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?