Tender Mercies

I have been falling in love with the little 2 and 3-year-olds that I teach at church more and more every week!  Every Sunday I look forward to the smiles and hugs I get from these innocent little children.  As I was sitting in the chapel during Sacrament meeting, I glanced over the aisle and caught 3-year-old Tommy looking and smiling at me, totally melting my heart.  As an Easter treat, I made pink popcorn balls for the kiddos.  One of their favorite songs to sing during class is "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree," so I knew this would be a hit.  When it was snack time, I asked the kids if they could do a "big favor for me," and I asked if they could sing the song.  "But it's snack time, not singing time," Tommy said.  "Oh but I have a surprise for you, so you need to sing it first, okay?"  And as we started to sing the song and make the hand motions, one of the girls who was crying started to laugh and sing along! Songs are amazing l

It's kind of difficult celebrating the birthdays of my brothers, sisters, and parents when I live so far away from them.  For this reason, I have to resort to sending birthday letters and/or presents.  My little brother's birthday is coming up on Saturday, March 23rd.  He is turning 16!  How did this happen?!  I guess he isn't really my little brother anymore.  December 2006. Cute picture! I had been thinking for some time about what to get him, and my husband and I came up with the idea to get some dog tags with some messages engraved into the metal.  On the first one we wrote a simple note expressing our love to our brother: Victor Joseph Whipple  You're far but close to our hearts J & M Adams  The second dog tag said: "In Memory of God, Religion, Freedom, Peace, and Family" Alma 46:12 This passage was paraphrased from the story of the Title of Liberty in the Book of Mormon.  In this story, there was a l

                               Marshall and I had such a great time at the Ice Festival tonight here in Fairbanks, that I had to share with all of my friends and family the videos and pictures we took. I didn't get a ton of pictures of the ice sculptures, but I did take some.  (If you want to see more, just visit the official web page by clicking here.)  I was being really goofy in the videos because well, I was cold, and the only way to distract myself was to be loud and laugh a lot.  I hope you have as much fun watching them as we did playing in the ice maze and sliding down the ice slides!!   This hummingbird reminded us of Grandma Adams Sarah, this Tin Man is for you Giant Grasshopper This was inside an ice log cabin Giant mosquito biting Marshall.  These things are GIANT in Alaska! You need to turn your screen sideways  (90 degrees clockwise) for this video. Sorry!

Out in Creamer's Field at about 5:30pm. The sun is still up!  I cannot believe I am writing about this.  I have just been noticing that people in Fairbanks have been acting a little bit different as of late, and I think I have a hunch about what it is. 1. I got a notice on my door the other day, reminding us about the annual "hard pack snow removal" in our apartment's parking lot next week. This is Marshall's Parking spot. Notice the large build-up  of snow and the dip where he parks his truck. It just gives an idea of how much snow and ice is packed on our parking lot. My car below is not even parked on a flat surface because of this. And parking spots are pointless in the winter. 2. It was starting to get light when I walked out of the house this  morning at 6:45am 3. There is still light outside at 7pm 4. We are gaining 7 minutes of sunlight PER DAY!! 5. I wore shorts last night on my way to yoga because it was a w