A Day for Mothers

Mothers are an amazing group of women. They focus all of their time and energy on a dependent little person in order to prepare them to be men and women. Their job is priceless and so their salary isn't paid in money, rather in slobbery kisses, big bear hugs, siblings helping each other, catching a glimpse of your little boy becoming a man. Motherhood is an amazing blessing.

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I am not yet a mother, but I have seen my older sisters become mothers. It is such a wonderful and ennobling change that happens. I was in the delivery room when the sister I grew up with became a mother. I remember the change that came over her when Garrett was first given to her. She was already in love with her little baby boy. It was such a beautiful sight.

"You are magnificent! The very fact that you have been given this responsibility is everlasting evidence of the trust Father in Heaven has in you. He is blessing and will bless you especially when your days and your nights will be the most challenging."

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I am so grateful that Jonathan and I have mothers that understood the importance of their calling. I am so grateful for my own mother. My parents were content with their little family of three children until my mom was sitting at a church meeting. She realized that I was waiting to join the family. I am so grateful that she was able to understand that she wasn't quite done with having children.

This last video defines who a mother really is.

                                            I know that Sister Sheri Dew is speaking the truth.

I have not yet had a child, but I know that I am a mother. I have been an aunt for eight and half years. (That makes me feel rather old. Ryan, stop growing!) Over that time, I have had the opportunity to learn more about love. These kids do crazy things and sometimes can be annoying, but I love them anyway. I see my nieces (I still can't believe that I actually have nieces!) and my nephews as my own children. I love each one of them so much and can't remember what life was like without them. I love being an aunt. It is such a wonderful blessing for me. They have helped me so much. I owe my strong desire to be a mother to them. I knew that was something that I wanted, but now that is all that I want. I look forward to celebrating Mother's day as a mother with a child, but until then I will continue to celebrate as a blessed aunt.

Babysitting or Playtime?

 On Monday night, I got to babysit Mercedes. I've done it a few times before, so I knew what to expect. Mackenzie will already have Mercedes in bed and make sure the baby monitor is on. Then I read or watch tv for the next few hours while Mercedes sleeps. This time it started out the same way, but it certainly didn't stay that way.

After everyone left, Mercedes woke up crying. I went in to check on her a little worried about what her reaction would be when she realized that I wasn't her mother. She didn't even care! (Usually she gets more upset and will try to push you away.) She was just happy to see that someone came in. Mercedes was ready to play and not sleep. But, it was bed time so I got her some milk and hoped that she would be able to relax and fall back asleep.

That is not a tired girl!

Yeah, that didn't work for very long. I went back into her room and this time she was convinced that I wasn't the only person in the house. So, Mercedes wandered around the house and then was a little worried that her parents really weren't there. I quickly distracted her by turning on Elmo's World (the only part of Sesame Street that she likes to watch). I was hoping by the time we finished that she would be ready to go back to bed. I was wrong! She just wanted to keep playing!

After she went to the bathroom, I put her pjs on my head and
she thought it was so silly that she had to try it too!

Searching for treasure in my backpack.

We played with Bunny and were being all kinds of silly! Finally we got rid of enough extra energy that it was time to go back to bed. So, we got milk, Bunny, and her pj bottoms and headed back to bed. We had just a few more giggles and then I left Mercedes to fall asleep.

I had so much fun taking care of her! Ever since my oldest brother moved away, it seems like I don't babysit as much as I used to. (Yes, I know I just jinxed myself and will now be babysitting my nieces and nephews every single night!) I am so grateful that Mercedes likes me. Some day soon, she'll even like Jonathan! (They are getting closer every time she sees him!)

It's Spring Time

I love spring time. It has been so nice having the change in weather and blooming flowers.

(Even though my allergies have been going crazy!)

My mom started getting strawberries and a lot of them were weird looking.

Doesn't this look like a foot?

 Spring is a wonderful, colorful time of year!

100 Posts!

I can't believe that this is our 100th post! It doesn't seem like this is really true.

See, it's true!

I didn't realize the impact this blog would have on me.

I honestly thought that I would just be sharing our newly wed life
and that would be it.

I was wrong. This has been an outlet for me to express myself in ways I didn't realize I needed to.

These feelings really came to my attention in November when I shared something I was grateful for everyday.

It helped me realize that there really is so much to be grateful for,
especially simple things.

This blog is a wonderful way to record and share those feelings.

I love that I can share the things that have meaning in my life:

my wonderful family,

the church I am part of,

                        

   the various projects I do, 

and of course, my darling husband.

 I share the things that bring me joy because the
world tends to be a negative place

and I am influenced by the attitudes around me. I want to surround myself with positive and happy things.

Since I want to surround myself with those things, then why not share it with those around me?

