Been a long, long time since.....

Wow, so here it is over five years, since my last blog post. I suppose that is because I get busy with life and really don't make time to do it. Even now as I sit her to type up this post, my youngest is climbing all over me. Most of the people who read my posts are family or friends, so you are aware that I now have three kids. My oldest will turn eight this year and my youngest three. So many things have changed over these last five years and yet some have remained nearly the same. I won't bore you with a detailed account of the past, but suffice it to say that I am very happy and content with the majority of my decisions and life choices. One of the biggest changes other than having another child was in my work situation, I quit the job that was draining the life out of me. I was a full time stay at home mom for about a year and a half, then I got a part-time no stress job. Shawn has been working on getting his Business Management Degree and working hard at his job. We have nearly changed every room in our house, but anyone who owns a house knows that you are never truly done with home improvements. Really the reason I sat down to write a blog post was not to catch you up on my life, but to impart a bit of my personal inspiration, but as I sit here having summed up five years in two brief paragraphs, my reason for doing so seems to have ran to hide in the back of my mind. Inspiration comes and goes and sometimes if you don't commit it to paper as soon as it comes, it flees somewhere deep inside of you again. This seems to be the case for me today. My hope for you all is that you can find the things that breathe life into you, brings out the best in you and helps you to bring out the best in those around you. So many times we go with the flow of life, barely keeping our heads above the water, so concerned about being what you think everyone else wants/needs you to be. When we need to just step back and evaluate where we are, what we want to accomplish and how we can do that in a way that is most beneficial to ourselves and those who depend on us. We often get caught up in worry about pleasing the world and not pleasing our Father in Heaven and strive to find worldly success and forget that worldly success dies when we die. Heavenly Father isn't going to be impressed by our resume, and how much money we made in life or how much praise we received from our peers. He wants us to always strive to be like His son Jesus Christ and find ways to honor him by helping our fellow man. Not to gain praise for these acts, because if we are charitable with the expectation of praise it is not true selfless service and charity. Quite acts of service done anonymously, and with an eye single to the glory of God are what we should strive to do. Now, you may be reading this thinking, yeah this is great, but who are you to preach to other people about this, and you would be right. I am not perfect and really don't serve as much as I should. This isn't me trying to preach to anyone this is just me trying to figure things out for myself and in so doing trying to help others to as well. We are all imperfect and need our Savior to perfect us. In this journey of life we can either judge one another based on those imperfections we see in each other or strive to lift one another and help them see the parts of them that are praiseworthy and help to cultivate the good. Water the fruits and ignore the weeds, because the more we focus on the virtues in each other the more there will be to see. It is my sincere hope and prayer that I may continue to learn and grow towards the Son and that I may not fail in my duty as a mother, wife, family member and friend. That I can be here to help those in need and that I will show more love to those around me. To change from a person who makes snap judgements of others, to someone who truly seeks to understand and love people who may not choose the same path as me. To love myself as I am loved by my Heavenly Father.

In closing I want to add a quote form Dieter F. Uchdorf, "It may seem odd to think of having a relationship with ourselves, but we do. Some people can't get along with themselves. They criticize and belittle themselves all day long until they begin to hate themselves. May I suggest that you reduce the rush and take a little extra time to get to know yourself better. Walk in nature, watch a sunrise, enjoy God's creations, ponder the truths of the restored gospel, and find out what they mean to you personally. Learn to see yourself as Heavenly Father sees you-as His precious daughter or son with divine potential." From his talk "Of Things That Matter Most," General Conference of The Church of Latter Day Saints October 2010.

Can't wait...

I am so ready to have this baby! It's so much more tiring having a toddler to chase around and work to deal with while being pregnant. Not to sound like a complainer, but seriously I am so much more uncomfortable this time around. How do people with more children and work do it! Especially if they are pregnant with twins! I would probably die, ok probably not but I might go completely insane!
Oh well I have like 11 weeks left, or about 30 works days, spread out over those weeks. It will be nice to have the 12 weeks off from work, even if it isn't paid leave. Adjusting to having two when you only have one, I can only imagine is a bit of a struggle at first. Mostly, I hope Shaylee doesn't feel too left out after the little guy gets here. Maybe, she will love being mommy and daddy's helper with him.
Enough complaining for now, I am trying to get back into the whole blogging thing, even if the only people who read it are family members.

