I've been Tagged

Tag! You're it!
This is just like one of those "get to know your friends better" Tagging means that I do my "top four" in the following categories, and then tag four more people.

Favorite four jobs I've held: I have not had many jobs so these are the four jobs I have had-
*Swim teacher
*I worked at Palace Park (a family fun center)
*Boston Market
*ticket sales at the movies

Four movies I can watch over and over again:
*The Sound of Music
*Pride and Prejudice
*The Chronicles of Narnia
*Princess Bride

Four places I have lived:
*Murrieta, CA
*St. George, UT
*Irvine, CA
*Redlands, CA

Four T.V. shows I watch:
*American Idol
*Amazing Race
*Lost
*Heroes

Four places I've been on vacation:
*Texas
*Oahu, Hawaii
*Grand Canyon
*Mexico

Four favorite foods:
*Mexican food in all it's varieties
*Fish taco's with fresh grilled fish and good mango salsa
*Soy ice cream sandwiches
*Blueberry bagel with Peanut Butter

Four websites I visit:
*Blogger
*Hotmail
*Trueindustry.com
*Google

Four people I'm tagging now:
*Ricki
*Sarah
*Julie
*Mom (Kelly)

Quick update

We are finally home. At about 3 o'clock we got home and were greeted by the home care nurse. She had to teach us how to work Joshua's IV. He has to be on antibiotics for another week. Once she left he would walk around as happy as could be. I just kept smiling when I would hear his happy sounds. The hospital is not my favorite and now I think Joshua is not a fan either. He looks well and I feel confident he will be improving every day. I will post a picture as soon as I get a good one. I am off to sleep in my own comfortable bed. Yipeeee!

Our blessed drama.

So we thought that Joshua got hit in the eye from a book Joseph threw. Jared said it didn't look like it hit Joshua but he cried for about 5 minutes and Joseph thought it hit him in the nose. It got very swollen the next day and we went and saw a pediatric specialist who was really not sure why it looked the way it did from a book trauma yet she sent us home.
The next day it looked much better and she was comforted to see it improving. She sent me home again and told me to go to the ER over the weekend if he ran a high fever or it looked worse. By Saturday afternoon he had a fever of over 101 so to the ER we went. They had no idea what was going on so they sent us to Children's Hospital in San Diego. (At this point they could not get a hold of the ophthalmologist we had already seen.)
At Children's they were clueless also and after 7 hours since leaving my house they were going to send us home. (Side note, Everytime a Dr looked at it they would say, "huhhh?") They told me to just keep an eye on it. And if it got worse come back. Just then the Specialist called and told them she just had a feeling to get a cat scan. We had prayed before we left that the Dr's would be inspired and in just the nick of time she was. The cat scan showed that there was something in his eye socket going up into his skull and into the brain cavity. From a book? Things just did not make sense.
It was clear that his eyeball was untouched and there was no entry wound in his eyelid so we were all confused. Each Dr had his theory as to what it could be. They said it was dense like bone. One Dr. was sure it was a birth defect and it was actually bone. Another thought it was metal like a staple or a paper clip. Right before surgery the neurosurgeon said he was willing to bet it was from a pencil. We laughed at that. They guy was kind of weird in our book. They had to find someone who could do the surgery since it went into the skull and brain cavity.
They ended up having the neurosurgeon on hand just in case but a plastiosurgeon (sp?) did the surgery. He was great. If I could have picked the perfect guy it would be him. He finally had the surgery Monday night around 5. It turns out it was pencil lead about 7mm. (that taught us a lesson in not judging) It did not go into the brain (although it did break through the skull) and it did not go through the eye muscle as they originally thought it did. He is so blessed. Yes this has been a trial but it has been such a blessing.
I have watched time and time again as Heavenly Father has guided those who had charge over him. When they thought they were going to send us home I finally feed him. The Optho told me not to feed him if we were going to the ER just in case they had to give him sedation. Then we got the call about the cat scan. Normally they have to sedate him but he was asleep which was a huge blessing. They can't give the sedation until 6 hours after he eats. It has been such a blessing for me to feel and become so aware of how much Heavenly Father truly is aware of us.
We moved down near family and they have been such a help. Words can not describe or gratitude towards them for all they have done. Ryan got really sick right after we went into the ER and they helped watch our kids so he could rest. They brought me food, change of clothes, things to do. Joshua had pooped all over me right before they got there so it was a huge blessing. There have been so many little things I wish I could remember them all. I was over a week late on my period last month. I am never late. It was so weird and I could not figure out what was going on. Now that I am here and not on my period due to being so late I am grateful. They don't let you use the bathroom in the room. You have to leave the wing to go so you can only imagine what a blessing that is.
When the nurse was trying to get blood they were having a really hard time. I closed my eyes and said a prayer. I asked that angels would guide his hands and shortly after the Nurse proclaimed, "I got it thank the Lord." I wondered if he believed as I did the words he had just said. Angels have been at his side throughout it all. Ryan said a special prayer for him that he would recover quickly and that we as his parents would be at peace and we have been able to stay so calm. So yes it was scary but it is much better now and we have had a quiet peace throughout it all.
Heavenly Father does not stop bad things from happening to us but he does give us comfort, peace, and guidance during our trials that we may praise Him in ALL things. I have found joy in this trial for it has taught me lessons I could not have learned any other way.

