Sweet is the peace

I am so grateful for the gospel in my life. I am grateful for the perspective that it gives us. The time here on the earth is so fast, so fleeting. I have been so overwhelmed with projects and assignments that will be done in a matter of weeks, and it will all be over. I need to enjoy every day and minute that I have here - so why should I let anything drag me down? I am happy today, filled with the sweet peace that is found when I realign my priorities to what really matters. What a beautiful day!

My Adventures... Revisited

Paul's Birthday (We also had a party for him later, but I'll have to get those pictures on another time.)

Paul got to take a friend to the football game!

It was pretty sunny and hot.

Isn't she just adorable??

So this morning I set out thinking that I had the day pretty well planned. I was getting ready in a timely fashion, the kids were dressed and eating breakfast, I had even had a chance to read my scriptures. When all of the the sudden (Oh NO) I realize I have a quiz this morning that I had completely forgotten about!! I quickly look up all of the songs - which I am supposed to have committed to memory by now, and ruch to listen to them and try to pick out their defining qualities. We all run to the car, because now I'm 15 minutes behind schedule, and at every stop light I manage to get one more song, composer and date memorized. I run Paul into school and then it's back to the apartments to drop of Daven and Ruthie. I have to quickly feed the baby, while I'm furiously trying review the crammed info from the drive there and back. Once the kids are settled at my wonderful and amazing friend's house - whom I dearly love and don't know how I would survive without her! - I rush away again to get myself to campus before class starts. Of course there is the usual traffic on the way there, but then there is this guy in the parking garage who takes FOREVER!! I'm so close - SO CLOSE and yet so far. I know we won't find a spot until we get to the 4th or 5th floor, but somehow he thinks that just around that next corner is going to be his lucky spot, and he doesn't want to be going to fast to miss it! I find a spot on the 4th floor of the garage and I sprint in to my class and somehow I make it on time. I take the quiz, after class I take a midterm, the it's off to run some paperwork to the pediatrician, clean the car, pick up the kids, meet a lady from Craigslist, pick up some vitamins, get home, feed the kids, do the laundry, bathe the kids, and finally... FINALLY it's bedtime.

This is my crazy life, and really... I'm pretty happy. :-)

Confessions

I'm tired. My house is a disaster, and it's driving me nuts. At night, I'm not as nice of a mom as I should be. I don't want to do anything productive, I just want to sit and be lazy. And honestly, I feel a little lost as to why I'm still in school right now.
It's hard to keep doing something that is so hard, and you keep getting the answer to your prayer - keep going - and yet... you have no idea why. Somewhere deep within me I gain some strength by thinking that I'm bending my will to the Father's. That I'm not giving in to the "natural man" in me that wants to say "ENOUGH!" But nights like tonight, when I'm all alone, I really wonder how strong I am, and how long I'm going to be able to keep back the tide. I feel like I'm the little Dutch boy with his finger in the wall, just hoping that the ocean doesn't come crashing through. He had strength... can I be like him too? Do we all feel like him? Finding ourselves in a spot where it takes some superhuman strength to do what we are asked to do? Oh how I want to be strong. I want to be strong like the women around me who love what they do, and find ways to do what they have to do even better. I understand that no one is perfect, but everyone is strong at something, and their strength gives me courage.
I hope you know, I am talking to you. You, who is reading this. Can I draw from your strength? Can you stay the course just one mare day, so that I can gain courage from your efforts? Because tonight... I am tired.

Nauvoo

If you are looking for a really great and cheap family vacation - take your kids to Nauvoo next year for the pageant. It typically runs through the month of July, and it really is a blast. The pageant is at night, but there are all sorts of plays/shows to go see during the day, and lots of games and things to do for the kids. Be sure to do the handcart trek and don't miss the Sunset on the Mississippi show. We had planned to be in Nauvoo for 3 days and we ended up staying for 5 because we had such a great time! We camped at the State park that is right there in Nauvoo for only 10 dollars a night, and all of the events are free! What a great deal!!

We are now in Chicago visiting Jeff's sister, Kelly. We'll be here until Wednesday - Jeff has a conference downtown until Tuesday. Then we'll be heading off to Pennsylvania!

What's a mommy to say?

So, I'm learning how to be a stay-at-home mom again. Up in the morning around 8am (because Jeff lets me sleep in), breakfast and check email/facebook, wonder what I'm going to do today and sometime around 10am I actually get moving (dressed). By the time I've figured out what I should do for the day and dressed the kids it's time for lunch and naps, and all of the sudden it's 3:30pm. Wasn't I supposed to do something today? Oh, look - there are friends outside! Let's go chat and play. I'll only be out for a few minutes, and then we'll leave. "Mommy, we've been out here forever. I'm hungry." Whoa! It's already 5:30? Well, gotta feed the kids, again. Maybe I can get out really quickly before bed. Everyone to the car! Let's GO! You won't need shoes, I'll carry you. Stay near me, into the cart, let's make this quick. No you can't get that, I'm sorry. Please sit down in the cart! Excuse me Ma'am, your son in standing in the cart. Yes, Thank you. I'm trying to keep him seated. Okay let's just go! Mom! I want ... NO you cannot have it! We are leaving! Into the car, into your seat, please buckle your seat belt! Oh, no. I forgot the... that was the whole reason we went! Oh well. I'll get it tomorrow....

