"stretch, reach, for that kind of disciple ship that can take you far beyond where you thought you could go." (Neal A. Maxwell, in a BYU Idaho devotional, feb 6th, 2000)

This morning I listened to the devotional on BYU T.V. , I am SO grateful to have this channel back in our home. It really does help me to feel so much more connected to our church and our leaders. As I listened to this beautiful devotional I found my heart yearning to be better, to reach higher. Elder Maxwell spoke of our life and the trials we have here, he taught that we must understand that this life should not be looked at in a negative light- but- with an attitude of learning; because this life is what will teach us the ways of the master, it is our class room.

I can not sit here in our new home with our three beatiful children and NOT acknowledge The Lords hand in our life. he has blessed us so abundantly, I can clearly see this right now, and I am grateful for the gift of seeing the blessings, sometimes I think that can be a hardest part of it all..just seeing and recognizing what he has given us instead of feeling overwhelmed and alone. when we see clearly our many blessings, life does not feel near as overwhelming. when I don't see my blessing I feel hurt, sad and lonley, right now I feel like a light has been turned on! before I sat scared and frustrated in the dark and when I light came on I could see I was in a beautiful safe place with so many people who love me. when my eyes are open and my heart is soft, I am always amazed at what he has done for me. I am looking forward to reaching a little farther and higher and seeing just where I can go!

to young, yet too old.

If you know my 6 year old you know that she is too old for her britches, but in o.k ways. she doesn't like boys or want a cell phone or any thing like that. But she understands things, and that changes her interests for example: she has become fascinated with facebook lately.

She will search my friends list and look up people she knows; Then, she checks out their pictures, and the last two days she has started writing little notes to some of them. My favorite thing she does is when she stands over my shoulder reading every ones status..that can get scary depending on the person...and then reads what I say to them.... out loud, it's lovley. ( not a hint of sarcasam AT all)

All this is cute, and maybe I will consider letting her have her own face book with a very few friends... we shall see. So today as she was writing Happy Halloween to some one I remembered a funny facebook/ olivia story:

the other day I was texting a friend back and forth who wanted to come over and see our new puppy- olivia asked what I was doing so I told her what we were talking about. I said to her " I told her the other day she could come over and see angie" she says back to me very authoritative like.." I KNOW, I read that on facebook"

ahh, I just love my 6 year/25 year old daughter, I have been laughing for weeks over that.

8 years....

Today is a big day. Mike and I have been Married for 8 years! Its funny how time changes your perspective on life, the first few years of marriage were so care free in many ways, we traveled and did as we pleased, nothing but a job tied us to any place. I am so grateful for those years, we went to Hawaii, new york, Virgina, Nauvoo, Montana and so many places in between. It was fun to travel with my best friend. At that time, when I would be out with girl friends and they would say they had been married for 7 years or more I would think " I can't even imagine that, its so far away!" . Here we are.

Today's celebrates 8 years that Mike and I have been married. I know that 8 years is not very long in the grand scheme, and yet in today's twisted society I feel very grateful that we have been so successful and happy together.

Our adventures have changes these days, we no longer travel to crazy places on a whim, but our adventures are crazy, hard and fun all the same. They stretch us and bring us closer together. Now days we enjoy the feeling of calm after a crazy day, we love the laughter of our three little angels, we have a hard time teaching our baby to sleep in his bed because he is just to fun to cuddle with. We talk for hours about out ya ya and how smart and stubborn she is. We worry about our sweet sweet jack who is so incredible and yet struggling. We feel motivated to get out into the world in a real way and make a difference, we worry about the future of our country. We fight together as the world tries to tear us apart through Satans distractions. Knowing the whole time that its our duty to keep our marriage and little ones safe. But WE do it all together, sometimes the roles change and we have different parts to play, but neither of us would enjoy life with out the other being in every part of it.

