HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Not too much is new here, I mainly just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas. Yes, I say Happy Christmas. I'm a Harry Potter geek, which should be explaination enough if you've read the books and/or seen the movies. My gift from John won't get here in time for Christmas, but I already know what it is. Here you go:

















Again, have a great Christmas and a wonderful new year.

PS
This new year's eve will be 4 years that John and I have been married for. I've been blessed with such a wonderful eternal companion. I just want to say how grateful I am for the temple and the strength it gives to my marriage that we chose to be sealed in the temple right from day 1.

It's Done. Whew!

Okay, so I didn't pass my test, I messed up parallel parking (for the first time of course), plus I missed a pedestrian. In all honesty though, I was just so happy that it was over. I'd been so nervous before, I ended up having a panic attack and a super sore stomach that lasted a couple of days. I will probably try to take the test again, but not until the snow is gone. Right now I just want to concentrate on being a good wife and mother and just trying to get/keep our house in order.

Our weekend in Magrath was fun, but there certainly wasn't even close to enough time for visiting. 2 of John's sisters we only got to see for a few hours. Now we're just waiting for Christmas holidays. I'm really looking forward to seeing Caleb's face on Christmas morning, should be lots of fun. We're having my dad over for Christmas steak dinner as well, so that should be good.

On a side note, here's a little lesson I learned this morning. Always check in your fridge for milk for the kids before you decide that you can wait until tomorrow to get groceries. Our kids have ZERO milk until groceries tonight, which means Ty is going to be a pill all day long.

The Cat is Out of the Bag

On Friday I'm going to take a test so I can drive one of these without a licensed driver in the passenger seat:

Computer, YAY!

So we got our old computer back, and I have a disk drive that actually works again, HORRAY! I am just so frustrated with computers in general right now. They usually don't work quite right, and I really don't like transferring data from one computer over to the other, even with an external hard drive. Oh well, I'm still happy that we were able to get the old one back and that it's working better than the DELL. John says that we're never buying a DELL ever again, and after all of the problems we've had I'm inclined to agree with him.

My mum was up over the weekend, and that was a lot of fun. We got to do a lot of shopping. I got John's Christmas presents for him, so that was good. Not too much else is new in our world right now, though, I just wanted to share that I finally got my computer back and have a working disk drive again.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Our tree is up!!! Caleb begged and begged yesterday, so I decided to beg a tiny bit too, and it worked. My reasoning was pretty good, too. I don't have a lot of Christmas decorations, so my house doesn't make me feel like it's Christmas season without the tree. I feels like it now, though:) No pics yet, we're kind of waiting on our old computer to come back this week so that pictures will work again. This computer has never worked right since Caleb busted out DVD drive out.

So my calling was clarified for me yesterday. I am the Activity Days Leader, and the other lady is the assistant leader. EEK! I have lots of plans though, which I'm hoping will turn out to be lots of fun. Some examples are preparing an FHE lesson and packet, a book club night, babysitting stations to learn skills, a talent night and about 10 months more worth of stuff (I just gave you January and February). I also don't think they've been working on an article of faith every week, but we'll be starting that this week. However, I don't plan on doing treats every week, and I was just wondering if anyone knows if that's the norm or not. I was told that it's run kind of like FHE, but FHE usually has a treat, so I just wanted to make sure. We don't exactly have a huge budget for Activity Days... So anyway, I'm really excited about my calling, in case you couldn't tell, but I'm also more nervous than I've ever been for any other calling. I'm hoping that means that this will turn out to be my favourite calling yet.

New Calling

So after over 2 months of waiting for one, I got a new calling this past Sunday. I am one of the Activity Days leaders for our ward. I'm really excited about it. We have 14 active girls, so I'm sure I'll get MORE than my share of estrogen, ha ha.

I also got my dishwasher, HORRAY! We got family photos done on Saturday by Brent. He was in YSA with us in Grande Prairie. The photos on here of me, the boys and the family were all done by him. He charged me a bag of Christmas baking, which I could totally afford.

Anyways, not too much else is new here, other than lots of Christmas music being played. Here are two of my three favourite Christmas albums.

The Boy Are Back

My boys are back home, HORRAY! I was so excited when John's dad rang the doorbell when they got her that I nearly fell down the stairs I was running so fast, ha ha. More good news, we ordered our dishwasher last Friday and we'll be picking it up this coming Saturday. I am SO excited about that. I think some of the people who follow my blog know the dishwasher story, but I'm sure some of you don't, so I thought I would post it here.

Back when we were still YSAs up in Grande Prairie, a bunch of us girls were talking about household chores before church one Sunday. John piped up and said that he would expect his wife to do all of the dishes. As all of us looked at him with nothing but shock and disgust, I'm sure, he quickly added "well, I'd buy her a dishwasher". Then on fast Sunday a month or so later, I was sitting on the Edmonton Alberta Temple steps with John, trying to figure out how to tell him that I'd gotten an answer to what I was fasting about, when he didn't even know what I was fasting about. So I looked at him and said "John, I think Heavenly Father wants me to get a dishwasher". So there you have it, the joke behind the dishwasher in our marriage, PLUS the story about how I told John that I knew I was supposed to marry him.

Hope you're all having a great Remembrance Day. Even if you don't support everything our military does, still support them for being willing to do their best to serve us.

Announcement

I am happy to announce that we will soon be adding another member to our family on Sat, Nov 14th. Take a look:

Christmas Is Coming, HORRAY!

So I want to talk in this post about some of my favourite Christmas traditions. The first one of the season, other than spending a small to large fortune on gifts, is Christmas baking, YAY! Now I don't know about anyone else, but I LOVE Christmas baking. It smells great, it tastes great, and since everyone else is eating it too, you don't feel nearly as guilty intaking those extra calories. This year I'll be doing all of my baking on my own for the first time. It's exciting, but also kind of sad, because I've been blessed the past few years to be able to do the majority of my baking with my brother. So let me know, what's your favourite recipe for Christmas baking. E-mail me at blynikki@hotmail.com or send me a message on Facebook, I really need more ideas for this year:)

On the first Monday of December we put up our tree. We usually get a new ornament each year, however we made our own last year, and that was lots of fun too. We do this as our FHE activity. When I was growing up it was the first Sunday of December, but that doesn't work in the church with the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional being the same night, so I bumped it to Monday as an FHE thing and it works great.

The next tradition I guess is probably that we would go out looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve, each of us with our hot beverage of choice in hand (mine is either hot chocolate or a flavoured steamed milk when they're available). The past few times that we've done this in Wainwright or Edmonton we all pile into a van, grab our drinks from 7-11 and off we go. Christmas music is optional, but if I had it my way we'd be listening to Christmas music for about half of the year, ha ha.

After we get home from looking at lights it's time for an oldie but a goodie. We each get to open one present. As I was growing up, it was whatever gift we chose, as long as it wasn't a major gift, but John and I have changed this to a new pair of pyjamas. This year just the boys are getting them, since John and I have enough PJs to choke a dead horse. There is usually a book involved as well. I think last year Caleb got Tales of Beetle the Bard. Then we put out a cold drink and snack for Santa before tucking the kids into bed.

I realize I could be opening a can of worms here, but John and I have decided to give Santa a little space in our home. Enough for him to stop, have a snack and leave a movie for each of us. I think that's a pretty good amount of Santa. He's there, but he doesn't overshadow anything.

In the morning we'll be reading from the scriptures about when Christ was born before we head downstairs. I'm hoping this will remind the kids that their Savior should come before anything else in all things. Then it's downstairs to open presents and to have a nice big family breakfast followed by a nice holiday supper that night. This year we're having steak instead of turkey. Mutual decision that I'm very happy about. We'll also have perogies, cabbage rolls, stuffing and some other stuff with a birthday cake for dessert to remind us that we are celebrating the fact that our Savior was born. I'm thinking about doing a cake for April 6th as well.

Boxing Day was also a big day in my family growing up. That was the day that we went and visited extended family and did our Christmas with them. I really enjoyed it, since we got 2 Christmas Days in a row.

So what are your favourite Christmas traditions?

