Daddy's Girls!

Month of Gratitude, Post 9

2011-11-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

I'm Grateful for good books to read. I've been so busy the last little while that I haven't been making time to read and I started reading a new series this weekend and reading is just so enjoyable!

Month of Gratitude, Post 8

2011-11-08T22:21:00.000-07:00

Grateful to be able to help out with the Art Program for Charity's class at school. It's fun getting to watch the kids be excited about Art!

Month of Gratitude, Post 7

2011-11-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

Today I am grateful for school because my girls love it so much! It is so wonderful for me as a Mom that they love going and get excited about learning new things.

Month of Gratitude, Post 6

2011-11-06T19:40:00.002-07:00

Today I am thankful for a warm bed to sleep in at night! Now if only I could use it more often!

Month of Gratitude Day 5

2011-11-05T19:37:00.000-06:00

Today I am Thankful for being able to go to Pow Wow, where I learned about an awesome free program called Gimp that is like Photoshop, only free! Yay! I've been without a program for creating images for a while now and I've been missing it a lot!

Month of Gratitude #4

2011-11-04T23:15:00.001-06:00

Deals on printing pictures from online! As deals have been going on throughout the year I've been getting pictures and I'm finally going to be caught up with all my pictures! This week I worked on finally getting them all in the albums. The girls LOVE going through and looking at the pictures - even Rebecca.

Month of Gratitude #3

2011-11-03T10:00:00.000-06:00

I'm grateful for the technology we have today! As I was going through pictures today it made me appreciate it even more!

Month of Gratitude 2

2011-11-02T10:42:00.001-06:00

Today I am grateful for my wonderful husband who I would be lost without!

Month of Thanks

2011-11-01T19:21:00.003-06:00

This year I again want to do the Month of Thanks Posts and share something every day that I am thankful for.

So, today I'm going to say I'm thankful for answered prayers! Dennis woke me up at 5 this morning because he couldn't find the key to the car. We have only 1 key to the car. So, he either needed to take the van (which wouldn't work because I needed it today) or I was going to need to drive him to the meeting point for the van pool, which would require taking 3 little kids out in the cold cold morning. But after a quick prayer we found the keys! Right outside the front door on the porch! The morning after Halloween! I don't know when they got dropped there or how they had been missed but there they were!

Getting Behind!

2011-11-01T19:18:00.003-06:00

With school being busy and everything going on I've really neglected my blog the last month. I'ts my goal this week to try and get it updated! A lot happened and there is a lot to share!

Charity and her Minnow

2011-09-22T10:51:00.001-06:00

I was helping Charity finish a worksheet she brought home from school. She had a list of letters and had to write the letter that came after it. She got to l and was insisting that p came after l, because when you sing the alphabet is h, i, j, k, l, minnow, p. And since minnow isn't a letter P was next! LOL!

I Know Where My God Was

2011-09-11T15:42:00.004-06:00

Author Unknown

How many of us have heard that question, "Where was your God when the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked?" Well, I know where my God was the morning of September 11, 2001, and He was very busy.

He was trying to discourage anyone from taking these flights. Those four flights could have held over 1000 passengers and there were only 266 aboard. On one of the flights he was giving strength to passengers to try to overtake the hijackers.

He was on four commercial flights giving terrified passengers the ability to stay calm. Not one of the family members who were called by a loved one on one of the hijacked planes said that passengers were screaming in the background.

He was busy trying to create obstacles for employees at the World Trade Center. After all, only around 20,000 were at the towers when the first jet hit. Since the buildings held over 50,000 workers, this was a miracle in itself. How many of the people who were employed at the World Trade Center told the media that they were late for work or they had traffic delays.

He was holding up two 110 story buildings so that two-thirds of the workers could get out. I was so amazed that the top of the towers didn't topple when the jets impacted. And when they did fall, they fell inward. God didn't allow them to topple over, as many more lives would have been lost.

And when the buildings went down, my God picked up almost 6,000 of his children and carried them home with him. Reassuring his frightened children that the worst was over and the best was yet to come.

He sat down and cried that 19 of his children could have so much hate in their hearts. That they didn't choose him, and now they are lost forever.

He sent his children that are best trained for this disaster and had them save the few that were still alive, but unable to help themselves. And then sent many others to help in any way they were needed.

He still isn't finished though, He held the loved ones that were left behind in His arms. He comforts them daily. His other children are given the strength to reach out to them and help them in any way they can.

And I believe He will continue to help us in what is to come. He will give the people in charge of this great nation the strength and the wisdom to do the right thing. He would never leave us in our time of need.

So, when anyone asks, "Where was your God on September 11th?", you can say "Everywhere!" And yes, although this is without a doubt the worst thing I have seen in my life, I see God's miracles in every bit of it.

**************************************************************************************************************************

I read this in the year following September 11 and I'm posting it today in Honor of the 10th Anniversary. May we never forget.

9 Year Anniversary!

2011-08-08T16:53:00.004-06:00

Today Dennis and I celebrate our 9 Year Wedding Anniversary! Wow, how the years have flown by. I put together an I Love You Basket for Dennis and included a list of 101 ways I Love him. Here it is:

101 Reasons I Love You

1. I love that you cook dinner.
2. I love that you are such a wonderful Father.
3. I love that you make me smile.
4. I love that you such a sweet person.
5. I love how kind you are.
6. I love that you treat me like a Princess.
7. I love that you love me no matter what.
8. I love you because I know I can count on you.
9. I love that you love to surprise me.
10. I love that you help me feel financially secure.
11. I love that you love to play games.
12. I love that you love to spend time with me.
13. I love that you rough house with the girls.
14. I love that you listen to me.
15. I love that you’re a good son.
16. I love that you help out around the house.
17. I love that your faith and dedication inspires me.
18. I love that you because of how much you care for others.
19. I love how much you love your family.
20. I love that you because you spoil me.
21. I love that we love spending time together.
22. I love that we love playing games together.
23. I love that you feed me chocolate.
24. I love the way you love me..
25. I love that you give me hugs and kisses.
26. I love that you buy me flowers.
27. I love that your girls love you.
28. I love the way you look at me.
29. I love your smile when you’re happy.
30. I love your thoughtfulness.
31. I love that you would do anything to make me happy.
32. I love how we can always count on one another.
33. I love getting back rubs from you.
34. I love cuddling with you.

35. I love your sense of humor.
36. I love that you try to make others laugh.
37. I love the thought of growing old with you.
38. I love how you’re willing to go shopping for me.
39. I love you because you put up with me.
40. I love you because you make me feel safe.
41. I love that you let me put my feet on you and don’t complain... too much
42. I love that you still like to hold hands.
43. I love you because you open my door for me.
44. I love you because you watch chick flicks with me.
45. I love you because you make me feel beautiful.
46. I love how much we miss each other when we’re apart.
47. I love that you kill spiders for me.
48. And that you set your favorites free, outside.
49. I love that you remember our Anniversary.
50. I love that you remember my Birthday.
51. I love that you dress up for Halloween with me.
52. I love how you let me be myself.
53. I love you because you don’t expect me to be perfect.
54. I love that you put up with my nagging about chores.
55. I love you because you get along with my family.
56. I love you because your are just wonderful.
57. I love you because you have given me 3 wonderful children.
58. I love that you always kiss me goodbye.
59. I love how you always kiss me hello.
60. I love snuggling with you.
61. I love that you help me see the other side to things.
62. I love that you keep a clear head under pressure.
63. I love you because you make me feel wanted.
64. I love the sense of peace I get when we’re together.
65. I love talking with you.
66. I love how you love spending time together as a family.

67. I love that you are a romantic at heart.
68. I love how romantic you can be.
69. I love that we’re the most important people to each other.
70. I love how I can’t imagine my life with out you in it.
71. I love how you are constantly trying to be better.
72. I love that you can say you’re sorry.
73. I love how you don’t mind too much if the house is a mess.
74. I love your taste in jewelry.
75. I love that your favorite thing to do is spend time with me.
76. I love that my favorite thing to do is spend time with you.
77. I love that Heavenly Father brought us together.
78. I love that you picked me.
79. I love you because of how much we’ve grown together.
80. I love the way you hold me.
81. I love how we feel right together.
82. I love that you tell me every day that you love me.
83. I love how you believe in me.
84. I love your love notes.
85. I love how forgiving you are.
86. I love how you have a hard time keeping surprises a secret.
87. I love spending Holidays with you.
88. I love you because I can never get enough time with you.
89. I love that you can never get enough time with me.
90. I love that you stay up late to spend a little more time with me.

91. I love that you like computers as much as I do.
92. I love that you like video games as much as I do.
93. I love you for loving our daughters so much.
94. I love how you sometimes text me just to say hi.
95. I love that we have similar goals for life.
96. I love that you want to go on a mission one day together.
97. I love you because I need to.
98. I love you because I choose to.
99. I love you because I want to.
100. I love how easy this list was to write because 101 things to love about you don’t even begin to scratch the surface of how amazing you are.
101. I love YOU.

Danielle & Being Sick

2011-07-21T11:55:00.002-06:00

So, last Monday after we came home from the Zoo Danielle started running a fever, I thought maybe it was from heat exhaustion or something. The next day she seemed fine. Then on Wednesday night I think it was she started running a fever again and off and on it's been since then. She was also crankier than usual, wanted to be carried and babied more, seemed more tired. I attributed the tiredness and off sleep schedule over the last week from remnants from when her cousins were here because their sleeping and schedules and everything were practically non-existent and all messed up for a few weeks, and I attributed the crankiness and wanting to be carried to some of that as well. Well, Tuesday night once again she was running a fever in the middle of the night. Then Wednesday morning at swim lessons she refused to get in the water and was just unhappy and cranky and I'd had enough so I decided to take her to see the doctor, plus her dental work is next Tuesday (which she needs to be put under for) and I figured if something was going on we needed to get it resolved before then. So, I called and set up an appointment.

It turns out that she has walking pneumonia :( My poor girl! I had no idea what could be going on but pneumonia or any form of it was so far away from even being considered :( She now on a good strong antibiotic and then we'll be taking her back in on Monday to get her cleared for her dental work on Tuesday. My poor girl. I feel so bad for her. I really hope she gets feeling better quickly!

Family Visiting

2011-07-16T08:44:00.002-06:00

Isn't it great when family comes to visit? We had a fun surprise this year! The week before Laura's annual trip up here my Aunt Marilyn called Mom and Dad and told them she was coming for a visit! And it turned out it was going to be while Laura was here! (She couldn't have planned a better time if she'd meant to :) The girls and I spent some time at Mom and Dads and then they all came here for a few days during the visit. It was so great getting to see her and catch up. We hadn't seen her for a lot of years and she'd never met Dennis. She brought pictures to show us and I showed her lots of pictures (ha, getting all those printed recently had been a wonderful idea!). We hope to see you again soon Aunt Marilyn!

I'm not sure who Mom and Dad looked forward to more, Aunt Marilyn or Laura! Laura came the weekend before Aunt Marilyn did and we went down and met her in Cedar City and stayed the night there and visited Zion National Park the next day. It was a lot of fun! Dennis and I are thinking we definitely need to go back sometime when it's a bit cooler!

Charity had so much fun playing with her cousins. Laura's kids just love Charity. Poor Danielle though was left out a lot since they only wanted to play with Charity but hopefully that'll change within a few years. Luckily, she didn't mind this trip. She just went off and did her own thing. She had Grandma and Grandpa to entertain her though :) She sure does love her grandparents!

It was sad to see them go at the end of the trip, always is, but at the same time it was a bit nice to get back to normal life at the same time. The house certainly was a lot quieter after they left! Almost too quiet! And the kids really do miss their cousins! I've decided it was a good thing I signed them up for swimming lessons the last two weeks of July so they'll have something to occupy them!

4th of July and Fireworks

2011-07-08T22:37:00.002-06:00

In Utah, some aerial fireworks were made legal this year and while we didn't buy any to shoot off (though I wish we had! Maybe for the 24th.... hmmm....) setting off fireworks and watching them from the front yard was a lot of fun this year! It was so cool to be able to watch out over the neighborhood as the fireworks went off and to see so many without having to go somewhere! Though, we do have a good view of a couple different fireworks displays where we live, but these were closer which was a lot more fun!