I can't wait to see where the next 100 posts take me.

21 Days to Happiness

I enjoy reading blogs. I like seeing their projects and reading their thoughts on various things. I read a post that talked about how mixed up our ideas of success and happiness are. We often say to ourselves we will be happy when we (fill in the blank). The problem with that is once we achieve or accomplish that goal, we raise the bar. There is always something to improve on so our happiness is never really attainable. So, we need to flip things around. We need to be happy and then it will be easier to be successful. The way to help yourself be happier is to write down three things you are grateful for every day. It's that easy! (You can read the whole post here.)

I look back at my life the past few years, and I see myself falling into that pattern. I feel bad that I have been so focused on something I want to have or do that I haven't allowed myself to be happy with where I am right now. During November, I shared something I was grateful for each day. I was happy and more content with all of the wonderful blessings I enjoy daily. Recently, I haven't been looking for things to be grateful for as frequently, and I can feel the difference.

I want to be happier, and so I am doing the 21 Days to Happiness Challenge! I know that this will help me find joy in the world around me as I work toward my long term goals. If anyone feels like they are lacking in happiness, the I encourage you to take the Challenge as well!

Here are three things I am grateful for today:

Dirty Dishes (Here's why)

 Cute pictures of my husband as a boy and as an adult.

(He was such a cute little guy!)

 For my friendship with cute Mercedes.

(Isn't broccoli hilarious!?)

Old Memories and a DIY Project with My Mom

Lately, my mom has been trying to organize her house and she has found some great things!

This was one of my dad's favorite desserts his mom would make.

This was my joy school group when I was three.

Some of the old toys we used to play with growing up.

My old pog slammer (I think Chris got it for me) and an Oprah book Amy got at a book fair.

I look so comfortable on Santa's lap don't I!

My sister and her little family have moved into my parent's house. Garrett is lucky enough to be in a pink bedroom that all 4 of us kids ended up sleeping in at one point. (Andy and I even shared it, he was 21 and I was 11, that was special!) Anyways, we still had the original fan in that room and it was AWFUL! Poor Garrett would get so sweaty during his naps. My mom and Amy picked out a new fan and my mom and I installed it. This was the second fan we installed and it went so much faster. We did have a few problems with getting in the remote receiver, but that happened last time too. After really reading how to get the remote control to work, we had a working fan! I love projects like these!

Yeah, I just started using Instagram. I like it a lot!

The Perfect Haircut!

I love having short, short hair. Jonathan is found of my long hair. I decided to grow out my hair for Jonathan. I really have enjoyed it, but as the weather changed I too was ready for change.

Last Wednesday, I decided to cut my hair. I asked the amazingly talented Christina, my sister, to see when she could cut my hair. I was shocked to find out that she would be able to do it the next day. I showed her the inspiration picture, and I'm not sure who was more excited out of the two of us. (She doesn't get the opportunity to cut that much hair at one time.) I almost couldn't sleep I was so excited!

I decided that I would surprise Jonathan and not tell him that I was chopping off my hair. That made the change even more exciting for me. (Jonathan and I are rather predictable, so I don't mind giving him a few surprises!)

The scissors came out and the hair fell quickly! It felt so good feeling all that hair go. I love love love having short hair again! Christina did such a good job!

Jonathan at first acted like nothing was different, and then realized that my hair was short. He wasn't that surprised by it because I had short hair when we first met. Jonathan does love it though and that's all I wanted.

Yesterday

I had a plan for yesterday: run some errands, print out some pictures, have lunch with a friend, grill chicken for our dinner with the missionaries. Things quickly changed when Jonathan called in sick to work. He still made me go to lunch with my friend (I'm really glad that he did that). I also went to a store so we would have dessert for the missionaries. Then I came home feeling really tired (and paranoid that I'm getting sick too). After laying down, I focused on cleaning up our little apartment. I realized that I really didn't feel like defrosting chicken, so the menu quickly change and that was that. While I was vacuuming, I remembered that our lease was up at the end of the month. Jonathan ran down to the office to get our new contract and brought it to me to sign. (Thank goodness we remember important things while doing mundane tasks!) The dinner that we made was so much easier and still delicious.

After the missionaries left, we had our typical Friday night. Nothing special, just Jonathan sitting at the computer doing some C programming homework. It usually takes most of the night (and sometimes some of the morning too), but he finished up early. We got to play a game of Phase 10 and then called it a night.

I am so excited for Jonathan to be all done with school. Then we can have real date nights and more time together. Even with those feelings, I love the simplicity of our life. We can make a plan for the day and easily change it. We can be sick and have a lazy day. I am very grateful for this time that we have because it won't last forever.

PS Here's a new blog I found.