DAY 30-I MADE IT

It feels good to have made it through my "Thirty Days Hath September" challenge, only missing one day.  Of course before finishing this last post for the month I had to write about Day 22, the wedding.  I have loved remembering all these "small details" about our everyday life.

During the past few days while exercising in the morning, I have felt pretty dizzy.  Today it hit me hard.  I wanted to lay down on the sidewalk and wait for it to pass, or better yet throw up.  Luckily when I felt the worst I was right in front of the fire station.  Those dang men are always up and at it so early.  And of course I am too prideful to let them see me laying down or even dry heave.  So I made it home and tried to veg on the couch.  It wasn't long before two little boys were begging for breakfast and could hardly stand my laziness.

We made it out the door for some very important errands.  The most important was getting our conference games laminated.  Camden can hardly wait until I let him play.  The next stop was Target for conference treats and cute little man gloves before the winter weather scares us any more.

After naps we attempted to mow the lawn.  Shortly after we began, a pain in the butt mutt who Dan lovingly refers to as Chewie, decided to run a muck through the neighborhood.  Normally I wouldn't care because she's too spoiled to not come back.  But I'd hate for the neighbors to complain, so off I went looking like a fool.  She seriously sat on her hind legs, butt dragging on the cement, while I pulled her collar.  I was furious!

Once I got that blasted animal home, I was sure to text Dan something about skinning his furry baby and making her into a rug.  Cause I'm nice like that.

We finished the lawn and got to harvest the garden.

 Now the boys are in bed.  Dan just finished watching the BYU game, and we are waiting up for a friend who is staying the night.  It's almost 11:30pm and I'm ready to hit the hay.  I better rest up for another ordinarily crazy day tomorrow.

DAY 29

Today was pretty uneventful.  Just one of those days, ya know?

If I could designate one day of the week for cleaning, it would be Thursday.  I hate doing it on Saturday when I should be having fun with people who are not normally home during the week.  And just in case something comes up or I don't finish Thursday, I can use Friday as a buffer.

So today I cleaned and washed bathroom towels and rugs.  The kids were bored, but they survived.

Camden "bretended" to be a rockstar.  And we must not forget when he was mad at Dan this morning he told him, "I will call the police to come and get you!"

Jace was his normal animated self, who gave all sorts of kisses today while rubbing my cheek.

And the cows were...cows are scary to me.

Later this evening we went with Papa to pick up a trailer. These mean looking guys just happen to live right by the trailer.  Why are baby calves cute, yet big daddy cows so frightening?

After the boys went down, I spent the rest of my evening putting together fun conference packets for this weekend.

DAY 28

I'm starting to get nervous about the cold weather that is coming upon us.  I have a feeling our park days are slowly coming to an end.  Although I froze to death, we enjoyed a picnic at the park for lunch.  Of course the kids don't eat much, but they sure do play hard.  We had to wake Jace up from his nap at 5pm!

While at the park, the boys gravitated towards two other brothers who happened to be their same ages. They all played so well together and even shared Rice Krispie treats.  As I sat and watched all four of them interact, I sorta got teary eyed when the younger friend called his older sibling "brother", instead of by his real name. 

Up until the end of August Jace never called Camden by his given name, it was always "brudda".  Now that he no longer uses that term of endearment, I feel like he has lost a tiny bit more of his baby-ness.  He is growing up, using proper words, and will probably move off to college tomorrow.

Tonight for YW with the Beehives, we had a service scavenger hunt.  It was tons of fun and brought out quite a competitive spirit in girls I didn't know possessed such a thing!  Everyone had fun and the winning team was nice enough to share their prize.  It was a success.

After YW I headed to Chilli's for a late night snack with one of the other leaders.  We seriously laughed our tails off until 11pm.  It was nice to get out and start to feel like I'm fitting in.  Why is it that we still feel the need to fit in somewhere even when we are older?

DAY 27

I have a friend who invites me to library time with her and her two grand kids.  We go every Tuesday morning and my boys jump up and down when I tell them it's library day.

