Friday, November 30, 2007

Daniel appreciation

Tonight I realized I never take the time to appreciate my youngest son. Ethan doesn't let me not pay attention to him so there are time in the day that I feel Danny gets left out. I don't mean it to happen but it seems to be the reality of having a three year old and a one year old. My only hope is that tomorrow I will be better at juggling those things than I am today. So tonight I would like to take some time just to appreciate the person I have in my life who often gets taken for granite.

The Things I love about Danny in no particular order:

1.) Dimples, need I say more
2.) His shinning personality--When your around him you just can't help but smile
3.) The way he flirts with all the girls---yup he's my heart breaker
4.) The way he loves to stack everything--even if I get annoyed when he stacks all the cans in the pantry
5.) The way he tries to be just like his big brother
6.) The fact that he will cry if he thinks he has displeased you--last night at dinner he threw a fork at me thinking he was playing luckily it missed but when I shook my head and frowned at him his little smile turned to tears and I wanted to cry with him.
7.) The way he makes little car noises when playing with Ethan's cars
8.) The way he will just lay in his crib singing to himself until I come to get him
9.) The fact that he is a constant stream of almost unintelligible language--even if some days I pray for five mins of quite
10.) The way he loves stuffed animals--he carries them around everywhere. We were even at a friends house last week and he had to rock his teddy and give him hugs and kisses it was so cute.
11.) The way he loves me without reservations
12.) The way he giggles
13.) How smart he can be--yes every kid is smart and we as parents are allowed to say our kids are smart--there all equally smart just in different ways
14.) His love for our cat---he runs around after Pinky trying to give the cat hugs and kisses. Luckily Pinky has grown use to such behavior and usually just looks at me pitifully and takes the abuse. I do try to help him I swear but I'm usually across the room and he's already been assaulted by the time I get there.

That's just to name a few. So tomorrow when he's throwing his food at me or chipping another one of my teeth I'll try to keep these things in mind and maybe life will be a little better.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Halloween Photos

Leaving from Aunt Bonnies to go trick or treating...yes the sword Ethan has in his hand HAD to go trick or treating with him don't ask my why

The wonder of suckers.



My Boys at the Ann Arbor Halloween Party




My boys at our Ward Halloween Party having a good time

I should be in bed

It's almost 4 in the morning and I should be in bed but it just seems a little like a useless effort. Ethan is sick with a very very bad cold so every time I get to sleep he wakes up and needs a little comfort. Morning and the Dr office can't come soon enough for me. So I think to save my self some frustration I'm going to attempt to update here.

First of all thank you all for such kind words on my talk. I never know quite what to say when people have such nice things to say. It always amazes me the reaction my conversion gets from people. Because it's me I tend to think it's normal and everyone has a conversion just like that. I'm beginning to see that my life may not be normal after all but I think I'll keep up the illusion for the time being.

I never did get around to posting about Halloween so heres the short version of things. We ended up going to our new Wards Halloween party on Friday before Halloween, though I have to admit after Ann Arbor I was a little disappointed. It just wasn't built for young kids at least not 3 and under. When the kids get older I think they will enjoy it but this year was a little big of a bust. It was a little weird standing around with very few people to talk to and we ended up leaving as soon as the tricker teating was done since I just couldn't take any more. This made me miss Ann Arbor horrible so we decided to drop in on there Halloween party which was on a Tuesday night I think. Ethan didn't seem very into things but was happy to be with his friends again. On the way home from said Halloween party Ethan came down with the flu! Lucky for us it didn't last very long and when he asked to go out trick or treating the next night we gave in. It was outside and he hadn't been sick in almost 20 hours so we took a chance. Ethan made it down about 4 little streets when he decided he was done and just wanted to go lay down. Danny on the other hand loved Halloween but didn't understand why we need to wait to eat our candy until we get back to the house. He sat down right in front of one of the houses and just dug into his little goody bag. He was very upset with me when I made him stop but forgave me once I pulled a sucker out of my pocket for him.

Since Halloween we have been plagued with colds so we haven't been out much. Hopefully this coming month will be better. So that's pretty much all that has happened in the last month besides Thanksgiving which I should get around to posting about by next month.

Ohh and all of you out there wondering if I ever got around to making apple sauce the answer is no. I didn't want to make it while I was sick with a nasty cold at least not in a big enough batch to can so I just made small batches and baked apples and apple pie to use up our apples. Maybe next year I'll get around to canning something. It was a good thought though.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Why I Believe

Today I gave my first real talk in Sacrament meeting. It was a truly wonderful experience though I don't think I've ever been more nervous. I was given the topic Why I Believe. In preparing this talk I did tons of Google searches and scripture searches etc but it was all for nothing really. No one else can tell me why I believe so in the end I sat down and wrote about why I joined the church. Yesterday I debated about the rightness of my chosen subject but since I couldn't come up with a better illustration of my why I believe decided to run with it. When I walked into sacrament meeting and saw I got to speak with Shawn Quinn I knew I had picked the right subject and that my prayer for peace and calm for my talk was answered. You see Shawn has this amazing effect on me, he really makes me feel calm I can't explain it really. So knowing that Jared was sitting out there cheering me on and that I got to talk with Shawn just really put my mind at ease. It also happens that Shawn's first Sunday as a member of the bishopric was my first Sunday at church. So thanks Shawn for being there and giving such a wonderful talk.

My talk:

Why I Believe

I believe in this church. To believe is to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, without absolute proof that one is right in doing so. Why do I believe? To answer that question I have to give you a little history of how I came to be here before you today.

When I was young the only religious people I knew were my grandparents. My earliest memories are of going to church with my grandmother. Of sitting under the pews playing while she stood up and talked every Sunday. I remember the feeling of love and peace I felt every time I went to church with her even if I didn’t always understand what she was talking about. When I was six I lost my grandmother to cancer. After that I didn’t go to church any more but I never forgot how it felt to go to church with her.

It wasn’t until Middle school that I really started to feel like something was missing in my life. I wanted to feel the same way I did when I went to church with my grandmother again. I wanted that sense of rightness in my life again. So I started going to church with friends finding out about all the different religions, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian even a non denominational Church but none of them ever felt right to me. In the bottom of my heart I felt I would know the moment I found the right church and none of these were it. After a while I gave up trying to find the right church I didn’t think it was out their to be honest, but the lord is funny he doesn’t let people give up so easily.

It was about that time that I meet my husband Jared. He was a less active member but always believe strongly in this church. He never said much about his religion not wanting to impose his beliefs on me and I never really brought up the subject with him. From time to time I would be around when his home teacher would stop by and share a message with us, or the missionary’s would come by with cider and cookies just to see if there was anything we needed. Gradually I started to grow more interested in his church but wasn’t quite ready to take the plunge figuring I would just be disappointed when I did go. Right about then was when we decided to get married. I had always wanted to get married in a church but since I didn’t have one I felt strongly about and Jared did I decided we should just get married in his church knowing nothing about that whole temple thing. Anyhow we started meeting with Bishop Ward and planning our wedding. It was in one of these meetings that we began to talk about children and how we wanted to raise any we may be blessed with. We both agreed that our children should be raised in a religion and I felt that since Jared’s meant so much to him that it was only logical to raise them Mormon, but I wanted to find out more about it first. So threw the Bishop we set up a meeting with the missionaries. Everything was really low pressure and just seemed to click. So I decided to learn more and on Easter Sunday we came to church for the first time. All I could think was this is right, everything just felt the way a church should.

I do just about everything on gut instated for lack of a better term. I would like to say I read the whole book of Mormon before I got baptized but I didn’t. I didn’t want to wait that long. On June 14 2003 I was baptized. That day I felt just like the Grinch on Christmas morning, my heart grew 3 sizes. There was so much love and joy that I felt like I couldn’t contain it all.

