One Eventful Weekend!

Things have been crazy busy, yet again at our house. We spent most of Saturday with Rob's family. We met everyone at the cemetery at 10:00 that morning and then afterwards we went to my Mother-in-Law's house for the annual pot-luck lunch. After we ate ourselves sick, we just visited with everyone. That afternoon I took Maysie to my nephew, Jovanny's first birthday party. Rob opted to stay back and spend time with his brother Carl who was leaving to New Mexico for 2 months that following day. The party was alot of fun. There was alot of people there that I haven't seen for a while and it was fun to watch all of the kids interact with each other. They had another dinner at the party, and Maysie acted like she hadn't at all day. Maysie was taking the food off the plate and putting it into her mouth as fast as I could put it on the plate. She was just trying to grab whatever she could get her hands on. :) When we was just finishing the dinner, I gave Maysie a drink of water and she was like a camel... she kept drinking, and drinking, and then she wanted more and more every time I put it away. It was quite comical and well unbelievable how determined she was to get that water. The others sitting near us was all laughing at her antics. After the party, we rushed back to my in-laws house and I dropped Maysie off and picked Rob up so we could go to a movie. This was the first time we left Maysie with anyone other than Rob or me for longer than a half an hour. Yea! A Milestone! She did ok for the most part we were told, but they said that she definitely missed us and would be looking for us and cried off and on when we were gone... But she survived it and hopefully next time won't be so bad for her. Rob and I went to the new Terminator movie. FYI Rob liked it, but it not being my favorite type of movie I wasn't too into it. (Rob wouldn't tell me what movie we were going to watch until he was buying our tickets knowing that I wouldn't have been too enthusiastic about the choice)

Sunday was a good day, I took Maysie to church by myself because Rob stayed home sick. He had an upset stomach, and no it is not the Swine Flu. LOL. A few people were asking me where he was because they are becoming accustomed to his face with all of his recent appearances to church and other church related activities. I'm taking that as a good sign. Maysie was a terror at church and can we say tired! All during Sacrament she was grumpy and LOUD! It was embarrassing. She was so tired but she didn't want her bottle at all, she wanted to nurse. Finally, I gave in and took her into the mother's lounge and fed her and she went to sleep 8 minutes later and slept like a log through the rest of Sacrament meeting, and Sunday School and the opening part of Relief Society. She was much happier when she woke up until she noticed Olivia, the little girl that was in playing in the row behind us. It was fun to watch the girls interact with each other. They would hug, and then talk to each other. Olivia's mother let her roam more than what I let Maysie do and of course Maysie didn't like it when I wouldn't let her go roam too. I let Maysie play with Olivia by me and Maysie kept taking away the other child's toy and making her cry. She didn't care about her own toys, she just wanted whatever toy Olivia was holding... So I didn't get much out of the lesson like I wanted to, and Maysie wasn't super happy with her "Mean Mommy" but we made it through. (Just for journal purposes... I had another Most Embarrassing Moment at church this week. As I was leaving the Relief Society room to go home, then a lady came up to me and politely told me that Maysie was trying to show off my cleavage... I didn't even realize that she grabbed my shirt collar and pulled down. She normally just gets my sleeve and holds on tight... I was so glad that she told me before I walked into the hall where all the men were waiting for there spouses and I was still in a room with only woman... I was so embarrassed.)


We have been busying ourselves with little do-it-yourselves, fix-it projects around the house. For Memorial Day (Monday) this year, we took advantage of the clear weather to re-paint the door frames of our house, and our shed door. They were in major need of a little TLC with a fresh coat of paint. I am pretty sure that they have never been repainted at all since the house was built in 1992.... The shed door was probably the worst out of all of them, it was peeling so bad that it looked like it was so neglected and didn't fit in at all with our pretty well maintained home. As an added bonus, we decided just to get a gallon of paint and primer so we could paint the flower box that basically goes along the front of the whole house. I have been wanting to do this since I got married and moved into the house, but Rob has to warm up to the idea of change.... I don't think the flower box was stained or painted at all and it was cute but it lacked a little something, but now... O'-la-la! It looks so much better. That fresh coat of paint added just the right touch and really added to the curb appeal of the house.... Now I just need a splash of color with some flowers to fill it in cuz' all of the tulip have wilted away for the season.... :)

Rob painting oh so carefully the flower box! He looks so relaxed but he was so meticulous with this project.