Rapunzel

2011-06-30T16:51:00.001-06:00

One last post for the day and then I'm done, for another month or so :), I promise! lol! Charity LOVES Rapunzel. She makes up stories about her and talk about her a lot and it's really cute, except for when she starts telling me that I'm not her Mommy, Rapunzel is... But so anyway, Charity went to a birthday party this week that had a Rapunzel theme and at the party they painted, since Rapunzel loves to paint. Her friends' Mom told me that Charity kept telling them she was an artist. As for just about any 5 years old drawing, an explanation is a helpful thing. For those of who have seen the movie, you'll love it; for those of you who haven't, I'll explain in a minute. So, here is the picture she painted:

That's Rapunzel standing with her flower, and the Orange thing is the door to the lights. (Why did she think she needed a door? I don't know) And all the white things are the lights! And she came up with this idea all on her own! I am so impressed!

Now for those who haven't seen the movie, Rapunzel is a princess that was kidnapped by an evil witch when she was a baby for her magic hair. Every year on her birthday the kingdom she was kidnapped from releases lanterns thousands of paper lanterns up into the sky. And Rapunzel grew up seeing the lanterns every year on her birthday and dreamed of getting to see the "lights" one day close up. Which is why she ends up leaving her tower and .... yeah, you'll have to watch the movie for more but the lights play a key role.

Anyway, I'm impressed with my little artist :)

A Little Update on Us

2011-06-30T12:32:00.002-06:00

It seems I haven't been very good at blogging lately, of course, it's hard to type while holding a baby! Though I have so many pictures from the last few months that I haven't gotten a chance to post. Perhaps I should make it my goal for July to get caught up with blogging? LOL. We'll see how that goes!

We're all very excited around here because Laura and her kids are coming to visit and they'll be here tomorrow!!! Yay!!! Charity keeps asking when Aurora is going to get here and she's been counting down the days.

Other than that, we've been working on getting the side of our house ready to put in a fence, though now it looks like that may not happen until next year because the neighbors want to postpone it. We needed to move our stone path over a bit so all of those are pulled up and it's just dirt now so I need to get that done. We also have some bushes in the front yard that need pulled up and replaced cuz they died (I didn't like those ones anyway), and a lot of weeding needs to be done in the next few weeks! It's such a busy time of year now that it's started to warm up and isn't raining constantly. Yeah, who knew April's showers would come the end of May and in June? lol! It's been nice to delay the heat for a while though, but hopefully it sticks around for a while. The garden needs it!

That's right, I also started a garden! It's not very big just 4x8 feet but it's a start and we'll see how it goes. The lettuce needs to start being picked and replanted and then there are some pea pods on our pea plants already! Yay!!! My melons finally sprouted (I planted some watermelon and some cantaloupe, we'll see if they eventually take over, but I worried for quite a while they weren't going to make it. My carrots are growing like weeds, but my corn hasn't done so well, I only had 3 sprout, 1 died almost immediately and a second one seems to have died as well, then the neighbors cat dug up the 3rd! But I've replanted him so we'll see if he makes it but even then, we won't have any corn with only 1 stalk.

That cat LOVES to use my garden as a litter box and it's driving me crazy! The carrots I planted in 3 nice rows and he's messed in that side so much that they are all over the place! Some lettuce came up in between the beans and I've got a melon in the midst of the lettuce! Grrrr!

In other news we ended up moving the bedrooms around a bit. We set the loft bed back up, but we put it in Rebecca's room with the queen bed and then moved the crib in the girls' room with one twin bed so now Charity is in that room and the pink and purple room is Danielle's and Rebecca's. They actually go to bed a lot better when they are in separate rooms.

Hmmm, what else has happened? Oh, I finally got our family pictures hung up on the wall over the stairs in the Kitchen!!! Yay! Ok, I mean I got Dennis to do it :) He doesn't like holes in the wall, so I make him put them there... ha ha ha ha! I'll try to take pictures and post, I'm so excited about it! But I do need to get some pictures in the frames still.

Well, the kids are fighting and driving me nuts so I guess I'd better go wrangle them and make them behave. I have so much stuff I need to get done around the house to get ready for visitors!

9 Months!

2011-06-29T22:23:00.002-06:00

Rebecca is now 9 months old! Where has the time gone!?! They fly by so quickly when they are this little. And I can't believe how big she has gotten. She has her 9 month well child check-up on Friday so I'll be able to post her stats after that.

She is crawling now and honestly I expect her to start trying to walk in the next few weeks. She took her first assisted steps a little over a week ago and she's finally figuring out that she can go places if she wants to. Though Mommy is not too thrilled with that! Her favorite things to play with are the dirt in my potted plants and my dried flowers that I keep in a basket! Well, I taught the other girls to leave those things alone so I'm hoping I can do the same with Rebecca. But oh, it's going to be a wild ride! I'd forgotten how much fun they are when they start getting into everything!

Cleaning and Kids Responsibilities

2011-06-29T13:07:00.003-06:00

I've found when it comes to cleaning around the house that when I have it in my head to get a specific chore done, I can't stand to let the girls help me. I just don't have the patience to deal with little kids' "help". Though, Charity LOVES to help around the house, she LOVES it. BUT it has to be something she wants to do

I came across this blog the other day called Mother of All Jobs that talked about a fun way to do chores and to get the whole family involved. I tried this out with the girls and they LOVE it! They actually ASK if they can play the cleaning game. Of course, now that pbskids.org is a reward for the cleaning game, I think they're really asking to play that and just have to wait until they draw it :) LOL, except that today in playing they didn't mention it once! Because the girls are younger, whenever one pulls a Reward, I let both do the reward, except for pbskids.org, only the one who pulled the reward gets to play while the other gets to watch and they each only get that one once. Today when Danielle pulled out Get a Treat, Charity had pulled out Do the Dishes. I let Charity choose if she wanted to get a treat or to do the dishes, and guess which one she chose? Do the dishes. Seriously! That's my little girl.

Here are some other links to Games you can do to help make Chores for your family fun:

The Chore Game

The Chore Board

Swab the Deck (or World of Housecraft)

The Endless Chore Game

Age Appropriate Chores

So many fun ways to get the entire family involved with doing chores! We also have a chore chart where they have chores they are responsible for every day such as make their beds and brush their teeth and help with dishes and once they earn enough stickers on that chart they get a reward. All in all, this system is seeming to work wonders for us! And I'm able to change my mindset and let them help!

Zumba Frustrations

2011-06-15T09:04:00.003-06:00

Have you heard of Zumba? My local gym has classes and it's the one that I try not to miss because it is so much fun! I LOVE Zumba! However, I almost walked out 1/2 way through yesterday because I was frustrated so badly! Since school let out the Zumba class seems to have almost tripled in size and there is not a lot of room. Last week I was a little late to class because Becca had a blow out diaper on the way to the gym that I had to take care of once we got there and I jumped into a spot that looked plenty big enough but the girl behind me kept crowding up and making me feel like I'd imposed on her space and I felt bad! Then when my friend who had been behind this same girl was complaining about how cramped it was back there because this girl was constantly in front of her I wondered how that could be since she was constantly right behind me, or cramming up right next to me and I was sure there'd been enough space! So I was worried it was my fault and felt bad.

Yesterday confirmed that it was NOT my fault. I was to class early and I had stood in front of my friend and we were talking and just as class was about the begin this girl was standing right next to me, and I mean right next. Now for Zumba, you need a little bit of room for dancing because we kick and swing our arms and move around a bit. Well, through out the course of the next hour I came to realize that this girl must have no spatial awareness at all! Because she was all over the place, she'd be right next to me then in the row in front of her and just all over the place. It was so frustrating. There were times where at the beginning of a song I'd be standing in my spot and once again she would come and stand just in front and to the side of me, way too close. Agh! At one point, I even moved to the line in front of us because she was back and there was room up there to move and that didn't help either. If she was standing right near me (and I mean right near me, definitely inside my bubble) then she was standing halfway between the two lines and just all over the place. It was so frustrating. Next week, I'm moving somewhere else in the room and letting some one else deal with her.

ETA: Sorry if this post sounds a little bit harsh. It was just that frustrating that I almost left the class rather than deal with it and Zumba is the thing that I LOVE at the gym. It's my #1 reason for going.

Rebecca is crawling!

2011-06-03T12:28:00.002-06:00

Rebecca is crawling! It's a cute little half army half real crawl thing but she is now mobile! I knew she was getting close, it was just a matter of her getting everything moving at the right time and with the right force but I don't know if I'm ready for this! Although, maybe she'll be happier with more mobility! As it is, she loves to be held constantly. Well, we'll see how it goes and see how long it takes for her to decide to walk!

Danielle crawled the earliest (a little before 7 months) but didn't walk until 10 1/2; where as Charity didn't crawl until around 8 1/2 and then she was walking at 9 1/2 so we'll see what Rebecca decides to do!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-05-26T20:57:00.001-06:00

It's My Birthday and I'll cry if I want to... cry if I want to... You would cry too if...

Ok, so I didn't cry, it was a great Birthday!

On Wednesday, I had a "Pride & Prejudice Party" and had some friends come over to watch the good Pride and Prejudice movie with me (The 6 hour one with Colin Firth). It was a lot of fun! Created a lot of work since we ended up having 12 or so kids here all 5 and under but I wouldn't change it! It was so much fun, good friends, good food, good conversation!

Then on Thursday for my birthday I had Dennis get me a chocolate chip cake from Taco Bell/KFC. I know but they are soooo yummy! He decided to add gummy worms to the top to make it extra pretty, lol! I've gotta admit by the time we get to my birthday, lol, we are all birthdayed out, so it was pretty low key. But I do have to wonder if Dennis is ever going to remember how old I am :) He got it wrong again this year, that's ok though, I don't mind being younger :)

Happy Birthday Charity!

2011-05-18T14:30:00.005-06:00

Happy Birthday Charity! You're 5 years old! And I know how excited you are to start Kindergarten this fall! Where has the time gone? It seems just yesterday that you were a baby yourself and now you've gotten so big and have 2 younger sisters. You've become such a big girl, it seems over night! The things you do amaze us all the time! This year has been a wonderful year filled with learning and laughter. There were some tears shed along the way.

Today was her last day of school and since it was her birthday, her birthday party at school as well. She was so excited! It was so cute! And her teacher, Miss Tara, told me what a pleasure it's been having Charity in class. She's such a sweet girl and been so good for her. So, for their birthday party, you bring in a poster about them and treats to share with the class. Charity's poster turned out so cute! I put my favorite baby picture of her, as well as a relatively recent big one, and then a bunch from the last year and a couple from other times. And then we wrote some of her "favorites" in purple, of course. :) It was fun.

Charity's Birth Story

Happy Birthday Danielle!

2011-05-12T13:43:00.005-06:00

Happy 3rd Birthday to my Little Firecracker Danielle! We Love You! It's amazing how much you have grown and changed in the last 3 years. While you're still a bit tiny for a 3-year old, (but you soooo make up for it!) you've grown and changed so much! You are such a good sister. You love to share with Charity and you love to take care of your baby sister, Rebecca. Your father and I are so proud of the girl you are growing up to be and we know you'll grow up to be an amazing, accomplished woman!

You just LOVE to sing! Your singing leader in nursery is constantly telling us how much she enjoys your enthusiasm and your love of music. You are always right up there ready to sing your heart out! And you love to sing at home as well. I think one of your favorite songs is Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree but I know that you love so many others as well. And you are so good at saying your prayers! Sometimes it seems a little too good because you're already done praying for dinner before anyone else has even gotten ready to pray!

Recent Pictures:

If you want to see a Baby Picture of Danielle just click the link. Wasn't she a cute little thing! Though, she was the biggest of my 3!

Here is Danielle's Birth Story. What an experience that was!

Post #20

2011-05-04T09:37:00.000-06:00

Somewhere You'd Love to Travel.

Need I say more?

Post #19

2011-05-03T09:40:00.003-06:00

A Picture of a Letter

Dennis wrote me this letter when we were dating. I loved it then, I love it now! And I'm keeping it forever! :)

Charity and the Monsters

2011-05-03T09:28:00.002-06:00

So, this morning when Danielle didn't want to eat breakfast, Charity told her if she didn't eat then the monsters would eat her all gone.

