C's 2nd class

Scouting is hard for C. Not because he doesn't like it. He does. Not because he isn't dedicated.....for the most part he is. It is difficult because of our family schedule back and forth to his dad. Sooooo much goes on on Fridays and Saturdays. Luckily he has a good dad that is quick to let him attend scout stuff as much as possible.

Tonight he got a merit badge and his 2nd class. He is almost to his 1st class too. :). Way to go, C!!!!! I am proud of you!

Comedy at the Grocery Store

I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has blessed us with a sense of humor.  There are moments (like yesterday), when it is very beneficial!  I have to document it to remember later....it is just one of those moments.

So, yesterday morning I needed to get a few things from the store.  Just some food items as I was taking dinner to a friend and needed a couple of ingredients, and a new baseball glove for C.  I do NOT take the littles to the store by myself.  I have stopped grocery shopping on weekdays and go Saturday morning as early as possible when CK is home to be with the babies.

But, I decided with just a handful of things I would brave it.  I was actually kind of excited about it...."This is going to be fun!"  I should have known I might be wrong about that when it took nearly an hour to get everyone ready.  Nonetheless, off we went.

Baby C was asleep when we got to the store.  Yippee!!  Not for long, though, he started crying within a minute of entering the store.  -sigh-  He was in his car seat in the back of the cart and V was sitting in the seat at the front.  So, we stopped and I took him out.  No big deal, I will just hold him.  Hmmm....he didn't like that much more and now my arm is exhausted.  Oh well. 

So, we get to the baseball gloves.  Baby C is now alternating between crying at a medium volume to screaming at a loud volume.  Nothing softer.  Not for him.  No way!  He wanted the entire store to know he was unhappy.  So I was holding him in my left arm and trying to look at gloves.  The problem is gloves come in so many different sizes and styles so I was trying to figure out which would be best.  Oh, and to increase the problem, the ones for C were all on the top rack, above my head.

So, picture this....me holding C with my left arm, trying to jump and dislodge gloves so I could look at them with my right.  V chooses this lovely moment to get out of her seatbelt and try to stand up.  So...I am trying to help her sit down, look at gloves, and hold a crying baby.  Now for the real comedy....V sneezed.  She has allergy/cold problems and when she sneezes, everything comes out her nose.  A lot of snot (I wasn't going to say it that way, but it rhymed!).  I just had to laugh.  No one was super close to see our comedy, but at least I can blog about it and remember the times of having two young babies at the store.

Baby C's blessing Day

Baby C was blessed over a month ago.  It was more difficult than it has been in the past to be able to get everyone together for a picture.  We only took a quick couple.  Here is one with us and our six kids, my sister and her four kids (hubby was out of the country on business) and both sets of grandparents.  Love it!!

Easter egg hunt 2014

Yes. We did our Easter Egg hunt today. Yes. Easter was on Sunday....last Sunday.

But, we really wanted to concentrate on the Savior and the days before were crazy. An Easter egg hunt is not something to cause anxiety and stress for anyone. So we waited. I only wish I would have known beforehand and I wouldn't have purchased the candy at full price! :)

It was fun....especially watching V hunt for her eggs. She was excited to find them. Only at the very end did she realize that there were things inside!!! She was soooooo excited then. Hers just had pieces of cereal....for her that was so much better than any candy! Jackpot!!!

On Sunday, we celebrated by remembering and focusing on our Savior. We also had my sister and her family over for Easter dinner. It was good. Families are forever due to our Savior's Atonement for all of us. We are blessed indeed.

Another reason why we are supposed to become as a little child

Today, V was reading a board book with pictures of Christ.  Immediately, she started exclaiming with a voice filled with joy, "Jesus! Jesus!  Yay!  Yay!  Jesus!"  Oh, the faith and pure love of a little child!  I love her.  I love her love for the Savior.  I am so grateful for His atoning sacrifice for her, for me, for my family, and for all of human-kind.  We are so blessed!

The littles

Today is V's number day. She is 19 months old. She is so much fun. She can talk and talk and talk. We understand most of what she is saying. She is a daredevil. She'll climb on ANYthing. She loves to find a laundry basket, turn it upside down, and climb on it so that she can reach everything else.

She loves music still. She loves to sing "marching, marching… ". She also loves to sing "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam." She also loves playing with her ball.

Last night, we were playing and all of a sudden she says, "Ashes. Ashes. Down." And then sat down. We haven't sung "Ring around the Rosies" with her. I texted her nursery leader and, sure enough, they do that in nursery each Sunday. So cute!

Baby C is loving hitting his toys. I might not remember correctly, but it seems like the other kids weren't as aware of their arms and legs as early as Baby C. He is 10 weeks old and he intentionally hits things with his arms and kick things with his legs. It is so fun to watch. :)

I am a blessed Mama. :)

V loves to sit by Baby C.  Can you tell?  She sometimes sits on his head, but that is rare.  She just loves to be around him.  It makes parenting a little difficult since he LOVES to be on the floor if we are around, but then he gets attacked by a toddler.  Hmmm...what to do.  What to do.