Michael, is my best friend, my confident. He is the person I want to be with at all times of the day. He is the one who can lift me up higher then any one else, just by a look or a hug. He is the one person who knows all my quirks, understands my goofy sense of humor, and who respects me even if no one else does. He protects me and helps me reach out side of my comfort bubble. I am better because of him.

Thank you Mike for these first few years, I can not wait to see what forever will bring us! I love you.

and waiting....

We were supposed to close on our house between the 10-15th of september. But after a meeting with the lender they are hopeful for "sometime next week". So thats that update. That may be all I can say right now.

My kids are great! Soccer keeps us pretty busy but they both love it. Livy is averaging two goals a game which is awesome for her! She is doing great in school. two fridays ago she was student of the week and last friday she got sudent of the month for her class!! we went and watched the assembly, but some one (me) forgot the camera. she was so cute thoguh, the littlest one up there. WE could not be more proud of her.

Jack enjoys soccer, or at least being on the field with every one and watching them play! lol. so I am happy to have him doing something. he is in preschool and I enjoy seeing his creative side come out. he is even learning to read a bit. SO PROUD! He tells the best stories I have ever heard complete with crazy facial expressions. The other day we got to cook all day together I told him I was the chef and he was my assistant.

Joey ( our little Lion) doesn't speak any baby talk yet, not even mama or dada...he just growls and ROARS- literally. You say lion..he roars. its pretty funny. He can get into the fridge now. so I have lost three glass jars of food in the last two days, tile and glass just don't seem to get along very well. He has four teeth. two on the top and two on the bottom. He is so happy ALL the time. we laugh and laugh at him. We recently figured out that he seems to have the gluten intorerance just like Jack. So its been interesting to find baby gluten free crackers ( thank you walmart!)

Mike is doing great in Law school, he is tired, BUT he loves it and I think its going really well for him. we are so proud of him and all the hard work he is doing so that our family can have a good life.

So there it is a little update from the Hellers. busy and hopefully moving soon. But life is good and I feel so grateful for the many many blessing we do have, I am grateful for my amazing family.

a few pictures...

Since we switched all our pictures to this computer I can finally show all of you what we have been up to! It kind of been the Olivia show around here for the last month, here are some pictures from here birthday! carianne took some better ones so once I get them from her again I will share them! =) Devery and I stayed up till' 2 in the morning laughing and frosting and re-frosting the cake, thanks dev! but...It was fun to have olivias birthday in the same park at the same table that I had my 6 year old party at too.so weird how life ends up working out some times =) . We played soccer and then opened presents and had cake. I am always amazed at how well Mike handles large groups of children, he really is an amazing man. THANK YOU Every one who came and shared this special day with such an amazing little lady.

fudge/cookies

Tonight I learned something about my self. If it says the words cookie and fudge on the package, I probably already love it. For example, chips ahoy just had these limited edition fudge center cookies, apparently they were VERY limited because after just one lovely purchase from the Malwart, I can't find them any where!!

Its all about the fudge. Mmmmm. Plus, for some reason I tie chips ahoy cookies with memories of my gandma, she would buy them for me on long days out on the town. so I love them more then their quality really should allow.

But really, as a scanned the isles of Target, I realized its all about the fudge center. I just can't say no to a cookie with a fudge center.And might I just add that this is the kind of quality blog I send out when I blog at 12:30, good night folks!

not gone, just busy...

WELL, as any one who keeps track of me might have noticed, I have been missing from the internet world. Our computer showed up with a blue screen two weeks ago and we can't turn it on till we can move all of our pictures....so I have been computer/internet less for almost two weeks. the crazy thing is that we have been so busy I have not missed it. BUT the play and bithday s have all finnished and the family has come and gone =(. so now it is on to the moving....hopefully soon. we are ready to get on with it! hope fully we will close the end of next week. so keep us in your prayers!! as the days slip by and our closing date moves further and further back, I am going a little more crazy- which is not good for any one!lol.