Painting seemed to take forever. We had to primed most of the things of Friday night, but then we had our weekend booked up for the most part that we couldn't get around to painting until Monday. Rob actually did all of the priming while I sanded the flower box down and kept an eye on our "Eager Helper" daughter. (She was everywhere, and wanted to be doing whatever we were doing). She wanted to help so bad, but it often ended up getting more in our way. Can we bottle up this eagerness that she has and save it for the day when she is not so excited about these projects that will be more or less a chore to do in her eyes? We tried putting her in the playpen with some of her favorite toys, but she didn't want that at all. She would just break into an ear-shattering scream with the big gator tears to go with it... We eventually gave up in fear that the neighbors would turn us into Health and Welfare for neglecting our child... even for a good cause. :)

This is Maysie running through our flower bed in the front yard... She didn't care if she got into trouble, she just wanted to run and be free... so I had to take a picture of course, then I had to go get her.












And this is her playing with the bark.... She loves trying to get as many pieces that she can hold and then re-locate them to a new section of the yard... normally the grass... Often she is found trying to eat it too... Needless to say, it is one of her favorite things to play with outside.















Look at me Mom... You can't catch me! Loving her mobility and the freedom it gives her.












I finally gave up the painting and played with her in the back yard. We chased the ball around and went down the slide and smelled the flowers the are just now starting to bloom.... Hmmmm! I just love spring!

Here is Maysie getting ready to go down the slide. She is squealing with excitement in this picture with such a big picture to accompany it. She has no fear at all.

Rob and I ended up taking turns painting so one of us could keep a close-eye on Maysie at all times. I ended up painting all of the doors and he took on the flower box. To make a long story short, all of projects got done without Maysie getting into the paint and/or painting objects or any wet paint for that matter. The house looks so great and much, Much BETTER! Quite successful if I might say! :)

My Idol Thoughts

Ok so I finally took the time to update my computer so now I can add all the fun backgrounds on my blog, thanks to TCBOTB! :) Yeah Although for some reason, since I updated this, I seem to type much faster than my computer can go.... so I have to keep going back and fixing everything I type. Arrgh! Does anyone know how to fix this? My computer seems to be running so slow now..... Oops! For some reason, I figured that if you update something, it should make it more efficient, but maybe I was wrong. LOL

Did anyone watch the Idol finale last night? I have scouts on Wednesday nights, but I am a giant American Idol fan, so I set the DVR to record it for me and I watch them the next morning (Don't you just love modern technology?).... But last night I made an exception being the final episode of the season and all - I stayed up late and watched it last night instead. :) I was glad that Kris won. All season long, Kris and Danny were my favorites. Adam does have some really strong vocals and a good voice, but I don't like his style of music. Adam will have a future in the industry, (not like he didn't have one before Idol - yep this is the sarcastic me) but I am much happier that Kris won! Who doesn't like a guy who knows how to play the guitar huh? :) Besides he has really grown alot during the competition and truly is deserving of the title. (Even if his last song on Tuesday night didn't sound so great...) I think that Kris will be a better role model for everyone.... I think it is important to try and get people in the spotlight who can be a great influence to our nation. Maybe we can change the direction the world is going if we do. I guess it is all a thought to ponder on. Now we have this annoying long period of time to wait until January for Season 9 to begin just to build up our anticipation for the upcoming season.... Oh, the wait! :) Good thing I have Maysie here to keep me on my toes and give me much distraction.... Oh, how I love her and my husband too of course... Although, it is now his busy season, so Iwon't see much of him until November or so... The life of a truck drivers wife!

