Index it...

Today we had stake conference (well, we had it last night too), and our stake has set a goal to index 1 million names by the end of the year.  That is a pretty lofty goal...that means at least 1000 members of our stake need to participate, and each index 1000 names.  With that kind goal, it means we all have to get involved.  Luckily, I have a great husband.  When I get overwhelmed by more and more things on my list of things to do, he just gets to work.

So, today after church, we went to work.  We logged on, went through the beginning tutorials, and got to work.  It really was much easier than I thought it was going to be.  Simply reading through scanned records, and typing in those names to the database.  The church has made it as simple as possible, thank goodness!

We also got our kids involved.  They each got their own account for lds.org, and signed up to be indexers.  They have spent much of the night adding names, and it has been fun for me to hear them talking about birthday's, name choices, funny county names, etc..  I have been proven wrong (yet again), indexing will be easy for our family to do, and hopefully it will continue to be a fun activity for our kids.

Want to learn more?  Want to help in the effort?  Here's how:

1.  get an LDS.org account user name and password.  You will need your membership number!

2.  To begin indexing go to familysearchindexing.org, and click on Get Started.  Follow the instructions to download the FamilySearch Indexing program.  After installation, click on FamilySearch Indexing icon to begin.

Try it out!

Merry Christmas

From our family to yours, have a very Merry Christmas. 

Love, the Bisel family

It's been awhile but...

Okay, we are still alive.  I am sure you have all wondered what our family has been up to.  Well here it is:

A steam engine came by our community.  We stopped to see it in all its glory.  HOT DOG, it scared the pants off me (the pants actually did stay on).  I was only about 10 feet away when this baby went by, it blew its horn right as I took the picture and my heart certainly skipped a beat.  The kids thought it was fun to see the train, and Noah was a little shocked by the horn as well.

We spent our Thanksgiving with family like we always do.  Oh, the fun of swimming in the pool, and being with cousins.  Noah joined the rest of my kiddos as official water babies.  The best part???? My kids are old enough now to take him swimming with them, and I can just watch from the side of the pool.  All my dreams are coming true.

Dont' be too confused.  This picture of bocci balls comes from my new photographer, Mitchell.  While he was bored one day, we sent him around the compound taking pictures of the world around him.  We got lots of interesting pictures.  

My Noah.  Ohhhh how I love his guts.  Seriously, he is one of the happiest babies I have ever known.  I want to squeeze and love him all the live long day.  What a fun kid.  Okay, not right now, he has a cold and he wants me to hold him throughout the day, that's okay, because I want to hold him  all day too.  XOXOXO

As I am writing this, Noah is standing at the keyboard screaming the names of his sisters he sees in the picture.  And, now he wants to go swimming.  This should make for a fun day.    Noah loves being with his siblings, they make his life complete.

Lest you think our lives revolve around Noah, the rest of us are all super busy and happy.  We spent the fall at soccer games, and gymnastics practices, practicing piano, and working away at our homework.  Dad has been working extra hard at his new calling (YM president, this calling is making me miss his calling as EQ pres.), and at work.  I have been trying to remember orthodontists appointments, school volunteering, practices, after school activities, and everything else that 5 other people's lives hold.  I have truly lost my mind a couple times, and I have dropped more "balls" than I would like to admit.  But, I like to tell myself that my kids are fed, clothed, and happy, so if I forgot they had scouts one day, it won't kill them.  Maybe it will even teach them to be in charge of their own calendaring?  


We feel very blessed during this Christmas Season, we love to remember those of have gone before to make our lives so blessed.  We are especially grateful to our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ.  May you all have a very Merry Christmas.

Happy Halloween

This is how it starts.....no kid likes to be dressed up in a weird costume.  Noah shows his feelings quite clearly, he has no idea why we are all being so strange.  Even though Noah was feeling out of sorts, we continued having fun at the ward trunk r treat, and he started warming up.  

He began playing with donuts and stuffing them in his dads face.  That's always a BLAST.  I don't have pictures of it.  But, we took him trunk-r-treating that night.  The first pass through the cars, he was SOOOOO confused.  But, on the second time around, he was saying his own version of trick or treat, and he loved collecting the candy.

Now that Noah understands that the Pooh costume means CANDY...this is what he looked like on the real Halloween night.

JOY!

Mitchell went as the last airbender.  It was all his idea, and honestly, Bj put the whole thing together.  They died some white sweats, and an old white sunday shirt (and then they modified the shirt).  They bought some print your own tatoos for the arrow (by the way....they aren't awesome, the print your own tattos...it was a glorified sticker).   You can see, we did away with the "sticker", and just drew his arrow on for the real night.  And, luckily, I have shelves full of fabric to make the sash and the leg straps.  Go Mitch!!!!  

Maddie just looks creepy.  She is a stylin' vampire.  We worked hard to make her this ugly, it wasn't easy.  She went through my closet to find some clothes to ruin and rip to make her costume, and she used some ripped jeans for her pants.  Pretty easy, pretty cheap, and pretty awesome.

Lizzy went as a Chinese girl.  Ummm, she looked gorgeous.  Are little girls supposed to be so cute on Halloween.  I loved this costume, it's one of the old ones we pulled out of "the bag."  No work, just put it on over some black shirt and pants.  Do some hair, and call it good.  LOVE easy costumes.  

And, if you are still here, you must really love me.  Here's the cutest picture of the bunch.  This is Noah after eating way too much candy.  He would pick up one candy, take a bite, put it down, and try another.  He was hilarious, hyper, and so so so so so fun to watch.  

I am so grateful to be a mother.  What a blessing it is to experience life through the eyes of my children.  Even though Halloween is a totally crazy holiday, my children make it magical.  Plus, at the end of it all, we are all covered in melted chocolate!  That makes everyone smile.