MOTHER’S DAY

YAY FOR MOTHER’S DAY!! I can remember back when Kalea was a newborn baby and Christian said to me “I didn’t know I had to do anything for you because you’re not MY mother.” So I was in tears, naturally, being a new mother. We created “Wife’s Week” for whenever he forgot Mother’s day. The following year he realized last minute that Mother’s Day was that Sunday and he made cookies… uh… they weren’t cookies. We had no sugar and no vanilla, but I do remember that he put a Hershey Kiss in the middle of it to try and make up for the lack of sugar. They were DISGUSTING.  And once again, Wife’s Week commenced. Well each year after has been a little bit better and a little bit better. Some years you could see it pain him. It’s been a 7 year process.

I do have to say that Mother’s Day is more of the father’s job until the kids are old enough to do something on their own. it’s a lot of pressure to do something for you wife to show that you appreciate her on this special day. I know some say that Mother’s Day shouldn’t be the only day that appreciation is shown. It isn’t… not if you look really hard at the little things your family does to show they love you each and every day. Some days you have to look a little harder, and some days you can be overwhelmed by the blessings your family brings into your life.

This year Christian went all out. It started with a date on Saturday night and going to out to eat. Just the two of us. We don’t do it very often. The last time may have been September actually. But we like to be home as a family especially since it seems like such a rarity as our schedules get busier. Anyways, afterwards we went and got our chocolate covered strawberry order from the Young Women.

The following morning Christian made breakfast for all of us (pancakes, bacon, etc.), gave me more chocolate, and presented me with my Mother’s Day gift. I feel absolutely spoiled by how sweet and special he made me feel this day. The girl’s also sang to me at church with the rest of the Primary (which of course brought tears to my eyes – good thing I was prepared with waterproof mascara), gave me cards and paper flowers that they made. The day couldn’t have been better. I really do cherish my family. They are my absolute world. My solid in this world of chaos and confusion. They have been the biggest blessing in my life along with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Being able to hold these two things dear to me has given me meaning and purpose.

STRAWBERRY PICKIN’

We took the kids strawberry picking this Monday night for Family Home Evening. It was so fun because we met up with a bunch of other families from church. It was such a great idea! I’m really going to miss things like this when we have to move to a new ward. This ward has really turned into our family and they all mean so much to us. Anyways… enough of the sob story. There were a few things that were absolutely hilarious that happened. Mostly watching Landen for the first time. He kept calling them “cupcakes”… I have no idea why. And then he’d his scratchy monster voice and yell “A Big One Cupcake!!” He’d take one bite and then throw it back. We kept telling him to stop, but he didn’t listen. I think he may have taken a single bite out of 15 or more strawberries and then thrown them. On top of that, he didn’t understand that he had to walk OVER the strawberry plants to get into the next row and stomped right on everything. Ohhhh, that kid. We’ll never be invited back. The girls were right at home picking the berries. They liked to look for the “perfect strawberry”. No green or white tips, and they thought the doubled ones were ugly. Such girly girls. I brought my camera along because I couldn’t resist…

And They’re Off!

EASTER

Sorry it’s taken me so long to post my Easter post. We had a great day at church and at home on such a special day. It was one of the first holiday’s we’ve spent at home and were able to make our own Easter dinner. We are always sure to explain the importance of Easter to our children each year. We understand the excitement of the Easter Bunny, Baskets, Egg Hunts and so forth. But each year we always talk and stress the importance of the gift of The Resurrection and The Atonement that our Savior has given us. The girls remember each year and are beginning to understand. Which makes us feel like we’re doing something right. Here are a few pictures of the activities we participated in for Easter.
Landen and Mia have been participating in the Ready To Learn program. The kids just LOVE Ms. Jennifer and all of the hard works he puts into it. She put together a big Easter Egg Hunt for the kids at Blue Jay Park. The kids played for hours on the playground and then hunted the eggs. Each kid was only supposed to get 12-13 eggs. But of course my kids were “those kids” who had close to 20 each. We were sure to try and the spread the wealth with the other kids as soon as I realized how many they had. Some were worried about the younger kids getting any. Landen, of course, took off like a bullet and figured it out quickly. I never have to worry about that kid being shy.

Easter Morning – Of Course the Easter Bunny came with candy galore. The kids chowed all morning long and then had a sugar crash later in the day.

           *Mouth full of candy already*
By the end of church I wanted to get some pictures of the kids in their Easter dresses/outfits. Landen was a disaster by the end so I didn’t get a good picture of him. But here are my beautiful girls!