11 Months Already!

So yesterday, Maysie turned 11 months old. I can't believe that her birthday is next month... Time goes by way too fast. She is transitioning from a baby to a toddler and it makes me kinda sad... before I know it she will be talking so much that we can't get her to stop, and we will be taking her to primary for the 1st time, and then she will go to school, etc.... In December she gets to start going to Nursery, which in some ways will be nice because I will actually be able to pay attention to the Sunday School lesson but in other ways it will be sad because I have to face the fact that she isn't a baby anymore.

It is exciting to watch her discover this thing called "LIFE". We are learning fast what her likes and dislikes are, and the things she is finding amusing, or the things that scare her the most... She is quickly becoming her own individual self. She has hardly no fear, and even when she is scared she tries to be brave and overcome it... She has so much enthusiasm for learning and exploring new things that it makes me gain more enthusiasm to rediscover life and try and see things in the way that she sees them. :) What a blessing she is to our family.

So since she is 11 months old, we had to measure and weight her again for baby book and her piggy bank, (It has a place that you have to fill in her stats every month and then also the dates of her milestones. For example: her first tooth, first smile, first step and first word) So she now weighs, 17 pounds and 2 ounces (She has grown 10 pounds and 1 oz since she was born) and she is 28 1/2 inches long (which is 9 inches taller than when she was born). Yea! :)

busy, Busy, BUSY!

This weekend has been a blur... It went by way too fast! Saturday was busy, busy. We went to my father-in-laws house so Rob could fix something for him. We didn't really understand what Papa Merlin wanted fixed exactly, but that he need Rob to fix it. When we got there, we found out that my 87 year old father-in-law bought a bike at some thrift store so he could get some exercise... Umm, OK. Papa Merlin's balance isn't the best when he is walking, and in the last couple of years, he has been know to trip and fall with stairs, but he seems to think his balance it much better on a bike? Interesting. Anyways, when he bought this bike he didn't realize that the cables to the gear shifters were broken so the chain wouldn't stay on quite right. He figured that it would be good enough if Rob would just put the chain on an easy setting because he wouldn't mess with the shifter at all.... He just wants to ride it around the nearby park. :) So Rob just quietly and politely did what he was asked to do.... Fixed the bike up good enough for Papa Merlin to ride it, while he was trying not to laugh at Papa Merlin's bright idea... (I think we should buy him a helmet, just as a safety precaution of course.... but knowing my FIL, he is too prideful to wear it... he thinks he is invincible)

When Rob finished jimmy-riggin' the bike we went home and had a BBQ for lunch. My MIL, Orlean, Johanna and Trent all came over and ate lunch with us. Rob and Trent manned the grill and cooked us some yummy steaks while my MIL helped me out in the kitchen with the salads.

After we were all full to the max, we went into Salt Lake. Rob and I went to look at a "Big-Girls Bed" that I found off KSL for Maysie. We decided to get her a twin bed for her birthday since she is starting to lean over the edge of her crib.... The bed ended up being exactly what I was wanting, (a sleigh bed) although the color has a grey tint to it instead of being pure white, but that is no biggie. Rob was able to talk the guy down in price which makes our bargain shopping all the better. We never really realized how expensive beds are. When we went to the different furniture stores in the area, the cheapest beds we found were still over $500.00. We were able to buy this bed for only $170.00. Yippee!

Since we were in Salt Lake already, we decided to meet up with the rest of Rob's family over at Carl and Mollie's house to go for a walk along the Jordan River and then watch a movie. The weather was so nice that the walk was really nice. Maysie loves to be outside and she is always super happy when we take her for "rides" in her stroller. The movie we watched was Fireproofed with Kirk Cameron. It was a good movie. Rob and I have already seen it but the rest of the gang hadn't yet. It kinda reminds me of a "Mormon movie" cuz' some of the acting is a little cheesy but the storyline is really good.

