Evenings

Sometimes when Jason gets home from work he is really tired, obviously Noah is not.

Discovery Gateway

Brock had such a fun time at the museum. He sees it on commercials now on KBYU - he comes and grabs be and says, "this place...fun...go again".

Payton is so great with babies. He loves to just sit and look at Noah - he is so soft and gentle. Noah smiles everytime he sees Payton - they have become good friends.

Don't tell the Lord what you don't want

I teach Relief Society on the third Sunday. This is the third time I have been called as a RS teacher in the the past 3 years. Every time I have taught on the second or third Sunday. For May the fourth Sunday teacher asked if I would teach it because she was going to be out of town, I said sure. (FYI - second and third Sundays are taught out of Teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith and fourth Sundays are taught out of the Conference Ensign.)

On Sunday morning after I was finished putting together my lesson I said to Jason:

"I am really glad I don't teach fourth Sundays. They are really hard. I hope I never get asked to do fourth Sundays - I would say no. I just want to get up and read the talk. How am I supposed to expand on something that is already so inspired and so perfect. I hate teaching fourth Sundays."

When my lesson was over the First Counselor in the RS (the one in charge of teachers) came up to me and said:

"We would like you to switch to teach the fourth Sunday lesson instead of the third. A lot of sisters who have taught it before just mostly read the talk and don't expand on it that much. We think you could keep the discussion focused and expand the talk really well. Will you switch."

Of coarse I said yes. "We do not seek for callings, nor do we deny them." (Elder Neil L. Anderson)

Making life difficult

The reason for my sporadic blogging (and quality of posts) is due to our increasingly difficult circumstances with the boys. Both of them are terribly light sleepers and as such can not share a room quite yet. Jason and I are done with having Noah in our room - and plus if he wakes up in the night he can see us and gets really mad that we don't come get him, and since we only have a two-bedroom apartment, Noah now sleeps in the living room. However, Jason now is doing a new fitness routine (P90X) where he works out to DVD's after the kids go to bed. So each night we put Noah to bed in our room in the pack'n'play then move him and the pack'n'play into the living room when it is time for us to go to sleep. Then each morning I move the pack'n'play back into our bedroom so he can take his naps in there. Since he is an, aforementioned, light-sleeper I cannot be on the computer when he is in our room sleeping (that is where the computer is), so the only chances I get to blog are either too late at night or if Noah is awake and Brock is sleeping and Noah does not mind playing by himself.

We really need to get out of this place - things are going down hill quickly. I sware to you if we are here for another fourth of July "Freedom Festival" I am going to scream. I am actively looking for a house to rent in Salt Lake - I was going to wait until Jason's job got worked out and we could just move right into a house - but that could be all the way until September - and I just can not fathom waiting that long!

For those of you who don't know about Jason's job - his company got bought out and they were going to transfer the department to Omaha - but last week they backed out and decided not to transfer the department, but instead lay them off in August - yea! So we are back in the job search. So if anyone knows of a Human Resources position - let us know (or of a house we could rent in Salt Lake (or Northern Utah County)).

On an entirely separate note - I have figured out what I am missing in my life. I want to learn to be a good writer. I used to write fairly well when I was working. I wrote legal letters to government agencies, lawyers, and disgruntled customers - I became pretty good at expressing exactly what I wanted to say in a clear and concise manner; I have lost almost all of that skill since I have not used it in a few years - but now I want to get more into creative writing. I just feel like I can not adequately express my emotions with my current level of writing - I get frustrated and just decided not to write about it. I talked to Jason and we decided that I am going to take a creative writing course. I don't know where or when, I have to do some research - but I am way excited about it. I would have never done anything like this a few years ago - I would have been way too self conscious - but I feel like I have changed a lot in the last few years and am not so concerned about what other people think of me. But that is another post for another day.

Temple Square and Meagan's Wedding

My cousin got married on Saturday and had her reception at the Lion House. It was such a beautiful day and she was such a beautiful bride. She is the first cousin of mine to get married on my mom's side, I am so happy for her and Quinn. They are a great couple and we are excited for him to be apart of the family.

Since we were around Temple Square I thought we should get some pictures of the boys. Unfortunately we came on the weekend where they were tearing out the spring flowers, but have not yet planted the summer ones - everything was pretty much dirt. So it wasn't the photo event I was hoping for - but luckily the Lion House still had their garden's looking good, so I got a few good ones.

Warning - a lot of photo's of Brock coming up - he normally will NOT let me take pictures of him - but on this day he just stood there and said "cheese" without squinting his eyes - so I had to post them all.

