6 Deans + a Dog

PRIESTHOOD ORDINATION

Jake and Will were ordained yesterday in church. Jake was ordained a Teacher and Will a Deacon. It was so nice to be able to do it on the same day. Both sets of Grandparents came to support them.

I even bore my testimony in sacrament meeting which is HUGE for me :) I wanted to write my testimony so my kids have it in writing of how I felt on this special day. It is always hard to stand without anything written down because I feel like I don't make sense and I leave things out. This is how I wanted my testimony to go...

I want my kids to know that I have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want them to know that if they follow and live the principles of the gospel that it will only bring them happiness in their lives. I want our boys to know how proud I am of them for being worthy to receive the priesthood. I am grateful to now have 3 priesthood holders in our home. I have seen the priesthood bless my life, my family's lives and friends lives first hand so I am very grateful for it. I want Rachel to know how much I appreciate her and her sweet testimony. She is an amazing girl and is always teaching me. You think you teach your kids but really they are always teaching us. Because of Rachel I faithfully read in my scriptures each night. I love the time I get to spend with Sadie at night while we lay in bed and she reads her 20 minutes and then we finish off with a chapter in the Book of Mormon. Time is moving so quickly and it makes me sad how fast she is growing as well as our other kids. I want Mike to know how much I love him and that he is truly my BEST FRIEND. I admire how he serves in his scout calling (going on 6 years) and never complains. Meeting each Wednesday, monthly camps, week long summer camps and meetings twice a month. He is such a great dad and good example to our kids. I love serving in the Relief Society presidency and getting to know the sisters I serve with better. It is fun to meet each week and spend time with them. I am so grateful for this time of year to be able to celebrate Christ's birth and REMEMBER him. I hope our kids can always remember the true meaning of CHRISTmas. I love all of my family and friends and am so grateful to live in this great area where our kids can be taught and learn from all of you. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Mike and I got engaged on Christmas Eve 20 years ago. This was the picture his dad took when we announced our engagement. I LOVE Mike's Santa suspenders. AWESOME :)

NUTTIN FOR CHRISTMAS

Last week Sadie participated in the Olympus High Schools Holiday performance of Scrooge. It was such a cute performance and we loved watching Sadie sing. She sang one song "Nuttin for Christmas". It was a fun program to help us get into the Christmas spirit. Sadie sure LOVES to be in stage :)

HAPPY "12th" BIRTHDAY WILL

~~~WILLIAM ROBERT DEAN~~~

You are such an easy going, kind, smart, loving and very well liked boy. We always get comments from people of how you include others and are a friend to everyone. Your teachers always say what a good student you are. I love how you idolize your Dad and Jake. You would do anything for them and want to be around and doing what they are doing at all times. I am so glad that dad gets to be in scouts with you because I know how long you have waited to be in his troop. Thanks for being such a GREAT boy Will! WE LOVE YOU :)

Instead of doing a big birthday party this year Will chose to take the 4 boys in our neighborhood to do a "Birthday Activity". They went to Momentum Rock Climbing and then a late night at our house. It was so fun to see the 5 boys hangout together and have a great time with each other.

Will chose Bonsai for his birthday dinner this year.

It is hard to believe you are now 12 Will...
Jr High is just around the corner :(

JAKE and WILL's BIRTHDAY DINNER

We had Jake and Will's birthday dinner with the grandparents last Monday night. It is always fun to have them over and get to spend time with them. We are so lucky to live less than 2 miles from both sets of grandparents. Having their birthdays both in November can be super busy but nice to be able to combine their dinners :)

ST GEORGE TOURNAMENT

Will played in a tournament in St. George over Thanksgiving break again this year. We took off at 5:00 on Thanksgiving evening and stayed until Sunday morning. We stayed once again in Holly Little's parents home. It is so fun to stay with the Little family. Our kids get along so well and Chad and Holly aren't that bad to hangout with either :) The boys played in 3 games. They lost the 1st game 1-2 (Will scored the only goal), tied the 2nd game 1-1 (Will scored the only goal) and won the 3rd game 6-2 (Will scored 2 of the 6 goals). It is really fun to watch Will play. He still loves soccer and since Jake loves football it makes for less competitiveness between our boys :) After the game on Friday we went with the Little's to the crack in the rock. The weather was absolutely gorgeous (mid 70s) so it made exploring and swimming while we were down there even better.

PYPER LITTLE

I just love this little girl. She is at such a fun age...3 yrs. She is like my own child. She calls Will SUPER. It is so funny whenever she sees him she says Hi Super. We aren't quite sure why she calls him that but it has stuck for awhile.

Next St. George tournament will be President's Day weekend...

CAN'T WAIT!

TURKEY TROT

Every other year when we have Thanksgiving dinner with the Nelson clan a bunch of us run in the Cottonwood Heights 5k (turkey trot) Thanksgiving morning. This year was Sadie's first year of running the race. Mike ran with Will, Rachel ran with my niece Annie and I ran with Sadie. Sadie did such a great job. She finished in just over 45 minutes (not bad for an 8 year old). Jake didn't run this year because the day before he fell and hurt his shoulder snowboarding. He was a good sport and came and took pictures for us.

All the kids with Grandpa Robert. He is why a lot of us love to run. He has run over 50 marathons in his life (his fastest was 2.26). His knees aren't very good anymore so all he can do now is come and support us. We love you Grandpa :)