Update From The Bly Home

Oh boy, how do I do an update on here without freaking everyone out...Things have gotten worse for me in the past few weeks, which is super tough, but it has also given us a push to try and do more to find help for me. The boys are spending a few weeks in Magrath with my in-laws, so hopefully that will help both the boys and us here. We're starting to calm down and get things into a more normal state, so hopefully we'll be able to keep things that way.

Ty's birthday went well. We just had a lasagna dinner with us and John's parents and then cake and ice cream for dessert. I think Ty liked his presents, but you can never really tell with a kid that young. Caleb thinks they are his, so we had to keep telling him that they are actually Ty's and that they can share. I don't have any of the pictures up on the computer yet, but when I do I'll post some.

So my SIL and I were discussing yesterday whether you should stop your kids from trick or treating at a certain age, and I was wondering how other people felt about that as well. My SIL is stopping her kids from trick or treating at the age of 12. I am personally letting my kids dress up and go out for as long as they still want to. I think it would be awfully hypocritical of me to stop them at a certain age since I was 16 the last time I actually went door to door and probably would have gone other years if I hadn't made other plans. So what are your thoughts and feelings about setting an age limit?

Cake, Cake, Glorious Cake

I finally found something that I enjoy! Cake decorating! I think I fell in love all over again last night as I decorated my first cake. I'm already planning on doing the other Wilton courses as well. Here are some pictures. I hated the Geomatics wording and wanted to take it off and redo it (people were bumping my table as I wrote it), but John wouldn't let me...

Gibble Gibble

There is a story behind that. When John and I were first trying to teach our niece what a turkey said, she always said "Gibble gibble". Anyways, yesterday I made my first turkey dinner on my own. I was so nervous about it. But it turned out really good, I was really happy with it. We had turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, mixed veggies and apple pie with ice cream. I don't do pumpkin pie, the only one I've ever tried that I even remotely liked is one that my future SIL made a couple of years ago. I also made cabbage rolls for the first time on my own, but we didn't have them for dinner because they couldn't fit in my oven while the turkey was in there. It's a good thing I'd already intended to cook the stuffing in the slow cooker. Anyways, on the topic of the turkey, am I the only one who gets grossed out by having to take stuff out of his insides and then clean him off and out? Ick!

Today I have to make and ice my cake so that it is ready for my cake class tomorrow night. I'm making a butter pecan cake with butterscotch filling. This is one of the cakes that is going to John's work. But I'll take pictures of it first. I'm super excited about it. I also have to make up about 8 or so cups worth of butter cream icing BEYOND what I already need to ice the cake with. Just so we're clear, that's 3 cups worth of Crisco and about 12 cups worth of icing sugar, not to mention the other ingredients. So glad that this stuff is not all being eaten at home, John would gain back the entire 30 some pounds he's lost so far. Oh yes, he's broken 270lbs now, YAY! I'm so proud of him.

So anyways, since yesterday what Thanksgiving, I'm wondering what each of you was grateful for this year. So leave me a comment and let me know. I'm grateful for the gospel, my family and even more, the fact that I went an entire long weekend being able to control my feelings and thoughts and didn't lose control of them. HORRAY!!!

Late Thankful Thursday

Sorry Christal, I need to steal your Thankful Thursday for the day and mention some things that I'm ever so grateful for...

A loving Heavenly Father who still loves me through all of my emotional and mental turmoil.

A Saviour who understands all I feel because he was willing to sweat blood from every single pore for me.

A wonderful husband who will get up in the middle of the night and sit with me and hold me as I cry because I've lost the ability to control how I think and feel.

A beautiful miracle named Caleb who doesn't mind me coming into his room in the middle of the night and snuggling with him in his bed until I feel peace again.

A smiling giggler named Ty who just melts your heart every time he grins.

A gorgeous little princess named Lauren. Oh sweetheart, I owe you so much more than I can ever repay you for. Thank you for giving me my life, for helping me to finally find a life that was worth living. You are the greatest miracle that has ever happened to me.

Two loving people who were able to give Lauren was I wasn't able to. You were the only people that she was ever meant to be with, and the fact that I've always known that has helped me to never once in the last 5 years to ever regret making the hardest and best decision that I've ever made.

Music that I can cry to, music that helps me to feel the spirit, music that gets me moving, music that makes me happy, music that allows me to vent all of the emotion that has overloaded my system lately. There is a Jonas Brothers' lyric that says "Music's in my soul" and I truly understand that line.

Christmas. As much as I don't like snow and cold weather, it always means one good thing to me, my favourite holiday of the year is coming. The time when I get to buy presents for people that I loved and have my husband home for some family bonding time.

As hard as this time is for me as I wait and wait to get into the specialist to figure out how to deal with the fact that I'm losing my ability to control what I even think and feel, it's so nice to know that I'm so blessed...(And a special thank you to Alana for taking me out for a birthday treat on Tuesday and for Heidi, who I've only really met once but has become one of my favourite people to talk to.)

My Birthday Present To Myself

Well, reaching 100 posts on my blog was one of the items on my bucket list, so it is my birthday gift to myself that I can cross that one off on the day that I turn 25, horray!

So 25 years ago on October 5, I was born in Nova Scotia at 2:16pm. I was 7 lbs 3 oz. I was delivered by a c-section that Mum was asleep for. She did better than Dad, though, he wasn't even in the country. He was on his way back home from a tour in the Middle East. I guess the military felt that him coming back a week before my due date was more than enough time to get home in time for the big event. Yeah, right...Babies work on their own time table, I know that QUITE well. Anyways, I was the first child and only ended up with 1 sibling, Mr Kyle Mattson, who was born just over 2 1/2 years later. Kyle was one of my very best friends growing up and I spent most of my summers and grade 12 year hanging out with him more than anyone else. In July 2002 I gained a step-dad, Bob, and step-sister, Kirby. As for moving, here's how it goes.

Lived around Digby, NS after I was born. In 1986 we moved to Mynarski Park, AB. Uh oh, there's another baby on the way in 1987, we move into our own house in Penhold, AB. Mum and Dad separate in 1990, Kyle, Mum and I moved back into Mynarski Park, AB. 1994, the base is closing down next year and Mum is posted, we move to Denwood, AB (base at Wainwright). 1996, Mum buys a house and we move into town in Wainwright. 2000, the unexpected posting, we trek off to Lethbridge, AB. 2001, Mum retires from the military to get a proposal out of Bob, we move back to our house in Wainwright, which we'd been renting out that year. Mum and Bob are engaged and Bob is about to undergo surgery in 2002, we move from our house into Bob's house in Wainwright. 2003, I go to live with Dad so I can go to school at NAIT in Edmonton, AB. Later in 2003 I realize that I need to move back home for some reason, back to Bob's house in Wainwright. Very end of 2003, I attempt living with roommates for the first time in Wainwright. One of my roommates bails on us and I find out I'm pregnant, and move back home during the last week of 2003. In 2005 I finally get my act together and move up to Grande Prairie, AB and in with some friends who are also members of the church. I do this on inspiration and have no idea what I'm walking into. Oct 2005, I am engaged!!!! I go to live with my future SIL, Amy, for 6 weeks. Nov 2005, I go spent my last weeks as a singleton back home in Wainwright, AB. Jan 2006, I move in with my husband in Grande Prairie, AB. Feb 2006, John gets a job offer and we find out we're expecting, we move in with my dad in a rush move to Edmonton, AB. May 2006, we move into our 2 bedroom apartment in Edmonton, AB, our first proper home in our marriage. July 2007, I am tired of being to scared to take my child out for a walk and we move into Mission Glen in Edmonton, AB into our 2 bedroom townhome. August 2008, we are within months of having another baby and move 3 doors down the road into a 3 bedroom unit, and here I sit! Well, there are my moves...

And finally, the winner of the prize is *drumroll please*...Alana! Since I decided to base the prize on the winner since I knew some people would like certain things and other people wouldn't like them so much, Alana gets to choose what kind of cookies she would like me to bake for her this next week, and then I will deliver them to her. She's the only person who commented that I'd have been able to do this for...Oh, and here's the better part of the prize, she gets an afternoon of her choosing SANS Landon, cause he'll be hanging out at my house.

