Carly

Playing catch with her Care Bear - I love her genuine smile!

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After Aunt Angela painted her face to look like a princess - she was so excited!

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She loves to hug her new baby sister. This is after she just gave my tummy a zerbert.

(Another "real" smile that I just love)

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So, the other day I was cleaning the toilet and Carly came in and asked what I was doing. I told her I was cleaning the toilet and she looked at me and said, "You're brave Mom."



(I think so too.)

8's Tag

8 Favorite TV shows
(Ever since we have been married we have not had cable, dish network, or even local channels, and growing up we didn’t most of the time either. So, this list might go way back)
1- The Cosby Show
2- The Andy Griffith Show
3- Star Search (the contest/talent show from the 80’s)
4- So you think you can dance
5- Food Network (I haven’t watched it enough to have a specific favorite)
6- Saved by the Bell
7- The Smerfs
8- Oprah

8 Things I did yesterday
1- Woke up before the girls (something I wish I did every day, but I rarely do)
2- Folded laundry with Ellie (it was actually really fun with her helping)
3- Had some much needed one-on-one time with Ellie while Carly was at preschool
4- I had Carly and Ellie put their hands on my tummy and they were both able to feel the baby move – so sweet!
5- Dishes
6- Made Enchilada soup for dinner
7- FHE lesson on the 1st Article of Faith
8- grocery shopping

8 Favorite Places to eat
1- My Parent's (pictured on right)
2- Olive Garden
3- Any Thai Restaurant with good curry
4- Loco Grinz (Hawaiian restaurant in Moscow)
5- In the mountains while camping (breakfast food always tastes better when you’re camping – probably because it’s cooked in bacon grease and you’re living like a mountain man so anything would almost taste good.)
6- Wendy’s (not so much any more, but when I was a kid it was my favorite)
7- Texas Roadhouse
8- Almost any nice, sit-down restaurant – we hardly ever eat out, so it is always a treat for me to go to a restaurant (especially if it’s without little ones)

8 Things I’m looking forward to
1- New baby girl!!!!
2- Having a house someday
3- Making some close friends here
4- Going to the temple with Aaron on Friday while Steph comes to hang out with the girls
5- Enrichment tonight (I love having a really good excuse for a girl’s night)
6- My hair getting longer
7- Quiet/Nap time today
8- Going to St. George to visit the Wakefields for Halloween

8 Things I love about this fall
1- Eating soup again
2- Weather that is not too hot and not too cold (I just wish it would last longer)
3- Baking yummy things ( I just feel more in the mood this time of year)
4- Feeling the baby move a ton
5- Having a 4-year old and a 2-year old (they make me laugh every day with the funny things they say and do)
6- Not starting another semester of school (for Aaron)
7- My new black boots to go with my leggings
8- Starting my new calling as Activity Days assistant for the 8 to 11-year old girls

8 Things on my Wish list
1- Have a maid
2- Carly and Ellie never fight again
3- Go to Europe
4- Go on a cruise
5- Make perfect parenting choices every time
6- When my children are grown they will have close and strong relationships
7- When my children are grown they will all be faithful and strong in the gospel
8- To live in SE Idaho again someday (sometimes I wish for this…sometimes I don’t)

8 People I Tag
Ashley
Shawna
Nissa-Lyn
Heidi
Jenny
Hayley
Katy
Jill

Ellie's Binky

is back...at least for nap time.

I know it is crazy to go back after she hasn't had it for a couple of weeks, but she desperately needs the sleep and I desperately need the sanity!

It has been a very frustrating couple of weeks without binky. But the worst was a few days ago when she absolutely would not take a nap and I didn't have the time to lay next to her to make her sleep. Well, that night she had three AWFUL night terrors. It was so scary! I have seen a lot of night terrors in the past couple of years (Carly used to have them a lot too), but these were by far the worst - I was seriously scared - she looked and acted like she was possesed or something! So, that was the beginning of me rethinking the whole binky thing.

And then I was talking with one of my friends about it yesterday and she said "Why don't you just give it back to her? There is so much in the world to worry and stress about, binky doesn't need to be one of them." Such a simple statement, but it took a load off my shoulders!

It's so funny/sad that such little things can be such a trial to a young mother, ya' know?!

So, Ellie is napping right now. Yay! I told her that she could have her binky for naps and she climbed into her bed and was asleep in 10 minutes, without even a peep!

General Conference Favorite

Sunday Morning Session - "Finding Joy in the Journey" - President Monson



“I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and non-existent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now.



"[From The Music Man:] ‘You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.’


“If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly.


“Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume…”

My Fortune Cookie

So Ellie has given up her bink as of a couple weeks ago, with Daddy's help/insistence. Because of this she has also given up naps (which used to be 2-3 hours), AND it takes her a couple of hours to fall asleep at night.

(Plus, after 4 months, she is still having accidents every day, which adds to the stress)
This has driven me to insanity on more than one occasion.

My parents advice: "it'll be okay, she'll get through this stage...This too will pass..." (Not the sympathy I was looking for)

Aaron's advice (after listening to me lament over the fact that there are no logical solutions and complain about it over and over and over again), "There's nothing we can do about it, so it doesn't help to get so stressed over it..." - obviously not what I wanted to hear either. (I have found much sympathy from other young mothers like myself - thank you Shawna for your validation)

Well, we had Panda Express tonight, and this was my fortune cookie

I recommend...

"The Education of Little Tree". Such a touching book - I would be laughing one moment and bawling the next. We read it for our ward's book club last month.

A few of my favorite parts:

Granma said you couldn't love something you didn't understand; nor could you love people, or God, if you didn't understand the people and God. Granpa and Granma had an understanding, and so they had a love. Granma said the understanding run deeper as the years went by, and she reckined it would get beyond anything mortal folks could think upon or explain.

[After their dog died...] Granpa said when I got old, I would remember ol'Ringer, and I would like it--to remember. He said it was a funny thing, but when you got old and remembered them you loved, you only remembered the good, never the bad, which proved the bad didn't count nohow.

...When you come on something that is good, first thing to do is share it with whoever you can find; that way, the good spreads out to where no telling it will go. Which is right.

So, now I'm sharing this good book with you...if you like this sort of thing.

p.s. What have you read lately that you really enjoyed? (If you want to know some of my other favorite books, look at my link in the side column)

p.p.s. I still haven't decided about the Twilight series... Since I already read the first book I think I will still watch the movie. (Are they making a movie for each book - or just doing one movie for all?)

Nursery Rhymes for your viewing pleasure...