April 2014 General Conference

This year, General Conference was on April 5-6th.  It was amazing.  I loved hearing the prophets speak and I love reviewing each message.  There is so much for me to improve on.  There is also a lot of comfort and strength given by the Spirit as we listen to these men of God address us, saying what He wants us to know.

Our October Conference thing worked so well, that we did it again.  I posted pictures of each of the prophets and then we each wrote on sticky notes something that impressed us during the talk.  I love how it helps us all focus and I love the insights that my children and CK give me that sometimes I miss completely.

President Monson (multiple talks):

• CK:  "Do better day by day" and "Take advantage of opportunities to demonstrate love "
• Me:  "Those who address us have sought Heaven's help", "Every day of our lives, we are given opportunities to love.  Some of the greatest opportunities to love will be within the walls of our own home." and "May our homes be filled with love, courtesy, and the Spirit of the Lord."
• K:  "We are a fmaily, united in our faith and desire!", "We must regard everyone as our brothers and sisters and treat them as such.", and "We must strive to be better every day!"
• C:  "Recognize then respond." and "What an amazing conference!"
• J:  "Welkome. Welkome" (Welcome welcome) and   "Help uthrs" (help others)

President Eyring:

• CK:  "Make and keep covenants." and  "Don't neglect your duties."
• Me:  "Happiness comes from family bonds." and "Takes faith to keep sacred covenants for a lifetime."
• K:  "Every hour we must choose what we will do.  He will gather us if we let Him"
• C:  "Things will work out.  CTR and receive blessings in time."
• J:  "Have fath (faith) in God."

President Uchtdorf:

• CK:  "Don't be thankful for things, have an overall attitude of gratitude."
• Me:  "All commandments are given to us to bring us joy - including developing a spirit of gratitude."
• K:  "Trials are just minor disruptions.  Gratitude is a catylist to Christlike attributes!"
• C:  "Gratitude = Hope + Testimony."
• J:  "We need fath (faith)."

• Me:  "Jesus is the Christ!  He lives!"
• K:  "We must always be a witness of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ."
• C:  "You must listen and follow promptings to receive blessings of the Holy Ghost."
• J:  "Our chrch (church) is the chrch (Church) of Jesise (Jesus) Crist (Christ). "
 

Elder Perry:

• Me:  "Obedience is an emblem of faith. "
• K:  "Faithfulness through obedience rescues us."
• C:  "You will never go astray if you follow the Spirit."
• J:  "Jessis (Jesus) is our ledr (leader)."

Elder Nelson:

• CK:  "Tie your faith to God, then let it show."
• Me:  "Even if everyone is doing it - wrong is NEVER right."
• K:  "Our standards must always be God's laws.  We must have courage not compromise."
• C:  "Let your faith show."
• J:  "Have fath (faith) in God."

Elder Oaks spoke in the Priesthood Session, so we didn't take notes together as a family.  It was a great talk, though!

 

Elder Ballard

• CK:  "Commitment is hollow without a completed action.  Follow-up!  "
• Me:  "Invite 4x a year someone to meet with the missionaries-then Follow-Up!  Read and study Preach My Gospel."
• K:  "We can be better missionaries by replacing our fear with faith."
• C:  "Follow-up - Share the Gospel four times a year."
• J:  "Testumonee (testimony) is good."

Elder Scott:

• CK:  "We can influence those around us for good.  Start with love."
• Me:  "Show genuine concern for their well-being and THEN share your testimony."
• K:  "When righteously influencing others, we must love them."
• C:  "What you do can inspire others."
• J:  "I love mishunares (missionaries)."

Elder Halls:

• CK:  "Savior-like obedience is motivated by true love of God."  "What motivates my obedience?"
• Me:  "Obedience is motivated by true love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ."
• K:  "Why would we ever want to be disobedient?  We know the consequences of sin."
• C:  "Obedience will help you faithfully pass through trials."
• J:  "I need to cep (keep) the cmandmints (commandments)."

Elder Holland spoke Saturday morning.  C was at a band competition and J was at his football game, which CK took him to.  When I took this picture, there were only notes from K and I, but since then J has watched the talk and added his own thoughts.  C and CK have also gone back and listened/watched, but didn't choose to add thoughts to the picture.  :)

• Me:  "When called to defend our faith- it requires courage and courtesy."
• K:  "Be as Jesus is - loving, long-suffering, courageous.  Defend your beliefs!"
• J:  "Keep Jesus commis." (commandments)

.

Elder Bednar:

• CK:  "The load we carry helps us rely on the Lord."
• Me:  "Is the load I am carrying providing spiritual traction to return home?"
• K:  "I can and will be strengthened by the Atonement.  He has infinite empathy- He always understands."
• C:  "We are NOT alone.  He will strengthen us through the Atonement."
• J:  "it is Good"

 

Elder Cook:

• CK:  "We need to take advantage of the accessibility of temples and family history resources."
• Me:  "Our family history centers are now in our homes."
• K:  "Family history brings great blessings."
• C:  "Family history is important and is a blessing for you AND them."
• J:  "I like Elijah."

