

The Lord Hears our Prayers

This is one of those Pictures where you just look at it and go "OHHHHHH" and sigh!! My mom sent this to me awhile ago and I kept it on my computer. Just a quick experience to let you know why I know the Lord knows us in many ways....1st this week I had this experience; I teach piano right now to some kids in Tooele and found out that there little cousin that was 13 years old died the other day. I asked the mom what happened to him and she said he was a playing a game called "affliation" or something like that, I guess this is something that teeenagers are really into doing. So they put a rope around their necks and try to make themselves pass out. Well, he was home alone sick the other day while both of his parents were working and he made himself pass out. At the same time he fell over and choked himself to death. What an awful way to die. Pure accident. I just thought I would let all of you know if you know of this game or have heard of it let people know that it can kill teenagers. I was so sad to hear that this little boy that I don't even know died. I felt the Holy Ghost a lot the day I heard of this little boy dying. I know the Lord knows us and loves us so much. I know that we need to be good parents and watch over and take care of our children as well. I was watching Oprah yesterday because all of the Osmand's were on the show making a tribute to their father that just passed away. I once said HI to Donnie Osmand and my mom is super obsessed with him :) Ask her sometime about the picture she has of him. So while I was Watching the show I felt the spirit and knew that our Families are eternal and that the Lord is aware of each one of us and all that we do. That is why I love this picture so much because I can just see Heavenly Father looking and smiling down at this little boy praying earnestly with his pup! :)

The Shades!

Hunter is just a plain stud!! The drool makes him look even more like a man! :) These were just some fun pictures we found of him recentley

Check out my Slide Show!

Little Ladybug and Mr. Chicken

Mayley was a ladybug for Halloween. We went trick or treating three times that day! We went to Bryan's work, Grandpa Redding's Work and Grandma took her trick or treating to all of the office complexes and then we went to our truck or treat at our church. This was a new experience for Mayley. She would get one piece of candy and set the other one down she had in her hand. It was a funny little system she had. It was so fun have her a little bit bigger to take her out this time. She is our pride and joy. Along with her baby brother Hunter!

Our pumpkin carving experience well lets just say that Bryan and I have no artistic ability in us. Bry made a pretty good pirate face....mayley had fun helping Bryan with his drill and hunter learned how to use a knife!

MAYLEY GIRL

WE HAD TO GIVE MAYLEY FRUIT SNACKS FOR HER TO TAKE HER PICTURES. SO THAT IS WHAT SHE HAS IN HER MOUTH IF YOU LOOK CLOSE.

Our new Family Picture!

Hunter is a boxer!

This is super funny how hunter likes to box when we put him on his feet!

Our fun day at Benson Grist Mill

We went to the Benson Grist Mill out by Stansbury park on friday with some friends that live in my ward. It was awesome cause it was free to get in and there were tons of fun things to do! It reminds me a lot of Gardner Village in Salt Lake. We went on Hay Ride, Mayley jumped in a bounce house for the first time. She was scared to pet the horse while he was eating his HAY! She went through a hay maze, and caught a piece of candy when they shot it off through a big cannon! Mayley is Ms. Curious and kept getting away from me but it was overall super fun going and watching her play.

First time trying out the bounce house!! She isn't so sure at first but she loved it!

Mayley's Friends Sydney and Kelsey.

Our fav show.."The office"

This is bry and I's new thursday night favorite show!! Its one of those shows that is full of random things that happen! I love it! I found this one on you tube and it has portugese sub titles!! its pretty funny if you understand portugese!

Fun Pictures!

Hunter and I had our own little photo shoot while mayley was taking her nap yesterday. He is seriously such a smiley baby!! I love it!

He looks like a little man in this one! Do you love his drool? He has to wear a bib permanently because I have to change his clothes too many times a day because they are sopping wet if he doesn't wear a bib!

This picture wasn't really taken in Jan. just a couple days ago. :)

This is one of my favorites that bry took of our Hunter resting on his knees. He just has the cutest little face. :)

Mommy's swimsuit

Mayley found my swimming suit in the hall closet yesterday and was attempting to put it on by herself so I helped her put it on. She was so excited to wear it so we went outside afterwards and played on the swingset and in the sandbox forever. She loved wearing it. It made me laugh so hard. She is so funny :)

What are the odds?!

This is quite the random story: I was staying at my parents house this past week while Bryan was working in Sacremento and Reno. It was late one night and I went to take Hunter who was sleeping in his car seat off my Dad's bed and put him on the ground. In the process, I tripped over my dad's shoe and went tumbling to the ground with Hunter, car seat and all. Hunter wasn't hurt but the next day I had a huge pain and bruised up toe on my right foot (the one right next to my pinky toe). Well then yesterday I went downstairs to get something out of the little "storage" room. It is really a bedroom but we just store everything in there for now. I didn't see that Bry's old laptop was laying on the ground and stubbed my toe really bad on it. Oh my gosh!! I'm such a nerd. The ironic thing is: It's the same exact TOE I bruised from tripping over my dad's shoe but now it's on my left foot. So today I have 2 bruised toes on both feet. WHAT IN THE HECK ARE THE ODDS OF THAT HAPPENING AGAIN!?! Pretty funny huh?! Even Funnier that I got this cartoon the other day in an email sent to me :)

Hunter is so cute!

Hunter playing with his toys! :)

Hunter "MAGOO!"

We started calling hunter "Mr. Magoo" he just has his cute squishy face. We love our baby boy! Mayley helps me pat him on the back now when we need to burp him. I feel so blessed to have such darn cute kids!

Happy Golden Birthday Bry!

Today is September 26 and my greatest hunk of burning love Bryan turned 26 years old. :) It's funny to think that I can remember Bryan when he was only 15 years old!! Crazy. I've heard the story about 20 times about the day that he was born. Well all I remember is that his mom was canning peaches and talking to her neighbor by the fence. She had to give labor naturally to Bryan. He only weighed 5 lbs. and I think 11 ounces. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. I know that he was born in Provo and he was named "Bryan Scott Call" we was orginally supposed to be called "Scott" since his dad's name is Bryan also. But after Kindergarten after he heard all of the other kids being called by their first names he wanted to be called by his first name too. It would be weird to think of Bryan as "Scott". Anyway, Another random thing is ever since we have been married we have had a birthday in a different house. When he turned 24 we were living in Rexburg going to school, then 25 was at our little apt. in Holladay, and then now here he is 26 and we are living in Tooele!

Well, I will add pictures later. Here is a cute pic of Bry when he was baby!