Here he is Wednesday night. We thought it looked cute that he

had a slightly swollen eye.

And then he woke up with this and I cried when I saw him.

Now I felt scared.

I don't know if you can tell but the swelling had gone down by Saturday morning. We thought he was going to be fine!

And here he is once they got us into a room Sunday morning around 4:30.

He is all smile after his surgery. Well he is some smiles. He would crack me up by smacking his IV arm on the crib. I think he liked the sound. It was taped on with cardboard so that he couldn't mess it up.
He really has been such a trooper. He laughs when he can and screams when the Dr's or nurses come around. At first he was a big fighter. Now he just yells at them.

Hospital must have's

While it is on my mind I wanted to make a hospital care package list for future reference.

Comfort food including chocolate
Ipod with soft music to help drown out the sounds
Reading material- It is good to have a variety of light reading- Magazine including one with hobby they love, a novel, how-to's with a subject that would interest them,
spiritual reading
Pillow
Blanket- It gets really cold
Phone charger or calling card
Toothpaste and toothbrush
Lotion (you wash your hands a lot)
Face wash
Brush
Change of clothes and Jammies
Something to write on and a pen (We currently have a ban on pencils)
If it is for a child toys and books and change of clothes for when they can come home.

For now this is it. I may think of more later

I am glad that blogger has allowed me to be a journal writer

We decided in the move that we would let Jared have his own room. He feels he is big enough. He has lots of little toys that require assembly and there was really no where for him to put them with out a little brother to take them apart. I was nervous about the two little ones sharing a room. I was afraid that Joseph would bother Joshua and not let him get to bed. The first night was hilarious. Joseph was so tired and went right down. Joshua was so excited it took him a long time to fall asleep. But it was so cute listening to him. He just talked and laughed for over an hour. Joseph was sound asleep. Then the next night Joseph climbed into Joshua's crib and threw his Binky on the floor in the middle of the night. They both went right back to sleep so no big deal. Now tonight they seem to both be used to it.

Speaking of these two little boys. Joseph threw a book today and Joshua caught it with his eye. His eye is swollen almost shut. It looks so bad. Pour little guy.

Funny story. Now that Jared has his own room we put the Dragon in there. Jared can't sleep with the crickets chirping all night long so he put the crickets out side of his room on top of an empty box. Joseph thought it would be fun to knock it down the stairs. And yes we did have crickets all over the downstairs. It wasn't funny at the time but dang funny now.

After all the stress that has been going on in our life's we decided to play the glad game today. For Scripture study time we have been starting with a song to get us in the right spirit. It has worked wonders. Today we sang count your many blessings and I realized how negative I have been. It seems we can always find reasons to be happy or we can find reasons to be mad. Today we chose to be happy. It worked great. Today was a great day.