Elder Christofferson:

• CK:  "The Atonement is the central doctrine of the Gospel."
• Me:  "The Savior makes ALL things right."
• K:  "Jesus knows and comforts us just as He did with Mary."
• C:  "He will come again and reign on the earth."
• J:  "resreshin (resurrection) is osum (awesome)"

Elder Anderson:

• CK:  "Whirlwinds of adversity make us stronger if we allow them.  Gian strength through the Book of Mormon and the temple."
• K:  "Temptations strengthen our faith!  We can withstand them by embracing the gospel."
• C:  "Youth can withstand trials with a firm strong foundation by standing up for what you believe in."
• J:  "Satin (Satan) is a ubrlaird (abroad)."

V-ism

One of my favorite things about my blog is to go back and see some of the things that J said when he was little. I forget most of the time to document what my little ones have said. I sure wish I remembered to do it more often.

For that reason, I have to post about V today.  I just want to remember.

CK came out of his office at about 10:30.  When V saw him, she said "Daddy!"  She followed this with "Lunch time."  It wasn't lunchtime, but CK eats with us most days and when she saw him, that is what she immediately thought.  Then, she wanted to go with him into the restroom.  I was just finishing feeding Baby C and was ready to go work some more on the garden, so I said, "V do you want to go outside?"  She stopped, thought a minute, then said, "Bye Bye" to CK and promptly turned around and ran towards the door.

This girl loves the outdoors.  I am glad.  Outdoors is good.  I hope she continues to love it.  To follow up with that story, I was able to work outside for almost exactly an hour.  V played.  Baby C sat in his chair.  I planted more garden. 

C's Track Meets

C has been participating in track and field this season.  I haven't seen evidence of this, but what he told us was that participating in track is mandatory to be able to do athletics next year.  Well, he loves football and wants to do that next fall, so, of course he has been attending track practices and meets.  If he does well in practice, he gets selected to participate in the events.  He was selected every week.  He ran the mile and the mile and a half. 

This was a couple of weeks ago.  It was my first time seeing him run.  My parents had flown in that morning, so they got to be there too!

And they are off (the 7th grade girls run with the 7th grade boys, but their standings are different even though they run at the same time).

Here is C, overtaking the girl in front of him.  Boy!  Six laps around the track is enough to make me feel exhausted just watching!!!

The rest of these pictures are from the next week (April 3, 2014).

When we got to this track meet, they did things a little bit differently.  The first ran the 7th grade girls.  Then, they ran the 8th grade girls.  It takes a long time to organize these races and then run six laps each.  Thank goodness 7th grade boys was next!

While we were waiting, J decided it was hot.  He found the only shade he could find.

V, on the other hand, just wanted to sit on the drain.

After waiting about an hour for C's race, the meet was put in a delay due to lightening far away.  So, we waited some more.  I am happy that we finally have our double stroller (Thanks for your contribution, Aunt J!).

More waiting.  It kept being delayed for storms in the distance.

Finally, they called the athletes back in.  Now the sky was ominous and it looked like it could dump on us any minute.  In an effort to get in as much as possible before the storm, they ran the 7th and 8th grade boys together.

It was fun to see him race.  He doesn't love track, but he is an athlete through and through and loves all sports.  He placed, which I didn't know was 1st-6th when it comes to track.  He was either 5th or 6th.  Not bad.

It started to rain huge drops as we left the track.  They called off the entire rest of the meet.  Good thing, too.  It dumped and hailed and not too far away from us, there were tornados.  It was a nasty Texas spring storm.  It was hard to see driving home, but we all made it safe and sound.  It still is crazy to me that they called the meet when it was bright and sunny with hardly any ominous clouds at all and they were way in the distance and then ran when it was dark and stormy and soon to be nasty.  All in all, we waited over two hours to see C's race.  It was worth it, though.  I love watching my kids doing the things they love and I always want them to know that no matter what they are participating in, they can look over and see Mom cheering and probably wielding a camera.  :)

Baby C's Smiles

It is difficult to catch the little guy's smiles. But, I keep trying. His smiles are cuter in real life.

He sure was grinning at V. I didn't quite get the smiles, but I will remember with my heart. :). I'm excited to see these two grow up together.

Two of my best friends

These two have been such great friends for me. They have both been so supportive throughout the hard times and through the good times. I am so lucky to have them. A moved away last fall and is back visiting for spring break. It was so good to see her. It was like we had never been away from each other. J, of course, moved about an hour and a half away a couple years ago. She drove down to spend time with us. I am so grateful for these good friends The Lord has given me. Like I said, these two have been with me in the toughest of times and in the best of times. I feel so blessed for His wisdom in putting us together in a presidency, so we could get to know each other. He did that right before the divorce, and I know He was protecting me. I am so blessed to have two of the greatest women in the world as my close friends.