I told her, "Don't tell Danielle that monsters are going to eat her, that's not nice. Would you like for Danielle to tell you that monsters are going to eat you?"

To which she told Danielle, "Don't worry Danielle, I'll protect you from the monsters."

I guess that at least is better... lol!

The Busy Month of May

2011-05-02T21:39:00.002-06:00

So, here's a rough showing of what our month of May is going to look like... May is so busy around here!

1st - Birthday party for niece

3rd - Charity's Preschool Pictures

5th - Relief Society Activity

7th - Day Trip to Logan to celebrate my Dad's birthday, Mother's Day, and possibly Danielle's birthday

8th - Mother's Day

12th - Danielle's Birthday!

13th - Charity's Preschool Field Trip to Hogle Zoo

14th - Spirit of Excellence Dinner for D's work

18th - Charity's Birthday! Charity's Last day of school

20th - Charity's Preschool Graduation

26th - My Birthday!

30th - Memorial Day

And we have yet to figure out/decide what we are going to be doing about celebrating birthdays when and where! And I very possibly could be missing a few things that we have to do this month that I'm not thinking of! Such a busy month for us!!! I have a feeling that May is going to be a busy month for a long long time... :)

Post #18

2011-05-02T09:37:00.002-06:00

A Picture of Your Biggest Insecurity

I'm not sure I can think of a picture for this one. One of my biggest insecurities is afraid others think badly of me. I don't know if it stems from being teased as a kid or what. But I'm always afraid of showing weakness or vulnerability and that others might have a reason to look down on me. So, what picture works for that? lol. This was really hard for me to admit! But I have realized as I've gotten older that I'm not the only one, I think a lot of people feel this way and I believe that knowledge is what's helped me to open up some and not be as shy as I used to be!

Post #17

2011-05-01T09:33:00.003-06:00

A Picture of Something that has Made a Huge Impact on Your Life Recently

There's not many things that can have a bigger impact on your life than a baby! And what a sweet beautiful one she is!

Post #16

2011-04-30T09:25:00.003-06:00

A Picture of Someone Who Inspires You

I had a hard time thinking of someone who inspires you. I considered my Mom because she inspires everybody, but I just did a post of her. I considered my twin because with the struggles she's been through the last few years and the attitude and perspective she has now is inspiring, but I did one with her in it already as well. Same thing goes for Sam. So, who was there? I can't think of any celebrities or high profile figures that truly inspire me. I have some wonderful friends who are inspirations to me but then I settled on someone who as a boy changed the course of History. He truly wanted to know what was right and because of that he saw Heavenly Father, he was visited by Angels, he translated the writings on the Gold Plates to the Book of Mormon, and he established The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Without Joseph Smith I would have a completely different life than I do today, and it's truly inspiring the things he did, and went through while alive. He inspires me!

Post #15

2011-04-29T09:23:00.000-06:00

A Picture of Something You Want to Do Before You Die

I want to travel the world!

Post #14

2011-04-28T09:20:00.003-06:00

A Picture of Someone You Could Never Imagine Your Life Without

How many times I mentioned Dennis? lol. So I figured for this one I would include a picture of those who gave me life! :) (This is Mom and Dad holding Rebecca the day we blessed her.

Charity and her naming things

2011-04-27T22:00:00.002-06:00

So, Charity will come up with names for things and that's what they're called she thinks. Such as, Granola Bars, they are not granola bars around this house, they are Candy Bars. Now, I'm sure there have been people out there who have heard me when we're leaving the gym or going somewhere and getting into the van asking my kids if they want a candy bar and I'm sure they're thinking how NOT a good idea that is but little do they know it's not some unhealthy treat for them, lol.

Anyway, so today we had a play date at a friend's house and Charity tells me when we get home that she got a "hot spot." Ok, what is a hot spot? Well, she got a friction burn on her knee (I assume from the trampoline, but she can't remember). That's what her "hot spot" is! Quite an ingenious name I think!

I'll to try to remember to share more of the funny things my kids say and come up with because these are the things I know I'm gonna regret if I forget!

Post #13

2011-04-27T09:13:00.004-06:00

A Picture of Your Favorite Band or Artist

I don't really have a favorite so I picked 2 that I could think of off the top of my head :)

Sara Evans

Sugarland

Post #12

2011-04-25T13:18:00.000-06:00

A Picture of Something You Love

Something that I absolutely LOVE is how romantic Dennis can be. There are times that he buys me flowers, just to buy me flowers, or he'll clean the house to surprise me, or he'll pull me into a slow dance in the kitchen. So, here's a picture of what he did for me one Valentine's Day:

Post #11

2011-04-24T13:16:00.000-06:00

A Picture of Something You Hate

And No, I don't hate me. I hate being pregnant! I hate it, hate it, hate it! So, here's a cute photo of me the last time I was pregnant, lol.

Post #9

2011-04-22T13:09:00.000-06:00

A Picture of the Person Who has Gotten you Through the Most

I decided I had a picture of Laura, I needed a picture of the bestest friend in the whole world. I don't know where I'd be without you Sam! (This is a picture of her and her hubby that I stole from her blog :)

Post #8

2011-04-21T13:02:00.000-06:00

A Picture That Makes You Laugh

As some of you know, Danielle is notorious for occasionally falling asleep in the funniest places. During our trip last year in July, she wedged herself behind the couch for a nap...

Post #7

2011-04-20T09:13:00.003-06:00

I thought about this one for days and couldn't come up with something more important than this so I guess you get to see another lovely picture of my family :) There are things I own that I would be devastated if I lost (I considered posting a picture of my external hard drive that I back up all my pictures on, lol) but even that led back to family, and just about anything else can be replaced. So here you go, My Most Treasured Item:

Post #6

2011-04-19T09:07:00.001-06:00

A Picture of a Person you'd Love to Trade Places With For a Day

I can't think of anyone I'd want to trade places with.

Post #5

2011-04-18T09:58:00.000-06:00

A Picture of Your Favorite Memory

I've said it before I'm not very good at a picking a single "favorite" anything. So, I'm hoping these photos will illustrate what most of my favorite memories include:

Post #4

2011-04-17T09:52:00.002-06:00

A Picture of a Habit you wish you didn't have:

Is it terrible that I can't think of one? I could possibly say internet, laptop or tv. I do waste a bit too much time on them sometimes. Throw facebook in there, Dennis says I spend way too much time on it (but he considers any time I spend on the computer, including blogging as "facebooking") but while a bit more moderation would be better I don't wish I didn't. Ahh, I know. But I don't have a picture and I'm NOT taking one! The habit I wish I didn't have was not cleaning up after dinner! We tend to leave dishes and such on the table after dinner at night and then I have to clean it up the next morning! Though, we actually have started getting better about making sure dishes are taken to the sink after dinner. But there you go, my dirty little habit :)

Week of Easter Activities

2011-04-17T09:49:00.006-06:00

I'm posting this so that I don't have to go hunting for it next year like I did this year! Last year we did the traditional supper that would have been served during Jesus' life but this year since I'm not pregnant and have more energy I'm going to try to have us do an activity each day this week related to Easter!

Here are a couple of sites I'm getting my ideas from:

Sugar Doodle, Our Week Long Easter Experience

Christianity Today, Easter Activities

So here are my plans:

Sunday: Palm Sunday, Discuss Easter and Love for Each Other

Picture: Triumphal Entry

Scripture: Mark 11:1-10

Do an "LOA table" (Love One Another Table/Board/Wall). Set up an area where people can write compliments and notes to other members of the family that would then be shared out loud with everyone Easter Morning.

Monday: Color Easter Eggs, talk about meaning of Easter, Resurrection Eggs

Tuesday: Discuss Service & Easter

Picture: Jesus Washing Disciples Feet

Scripture: John 13:1-30

For Dinner have everyone serve someone else their dinner. Discuss ways that Jesus served others and ways that others served Jesus.

Wednesday: (refer to Sugardoodle link)

Picture: The Last Supper

Luke 22:13-15

We're going to have a supper that would have been served in Jesus time. Such as Raisins, unleavened bread, hard boiled eggs, berries, salad greens with vinegar dressing, olives, grape juice, and lamb if I can find it otherwise some good steak. We'll season it and marinate it with olive oil (1tbs), garlic (1 clove) and salt and pepper. We'll make a picnic out of it and use our fingers. If I get around to it, we might even dress up in sheets and stuff :)

Unleavened Bread Recipe

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine in a bowl: 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp baking soda. Cut in 2 tablespoons of butter. Stir in 2/3 cup buttermilk. Mix in one egg and two cups flour. Using a rolling pin, roll dough into several pieces and roll out very thin on a floured board (if not rolled out thin, it will have the consistency of heavy bread). Lay sheet of dough on ungreased flat baking pans. Prick with a fork Cut into 4-inch squares with a sharp knife or pizza cutter. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Thursday: Garden of Gethsemane and the Plan of Salvation

Picture: Garden of Gethsemane

Scripture: Mark 14:12-21

Friday: Discuss Jesus Sacrifice, the Crucifixion

Picture: The Crucifixion

Sripture: John 19

Saturday: Did Jesus Really live again?

Picture: Empty Tomb

Activity: Easter Story Cookies

Scripture: Luke 23:56

Sunday (Easter): Traditional Easter Celebration + Big Empty Easter Eggs and Discuss the Empty Tomb and eat our Easter Story Cookies and read together the LOA Board. Display Easter Pictures

Post #3

2011-04-16T09:45:00.003-06:00

A Picture of the Cast From Your Favorite Show:

I'm not sure I have a "favorite" show but this is one of my favorites, Bones:

Post #2

2011-04-15T09:41:00.000-06:00

A Picture of You and the Person you have been closest to the longest:

Well, I guess there is no contest for this one since we started this mortal journey together:

Post #1

2011-04-14T09:32:00.000-06:00

A Picture of Yourself with 15 Facts:

1 - I'm married to the love of my life.

2 - I have 3 beautiful children

3 - Like most mothers, it makes me sad and happy to see my children get older!

4 - I'm going to try to grow a garden this year

5 - I'm 27, almost 28 years old

6 - I have an identical twin!

7 - I consider Preston, ID my hometown but grew up in several different places including West Virginia and Washington (state)

8 - I love being a stay at home Mom but sometimes consider getting a job outside the home just to get a break from my kids occasionally

9 - I love to read.

10 - I love to watch movies and tv

11 - It drives me crazy to have a messy house, but I'd much rather read or play with my kids than clean!

12 - My most favorite thing to do is spend time with Dennis, doing anything.

13 - I drive a minivan, never thought I'd like driving a minivan, let alone LOVE driving a minivan

14 - I want to go to Yellowstone this summer.

15 - I wish a day had 48 hours in it instead of 24!!! With never enough time to get anything done, extra time would definitely be helpful!

Working on it....

2011-04-12T09:02:00.002-06:00

So, jut a little update from us. Any time I get to spend sitting down in front of the computer tends to include a baby in my arms so it's just been difficult to post lately. I really need to find the time though so I can record those memories I want to remember since I use this as a journal of sorts. I even laid in bed awake for a little while thinking about it after Charity woke me (of course I couldn't post then because I was nursing a baby! lol

I wanted to include a cute thing that Charity said to me this morning, when she woke up at 6am! She asked to watch a movie and I told her no, to go back to sleep and she told me something like But I had a bright idea to wake up! I guess you can't argue with that logic!

We went to a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt last night and the girls had so much fun! I took some pictures that I'll have to post later. They had some special shiny eggs that if the kids found and turned in they got a prize. It was such a fun idea! Charity found one and Danielle found two! LOL, Charity started off picky at the egg hunt, she was halfway across the field and only had 2 eggs! She caught on though. Some of the eggs had rings in them, I think those were some of the girls favorites!

I'll try to post more later!

Been Busy Around Here

2011-04-02T17:35:00.002-06:00

Ok, so I had figured that I would have been able to post about our trip and get ready for a new blogging challenge by April so I had published but postponed the challenge until the last day of March... Well, here it is April 2, I haven't got to post about the trip yet and I'm so not ready for the challenge yet either! LOL! Life has been busy around here getting back to normal life after our trip and Rebecca has been into a hold me/entertain me mode that's taken up a lot of time! So, I promise to post about it and get started on the Challenge ASAP!