Sunday was a basically like a typical Sunday: wake up, get ready for church, get Maysie ready for church, go to church, come home, fix dinner, eat, take a nap, then spend the evening together as a family. We opted to go install those solar lights that Rob and Maysie gave me for Mother's Day... It looks so nice out there... No more broken lights and wires poking through the bark in the flower beds. :) Rob didn't go to church this time because he was getting all his paperwork done and getting the truck ready to go out again in case he has to go today. He didn't really have time to do it on Saturday like we were planning on, but we have to have it ready to roll because when they call him, alot of times you only have 30 minutes before you have to be out the door and on your way.... All in all, it has been a fabulous weekend with gorgeous weather to boot.

Today we have spent the day working on the house. I have been cleaning, and Rob has been working outside in the yard.... mowing the lawn, edging the whole lawn, and now we are starting the tedious task of stripping the paint around all of the doors outside, (the only part of our house that is paintable) and the door to our shed so we can paint a fresh coat of paint on it. It needs it so bad. So remember for the next few days, I'll probably have too many blisters to type. J/K :)

Sneaky Snatching, Candy Robbing, and Cracker Hogging

Today was enrichment night at church and we were assembling 72 hour kits. Well just the food part of the 72 hour kits. Since Rob is still gone, (He should get back tomorrow morning, YEA!) I took Maysie with me. I learned that Maysie can be so sneaky. She would go up to some of the ladies who had their piles of food to arrange in a #10 can and Maysie would act like she wanted to play with them then she would reach down and grab a candy or a package of crackers and take off "running" as fast as she could. I guess my Daughter is now a little thief. Yikes! Every one was laughing because you could tell what Maysie's logic of thinking was: Be-friend them then grab candy/crackers then run fast and I get candy/crackers, Yum! Yum! The first couple of times she did this it was actually kinda funny, but after that I was getting embarrassed. I couldn't get her to stop. Every time I put her on the ground she would take off and steal the sweets. I would make her go give them back which most of the times would lead to a tear or two. A lot of the times, I had my hand's full with my own kits so I couldn't get her as fast as I would like. I almost thought that she was trying to tell me that she was hungry, but I knew that that wasn't the case because we just had dinner right before we left to go to the church. I am pretty sure she just thought it was a fun game that she thought of that gave her lots and lots of attention or she just had a burning desire for some sugar or cheese crackers. I better start praying now - tonight, that this cunning and sneaky behavior stops pronto before she decides to move on to snatching other, more dangerous items. :[ Eventually, we got the kits made and was able to get back home before anything else turned up missing, or so I think... :)

So yesterday, I put Maysie's hair in pig-tails for the 1st time. I didn't know if it would be quite long enough to do it but we did succeed. These are some cool pictures of them although the bows kinda cover them up and I didn't think to take the bows out to get a picture or two.... what was I thinking? Now looking back at these pictures, they look kinda funny. Maybe we should just wait a few more months before we try it again. Does any one agree with me?

Thinking about running away from the camera....or just running away from mom is more like it.















This is a better picture of them. Cute but a little on the strange side.

Down and Derby Time

Tonight was our Ward's Pinewood Derby. Talk about FUN! I took quite a few pictures so that Rob could see what he was missing out on. He never did scouts before and has no idea what even a Pinewood Derby is. I didn't want him to miss out on all of the fun. :) I have never been around scouts much before now, and even though I knew what a Pinewood Derby was, I didn't realize exactly how much people get into it. It kinda is like that movie Down and Derby. (I wonder if the Dad's get that involved of if the kids do most of it themselves? My guess is that they work together, but it might just depend on the family too? Just Kidding, I really don't know. I think our parents are all pretty good about letting the kids do things pretty much on there own, we have great parental support compared to alot of other packs that I hear about.) All of the cars were so creative and just plain fascinating. I am sure that it took many hours and tons of thinking to make a cool car like these boys did. All of the cars had to be designed to fit in with the theme "Jurassic Pack" which of course was the theme for our Derby races, and also the theme for this month. Some of the boys actually made dinosaur cars, others disected old toys and attached to the cars, some of them painted their cars dinosaur-ish, and some used all sorts of dino stickers to add so pizazz to their cars. These boys did such awesome jobs, and to be truthful, they probably did much better then what I could of done.