This is why My blog is called "Random samplings of my delightful life"

...Beacuse this post is a bunch of random thoughts that happen inside my head.

I just need to take a minute to blog. My life is upside down. We moved in yesterday and everything did not fit into the truck. We shared the truck with Trent and Sarah (We moved into there house and they moved all there stuff to there new house.) By the time we got the first load emptied it was time to take the truck back. They already had it assigned to someone else so we had to rent a second truck. I have decided that I hate moving! Yes I am that passionate about it and I will say it again. I hate moving. I thought I had dejunked really well but no and now it is time to purge my whole house. I am sure it will feel great to get rid of even more stuff.

As far as the new house it is great. We have down sized. The house we were renting was to big. It felt like the kids disappeared in it. This house will be great for us while we are here. I have given up guessing when our house will be built. So for the time being I am simply going to get super organized so that the next move will go more smoothly. I am going to be getting rid of what I can not store on the shelves in the garage which should only be tools, memorabilia, and Christmas stuff.

Ryan's Grandpa has been diagnosed with colon cancer and they have said there is nothing they can do for him and so they sent him home. He has kept his sense of humor and Grandma was saying they will just party until it's his time. My grandpa's have both been gone for along time. I have always looked to Grandpa Chapman as my own Grandpa. I feel very tender feelings towards him.

Tonight we had the July b-day party at my MIL's It felt good to step away from the stress of moving and visit. My MIL is going in for surgery on Tuesday to remove the cancer she has in her ear. She asked if the priesthood holders would give her a blessing. Since Papa John's baptism he has not participated in a blessing. Tears streamed down my face as I heard him. He was so touched to be able to serve in this manner and to hold this sacred power. It was very humbling.

Trent and Sarah gave spiritual thoughts. I was so touched by Sarah. She sang for us and then shared with us that she had a miscarriage this past week. As if moving is not stressful enough. I just listened to her and cried. I remember laying in my bed and crying when I had my miscarriage. You feel numb at first and then just sad. We did not live by family and I felt very alone. My mom and Amy were very sympathetic and seemed to know what the best things to say or not say were. You are just so ready to have that baby be part of your life that it is hard to face that for whatever reason now is not the best timing. Through it I learned to trust in My God. To learn that he knows all things including my sorrow. I felt that deeply as I went through that. I cherished my pregnancy with Joshua so much more. Once I saw his heart beat it took on new meaning. Then when I had the ultrasound and saw that he was healthy I rejoiced in a way I did not do with the other children. When you feel the baby's first movements you take it as a sign of strength and health. Near the end I was so anxious to hold him that I cherished even more the sweet sounds of his cry. I could not have understood when I had the miscarriage all the good I would learn from it. What a valuable lesson for me to reflect on. Life has seemed very hard the past few weeks. Just a lot of stuff I am not sure how to process. When I can think of how aware Heavenly Father is of me. When I can think that he knows how overwhelmed I feel and yet He has my greater good in mind. He has lessons he wants me to learn. He has greatness He is trying to develop in me if I will but turn to him and learn all that He desires for me.
I have been reading in Luke the past couple of weeks. Something that caught my attention this time was Peter and his denial of knowing Christ. People could easily wonder and be in awe at his denial. "How could he have done such a thing when he walked with the Savior" and yet he did. I then thought of my life and the times I feel fear and stress. When I try to walk alone and fail miserably. When I do not allow the Atonement to lift me and I do not turn to My God in prayer. How is this any different then what Peter did? I deny what He has done for me and thus do not acknowledge that I know him. But as Peter did I too can pick myself up and move forward. I can gain a greater resolve to follow after Christ and live as He did. I am so grateful for the scriptures and all that we learn from them.

Aerospace Museum

We have been studying space the past few months. We had a blast visiting this museum. Who said learning can't be fun.

Joshua is a walker

Last Saturday Joshua decided he could walk and he has not stopped yet.



He was so cute. When he would fall down he would throw himself on the ground and do a happy dance.