Oh, and here's some more cute pictures of my Stella Ruth.

Just another cute picture of my little girl!

We went to the Pioneer Day Activity this past weekend. Jeff and I got to pull out our pioneer garb from the play that we did last year. Unfortunately, no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get Paul to smile for the picture! Oh, well. lol

Becky

Last night I found myself thinking about Becky. She was a good friend of mine from church as I was growing up in Doylestown. She was happy and kind and so sweet. I hardly have a memory of her where she wasn't happy, or trying to help someone else. When I last saw her, she was thin - emaciated. Her hair was gone and her lips were chapped. She was in pain. She cried. I cried, too. She kept pushing this silly button that kept beeping at her, telling her that something was wrong. Something was very wrong. She wasn't supposed to be like this. She wasn't supposed to be away from her two little boys. She wasn't supposed to not be pregnant anymore. Why was she wearing that gown that ties in the back when she used to dress so cute? She was finally getting her baby girl. Just like me. We were both going to have two boys and a new baby girl. But, there were complications. Invasive, horrible, sickly, cancer complications.

I rubbed her feet. I wonder now if it hurt her at all? I wanted so badly to somehow show her how much it hurt to see her in so much pain. How my heart broke for her. I hold my beautiful little girl and I think of Becky. I think of her Mom and how she must have felt, watching her only daughter die. I think of how Becky would have held her little baby girl, if leukemia wouldn't have taken her away. Both of them.

I'm praying for you Nannette. I'm sure you think of her everyday. I'm thinking of her, too.

Best Run and a Library Adventure

Today was the best run since I've started back up. I actually ran from my apartment down to the RunTex waters - I think it's about a mile, maybe a little longer. I had to walk up the big hill on the way back, but then I ran all the way back. It felt so great to actually be able to run. I know it sounds silly since it hasn't been very long that I've been trying to run again, but I've been so discouraged at how hard it has been to get back into running. So it felt good to have a successful run today!!
Our big adventure for the family today was storytime at the Library. It was the first time I've tried to take the kids to the Library since Daven was one year old. Once he started walking Storytime wasn't nearly as much fun for Mommy, but today he was just fine. He threw a little fit when we had to leave, but other than that he was just fine. Actually, it gave me a good excuse as to why we were late to our car. The meter had run out and as I was walking around the corner of the Library carrying Stella Ruth in her car seat, with a large bag of library books on one shoulder and my diaper bag on the other, dragging along a screaming Daven and trying to get Paul to actually walk in front of me instead of stop and look at every ant on the sidewalk - I called out to the policeman giving me a ticket and begged him to not give me a ticket. "Please, please! I'm coming! My two year old pitched a fit as I was coming out. Please don't give me a ticket!" It worked, and the very nice police man let me off!
So all in all, it was a very happy day! By the way, one of the books that I got at the Library was Fifteen Animals by Sandra Boynton. She is my favorite board book author. She has written a song that goes along with Fifteen Animals, which is very cute, but on her site, there is also some samples from her album Blue Moo. The songs are all written in the fifty's style and are really great. I suggest going and checking it out! www.workman.com/boynton

8 Years and counting

It's amazing how fast life flies by! When I look back at all the things that we have done, all the places where we've been - It has been a great 8 years! What is even better, is that every year has been better than the one before. This past year we have gone on an awesome road trip, somehow survived a whole school year of both of us going to school, we had a beautiful baby girl, I passed my jury, and Jeff passed his Comps! And now we are planning another fantastic road trip and another crazy year at school. I think we are crazy, but it has all worked out so well. I am grateful for the blessings in our lives!
I am grateful for my wonderful husband that has supported me in so much. He is the driving force to all of our adventures, and I am so grateful for the stories we can tell. Life is good!

Forth of July

These are just some random pictures of my adorable kids on the 4th of July. We went camping, saw fireworks, and played with sparklers. Just what the 4th should be!

My All American Girl!

Camping with the kids has been so great! We love watching the stars at night, and the sweet cool air in the mornings. But, you cannot go camping in Texas this time of year without being in the water during the day.

And this is my baby girl peacefully sleeping in her crib. What a sweetie!

My Crazy Life

Okay. I have had such a hard time deciding what I should post on this blog. Should I write about my kids, or our camping experiences, or my struggles with managing school? Or I could write about my spiritual experiences or just write the happiest parts of my day... I think I could fill a whole blog on each of those topics, but who has the time for all that?

Hopefully I'll get better at this as time goes by, but for now I'm going to write about it all. Because my life is just that crazy.