(BTW, Thank you so much Aunt Kay for sending me the ring and things that I left at your house! I was so so so so HAPPY when you found it! I had just been devastated thinking I had lost it, so once again Thank You!!!)

Another Challenge!

2011-03-31T17:20:00.000-06:00

(We'll see if I can complete this one!)

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with 15 facts
Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest
Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show
Day 04 - A picture of a habit you wish you didnt have.
Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory
Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day
Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item
Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh
Day 09 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most
Day 10 - A picture of the person you do the most ****** up things with
Day 11 - A picture of something you hate
Day 12 - A picture of something you love
Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist
Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without
Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die
Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you
Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently
Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity
Day 19 - A picture of a letter
Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel
Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget
Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at
Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book
Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change
Day 25 - A picture of your day
Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you
Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member
Day 28 - A picture of something you're afraid of
Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile
Day 30 - A picture of someone you miss

Questioning Character

2011-03-21T18:57:00.001-06:00

So, as parents we have to make choices everyday that concern our kids. A lot of the choices we make, we make because it is what is in the best interest of our child and/or family, but some of the choices we make because they are in the best interest for us. Those are the choices we may look at and consider our selfish choices. They're the choices we stress over for a long time about did I really make the right choice? Should I have chosen X or Y instead of Z? Was it too selfish of me to coose that?

Ok, so where am I going with this? Well. we all hear and/or say all the time that we would do anything for our children. You see in movies and shows where parents push the kid out of the way so they get hurt instead or something along those lines. Now, I know I love my kids, I hope my kids know I love them. But I'll admit it, I'm good at making those selfish choices sometimes and I've wondered "What would *I* really do in a situation like that?" I got my answer last week. Now, don't worry, it was nothing too dire and no one got hurt but it still answered my question.

I was in Arizona visiting Laura and we went and visited an old friend from High School who owns a pool. I had Rebecca in the pool, who wasn't loving it so much, when Charity trying to be funny on a floatie device decided to "pretend" to slip out of it and call for help, only problem was she got herself into a situation where she couldn't get back on. So, I decided to go over and save her. We were in the shallow end of the pool and I'd been doing my best to make sure my kids didn't go to the deep end since I wouldn't be able to get over to them easily while holding the baby. So, I head over to where she is. Well, as I took a step off the stair I'd been on while holding Rebecca, down we went. Down Down Down. I hadn't realized the pool was already deep at this point.

So, what were my first thoughts as my baby and I became submerged in the pool? They were about Rebecca. Get her up out of the water and safe. Make sure she was OK, and then check on Charity. Not for a moment did I think about me until I knew my kids were safe.

Made me very happy later when I was thinking about it to realize that yes, in our day to day lives I may occasionally make that selfish choice but when it really matters, I put my kids first. And honestly, what good parent doesn't stress over a choice they view as selfish (even though we all need to make those choices occasionally), we wouldn't be good parents if we didn't worry about how our choices affect our children.

How Many Have You Seen?

2011-03-08T11:57:00.002-07:00

Supposedly if you've seen over 85 films, you have no life. Mark the ones you've seen. There are over 270 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own blog and paste it in a new post. Then, put X's next to the films you've seen, add them up, change the header adding your number. Have fun!

() Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
() Grease 2
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End
() Boondock Saints
() Fight Club
() Starsky and Hutch
() Blazing Saddles
Total This Group: 4

(x) The Neverending Story
(x) The Neverending Story II
(x) The Neverending Story III
() Airplane
(x) The Princess Bride
(x) Willow
() Anchorman
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
(x) Labyrinth
Total so far:11

() Saw
() Saw II
() Saw III
() Saw IV
() Saw V
() White Noise
() White Oleander
(x) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
Total So Far: 13

(x) The Princess Diaries
(x) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
(x) Scream
(x) Scream 2
() Scream 3
(x) I Know What You Did Last Summer
(x) I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
() The Shining
() Candyman
() Stand By Me
Total So Far: 19

() Scary Movie
() Scary Movie 2
() Scary Movie 3
() Scary Movie 4
() Resident Evil 1
() Resident Evil 2
() American Pie
() American Pie 2
() American Wedding
() American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 19

(x) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
(x) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
(x) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
(x) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
(x) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
(x) The Wedding Singer
() Little Black Book
(x) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
(x) Finding Nemo
Total so far: 28

(x) Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
(x) The Grinch
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
() White Chicks
() Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
(x) I, Robot
(x) Robots
Total so far:34

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
() Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(x) Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
() King Pin
(x) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
() Eight Crazy Nights
Total so far:41

() Joe Dirt
(x) King Kong
(x) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
(x) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
() Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
(x) Dumber & Dumberer
(x) Halloween
() Surviving X-MAS
Total so far:48

() Final Destination
() Final Destination 2
() Final Destination 3
(x) The Ring
() The Ring 2
(x) Flubber
(x) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(x) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
(x) Ghost Ship
Total so far: 54

() From Hell
(x) Hellboy
() Secret Window
(x) I Am Sam
(x) The Day After Tomorrow
() Child's Play
() Seed of Chucky
() Bride of Chucky
Total so far:57

(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
(x) Just Married
() Gothika
() Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Remember the Titans
()Coach Carter
() The Grudge
() The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
() Son Of The Mask
Total so far:61

() Bad Boys
() Bad Boys 2
() Joy Ride
() Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean's Eleven
(x) Ocean's Twelve
(x) Ocean's Thirteen
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremacy
(x) Bourne Ultimatum
Total so far:67

(x) Sixteen Candles
(x) Pretty in Pink
() Lone Star
(x) Bedazzled
(x) Predator
() Predator II
(x) The Princess and the Frog
(x) Ice Age
(x) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
(x) Curious George
Total so far:75

(x) Independence Day
() Cujo
() A Bronx Tale
(x) Darkness Falls
() Christine
(x) ET
() Children of the Corn
(x) My Boss's Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
(x) War of the Worlds
Total so far: 81

(x) Rush Hour
(x) Rush Hour 2
(x) Rush Hour 3
() Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She's All That
() Calendar Girls
() Sideways
() Mars Attacks
(x) Event Horizon
Total so far:87

(x) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
() Big Trouble in Little China
() The Terminator
() The Terminator 2
() The Terminator 3
(x) X-Men
(x) X-2
(x) X-Men:The Last Stand
Total so far:93

(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
(x) Spider-Man 3
() Sky High
() Jeepers Creepers
() Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(X) Freaky Friday
(x) Reign of Fire
Total so far:100

() The Skulls
() Cruel Intentions
() Cruel Intentions 2
(x) The Hot Chick
(X) Shrek
(X) Shrek 2
(x) Shrek the Third
() Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street
(x) Old School
Total so far:106

(x) The Notebook
() K-Pax
() Krippendorf's Tribe
(x) A Walk to Remember
() Ice Castles
() Boogeyman
() The 40-Year-Old Virgin
(x) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
(x) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(x) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Total so far:111

(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
(x) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
() Love and Basketball
() Hostel
() Waiting for Guffman
() House of 1000 Corpses
() Devils Rejects
(x) Elf
Total so far:116

(x) Highlander
(x) Mothman Prophecies
() American History X
() Three
() The Jacket
() Kung Fu Hustle
() Shaolin Soccer
() Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
Total so far:120

(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
() Shaun Of the Dead
() Willard
() High Tension
() Club Dread
(x) The Incredible Hulk
() Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(x) Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Total so far:125

(x) 28 days later
() Orgazmo
() Phantasm
(x) Waterworld
() Kill Bill vol 1
() Kill Bill vol 2
(x) Mortal Kombat
() Wolf Creek
(x) Kingdom of Heaven
() The Hills Have Eyes
Total so far:129

() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
() The Last House on the Left
(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
() Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
() Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far:135

() Re-Animator
() Army of Darkness
(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
() Animatrix
() Evil Dead
() Evil Dead 2
() Team America: World Police
() Ghost Town
Total so far:138

(x) Red Dragon
() Silence of the Lambs
() Hannibal
(x) Wall-E
(x) Batman Begins
(x) The Dark Knight
(x) The Prestige
(x) Cars
() Gone With The Wind
(x) Top Gun

145, out of this list of movies!

Clarifying

2011-03-07T10:21:00.002-07:00

OK, so some people pointed out to me that my last post sounded a bit sad. Dad said for people who didn't know me well they'd think I was depressed. A friend sent me a long pick-me up message with advice and ideas (which was greatly appreciated BTW :), Dennis read it and told me I just sounded sad. It's odd he read it though, he rarely reads this blog, even though it's e-mailed to him, unless I tell him to read it. But anyway, it wasn't supposed to sound sad, just frustrated. Life with 3 small kids can be hard! And I'll admit there are days I consider going out and getting job just to get to run away :) My friend Andrea commented on someone's post on facebook and said that "Trying to clean with awake children is like trying to brush your teeth while eating an Oreo!" That's the sentiment where the last post came from, lol.

But my kids will only stay little for a short time. Look at Charity, she's almost 5 already! And normally I focus on the good things in life, because there are so many. But sometimes when I've had a rough day (or night as the case may be, I was tired that morning) then I focus on the negatives around.

I really am blessed, however, to be able to stay home with the kids. Blessed to have such a wonderful loving husband who is able to work and support his family. And not only is he there for us financially but emotionally as well. He loves to spend time with his children playing with them, teaching them and he loves to spend time with me. Of course you already know I love to spend time with him as well! Life is good and I wouldn't trade it away for anything.

Formerly Sarah Dennis and Kiddos, Now Daddy's Girls!

2011-03-03T11:27:00.002-07:00

So for those of you receiving my blog posts by e-mail. Sorry I changed the name! I didn't realize what the e-mails looked like until my Dad pointed out today that he wouldn't have known they were from me except that I mentioned Rebecca's name.

So, instead of receiving e-mails with the subject Sarah, Dennis and Kiddos. It is now Daddy's Girls! I hope you're all enjoying keeping caught up with our lives! :)

General Dissatisfaction

2011-03-03T05:43:00.003-07:00

As I was lying awake at 5 in the morning thinking about life and not being able to get back to sleep after Danielle was up in the middle of the night AGAIN. I realized I have a general dissatisfaction with life lately and I don't know what to do about it.

I don't keep the house as clean as I'd like... and I can't seem to find a system yet that works.

I don't go to the gym as often as I should, yet some days I go more than I want to.

It feels like I have to choose to either clean my house or go to the gym, I can't do both but both are so important.

I don't spend enough time with the kids, playing with them, teaching them; yet I don't get enough time for me.

I get frustrated and angry with the kids way too much, yet they don't seem to care or respond until someone gets upset with them. Daddy doesn't like to get upset with them so I have to be the bad guy.

I definitely don't get enough time with Dennis, even though we recently started swapping babysitting with some friends so we get to go out every other week.

Life has just become so complicated and hectic. It seems like we don't get enough time to talk about the big things, let alone the little ones. So trying to make decisions about things has become a huge hassle.

I started making the girls skirts, they're still not done, ok I got 1 for each of them done, but I'm not done with the ones I originally started (silly me picked out a complicated patten that requires a lot of work). I wanted to have some dresses made for them for our trip, out of some really cute pink material and that is so not going to happen unless I ignore everything else over the next week but I can't ignore everything because I've got to find time to pack on top of everything else that needs done.

I want to read more, but can't find the time really to get to sit and enjoy a book without feeling guilty over what else I'm not doing. It's been several weeks since my last one.

I feel like I watch way too much tv, or spend way too much time on the computer; yet most of that time is spent while I'm holding Rebecca or feeding her or something. Which then factors into me feeling like I don't spend enough time with them because I should be giving all my attention to her or the other kids, right?

I don't know, I just haven't been able to seem to get back in the swing of things yet. That's what I was talking about in my other post that maybe I've just taken on too much too soon. After Charity was born I didn't manage to cook dinner until she was 4 months old, sure Rebecca is 5 months now but I'm still only cooking occasionally when I can get around to it. Maybe it's a time management issue or simply not enough time issue, I don't know, but most days it seems that I'm barely keeping my head above water and I know I've let some important things slide lately that I shouldn't have due to either completely forgetting or lack of caring.