Joshua gets super excited like this a lot. He is a super happy kid!

Erynne as Soaring Red Dove

Erynne spent six weeks in the wilderness being learning to be one with nature. She had to start her own fires and cook all her own food. The hiked about 20 miles a week in the hot Arizona sun. We all envy her as she got a chance to become one with God and his creations. She learned so much and I think she will value this experience for the rest of her life.
Here is Grandpa trying to start a fire.

Ane here is Erynne showing us how it is done.


And now she took the fire outside because as Reeghan says, "Fires don't belong inside"

WARNING...

...this blog post is not for the weak at heart.

So we are in the middle of moving and my three year old has decided to assert his independence in a very real and noticeable way.

On Sunday after Josephs nap he went into his closet to "take care of business" He went both pee and poop. I was kind of shocked and didn't know what to do... so I did nothing. Well we explained to him that we only go in the bathroom. He seemed like he understood. You have to understand that he has been potty trained for some time now so this is really out of the blue. Then that night we had friends over and he went and peed on the floor in the piano room. What? We laughed. What else can you do.

Ryan has been working really hard to get a web site done for some highly challenging customers. He had a deadline and stayed up till 5 in the morning. So when I got up with the kids I was treated to find that Joseph had pooped on the floor in the piano room, again. But this time he decided to use Jared's brand new piano books as his toilet. The odd thing? The piano books were put away. He grabbed the only two new books out of the twenty or so that we have. It appears that he realized he had made a mess and tried to clean it up himself. So it was smeared all over the carpet. I do not usually clean up this kind of mess. I am blessed with a husband who is an expert in getting stains out of things so when throw up or anything like this happens I step aside and let him at it. No way was I going to wake him up so I did it. Joseph and I had a big talk. I made him sit with me and watch me clean it up hoping he would see this was not pleasant and not do it again.

I wish this were the end of my story. I put Joshua down for a nap earlier in the week. Joseph goes missing about 30 minutes later. I hear him laughing and he is in Joshua's crib with him. I then spot fish food all over the carpet. Not only did he get into the dry fish food but he was playing with water also so it was all smeared into the carpet. He then got into lipstick and had fun with that. He opened up a vitamin and stained the carpet yellow.

We are moving next Saturday and it is almost humorous that all this would happen now.

After all of this had happened this week the last draw was simply that he put a hole in the most expensive door in the house. He had tied an exercises jump rope to the door handle (it is rubber and stretches) He then pulled the other end and when the handle snapped back it put a hole in the door. I am documenting all of this because I know that all women can find humor in my story. We all have days and weeks like this. I managed to keep my cool through out all of this. I recognize that God is with me in my most stressing times. I was reading in Luke 12 how our Father is so aware of us and our struggles. Consider the lilies of the field.

Quick little note

We were watching Bear in the Big Blue house in the car tonight and Jared said, "I don't like this show. It has no conflict." I laughed and he said in a matter of fact voice, "I took videography Mom."

Another funny thing I had to note is that Joseph is always holding up the back of his pants so that they don't fall down. It cracks us up to watch him run trying to keep his pants on.

We went to a pool party at the neighbors the other day and once we got home Ryan, Sarah, and I were talking. Sarah said, "Mom, isn't it great to be alive?" I love children's excitement for life!

Butterfly

Jared caught this all on his own. It was huge!

Quick note. When I got Josephs picture taken the other day they loved it so much they had me sign a waiver. They are going to print his picture and put it on their wall. By the way The Picture People have finally figured out how to take pictures. For 9 years our kids have been getting pictures taken at places like this and I have never been happier!!!!

This is the one they are going to put up in their store.

Funness for the mom.

I have felt very crafty lately. I started by making the mothers day gift for my MIL with Erynne. Then we made canvas art for my SIL's. (No picture yet) I guess I got so into it I then made teacher gifts for my kids and for My in-laws teachers.For father's day I made a survival kit for dad for my FIL that I don't have a picture of.

And my sister and I made this for my Mom and Dad.

This is a sample page. We made over 20 and had a blast ignoring life for a minute.