My Other Family...

Last night the boys and I went to visit one of the most important families in the world to me, the Orr family. I guess being stuck in Wainwright while John's in Vancouver on a business trip has at least one perk. The husband of the Orr family, Jason, is really special to me. He started as a friend, but became like another dad to me, was my seminary teacher, was a witness at my temple marriage and is also the reason for Ty's middle name. He is such an amazing person. He was a bishop before in Milk River and is now the Branch President in Wainwright. His wife, Lori, has been my visiting teaching companion before and was also my bridal escort or whatever they call that. She was there for me through the adoption process and was even at the placement. The kids and I get along great. The younger 3 all treat me like I'm another sibling. I am 2 years older than the oldest B, I think. B1 is currently serving a mission in California. B2 and I took seminary together and I think I even got him to do a semiary homework lesson one time, lol (we had home study). B3 has grown into such a beautiful young woman, she makes me jealous. B4 has become an amazing young man who I happily call my brother. B5 is still to me that adorable girl I taught in primary with such a strong testimony for someone so young. Even though she's almost 12 already, she'll always be that adorable little CTR girl in my mind who when she was told she could draw a picture of anything that she wanted to chose to draw a picture of The First Vision. As far as I know, I still have that picture.

Anyways, while I was over there, Jason gave me a blessing for the emotional and mental trials I've been struggling with so badly. It was a great blessing and I'm so grateful for the power of the priesthood and that men like my husband and Jason choose to live so that they are worthy to be a mouthpiece for the Lord when people need it.

Anyways, so you know how you get those rhetorical questions asked during church lessons sometimes? I was once asked if there was a couple that I wanted to strive to be like. Jason and Lori are that couple. They are so strong in the church and do their absolute best to do the right thing for their children. Even though B2 hasn't been active in the church for a long time now, they still show nothing but love for him. They truly amaze me and I hope that John and I can grow to be the strong pillars of strength that they are.

Next post is #100, YAY!!! So, in the spirit of celebration, I will be announcing on the next post who will win a prize. It will be announced with the winner. The winner will be selected from whoever comments on this specific post. I don't know when I will post again, but it will definately be within the next week, as my birthday is on Monday, so I'll probably be doing a post for that.

My Little Wubbie Sir Nut

I don't want to forget to do this tomorrow since we'll have company and I'll be getting ready for the party on Saturday, so here is celebrating Caleb's 3 years in our family.

I went into labour on Sunday, Sept 24th late in the morning, and immediately went to the hospital (you can do that in Wainwright). They confirmed that I definately was in labour, and so they started trying to speed it up. First we did a pill thing, which didn't do all too much for me and 2 seperate times we tried the drip, but Caleb did NOT like that. His heartrate went all nuts. At about 1pm on the 25th my doctor broke my water and said he'd check on my at 4pm to see how I was doing. I went to the washroom and then sat down in the rocking chair to talk with Mum and John. I was in a LOT of pain and then I realized that I needed to push. I had Mum call a nurse. The nurse and John got me to the bed, with me almost giving birth to Caleb standing up at the window in the process. She checked and sure enough, it was time. She called the doctor in a panic and called for every available nurse to get to maternity. She kept telling me not to push and I'm thinking "yeah, right, I can't stop it at this point lady". 2 pushes later, with no one looking, Caleb's head was out. Ah, sweet relief!!! John looks down to see how things are going and says "Eww!". A nurse turns around and exclaims "Oh my gosh, it's a head". They unwrap his cord from around his neck and I finish getting him out. Then in runs the doctor and his intern, ha ha. Let me add that my doctor is only a 5 minute drive from the hospital normally, and he was speeding to get there, so this was a SUPER SUPER fast delivery.

The past three years we've gotten to know Caleb, and what a wonderful spirit he is. My favourite way to describe Caleb is that he likes to take life by the horns and yank on them. He is a happy boy with the quickest temper I've ever seen in a child. He loves Mickey Mouse and Thomas the Tank Engine. He has already mastered counting to 12 on his own and does REALLY well with his ABCs with no help. Caleb is super active and loves to be on the go all of the time, apparently even during his sleep. His favourite people are his Uncle Kyle and his friend Brenna and his cousin Paul. He loves his daddy so much, but is a Mommy's boy at heart. Caleb loves to be the centre of attention and will do just about anything to be there. He loves his brother, but still has no concept of how to play nicely with him. But if Ty isn't crying, then Caleb always talks about the fact that Ty is cute.

We love him so much and are so glad that he came to our family. He and I had a rough start with severe morning sickness that left me flat on my back for a couple of months. He stuck through my PPD with me and still had nothing but smiles for me all of the time. He is an amazing little boy and I look forward to seeing him grow up even more.

My Week Without Facebook

I seriously thought it would be SO hard to go a week without Facebook, but the only part that was kind of off was that I apparently go through life now thinking of what to put as my status, ha ha. I didn't miss it at all, although I am glad to be back on there and see what people are up to (such a Kari expecting baby Gibb #2, congrats).

My week away went fairly well, but I am very happy to be back home in my own place with my own bed. John came to Wainwright and he and I got a hotel room for the night just to get away from it all for a while. We got a really good deal on a room with a king sized bed, jacuzzi tub and fireplace for only $149. Caleb and Ty stayed with my mum and Bob for the night. It was so nice to just get away and be able to relax without having to worry about the boys. On Saturday we went to some garage sales and among other things with bought Caleb 2 dozen Disney books for $5.50 and a bike with training wheels for $10. So glad about that bike, he has totally outgrown the tricycle and I really didn't want to spend tonnes of money on a brand new one.

I also found out that I have to wait until January 21st before I can get in to see the psychiatrist. Personally, I think that's a ridiculous amount of time to wait to see someone about bipolar, but I'm also on a cancellation list, so hopefully that will help out.

Anyways, not too much else is new here right now, so I should get going...

Wainmo Bound

So I have started my week without Facebook. I need to know that I can do that. This afternoon Mum is picking up the boys and I and we're going to go stay in Wainwright for a week. I'm hoping the change of scenery and lessening of responsibilities will help me out a bit. The parks there are closer and I can walk to the Walmart if I had to. John will join us on Friday and then we'll head home after church on Sunday. Then I will go into party mode, as Caleb's birthday party is on the 26th. He's having a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party, which I think he's really looking forward to since he asks me every day if it's his birthday party today, ha ha. Anyways, not too much else is new other than that, so I should go finish packing. I hope you all have a great week.

Am I The Only One Singing?

So I'm wondering, is there anyone else out there who sees my blog title and starts singing "I am a builder, working each day to build my family"? Every time I see it I get that song stuck in my head, it's a catchy song from this year's primary songs.

Anyways, here's my exciting news for the day. John is finally letting me start the process to get our passports. First I have to get Ty's birth certificate and the detailed one for Caleb (I just have the basic one for him). I can't believe Ty's almost 11 months old and I still don't have his birth certificate. If you know me at all, you know that it's not like me to wait so long for something like that. Anyways, I soon as I get those I can get the application forms done and then get them and our pics signed and then it's the fun trip to Canada Place (BOO!). I don't know how they expect me to get my kids to cooperate for their pictures, but other parents do that as well, so I guess we'll figure it out.

And I'm getting even more excited for my cake decorating course next month. I'm really lucking out that because of when the classes are, I'll be able to make Ty's cake for him. Here are some of the cakes I'll apparently be making. The clown one is the one that we'll be using for Ty's birthday, the other two will go to Johns work.

I'm At a Place Called Vertigo

Last night we were in the ER from 7 until 1:30. The culprit: vertigo caused by a viral infection. I'm glad it wasn't anything serious, but it sure felt serious when I couldn't even sit up without getting so dizzy that I thought I was either going to puke or pass out. I'm glad I at least got an answer though.

Also, regarding my last post, I had a lot better of a day today. I was brought a meal by someone I never would have expected it from and it really brightened up my day. I know that there are really great people in our ward. I guess I am still a little bitter about no one helping me out when I couldn't lift Caleb and could barely even walk late in my pregnancy with Ty, even after I specifically asked the Relief Society for help. That really hurt me, but it's really time that I got over that.