We always start by signing "I'm gonna drive my car".  After singing, the librarian invites all the kids to move up closer by the felt board where she tells her stories.  Jace is always the first one up and the closest to the action. Camden is more timid and refuses to move off my lap, except for today.  Alaura's grandson Caleb walked up to Camden, put his hand out, and said, "Come on friend".  The smile on Camden's face was the size of Texas.  He seriously couldn't have been happier in that moment.  They both walked up, sat in the circle, and no kidding...put their arms around each others shoulders.  I about died.

After the library we all headed to the park.  Of course these two boys couldn't ride in separate cars, they did not want to be apart.

Camden and Caleb were inseparable.  Camden kept saying, "He's my best friend!".

On the other hand Jace kept asking Haley if she wanted to slap him, which I think is hilarious.  And I find it even more funny that she just completely ignored him!

Later today as I rode in the car with my mom I mentioned how proud I was of Jace.  It has been 9 days since his last potty accident.  But the second I said something I knew I shouldn't have. 

After dinner I found Jace on the tramp standing as still as he possibly could.  His butt was pushed out and his eyes were big.  I walked out to get him and he immediately said, "It was an accident, I love you." all while hugging and kissing my face obsessively.  Sigh!

DAY 26

The weather is getting cooler and Dan's hours at work are changing.  With that change in his work schedule, came three days off in a row.  Which meant I jumped at the chance to work for a friend taking on a big project I knew couldn't be completed with my boys in tow.  She has two, not very functional pantries that needed organization.

Of course I forgot to get pictures before I started.  Luckily I remembered to capture the end product.

This first pantry picture was kind of hard to capture how nice it looked.  You can sorta see the slanted ceiling and odd space I got to walk in and out of for a good chuck of my day.  Yes, my back is aching.

And the second pantry had really deep shelves which previously had quite a bit of weight on them.  I tried to evenly distribute the weight while still making it functional.

It feels good to have it done and I hope it helps her feel better about her space.

DAY 25

It's always refreshing coming home from vacation and getting back to reality.  Even when reality isn't exactly what you want it to be, there is a sense of peace that comes with your own routine.

During the first 5 minutes of Sacrament meeting today, Camden had to be taken out.  He likes to act tough when we are out in public.  He chooses to test my patience just a little more because he thinks I won't follow through with discipline when others are around.  His latest trick is pulling his fist back like he's gonna punch you whenever you say something controversial to his thinking.

"Camden please put that bag away, it's too noisy and we don't play with it at church."

He twists the bag up and tries extra hard to make more noise than he was before I said anything.

"Camden!"  I give him the look of death.

He crunches the bag to make more noise while laughing in my face.

"I won't ask you again.  You have two choices; you can put the bag away, or you can keep playing with it and I'll take you out in the hall.  You choose."

He pulls the hand not crunching the noisy bag back into a fist, grits his teeth, and growls.

Out came the Lobster claw to drag him outside while he screams, "I won't do that again, you are hurting me!"

I followed through with the threat.  He sat outside on the curb in timeout and was embarrassed when people were looking at him.

Fast forward to the last 10 minutes of sacrament meeting.  Out of no where Jace becomes hysterical for a drink of water.  There is no way to reason with him.  He doesn't understand why he has to wait until after the meeting.  It's only ten minutes.  But those ten minutes were pure torture.  It would have been so much easier for both he and I(and everyone within hearing distance) if I had just let him have the blasted drink of water.  But I'm convinced he will be a better Dad someday when he fully understands and appreciates why I think he can go 1 hour and 10 minutes without a snack or drink.  But until he can understand that, I am just torturing him for the fun of it.

Seriously?  This is the normal life I enjoy and feel refreshed to come back to?

To make myself feel better, I enlisted the help of Dan and my Mom to make a mean ol' batch of fresh salsa.



I feel better already.

DAY 24

Last week when we drove to Utah I started feeling a little car sick.  I thought it was a fluke because I've never had that problem before.  But the next day while in the temple I started feeling the same thing, a little motion sick.

 And today as we drove back home to Idaho it hit me pretty dang hard.   Ya know, hard enough I had to throw up.  So much for finishing my book, instead I got to stare ahead the entire ride.  It was boring but my symptoms never ceased.

We made it home and I still just sorta feel like I'm in a daze now.  I had good intentions of blogging about the wedding for memory sake.  But as I sit and stare at the computer my mystery sickness is coming back.  I guess I had better get to bed because this is making me crazy in the head!