I used to keep track of things and get things taken care of so much better than I have over the past year. Some days I feel like this last pregnancy stole all of my brain cells but forgot to give them back when it was over. Can you get permanent brain damage from pregnancy? lol? My memory is shot, I forget so many things lately, it's frustrating.

Anyway, so there's my dissatisfaction with life right now. I don't know how so many things can fall on both ends of an issue! Maybe I'm just searching for some better balance, I hope I find it soon!

Craziness

2011-03-02T21:54:00.002-07:00

So I have just felt completely overwhelmed with everything lately. I was saying something about it today with a friend and she asked what all I was doing. I have no idea! I found this a while back and figured maybe it explains it better :)

*************************************************

(Author Unknown)

Recently, I was diagnosed with C.A.A.D.D. - Child Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests: I decide to do the laundry. As I start toward the basement, I notice that there are cheerios all over the floor and my house keys are in the cereal bowl. I decide to pick up the cheerios before I do the laundry. I lay my keys down on the counter, put the cheerios in the trashcan under the counter, and notice that the trashcan is full. So, I decide to take out the trash. But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash I may as well pay the bills first. I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only one check left, my extra checks are in my desk in the office, so I go to my desk where I find a sippy cup full of juice. I'm going to look for my checks, but first I decide I should put the sippy cup in the refrigerator to keep it cold. As I head toward the kitchen with the sippy cup a plant on the counter catches my eye--it needs to be watered. I set the sippy cup on the counter, and I discover baby wipes that I've been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back in the bathroom, but first I'm going to water the plants. I set the wipes back down, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote, left on the kitchen table. I realize that when I go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the plants. I splash some water on the plant, but most of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down, get some paper towels and wipe up the spill. Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do. At the end of the day: the laundry isn't washed, the bills aren't paid, there is a warm cup of juice sitting on the counter, the plants aren't watered, there is still only one check in my check book, I can't find the remote, I can't find the wipes, and I don't remember what I did with my keys.

Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today. I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired. I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.

***************************************

On a serious note. I really don't know, maybe it's having a newborn in the house, maybe it's having 3 young children in the house, or 2 younger kids plus a newborn, poor time management, too much laziness, or what, but I really do feel so much of the time that I'm not able to accomplish even half of the things that I should be getting done! Even the days I try really hard to get a lot of things done it just doesn't seem to work out.

Afternoons are hard because Rebecca just wants to be held and entertained, evenings are hard because there is just so much to do. So, if I don't get the things done in the morning that need done, then nothing seems to get done around here. Who knows, maybe in a few more months I'll have things better figured out...

Rebecca's 4-Month appointment

2011-02-15T20:46:00.002-07:00

Rebecca had her 4-month appointment last Friday. She's of course growing like a weed. :)

So, she came in at 26 1/4" and weighed 12lbs 6oz. So, that puts her above the 95% for length and about the 30% for weight. We grow 'em long and skinny apparently. :) She's getting so big though! And it turns out that she's doing a lot of things they look for in 6-month olds. Lol, of course I already knew my babies grow up way too fast!

But my favorite part was when the Doctor asked if she was a good baby because she just has this angelic look about her. Yup, that's what he said, angelic look. I hope that's what we have in store for us :) But she's not acting so angelic at the moment since she's tired so I'd better go put her to sleep...

Day 24 - Something That Makes You Cry

2011-02-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

Let's see... something that makes me cry... Just about anything now a days, lol. I used to never cry but after becoming a Mom, those hormones mess with you and everything makes me cry... Ok, not really everything. But I'd say the #1 thing that makes me cry is the death of a spouse or child in a movie. That gets me every single time.

Busy Busy...

2011-02-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

So I started typing this yesterday! I've been that busy! It seems I am in a productive mode lately. The only time I sit down is when I'm feeding the baby or working on a project which leaves me no free hands to type! lol.

This week really has been busy. I decided to start making some stuff for my etsy store. And then I also got some fabric to make the girls some skirts (they're gonna be so cute). So I've spent all of my free time on that stuff. I will post pictures as soon as I get a chance to take some good ones. The flower hair clips I've made turned out really REALLY cute. I'm finding myself wanting to keep them instead of selling them, lol. I will definitely post some pictures when I get a chance.

In the meantime I will also try to make sure I finish up with my blogging challenge posts.... So what if it ends up taking me 2 months to complete a 1 month challenge... at least I'll finish it! It's been fun and interesting doing the Blogging Challenge. Very interesting topics.

In other news. Rebecca is growing like a weed. She is getting so big! Her 4 month check-up is next Friday (I forgot and ended up having to schedule it for then in order for her to see her doctor and not a different one in the practice). I can't wait to find out exactly how big she is!

Charity is loving school. She gets so excited over all the things she's learning. She is just acting more and more grown up every day. She just amazes us with her knowledge and understanding of things.

Danielle is our little fire cracker. She got a little temper and is just so full of energy. The complete opposite of Charity in so many ways. She can be such a little trouble maker and yet such a little Angel. And she is capable of being so darn cute.

We really are blessed with the little family that we have!

Oh, I almost forgot I wanted to share a conversation that I had with Danielle the other day. She is very opinionated and strong willed so handling her when she's upset can be really difficult sometimes. So, we were getting ready to take the van into the shop to get some recalled parts replaced.

Me: "Danielle, What's wrong?"

D: "I don't want to."

Me: "You can ride in the car if you don't want to ride in the van."

D: "No, I don't want to go."

Me: "You have to go Danielle."

D: "O-kay"

She does this really drawn out O when she's giving in. It was just so cute.

Anyway, so there's a quick update on us since I haven't posted in a week or so.

Day 23 - Something That Makes You Feel Better

2011-01-31T12:12:00.002-07:00

I have 3 I want to share:

Dennis. :) No matter what, a hug and a kiss from him and everything is better!

Reading a good book or watching a good movie, I use both of those as escape routes when I need a pick me up. A good love story or a tear jerker and everything is right in the world. :)

Day 22 - Something that Upsets You

2011-01-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

OK, rugs upset me. I have this strange thing where rugs cannot be messed up. I had a friend in school that any time I went to her house I always had to fix the rugs to make sure they were laying right. We have a rug in our living room and it has to be left alone. When we had Dusty and he'd get super excited and run onto the rug and mess it up, oh how I'd yell at him for messing up my rug! The girls get in trouble if the mess up the rug. There's just something about rugs! lol!

Oh, and I think that Dennis thinks it's very comical when I get upset over my rug being messed up... He's certainly laughed at me enough times about it! I don't know why it bugs me so much.

Day 21 - Another Moment

2011-01-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

This is a moment that most parents dread:

Charity's First Day of School

Granted it was only preschool but she was excited and it was odd dropping her off. Sorry the picture's not that great, I took it with my cell phone and it was doing funny things. Actually, I was really excited for her, she was so excited and thrilled to be going. It was fun to watch all the excitement! I'm not sure I'll feel that way by the time Rebecca gets there though, lol!

Day 20 – This month

2011-01-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, what to say about this month? Well, it was January the first month of the year 2011... Really, there wasn't anything huge that happened this month. Took care of kids, cuddled with a baby, went to the gym occasionally, cleaned the house, went to cub scouts, watched some tv, had play dates with friends, talked on the phone with friends.

I taught Charity my cell phone number. They were learning about it at school and she got to pass it off by calling home during school :) That was a fun call! I discovered that her brain must work similar to mine because she had a harder time just memorizing the numbers but as soon as I showed her the pattern to dial she had it down. Next I need to teach her our address, though she knows the city already. I've started seriously potty training Danielle, we are done with pullups. She's does surprisingly well some days and dismally awful others! Hopefully it's not long until she gets it down.

This weekend we'll be going to visit my parents since it's my Mom's birthday on Monday. That should be fun. Oh, we started a babysitting swap with a friend. So every Friday night (mostly fridays) is spent either on a date or babysitting! We've been out once and we've got a date set up for tomorrow so I'm excited, though we have no idea what we're doing as of yet, lol.

Well, Rebecca woke up and is fussing, if I think of anything else I'll add it but that sounds mostly like our month!

Day 19 – Something you regret

2011-01-25T17:08:00.001-07:00

Dave, and no it's not dating Dave or being friends with Dave. It was not getting to know Dave better.

I posted about Dave back in July of 2008 in a post titled Just Remembering. He was a very good friend of mine, one that could have been a lot more but I wouldn't let it. I don't even regret the not letting it, I know Dennis is who I was suppose to be with, but Dave died the winter after I met him in a car accident and I've always regretted not spending more time with him there near the end. I'd recently started dating Dennis and of course all my time had been consumed with him, but I don't know if Dave knew how much I did care for him and how much I respected him and that's what I regret.

I honestly don't have a lot of regrets but that is my biggest one.

Day 18 – Your favorite birthday

2011-01-24T10:07:00.001-07:00

What is up with all these favorite posts!?! They're the hardest to come up with because how am I suppose to pick which is my favorite! I always try to do something special for my birthday so this is tough! I got my Patriarchal Blessing for my 13th Birthday, went on a trip to Washington for my 19th Birthday, had my first child right before my 23rd Birthday. And those are only a couple of the memorable things I've done on or for my Birthday. I'm very big into Birthdays and being spoiled for that special day every year so it's hard to pick just one so I'm not going to pick which is my favorite but just pick one to tell you about!

This one happened right after I got engaged! lol, Funny how a few of these seem to be lining up so well, lol. Anyway, so Laura was in Washington at Vashon island for like 6 weeks for a thing for school. (College). It was a year after graduating from High School and I was NOT going to have a birthday without seeing my twin so, we got special permission for me to come visit her and I bought plane tickets to Washington! I was excited to get to go back after so many years.

Vashon island was beautiful! And I'd love to go back one day to show it to Dennis, especially that time of year when everything is abundantly green! I really did have a lot of fun though!

Day 17 – Your Favorite Memory

2011-01-23T15:47:00.000-07:00

Something you need to know about me, I'm not good at picking just one of something! So this post was really hard for me to come up with just 1 favorite memory! I've spent days trying to pick just one! I almost decided to just skip this one since I can't pick just 1 favorite, but then I decided to just pick one of them and go for it.

So, back on May 18 of 2002, (I'd forgotten the exact date but recently found a picture with the date on it, so 6 years before Charity was born, to the day! lol) Dennis and I were unofficially engaged at this point and he was staying in Delta for the summer working. His job was to drive around on a 4-Wheeler in the mountains down there laying poison for the Mormon Crickets. My friend Sam and I had gone down for the weekend. We were staying at a friend's house down there. Dennis and I had plans to go 4-Wheeling. Sam really wanted to go with us but Becky, the friend's Mom) convinced her to stay behind. It was a good thing since Dennis had only gotten 1 4-Wheeler!

I meant to put on the necklace Dennis had given me the nighthe first kissed me but I had slipped in my pocket that morning and forgot about it. I never saw it again :( So, we were 4 Wheeling up in one of the mountains and Dennis was showing me some of the area he was working in and telling me about some of his experiences. It was my first time 4 Wheeling and it was so much fun! After we got done 4 Wheeling on that stretch of the mountain, he went up in a Canyon nearby to start cooking dinner. The Canyon has camping sites and picnic areas so we got our fire started and our tinfoil dinners started. Yummy, he makes such good tinfoil dinners, in fact we're having that for dinner tonight :) So while we were waiting for our food to cook on the coals we went 4 Wheeling some more up the trail in the Canyon. At the top of the mountain we were able to look out over the Valley on the other side. Such a magnificent view! We got to sit and watch a deer for a few minutes too. I don't know how the noise of the 4-Wheeler didn't scare it away before we were able to stop and watch it. We were less than 30 yards away or so from it.

On our way back down to our picnic site the sun was setting and it was a gorgous Pink sunset. Since it was May and the trees weren't full of leaves it was really cool to watch it change through the branches and we got further down. When we got back we ate our tinfoil dinners to fire light and candle light. It was very romantic, of course Dennis is good at being romantic! lol, I got me a good one! Then he set up the telescope he'd brought so we could look at the stars. We'd picked a picnic area with a clearning nearby for just that purpose.