Thank you Heidi, Alana and Amber for your comments, they made me feel loved. I guess I have a hard time remembering in the moment that there are people who care about me, even if they live over 1000 miles away. Would that I could get my passport tomorrow and hop down to Utah for a week or two...

And, also, I would like to post a pic of the logo on the shirt I got today. Needless to say, John LOVES it...

Is There A Point?

I'm starting to wonder if there is even a point to blogging. It's seldom that I get a comment...Hmm, oh well, it's still journalling, right? That means it counts for something.

So there was no Red Deer during the long weekend due to some strange welt-like rash that is completely covering Caleb's body. Took him to the doctor and they just gave him some hydrocortizone or something that we have to put on him 3 times a day. I don't think it's really helping, personally. If he's not doing any better by the weekend, I'll take him to a different clinic to go see a doctor who hasn't brushed us off before. Unfortunately, he was the only doctor working that day at the closest clinic to us. He's also being tested for strep throat, so I have to keep him away from people for a few more days yet until we know for sure.

Also, I don't think I've posted it on here yet, that I am getting VERY frustrated with the fact that I haven't heard about my appointment yet. I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and told him I needed him to refer me to someone to be looked at for bipolar. I won't go into a lot of detail, but lets just say that with the things I struggle with, it would be a lot safer to get me in sooner rather than later, but I still haven't even received a phone call telling me when my appointment will be. So if I haven't heard by Monday, I'm going to call my Dr's office in Wainwright and tell them what's been going on and that they need to get me in to see someone ASAP. Dr deVos is so much better about taking me seriously than Dr Jackman. Really wish I wasn't 2 hours away from him, he is such a great doctor and I miss him so much. I must, if I did almost all of my prenatal 2 hours from here and stayed in Wainwright from 8 months on with Ty just so he could be my doctor...Anyways, so that's a huge issue for me right now. Things aren't going too well in that department. I really need help with my boys and my house (it's that bad), but our ward is SO awful for people helping others and accepting callings and what not, that it's just easier to not ask than to deal with the disappointment of no one 'being able to help', as they like to say.

However, on a plus note, I am now down to 150.1 lbs and John is around 174 ish. I'm so happy, so close to not having an overweight BMI anymore.

Also, since I have wanted to learn how to decorate cakes for about a year now, John is letting me take the Wilton Course 1 at Michaels next month as my birthday present. I am very excited. I will send the cakes to work with him each week and they can eat them there, so that I don't have to gain weight by having us eat them here. Should be lots of fun, and helps me to get out of the house once every week. I'm hoping to complete all 4 courses within the year, but we shall see.

Is It Really September???

Guess it's about that time of the week again, hey? I'm looking for ways to make my blog more interesting, so if anyone has any ideas for me, they'd be greatly appreciated (that means you, Christal, your blog is awesome).

What else is there? Hmm, not too much, I guess. I don't have exciting 'back to school' stories yet, I have 2 more years until that happens. We haven't really done much of anything this summer for both money reasons and the fact that my husband is SO not an ourdoorsy kind of guy. It's hard to deal with sometimes, but I still love him:)

I guess I could post where we are going this coming weekend.


DISCOVERY CANYON















BOWER PONDS















MY FORMER STOMPING GROUNDS - CFB PENHOLD














"A house does not have to be perfect to be a home of joy, a child does not have to behave perfectly to love and be loved, and every moment of life does not have to be perfect to be of value. Too often, I realize, we fail to see the glorious reality of the simple joy that abounds in the seemingly mundane routine of day-to-day living. Instead, we tend to idolize the past, idealize the future, and devalue the present.... What better way to show our appreciation to Heavenly Father for what we have than to embrace our lives, albeit 'ordinary' and 'unexciting,' with joy?" --Winnie Dalley; Ensign, March 1998, page 59

A Few of My New Favourite Things

Here are a few things I've discovered, that I love:

-Homemade All Purpose Disinfectant Cleaner
2 cups of water to 30 drops of Tea Tree Oil (Sorry Christal, I know you're allergic and can't try this one)

-Boiling Cinnamon and Cloves to Make My House Smell Nice
1 Tbsp of each in a small pot full of water. I just put the stove on 5 and let it go, occasionally topping it up

-I am the lightest I've been since the first trimester with Caleb
Weighed myself this afternoon and I'm at 152.6 lbs. This is the lightest I've been since the first trimester with Caleb, so I'm very excited about that.

Another Tuesday Already?!?

I am so proud of John lately. He's been amazing at counting his calories and is still losing weight. I didn't do as great this last week, but I'm back on track now. We've been eating so much fruit and vegetables. Last night we had frozen pizza since I'd had a bad headache, and Caleb decided he wanted an apple instead of pizza...Such an awesome little guy. So he went and got himself and apple and sat on the front porch to eat it. It feels great to be eating better.

I've been continuing with a series on loan from my SIL, Kathy. It's Lynn Gardner's gem series. Right now I'm on Sapphires & Smugglers. I love reading LDS fiction, I don't have to worry about what kind of content is going to be in the books.

Other than that, we're just waiting to see what happens in primary. Our president is moving and only has 2 Sundays left with us, so I don't know whether I'll be in primary in a few weeks or not. Guess we shall see, although I do have an idea of what's going to happen, but don't want to say anything because I don't want to jinx it...I'll keep you posted on that.

Someone's Turning 5...

Has it really been a week already? Time seems to go by faster and faster the older that you get (not that I think 24 is old). The biggest news in the Bly home is that John and I are both losing weight, YAY! We downloaded the LoseIt application for our iPod touches. It helps us keep track of how many calories we're taking in and burning each day. I love it!!! John has already lost 4 pounds, so I'm very proud of him for that.

We discovered last night that Caleb can move Ty's crib even though there aren't any wheels on it. I heard Ty making noise (hours after I'd put them to bed) so I went to investigate. Instead of the crib being against the wall where it should be, it was against Caleb's bed. He'd moved it at least a foot and a half, probably closer to two. Sometimes I just don't know what to do with him...For any experienced moms out there...How do you get your kid to stop hitting other kids? It seems Caleb gets worse each week in nursery, hitting, pushing, kicking, etc. I am at a loss about what to do with him. I feel bad putting him in there because I know he's going to be a bully to other people's children, but my calling is one that doesn't exactly lend itself to me being able to take Caleb with me. I guess right now I'm just grateful that he's only got 4 1/2 months left in nursery and then it will be off to Sunbeams...WOW! My little Caleb is going to be a Sunbeam next year...Hmm, starting to feel old now.

Speaking of feeling old, there is a very beautiful girl who is turning 5 on Saturday that I would like to mention a few thoughts about. There isn't a day that's gone by in the last 5 years that I haven't thought about her. I am so grateful for all that she gave me. She inspired me to become a better person, leading me to the true church of Jesus Christ. Placing her for adoption so that she could have an eternal family made me determined to live so that I could be married in the temple and have that same blessing, which I did. I wouldn't have the wonderful husband that I have and the two wonderful sons we have together if it wasn't for her. HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY, LAUREN!!! I love you so much!

Surprise and Surprise Again!

This past weekend we were in Wainwright to celebrate my mum turning 50. We had a fake surprise party for her on Saturday night because she knew we were planning something, so we wanted the actual party to still be a surprise. We had some people over, I made a TONNE of food and we spend the evening doing karaoke, which turned out to be a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. Sunday night was the bigger party, and she was so surprised! She really enjoyed her weekend and I'm so glad. She's always doing such nice things for everybody else, it was nice to give back to her.

Not too much else is new here. I got my hair cut last week. Lots of layers and a huge amount of thinning, I really like it a lot. Now we're just winding down from a bunch of crazy weekends all in a row. I'm really looking forward to being home with no company this weekend, we haven't had one of those in a month.

I've been doing a lot of driving lately, too, but it's all been out of the city pretty much. I really need to get more comfortable with the idea of driving in Edmonton, but it still makes me so nervous.

