We're All in This Together...

By nature, I am one of those 'do-it-yourself' type of people. Well, not in the 'do-it-yourself' home improvement sense (I like to think of the projects, I leave the 'doing-it-yourself' stuff to Jeff) but in the sense that I like to take care of myself and my family all by myself, without any help from others. For instance, when my baby brother was born 16 years ago (yes, I was 11), my mom had left the task of feeding the family to me. So...I woke up super early (like 4:30) in the morning and made my dad's lunches before he went to work, I made homemade tortillas for burritos, homemade bread, etc. My mom had a C-section so she was planning on being in the hospital for about 4 days and because of complications with my brother, it turned into a week. Of course, good friends & members of our ward saw an opportunity to serve and several people brought meals in. I guess I got a little offended...my exact words to my dad were, "Don't they think I can take care of my family?" Fast forward about 8 1/2 years to when my 2nd child was born...my wonderful in-laws came to Flagstaff to stay with Maddie while I was in the hospital. I came home on Saturday evening and they were planning to leave on Sunday after church. Well, on Sunday morning, I was faced with a crying baby and a 2 yr. old that spilled a whole bottle of bubbles on the kitchen floor. I proceeded to hold my screaming baby and clean up the mess. My very kind and helpful mother-in-law saw that I was struggling and tried repeatedly to either take the baby or clean up the bubbles but I WOULDN"T LET HER. In retrospect, I'm sure I was kind of mean (I'm really sorry, by the way). I was determined that I could take care of my kids all by myself.

I have since realized that we have been sent to this earth in families, in neighborhoods, in wards, in communities to help each other along this journey of life. Life is not always easy and we are going to be faced with trials and mountains to climb from time to time and it is up to us to reach a hand to our neighbor, sister, friend, and help them on their journey. And sometimes it is our responsibility to give someone else the opportunity to reach their hand down and lift us up. Because for goodness sakes, this life is hard and we just can't always do it by ourselves. And wouldn't it be a shame if we did not allow others the blessings of service just because of our own pride?

We ARE all in this together; to support, serve, give encouragement to, and especially to love those we are blessed to know in this life. How grateful I am for those who have so thoughtfully and generously given of their selves in countless ways to serve me and mine. And to someone else I know who is going through a little rough patch, our thoughts & prayers are with you and we only wish we could be with you this week. We love you!

I Love You More!

Cole: Mom, I love you.
Me: I love you too, Cole.
Cole (with a little smirk): I love you more.
Me: I love you more.
Cole: I love you 15 and hundred.
Me: I love you 20 and hundred.
Cole: I love you all the numbers.
Me: I love you all the numbers too.
Cole: No, you love me all the alphabet letters.

Isn't he just the cutest??

Things I've Learned from Being Married

Being married to such an amazing guy like Jeff has given me the opportunity to learn many useful things. So, I thought maybe I'd share some of the wisdom I've gleaned just in case any of you have come across similar situations and if you haven't yet, I'm sure you will someday, and then you can be prepared :)

*if you drive his car, always move the seat back to its original position when you're done (and no, this doesn't work both ways 'cause "you can at least get in the car if he leaves it pushed back - there's no way he can even sit down in his car if you leave the seat where you like it")

*when you go to bed at night, be prepared for an all-out battle to maintain control of the covers.

*don't give him choices for what you're going to make for dinner, he won't like any of them. but feed him something (anything) and he'll be happy.

*a little competition never hurt anybody. wait...that's what he's learned from me. I've learned...everything doesn't have to be a competition.

*if you need a chore done, don't sigh heavily or act like you're really tired or stressed...HINTS DON'T WORK!!! just ask him to help you (he may say no but at least you won't resent him for it).

*when you ask for help, give him a time frame (i.e., could you please empty the trash sometime in the next 30 minutes before our neighbors come over for dinner?)

*if he doesn't do the chore that you ask him to, but picks his own chore (like cleaning the microwave) don't complain...the microwave is getting clean.

*when you go somewhere together, don't even bother getting in the driver's seat (we all know how it bugs him when you get talking, forget that you're driving, and suddenly you're driving 10-15 mph UNDER the speed limit).

*don't ever try to compromise when it comes to salsa...you both hate MEDIUM and it will just sit in the fridge...spend the extra 3 bucks for another jar.

*don't get offended if he puts Frank's RED HOT sauce on EVERYTHING you serve him.

*it's OK to keep some things to yourself.

*don't EVER accuse him of being a perfectionist...'cause then you'll be doing the garden all by yourself.

What have you learned from your spouse?

What's Up?

Can you guess what song I'm singing today?

I'm walkin' on sunshine, whoa-oa
I'm walkin' on sunshine, whoa-oa-oa
I'm walkin' on sunshine, whoa-oa
And don't it feel good?

That's right. Semester finished (minus one last take-home test due Friday but compared to what I've been doing, that should be cake). I did turn in a shoddy essay on Saturday but at that point, I was just happy to have it over with. Once I realized I only had to get a 46% on the essay to still get an A in the class, I just didn't care any more. Here is a conversation I just had with Mads:

M: Mom, I wish you didn't take your school class.
Me: Why not, Maddie?
M: 'cause then you wouldn't have to spend your whole life on homework.