Again

Even cooler than the previous post
http://austinlambs.blogspot.com/2009/05/if-that-wasnt-enough.html

So cool

Check out this post from my friend, Abbie's, blog. Her son is a little over 2 years old and was taught how to float/swim in the water in case he ever falls in, I clicked on the links in her post and they say they can teach a baby as young as 6 months old! This is so cool - I have never seen anything like this before.

http://austinlambs.blogspot.com/2009/05/worth-every-penny.html

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day my "adopted" older brother James and his wife, Vivian, and daughter, Emma, flew in from DC to surprise my mother. We love them and miss them dearly. We took about 400 pictures of the grandkids - and this is the best one I got.

So cute!

Brock had not had a nap all day - so he was pretty difficult - he DID NOT WANT HIS PICTURE TAKEN! This is the best "mother's day" picture I got - and Brock would not do one just with me.

But I got a good one of me and Noah.

In honor of my Mother

I think that once you are a mother you either become more critical or more amazed by your own mother. I definitely became more amazed. I have never really been critical, I always knew what a great mom I had - but it definitely took having kids to really appreciate what a gem me and my brothers and sisters had. For those of you who don't know my mom, here are some reasons why, and for those of you who do, I am sure you will all agree with my list.

• She truly made us all feel loved. My mom had 5 children (3 girls and 2 boys), and we all honestly think we are the favorite. We can kind of joke about how we all think that, but deep down we are all HONESTLY thinking, "but I really do know that I am really her favorite." We never really had sibling rivalries because she shared her attention with all of us and made us all feel like we were special. I think this is especially noteworthy when it comes to my two younger brothers. They are both VERY athletic, but both approach sports in a very different way. But yet they always supported each other in their athletics and did not compete - they are so close in age and play the same sports - so it could have been easy for them to be rivals. Now that I have two boys, I have been watching closely on how she was able to do this.


• She is always serving her family and guests. She is the best host. She never ever just sits down. She is always the last to eat because she is making sure everyone else has everything they could ever need (more water, ketchup, warm rolls, another fork, etc). This is all still true even when we are not at our house, she just has to make sure everyone is happy, My Aunt Cathy is the same way - when they both get together it seems everyone and everything is taken care of. My little cousin Ella came over to our house with another friend and told her, "aunt Michelle is the best, if you ask her to do anything she will do it." So her friend said, "Michelle will you make me cookies?" Next thing you know my mom is making cookies.


• She will do anything for her kids - yet we are all self-sufficient and independent. My mom is seriously such a mother. It will be ten o'clock at night and my brother Daniel will be on the couch watching TV and say, "I am hungry, will you pour me a bowl of cereal?" and of coarse she will. We tease her about it - but she did it for all of us, even now when I am at her house and I say I am thirsty, she is right there pouring me a glass of water. Yet, despite her wonderful nurturing, I believe we are all hard working, self-sufficient, and independent. We all know how to clean, do laundry, cook, budget, and serve others.
• She was a stay-at-home mom. This doesn't really sound like an attribute, but with my mom it is. Her and my dad sacrificed a lot for her to stay home with us. Not only was she at home with us, but she acted like it - she took her responsibility as a "homemaker" very seriously, a quality I am trying very hard to emulate. We had after school snacks freshly baked as soon as we came home, we had home cooked dinners, and she always offered to make us whatever we wanted for breakfast. Our house was not only always clean, but it was always nicely decorated with random candy dishes throughout the house.
• She is still a mom to her last child. This may seem like a silly thing, especially for one of her older kids to say - but my admiration for my mother has grown so much over the last few years as I have watched her raise her last children. She is as much a mother to them as she was to me and my sisters. Sometimes me and my sisters laugh about it because we think it is funny, we will be hanging out with her and at like 2:00 she has to leave because she wants to be home when Daniel gets home from school (Daniel is 17), we snicker and tell her he will be fine, but in all reality, I always had a mom there when I got home from school - why shouldn't he? And sometime I will be on the phone with her around 2:00 and she will be making Daniel cookies for his after school snack. I LOVE that she didn't get "burned out" with her last kids like so many other parents do. I think it is a testament to the kind of hard-working, kind, spiritual sons she is raising.
• She DEEP CLEANS her whole house every Monday. My ENTIRE life every Monday is cleaning day - not just Monday morning - but pretty much all day. Chores that some people only do once a month or a few times a year gets done every Monday at our house. When it was summer time we all had to clean all day (expect for one of us got to watch our little brothers), and during the school year we had to come home from school and clean. Now, even with most her kids gone, she still dedicates every Monday to cleaning. When I first went away to college, my first Monday away from home, I woke up and cleaned our whole dorm room - I did that every Monday. To be honest, I do not deep clean our whole apartment every Monday, but I do clean every Monday, at least something - just to keep the tradition alive - and I do plan on doing it when my kids are old enough to help. On top of Monday cleanings, she usually vacuums and sweeps several times a day and almost always has the prep dishes done before we sit down to a meal. I did get this habit from her, I just can't sit down to dinner unless all the prep dishes are already done. My mom's motto is "Snip as you sew, clean ad you go."
• She is such a good "boy's mom". This isn't to say she wasn't a good "girl's mom" - she definitely was, but now after having two boys, this is a quality I am just now seeing. She would stand outside for hours and pitch balls to my little brothers and then chase the balls down the street so she could come back and pitch them again. She is SO supportive in all of their sports, but keeps the perfect balance of not being over-bearing or pressuring them too much. She has a great relationship with them and it appears as though they can talk to her about their lives, something that is often hard for teenage boys to do.