Well, he tried for several minutes to get it focused correctly but was having issues so he asked me if I'd like to try. I said sure. Now remember, it was May and after dark in a Canyon so it was cold! Well, I tried for a few minutes but nothing seemed to look right through the telescope so I gave up and went to stand by the fire. Dennis decided to take the candle and look at the top of the telescope to see if something had gotten on top of the lens. That made me curious so I went to investigate with him. Sitting on top of the telescop was a ring!

He pulled the ring out of it and got down on one knee and took my hand as he asked me to be his wife. It was a beautiful night, and a beautiful ring. It's a night I'll never forget and an an answer I'll never regret! I love you Honey, Forever and Always!

Day 16 – Your first kiss

2011-01-19T22:07:00.000-07:00

I'm going to tell you about my first kiss with Dennis. :)

We'd been dating for about a month and we'd gone to see the movie The Other Side of Heaven that night. We were on a double date with Sam and whoever she was seeing at the time, sorry I don't remember who, so he dropped us both off at her house.

Him and I stood on the front porch talking for a few minutes. Then he made his move :) It was the perfect first kiss. What can I say? It was a soft gentle kiss and caught me by surprise. It wasn't my first kiss ever but all the other paled in comparison to that one.

After I went in the house, already giddy with happiness, I had another surprise. He'd left flowers, a note, and a necklace for me inside. It was a beautiful necklace (he has great taste in jewelery, lucky me!). That is a night I will never forget and a memory I will always cherish.

Day 15 – Your dreams

2011-01-18T22:06:00.001-07:00

Your Dreams. Hmm....

Raise my children to grow up to be good people.

Spend lots and lots of years with Dennis (grow old together :).

One day own a bed and breakfast.

Go on a couple's mission when we're old and gray.

I don't know is that dreaming big or not? lol

Day 14 – What you wore today

2011-01-17T22:06:00.002-07:00

Pajamas all day long! I've got some cute Pajama pants that have lip prints all over them that I got last year for Valentine's Day and then a black tshirt. I had no where to go and nothing out of the usual to do so I went comfy all day :)

(If this post was on what Rebecca wore, however, it would be a much longer post! lol)

Pelvic Prolapse

2011-01-15T15:34:00.002-07:00

Dr. Oz this week (thanks for telling me Dad, though I haven't gotten to watch it yet) talked about Pelvic Prolapse (Uterine Prolapse falls under this). So, go to this link and learn about Pelvic Prolapse, especially if you're a woman! It really is a Women's Health Issue that deserves more attention and knowledge spread about it! So few people even know what it is and yet Dr. Oz says it's going to be a concern for up to 50% of women. When I researched it after I had Danielle I remember reading that it said it currently affects like 1 in 4 women. I have a mild Uterine Prolapse that is very problematic right after giving birth and I really wish there was more information about it, I had a hard time finding much when I started researching it 2 1/2 years ago.

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/truth-about-pelvic-prolapse-pt-1

Day 13 – This week

2011-01-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

What a great day to have this one fall on! It's Saturday and the end of the week. This week was definitely a full one.

On Monday I drove for preschool and spent the rest of the day cleaning and just trying to get stuff done around the house. It was a pretty uneventful day but aren't most Mondays?

Tuesday is my busiest day off the week, at least it feels that way to me. I woke early and played on the computer some. My phone's screen died :( Then, I went to Zumba. After lunch, Tiffany came over with her kids, so the kids got to play and we got to visit. It's so nice have a next door neighbor who is also a best friend! :) Then that night I went to Cub Scouts (I'm a Bear Leader). I didn't decide which phone I wanted and get it ordered in time for the next day delivery so I put it off until Wednesday.

Wednesday I had plans to take the girls to a play date after Charity was done at preschool but my friend was sick so we stayed home. I spend most of Wednesday researching phones trying to decide what to get! I had planned on Dennis and I going to the gym Wednesday night but he had to work late and didn't feel the best so we didn't go. I finally decided which phone I wanted but I missed out on the overnight shipping deadline again! So by the time I got around to ordering my phone it was late Wednesday night and then the guy screwed up and didn't ask me about the shipping and processed it with the default 2 days shipping so I don't get my phone until next Monday! Grrr.

Thursday Dennis ended up working from home and it was a very good thing because I didn't feel well on Thursday. So I laid on the couch and did just about nothing. All Day, and that was my day. Dennis was nice and got Chinese for dinner that night. Yummy.

Then on Friday (I was feeling better, Yay!). I did stuff around the house that morning. It was my turn to drive for preschool so between dropping the girls off and picking them up, I went to the gym and worked out. After the gym we dropped Charity and Danielle off at my friend's house so we could go on a date! We just started a babysitting swap with this friend so we watch their kids one week so they can go out and then they watch our kids the next for us and we're just gonna go back and forth! Yay for regular date nights! But we WASTED our date on going to see Season of the Witch. It wasn't a very good movie, it was boring, the storyline wasn't well developed, the characters weren't well developed, the twist in the end didn't add to the movie. It just really wasn't very good. We grabbed some take out on the way back and picked up the kids. Let them watch a movie before bed, we watched some tv, and I fell asleep watching tv, poor Dennis. I've been doing that lately and it drives him crazy! lol.

Today we took down our Christmas stuff. Good bye Christmas Tree, Goodbye nativity. I'll see you again in 10 months or so... Such a sad time of year! lol, Charity was mad at us that we were taking down the decorations but then she joined in and had fun taking it down. It certainly takes a lot less time to put it all away than it does to put it up! We're just gonna play with the kids and maybe watch some tv for the rest of the day.

Rebecca has pink eye (though I think it might just be a clogged duct now) so I'm not sure what we're going to do about Church tomorrow. We took her to the movie with us but it was sitting in one chair, not interacting with anyone so I wasn't worried about spreading it but I'm not sure about church. So, we'll see. The other girls definitely need to go, lol, they get mad at us when they miss church because they like it so much.

Well, there you go... That's been my week!

Day 12 – What’s in your bag

2011-01-14T22:04:00.001-07:00

Seeing as I recently had a baby, I carry a diaper bag so it's got lots of baby stuff in it :) I'm doing this off memory so some things may not be specific. Without further ado, the contents of my bag:

extra blanket

extra change of clothes for Rebecca

pair of babylegs

2 burp cloths

3 size 1 diapers

1 pullup (for Danielle)

wipes

desitin

couple of pens

bag of candy

couple of granola bars

several dum dums

handbag with debit card, drivers license and misc, other cards in it

some change and a couple of dollars

chapstick

lip gloss

small bag of makeup stuff (eye ointment. blush, mascara)

a couple of small toys

cell phone when I'm out and about

keys

hair things for me

hair things for the girls

Well, that's all I can think of, there's probably more but I don't remember so there you go.

Day 11 – Your siblings

2011-01-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

I'm the Fourth child in my family.

First in the family is my older brother, James, who is 12 years older than me. He has a little boy, who's not so little anymore. I think he's 14, no, just turned 15. Wow. They moved to Michigan or somewhere around there almost 8 years ago and we haven't kept in very good contact so I don't know much about what's going on with them.

Then there is my older sister, Renell, who is 9 years older than me. She works as a machinist and has 2 boys. One who is 14 and one who is 11. (If I remember their ages correctly). She lives up in Northern Idaho and we don't get to see much of each other anymore but we keep in pretty good contact so I get to hear about what's going on in her life. :)

Next in line is my identical twin sister, Laura :) My favorite twin :) She's a teacher and has 3 small children, ages 5, 4 and 3! She lives in Arizona and we don't get to see each other nearly enough at all :( But we've started talking on the phone more the last year or so and it's been nice to stay in closer contact with her.

Last, but not lease, is my "little" brother Roy. He's an adult already ad I don't know how that happened. To me, he's still just a kid. He's currently working on finding his place in the world.

So, those are my siblings. We make an interesting assortment on personalities and preferences, but hey, we're family!

Day 10 – What you wore today

2011-01-11T16:23:00.000-07:00

First off I went to the gym, wore gym pants and a t-shirt with my sneakers. Then after working out I changed into a pair of jeans and another t-shirt with my sneakers. Tonight I'll be wearing heels when I go to Cub Scouts. No jewelry or anything today. Tuesdays are a simple low key dressed down kind of day.

Day 09 – Your Beliefs

2011-01-10T17:32:00.000-07:00

I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I believe in our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I believe that a man named Joseph Smith, as a 14 year old boy, asked Heavenly Father which Church to join and was told to join none of them because not one held the full truth. He would later go on to translate the Book of Mormon and restore the full Gospel back onto the earth. He was the first prophet of the Latter Days. We currently have a living prophet named Thomas S. Monson on the earth today and leading the Church.

Our basic beliefs are laid out in the 13 Articles of Faith that were written by Joseph Smith:

1 - We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

2 - We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.

3 - We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

4 - We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

5 - We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

6 - We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists an so forth.

7 - We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.

8 - We believe the Bible to the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to the word of God.

9 - We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

10 - We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and that the earth will be renewed and receive its' paradisiacal glory.

11 - We claim the privilege of worshiping Almight God according the the dictates of our own conscience and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where or what they may.

12 - We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring and sustaining the law.

13 - We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous and in doing good to all men; indeed we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul - We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous loverly, of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

So, there are the basics and the basis of my beliefs. For more information you can visit Mormon.org or the Church's website.

I just also wanted to add that I know I'm a daughter of my Heavenly Father and that he loves and cares for me. I believe that we are all sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ was our brother and suffered and died for each of us that one day we can all return home. I have the opportunity to be with my family not only in this life but through eternity. I know he has set out a plan for me and I'm striving each day to follow His will and to choose the right. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Sleeping Antics

2011-01-09T21:56:00.003-07:00

So, I'm sure I've mentioned before about Danielle's ability to fall asleep easily in odd places (she gets it from me) but this is where she took her nap today:

She's in her closet between the door and the dresser. Curled up in there and fell asleep... LOL!

Day 8 - A Moment

2011-01-09T21:34:00.003-07:00

OK. so this is really Day 9 but even though I missed a day, I'm just gonna continue on until I'm done with all 30 posts. :) So, a moment. This is a hard one since I did a post bout moments a few weeks ago. But I was lucky enough to have caught this exchange with photos a few days ago and figured I'd share.

Look this is Rebecca.

Mommy, see this is a picture of Rebecca

See Rebecca, it's you.

See, See, it's Becca.

See Becka, it's you!

I was really entertained to watch this. When I showed Dennis the pictures I'm not sure if he was entertained by the pictures, or by my voice overs to go with the pictures. But Danielle really is obsessed with showing Rebecca her picture in the picture book. LOL. It's cute to see her take such an interest in the baby. Her and Charity both really are such good helpers and wanting to always help with her, take care of her, and show her things.

Day 7 - Your Best Friend

2011-01-07T18:00:00.002-07:00

OK, so there is a lot of people that I could write this about. My husband, my twin, my friend and neighbor Tiffany, but I think I'm going to tell you about my friend Sam.

She's mean. :) Really, she is. We met in High School in Speech class when she sat behind me and started hitting me with a spoon! How did a great friendship blossom from that one? I have no idea! lol. But even though we've been friends for well over 10 years and now only get to see each other ever few months, we are still the best of friends. She knows that she can count on me and I know that I can count on her. If one of us is having an awful day, week, time, we can call the other and find instant happiness. I'm so thankful to have her as part of my life.

And even though she's mean, she is still one of the sweetest most caring people I know. She has such a special spirit about her and she's had a lot of trials in her life but she has overcome them and become a better person for them that I just can't help but admire her strength. We consider ourselves soul sisters and we both know that no matter where this life takes us we'll always be just a phone call away, a shoulder to cry on, a friend to counsel, someone who cares for every moment the good and bad, whatever we need. It doesn't matter how long it's been since we last saw each other or spoke but we can pick up right where we left off and when we have a chance to talk, we go on for hours! And I know that there have been times where she's called just when I needed her to.

Our friendship is something that I treasure every single day. And I can only hope that someday she'll look up to me as much as I do her!

Day 6 - Your Day

2011-01-06T21:43:00.002-07:00

Well, today was a pretty good day. I read a book.