This is all of the cars before the race... Pretty creative scouts we got huh...

They raced their cars over, and over on the track that they brought in to determine the winner. I mean they get real technical here. They had a computer program that they used to keep track of who races when and so forth. At times it got purely chaotic with boys running every which way to get there cars. They would hurry and put the cars at the starting line and it would only take a few seconds to get to the finish line, and then the next bunch was already at the starting line ready to go.... I had a hard time keeping track of who won what race and who was even racing when.... It all went so fast. Good thing all I really had to do was watch them speed to the finish. :)










On Your Mark, Get Set, GO!

In the end, we found out who our speed demons were this year. Da Daada... Danny Colledge won first place and Jackson Rees (He was gone but he still submitted his car in the Derby) came in second with Justin Roe placing a close, I mean close third place. (They had to race Jackson and Justin's cars so many times to determine who was 2nd and who was 3rd that I think everyone lost count. One would win and then the next time the other would win, and the story continues...)













The winning 3 cars. Danny is on the left and Justin is on the right.

Every boy received a trophy similar to this one with some type of award on in. Of course the award was dinosaur themed and quite creative like a the Most Dino-mite Car, etc. All in all it was a really cool night and I think that everyone who went enjoyed themselves.










Our trophy's. Don't they look pretty cool?

Maysie was so fun to watch there. She would clap and cheer for the winners, and she loved watching the cars race toward the finish line. I had to go move her back away from the track a few times because she wanted the best seat possible.... Up close and Personal with the track. :) Of course she had a hay-day with all of the kids that was there. She would just walk up to pretty much any kid and try to play with them. When we were setting up and then cleaning up, Maysie kept trying to follow all of the other leaders kiddo's around like she was just as big as they were.... I'm not sure why she is never really shy around children. I guess she just wants to be a social butterfly. :)

So Very Tired

Maysie is taking her nap right now, and she looked just so very cute, I had to take some pictures of her. She just looks so comfy... Love It! She is in this phase right now where she doesn't want to get dressed... Like when you change her diaper she'll take off running before you can put the new one on; or she kicks, screams, and squirms when you have to put pants on her... ( I think she gets this from my side of the family. It seems like alot of my nieces and nephews did this too. What can I say, we're a confident bunch. LOL. This is one bad quality that she inherated from me, scary I know.) :) So this kinda explains why she doesn't have pants on... I changed her diaper right before she went down for her nap and she won the battle of the pants for the moment, but she'll get them on when she wakes up. :)

Sleeping so peacefully!










Doesn't she look comfortable?










I love how she cuddles right up to the blanket. Too Cute!

Happy Mothers Day...err One Day Late ...

Happy Mothers Day to all you Mothers out there.... Especially to my own Mother, Mother-In-Law and Grandmother... Your the best!



I didn't have much time to blog yesterday so I figured that I would just express my feelings today.... I actually should of done this on Saturday, but my timing has never been that good. :) I never knew what it really took to be a Mother. Yeah, I knew about the birds and the bees thing and where babies came from, but to really be a Mother.... that was another story. Before I had Maysie, I thought that I knew everything and being a Mom would be pretty easy. I was utterly, and completely wrong. Yes being a Mother can definitely be rewarding, entertaining, amazing, fun, and a blessing in many ways, yet it can also be challenging, frustrating, infuriating, a down right hard. I guess it never sunk in before, that as a Mother, you are entrusted with a child of God to teach, motivate, and guide and direct them in every aspect of their lives so that one day, they can do it all on their own.... (Yet, I still go to my Mom or MIL for advice constantly so do we ever really do it on our own?) I love being a Mother. There are some days I just want to cry and pull all of my hair out because of one thing or another.... but most days, I am completely in awe and marvel at all the unexpected joys that Motherhood brings to my life. There are blessings around every corner. So Thank-You Maysie, for opening my eyes, and giving me a chance to be a Mother.