And last but not least, we are now actively looking to move to Magrath. Who knows how long it will take, but we are actively looking now. I love our ward and my calling, but I want a safer and more open place for my children to grow up in. I want to be able to put Caleb in a preschool close to our home next year. I want to be in a place with more people who share my goals and values. I want to be closer to more of John's family. So please remember us in your prayers, if you don't mind. We really want to be able to move in the next year so that we can enroll Caleb in preschool next year.

OOPS!

I kind of sort of forgot to update this last week. It was a super busy week for me, though. The boys were in Magrath with John's parents, and I did a lot of painting. It was a lot of work, but I'm really happy with the results. The boys got back home on Saturday and our niece, Lyssa, as well. She's staying with us for the week. Caleb was so awful in church on Sunday. And he won't be in church in our own ward for the next two Sundays, so that probably won't help matters. Oh well, at least he's really enjoying having Lyssa here. And he now sings I Am A Child Of God, it's SO cute. It's so hard to believe that in just over 2 months he will be 3.

We went to see Harry Potter on Saturday, and I loved it. It's definately the best one yet. By the time we got home from the theatre, the storm was in full swing. It was crazy. On the way to church in the morning we were surrounded by broken trees, a fence that lost part of itself and an apartment building that lost quite a few shingles off of the roof. One of the trees at our meetinghouse came up with the roots. Definately not normal weather for Edmonton, but I'm do glad it didn't do any more damage than that.

Now today is going to be preparing for our next adventure. This weekend is Magrath Days, so we'll be heading down there after John's done work tomorrow. And tomorrow is his birthday, so that's exciting. He'll be 33, which is still fairly young, but old for me (since I'm still 24). It's kind of nice being married to someone that much older than me, it helps me to feel young:P Anyways, John is such an amazing husband. He works all day and comes home to help me with the boys. If I'm not feeling well then he'll make supper for us. He helps me 'try' to keep the house clean. He tells me that he loves me several times a day. He has done almost every single night time feeding for both of our boys. He is such a wonderful man, and I am so blessed to be his eternal companion. I LOVE YOU, JOHN!

The Verdict

My OB/GYN has put me on thyroid medication. It's meds for life. It sounds like a bad thing, but I'm just so glad to know what's wrong and to have a way of dealing with it. The meds have kicked in already and I'm feeling so much better. Yesterday I was a cleaning machine. I'm hoping to get a lot done today as well.

Our family photos went really well, she got some really cute ones. As soon as I have them I'll post a couple on here and a bunch on Facebook.

On Friday, John and I went and did temple work for my dad's parents. It was really nice to do a session again and to see John in the Celestial Room again (I think the last time was a couple weeks after Caleb was born). Next month we'll do the work for my grandmere's parents, I think.
Not too much else is new here, other than I'm still exercising and still losing weight, HORRAY! I hope you all have a wonderful week:)

Pounds Are Dropping, YAY!

So I've been trying to eat better lately, and I've started exercising again, and it's paying off. I am now 160.9 lbs. I know it sounds like a lot, but I'm so happy to be below 175 again, it's been a long time. We didn't do much for Canada Day today. John helped a family load up their U-Haul to move to Calgary and then we went and got groceries. We all had a super long afternoon nap and then I made supper. I tried some new recipes from 30 Minute Meals, and they were really good. We will definately be having them again, that's for sure. I made Calzone Rolls, Roasted Garlic Romaine Salad and then for dessert we had Angel Food Cake with real Whipped Cream, Toasted Almonds, Raspberries and Blueberries. Super yummy! Then we played with the boys for a while before bedtime. I read to Caleb (we're reading The Little Prince right now) and now I'm just catching up on here before John and I go watch some Stargate Atlantis. Ha ha, he's turned me into such a geek. We are having family pictures taken this coming Saturday, which I'm very excited about. Tomorrow I meet with my OB/GYN to get my Thyroid test results. Hopefully we can figure out what's wrong with me soon. Anyways, that's about all that's new here, just looking forward to having only 2 Sundays left before our Primary President gets back. Hope you all had a great Canada Day!!!

PS
Yes, I understood what you were saying, Christal. Don't worry, I type tired all the time too, ha ha. And to the anonymous person who responded to my last post, thank you so much, your comment really brightened up my day for me.

TGFVT

That's "Thank Goodness for Visiting Teaching". I had an emotional breakdown yesterday afternoon. I think everything just keeps piling up and when you couple that with the fact that I'm a very cynical and morose person it really doesn't lend itself to a lot of positive emotions. So John and I have started thinking of ways to help make this better, one of which is sending the boys to Magrath for a week so that I have time to collect myself emotionally and to straighten some things out with myself. So they'll head down there in 2 weeks. I'm also considering quitting Mary Kay, but I want to pray about it a while longer before I do anything. Anyways, on to why I'm so grateful for Visiting Teaching. When we went and saw Alana last night and Maria gave the lesson, it didn't quite hit me. But when my VTs were over and I heard the lesson, I got it. I've been having such a hard time the last year or so saying my prayers and reading my scriptures on an even semi-regular basis. It's not like I don't think they're important or anything like that, I guess Satan's just working a really good number on me. So since this month's VT lesson was about sincere prayer, it really helped me to realize that I wouldn't be nearly as big of an emotional mess if I was saying sincere prayers and reading my scriptures every day. Anyways, here's a quote from the message:

President Thomas S. Monson: “As we offer unto the Lord our family and our personal prayers, let us do so with faith and trust in Him. Let us remember the injunction of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews: ‘For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.’ If any of us has been slow to hearken to the counsel to pray always, there is no finer hour to begin than now”

Thinking About Number 3

No, I'm not pregnant and don't plan to be any time soon, ha ha. Just with Alana's post it got me thinking about the next one. John and I have planned for quite some time now to get pregnant again next summer (2010) and we're both still fine with that plan, as far as I can tell. However, because Alana mentioned the stoller it got me thinking that I really need to invest in a quality double stroller for the next one. I wish I'd gone with my first instinct this time and got one before we had Ty, but John kind of vetoed that one. So I bought one from Amy for $30 and it works great and all, but it's not quite what I want the next time around, if that makes any sense. I really love the Classic inline of Phil and Teds with the double kit, but I just can't afford that anytime in the near future. Does anyone know of something similar that isn't quite as expensive?

Hmm...

So I went to have my eyes examined after Ty and I had our shots yesterday and came out with more than I bargained for...

Just An Update

Oh it has been a long couple of weeks. I've been super busy with primary and visiting teaching, not to mention my boys. After tonight things will wind down for a little bit, so that will be nice. It's starting to get nice out, which I am VERY happy about. I took the boys for a walk on Tuesday and they both really enjoyed it, although I think Caleb picked up every single pinecone in his path. We got a few sticks near the end too. I've also decided to do a Mary Kay open house in June. I've been kind of frustrated because when I prayed about whether or not I should sell it, I was so sure that I got the go ahead, but right now it seems like it's just going to be the hugest flop ever. Oh well, if I was supposed to do it then it will all come together eventually.

On another note, I'm super nervous for June. Our primary president will be leaving to go to Russia for a bit over a month, so I will be acting president while she's gone, and it's a crazy month. Hopefully all will go well.

Not too much else is going on though, except that next Thursday I have to report for my Juror Summons, BOO! I keep hoping they'll decide they don't need it or something and that John will be able to work that day after all.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

It's A Full Week

This week is pretty booked up. Tonight we are having the missionaries over for dinner and it's also FHE tonight. Tomorrow I have a presidency meeting and then Nicole and I are going shopping for the rest of the stuff for the cardmaking thing. On Wednesday my visiting teachers are coming over for a visit. Thursday is the card making activity for Enrichment that I am teaching. There is barely anyone signed up, but it should still be fun. Friday John is dropping the boys off to my mum while I am babysitting Heather and Mike's kids so that they can go to a temple session. Saturday I am hoping to get at least part of the kitchen painted and it's also my Mary Kay party that night. So it should be quite the week.

Mother's Day went a lot better this year than it has for the last few years, so that was really nice. I only had a few minutes that were hard, and that was because adoption was specifically mentioned in one of the talks during sacrament meeting. Caleb decorated a tiny birdhouse for me in nursery, and it was the first time he's made me anythying for Mother's Day, so I was really excited about that. And then my sister came to drop off a hair straightner for me, and she also brought me a bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day which just made my day.

