Happy Happy birthday, Jacob dear...

One of the hardest things about August is getting ready for Jacob's birthday.  It's not that it is unenjoyable, because we love our son and are grateful for the opportunity to celebrate his birth.  No, our angst comes from a completely different angle.  We have the hardest time trying to figure out what to get him for presents.  

You see, Jacob is an individual who is VERY focused in what he likes.  At any given time, he has a maximum of 2 things that he is "in" to, and these periods usually last for over a year.  That means that any time we treat him with something or a major present-accompanying holiday comes by we try to find something that is related to one of those 2 (if we're lucky) things.  What this means long-term, is that if he is "in" to the same thing for a really long period of time, we run out of DIFFERENT things to get him that he would be interested in.

Such was the case this year.  Jacob has been in to The Legend of Zelda for a long time now.  A REALLY long time...  So much so that we have run out of "run-of-the-mill" things to get him that relate to that interest.  In desperation, we started putting aside for something that was a bit more than we would traditionally spend on a birthday present.  We decided to get him a used Nintendo Wii U so that he could have the last Zelda game that he wanted but didn't have.  Somebody MIGHT have been excited...

SO excited in fact, that we just HAD to have his friend (and his family) over to hang out and "share" it with.

Then there was the obligatory "candles on the cake" shots.  Both our kids are starting to get "up enough in years" that if we keep doing a candle per year, there's going to be more candles than cake.  We're going to have to go to using those number-shaped candles soon.  How did we get to a place in life where we have kids that old?  That's for OLD people... :P

 

We are so grateful for our family, especially our son on this, his birthday.  He is turning into such a gentle and caring young man and we are so pleased with him.  We love you, Jacob!  Happy Birthday, and may you have many more to come!

- Josh                      

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

To help the Young Women learn the importance of looking inward rather than outward, we had a blindfolded make-up night. Each of the girls were blindfolded and put in front of another girl, and had to apply make-up without looking. Comedy and tragedy ensued.

Let me tell you, I heard more "I am so scared!", and "What are you doing?", and "Oh, brother!" than anything else. Tons of laughing and screaming emanated from that house.

Meagan even said, "You so can't use that for the blog!"  Oops! Too late... :D

The final results of all our YW and their beautiful makeovers. 

They even convinced our Bishop to join in on the fun. Being a good sport, he obliged. 

After all that was said and done, we talked about how our Father in Heaven sees us and how we need to see with His eyes rather than with our imperfect ones. We also discussed how true beauty comes from actions, words, and deeds. It doesn't matter what you wear, or how much makeup you have on; but it does matter how you speak and treat one another.

 "But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." (1Samuel 16:7, emphasis added)

-Sarah