Then for our family BBQ I made these candy hamburgers and hot dogs. Once again...Thank you familyfun.com

I think creating things helps me feel happy. I am now in the process of creating my house. I was organizing to stay here now I am organizing for our move... Shocking I know... but we are moving again. Just to my in-laws Trent and Sarah's. We will rent out their old house while we wait for our new house to be built. Good luck to me on my first move in 8 years without a new born. This should be the best move ever. Lets hope at least.

Joshua is 1!

I can't even believe that my little boy is one. This year has gone by so fast.

*Joshua now weighs 26lbs and is 31 inches long.
*He loves to sing. His most favorite song is Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Ryan sings it to him before bed and Joshua will twinkle his fingers. Very precious.
*He answers you when you ask him questions. Most of the time his gabber really sounds like words. It makes us laugh. He does say "yeah, yeah" for yes and he has made up his own sign for drink. He screams for please...we are working on that one. On a side note... I was reading Josephs baby book and his first word was no. I think we have mellowed out with Joshua. Mostly we just laugh at the two little boys and their interactions. They will be playing together and Joshua will start to fuss. Joseph will say, "Ohh, here you go baby. Don't cry." He usually starts to clap or he hands him a toy. These boys are great!
*Joshua thinks he is big enough for a fork and spoon. He loves it when I give him yogurt with the spoon. He can't really use it but he tries then he ends up just sticking his hand in the cup and sucking his fingers clean. We love it!
*He is still not walking but has taken a few steps on his own. Usually when he is not paying attention. The other day when we were in the pool at my in-laws he was walking along the edge holding the side of the pool. He let go and took 3 steps. That is the most he had done before. And in the pool?
*We got his picture taken the other day. This was before I found out about the ear infection so he was not really up for it. But the pic turned out so cute.


*He is just now recovering from the worst ear infection any of my children have ever had. He was fussy but he was not bad. When I went to visit my sister you could tell something was wrong but I thought it was just being out of his routine. Well a few days later massive amount of puss came out of his ears. Turns out once the puss comes out it is a sign that things are improving.
*Joshua loves his food. He was so excited on his b-day to get cake. I started to bring him his little lego cake but then thought I should take his shirt off. As I started to walk away he screamed. The cake had a little donut on top and he loved it. The boy loves his breads. We took him to the store to pick out his presents. The kids would show him a toy and if it kept his interest for very long we put it in the cart to think about. Then the kids would show him two things and let him pick. It was kind of fun. Since we have had 5 children I now understand that toys are so fun the first few days and very rarely do you hit on something that they play with on a daily basis. Well this was one of those fortunate times. Joshua got an activity center, basically a little table with toys on top. He climbs over to it often just to check it out. Thanks mom and dad for the gift card that bought him that.

Simple lovliness

Quick little funny story. Emma said to me today, "Mom do you go to college?" After answering no she said, "Oh, Cause someone told me 'Your mom goes to college.' " She even said it Napoleon Dynamite like.

I made the yummiest dinner tonight. One of the things we had was artichoke hearts dipped in hummus. I did no think the baby would like the artichokes so I didn't even try. I did give him the hummus and he ate that by the handfuls. Then he was fussing so Ryan gave him a bite of the artichoke and he loved it. We had to keep giving him new leaves to bite. Very cute little boy I have. Who would have thought a one year old would eat artichokes and hummus???

