Category Archives: Children

Children, Family, General Conference, Photography, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Our General Conference Hike

October 8, 2014 Hubbard's Cupboard 5 Comments

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The week before General Conference I’m usually feeling really down and I know it’s just Satan trying to make me sad right before a really spiritual General Conference.

General Conference is always a breath of fresh air for me!

Dallin’s research lab was going on a hike on Saturday morning of General Conference. At first Dallin really didn’t want to go and miss conference but then we decided to take a radio up the canyon.

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It worked out great! We got to listen to conference and we got to participate in his lab hike. Here’s me with a little handheld radio we borrowed from our neighbors.

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Micah, who just turned 3, walked 2 miles by himself! I was impressed.

During the hike I was surprise to hear the language of Cantonese being broadcast on the radio!!! I got so excited. I grew up speaking Cantonese and I thought it was so cool that the first foreign language talk was in Cantonese by Elder Chi Hong Wong.

There were so many good talks during conference!! I can’t wait to read all of them over the next six months.

Another great talk was by Elder Carlos A. Godoy, who spoke in Portuguese, called The Lord Has a Plan for Us. My husband speaks Portugues so it was one of his favorites too.

Elder Godoy asked us a question about our patriarchal blessings: “If we continue to live as we are living, will the promised blessings be fulfilled?”

He concluded by saying:

We are children of Almighty God. He is our Father, He loves us, and He has a plan for us. We are not here in this life just to waste our time, grow old, and die. God wants us to grow and achieve our potential.

In the words of President Thomas S. Monson: “Each of you, single or married, regardless of age, has the opportunity to learn and to grow. Expand your knowledge, both intellectual and spiritual, to the full stature of your divine potential”

This talk was very inspiring to me because I felt like I wasn’t living up to my full potential nor trying to achieve all the promised blessings in my patriarchal blessing.

The main reason why I don’t think I’m living up to my patriarchal blessing potential is because I have no idea where my patriarchal blessing is! I need to request a new copy!

What did you learn from General Conference?

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Child #1: Micah, Child #2: Quentin, Children, Family Life, Photography, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Hi, I’m a mom!… and indulging myself today.

April 15, 2014 Hubbard's Cupboard 2 Comments

I’m a mom who loves social media.

I’m a mom who loves taking pictures. I take way more pictures than I can keep up with.

I’m a mom who enjoys blogging and reading blogs.

I’m a mom who really doesn’t have time for blogging.

I’m a mom who blogs anyways usually in place of housework.

When I’m blogging my kids are probably asleep or watching TV.

The funny thing is that I’m usually blogging about my kids.

I usually don’t blog unless my chores are done. That’s why, you see, I haven’t been blogging.

Guess what? My chores are not done today.

… and I guess I’m still blogging today.

There’s probably a lot of better things I could do right now… Oh well.

My absolute favorite quote from general conference was from Sister Reeves called Protection from Pornography – a Christ-Focused Home.

“It is OK if the house is a mess and the children are still in their pajamas and some responsibilities are left undone. The only things that really need to be accomplished in the home are daily scripture study and prayer and weekly family home evening.”

The apartment is not clean.

My kids and I are still in my PJs.

But I did do my personal scripture and personal prayer today.

We also did our family scripture study and family prayer.

And we planted our garden yesterday for Family Home Evening.

So I guess the essentials are done.

So right now, I’m indulging myself by blogging before my kids wake up from nap.

… oh wait … I hear a kid crying.

I guess nap time is over! 🙂

Enjoy cute pictures of Micah and Quentin. It’s a rare occasion to get a picture of both of them looking at the camera at the same time. My mother-in-law hand knit them matching sweaters.

I would love to hear about you!

Who are you? Why do you blog or read other people’s blogs?

Children, Photography, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Happy Valentine’s Day 2014!

February 14, 2014 Hubbard's Cupboard Leave a comment

DID YOU KNOW? It’s actually “Happy St. Valentine’s Day”? Even though it is unclear exactly who St. Valentine is. One legend I heard while we were in Ireland is that February 14 is the day St. Valentine died. The Dubliners believe he is burried somewhere in Dublin, Ireland. They believe he was killed because he was performing marriage ceremonies for soldiers and young couples even though marriage was not allowed at the time.

While St. Valentine’s Day doesn’t have any significant religious value or doctrine in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the church does support dating after the age of 16 and marriage between one man and one women. After marriage we are to work hard to keep a healthy and happy marriage. Our stake president counseled the husbands to take their wives on a date every week.

Basically, we celebrate Valentine’s Day because of culture and not religion. 🙂

WHAT DOES OUR FAMILY DO FOR VALENTINE’S DAY? Dallin told me that his mom use to make him a big heart shaped cookie for breakfast. So I woke up at 5 AM this morning to make him that big cookie!

