The Updike's

General Conference I have a very best friend here in Colorado who has decided that our church isn't for her.  We have had a few heartfelt talks and I respect where she is coming from . . . however, as I have tried to understand where she's coming from - I have been really trying to research how we find truth.  I have been wondering why one person feels a certain way and why another person feels a different way.  I found this talk the other night and I just really really loved it.  It is a talk by President Uchtdorf entitled: "What is Truth?" I feel like my faith is really secure . . . despite some of my unanswered questions and lack of understanding on certain things - but I do like to learn about truth and how we perceive it differently. I have felt really strongly that as we try to prove the gospel right and true . . . instead of letting our concerns spiral us down a more negative path - snippets of understanding and light will come our way. I have really fe...

My family sure worked hard to make my birthday extra special this year!  I did my early morning workout in the basement and when I opened my door I found a surprise candy trail and love notes.  41 love notes/pictures.  So sweet! Surprise to me!  The whole family worked hard to decorate for my special day!  Garrett surprised me with outside string lights.  I have always wanted to have summer dinners outside with beautiful lights around us.   Garrett made my favorite breakfast ever: strawberry crepes!  Yum! My cute visiting teacher left a treat on my doorstep and left a little easter egg hunt on our front lawn for the kids.   We thought we were so funny and made a fun Happy Birthday video for Michael . . . we were all wearing our BYU shirts to make him laugh.  (since he is anti-BYU . . . he loves the Utah Utes). We ordered takeout from Cranelli's and then celebrated with Costco's t...

April Fool's Day has become one of our kid's most favorite day of the year!  They get so excited to plan pranks and they also get hyped up about what their parent's are going to do to them!  I love it! Presley was so determined to get her siblings this year . . . but they kind of beat her to the punch.  Unbeknownst to us, Boston and Lily got up in the middle of the night and decorated Presley's face while she was sleeping.   Even though Presley didn't know that her face got hit in the early morning hours - she tried to put her plan to work.  She got to decorate her siblings faces.  Boston and Lily were awake but they were good sports and pretended to be asleep so that she could finish her prank. Crew was dead asleep though!  Ha! Dad was a good sport also! Dad and Mom's turn for their pranks!  I purposely left a box of Oreo's in our bathroom for the kids to see when they saw their face art work.  One of the...