Yesterday, Rob surprised me and let me sleep in for once. He got up and made me some homemade juice and then let me take a nice relaxing shower... I love it when he is home. Maysie and him got me some solar lights for our yard. We want to take out our electric yard light since half of them don't work because the electric lines got accident. Oops. Once I got around, then I got Maysie around for church. Rob surprised me yet again and got ready for church too. He went with us again and stayed for the whole thing. That was probably the best part of my Mothers Day. We had a mission farewell during sacrament meeting that filled the whole chapel up and then some. The cultural hall was all the way full and then there was a few people standing up in the very back. Needless to say, we were in the nosebleed section but it was really good anyways. Our Sunday School lesson was about one of Rob's favorite topics... Tithing and Fast Offerings mixed with a little bit about the Law of Consecration. He was so interested with the lesson, he went up and asked the teacher, (Who is a huge Church History buff) for a copy of his lesson along with the handouts he had printed with the scriptures and quotes that we were using. Relief Society was really good. They had the new sister missionaries give the lesson. At the beginning, the young men came in and gave all of us chocolate and a flower. Maysie really liked the flowers. She kept trying to get mine and then when I would take it away, (she kept breaking the stem of it and then try to eat it) she would go and try and get someone else's flower. I couldn't get her interested in anything else the whole time. I ended up having to take her out in the hall because she was having a pity-party when she didn't get her way.... Hummm, we may have a problem when she gets bigger. After church we hurried and changed and went to a dinner that Rob's family was having. It turned out nice but after 5 hours of being there I was ready to go and have some alone time with my little family, so we left and hurried and went to John and Joan's house so Rob could see little Cassie, (I saw her on Friday with the rest of the family, but Rob missed out). When we got home, Rob let me pick out a movie to watch, my choice.... so of course I had to pick Anne of Green Gables---The Continuing Story. I tried to be somewhat considerate, it had to deal with war among the other :)... He was a good sport and watched all 3 hours with me and only fell asleep once. All in all it was a wonderful, fabulous, fantastic first real Mothers Day.

Oh, Happy Day!

Great news just approached me! Rob is on his way home! Yea! He finally got the go ahead to get loaded and get gone from Cali. This means he should be home in time for Mothers Day! I am feeling so much better... No more worrying about him being gone; taking turns to get up in the middle of the night to get Maysie, (which means more sleep for me); and now I won't have to spend Mothers Day as a loner, (well I wouldn't be a complete loner cuz I have Maysie and all....) So this means, if I am lucky, I will get breakfast in bed, hand-picked flowers, and a meal that I didn't have to cook! (I can dream right. LOL) Actually, I already got some hand-picked flowers last Sunday from Maysie and him. It was so cute, he took Maysie over to his Dad's house to drop off something and I opted to stay home for some reason or another, and when they came back, Maysie was holding 2 little purple flowers that they picked from Papa Merlin's (my father-in-law) yard. Totally cuteness, and somewhat romantic. Right now they are 1/2 dead sitting in a cup on the counter... I don't know why but I can't keep them or any other plant alive very well... Rob is getting so excited for Mother's Day, he has been constantly bringing the subject up the last couple of weeks. Last week, he took me out to lunch a few times, saying it was for Mother's Day, but I secretly think he is getting tired of my cooking. Hopefully, he will cook dinner or something... on the true Mother's Day. :) But if he doesn't then I will be completely happy just for the fact that he will finally be home, safe and sound.

Tonight, Maysie and I, along with everyone in Rob's family are going out to eat for 2 of Rob's brothers, (Carl and Joseph) birthdays that were within the last couple of weeks. I am excited to go even if I have to fly solo. Carl and Mollie will be there and I haven't seen there new baby since he was a few days old. I am sure that Cason is getting so big now that he is almost a couple of months old. He is the first grandson on Rob's side, with his immediate family. After 7 girly, girls, this little boy is a welcome addition to the family. It sounds like all of Rob's brothers and sisters will be there with there family's so it should be a lot of fun.

