Mothering with Spiritual Power

I recently finished this book called "Mothering with Spiritual Power" which is absolutely an amazing read. I feel that God inspired this woman to write this book specifically for me. I say that because as I was reading it, I felt my soul be nourished & my mind being enlighten. She uses the Book of Mormon as a reference throughout the whole book and helps people to understand that the Book of Mormon teaches us how to be a more influential mother. Essentially to mother with spiritual power. It was really neat looking at verses I have read so many times in a different way, with new light. It has given my scripture study a whole new focus. Out of all the parenting books I have read so far this is probably the best one yet.

P.s. I guess what I really love about this book, is that it encourages us to turn to Heavenly Father and inquire with him how to raise, nurture, teach, discipline, love etc.. our children. After all he knows them much more then any doctor, therapist, counselor etc. And whatever method works really well for one child doesn't necessarily work well for another, that's why it's so vital to inquire with the Lord, because they are HIS!

DeseretBook.com - Mothering with Spiritual Power

June To December

June

After coming back from Hawaii to Utah, we attended a festival at the Hawaiian Cultural Center in Utah. Weird but true. Utah has a Hawaiian Cultural Center. I love it! I actually learned how to do a Hula dance there for my wedding. I had an excellent teacher full of so much LOVE! Who would of thought delicious Hawaiian food in Utah. Mark's cousin Tanya has 4 beautiful girls who are part Hawaiian and take hula lessons at the center. We Watched them perform and they did a great job. It's fun to me to have that special connection with that side of the family. And it's just so fun to have Eve & Esther play with there Hawaiian cousins in Utah. We love the Lucero family:)

It was so hard to take a picture of the girls together. 2 of them just so desperately wanted to take a nap and not a picture. And yes Eve was one of them.

July

There are so many wonderful things that happen in July. Mark's brothers Matthew and Thomas recieved their endowments. The whole Denninghoff clan came out to Utah to support those two gentlemen in those sacred ordinances. My heart was full of joy and peace as we all greeted each other in the Celestial room. I can just imagine the joy my mother in law was feeling to have all her children in the temple. We also went to the oqxuiruh mountain temple open house as a great big family and took pictures in front of the temple. I don't have a picture of that right now but just imagine a big happy family smiling:) We went to Bridal veil, 7 peaks and my favorite just hanging out.

Esther Kaile'a with her aunt Shaylee

Mark's sister Jennifer with her son Gabriel

Hanging out at the park

August

Big things happened to us in August. Well Mark left his job and started graduate school at The University of Utah in Political Science. I started teaching Special Education at a middle school. After long discussions and much prayer Mark and I decided to switch roles for a year. Mark is a stay at home dad and grad student and I'm working full time and a Mother of course. Very tough I repeat Very tough, but I know thats what suppose to be happening right now for our family. That's why I've been incredibly busy I have NO time to do anything, even blog:( But I want to be better at documenting everything because I feel incredibly blessed. We also moved to a smaller appartment right behind our other place. So it took us a while to get things settled.

The day we moved Eve was in a cheerful mood

September

September was a blur to me. This is the month Mark and I was trying to find a balance with everything body, mind and spirit.


October
Was our adventure month. One weekend we drove down to Las Vegas to visit my mother and relatives from Hawaii. They had a special bowling tournament one weekend and the next weekend we drove down to San Diego to celebrate Mark's grandmothers 90th birthday with his family.

At the hotel in Las Vegas we spent a few hours at the pool.

We went to the Belagio to walk around and look at the Fall exhibit.

When we went to San Diego we stopped by at the University of San Diego to check out the campus. Mark is trying to decided where he would like to get his PhD. As we walked around on campus we stook out like a sore thumb. Everyone stared at our little family. I guess it's not common to see young parents on campus.

I personally don't see us attending there. Then again you never know. Didn't think I would live this long in Utah either:)

Mark's mother, grandmother and brother in this picture. Daniel & Rebecca came up with a wonderful idea. They invited everyone to make a page of their families and write a special message to granny for her birthday. They compiled everyones pages into this lovely book for her.

Later on that day we all went to the beach. It was surprising how awful the weather was because 15 minutes away from the beach it was warm and sunny, but when we got there it was cold and dreary. It look like vampires were going to pop out and get us.

Granny and Esther Kaile'a

This girl is absolutely crazy when it comes to water. It doesn't matter if it's 30-40 degrees it's absolutely fun to her. All her cousins were cold and didn't want to play with the water NOT Eve

she was in heaven.

She was excited because her daddy was coming to get her.

As cold as it was I did manage to get some priceless pictures. Just goes to show you, you can find good in any situation:)

Mark up to no good in these next pictures, poor Eve.

Remember in an early post I mention Eve so happy at the St. George temple these are the pictures I promised. Mark and I felt the spirit so strong and was overcomed with humility as we watched our daughter speak of the Savior with excitement and pointing to all the pictures he was in. For the first time I think I know what it means when the scriptures say "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" 3 John vs. 4 Amen Amen Amen It was a very tender experience for both of us. One that we will always treasure.

This girl is begging to be potty trained. She does most of the steps but Mark is waiting for me to teach her this summer. AAAAah! I won't even go there, or maybe I just did.

For Halloween we had a Zebra and a princess. Except our princess was a little to rough with our Zebra and gave her a nasty scratch on her cheek.

November

Eve turned the big 2 this year. My goodness my little princess is getting older.

She is so LOVELY!

this is what happens when you turn your back for 2 minutes to make dinner. Your daughter finds a permanent marker and draws all over her eye.

Mark and I have been sleeping in the living room lately because we no longer can share a room with Esther. We wake each other up every single time. I can't wait till our contract is up so we can get a 3 bedroom apartment or condo.

December

This girl is super spiritual. I'm not kidding. She tells me to read the scriptures on a daily basis and she picks them up her self and pretends to read them. I caught her trying to read these books on her own. No prompting seriously. My little missionary:)

You know how it is when you want to get a family picture, your kids go crazy and look at every single direction except in front of the camera. We were lucky to get the next picture.

Oh yes here is our family Christmas picture. For those of you who recieved a card and was a bit disturbed to see a inch cut off of Mark's head, well here you go his whole head, just for you. Love you all!

P.s. I will update our holiday season soon