DAY 23

This morning we woke our tired bodies up and made our way to the Great Salt Lake.  I'm seriously so lucky to have such a talented brother for my personal photographer, and a generous sister for our very own assistant.  While out at the lake we all had to take our shoes off to get in the water, you should have heard Camden screaming in fear.  He is my clean child and could NOT stand walking on the "bugs" and the salty, smelly, sand.  I'm crossing my fingers Chad was able to capture at least one good shot.

After pictures we made our way back to my Nanny and Papa's house to hang out.  Kristianne had the day off and we enjoyed relaxing, and playing some serious rounds of Rummikub.

 Next up on the agenda for today was a BYU game.  As soon as Dan found out the exact date for Charly's wedding, he was thrilled how conveniently scheduled it was with "his team".

 Lucky for him, he was able to round up a few others who were willing to enjoy game day with him. 

Dan has been talking about bringing Camden to a game for quite some time now.  Camden has been so excited he could hardly stand it!  For the last hour before they actually got in the car to leave, Camden asked the time every 2-3 minutes.  He had been told they were leaving at 2:30 and it must have felt like an eternity to him. 

I'm pretty sure Jace and I had just as much fun staying home as they did at the game.  The yelling and cheering are out of control in my Nanny and Papa's house.  They take game day pretty serious around here, headphones in to listen while they watch it on TV.

I'm sure I'll be asleep when they all make it home after tonight's big win, but I can't wait to hear how it all went down.

Aunt Sassy left for home today.  This was her first time meeting Jace and that breaks my heart.  The next time she will see him, he will be a completely different person.   It was a short visit but fun to see her again.

Now that the wedding is over, things are starting to wind and the adrenaline is wearing off.  I'm pretty sure I won't be awake for the car ride home tomorrow!  Back to reality.

DAY 22

Today was the big day.  Carly and Kelby tied the knot.

After tons of arranging on who would be where, at what time, and in which car, we all made it.  Those who attended the temple arrived at 9:30am.  We all got seated and I was perfectly content to be there between Dan and Kristianne.  Right before the sealing began, my mom leaned over and whispered something to Carly.  Carly's eyes filled with tears almost as quickly as mom's, and mine followed right after.  It was perfectly beautiful and a sweet reminder of what took place for Dan and I over 6 years ago.

After the temple we all had our jobs.  Mine was to pick up the cake and get it to the Olive Garden for lunch.  They were still putting on the "final touches" when we arrived.  While waiting, those of us in the car got a chance to sneak a taste of a few yummy cupcakes and Italian soda from the shop.

Carly served yummy sugar cookies but wanted a small cake top to cut.  When the baker brought it out I about fell over.  I was not expecting it to be that big, but it was so perfect.  It was so Carly.

Lunch was delicious, of course because I'm all for eating at a good restaurant instead of a fancy smanchy place with crappy food.  It was fun to see so many family members and friends who came to celebrate.  Right after Kelby's Dad offered a blessing on the food Jace yelled, "ha ha I didn't close my eyes".

We headed back to the hotel room for a short while before the open house started.  Kelby's family hosted it in their backyard and had Coldstone creamery cater. After loading up on sugar, my boys had a blast running around playing in the stream.  

Of course the only pictures I took were on my phone, hence the blurriness.  It's a darn good thing I have connections with their amazing photographer.

DAY 21

In honor of Charly's big day tomorrow, the sister's got together for some pampering. It was fun to relax and visit before life changes once again.

After getting pedicures, all of us girls(including mom) went for a bite to eat at Paradise Bakery.  One last meal together before the wedding budget is no longer.

Carly(and lots of others) have put a lot of time and energy into planning for tomorrow.  I can't wait to see everything come together and the hard work pay off.

DAY 20

This morning we woke up to this lovely critter.  Camden thought he was "ah a cute little guy" and Jace asked if he could "punch him".

We left it up to animal control to decide what to do with him.

We hit the rode early to drive all over town running wedding errands with my mom, and she had the brilliant idea to stop for Astro(boy) Burger's.  And seeing how the boys were watching Astro Boy as we pulled up, it made it that much better.

The nice man who took our order was kind enough to go along with our Astro Boy antics.  Jace loved shaking his hand, but Camden told Dan "he wasn't really Astro Boy huh, he was just pretend".