burger cake

Simple pleasures

I have been meaning to blog about the simple pleasures in life. When My Best friend Demeree was a teenager she went to a 6 week program out in the desert. No showers, no bed, no stove or microwave. She had to make all her own food and start her own fires. One little tin cup and not much else. Here I am in my air conditioned home, eating fajitas I made in about ten minutes. After I am done I will load my dishwasher and head up stairs to switch the laundry. Then I might read a book on my nice comfy bed and if I get to it I will phone Demeree and tell her how great I think she is.
With all that said I have decided to make a real effort to be grateful for the simple things in life. The things we just get used to and forget how blessed we are.
1. My first simple pleasure, projects. I have started another project and I will take a picture when I am done. A new system for helping the kids stay on task with their jobs without me having to nag. Good luck to me.
2. An organized pantry. Love insta labels.
3. Laundry all done and put away. Yet another new system I have started and it seems to be working great. I have a cabinet just outside the laundry room where I have put a hamper for each child. The clothes come straight from the dry to the baskets. The kids have to put away their clothes before dinner. Yes! It works great!
4. My new cowboy hat. I have wanted a cowboy hat since my freshman year in high school but I have never had the nerve to buy/wear one. When I went shopping with my family the other night I tried one on and, Thank you girls, I got it. And I love it!
5. "Nap time and bedtime and bedtime and nap time. And did I mention I like when the kids sleep. These are a few of my favorite things!" At Time Out For Women one of the singers made up these lyrics and it really cracked me up because some days just really feel like that.
6. Reading to my kids. We are reading Anne Of Green Gables and I just love discussing with them.
7. My family! Both extended and immediate. I love being knit together with so many wonderful people. Like my sister who I have looked ever since I was little and all my sister-in-laws who feel like sisters. They are each beautiful and I love to talk with them. And their husband who love them and help them raise their children. And of course both sets of parents. I look up to them both and I am a better person because of them. and everyone(does that cover it?)

Speaking of simple pleasures... We got to spend the holiday at and with my in laws. We swam and had a BBQ. And then ...what holiday would be complete if we didn't go shopping?

Simple pleasure 8- my new camera. How cool is this picture?

9- watching the kids have a blast with bubbles. Do you remember when that was all it took to be happy?

This is my new nephew Luke. I loved watching him enjoy the bubbles. How great it is to watch the kids take him into the family and embrace him as if he had always been here. Kobe and Cade were loving coming up with creative ways to pop the bubbles. So fun are cousins.

Cade, You are one cool dude.

And here we have officially initiated the first burn of the season.
The first is always the worst right?

Look at you go Sarah. She is trying so hard to figure out how to swim with out
plugging her nose.

What a little cutie. Amy was awesome with her and got her to swim short distances. By the end of the summer she will be a pro!

For all the years I was on swim team I could never float on my back so.. Yeah I am proud of that boy!

This was the first time Joshua had ever gone swimming and he loved it.

No fussing just big smiles.

Simple pleasure 10- Super hottie husband!

And 11- Shopping with the girls. Here is mom with her stash.

Amy and Sarah with theirs and Cade ready to try on his clothes.

Sarah found a $40 gift card.

Allie showing off her great deals.

And last of all

12- Joseph went poop in the potty!!!! This is a happy day!

I am back in for business...For now.

I must start of by saying that Jordin Sparks won American idol and I think I am OK with that. I love Blake Lewis and wanted him to win. But it is OK. I am sure he will make an album and I will buy it.

For mothers day we went to my mother in laws and had dinner. Hope planned the whole thing and it was nice to visit. The best part of Mothers day was getting to talk to my mom. I had been wanting to talk to her about all that has been going on in my life and it was so good. I hope you know how much I appreciate you Mom!

Erynne and I made this for My MIL. It is a family tree with pictures of all her kids and grand kids. It ended up being huge because their are so many of us. I ended up having to use both sides of the paper to fit us all in.

Joseph was sharing his ice cream cone with Skylar. How great are cousins?Travis was helping Sarah make a bracelet

And Todd was helping Kaylee. I thought it was awesome that these boys would be of help.

Just a few park pics because I thought they were so cute.

Joshua loved the slide. He was so excited shaking his legs all about.Joseph made a friend at the park the other day. We play with family so often it was cute to see him make a friend.

The boys went on a Fathers-and-sons camp out with Ryan's dad and some of the uncles. They told me how great it was. Jared got to sleep in a tent, way over rated he tells me. Joseph was happy because they had lots of bugs and rabbits.