It started off with me getting the kids up and ready. Then doing some stuff on the computer, then a little bit of cleaning. Then, I've got some books that have been calling my name since Christmas and I just couldn't resist any longer. So I sat down to read Hidden Truth by Dawn Cook. I figured I'd only read for a couple of hours since Dennis' Dad was coming up and then I'd have to wait until Monday to read some more. But before I realized it, it was 6:00, Dennis was home from work, and I only had 1/3 or so of the book to go. So, I had to ignore Dennis for most of the night and finish my book. It was the second in a series. I listened to the first one (First Truth) almost 2 months ago now (through our library but they didn't have the rest) and ordered the rest of the series off Amazon and then Dennis insisted on giving them to me for Christmas so, I guess really they've been calling my name for even longer than that.

Dennis got the kids put to bed, I finished my book and then I fell asleep to us watching Lie to Me. So, yup, it was a pretty good day :)

Day 5 - My Definition of Love

2011-01-05T22:08:00.002-07:00

Wow, how to define Love? If you asked me that 10 years ago I'd probably give you a very different answer!

I used to believe that Love was simply that head over heels, intoxicating feeling that you feel at the start of a relationship. Of course when I was say, a teenager, I had a very small understanding of the word! I have since learned that Love is sooo much more than a feeling. Love is a choice, Love is an action, Love is selfless service. Love isn't about what someone else does for you, but what you do for them.

When I try to have dinner at least started when my husband gets home from work cuz I know how hungry he is, that's love. When we finally find 5 minutes to sit on the couch together at the end of the night, that's love. When I get mad at him and choose to forgive, or ask for forgiveness, that's Love. But there's a lot more Love than that in my life. When I look into the eyes of my child and see trust and dependence, that's love. When I know I'd do anything to protect that precious soul, that's love. When I choose to care for, protect, spend time with, laugh with those around me, that's Love.

Day 4 - What I ate Today

2011-01-04T22:00:00.002-07:00

OK, not sure what the point is to tell everyone what I ate but here you go: (Have I mentioned one reason I go to the gym, besides to stay healthy of course, is so I can eat what I want? :)

Breakfast:

A banana and a granola bar (running out the door to go to the gym)

Lunch: (grabbed from Wendy's after the gym :)

BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger, no cheese, and a Sour Cream and Chives baked potato.

A couple of bites of a frosty

3 chicken nuggets

6 fries

Some lemonade

Snack:

A handful of Life Cereal

A handful of Christmas M&Ms

4 or 5 Chickin in a Biskit Crackers

Dinner:

1 homemade meat, bean and cheese burrito

A handful of shredded Cheese

Snack:

~2 cookies, not sure what kind they were but they were yummy! (cinnamon sugar cookies, maybe?)

Drank 8-10 glasses of water today, need to drink more, I'm thirsty! (Zumba does that to me!)

Now I'm actually contemplating what to eat for a bedtime snack... I'm hungry. lol!

Day 3 - Your Parents

2011-01-03T20:59:00.002-07:00

My Mom was born and raised in West Virginia. She joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in her teenage years. She was the only girl in her family. Was very close to her Aunt Kathleen. Went to BYU for college and there met my Dad. What can I say about her? She is one of the sweetest, kindest, most caring people I know. She is always looking for ways to help others.

Dad was born in Oregon, I think. (I'm so sorry if I got that wrong!) He was raised in Oregon. We went and visited there this summer and had a great time! Has 2 sisters, one who lives in Australia and the other in Wisconsin, I think. I really should know that, shouldn't I? Was in the Air Force for a while. What about Dad? Well, he loves his family and tries to do what he can for them. He enjoys computers and reading. (That's where I got my love of reading and computers from!)

They've been in love for over 40 years and looking forward to many more together!

Day 2 - Your First Love

2011-01-02T10:15:00.003-07:00

Wow, where to even start with this one? There is my first crush as a kid, my first crush as a teenager, my first boyfriend, then there's my first love, my second love... You get the idea. I tended to fall in love a lot when I was younger. :) So. can I skip this one? lol. Or change it to a different love than the first? Guess not since this one IS titled First Love.

My first love's name was Russ. He was visiting one of my Young Women's leaders. She'd moved from the ward but we'd kept in touch. I was a Junior in High School at the time. What is there really to say though? He was only visiting for a couple of months. He took me to Prom that we. We dated, we flirted, we had a lot of fun. We kept in contact for quite a while after he left, a couple of years in fact. He never asked me to follow him so I never did. It was a bit sad at that time but now I'm grateful, I may never have met Dennis otherwise.

Day 1

2011-01-01T18:14:00.003-07:00

Introduce Yourself

I'm Sarah Jayne, a 27 year old Gemini; who really is a twin. I've been married to my wonderful husband, Dennis, for a little over 8 years now. We have 3 beautiful children, all girls. Charity, 4 1/2 years old; Danielle, 2 1/2 years old; and Rebecca, 3 months. I am absolutely in love with my little family. And I currently stay at home with them. Some things I enjoy are: reading, watching movies, going to the gym, watching tv, visiting with friends, playing on the computer, and most of all spending time with my hubby! Well, that's me in a nutshell!

Blogging Challenge

2011-01-01T09:55:00.002-07:00

Ok, so a friend is doing this blogging Challenge and I thought it sounded like fun! So, here's my way to start the New Year!

Day 01 – Introduce yourself

Day 02 – Your first love

Day 03 – Your parents

Day 04 – What you ate today

Day 05 – Your definition of love

Day 06 – Your day

Day 07 – Your best friend

Day 08 – A moment

Day 09 – Your beliefs

Day 10 – What you wore today

Day 11 – Your siblings

Day 12 – What’s in your bag

Day 13 – This week

Day 14 – What you wore today

Day 15 – Your dreams

Day 16 – Your first kiss

Day 17 – Your favorite memory

Day 18 – Your favorite birthday

Day 19 – Something you regret

Day 20 – This month

Day 21 – Another moment

Day 22 – Something that upsets you

Day 23 – Something that makes you feel better

Day 24 – Something that makes you cry

Day 25 – A first

Day 26 – Your fears

Day 27 – Your favorite place

Day 28 – Something that you miss

Day 29 – Your aspirations

Day 30 – One last moment

Hopefully I complete it!

New Years Goals

2010-12-31T18:29:00.001-07:00

2010's Goals:

Read the entire Book of Mormon - Really, I need to work on reading the scriptures daily, hopefully I do better this year! I didn't read the entire Book of Mormon but I did do a lot better at reading, especially towards the end of the year.

Continue Improving at FHE - We're doing pretty good at this, there's still room for improvement though.

Exercise 4x a week - HAHAHA, I got pregnant at the very beginning of the year and killed that goal!

Read 25 books - That's only one every 2 weeks or so, I'm sure I can do that no problem! - Boy where do I start? When I get to 25 I'm gonna stop, but I think I managed to blow this goal out of the water with my reading this year.

So:

Vampire Diaries 1

Forbidden Game, 1, 2, 3

Night World, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9

Fable Haven 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

Ender's Game

First Truth

Twilight

New Moon

Eclipse

Breaking Dawn

Eragon 1,2, & 3

2011's Goals:

Continue working on reading scriptures every day.

Exercise 4x a week

Get my home more organized and clutter free

Find time for a me hobby.

Merry Christmas from our Family to Yours

2010-12-26T17:10:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends & Family,

This year started off with Dennis starting his last semester of his Graduate Program through Arizona State University. He was taking 2 classes to finish up his Degree. One of which was his Senior Project; between the 2 classes, there was a short supply of his time! But we felt it was worth it for him to finish a bit ahead of schedule. Good thing we did (so that he had nothing going on this summer or fall) because on Valentine's Day we got a great surprise; we found out we were expecting our third child! Sarah was sure it was a boy, but lo and behold a few months later we found out it was to be our third little girl. Her due date was October 10^th, 10-10-10! What a fun day to be expecting a baby!

In March, the girls, Sarah and her Dad went to Arizona to visit Sarah's twin. It was a lot of fun. They took some time to go a little further South and visited Tombstone, AZ; home of some famous names in History such as Wyatt Earp! They also visited the Phoenix Zoo while they were in Arizona and of course, the girls loved it. The Zoo is one of their favorite places in the whole world.

Dennis had to travel for work quite a bit during May and ended up being gone for both of the girls' birthdays but luckily they're little enough they didn't mind and we celebrated when Daddy was home. May is definitely a busy month around here between birthdays and holidays! But the best part of the month was when Dennis had finished up his classes for his Masters Degree. Sarah couldn't have been prouder of her wonderful husband! He'd worked hard and they'd had to sacrifice a lot of time together for him to complete it but he did it and he got his Masters!

In July we went on a family vacation with Sarah's family to Brookings, Oregon. Sarah's Dad grew up there and he wanted to be able to share his youth with his children so he rented a large vacation home on the beach and we all went to visit! It was a 2 day drive both ways and sometimes a little crazy! But we had so much fun! We got to see Giant Redwood Trees, visit the deepest lake in the US, Crater Lake (In the caldera of an old volcano!), visit the largest Sea Lion Cave in the US, pet sharks, play on the beach, collect shells, and just spend some good quality family time together. We loved it, and though Sarah may never get Dennis that close to the ocean again, it really was an enjoyable trip!

August was another busy month for us. We celebrated our 8^th Wedding Anniversary. (Can it really have been that long already?) Dennis turned 30. And then, the day that every parent dreads happened. Our first little girl had her first day of school! (pre-school) She looked so cute that first day, and she was beyond excited to go! In fact, most days, she's still really excited to go and we hope that she is able to always keep that love of learning alive.

The month of September was our waiting game (as Sarah calls it). Nothing was going on except for sitting around waiting for the baby! It's really hard to be patient when you know one of the best things in life is going to happen soon! Rebecca Marie was born on September 29^th, a little after 2:30 in the morning. She was a little tiny thing! Only weighing 6lbs 11oz and 19” long, so much smaller than either of her sisters. Her sisters just dote on her, they are so in love. It's sweet to watch. Then we blessed her on her due date of 10-10-10!

We hosted Thanksgiving for the first time this year. It was with Dennis' family and was a nice holiday. It's exciting that we are at the point in our lives where we're hosting family get togethers. Then Christmas will be at our house this year with Sarah's family. We really are loving the Holidays, and looking forward to the start of another New Year! (Hopefully one not quite so busy!)

Love,

Dennis, Sarah, Charity, Danielle and Rebecca
The Young Family

Merry Christmas Pictures

2010-12-26T16:45:00.002-07:00

In November a friend and I set up a backdrop photo area and had some fun. Here was our results: Enjoy!

Santa Claus is coming to town...

2010-12-13T15:41:00.002-07:00

What a busy time of year getting ready for Christmas and all! Luckily everything is bought/made, still waiting on a few things in the mail, and we have about 1/2 the presents wrapped (maybe a little more!). Yay! I think we've got all the stocking stuffers. Oh wait, just remembered one thing I need to get since we weren't able to get them on Saturday...

Now I'm just trying to get a newsletter written and Christmas cards sent out. I've never written an end of the year newsletter before. How do you limit it to a page!?! lol. And then how much detail should I include? Do I just leave off some of the things that happened to include more detail or not go into much detail? I don't know! Well, you'll have to let me know what you think after you read it.

The girls are so excited though. Danielle today has wanted to tell everyone Merry Christmas. So very cute! Charity just wants to wrap more presents. :) It's so much fun to watch them and get caught up in Christmas through their eyes.

Now to go figure out what I'm forgetting, lol.

Moments

2010-12-05T15:32:00.001-07:00

Have you ever experienced one of those perfect moments where life sometimes gives us a glimpse of perfect peace and happiness?

It seems to me, and maybe it's just a faulty memory with those from my younger days slipping away, but I've had more of those moments since becoming a parent than I ever did as a child or young adult. You'd think the big "events" would qualify under with these special Moments, but surprisingly they don't, atleast not for me. There was no grand moment the day I graduated High School, the day I got engaged or said I do, the day I found out that I was going to become a mother. While those are all special times in and of themselves, they weren't a Moment.

I've experienced them throughout the years. One of my favorites is now a Christmas memory, one of my favorite Christmas memories. :) I'd gotten up early Christmas morning, it was just me, the silence, and the beauty of the tree. I just sat there staring at the lit tree feeling like everything was just right in the world. That moment is the reason Christmas is one of my favorite holidays and every year I get to catch a glimpse of that moment. Every time I stare at a Christmas Tree all lit up, especially in the dark when the only light is coming from the tree, I experience a little bit of that peace and happiness I found that morning.

