"hail to the prophet, ascended to heaven!"

the beloved prophet and president of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, gordon b. hinckley, passed away tonight at the age of 97. my heart is broken, yet rejoicing. what a tremendous man! president hinckley has been the prophet of the mormon church for the last 12 years; half of my high school career and the whole of my adult life... it goes without saying that this man has had an incredible influence on me and i love him with all of my heart. i can just picture him right now, walking arm-in-arm with his sweet wife, marjorie... cracking silly jokes for her. i thank my God for such a special man to guide us through this era of our lives.

cool new find

my boys, like most children, are fascinated by ANYTHING that moves... cars, trains, planes... they have all sorts of toys of these kinds and they love to watch shows about them: the movie "cars," "thomas the tank engine," etc, but there hasn't really been anything about airplanes they could watch. several months ago, my good friend, janaya, introduced me to this sweet website that all your little ones will just LOVE...

"andy's airplanes."

it features a new, animated DVD series for kids, all about a cute, friendly little guy named andy, who flies around the world learning about history and, of course, airplanes. you can get the first episode, "andy meets the blue angels," here. my boys get so excited about airplanes and can spot an airplane in the sky no matter how tiny, (isn't it amazing how they can do that?) so they totally dig this show. joel runs around the house flying his airplanes saying, "i want to be a blue angel someday! they're AWESOME!" this, by the way, is a direct quote from the first episode. and since kadin does everything that joel does, kadin does it, too. sigh.... so cute. andy's airplanes also has a fan club your kids can join. you can check the fan club out here. so, if you're looking for something new, fun and educational for your kids to watch, or if you need a cool gift for your nephew or your kid's next birthday party, i would totally recommend this. joel and kadin just adore this show, and anything that teaches good values, gets my kids excited about life and gives me 5 seconds to fold the laundry is an A+ in my book.

the new pad

here's some pictures of our new apartment in sunny, beautiful california.

the kitchen:



the dining area:


the living room:


the boys' room:

the play room: