Funny Kaylee

This is typically how you find my Kaylee. She's always laughing and full of joy. Yesterday she made me laugh with her child-like vision of the world:

K: Mom, are we going to buy a big TV when we move into the new house?
M: Probably, a bigger one than we have now.
K: How big?
M: About 36 inches, maybe...
K: How big is that?
M: About 3 feet.
K: Your feet or mine?

I guess it would make a big difference if it was her little size 1 feet or my big size 10 feet!!

My Edward

My husband sent me a wonderful gift today... it wasn't my birthday or even Mother's Day!

Check it out...

I was teaching Young Women last week when the lesson suddenly took a turn toward "Twilight". I was very grateful that my counselor Jovania was there to refocus my attention to the lesson, otherwise we might have had an hour of the virtues of "Edward".

Easter Sunday

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Sabbath being fed both Spiritually and Physically. We enjoyed a great Church service that fed our Spirits and then spent a great day at Aunt Val's and Uncle Kenny's being physically fed a wonderful meal. The best part of course was watching all the cousins play and enjoy spending the day together. I'm so thankful for the sacrifice of my Savior. As the children have asked questions this Easter season, I've been able to focus on the simple truths of His Atonement and Resurrection. It makes me feel very humble to know that He chose to sacrifice His life for me! It's wonderful to be able to take some special time to reflect on His great love.

Thanks Nana for the precious Easter dresses and bonnets that you so lovingly sewed for the girls.

New Arrival

Technically, Sophie isn't too new of an arrival. She's been a member of the family for two months but as with all new "babies", we've been busy with potty-training, baby-proofing and sleepless nights. She's a Cocker Spaniel and a very good girl. She tries hard to be obedient and is very good with the kids. I wasn't too excited about a new puppy in an apartment but Steve convinced me it would be much less stressful training her here than in our brand new house. I had to agree.

Mama Bear

I promised to list the 25 things I hate about apartment living, but instead I'm going to focus on just one... Parents who don't parent their children. Living in the apartment, there are a lot of children who live in a relatively small radius. I'm not one to let my kids out of my sight, but I'm trying to get better at not being to obsessive about this. This weekend, I decided to branch out and let the kids play outside without me. I did however, keep a seat right by the window. The first thing that happened that made me question my decision was that a neighbor child decided to start throwing hard things at people just to see if he could hit any of them. Unfortunately, McKay was the target. I heard her crying before I saw her. All Moms know that particular sound in their child's cry that tells you, it's going to be bad. I saw McKay and her mouth was covered in blood. She had busted her top and bottom lip and scratched her gum. I could feel my blood boiling but kept my cool as I explained to the neighborhood kids the dangers of throwing hard and heavy things with so many people around. Next, I was looking out the window and saw a 10 year old child pick up a 4 year old and throw him into the scratchy bushes. Without thinking, I called to the 10 year old and told him I couldn't believe I just saw him do that. He told me "Well, he hit me first" which then prompted a 5 minute lecture from me on how the other child was smaller than him and if he had a problem he should use his words, etc. Moments later I heard profanity fly from several children and I decided I better go outside for the rest of the afternoon. As I was sitting outside, a parent came out and was leaving to go somewhere. She told her kids to come and get in the car and they told her "no". After a few minutes of this back and forth she finally said "ok, but don't you be @#% bad cause if you are I'll beat your @#$. I thought are you kdding me? It's no wonder we have the societal problems we have in our country. I'm so grateful to have tools that teach me how to teach my children. I'm so thankful for my knowledge of the divinity of my children. I'm so proud of them and for their desire to truly choose the right and be good kids. I know that I have things to improve on in my own parenting, but it's a great eye opener to see what can happen to kids who don't understand where they've come from, who they are and where they are going in this life and the next.

UPDATE

Our Property (the stakes are the closest thing we have to a house, hee hee)

I can't believe it's been two months since I've blogged! We've been so busy the last two months getting the house sold, finalizing the plans on our new house, shopping around for mortgages... and life in general.

So many people have been inquiring as to when we will be moving in. The above pictures show the current state of our new home :)

We are waiting for the final appraisal, then we can set the closing date... THEN they will start building. The builders guarantee that they will be finished in 5 months but we were told that his average is three months. Here's hoping for small miracles.

Stay tuned for my next entry... 25 things I hate about living in an apartment...

I'm so excited... we got a contract on the house. Our house was listed for 14 days and we got an offer for $900 less than our asking price. Due to the state of the housing market we are so surprised, thrilled and feel incredibly blessed. The only thing that has us a little bit nervous is we are supposed to close on Feb. 26. We have soo much to do before this date, but feel confident that we'll accomplish all that this great opportunity requires.



There have been several times in my life when I have felt the Lord guiding me in a specific direction. I know that He is in charge always, but during those times I feel myself making decisions with Him gently watching over my shoulder allowing me to run with it. When I've felt Him guiding me, it can feel almost overwhelming. It's like I'm watching my life from the outside. I can see a chain of events happening and know I have little control over them, which is a good thing. The ultimate control is in His hands and what better Captain can I have? I guess this is where the overwhelming feelings come from. I'm overwhelmed by His love for me. He is so intimately a part of my life and cares enough about me, His daughter that He takes my hand and leads me down the road I need to be on. I have felt this guidance all through the process of choosing to sell our house that we assumed we'd grow old and gray in. When I've thought I was making the right choice, He has changed my course and then shown me why it was wrong (we don't always get such a blessing). I have no fear about our journey because I feel His watchful eye and His knowledge OF me and His love FOR me. I am so full of gratitude that I just needed to express it.