This just in.... John and Joan, (my brother and sister-in-law) just had a baby girl this morning! A 9 pound rolly-poly baby with lots of dark hair. No word on the name yet, considering they were hoping for a boy and only found out yesterday that it was indeed a girl not a boy. (They didn't have an ultrasound until now because they couldn't find out why the baby wasn't coming... She thought she was due on May 1st) Congratulations to them for this new bundle of joy. I can't wait to see her in a few days!

Scary, Scary...

So not much is really going on... Rob is stuck in California for who knows how long, while I get to man the fort here at home. He left on Tuesday morning where it was supposed to be an easy trip... Go down, pick up the load and then high-tail it back, get unloaded, come home, end of story but.... everything has been going wrong where he unloads, again, so his dispatcher hasn't even let him load yet and who knows if he will even get loaded today! He is just chillin' down there in LA and not in the safest of neighborhoods might I add. Everyone has been telling him these horror stories about the area, in which he has been telling me.... and this makes me feel better about him being gone why??? Apparently, if you go down the street from where he is, don't wear red because you are more likely to get shot..... I guess blue it the color to wear. (That doesn't help the fact that most of the shirts that Rob took with him are Cherry RED! - he better not go for a walk!) And if he ventures across the street at night, he will be right amongst the drug dealing capital of the neighborhood.... Ummm, not very comforting right now... and thank heavens for chain link fences, because apparently, they hold back the cars from colliding into the trucks when the drivers can't figure out the difference between the gas pedal and the brake. Uh yeah, this is the latest story. Needless to say, I am ready for him to be home safe and sound! Even Rob is scared down there. He won't even get out of his truck at night for any reason because well, it's not very safe. Why is it that the world is getting to be such a scary place to be? I used to sleep outside under the stars during the summertime when I was little, but now I would never dream of it. For one, the mosquito's would eat you alive and the thought of having to wear bug spray to bed doesn't sound appealing, and two, the world isn't that safe anymore.... I can't believe that just because of what you wear, you can get killed. It makes me not want to go anywhere, although I know that this type of activity is creeping into every state, and slowly creeping into every city. What is it going to be like for the generations to follow? Better I hope! But more than likely, it will continue to be scary, scary...

What a Fabulous Day!