So I just wanted to add that I am so grateful for these two wonderful boys in my life. Caleb has a place in my heart that no one else will ever hold and Ty and I have a very special bond after a very tough pregnancy. I am also grateful for a wonderful husband who was so willing to overlook my past and never judge me for it. And I would feel rotten if I forgot to mention 3 other people I'm grateful for on Mother's Day. First off, I am very grateful for Christal and Darren. You were definately the perfect choice and I'm so grateful for the love that you have for your children, for each other and for the Lord. Lastly, I am SO grateful for a beautiful little girl named Lauren. She encouraged me to become a better person, which lead me to the Lord's church. I often say that I gave her life and she gave me a life worth living. I have a love for her beyond measure. Thank you to all of you wonderful people who make Mother's Day special to me.

Belated Update

Well, it's official. Caleb is definately day time potty trained! He hardly has had any accidents in the past week and a half, so that's super nice. He did have one at church this past Sunday, but I think it may have been because his normal nursery leader wasn't there, there were more kids than normal and the last block was visiting teaching conference, so it was all men in there. But other than that he is doing great, I am so proud of him.

This last weekend I had a chance to go to Time Out For Women. It was SO amazing. I came back so spiritually uplifted and I just felt great. It was awesome. I'm really hoping to go again the next time that they're in Alberta (and maybe I'll drag Christal along with me, ha ha). I'm just hoping that the next time I go I don't have to experience the flat tire. Thank goodness for AMA!

My surgery last Tuesday went okay. They didn't find any endometriosis, so I don't know what we're going to do now, but at least we know for sure about that. I started lifting Ty again yesterday, which was nice. I had a hard time not being able to lift him for a whole week. I'm so grateful for my kids and all of their smiles and laughter. They bring so much joy into my life and I have no clue what I'd do without these 2 precious boys that have been entrusted to me.

Is That Even Possible?

Caleb woke up yesterday and straightaway used his potty. He went through the whole day and didn't have a single accident. It's like he woke up and decided he was potty trained. Is that even possible? I am so proud of him and very excited to not have to change his diapers as much anymore. He'll still wear them for naps and night time until he gets the hang of night time stuff. The only downside is that we'll have to keep the door handle uncovered now so that he has the option of going to the bathroom during the night. Should be interesting...

Called To Serve Him, Heavenly King of Glory...

John and I both had calling changes last weekend. John was released as a youth Sunday School teacher and called to be the 2nd Coun in the Elders Quorum and I was released from the compassionate service committee and called to be the 1st Coun in the Primary. I don't know how John feels about his calling, but I am super excited about mine:) It's going to be lots of fun. We have a great Primary President and I'm really looking forward to working with her.

Tonight John and I are going to the temple to do initiatory work. We're doing some family names of mine, plus some temple file ones. I'm really looking forward to it. We're swapping babysitting with Heather and Mike so that we all can go once a month.

Anyways, Caleb's decided it's time to start his potty training for real, so we started that yesterday. He's had several accidents, but also a few successes now, so I'm happy with that.

That's about all that's new in the Bly home right now. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Awesome Weekend

Hey everyone! We had an awesome trip to Magrath. Caleb LOVED having so much room to run around. Friday was gorgeous weather, but Caleb got a bit too much sun and ended up puking on his Auntie Kate (oops). I got to go to a Mary Kay party my SIL Amy was hosting, which was lots of fun. And productive, I guess, because I'm currently in the process of becoming a Mary Kay consultant. I'm extremely excited about it. I love their products, they are so worth it. Also, John and I each got an iPod Touch, and we love them so much. We had a great Easter weekend, although I was a little bummed that Caleb's nursery lesson wasn't about the Resurrection, but what can you do? I hope you all enjoyed your's as well.

Magrath, WOOHOO!

Tonight once John gets home from work we'll travel to Magrath for Easter. A 5 day weekend, we are SO excited:)

Anyways, not too much else going on right now, so I thought I'd include the lyrics to my favourtie Christmas song on here, since I'm listening to it right now. Yes, I am listening to Christmas music in April, ha ha. I listen to it all year round, it drives John up the wall. Anyways, here goes:

Mary, Did You Know?

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Did you know
That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that youve delivered
Will soon deliver you

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Did you know
That your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know
That your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little boy
You've kissed the face of God

Mary, did you know?
The blind will see
The deaf will hear
And the dead will live again
The lame will leap
The dumb will speak
The praises of the Lamb

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Did you know
That your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know
That your baby boy is heaven's perfect lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding
Is the great I am

WOOHOO!

I am having such a good day today! First off, I got to order a new laptop for us today and a router, so I will have the internet downstairs once the laptop comes, YAY! I'm super excited about that. I've wanted a new laptop for so long, since our's only works when it's plugged in now and it's so old that it REALLY just needs to be trashed. The only problem was that I meant to order a red one but accidentally ordered a black one. Oh well, black was my second choice, so it's all good.

Even better news is that I have somewhere to take my laptop to on May 1st. Not only am I going to Time Out For Women, now I am also staying overnight at the hotel in a Junior Suite. A king size bed all to myself, YES! I asked John if it would be okay, and he agreed that I deserve to FINALLY have a night on my own with no kids. I am so excited about this. And it's got free high speed access, so that's a huge bonus.

Some news that even tops that is that my Utah trip is really coming together for me. Instead of things becoming more complicated, which they always have in the past until I ended up not being able to go each time, this time it's like everything is just falling into place. I'm so excited. We've had some changes to our original plans, but they are changes that are working out for the better. For example, we were originally going to go in October of next year, but it's now bumped up to August of next year. And I thought I was going to have to search and search for ways to spend a whole 2 weeks in Utah, but now we are going to be travelling through Idaho, Oregon, Washington and BC as well, so I'm super excited about that. And yes, we are stopping in Forks for a meal and spending a night in Port Angeles, ha ha.

And here is the best news of all. I got to go to the temple this past Thursday with the youth from my ward and do baptisms for the dead. It was the first time that I've been able to do them, and the first person I was baptized and confirmed for was my grandma on my dad's side. Super exciting! I also was baptized and confirmed for both of my dad's grandmothers and had Brother Closson baptized and confirmed for my dad's father and both of my dad's grandfathers. When Brother Closson was being confirmed for my grandpa I felt inside that I wasn't the only member in my family anymore. I didn't feel as alone as I had before. It was great. I cried a bit, which was so good for me. It had been so long since I'd had a good spiritual cry. It was such an amazing experience and I'm so grateful that I was able to offer these blessings to my ancestors. What an amazing and loving Heavenly Father we have who is so merciful to us all.

Poor Ty

Last night John and I were super tired so we went to bed at about 8pm. Well, come 10 I woke up to Ty screaming worse than I'd ever heard him scream before. So I went rushing into the boys' room to find Caleb in the crib and trying over and over again to jump on Ty. Caleb got in big trouble for that one and Ty got relocated for the night into the portable crib in his old room.

On another note, I'm starting to get excited about Time Out For Women in May. I still have no clue how I'm getting there, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Also, I'm starting to think about getting my driver's. The reason is that I want to have the ability to teach seminary. I am going to be substituting in seminary for a week next month, which I am so super excited about. Seminary teaching is my dream calling, but John keeps reminding me that I wouldn't be able to teach regularly without my license. So I've asked John to set up some time while we're in Magrath for me to practice parking and what not, the stuff that I don't ever do when I'm driving. I still probably won't get my driver's for quite a while, and even when I do, I don't plan on using it more than I absolutely have to in the city, but it would be nice to have it just in case. Maybe I can just not tell people when I do get it, ha ha. I guess we'll see how that goes.

Hobby Room

So it's been a fun week and a half here. We moved the boys in together on Saturday and it has gone far better than both of us expected. Caleb and Ty love to have company when they wake up and as long as we put Caleb to sleep first, then Ty doesn't wake him up when it's his bedtime. With Ty and Caleb in the same room, that opened up a room for us, which is now turning into the hobby room. It's where I'll do my cardmaking and sewing and where John can work on drawing (when he manages to find the time). I'm happy because as soon as we get my table upstairs then my cardmaking hiatus will be over, YAY!