Home Improvements Second Round

More pictures of some of our work and all of that! Plus a crazy Hair photo of Shaylee and a big belly picture of me!

Home Improvements

Wow, I am probably the worst blogger ever! It's been almost a year since I last made an entry! What a year it has been! We bought a house, I am pregnant with our second child and life has been cruising along pretty well! I can't believe all that has happened this last year.
Shawn has been very busy with work and will all the remodeling projects here at the house. I have helped with what I can in the remodeling, and am quite proud of my new found abilities! It is so nice to have such an understanding and loving husband who have really dove into all the projects!
Our second child is due March 30th. This time it is a boy!! Super excited for him to arrive, this pregnancy has been much harder than my first. Shawn is looking for a name, I promised he got to pick this time. Well, that is as long as it is something I like too! :)

Shaylee the bugs.....

It is becoming more and more apparent that my daughter is going to be a handful. She is a diva...seriously. But a stinkin' cute one. It seems like everyday, she is up to something new, saying something new, doing something new. And quick witted at that. Considering that she has great timing when it comes to saying "no", like the time that I was teasing Shawn, by saying, "you never listen to me, no one ever listens to me, do they?' And right then at the opportune moment she says "no," ever so smugly. She is so smart too, today we were getting ready to leave the house, I had a dentist appointment. Well, she was watching Wall-E, and saw me put my coat on and says to the TV bye bye Wall-E. Or the other day we were at Ryanne's house and she was carrying around a stuffed rabbit and calling it a "rabby". Also, she will let you know when she is done being somewhere, she will go to the door and start saying "bye bye, coat, shoes." And a few months back when my parents were visiting, Shawn came home for lunch, when he left she came into the kitchen and said, "Daddy go bye bye, car." It is seriously so much fun watching her grow and see how much she changes from day to day. The other day we were driving down the road and were stopped at a light by a McDonald's and she sees the "golden arches" and says "Fries?!". Oh what a fun little lady!

Shaylee's Diva DOG Costume

The following photos are of Shaylee in her DOG costume that I made out of two onesies and a pair of tights. Unfortunately many people did not get that she was supposed to be a dog. They said, "Oh what a cute cow!" But here are the questions that beg to be asked: 1. Have you ever seen a cow wearing a shirt? 2. Just how would one put a shirt on a cow? 3. Who walks a cow around on a leash? 4. Can you read, because here T-shirt says "Diva Dog" right on it.
But I guess at least everyone thought that she was cute and once they got that she was a dog thought that it was a cute costume. And in their defense it was dark outside.
Anyway here are the pics, I hope you think she is cute too, and you like her costume.
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Sixth Picture...

Oh what a cruel world it is!! This is a picture of Shaylee the day we brought her home from the hospital. Apparently she was not happy with being passed around.

Every Princess Needs A Castle

So I got creative yesterday and decided to make two boxes into one castle for Shaylee. The main problem with this idea is...trying to take on such an ambitious task with a one year old is insane! Everything that I taped on she came right along behind me and ripped off laughing all the time. And here I am the "adult" saying "No sweetie mommy is trying to make you a beautiful playhouse." The whole time trying not to get angry, because lets face it, it was kind of funny and in the grand scheme of things would it really matter if the thing didn't get finished. All the while trying to run defense between her and the castle and still manage to complete my "awesome MASTERPIECE". So it turned out looking like a five year old did it, but hey I am still proud that I was able to get it finished and not pull my hair out, because my daughter wanted to demolish it before I had even finished constructing it.

Home Alone.....

So for the very first time since I had Shaylee, I am going to be spending a night all by myself. It feels so weird not having anyone here. I am totally lonely. So, what do I do, clean my car, clean my kitchen, wash my sheets....I think you can see where this is going. Instead of taking my time alone to just relax here I am busier than I am usually after a day that I worked too.
Isn't it so weird that first time after you have a child being away from them for a night? it seems like a piece of you is missing that without you aren't sure what to do for yourself. or maybe it is just me, I don't know.
Well, on the 23rd my baby girl will a year old, a year old, I can't believe that it has been that long, time flys the older you get it seems.

