Monday, November 09, 2009

Love Us Some Halloween

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year.
Always has been. It must be the month.
I love the changing colors of fall, my birthday (at least I liked birthdays when I was younger!) and of course dressing up on Halloween. This year was the first year in a long while that I did not dress up. Not in the budget to find a costume and, since I am back at work, I really didn't have the time. However, my kids looked fab and had a blast as usual and Tyler's costume turned out pretty good as well even though I
can't believe we didn't get a picture of it! Arrggghhhh! Oh well, its imprinted on by brain.


 Punk chick at the school Haloween parade
 
 Kate was lucky enough to have Gene Simmons from Kiss come
to her class!
 
Miss Ladybug at the parade. This is
a repeat costume she wore from two years ago.
Love that.

 
Little Miss Lion cub. I could just squish her for being so cute!

 Ready to trick or treat!
Kate went trick or treating with a friend so it was
just the two younger ones.
 
 Awwwwwww.......
 
All tatooed and pierced up. Off to school with you!

Sunday, November 08, 2009

I Want To Be.....

I read, in a matter of hours, almost all of Stephanie Nielson's blog
I would recommend it to anyone.
I had heard of her from a friend last year but just recently decided to check out her blog. Wow. What a woman and what an amazing family. I think I could only dream of, A-Being that cool to begin with and, B-Having the kind of courage that she has.
Again, wow.
After reading back a few years to some of her earlier posts, I read things I had read and heard before but didn't really strike a nerve or hit home until now.
  I was reminded.
Reminded that I have a job that sometimes I take a little too lightly.
I am a Mother!
A Mother for crying out loud of three fantastical, beautiful and exuberant daughters. How has Heavenly Father entrusted me with these precious spirits? He really must have a lot more faith in me than I have in myself sometimes. I really gotta work on that whole faith thing.

I forgot about this talk.
And when I heard Sister Beck give it last year I didn't really give it much thought at the time.
I have given it more thought now. More, better, faster. Those are the things I think about. Doesn't really matter what it is it seems like, just more activities, play dates, TV, getting it done sooner, cleaning, laundry, work,  ect...
In part:
Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord’s kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power.

But I really want to do it all.
I want to be it all, not just for myself but for everyone else around me.
But I can't. So I won't.
And that is OK.
I really need to follow the adage that less is more and remember that my kids don't "need" more of anything. They just need more of me.
So I want to be a mother who knows, a mother who listens especially. I suck at
really listening to my kids. I want to be a mom who plays with her kids. They are not kids for long after all. They grow so fast it makes my head spin.
I need to gather them in while I can and love them.
 The time will come when they won't really prefer my company and I'm sure I will be full of regret then.
I hate regret.

I kept on reading Stephanies blog.
And then I was reminded again.
Double whammy for me I guess.
In M. Russell Ballards talk, Daughters of God , he says:
Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: “The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. … I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less” (Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11).
Ouch.
That one stings.
A lot.
If I didn't know any better I would say that she was describing me!
I am always in a hurry to get on to the next thing and
it is always at my childrens (and husbands!) expense. I will not be a basket head
mother any longer!
I am going to try harder.
I have to. I have often thought that if I didn't have my kids how drab
my life would be. Pointless even. But, thankfully, I do have them.
So I will cherish them.
Besides, I don't think we are doing that bad of a job. There is always room for improvement of course.
Case in point: Yesterday we raked leaves together as a family. Ella was so engrossed in her raking that she knocked her head on a tree branch and began to cry. Tyler and I watched as Kate came over,  put her arm around her and comforted her and got Ella to stop crying. 
My heart nearly melted.
THAT is what a big sister is supposed to do.
I was so proud.



 

 

 


Tuesday, November 03, 2009

For Ironman Jace









For Jace, as promised. Jace has leukemia and looks much better with chubby cheeks then I did.

These pictures are of me in my senior year of high school at MHS. Both are from two different dances I went to. I was on a large dose of prednisone for Crohn's disease and one of its many side effects is "mooning" of the face. Or in other words, a fat face. Everyone always asked me if I had just had my wisdom teeth pulled.  I even had people ask me if I poked my cheeks with a pin if they would pop. Silly people. These pictures make me laugh and they make me laugh even harder when my friends (and sometimes family!) don't believe that it is really me. So here I am in all my moon face glory.