I also have the portable crib set up in there right now for when I'm babysitting. I'm watching our friends' daughter a few times a week for the next few months. She will be 1 in April, is super cute and SO easy to watch. She adores Caleb and had lots of fun with him yesterday.

I think that's all that's super new in our house right now, though. The only other news is that we've found the right dosage for my meds, so I'm functioning normally again. My postpartum started to kick in at 3 months (again), so we upped my dosage from 50mg to 100mg and it's working really well for me. I'm a lot happier now. I wish I didn't have to take anything at all, but I'm still very grateful that I live in a time where I have the option available to me.

Anywho, that's all for now, hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

2 Down, 1 To Go

No, I'm not talking about kids, the next one is still a few years down the road. I got my second filling done today. I was super nervous about it because the one I had done last week was SO painful. My body had metabolized the freezing like it was going out of style. Dr Hursin had to use over 2.5 times the amount she normally uses. However, today was a lot better of an exerience. This cavity wasn't nearly as deep, and Dr Sihota put more freezing in to begin with, although I only needed half as much as last time, and it barely hurt at all. I'm so happy that it's almost over with, though. I get my last one done next month as well as getting my mouthguard, and then we'll be good to go other than checkups and cleanings.

I'm so glad that I had John give me a blessing before this filling, I know that's what helped me the most. I kept thinking about how our bodies are temples and that the Lord wants us to take care of them as such, so I knew that He wanted me to get the filling to take care of myself. It's so amazing how the scriptures can even help with things like fillings. The gospel is AMAZING!

Life is to be enjoyed

Hello everyone! I'm especially chipper today and there's no question as to why I am, it is coming from my new favourite thing in my house...Behold:














I had it done up in vinyl and put it up in my bedroom, in between the door into the bedroom and the door to the bathroom. This picture does not at all do it justice. I originally saw this on Lauren's mom's blog and fell in love with it instantly. So I hope you don't mind:) Now I need to find some things to do with the other rooms in my house, since I've totally fallen in love with vinyl, ha ha. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!

Can't Believe It's Almost Over

Wow! We're in the last week of February already, I can't believe it's gone by so quickly. This year seems to be just speeding along. Or maybe it's just me, I'm not too sure. I had a good day yesterday. I filed our taxes and caught up on the bugeting and paperwork, so that was a nice feeling. Our washer isn't working right now, but the guy is supposed to come either today or tomorrow, so hopefully he'll be able to fix it.

We've been doing FHE lessons out of the Preach My Gospel manual. I figure that since it's stuff that the kids need to know to be baptized, it's probably a good idea to use it. Yesterday I taught about how the gospel blesses families. It was short and sweet, which is JUST the way Caleb likes it. However, I have issues trying to do a treat each week. I want something that's tasty, but inexpensive. Any ideas?

Maria and I visit taught Amber last night and the lesson was on the divine role of women. I was worried it was going to be weird because I'm the only one of the three of us with kids, but it helped to remind me that being a women is not just about being a mother.

Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:
“The basic doctrinal purpose for the Creation of the earth is to provide for God’s spirit children the continuation of the process of exaltation and eternal life. …
“… Although there is simply not a more significant contribution you can make to society, to the Church, or to the eternal destiny of our Father’s children than what you will do as a mother or father, motherhood and fatherhood are not the only measures of goodness or of one’s acceptance before the Lord. …
“Every sister in this Church who has made covenants with the Lord has a divine mandate to help save souls, to lead the women of the world, to strengthen the homes of Zion, and to build the kingdom of God”

I also really liked this quote:

Silvia H. Allred, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency: “The Lord has blessed women with divine attributes of love, compassion, kindness, and charity. Through our monthly visits as visiting teachers, we have the power to bless each sister as we extend our arms of love and kindness and give the gifts of compassion and charity. No matter what our individual circumstances are, we all have the opportunity to edify and nurture others”

Anyways, that's my thoughts for today, have a great day!

Well, I Fessed Up

So I finally fessed up on Christal's blog that I read it. Guess we'll see how that goes.

So I decided I'm going to send a message to everyone on the list of blogs that I follow, just for something fun to do.

A big congrats to Jodi on the birth of baby Hallie. I know it was a really hard pregnancy for you, Jodi, and I'm so happy for you that the pregnancy part is over. You're my brain twin and I'm so proud of you for getting through such a rough 9 months.

Christal, I don't think I can put into words how grateful I am for you. We share a bond that I share with no one else. You are such an amazing person, and truly an inspiration to me. Thank you so much for everything that you've helped to give me, I know I'll never be able to pay it back, but I hope that you do realize how grateful I am for you.

Kari, thank you so much for stopping to talk to me in the hall the other week when Caleb had me in tears, it meant a lot to me. You are so talented at photography, truly a gift. I'm really going to miss you when you guys move.

Alana, it has been such a pleasure to visit teach you for the last few years. I'm so glad that you're still on my route, it will be a sad day when you get taken off of it. Thank you for being so helpful when John was going through a rough time a year ago and also for the McDonald's cheeseburgers when I was craving them, that gesture made me so happy that I cried.

Amber, you are super fun to talk to and I love being your visiting teacher. We hope to have you and Aaron over again soon.

And finally, to Heidi. Thank you so much for sharing Nate with our mission for 2 years, he helped to change my life. I was very happy to finally meet you when you guys were up here, and I'm really looking forward to getting to see you again next year. I really wish that we lived closer to you, hopefully some day we'll get to visit you more often.

I Am Thankful

I'm going to be a lot more upbeat in this post than my last one and do 10 things or people that I'm grateful for.

1) John - An amazing husband and father who helps get through things even when I think there's no hope.

2) My Sons - Caleb and Tyrell are such huge blessings to me. Caleb was a miracle in my eyes, that I was able to take him home with me, that he was born in the covenant. Both pregnancies were very tough on me, but every single moment was worth it.

3) Lauren and Her Parents - So much good has come into my life because of Lauren. It was my being pregnant with her that lead me to the Church. She made me want to become a better person. And I'm so grateful for her parents, who love her so much and take such good care of her. I still think of them every single day and I'm so grateful for them and the love that they have to share with her.

4) The Gospel - Everything good that I have in my life stems from the gospel. It is the most amazing and miraculous thing. It gives me so much hope and comfort.

5) Canada - I am so grateful to live in a free country where I can worship as I choose.

6) John's Job - I am so thankful that John has a job that is enough to support our family so that I can stay at home with the kids, and that his supervisor is so understanding about when John needs to take time off of work.

7) My Mum - She is such a wonderful lady who just last week took emergency leave from work to be with me when I was having a lot of emotional difficulties. She does all that she can to help me and I really hope and pray that one day I will see her go through the temple.

8) Books - I love reading so much. It helps to relax me and I get so much enjoyment out of reading.

9) Bootlegger - Sounds funny, I know, but I'm so grateful that I can still fit their clothing so that I can wear clothes that don't make me look old and frumpy.

10) Jodi - I am so thankful to have a friend who always understands what I'm feeling and who has helped me out so much when I've needed it.

Trip in Progress

Last Friday I had this wonderful idea that we were going to take Caleb to Disneyland next year. It was a great idea except that our family's resident Disneyland expert wouldn't be able to go with us, so we've had to change some plans a bit. Now we have decided that in September or October of 2010, Caleb and Tyrell with stay with John's parents while John and I go away by ourselves for TWO WHOLE WEEKS! YAHOO! I am super super excited about this. We know that we're spending at least part of the trip in Utah, but not exactly sure if we'll spend all of it there or part of it somewhere else yet. John is letting me decide, so I'm looking into it. But I am SO excited about finally getting a proper trip with just the two of us, since our honeymoon was only 1 night in Jasper. So if anyone has any ideas of things to go and see or whatever, they are certainly welcome. We are driving, so it has to be a state bordering Utah, or else California.