Hmmm. It's a good thing I have reconsidered my work load and I will only be taking one class a semester now, not two. That should alleviate all kinds of stress around here.

OK, so here's what we've been up to the past couple of weeks:

Maddie's been hanging out with her Uncle Quinton:

Check out that awesome beard!! Actually, G & G Davis, Lincoln, Quinton, & Catherine all got to hang out with us yesterday during Conference. It was tons of fun! Thanks for coming to visit!!

Lane's been learning how to crawl!
(check out the view I got when I tried to take some pictures the other day - he REALLY wanted to play with the camera!)

He is crawling around so well these days - I can't believe it! On one hand, I love his newfound mobility and independence, but on the other hand...can't he just stay a baby for a little while longer? And seriously, who crawls at 5 1/2 months?

The boys have been doing a whole lot of this:

Yes, unfortunately we have been watching way too many movies at our house! Some of the favorites are: Robin Hood (Disney's cartoon version), The Incredibles, and...who am I kidding? They watch these two OVER and OVER again. Maddie has to do a whole lot of persuading to get to watch Cinderella every once in a while!

And that's about it. Well, not really, but I better save something for another day.

And don't it feel good?

*a big thank you to my good friends & family members who so generously volunteered to watch my kids for several hours so I could get homework done; I honestly don't know how I would have made it without your help! A more formal, edible thank you is coming your way later this week :)

Up for a Quick Breather

Just wanted to let everyone who impatiently waits for new posts on my blog :) know that I am currently drowning in a mountain of school work before the end of my semester so that's why I haven't been posting. I have been trying to work on all the end-of-the-semester projects as I've gone along, but it has been extremely difficult just keeping on top of my regular assignments, let alone get ahead. The bulk of my work is due this weekend so I will be able to resurface then and hopefully get some fun posts in. I've been writing sheets & sheets of cleverness in my head but you'll just have to wait for all of that. Seriously, I would appreciate anyone's prayers in my behalf (& my family's) this week because it is going to be tough. Thanks & I hope you all have a great week!

*Just to give you a quick idea of what I'm up to, I have to start & finish two books, write one complete essay, finish another essay (rough draft is about done), complete two short writing assignments, do 4 reading assignments & corresponding quizzes, and take one test. There are varying due dates towards the end of the week but everything needs to be completed by Saturday (Friday for me 'cause I want to enjoy Conference on Saturday). Don't you wish you could be me this week?

To my Sisters...

I grew up with only one sister and I love her dearly. But the past 9 years have blessed me with 7 new sisters by marriage so now I am lucky enough to count 8 amazing and talented women as my sisters. They are all so different but they each have taught me so much by their examples as daughters, wives, mothers, friends and neighbors.

While I am lucky enough to have 8 sisters, I am unlucky enough to have any live near me. They are spread from Virginia to Utah to Iowa to Texas to other parts of Arizona. I miss them all so much and just wanted to give a quick "shout-out" to the best sisters anyone could ever ask for. I truly learn so much from you, am inspired by all you do in your homes & families, and love you all! Thanks for being who you are!


*By the way, these meager words don't do justice to the admiration and love I feel for these women; but I was thinking of them tonight and just didn't have the time for eloquence :)

Update

I haven't posted pictures of Lane (anyone) for a while and I've been promising some to Milla 'cause people keep telling me he looks like Parks. So here he is, Mr. "not quite 5 months old and I want to crawl". He gets up on his hands and knees and scoots himself forward in a face-planting kind of way. He rolls all over and is very mobile. He already has rough & red crawler's knees.

He is about the smilingest baby around! Unfortunately, he was mostly enthralled with the camera and so I didn't get any very good pictures of his cute smiles! He really does smile for anyone and he laughs a lot. He is fun!

I've been needing to highlight this little guy since he celebrated his birthday a few weeks ago, on Feb. 16! Cade is such a firecracker and we love him!

He wasn't feeling too good on his bday but he enjoyed the ice cream!


He was NOT thrilled about the whole blowing out the candles thing.

What Cade's into these days:

1. Lightning McQueen

2. balls

3. throwing rocks

4. helping in the garden (not to be confused with #3)

5. riding his trike (this translates to pushing his trike as fast as he can, while his little legs try to keep up - for some reason he doesn't like to sit on it)

6. playing outside

7. sleeping in his big boy bed (the bottom bunk)

8. taking Maddie to school (he always says, "Bye honey" or "Love you, sweetie")

9. talking, he has quite the vocabulary and talks a lot

10. Did I mention Lightning McQueen? (the cutest is when he pushes his Lightning car around yelling, "Mack! Mack! Wait! Mack!")

11. helping in the kitchen

12. mac-n-cheese

13. his uncles (he has been calling Quinton "Uncon" - like a combo of Uncle and Quinton)

14. talking on the phone to his grandmas (or grandpas...or aunts...or anyone else who will talk to him)

What Cade's not into:

1. church - he starts crying right when we walk into the chapel

2. waking up from his nap

3. having Cole tell him what to do

4. getting dressed in the morning (this means taking his Lightning jammies off)

5. having to come in from outside

We sure love our Cade and are happy he is in our family! Here's to a great 3rd year!