It is one of the beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

--- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our Family Doctor

This is John Allen, the best Physicians Assistant there ever was! (I wish the picture were larger.) He passed away this morning after a short illness that was discovered after he slipped and hit his head while serving his neighbors shoveling walks on Saturday. He has been our family doctor since I (Laura ) was young, and he has been so good to me, my parents, and my siblings. We will miss him very much! Cherry Tree Family Practice in Orem will never be the same. John was so kind and considerate and really listened to and cared for his patients. We love you, John! We will continue to pray for your family!

WINTER WONDERLAND

It looks like we will have a
WHITE CHRISTMAS afterall!
YEAH!!!

12 Days of Christmas

Elisabeth's Piano Recital

On December 10th Elisabeth had a Christmas piano recital. She did a great job! It was fun to hear her and her friends (Hannah, Aspen, & Jessica) play. Hannah's mom, Julie, is her teacher. She is the one in the red serving the cookies in the picture below.

Rebekah's 4th Birthday

Bekah turned 4 years old on December 9th. We celebrated with grandparents on the 7th so that Great Grandma McCluskey could be here. The cupcake cake.Jewelry box from Grandma and Grandpa Swensen. Tinker Bell from Great Grandma McCluskey.Remote Control Scootaloo from Grandma and Grandpa McCluskey.Bekah didn't like the ribbon on her head.My Little Pony Ponyville Sweet Sundae Amusement Park from Mom and Dad.Do you think she got enough gifts? (Laura shops early for birthdays and Christmas...starting in July...so sometimes she loses track of how much she has purchased.)
On her actual birthday, Rebekah got to have her first official birthday party with friends. It was a "Fancy Nancy" party. The dress-up shoes were too small and started falling apart, and the earrings didn't want to clip on correctly. But we hope the girls still had some fun getting fancy. What a bunch of cute little girls...Jennie, Mary, Amanda, Presley, Rebekah, Jenna, and Courtney...with lots of personality!!!

Elisabeth's Baptism

Elisabeth was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Saturday, December 6th. It was a gorgeous, sunny day! She looked so pretty in her white dress, and she was so excited about it. Roy baptized and confirmed her. We all felt the Spirit really strongly, and it was nice to think about Samuel probably being there with us. We all cried during the closing song, "A Child's Prayer", because we love it and the kids sang that at Samuel's funeral. It's Elisabeth's favorite Primary song. We gave her her own set of scriptures with her name embossed on them, and other people gave her some really nice things as well. Here are some pictures of her special day.

If the Savior Stood Beside Me

This is a new book recently released by Greg Olsen called "If the Savior Stood Beside Me", and the little boy on the front cover looks so much like Samuel to me. It was really interesting how I felt when I saw that book for the first time. I can't really describe the feelings, but I know Samuel is doing well and is happy. I just had to buy the book last night, and I have looked at it a million times in the last 24 hours. It was like getting a postcard in the mail from Samuel while he is on his vacation with the Savior. :-) They had even chosen to sing the song "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" at Elisabeth's baptism today (I'll post about that later). I am thankful for all of the little messages I feel I get sent from Samuel.

Festival of Trees (part 2)

Tonight I took Elisabeth and Rebekah up to the Festival of Trees, and we met Roy's parents and grandma, and most of my family. It was fun to look more closely at some of the trees. We still didn't see everything. After doing this two nights in a row, my feet hurt. I wish Roy could have been here, but we might go up on Friday during the day so that he can see everything. Here are some picture collages of the evening. I ran out of memory in my camera because I never delete the pictures off the memory card, so I had to borrow my dad's camera. I wasn't very good with it (sorry...blurry pictures).

More of Sammy's tree display:
Some of the other trees we liked (I took the picture of the golf club tree especially for my brother-in-law Tony who is an excellent golfer):
Some of the gingerbread houses (pretty amazing):

Festival of Trees

I attended the Festival of Trees bid night tonight. Samuel's tree display was so wonderful. I loved it! I cried, of course. He probably never would have had a bedroom like that in real life. I spent the evening with Trissa Peleschka and her husband Wolfe, her daughter Rachel, and my good friend (Trissa's youngest daughter) Katie Nicholson. Katie and I met at Primary Children's when her baby spent 3 weeks there with RSV during the same time Sam was there. Trissa donated the tree, and she and Rachel put it all together. I am glad that Primary Children's Medical Center will benefit from this, so that they can continue to help children get better. I know they wanted to make Samuel well too. I saw my friend Rosann there with her mother also. I am still amazed at how Samuel's sweet face draws people to him. The woman who bought his tree burst into tears when I told her that Samuel passed away. People are so kind, and it means a lot to me that they care.