While they were gone we had a girl night and day. We went out to dinner with Grandma, Aunt Kaylee and Aunt Erynne. Then we went shopping at the mall where Grandma bought the girls some little trinkets that they were thrilled with. The next day Sarah and Emma went to a birthday party while I washed and cut the guinea pigs hair.. Does anyone want a free guinea pig? Then when they got home we went to Joann's and bought some scrapbook stuff and the girls scrapped away. The had a great time. Very fun to have both boys and girls!




For Mothers day the kids gave me frames that I was to fill with pictures I took of them with my new camera. I love them. I feel like they really capture the essence of who my children are. so here you go...

Joshua

Joseph

EmmaLee

SarahJaredJared received an award from his school yesterday. It was a high achiever award. Each teacher picks one student who excelled throughout the year and his teacher picked him. We home school through a charter school and meet with a teacher once every 5 weeks. She is there to keep us on track and to help when help is needed. We think she is great and I was so proud of him for working so hard this year!

He refused to smile when he was up there. See that cute smile... We know it's there.

They had treats at the school and I kept giving Joshua cookies to keep him quiet. I normally don't do that but once I started I couldn't stop. He had become such a mess I didn't want to pick him up...they had no napkins. Seriously? Whoever had that job missed the boat.
Last weekend I was blessed to go to Time out For Women with the women in my life, My dear Mother-in-law, My sister-in-laws...Hope, Amy, Sarah, and Erynne. My sister Laura and my sister from another mother Demeree. It was so great but I must say my mom was dearly missed. I think when you get back mom, we will have to do a women's conference week! By the way mom we ran into Sister Norton and her daughter, Sister Hilt (My old seminary teacher), and Natalie Bennet. She is still single, When she told me about her siblings she didn't say anything about any of them being married.?

I learned so much it is hard to even put into words. The overall feeling I came away with was how much our Father in Heaven loves us. He is with us in our times of trial to lift us up and help us through ALL we go through. He heals us... Sometimes we take longer turning to him and allowing him to help but the second we do, truly turn to him, He comforts us. He eases our burdens and helps them to feel light. I don't know how many times I have heard people say, "I don't think I could handle that challenge." Yet when we are going through something very challenging we are given strength. I have watched it in myself as well as those around me. I have been thinking a lot about Emma Smith lately and all that was required of her. Yet she managed to keep a faithful heart and charity to those she knew. Oh to be able to one day embrace this sweet women!
I felt so connected to these women after the weekend was over. Anyone who says something bad about big families never enjoyed the blessings that inevitably come.

Besides all of that good stuff.... We had a blast. We stayed in a hotel about 5 minutes away. I took this picture so that we would for ever after remember Hopes pants as we may never see them again... Heee heee! Oh the things we do as girls when we let lose...

...Eating Ice cream...

...Making jewelry

...Just talking and staying up till when?

I saw Amy looking at her sweet baby and had to capture this moment. This whole weekend was all about what we do as women and this picture seemed to sum it all up for me. We LOVE!
Demeree, Laura and I got to go to the Redlands temple and it was so nice to be there with them. Wow Demeree you sure are tan! We are so cute.
We had a baby shower for Lucas and Asher (Amy and Hope's babies) at my MIL's last week. Look how good they both look. Their babies are only 3 weeks apart. It has been so fun having these sweet boys around.

They got some of the cutest clothes. I was joking with them that someone in the family needs to have twin boys next since they had so many cute matching outfits.

The girls loved that they got to come to the shower!

Two of my SIL's Orchids and Erynne. Orchids sister is the one on the left. She is visiting for a little while.

I have been reading this great book I got at time out for Women. It is called The Ultimate Career. It is all about organizing your life as a mother. It has great organizational tips and I have had fun implementing them. My first order of business was to put labels on my shelves in my pantry. With so many people helping put groceries away I was having a hard time finding the things I needed. Sarah helped me take everything out and figure out the best places for things. It was actually very rewarding. I then organized the kids toys and all the laundry. Now I am planning on redoing my closet and coming up with the best possible system for the kids chores.

One last thing. We were listening to spiritual music in the car the other day and Sarah said,"When I listen to that music I fell like the gosspel is true." What a special girl.