{The Men in My Life}

I have been blessed with two wonderful men in my life.  One big, one small.  First the big...he is the best father in the world.  I  really mean that.  Even though he is super busy with school he makes time everyday to spend quality time with the kids and I.  He may not be top of his class but at the end of the day he is still a great father and husband.  And isn't that what is most important after all?   

Then there is my little man.  He has my heart and boy does he know it.  He shows me his sweet smile followed by a hug and a kiss and how could I possibly say no.  He loves to do whatever it is I am doing at the time.  He loves cars, books and has a new found love of playing games with daddy. 

I feel especially lucky to have them both in my life for eternity.  I can't help but smile when I see the two of them together.  

I love hearing Elai say "come on daddy, come on."

I love that Zech isn't afraid to make a fool out of himself for the sake of making sure the kids are having fun.

And I love knowing that Families Are Forever!

{Anther First}

I should know by now not to turn my back and leave Elai unattended.  Not even for a minute.  But I haven't and this is an example of what happens when I do.

Josie gets to experience her first cookie.

Of course mom walks into to find the happiest girl in the world.

 At least she is more then willing to share.

Even though there was a HUGE mess to clean up, I can't help but smile when I see the two of them getting along so well.

{Mini Me}

This little boy is so much like me, sometimes it scares me.  We are both loud, temperamental, bossy, yet snugly and kind at the same time.  We like the same foods and especially the same deserts.  But there is something else we have in common...

 Stamping!

 I have never seen him happier then when he has a "block" in his hand.

 I love that we can sit at the table together and I can work on my scrapbook and talk to him while he stamps paper to send to grandma. 

It just amazes me that Heavenly Father knew to send me this exact little boy.

CakeTime

 I swear this little girl is the happiest baby you could possibly come across.  Always happy, talking, smiling, except when... 

 You put fire in front of her face.  Then she doesn't know what to think.

 Lucky for her, she has a big brother that came to the rescue and blew out the candle.

 Then it was back to being happy and enjoying some cake.

And the end result, not to messy at all.  

One of those days!

Today has been "one of those days."  You know the one that starts and nothing seems to go right.  Yep one of those.  I woke up this morning to a horrible headache that has been making it's appearance  every couple of days for the last three days.  The headache that makes you just wish you could go back to sleep or at least stay in bed all day.  Yes, that is how my day started off.  Next Elai woke up with the flu.  Yay  me, NOT.  I guess these sicknesses didn't realize I had things to do today.  So we canceled our plans and decided it would be an at home kind of day.  So it continued...

Well my day may have started out horrible but things sure changed quickly.  I realized I am supposed to be cooking a meal for a couple in our ward.  Well I couldn't possibly think of what I could make without having to leave the house and go to the store it finally hit me.  I would make some soup and some home made bread to go along with it.  My friend Bryton gave me a new wheat bread recipe that I am dying to try, so there it is I had my meal.  

I go and put Josie down for her morning nap and go into the kitchen to get started.  That's when I notice I have a little tag along.  So we get started.  Next thing we know Elai and I are dancing and laughing all around the kitchen.  It's moments like these that make be truly grateful to be able to stay at home with my children.  I mix up the bread and turn to Elai to find this...

I couldn't help but laugh.  I mean look how cute he is.  This little boy sure makes me smile.  How could I be mad?  I knew exactly what I had to do, start a flour fight.  And it was awesome!  

What started out a bad morning with a sick little boy has turned into a day of memories we will forever enjoy!

It's moments like this that make me stop and wonder why I am so blessed?  How did Heavenly Father know to send me this little boy??  How did he know that I needed Elai so much?

I love our moments like this and I can only pray that there will be many more to come. 

Josie is one!

(Josie's First Pony Tail)

Well it's official, my little girl is growing up.  On Thursday the 26th Miss Josie turned one year old.  It's hard to think about all the things that have happened in this last year.  We went from one child to two.  Having a newborn to having a little girl that chases around after her brother.

Elai and Josie are best friends.  I often hear Elai throughout the day saying, "Come on Josie, Come on." Then about 15 seconds later  I will see her following him into their bedroom.  When Josie cries Elai always tries to comfort her, sometimes that means he is telling me she is crying, trying to give her a bottle, taking a toy to her, or getting into her bed with her to play.

I have to admit when I was pregnant I had a lot of mixed feelings.  Feelings of excitement but also sorrow.  Sorrow for Elai.  I was afraid that he would feel forgotten.  Or that I wouldn't be able to divide my time between the two kids.  I wondered if I would be able to love Josie as much as I loved Elai.  So seeing just how much they love each other means the world to me.  I try my hardest to spend time with each child individually everyday.  Josie and I wake up an hour before Elai everyday for Mommy-daughter time, then she goes to sleep an hour before Elai so him and I can spend Mommy-son time.