I feel like I could go on forever, and I am sure I have missed a lot of things. But basically my point is that I have the best mom in the world. Our family is still young, but I think it is already safe to say that she raised all five of her children to be high-functioning, hard-working, kind adults who have very strong testimonies of the gospel, and who will be able to go on and raise their children to be the same. I have NO CLUE how she did it - but I pray that I will be able to emulate her in some way.

I love you mom, and am so grateful for all the things you did. It was all the little things that made our childhood so wonderful and those things are still enriching our lives today. I hope you had a happy mother's day. Thank you!

Women's Conference

So in case some of you did not know, I have the BEST husband in the whole world. He stayed home the last 2 days to watch the kids from 8:30 to 5 so I could go to Women's Conference, not only that but everyday that I came home the kids were dressed and happy, the house was clean, dinner was started, and he had stories of outings they had gone on throughout the day. It was so nice. I am so grateful for him.

For a note on women's conference - it was wonderful, as usual. However, I found myself getting really good ideas on how I could/should improve myself or my family and then when I thought about the implementation I immediately realized that I did not have the time or resources to accomplish my new goals. My whole day, it seems, is taken up by feedings, naps, activities for the boys, housework, and making dinner. After the third or fourth talk I was feeling a little depressed and hopeless. Then a scripture came to my mind:

"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation for a great work. And out of small and simple things proceedeth that which is great." D&C 64:33

One of the talks talked about, good, better and best - and I thought: "what are feedings and naps - good, better, or best? they are not really any of them. Then I thought, they are just 'well-doings', not really righteous endeavors, but they are part of taking care of my young family and are necessities in their lives, and I should not be weary by them."

There are many more things I would like to fit into my life one day (more service, building talents, etc), but right now is not the season in my life, and while naps, feedings, and playing at the park is not was I deem a 'righteous' life - I should not be weary in my 'well-doings' for I TRULY know that I am 'laying a foundation for a great work.'

Alone Again

Another big down fall of Provo (or any University town) - is that everyone is in transient mode, and everything is just temporary. My last 2 mom-building friends moved yesterday, and I am all alone! I hate it - I cry every time someone moves. I am terribly lonely and depressed - I can't even imagine what Monday will be like. I will be the only person home in our WHOLE building all day. No one to borrow an egg from, no one to talk too, no one for Brock to play with, no one to watch my kids real quick - I have dearly loved all my BYU/Provo friends that I have made and I don't want to make new ones - just to have to say good-bye at the end of another semester. It is just too hard!

Brock's Family Party

We had mine and Jason's family over for Brock's birthday. I always think I am taking pictures then when I go to upload them I realize I didn't get any of the guests - I need to be better at that!

I made our dessert sports theme - since he is basically an athlete :). I did a chocolate ice cream cake soccer ball, with cookies and cream ice cream, and white cupcake baseballs and basket balls. Brock was thrilled - he had to eat one of everything.

Most notable in this picture is Brock's stitches (click on it to see it good). Just when I had rescheduled his two year old photo shoot - we had another accident. On Friday we were at the Curren's graduation party - we had only been there 5 minutes when Brock decided to jump off the bed and smack his head on the bed post - we decided to take him into the doctors - we are sure glad we did - It cut all the way to the bone!! He had to get stitches - it was SO SAD - they had to put him into a straight-jacket to hold him down. He cried the whole time and was yelling, "momma hold you" (which means hold me) and "momma, scaries" (which just means scary). I felt so helpless - can't they knock him out for stitches??... seriously.

Kangaroo Zoo for Brock's Birthday

We went to Kangaroo Zoo for Brock's second birthday. Almost all of his friends came - it was great. We had almost the whole place to ourselves - only one other family was there with just 2 little kids and they were only there for a little bit. The kids had seriously so much fun. My camera sucks so I didn't get any great action pictures.

This was right before we left - After about an hour and a half of being there the kids get SO TIRED - its hard to get them to smile.

My sweet mom and sister came down. They got to play with Noah so I could go play with Brock.

Corinne Myers and Heather and Shane Braley

Brock with the Bell children - Payton and Brooklyn.

Corinne and her 3 week old baby, Brooke.

These are my wonderful mom friends from our BYU ward (or at least what is left of them). Left to right: Me - Brock and Noah, Jess - Andrew and Rachel Curren, Heather - Shane and Corinne Braley, Jessica - Preston Richens, Corinne - Brooke Myers.