LOVE (AND NEW CLOTHES) IS IN THE AIR

My Grandparents have been in town for the past week. We have had a ton of fun (and spoiling) since they’ve been here. They took the girls birthday shopping and each girl got an entire new outfit… from head to toe. The girls were IN LOVE! Usually when I take them shopping they are limited to things on sale. But not with Great Grandma!! The girls got new dresses, shirts, accessories, shoes… the whole 9 yards. We HAD to take some pictures to make sure Great Grandma and Grandpa had some to take back to Arizona with them.

{{Disclaimer: There aren’t as many of Kalea because we had to take her pictures before school. It’s not because I love her any less.}}

 

 

 

FIRST WEEKEND OF APRIL

This weekend we celebrated (a little early) Kalea’s 7th birthday. She chose to have a sleepover with her cousins, Mackenzie and Caroline. The girls had a really fun time with a few activities planned but mostly just girls being girls. Playing dress up, Barbie's, and tons and tons of giggles. We started off the evening with the girls just playing and dressing up in whatever they found. Afterwards, Christian had brought home pizza and the girls had a “picnic” on the floor while watching a Barbie movie.

After pizza, the girls were ready to open presents! Kalea got a lot of really fun presents. None better than the movie Tangled though. The girls watched it 2-3 times – at least!

Later on the girls got their PJ’s on and we made bracelets and rings and decorated each one. Landen of course wanted to be part of the fun, but he was only interested in sticking the stickers on himself.

I told the girl’s to pose…. and I wanted SASSY poses! They were hilarious with their little poses.

And one “normal” pose.

The girls finally “crashed” around 10:30pm and woke up bright and early at 7:30am. A short night for these girls! They played a bunch until they had to head on home. They had such a great time together and it was such a great time for them to spend time together with family.

 

This weekend was also Conference weekend. Christian and I were able to watch and listen at home. The girls even sat and listened with us on Sunday. It is such a blessing to us, as a people, to have such great men in our midst. That we are able to hear their words and guidance. The testimonies of President Monson and his Councilors, not to mention the 12 Apostles are extraordinary. They know how to uplift and inspire you in the ways you need most.. They also know how to discuss things that may be hard to hear, but the Lord wants you to hear it, and that makes it that much more important. It is truly a time for self reflection. I love Conference weekend. I remember being a kid and having to go to the church to listen. It seemed SOOOOO long. My girls seem to have a much sweeter spirit then I did and would stop to listen and even ask questions. I was able to capture this sweet moment of them listening to the Prophet.

and this…

PERFECT

Call me crazy, but whenever I hear this song I am on the verge of tears. It’s called “Perfect” by Pink. There’s a clean version (and a not so clean version which I’ve never heard. I’ll stick with the clean one.) I think it hits me close to home being a woman and remembering my teenage years being so difficult. Remembering what it was like to be so self conscious about my body, or how I dressed, making sure my hair was perfect. The pressure is suffocating. Then I look at my 2 little girls and feel for them… because I know they will feel those same pressures one day. It gets me so choked up just thinking about it. I want their preteen and teenage years to go so much more smoothly then mine did. I want them to know how BEAUTIFUL they are to me and their Heavenly Father. I want to take away all of the pain that they will one day feel because of the pressures of this world and society on them. But mostly I just want them to know that they are absolutely PERFECT in my eyes.

Made a wrong turn
Once or twice
Dug my way out
Blood and fire
Bad decisions
That’s alright
Welcome to my silly life
Mistreated, misplaced, missunderstood
Miss, no way it’s all good
It didn’t slow me down
Mistaken
Always second guessing
Underestimated
Look, I’m still around…

Pretty, pretty please
Don’t you ever, ever feel
Like you’re less than
less than perfect
Pretty, pretty please
If you ever, ever feel
Like you’re nothing
You are perfect to me

You’re so mean
When you talk
About yourself
You are wrong
Change the voices
In your head
Make them like you
Instead
So complicated
Look how big you’ll make it
Filled with so much hatred
Such a tired game
It’s enough
I’ve done all i can think of
Chased down all my demons
see you do the same

Pretty, pretty please
Don’t you ever, ever feel
Like you’re less than
less than perfect
Pretty, pretty please
If you ever, ever feel
Like you’re nothing
You are perfect to me

~Pink

Love Mom

ODE TO CHRISTIAN

This is my husband…

THE END.