May Bo loves to receive and give valentine’s. Her favorite memory is making tin foil Valentine’s day boxes in elementary school. Every year, May Bo has taken Valentine’s Day pictures of Micah ever since he was born. You can see the other years here:

2012

2013

We will post the 2014 Valentine’s Day pictures of Micah and Quentin another day. Why? Because there is this little girl who always comes up to us in Sunday school almost every week. She always gives us a cute smile and we give her gold fish crackers. Every time May Bo saw her she wanted to take a picture of her. So finally we just invited her over to take Valentine’s Day pictures. It’s not everyday that May Bo can take pictures of cute little girls since we have 2 boys!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY

Child #2: Quentin, Children, Family Life, Photography

Quentin FAQ

February 1, 2014 Hubbard's Cupboard 6 Comments

I spend so much time talking about Micah but I have another kid named Quentin. He’s 6 months almost 7 months old. He is a very very good baby. He eats well and sleeps well. He has such a tender and gentle personality. Quentin gets frighten really easily which doesn’t help having a loud two year old around. Micah really likes to scare Quentin. Quentin is also very tough because he has to withstand wrestles and toys being thrown at him. Poor little guy. He can sit but has no desire to start crawling.

Is it a girl? No, Quentin is a boy with a lot of hair. Here’s a picture of Quentin’s hair at birth.
Was Quentin born with that much hair? Yes, he was born with a lot of hair! He has already had 2 hair cuts! I’ve cut off about 3.5 inches of hair already. He had hair down past his shoulders. Here are his new born pictures.
Did Micah have that much hair? No, Micah was baud. See picture here.
Where was Quentin Born? He was born in Ireland at the National Maternity Hospital on Holles street. [Side note: He was born on the fourth of July!… oh the irony] Here’s his birth announcement.
So can he still be president of the USA? We have gotten this question so many times! But yes he can because he is solely American… no other country has claimed him to be a citizen.
Is Quentin an Irish citizen? Unfortunately, no. He has an Irish birth certificate. We’d would have to go back for 2 to 3 more years before he becomes an Irish citizen.
Did you plan on having a baby in Ireland? Originally, we wanted to come back to Utah to have the baby but then we fell in love with Ireland and their maternity care so decided to stay. Also, they wouldn’t let me fly internationally after I was 26 week pregnant.
Did you have good maternity care in Ireland? Amazing!!! My opinion is that I had better maternity care in Ireland than in the US.
Was it hard to get Quentin back to the USA? It all worked out. You can read about the miracle here.
Is Quentin big for his age? Yes, he’s almost 29 inches which makes him about 100+% in height. He weighs about 20.5 pounds which is about 80%. He is the size of Micah at 1 years old! I guess we also have to take in account that he was almost 2 weeks late!
Why did you name him Quentin? or Did you name him after Quentin Terrantino? It was the only name Dallin and I liked! I’ve always liked the name. There was also a store in Ireland named Super Quinn and a city name Quin in Co. Clare Ireland. We thought we would call him Quin but when Quentin came we have stuck with Quentin. No, we didn’t name him after Quentin Terrantino. Sometimes we tell people that we named him after Quentin L. Cook.
Why is Quentin’s middle name Liam? I really like the name Liam. Dallin wasn’t too happy about it at first but then we found out the Liam is the Irish word for William. William is the name of Dallin’s dad. We already have a lot of nephews with the middle name of William so we went with Liam. 🙂
Who does Quentin look like? Right now we don’t think Quentin looks like Micah at all. He kinda looks like Dallin but we think he mostly looks like May Bo.

Children, Photography

What’s the baby meme?

January 17, 2014 Hubbard's Cupboard 12 Comments

I took this picture last week of my friend’s baby and I think it’s crying for a caption or meme. What do you think it is?

Child #1: Micah, Child #2: Quentin, Children, Family Life, Photography

Taking a Break During Finals Week

December 13, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard 3 Comments

I graduated almost 1 year ago. Why in the world am I writing about finals week? Probably because I still feel so busy during finals week even though I no longer have school. I feel like haven’t had time to sit down this whole week. Winter semester always seems the most busiest because finals week ends up around the holidays. My husband is in graduate school and my brother is also college so “school” is still on my mind all the time. Dallin and I stayed up all night yesterday trying to get his paper done. I’m exhausted today… all I can get myself to do today is sit at the computer during my kid’s naps. I’ve also been making Christmas treats all week and today I just want to take a break!

Most of the time, sitting at the computer is relaxing for me. I love going through my computer and organizing my pictures. I have taken so many pictures since the baby! I am way behind sorting my pictures but all I do is take more pictures. During the Christmas devotional last week, President Monson said, “Christmas is a glorious season of the year. It is also a busy time for most of us. It is my hope and prayer that we may not become so caught up in the pressures of the season that we place our emphasis on the wrong things and miss the simple joys of commemorating the birth of the Holy One of Bethlehem.”

So I’m going to take it easy today and let myself sit down at the computer to do something relaxing for me. I recently discovered totally awesome natural lighting in my apartment… it’s almost like studio lighting. We have east facing windows and white curtains. During the morning when the sun is out, the white curtains provides almost perfect diffused lighting for indoor picture taking.

Thank you God for providing free lighting in my apartment shining strait onto our kitchen table! I was able to get a few pictures edited today but now my kids are awake.