DAY 19

I've had my eye on this adorable quilt pattern for some time now, and needed the perfect excuse to make it.  So when my friend found out she was having a little girl after already having two boys, I couldn't wait to make this frilly and pink just for her.

I've never done applique before and found it rather tedious.  So other than stitching around all those letters, this quilt was so fun to make.  It came together so quickly and I loved using so many girly fabrics.

With the center being plain white, I was a bit nervous for the final outcome.  But after quilting the daisy pattern all over and adding some fun ric rac, it came together so nice.

I love the polka dot binding and the soft minky on back.

And nothing tickles my fancy more than seeing this bundle of love all rolled up ready to be enjoyed!

It was so fun to be able to go to Lauren's shower tonight and see friends I hadn't since high school.  I love living closer so I can enjoy special occasion's like this.

DAY 18

One thing I will never forget about growing up and going to visit my Nanny is Dominoes.  She had a huge ol' box of black wooden dominoes and tons of hardwood flooring.  We would spend hours setting them up in all sorts of designs and got giddy watching them tumble over.

So tonight when my kids found a box laying around, my heart sorta skipped a beat.  We all sat around and giggled as our masterpiece came crashing down.

I really should start using a camera instead of my phone, it's just too darn convenient.

DAY 17

Blogging remotely on vacation is a lot less convenient.  I'm trying my best to keep up with this everyday thing, but it is definitely harder while away from home.

We are starting to see things come together for the wedding and it's getting rather exciting.  Doesn't this pile of "pretty" just make you smile?

Speaking of wedding stuff...today we got to go through the temple with Charly and Kelby for their first time.  It is always refreshing to do a session and it's even better to do so with family.

After the temple we headed over for some lunch at Hagermann's.  Cracker thinks he owns the place and made his way behind the counter to hook Nanny up with this festive game day cookie.

As I sit next to Kristi while blogging, I hear all sorts of yelling from Nanny and Papa while they watch BYU vs U of U.  She is supposedly saving that delicious looking cookie for a victory treat.  But I'm happy to eat it even if they lose.

DAY 16

I spent the day getting ready for our trip to Utah for Aunt Charly's wedding.

I feel like packing for a week is packing for eternity!

DAY 15

It's no secret I enjoy organizing things, especially other people's things.  It's weird I know, but there is something to be said about starting with chaos and ending in harmony.

Today I got to help a friend with some organizing in her daughter's room.  And because of the timing of it, the boys got to tag along with me.  They were ok with coming because it was new toys, new territory, and they could slide from one from one room to the next.

About the time I was coming down the stairs to be done for the day I heard Jace pounding on the sliding glass door.  When I opened the door I heard Camden hysterically screaming.  The kind of scream I've never heard from his mouth before, it scared me. 

A ran across the lawn behind the trees that blocked him from my view.  There he stood barefoot in the middle of the dirt; shaking from the waist up, trying desperately not to move his feet.  Idaho dirt is something else.  You don't go near it unless you have shoes on, thick soled shoes for that matter.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't think for one second about running back to the house to grab a pair of shoes for myself.  Instead I let my adrenaline take over and ran to pick him up while exposing my bare feet to the miserable thorn infested dirt. Once we made it back to the grass, we sat down and I started removing the blasted thorns.  The bottom of Camden's poor feet were covered!  Not one spec of his skin was showing.  I tried quickly to remove the thorns from his feet as best I could and then moved to mine.  But once I finished with my feet I noticed Camden's were covered in blood.

Although I was relieved he didn't have a body part dismembered like his scream led me to believe, my heart hurt to see him in pain.

He refused to walk or eat.  He refused to let me pick at the thorns anymore.  He just kept telling me he wanted to sleep.  I gave him some pain reliever and sent him to bed.  He was out like a light.

After his nap he let Dan get a few more pieces out and seems to be doing much better.  My old callused feet still slightly ache, I can't imagine what his soft baby feet must feel like.  Poor guy!

DAY 14

I'm trying not to remember how Jace cried while screaming, "I need you to love me" for almost 2.5hrs today.  Nap time without his blanket was a must after he pooped yet again in his pants.  Today I was more determined to stick to my guns.  But I'm wondered if this is doing more harm than help, he wet his pants tonight for Dan.  Ugh!