Today was a FABULOUS Sunday! Rob actually came to church with me... all of it! He didn't skip out when priesthood started, instead he went to class, all by himself. Maysie was of course a gem, compared to normal, but I think it was because Rob was there. She loves going to church, but to be there as a family just makes it all the more special. I don't want him to ever get baptized for the wrong reasons, but I would love to see him get baptized one day. I dream of going to the temple and getting sealed for time and all eternity with my family. Lately I have felt the assurance from the Spirit that this will happen on day. I just have to live my life close to the Savior and keep myself temple worthy and by doing that my example will help those around me. Lately, Rob hasn't been going to any church, but he has been constantly studying the scriptures here at home. In the last year, he has only when to his church 2 times and then came with me mostly only when there is a family thing going on, although he has went on just a regular Sunday a few times too. I feel that it is so important to attend church and 'show' your children that you have a testimony and not just 'say' you have a testimony. I am not really sure how to put into words what I am feeling. I guess what I mean is that my fear one day is that Maysie will want to stay home from church and use the excuse that "Dad does" when it is so important to me to go to church, to learn and be edified and to partake of the Sacrament. I love going to church. I didn't used to, but I do now. When I first got married, it was so hard to go to a family ward all by myself especially after going to a singles ward for so long. It seemed like everyone in my ward was old... so I stopped going for about a year. In that time frame, the ward has totally switched around. All the old people moved out and all of these young couples are moving in. I now know most of my neighborhood and not just my street because I go to church as often as I can. We have so many babies in my ward, Not Kidding, I feel totally comfortable if I can't handle Maysie all the time when I am by myself. Every one understands. (Last year we had around 22 babies born for the year, and this year alone we have had lots... in fact we had 3 babies blessed today in Sacrament meeting...) Since I have been married, 3 of Rob's siblings have been baptized into our church, 2 of them were in the last 6 months or so. This has had Rob asking more questions and has also made him more stubborn on some things. lol. The change in the family is evident. Everyone is more supportive of each other... basketball games, dance recitals, school concerts. I mean the whole family goes for these. They travel 2 plus hours sometimes just so they can go. Before, they could really care less. I mean they thought that it was cool for the person, but if it inconvenienced them in anyway, they wouldn't go. It was so awesome that for Maysie's baby blessing, everyone was there except Rob's brother Carl who was working in Texas at the time and it was impossible for him to come. I love this new found support they have. Those of them who have joined the church have this great new depth to them, like they found the purpose. They are so filled with the spirit. It makes you feel so happy just to be around them. Rob has really noticed a change for the better in them and is contemplating what effect the church might have on his life. So keep you fingers crossed, and say your prayers... One day he might be able to make that covenant with Jesus Christ and then we can make it our goal, to go to the temple to be sealed as an eternal family, sooner rather than much, much later.... but no matter how long it takes.... I want him to know how much I love him and that I want him to convert for the right reasons. Rob has taught me so much and has strengthened my testimony in so many ways. I definitely know my scriptures better, and have a deeper testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

What to do?

So Maysie's birthday is coming up next month and I am having this internal debate on what to do... I have been driving myself CRAZY for the last month as I have started to think about her upcoming birthday. Should we have a party with family and friends, or should we keep it simple? What should we get her? How should we do her cake? Uuggh, I don't know what to do. I mean she doesn't really know what is going on at all, but it is her First Birthday and all... I have been driving my husband crazy with all of my ideas, and quite frankly, I don't think he really cares about it one way or another. I know that we are going to move her into a big girls bed since she is already trying to climb out of her crib. (She can't quite figure it out but I don't want to take any chances) She already knows how to climb off of our bed, and she hardly ever falls on her landing now (we have a tall bed) so I am not too concerned about moving her into her own twin bed. We have a bedspread picked out for her new bed, and I really want to paint her room since we didn't do it before she was born, but I am not sure what color... Her comforter is stripes and has pretty much any color you can think of so really, we can paint her room any color. I am leaning towards purple but I do like the thought of yellow too. Which one do you like better. Since we are putting her into a big girls bed, we need to get her a headboard/foot board... we already have the mattress, but Do we really want to spent that much for a birthday? Maybe we should have it all ready for her birthday but it isn't her birthday gift? Hmmm.. Every child needs a toy or something fun for a birthday, not just boring bedroom stuff... I have already got her a small wading pool, along with the swimsuit get-up, and I would really like to get her that leap frog fridge magnet where it matches up the animals.... That might keep her entertained while I do the dishes..... but that might be wishful thinking. :) I'm not sure I want a big party for her or not, but maybe we can have a BBQ and then have the fam all gather together for cake and ice cream. Then we can play games after words but there isn't much planning involved... and no pressure on anyone else, since my child virtually has everything she needs and then some.... I kinda want to make her a fun butterfly cake but what kind do I make. Rob wants me to make one out of honey, (his family and no sugar) but the only kind of cake I know how to make comes from a box. :) I think that it would be lots of fun to get her a birthday girl bib and some balloons and if I can get her to wear a hat...I would be tempted to get her one of those too. It just adds to the occasion. But in all reality, I should save my money and just get her the things that she needs and would appreciate.... If I left it up to my husband, she would get cake and ice cream..... and maybe one other thing... He is so Conservative. Normally on our birthdays, we just let the birthday person plan the day... but with a one year old... I don't know how well that will work. What does one do for a First Birthday?