So why do I believe? I believe because the spirit tells me it is true. It’s the sense of welcome I get from entering the chapel. It's the feeling of love I feel each time I kneel in prayer. The sweetness evoked by a hymn and the rightness I feel in studying the scriptures. It’s the peace of mind I get from hearing the profit speak and the joy I feel when I entering the temple.

I Believe in this Church. I know that Heavenly Father loves us all as individuals. I know that the book of Mormon is true. I know that he sent a profit to guide us. That the apostoles were hand picked and prepared by heavenly father to lead us.


So in ending today was my best week of church yet in the new ward. I'm starting to make friends and after giving my talk a lot more people were willing to talk to me. It's not home yet but I no longer feel like a complete outsider. It will take time but this is the ward we are meant to be in I know that. Each week will be a new challenge but as long as I don't give up it will be ok. If I can make one new friend every other week that's a start.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Amusing Kids

It's always a good thing when your kids make you laugh so I thought I would share a few things that my kids did this week to make me laugh.

Yesterday morning I put a cartoon in for the kids while I took a shower. It's usually a pretty good way to keep them occupied while I get my 5 min shower. Anyhow I turned on the water (it always takes a few mins for the hot water to get there) and then realized I had forgotten to close the door to the boys bathroom. This sounds like a very minor thing but if the door is not closed Danny will play in the toilet and usually end up drinking the toilet water. Don't ask me why I have yet to figure it out. Anyhow I hurried across the hall and sure enough Danny was in the toilet. So I escorted him out of the bathroom and did a quick clean up. While I was doing this Danny hearing the shower running decided to go investigate. I found him happy as can be fully clothed sitting in the shower splashing away.

Danny has an unhealthy obsession with phones and I can't seem to keep the cordless phone away from him. Every time he see it he goes nuts and if for any reason, like say your talking on said device, he can not have it he completely looses it. Anyhow earlier this week I set the phone down and walked away to take care of something. The next thing I know I hear Danny in the other room: "Hello opps hello booo hello...." I peak around the corner to see him holding the phone to his ear and pretending to talk on it. It was so cute that I just couldn't take the phone away and I just figured I would pick it up latter. Little did I know he had other plans for it. I have spent the last 3 days looking all over for the phone. I even went threw the garbage when I couldn't find it inside thinking he must have thrown it away. Not something I want to repeat in this lifetime. Image my surprise yesterday when I pulled out a pan to make dinner and there sitting in the bottom was our phone and two cars as well as 3 baby spoons. I wonder why I didn't think to look in all my pans sooner, next time I will.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Graditude

So I read this great article today in a local paper about gratitude and how we should use the holiday season to jump start our own gratitude in life. After reading all the many things in this short article I came to realize lately I just haven't taken the time to appreciate the great things I have. I feel like hanging my head in shame for focusing so much on the less than spectacular parts of my life (probably the reason I haven't been posting as much). So tonight I decided to sit down and make a short list of things I'm grateful for just to remind my self that life is not always as hard as it sometimes feels.

1.) Great friends who make you chicken soup just because you have a cold.
2.) Little boys who give you hugs and bring you tissues when your not feeling your best.
3.) Husbands that call home just to say I love you
4.) 3 year olds who offer you the other half of there chewed on chocolate chip cookie
5.) Friends who are always willing to listen when I just need someone to talk to so I know I'm not alone in the world.
6.) The support of a husband who thinks you can do anything even if it's sometimes a little overwhelming.
7.) Sloppy kisses from a one year old
8.) Big beds you can lay in with your kids and watch cartoons when your not feeling very well
9.) That someone up there watches out for me. Today while on the way to pick Ethan up from preschool a traffic light fell down in the middle of an intersection I was about to go threw.
10.) Families even if we complain about them driving us insane.

This list could go on for a while but I have a 3 year old begging me to watch myth busters (his current favorite show) with him and I think tonight I'll give in and watch an episode I know I've seen at least a dozen times.