Out with the bad, let's talk about the good.

While I was gone doing church stuff, Dan took the boys to a cute little ice cream shop.  He sent these pictures to my phone and tried to make me guess where they were.

Every time we drive past this place I talk about going there.  Maybe I can live vicariously through them!

DAY 13

Today we made our way to story time at the library.  Camden was very timid.  He didn't want to pet the dog, help with the felt board during the story, or do much dancing.  Jace was his usual wild self.  He was the first to volunteer for everything, and yelling out "ahhhhhh, why I don't have a turn" when he wasn't picked to help.  We read Chicken Little today, sang the car song, danced to the chicken song, and ended with playdoh.

We even signed up for a library card and picked out a few books on tape for our drive to Utah!

On our way home Camden asked if we could eat lunch at Chik-fil-a.  I told him I didn't know of any nearby.  He quickly responded, "Duh the PGS knows how to get us there".

Unfortunately Jace Man's "PGS" isn't working.  He can't seem to find the toilet when he has to do his #2 thang.  It has been pretty hit or miss depending on his attitude.  I thought the gumball machine would be motivation enough, but now we have turned to discipline instead of rewards.  We gave him several warnings, if he pooped in his pants again he would have to throw his blanket away.  Well, again came and we had to follow through with our threat(I have to give credit to Dan for following through).  His blanket was put in the "garbage".  After crying himself to sleep without his "green blankie", he woke up in the middle of the night so upset!  I could not calm him down and I caved.  I shouldn't have but I did.  I could not reason with him at 2:30 in the morning and apparently he could with me.  I was tired from just being up with Camden(for who knows what reason) and I caved.

And just like with anything in life; after you have given in just once, justification to give in again is that much easier.  Yep you guessed it, I caved again at nap time!  All day I had been telling him if he pooped in the toilet he could have his blankie at nap time.  Of course he didn't have to go before he laid down so he went to his room without the blanket.

But after 2 hours of pure torture for both he and I, I caved again!  I'm normally pretty good about sticking to my guns, but this one is killing me.

DAY 12

Man I feel like we are always running errands.  Today while we were out running a few before we leave for Utah, we snapped this photo.

When we walked out of the craft store Camden planted his two feet loudly on the ground, threw his hands in the air and yelled, "Jace David! Yook(yes his L's sound like Y's) at that awesome workin thing!".  This cute old lady standing outside the store about wet her pants she was laughing so hard.  She insisted he do it again for her.  And making his momma proud, he yelled it with even more enthusiasm the second time and begged me to take a picture.  As if he had to beg me, my mamarazzi must be wearing off on him.

But apparently I do need reminders every now and again to take pictures.  Tonight we had a neighborhood party which I totally forgot to bring my camera out to, dang it.  While at the party, Camden was jumping on the tramp with his good pal Pierce and an older girl.  Pierce decided it was cooler to hang out with the big kids and pick on the little ones, Camden being little.  Soon the wrestling was no longer friendly, and hurtful words were said.  I heard Camden run in the house crying.  When I went to find him, he was peeking though the blinds saying, "I wanna be your friend". 

Time stood still. 

I wanted to agree with his hurt feelings and egg on some anger for a chance at retaliation.  Part of me wanted to stand at the window and cry with him. But I snapped back to reality and recognized that this probably won't be the last time he feels betrayed.  And it probably won't be the last time I feel helpless and heartbroken.  So I gave him a hug, and told him I loved him.  I reminded him he had two choices; he could sit inside and feel sorry for himself, or he could come outside and have fun.  Luckily this experience didn't paralyze him in self pity because he was able to enjoy the remainder of the night outside.

As a mother I find it hard to recognize the balance of letting my kids figure things out for themselves, and doing it for them.  Sometimes I wonder if it comes across that I'm ignoring them and don't care.  I want to acknowledge their hurt and/or frustration but I hate to encourage whining and tattling.  It would be easy to mediate, but what about real life?  I won't always be there to fight their battles, just like someone can't do that for me.  So how do I teach my kids to handle hard things when I'm still learning it myself.

DAY 11

I'm sad I don't have any pictures for today, but I guess that's how it goes sometimes.  I will just have to list a few things for memory sake.