Life is crazy with a one year old and an almost three year old.  I am so excited to think about all the fun things that are to come this year.  I'm looking forward to warm weather and picnics in the park.  Going on walks and  looking for treasures along the way.  Taking the kids swimming and camping.  Eating smores and having cookouts.

Saint Louis

Zech has had this entire week off from school.  This only comes around....well let me think....NEVER.  So we decided we were going to take advantage of it and drive to Saint Louis so we could go to the temple.  On the way there, we drove through Springfield so that we could get our military id cards.  Of course no stop in Springfield would be complete without a trip to...

 The Abraham Lincoln tomb.  It is such a beautiful monument. 

 We loved learning little details about Abraham's life. 

 After the monument we proceeded to Saint Louis where we...

 Got to go on a carriage ride tour of down town.  It was so beautiful, there were Christmas lights all over downtown.

Elai loved the horse.  He talked about it all night.  After the tour we were lucky enough to have dinner with an old friend from Pocatello who now lives in Saint Louis.

Note to Everyone: EATING AT DAVE AND TONY'S BURGERS IS A MUST IF YOU ARE IN SAINT LOUIS.  Best burger I have ever had.



A Tree Just for Kids~!~

A friend of mine told me about this great idea of putting a felt tree on the wall for children to redecorate.  The idea is that the little ones will play with the felt tree and leave the real Christmas tree alone.  I thought the idea was wonderful.  Every holiday I try and come up with activities that Elai and Josie can do relating to each holiday.  Well here it is!

Elai loves the tree.  As soon as it was up he started playing with it.  The best part is that it only cost about $3- $4 to make (thanks to Joann's black Friday sale.) 

 I started by cutting out the tree.  I used a piece of felt that measured 3/4 yard and hand sketched a tree.  Yes hand sketched, that is why it looks so horrible.  I have never claimed to be an artist.  There was a template online for ornaments, however I didn't want to waste the time or energy to print it off so I used some ribbon to trace the circle.  I had five different colors of felt squares and traced three circles of each color.

 This is Elai helping.

 Next I cut up the circles and decorated some, Elai had a blast helping with this part.  Next I used bonding tape to stick the felt pieces together. 

 Then it was time to hang the tree.

We are going to have a great time with this tree.  The best part was that it only took about 20 minutes to put together.  The idea for this tree along with ornament templates can be found on this site.

{Faith}

I love Sundays.  All week long I look forward to this day.  

The day I get to rest with my family.

The day I get to be spiritually edified, and that is exactly how I feel today.

What a blessing it is to have the gospel in my life.

Today in Sunday school I learned about faith:

- what faith is

-how to maintain

-how to grow

-how to exercise

As the teacher was giving this lesson, I thought about my own faith.

Lately I have been feeling that my spirituality has been lacking.  

Well NOT ANYMORE!

It's time I take charge of my life.

It's time I execute faith.

It's time I turn my life over to my Heavenly Father and do as he would have me do.

A Plummer?

A business owner?

A Biologist?

How about a doctor like his daddy?

No, Elai is going to be....

 An Artist!

 This boy loves to paint.  I have found that the easiest way to keep the paint contained is to just put him in the bathtub.  He uses the sides of the tub as his canvas. 

Truly Thankful

Today  I ran across a disturbing video of a drug intervention. 

It broke my heart to watch it.

It broke my heart even more to know that I too put my family through that.

It made me think of all the "could have beens."

And it made me thankful.

Thankful for sobriety.

Thankful for the disturbing image that changed my life forever.

Thankful that I have been true to the promises I made myself.

Thankful that I don't have the urge to use or drink.

Thankful that it has now been over seven years since I used drugs.

Thankful that it has been 5 years since I have had a drink. 



My Dishwasher!

Elai has become such a big helper.  He is always wanting to help me do the laundry, wash the dishes and give Josie a bath.  Sometimes I will even catch him pulling a chair over to the sink and turning on the water by himself. 

I often find that when he "helps" I end up cleaning up an even bigger mess but how can I say no to his willingness to help me.  I know his eagerness won't last forever so in the mean time I say bring on the memories.

A Little Dress

From the time I found out Josie was going to be a girl I have wanted to sew some dresses.  However the thought of button holes and elastic scared the life right out of me, and I found myself putting it off.  Well here she is she almost 10 months old and I have finally made her a dress.  And it turned out very cute I must add.

 

 Of course Elai needed to jump in front of the camera as well!

Oh my what am I going to make next? 

Maughan Family

I am lucky to know the Maughan family.  They are the cutest couple with a very handsome little boy.  We met them at church and feel very blessed to have got the opportunity to get to know them.  So when they asked me to take there photos I was overly excited.  Here are a few photos from our session.

I couldn't have asked for better weather, a better place or a better family.  I am thankful that Heavenly Father has blessed me with this new found talent.