The redecorators.....

The above photos were my idea of redecorating and Shaylee's idea of redecorating. You decide which you think is better!

Regrets....

They say you should live your life with no regrets. We would all like to say that this is true for us. But sadly, some of us do have the regrets in our past.
Some can say that they have none, others still can say they only have a handful, and then there are some like myself who have more than we care to think about, but sometimes late at night when we can't sleep they creep back to the front of our minds.
Not to go into any great detail on my regrets, which there are many and this is not the place to tell your deepest darkest secrets, I will say a few things...
There is a stretch of my life where I allowed myself to let others determine what I did who I listened to, who my friends could be and what I would do. I am not going to place the blame on anyone except myself, I forgot who I was just so that I would be accepted and feel needed. At the time I knew it was wrong and I was never really happy, but I was afraid to stop letting others determine my lifestyle for me, so I just stayed a shell of myself, until one day when I realized that it had to stop and I needed to grow a backbone and be the person I knew I was meant to be.
I tell you this story to let you know that even though my road has not always been perfect and at times I walked or ran down it with my eyes closed, that there is hope for the future. I chose to stop and open my eyes and really examine who I had become and take back a hold of my life and my destiny. I still don't always make the right choices but I am doing my best to live the rest of my life with no regrets.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

My Hunk

Your 80s Hunk Is

Jason Bateman

Who's Your 80s Hunk?

A Little Dirt Won't Hurt!

My sister Carrie is always telling people to eat rocks...and although my daughter is too young to know what that means and has never heard her say it, but she sure loves to try it. At first I chased her around and kept pulling the dirt out of her mouth but after awhile I found that it was a useless endeavor. So, I just made sure that she didn't have any rocks in her mouth to go along with the dirt.
Plus, kids eat dirt all the time and that is nothing compared to what one of my nephews did when he was at the crawling around age. He got into a litter box and helped himself to some cat droppings and my sister completely freaked out and made our mother clean him up.
So, I figure dirt is nothing compared to that!!!

Toddlers laughing in the kitchen.....

As a parent you should know that two or more kids in a room out of site from parents almost always equals trouble. With that being said, I will share my story...
Yesterday, while at my sister's house my daughter and her son who are 10 months old and a two year old were playing together in the kitchen, just out of our line of sight and all of the sudden we hear giggling. So, I ask my sister what do you think they are doing in there? She said probably getting into trouble. We both kind of laugh, but neither of us go in and check on them, after all they sound happy so no need to go upset them and our peace.
A few minutes later my daughter comes crawling into the living room and her face is covered in something white. That is when I start to worry and go into the kitchen to see what they were into. On the floor there is a hospital measuring beaker the my sister uses to warm up her daughter's bottles in, and in the bottom is a white paste like substance. I run out into the living room and show my sister and ask if she thinks they got into soap. She says no I don't have powdered soap. So I start listing thing off like flour and she exclaims Powdered Sugar!!! Because the night before they had crepes for dinner and there had been about a quarter cup of powdered sugar on the counter.
What had happened was, her son had got the beaker with the water down from the island earlier and spilled most of it on the floor and my sister had sat it back up on it's bottom but not put it up out of his reach, because she got distracted. Then the sugar was at a distance she thought was out of his reach on the counter, but as we found out not quite far enough back from the edge. Her son watches her make rolls and bread a lot, so having observed the act of mixing ingredients on multiple occasions, he concocted his own little recipe.
It's funny how much lids pick up from observation that they use when you least expect it.

Hello out there in blogland...

You know it's funny I was talking to my sister and we were commenting on how today you can make virtual friends. The funny thing is that there are so many people in the world that 15 or 20 years ago there would have been no way that you could have ever met them, now people go online and make friends all over the world. Most of those friends you may never meet in person, but yet they may make as big of a difference in your life as a friend you see everyday.
I have in my life had the opportunity to travel to different parts of the world and meet people of many different races and cultures, which I think has really opened my eyes and made me appreciate what we have in the U.S. I love to travel and see new things and meet new and interesting people. Which is what I hope to do here with this blog and maybe keep in touch with people that I already now or get back in touch with them if we have lost contact for some reason.
Anyway, I better get this blog up and start posting some pictures.