Jace woke up with a swollen, red, splotchy, "hurty" foot. He was limping around most of the day. It is the same foot he got a bee sting in last Monday, it's just weird it decided to manifest it's "hurty" today.

Camden was lucky enough to say the dinner prayer.  Or should I say, we were lucky enough to hear his dinner prayer tonight.  Part of his thoughtfulness was on my behalf... "and please bless that Mommy will be nice".

Now that I'm a mom I love being the one to ask what everyone learned at church today.  A conversation that drove me crazy when I was younger.  Today Camden said he learned about a guy who couldn't see with his eyes.  Jesus put water on his eyes and the man could see again.  Jace said he learned about, snackies, bubbles, and "popcorn on the apricot tree".

I learned a lot of things at church today but one of them was how it feels to be old.

While at church I participated in and listened to discussions about what took place ten years ago today.  I found myself surrounded by youth who were too young to remember where they were and how they felt that day.  The memories and feelings that I have surrounding those events are merely something they read about in textbooks.  They have heard stories from their parents and leaders, but cannot relate to that day like I can.  Wow...has it really been ten years?

President Thomas S. Monson wrote an article in the Washington Post about what happened that day.  He said, "If there is a spiritual lesson to be learned from our experience of that fateful day, it may be that we owe to God the same faithfulness that He gives to us. We should strive for steadiness, and for a commitment to God that does not ebb and flow with the years or the crises of our lives. It should not require tragedy for us to remember Him, and we should not be compelled to humility before giving Him our faith and trust. We too should be with Him in every season...It is constancy that God would have from us. Tragedies are not merely opportunities to give Him a fleeting thought, or for momentary insight to His plan for our happiness. Destruction allows us to rebuild our lives in the way He teaches us, and to become something different than we were. We can make Him the center of our thoughts and His Son, Jesus Christ, the pattern for our behavior. We may not only find faith in God in our sorrow. We may also become faithful to Him in times of calm."

DAY 10

After convincing my little brother to get up and come with me, we took the boys to Lowe's this morning.  Lowe's building kits always seem more complicated than Home Depot's, so it's nice having someone else with me who doesn't have to pretend they know how to build.

Today the boys made police car's like "Uncle Cameron", and they were mesmerized by the blinking light on top.  For some reason neither of them had any interest in helping us build today; however, they both took an interest in hammering everything other than what we asked.  At least the final product kept their attention for the remainder of the day.

During nap time Jace decided to poop in the hallway and then wake Camden up so he wouldn't miss the fun.  I may or may not have freaked out on them and sent them both back to bed.  Thirty minutes is not long enough for me to regroup for the rest of the day.

While bathing the boys tonight, Camden begged me for some quiet time with he and Jace in the living room.  Of course I obliged and we made our way in right after they were dressed.  While sitting there I asked Camden what we do during quiet time.  His reply, "Well, here's my deal.  We just need to sit and talk and smile.  That's what we do for a fun quiet time together".

DAY 9

Jace woke up this morning upset because I said the prayer last night and not him.

This afternoon Camden said,  "I got pee in my underwear just a little, like an accident when I laughed pretty hard."

Jace begged me for a cheese tortilla at lunch today.  Of course I made it for him and he refused to eat the tortilla, but devoured the melted cheese.

Camden made me proud and used" please" and "thank you" ALL day without having to be asked.  I was seriously beaming every time he would say it, it was so sincere and sweet.

Tonight we had dinner at Applebee's.  Yes I let Jace come with us even though he had 55 Disney stickers plastered on his shirt. Dan's nephew Ryan works there and apparently tonight was his first night in training as a server, and we were his first guests.  How fun is that?  He hooked us up with his pretty sweet discount just as long as we promised to pay him back someday in Oreo's!

DAY 8

Today I finally started a quilt I've had my eyes on for quite some time.  I'm hoping to finish it by this weekend. I would love to share how adorable it's looking, but that will have to wait.

But I can show you the cute handout I made for the ladies I get to visit teach each month.

This isn't the exact one I gave my ladies today but it's pretty darn close.  All I had to do was print it from here, cut it out, glue it on the box of goodies, and bam I'm done.  I enjoyed the message this month about strengthening our families through our own spirituality.