Noah got to jump a little too - he liked it as you can see.

Happiest baby

Commencement Ceremonies

One of the worst days/weeks to be living in Provo is during finals and graduation week. It is insane - there is so much traffic, parties, moving trucks, carpet cleaners, ambulances, fire trucks, no parking anywhere (including your own complex) and just chaos as every one's family comes in from all over the country to attend graduation and move their students back home. There has been accidents out in front of our apartment almost everyday this week right at noon - just in time to wake both my kids up from their naps with the sirens. But I digress - the purpose of this post was not to complain about Provo, although they make it very easy :)

Since today was the actual commencement ceremonies up on campus I knew it would not be a good idea to go anywhere for our morning activity, so we went on a walk. We saw graduates in their caps and gowns walking around with their families taking pictures and discussing where they should go to lunch; and it allowed me to reflect on Jason and I's anti-climactic graduations. Jason does not make a big deal about things and REFUSES to take any part in any type of graduation ceremony. So we did not do anything for his graduation, no ceremony, no pictures, no lunch, no cap and gown, no announcement, no anything, I was a little annoyed at the time because I tried to do some sort of celebration - but he utterly refused. And now I am just sad. Sad that we/I missed out on that celebration, that bookend, if you will. I never really feel like I got a chance to tell Jason how proud I am of him and how grateful I was for all the hard work he put into college. He always took a full load and went straight through the spring and summer semesters too. He always worked, often full time, graveyards, or 3 am shifts, so he didn't have to take time away from me or Brock. He always did his homework at night, after we had spent the evening together and had dinner. He worked so hard at school, got good grades, but still always put the family first. Thank you sweetheart for everything that you did.

It has been almost a year and a half since he graduated, so I guess there is no need or purpose in a celebration now - I think I will always feel sad that we didn't get to really celebrate with family and friends.

Nap - not soon enough

This afternoon we came home from an outing - I put Brock in his high chair to eat lunch while I fed Noah. This happens everyday. When I came back into the kitchen this is what I saw.

So cute and sad at the same time. He has never done this before. He never even woke up while I cleaned him off and put him in bed.

Yesterday Jason got off work early and we went on a family walk to the duck pond.

Porch Sitters

This is what Jason hopes to do for the rest of his life - except he will be on a real porch, on a rocking chair, and back east. Brock and Noah sit out here with him - they just watch the cars.

Project Towels

I don't consider myself a crafty person - but I do like to fake it and often list crafts, scrapbooking, and sewing as hobbies. I don't really know what I am doing and am not perfectionistic enough to really do it right (I am sure that is not a word - but it worked). I guess I must fake it pretty good because I have been called twice to serve as the Enrichment Counselor in the Relief Society Presidencyand both times we made hooded towels for baby gifts - and both times I wanted to make them, but didn't have the time (when you are the Enrichment Counselor you never get to do any of the crafts). For years I have been meaning to figure out how and make a bunch - and last week I finally did it.

Aren't these towels so cute! They are baby shower presents for some friends I have who are having girls. Check out those pleats - I did those all by myself - I really have never sewn anything but a straight line before!

Then of coarse I had to make matching hooded towels for my boys - This is the first picture EVER when both of them have big smiles.

Easter egg hunt at Great's

We are at my grandma's house for an Easter egg hunt with all my cousins. In our family we call our great-grandmothers "Great". It started about 3 generations ago and has just stuck.




Brad and Noah (my sister Katie's little boy - they are 23 days apart)

They have this wonderful fruit orchard they hide all the eggs in.

Easter Eggs

Here we are dying Easter eggs on Saturday night - We did this last year and obviously Brock was not into it yet - and I still thought he would be too young. I assumed he would watch me put the first few eggs in, want to throw the eggs, and be too impatient to see that they had turned colors. I was quite wrong. He sat on my lap very patiently the whole 15 or 20 minutes and enjoyed the whole process - he was gentle with the eggs and only cracked one on accident.

This was they boys' "joint" Easter basket. This is actually the same Easter basket I had as a little girl. It comes with a little bit of drama. Me and my sisters all had matching wood Easter baskets like this one. Katie's was pink, mine was blue (seen above) and Ashley's was yellow. Later my mom got a light blue on for one of the boys and I guess she thought that one of the boys should have my darker blue one (because blue is for boys), so one Easter she used a different basket for me and used mine for Michael - I was very upset. In my mom's defense I think I was like 13 and should have been mature enough to handle it - but I was not and threw a big fit (this is embarrassing to write about) - so every Easter it has been a big deal to make sure I got my right Easter basket. Then the year I got married she gave it to me for my first Easter.

Finding eggs. Brock got really into it - he would say, "oo - found it".

Noah with his turtle