Purge, Purge, Purge

So I finally got motivated this week to start going through all of the rooms in the house and to get things set aside for my mum's garage sale in May. I'm all for purging right now, I'm so tired of having way too many belongings taking over our house. However, John is a SERIOUS pack rat, something he comes by honestly which makes it harder to break, so I'm having a really hard time getting him to be willing to part with anything. We also have super different tastes in what looks good in a house, so that's causing some issues as well. I like more contemporary things and am really picky about what I like or don't like, whereas with John as long as something is still remotely usable then anything goes. It's kind of frustrating, but somehow it'll all work out. I have finally got him to agree to getting rid of all of his blue slips from his mission. It's super hard to get him to let go of things because of his OCD, but we're working on it.
I was a lot busier than usual this week, but it was good for me to get out. Tonight is my first evening at home since Monday, and then I'll be out again tomorrow evening (YAY!). But it was super nice to be able to be the one to put Caleb to sleep tonight, I've really started looking forward to that. Today I had super bad nausea and dizziness in the morning. The nausea went away right before noon but I still had the spinny head until about 3pm, so John was home today to take care of the boys. But all in all, it's been a good week, I'm happy with it:)

My First Inauguration

Today I was privileged to be able to watch part of the inauguration ceremonies for President Barack Obama on TV. I call it a privilege because I truly do believe it's an honour to live in a time where I can see an African-American enter the White House as the leader of the United States of America. I took the opportunity to find out more about President Obama today and found that I think I will greatly enjoy watching him in politics. I believe in the things he is standing for and I think America has made an amazing choice this time around (since most of you know how I felt about George W. Bush). As I was watching President Obama wave to the people in the crowds during the Inaugural Parade, I felt the strongest longing I ever had to live in the United States. Today is a day that they can be proud of, that they can hold their heads high when they look back on this momentous event.

BAH! HELP!

So I actually posted a comment on Lauren's mom's blog the other day. Of course I just left the name as anonymous, but she had written about someone commenting on her 2 year old acting like a 2 year old does and I'd had the same experience on the same day, so I just felt like I needed to say something. Turns out that my comment actually helped her and she posted part of it on her next blog. I'm so glad that it helped. I chose C and D as Lauren's parents by VERY strong inspiration. As soon as I picked up their profile, I knew they were the parents she belonged with. Sure I have my hard moments where I think "what if", but that's mostly just because I have yet to be blessed with a girl of my own and I worry that she'll end up being the only one and John and I will have only boys. I know that probably sounds awful or selfish to most people, but when you hand a baby girl that you carried for 9 months over to someone, you can't help but to worry that she will be the only girl you will ever give birth to, that someone else will get all of the hairstyling and dress up moments that you never will. Not that I would ever deny C of these things, she deserves them as much as anyone, if not more, but it's just a worry that I have. But anyways, I know that Lauren belongs with them and that they are wonderful parents. I can see in pictures of her that she is so loved and cared for. It amazes me all of the time how much Caleb looks like her, and that in itself is a huge blessing to me. They both look very much like my side. Lauren is like a little mini-me and Caleb looks about in between me and my brother. Ty has a bit more of John's side in him, which is great for John because he deserves that too. Anyways, C's latest blog reminded me that each child is an individual and that their misbehaving doesn't neccesarily make us bad parents. I am well aware of the fact that Caleb has anger management issues. I work on it with him far more than anyone could know. But that doesn't change the fact that he is an idependant, strong-willed little guy who doesn't quite get the concept of consequence for actions yet. I'll admit that I occasionally pass judgement on how someone else's child acts, but I keep my opinions to myself and try to remember that I don't have the full story to anyone but myself. Anyway, I've just been so frustrated lately because my kid has become the loud toddler in sacrament meeting who has to be taken out every single week, the kid who is starting to hit other kids in nursery because he doesn't know how else to express his anger and frustration, the kid who caused me to put my tooth into my lip last week because he doesn't understand that he has the ability to badly hurt other people yet. I have no clue what to do about it, I'm at a total loss of how else to deal with these problems other than giving him time outs and removing him from sacrament meeting so that he can't disturb other people trying to worship, but at the same time, I'm getting tired of being hit or having things thrown at me every time he doesn't get what he wants. I absolutely refuse to spank, since John and I have realized that spanking is just self-gratification and only feeds violence and after that I'm not sure what else there is to do. Any ideas?

Back To The Grind

Once we got back home we mostly just hung out and relaxed, although we did manage to get the Christmas stuff put away and rearrange the living room. I like it a lot better the new way because it's set up a lot better for when I use my WiiFit. For New Year's Eve we went over and hung out with Rawd and Jodi, which we really enjoyed. Caleb had a blast playing with Chloe and Brenna. It was a great 2 weeks together.

This week was trying to get back into our routine, which was hard the first few days. On Wednesday I was getting Caleb ready to go over to Lynn's when he decided to jump up under my chin at the wrong time and my tooth ended up going into my lip. The bleeding was pretty bad and the pain was AWFUL so I had to call John home so that I could take a T4. It's a good thing he was home because it made me higher than a kite. That evening I had the book club meeting which made me feel SO young since the person there closest to me in age was still about 5 years older than me. It was good though and I'm looking forward to the meeting next month. I hope we'll get more people out since it's for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I think it's a great book to do because a) It's a classic, b) It's short enough for people to get it read and c) It will help bring up gospel discussions because of how it was written.

Yesterday we got our digital cable back, which I am VERY happy about. John and I watched Ace of Cakes last night, which we really missed being able to watch. This morning Caleb even yelled at the TV when a commercial came on because he's not used to them anymore. It was super funny. So that is pretty much all that's new in the Bly home.

Christmas

I didn't update this nearly as soon as I had wanted to, but oh well. Better late than never, I suppose. Christmas was a very interesting experience for us this year. On the 23rd Ty had his shots appointment, so we went to that and he did great, he barely even cried. Caleb, on the other hand, was having to fight over the toys they have for toddlers with older kids and I got super upset with the parents for not stepping in and saying something. Those toys were there for children CALEB'S age, not 6 or 7 year old kids. Anyways, I kept my mouth shut and once Ty was done his wait and we picked up some food then we were on our way to Wainwright for the holidays. My brother was already there by then and on Christmas Eve my sister got in. Christmas Eve night Caleb left out cookies and milk for Santa, but not before stealing a cookie off of the plate for himself. After he was in bed the adults had their traditional appetizer dinner. It was really good.

Christmas morning we got up around 7, I think. It was whenever Caleb had woken up. So he came upstairs and it took forever for him just to realize that there were now presents under the tree. We had a great Christmas morning together. It's the first time that we were all there together to open presents in the morning, so it was really enjoyable. Caleb kind of thought that all of the gifts were his, but that's fine. He got a tricycle from us and an indoor/outdoor trampoline for younger kids from my mum and Bob. Those were his big ticket items. Ty just got smaller stuff since he really doesn't know any better this year, but we were very suprised and happy that he stayed awake through the entire present opening. Mum and Bob got lots of new bar glasses and what not since their's were all broken when Mum fell in the dining room a couple of months ago. We gave them a gift certificate to their favourite restaurant, which they've already used. Kirby got a DS and Brain Age 2 for it. John got a radio controlled car that goes on walls and stuff like that. Together he and I got a new bedding set, which made me VERY happy. My big ticket item was my huge gift card to Walmart from my mum that I used to buy myself a Nintendo DS, which I'd been talking about for a while. Dinner that evening was wonderful, although it didn't take much to feel very full.

Boxing Day we went to visit my grandparents. It was a frustrating day for me since there was NO room for Caleb to play around and he didn't like that very much. Plus some words were said by other people that I most certainly didn't want said in front of my VERY impressionable 2 year old, but we survived the day.

That night and the first night we were there Caleb had woken up in the middle of the night both times and proceeded to spend hours (honestly, it was hours) jumping all over me in the bed and throwing hard toys at my back and pulling my hair. Because of that and other reasons, we decided to head back home on the Saturday instead of Tuesday like we'd planned. As much fun as we had in Wainwright, we were VERY glad to get back home and are very much looking forward to Christmas in our own home next year. Anyways, I'll update with the rest of our holidays later since Ty is telling me that he'd like to eat.