Julie B. Beck, Relief Society general president, said: “There has grown in me an overwhelming testimony of the value of daughters of God. … I have felt that there has never been a greater need for increased faith and personal righteousness. There has never been a greater need for strong families and homes.”

Sisters can help create strong homes and families as they act on personal revelation. “The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life,”

I don't think it's any coincidence that I have met some of my greatest friends through this program of visiting teaching.  It's sad that it took me so long to realize what the program is truly about.  Serving other women and building friendships.  Divine!

DAY 7

Now that I started this everyday blogging business, I feel like I'm airing my dirty laundry.

If I have big errands to run they are better accomplished in the morning.  My boys usually seem to be better behaved before nap time versus after they wake up from naps.  But if I try and do anything too close to lunch, they get irritable and not helpful.  So if I know I have something that will take a good chuck of time and it needs to get done with children in tow, we go first thing in the morning.  Today was one of those days.  We were out of the house early enough that I hadn't showered, which I justify because "I don't know anybody here".

Our first stop was the mall of all places(I HATE the mall).  I opted out of bringing the stroller because it is usually more of a fight than it's worth.  But no stroller means two boys who are now expected to hold my hand and keep up.  Yeah right! 

The entire time Jace is looking behind him rather than where he is headed;  this resulted in many bumps, bruises, and knocked over displays.  Camden on the other hand is carefully inspected all the tags on my clothing in the dressing room and yelled out the sizes.  No biggie cause I'm comfortable in my own skin, everyone should know what size I'm trying to squeeze into.

As we are just about to leave the mall(my favorite place) Dan called asking if I'd mind bringing him some lunch.  So once I get up to the counter to order his food he didn't answer his phone.  How dare he get busy at work and not answer the second I call.  By this point the kids are fighting, I'm sweating, the cashier is totally bugged that I'm putting a cramp in her texting marathon, and I'm raging mad because I'm still at the mall.  Dan called back and told me not to worry about it because he could hear "it" in my voice that I'm about to lose it.  I insisted he give me his order after I had already made the trek to the food court.

What seemed like an eternity later, we made it to the car.  I had to make one pit stop at the bread store unless we wanted bread less BLT's for dinner.  The kids were whiny and begging to come in.  So after I screamed...I mean...reminded them to stop touching each other, looking at each other, and talking to each other, we made our way in the store.

All is well now that I have my butter with a slice of bread, until I drop it on the floor of the car.  I would have picked it up but it sat there too long as I chatted with my neighbor whose car was parked next to mine and wouldn't start.  I'm not sure if she wanted to wait for her husband to pick her up because I hadn't showered, just yelled at my kids, had butter all over the car, or like Dan could hear "it" in my voice.

As I drove to Dan's work to bring him his now cold lunch, I couldn't help but wonder...maybe it's me, not my boys that can't run errands too close to lunch.  Did I seriously just get worked up over all those trivial things.

I need to work on that.

DAY 6

Although it hasn't been long since I served in the Young Women program, it feels like I'm starting all over again.

I spent a good chunk of my day trying to organize and refresh for this new opportunity.  Fourteen young women ages 12-13, with thirteen more joining our class within the next year!

DAY 5

Once again we found ourselves enjoying a day at the lake.  Some of us had more fun than others!

Camden was not a happy camper when we sent just the two of them out on the tube.  He pretty much cried until we let him back in.  Whoops!

My dad had fun learning he is taller than he thinks he is.  After falling while skiing, he was able to stand up and walk right over to the boat.

Poor Jace man got stung by a bee right between his toes.

All of the excitement of the day pretty much knocked Jace out.  We could not keep him awake for the life of us.  He even fell asleep while out riding in the tube.

And to top our day off we came home, built a fire pit, and roasted some marshmallows.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect day!

DAY 4

Last week Jace's nursery teacher gave me the assignment of filming Jace while singing the "Smiles" song.  She said she gets a kick out of how animated his facial expressions are and she finds herself only watching him during the song.

So today I sat down and tried to capture how hilarious it really is.

If you chance to meet a frown,

Do not let it stay.

Quickly turn it upside down

And smile that frown away.



No one likes a frowning face.

Change it for a smile.

Make the world a better place

By smiling all the while.