Stuff like this only makes you more of an Ironman, Jace.
Rock on!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Cute Little Pumpkins

Some pics of my little pumpkins. Oh how they get so big every year....

Baby Punkin'


KA-BOOM











The biggest pumpkins!

Monday, October 19, 2009

I Am Loved

Today is my birthday. I really don't get all that excited about birthdays anymore for myself. I guess I just don't really care that much. Its just a number anyway. I'm more concerned with the wrinkles and brown spots on my face. Those I hope to have zapped for my 40th. The only reason I have picked 40 is because it is going to take me that long to save enough money to have it all lasered off. I will be super hot!





I had a good laugh over this card. Man, do my friends know me
or what?

So I had a fab birthday which I totally was not expecting in the least. No fantastical presents to speak of, no big hoopla, no balloons, nobody tortured me by singing to me. I had a great day with out all of that and here is why: My family and friends love me and they all showed it in their own unique ways. First off, my kids. I love my kids. They are so cute and do and say the cutest things! Last night Kate gave me her and Ella's gift because she couldn't wait til today. She was just so excited I guess. I got this awesome coupon that reads:      "This is a coupon for...Cleaning the basement." I make them clean the basement anyway. I guess it will not be so painful knowing I will be redeeming a coupon to get them to do it.

 Love, kate and ella


 My home made card from the girls. Kate's specialty



 From Ella. It is a picture of me pushing her in the stroller.
How sweet. Could she get any cuter?

 My gift from Tyler was to be able to sleep in while he got the girls ready for Stake Conference. This is a treat for me because I always have to get them ready by myself since he is always at meetings. And of course Stake Conference means a Church Holiday for me! I love Church Holidays. The girls and Tyler cleaned up the house for me after wards and we headed out to my parents for dinner. My Mom got me some cute little things complete with a red velvet cake and a pumpkin streussal - whatever that is. It was good though.

 Cute AND Yummy!

We did not fly our kites at all this year so I decided that would be a great thing to do today for my birthday since I love to fly kites. We had some nice wind (the only time I like wind) and of course the kids got bored eventually leaving me and Tyler out there by ourselves. Tyler got one of the kites stuck in a tree and me being the Idaho girl that I am proceeded to climb the tree to get it down. Done. I rock at tree climbing. I have not lost those skills in the least.


Must....save.....the.....kite.....



 

I had lots of other treats and happy birthdays from friends and neighbors to make my day a good one as well. When we got home from my parents, this was taped by the front door.

 


It really is the little things that make me happy.  Tyler gave me a hug and told me he hoped I had had a good day and he was sorry that it wasn't more. It could not have been more. It was awesome.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

A Man and His Mustache


 

The men in Tyler's family are not especially great at growing 

facial hair. If you ask Dagen, he is the only real man in the
family because he CAN grow facial hair. Oh. I didn't know that being able to grow facial hair made you a man.  I guess I didn't get that memo when I was dating. I wanted to do a post about Tyler's pride and joy as of late. Sadly it is not one of his kids or anything of the like that he is so proud of.


It's his stache.



I don't know if I should put how long he has been growing that furry thing above his lip but let's just say it was a different season than it is
now when he started. Nevertheless, he loves it and I guess that means I have to tolerate it. Actually it really doesn't bother me. I guess I am sort of used to it. He has had many comments about it from a lady at church asking him if it was real (doesn't everyone where a fake mustache to church?), to comparisons such as Captain Kangaroo and Wyatt Earp. I collected a few pictures from the internet and I must admit I got a little carried away but I had a good
laugh anyway. Their are some pretty famous mustaches out there just so you know. So I give you, "Ode To Tyler's Stache". You just have to figure out which one is Tyler.


 







Wednesday, September 16, 2009

A little sewing and a shelf

I requested that Tyler make me a shelf for above my washer and dryer and lo and behold he did it. I want to maximize my shelving for food storage since I am making a real effort to keep my shelves stocked with food. I am trying really hard not to let it stress me out and am taking it just a little bit at a time since that is all my budget will allow anyway. So after the shelf was all done I thought I would spruce up the laundry room by making some cute curtains. They are nice and sheer so it lets in lots of light. How lovely for such an unlovely room.  I added the ribbon and used one of the cool patterns on my sewing machine with this awesome metallic thread. Now to get the bigger girls  their curtains done. Off I go!













The ribbon I added. You can't see it very well in the 
picture but it looks cool in real life.