What kind of things do you do when you take a break?

Children, Family, Photography, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Eternal Families

October 23, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard Leave a comment

I recently took pictures of this family. They have three cute little girls. We believe in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in families and that we can belong to an eternal family. “The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.” –The Family Proclamation to the World

Of course in our imperfect world, we face hard things. “Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.” God does not expect us to go through these hard things by ourselves, this why we have The Church. This is why church has home teaching and visiting teaching. Everything we do in our church is to help each other to be happy even during the toughest parts of life. We invite everyone to come to our church meetings to learn more about eternal families! We invite you even if you don’t have a family of your own and we want you to meet your ward family.

Children, Creative Ideas, Family, Parenting, Photography, Toddlers

Family Pictures Wearing Handmade Clothes

October 16, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard Leave a comment

My neighbor and friend, Heather has a sewing blog and I took her family pictures while they wore clothes that she made herself. How cool is that? Isn’t it such a unique idea? Here‘s the link to her post about making her clothes for the photo shoot. Also, don’t you think the cool big leaves they brought really added to the picture?

On a side note, I’ve taken pictures of a lot of little kids. Little kids are definitely my favorite to take pictures of. Here are some tips for taking family pictures with little kids.

First, use the first 10 minutes wisely because that is probably all the time you’ll have to get your little kids to pose for the picture. My best pictures always come from the beginning of the photo shoot such as the picture posted on the top. Also, before the shoot, make sure your camera is set to continuous shooting mode so you can snap pictures fast.

Second, go the direction the kid is looking at instead of making them turn to you.

Third, poses while holding the child is best if they won’t stand still for you.

Fourth, after the child/children get restless, just capture the moment as you and the parents play with the children. Bring something that will capture their attention like a whistle or toy. Tell the parents it’s ok if their kid doesn’t want to pose. Little kids gets really upset when they are forced to do something they don’t want to and that doesn’t make a happy family picture.

Fifth, don’t drag out the photo shoot. Once the kid is done the photo shoot is over! 🙂

What are your tips while photographing little children?

Child #1: Micah, Child #2: Quentin, Children, Parenting, Photography, Temples, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Toddlers

General Conference Recap

October 7, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard 7 Comments

Every six months (in April and October) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds a worldwide church meeting called general conference. The meeting last for 10 hours over the course of two days. During general conference, we receive counsel from our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, his apostles, and other church leaders. General conference is broadcast on TV, the radio, and online. The talks are then available afterwards on lds.org to read and study. We believe that if we follow the counsel given in the sermons at general conference that our lives will be blessed. As we listen to general conference, we believe that God can speak to our hearts through the Holy Ghost. Everyone can receive their own personalized counsel during general conference.

After pondering and reading over my notes from conference, two things stuck out to me:

1) Be a Mom

2) Be a Missionary

…. Be a Mother Missionary.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson gave a talk about the influence of a good women. He talked about his grandma and how she “never learned how to drive a car, but she knew how to help boys become priesthood men.” He also posed the question from Neal A. Maxwell “Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congress?”

Also during the conference, our prophet announced that our church has reached 15 million members and have currently have over 80,000 full-time missionaries.

President Monson said that “Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together to work together to labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto him.” He also quoted a past prophet, President McKay saying, “Every member a missionary.”

A couple days before general conference, I got a few of my friends in our ward together for a temple trip. We dressed up our 2 year-old sons as little missionaries and took pictures of them. Aren’t they cute?

I learned during conference being a mother is being a missionary. Mothers in the church are teaching their kids to be future missionaries. Our homes should be like the MTC. Even at this young age, we teach our kids about God and His Son Jesus Christ. We also teach them that they are children of God and that God loves them very much. We teach our kids how to pray to God and how to receive answers to their prayers. We teach them good morals such as sharing their cookies and serving others.

We teach them the reason why they are on earth is to be happy and in order to be truly happy we have to follow of the commandments of God the best we can. We, as mothers, prepare our kids to choose to be baptized when they are eight year old. We teach them that we make mistakes but because of Jesus Christ’s atonement we can change and be a better person.

We prepare our sons to receive the priesthood when they turn twelve and go on missions when they turn eighteen.

We teach our children that the temple is the house of God and we go there to make promises to God to be the best person we can be. We teach them that the temple is where families can be sealed together forever. We are teaching our children to be future missionaries but most importantly we are teaching them to become good husbands/fathers and wives/mothers.

I felt like Heavenly Father was telling me “Don’t worry if your kids take up all your time… it’s what you’re suppose to be doing. Taking care of your kids is the most important form of missionary work!”

So then I asked myself the question “Why do I do missionary work?” For me it is because I know that God lives and Jesus Christ lives. I know that by obeying God’s commandments and following His prophets we are truly happy. Throughout the years my faith has been tested but I still know this day that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God’s true church. I know that the fullness of the gospel has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. I love my kids and I want to share with them everything I know to be true.

Why do you do missionary work? What did you learn during conference? Please share with me what you learned! Feel free to share, pin, Facebook these images.