Growing up, I always believed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was true but then when I was a preteen, probably 11 or 12, I had one of those moments that solidified my faith. Laura and I had been taking piano lessons from a neighbor in our ward and we'd been sitting at the piano in her house playing, I had glanced out the window and I can't tell you now what I saw, what we were playing, why then, but I remember the feeling, in that moment, that instant, I knew the church was true. It wasn't just a belief anymore that it was true but I knew. Since then I've never had a doubt on my testimony of the church. It was no longer based on my parents beliefs or the beliefs of those around me, but it was my knowledge of its' truthfullness and I still carry that with me today.

Another I had while in High School was just a moment, nothing was affirmed to me, there was no feeling of peace or happiness, it was more of perfect contentment, and it was a double moment :) One time in the spring I was walking home from school, I don't know if I was by myself or if Laura was with me that day or what. But the sun was shining, there were light fluffy clouds in the sky, it was a warm day, and I caught the smell of blossoms in the air. It was one of those moments that just lifted me up. Later that year in the fall, it happened again, only this time there was a crispness to the air. The sun was still shining, the sky a bright blue but the leaves on the trees had turned colors and I caught that wonderful autumn smell of dried leaves and apples. Those two memories are intertwined for me, they happened in the same spot, and were so similar that I can't think of one without the other.

Another time when cuddling with Dennis on the couch. We were just sitting there, watching a movie or something, but he had his arm around me and I was snuggled up next to him, comfortable and happy. It hit me just how wonderful life was, how much I loved this man beside me, and how much he loved me. I wanted to in that moment, always.

Here's a guilty little secret of mine, as a teen and young adult, I didn't want kids. The thought of labor scared me. I was selfish and didn't want to have give up my free time and be responsible for another human being, but I still felt that it was the right thing to do, that I was suppose to have children. Still, after Dennis and I decided to start our family, I wasn't at peace with it, I didn't want to. But then one day, I was just sitting there on the bus, on my way to school, and I had this feeling of peace come over me that everything would be all right and work out for the best. I knew in that moment that it was right, and I was finally at peace with the decision and I was happy.

One night after Charty was born I was holding her, looking into her eyes probably. And it dawned on me the true meaning of a Mother's Love. I'd never really understood it before and maybe it requires becoming a Mother to really understand the love that a Mother has for her child(ren). But that moment was a revelation for me really on how much my own parents loved me, how much I loved my own child, and how much my Father in Heaven loved me. To be in that moment revelling in the amount of love for my own child and the amount of Love that I felt in that moment from those who love me was just amazing.

I just had another moment, and again it was while holding my baby in my arms. I glanced at the mirror and there I was holding this precious beautiful little child. She was snuggled up next to me, her face nestled near my neck, that perfect little newborn snuggle and I looked so happy and peaceful. I looked again to try to capture that perfect moment again but it was too late, she'd already wiggled a bit and I was looking for it, lol. I have a lot of those moments as a mother of a newborn, it's probably one of the reasons that I just LOVE newborns, the perfect peace I can find when holding my new child is just amazing to me.

When I experience of those Moments, I find myself wishing that I could stay in that Moment forever, wanting it to just go on and on and not end; but the Moments can't last forever, otherwise there would be no more Moments. I can't sit forever in the peace of that early morning staring at the tree; I can't forever be cuddled up next to Dennis; I can't forever hold my newborn child in my arms; I can't forever stay in a single moment. And as much as I WANT to stay in that Moment when it's here, I'm so glad that we're not able to ever stay in one single Moment because then I would miss out on so many more. And though the memory of that Moment may not be as powerful as the Moment itself, those are memories I will always cherish.

Rebecca is 2 Months Old!

2010-12-03T16:00:00.004-07:00

My sweet little baby is 2 months old already! How did that happen? And you'll never believe how big she is! She had her 2 month appointment today and she weighed 10lbs 7oz and was 24" long! The doctor commented that she looked like a 4 month old to him because of her length :) It seems she's taking after her Daddy.

Though, I looked up the other girls' stats at 2 months old and it's going to amaze you the similarities...

Charity at 2 months old was 10lbs 6oz and 23 1/2".

Danielle at 2 months was 1olbs 7oz and 24 1/4"

So, they were all within an ounce of each other, and within an inch of each other length wise. So at 2 months old they were all a very similar size... Now Charity is tall tall tall and even pretty big percentile wise for her heighth and Danielle is tiny tiny tiny.... My guess is still that Rebecca is going to be tall and similar to Charity since Danielle started out bigger and birth and Rebecca was my smallest at birth, so she's shown the largest amount of weight gain at 2 months. (She has technically put on over 4 pounds in 2 months!) But, time will tell and we'll just have to wait and see :)

Rebecca 2 months old - A laugh or a smile?

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

2010-11-30T14:11:00.004-07:00

Yay! We got our Christmas tree up! We spent the whole weekend getting the tree up and decorating it and getting the decorations out. Still have a bit more to do outside but Yay! Here is our tree:

Now we just need to add some presents :)

Grateful Day 28-30

2010-11-30T13:58:00.002-07:00

Grateful Days:

28: I'm grateful for the snow and the Holiday Season. It might make the roads scary but it's beautiful to look at, and the kids love to play in it and it just adds so much to the feeling of the Holidays.

29: I'm thankful for good friends and the chance to get together and have fun together.

30: I'm thankful that I get to go to the gym and exercise. Today I went to a Zumba class (second time since I had Rebecca) and it just makes me feel so good afterwards. I never thought I would enjoy exercising, but I really do and I'm thankful I get to go and do that.

As the month is winding up, I just want to say how grateful I am that I took this opportunity to express my gratitude for the things that I have. It helps me to see all the wonderful blessings that I have.

Grateful Day 23-27

2010-11-27T14:27:00.003-07:00

Ooops! I missed a bunch of days again! Good thing this month is almost over, lol.

Day 23: I'm thankful for Mom and Dad being able to come visit so we could go on a date!

Day 24: I'm grateful for Holidays and getting to spend time with family.

Day 25: I'm thankful for a wonderful husband who did most of the cooking!

Day 26: I'm grateful for my FIL who watched the girs so we could go shopping. The majority of our Christmas Shopping is done at this point!

Day 27: I'm thankful for kids who are excited about decorating the Christmas Tree! Only we didn't have enough decorations for them, lol.

Dennis' Christmas Present

2010-11-22T18:05:00.003-07:00

I'm so excited about Dennis' Christmas present! He's gonna love it!

At first I had decided to get him an ipod touch for Christmas because he loves listening to audio books on his way to and from work and I figured I could add more music to it that way too. Then, I decided I should just upgrade him to the ipad since it would have a calendar, and contacts list and such that would be really useful for him now, especially with his new calling.

Then I found out there are Android tablets (like the ipad). So, I started researching these. A lot more options... Well, I found 2 that were suppose to be released soon and started hoping that one would be available before Christmas! A week or so ago, Archos announced their Archos 7o (the one I wanted) would be available on the 18th. But they sold out before I got around to ordering one! I was bummed.

But they had some more available today and I got one ordered for him! There is no way it's staying wrapped and under the tree until Christmas, lol, I'm giving it to him immediately :) So I might have to buy him some accessories for it or something for him to open... lol! I'm so excited about it!

Grateful Day 15-22

2010-11-22T17:57:00.003-07:00

Sorry I've missed a week. So, here's goes:

I'm grateful for Charity who showed me how much I would love being a Mommy.

I'm thankful for Danielle who has a smile that's infectious. :)

I'm grateful for sweet little Rebecca. Who doesn't love a newborn afterall?

I'm thankful for my parents and an early Thanksgiving dinner. (It was yummy)

I'm thankful for the opportunity I had to teach the CTR 7 class for the last year and a half, I really enjoyed getting to know the kids we taught.

I'm thankful for my new calling, and grateful that I get to teach the kids I taught last year.

I'm grateful for online ordering and being able to get my wonderful hubby his Christms present. Though, there is no way it's getting wrapped and sitting under the tree for a month... I might have to get him some accessories to open Christmas morning, lol.

I'm grateful for snow clothes so my kids can go outside to play in the snow and keep warm! They certainly love playing in the snow!

Found a Kindle Giveaway

2010-11-14T21:37:00.002-07:00

The Thrifty Couple is giving away a Kindle device this holiday season! Check out their site or their facebook page for information on how to enter!

Grateful Day 14

2010-11-14T17:28:00.002-07:00

Today I want to mention how grateful I am for a warm house and warm clothes. As the days have turned colder, it's definitely a wonderful thing to have heat and be able to stay warm!

(If you were to ask Charity about staying warm, she'd probably mention pants, since that's what she wished she'd worn on our way to church this morning when her legs were cold, lol)

Update on Us

2010-11-13T22:24:00.004-07:00

It's been a few weeks since I posted about what's been going on in our lives and while I know my grateful posts are appreciated, it's always nice to hear more than I'm thankful for this or for that :)

So, what's new? Rebecca turned 6 weeks old this week! I can't believe how fast the time has flown by since she was born. I'd bet that she's 8 1/2 or 9 lbs already. She is just growing so fast. I tease her that it won't be long before she's bigger than Danielle! lol. I definitetly need to get some pictures taken before she's not so little anymore!

In the last few weeks Dennis and I have both recieved new callings as well. Though, they said they're keeping him in Primary until after the Primary Program next week. My new calling is a Bear Leader in the Cub Scouts! Most of the boys I taught in Primary last year so it's nice that I don't have to try to get to know a whole new bunch of kids. I'm a little excited, and a little scared at the idea. lol. But at our next Pack Meeting (my turn to plan) we're going to be doing knot tying! lol. Seriously, it's one of the few things one of our boys need to complete his Bear, so first thing I'm doing in Cub Scouts is a total cliche scouting thing and I'm excited about it! lol.

And here's why I don't get that they left Dennis in Primary and not me. He's the new Assistant Executive Secretary for the ward. I think he'll do great at that calling! And he's just thrilled it wasn't a teaching calling. lol. Totally changed my idea of a Christmas present for him. I know, I know, I shouldn't be talking about what I'm getting him so I don't ruin the surprise, but after 1 day of researching, knowing it was going to take a lot more time and decision making, I told him so he could be part of the process. I had initally planned on getting him an ipod touch for Christmas because he really enjoyes listening to the audio books but with this calling he's gonna need to be organized and use a planner/calendar stuff so I figured, why not just go with an ipad? Then I looked at the price... lol, those things are expensive. But I'm not really an apple fan and I LOVE my android smart phone so I decided to see if there was an android alternative...

There are LOTS of android alternatives, and I've finally settled on one for him. It will be available in a few days. The Archos 70. It turned out he didn't really like the size of the ipad, he would prefer something with a little more mobility to take places. The ipad has a 10" screen. The Archos 7o has a 7" screen and it looks like it's got some great specs, and it's running Android 2.2, and it's NOT apple! Seriously, apple and I don't get along...

I was showing him some cool new apps I found this week on my phone so now he's stealing my phone atleast on Sundays until he gets his Christmas present, lol. They are great apps put out by the church! If anyone out there has an android operated device, search for lds on the market and you can find them. There is Ward Central/Stake Central that's an app that downloads your ward and stake information from lds.org straight to your device. A widget app called Scripture a Day that puts a scripture on your homescreen. Then there is the Gospel Library put out by the church that includes the standard works as well as conference talks and some manuals like the Gospel Principles Manual, very cool app! There's the Mormon Channel app that allows you to listen to the Mormon Radio station, as well as has a wide selection of audio files to listen to and the videos that are put up on their youtube station. It's such a treasure trove of great information! I've also got a widget app to listen to the Mormon Radion Channel from the homescreen. Then there is LDS Magazine Lite, that has the church publications, though in the Lite version you can only read the current issues. I'm considering paying for Stake Central and for the full LDS Magazine one to have access to a lot more information. I know there has got to be more apps on the market like those that would be useful so I'm gonna start looking. I just LOVE my android phone, and I can't wait to get Dennis an Android device to use as well!