"Power of Moms"

powerofmoms.com ...Im so incredibly grateful for this website, and even more grateful for my amazing friend who introduced it to me. They offer so much to support us mommies. I signed up online and received a bunch of FREE ebooks, charts, etc. Recently ive been listening to their free podcasts, i started with the first episode (scrolled all they way to the bottom). I have laughed and cried as ive listened to these. It has really given me an emotional boost. Im looking forward to listening to every single one and diving into their books and other things they have published. thank you power of moms.

Stir It

Recently i have been more brave about letting D help me in the kitchen. She is so curious about everything right now. Im learning that if i just let her help me cook she wont be crying or pulling at my pants while im trying to get a job done as quickly as i can. Well instead of making dinner super fast with an "attention hungry" child, I make dinner slow with a very content and smiley child.

I first started out by holding her and letting her stir the pot of boiling water (Annies Mac n Cheese). It tickled me to the bone to watch her be so fascinated. She would stir a little, then look at me for aproval. I praised her like crazy. She even recognized that the steam was hot, she started to blow at the boil pot. hahaha "good stirring D."

Yesterday we made chicken enchiladas. i retrieved two of my aprons, one for myself and the other i adjusted to sort of fit D. (looks like i have a new sewing project! baby aprons) I moved a chair close to the counter and had her stand on it. She loved watching me use the can opener. I moved the chair over to the sink...she watched me drain the cans. Mixing all the ingredients into a bowl, "stir it D," she knew exactly what to do. When it came time for me to shred the cheese D quickly decided the stirring was all done. She picked up every spare piece of cheese and ate it. lol.  then i did my best to not laugh out loud,  but every time i laid down a new tortilla to put the chicken mix into D would take a bite out every tortilla (they were partly hanging over the edge of the counter so she could see) before i could roll it up. oh this girl makes me laugh.

Family Photos

So we have this awesome photographer in our ward. When I was expecting R she asked if i would like some newborn photos of him after he was born. I honestly told her that i was grateful for the offer but what i wanted more than newborn photos was a family photo. She got really excited and said that family photos were easier than newborn and that she would love to do that.....WAHOOO! well three months after having R in our home we went to get our pictures taken. 

This was a big deal to me, we had not had pictures taken since our wedding. So needless to say i was thinking about our outfits for a long time. I was constantly on pinterest for ideas. once i narrowed it down to three colors, navy, gray, and ivory (thanks to little R's sweater), outfits started falling into place....except mine.  I eventually found what i wanted to wear but everywhere i looked either didnt have it or it was somewhere in the 300 to 500$ OUCH! then miraculously i found it for really cheap online, ordered it, the package arrive just two days before the photo day. I opened the package and they sent me the wrong stuff!!!

I decided to keep my chin up. I contacted them asking if they could next day air the correct outfit, it was a no go. So i loaded up the kiddos and drove to a beautiful store, Anne Taylor LOFT.  luckily they were having a sale upon a sale so i scored big time. Whew! the little babes were so good too....BOUNUS! 

I tried to get both the kids to take a good nap before the photo shoot....did they?...nope. so we had really tired babies that were antsy to say the least. They did very well for not having taken a nap. AND hubby was so great and supportive through it all.

I loved every single minute of it!!! The photographer gave us 120 photos! They are all beautiful. I especially think she did a wonderful job capturing our childrens personalities. Thank you Royce Studio

Thank Heaven for My PT!

The other day my back started hurting me. the pain increased throughout the day and by the time i put D and R to bed i could barely breathe the pain was so bad. When hubby aka my personal physical therapist, arrived home he saw me in agony in bed. He did some "tests" to pinpoint exactly where the pain was...to me it was like my entire left side of my back from top to bottom, but he knew what he was doing. My PT started to stretch me, bend me, and fix me up. I slowly started to be able to breathe normally, then the pain eased, and then it almost disappeared. I was sore the next day, but not in pain. By the following night I felt completely healed. Oh thank heaven for my PT. I recommend him to everyone. Even though grad school is hard, boy am i glad we're investing in it ;)

Aquage

After having two babies in a row I've been investing in some "pick-me-ups." Just a few things to help me feel beautiful again. I have been fortunate to follow some really awesome blogs. These women are inspiring and talented. I have learned so much from these women whether it be spiritual or temporal....this post is a temporal one.

I learned about Aquage Uplifting Foam from thesmallthingsblog.com  I found her on Pinterest. She does hair tutorials online. Her all around style is so cute. But I seriously love this stuff. Im never going to buy a single mousse, gel, or root lifter again after using this. My hair stays volumized for 2-3 days, I used to think that going 4-5 days without washing your hair was super gross (I have lots of friends that do that), but now I get it. It takes so much time to do our hair every single day, especially when we have children to take care of. I actually like washing my hair everyday but every other day is looking better and better to me. Thank you Aquage for helping my hair look and feel great.

"Are they Twins?"

It  happened, and a lot sooner than I expected. I got asked the question that Ive been mentally preparing myself for since we found out we were expecting Roderick...."Are they twins?" I love that my children are 11 months apart. So far they get along really well. My favorite is watching them smile at one another during bath time. Here are some pics of them together...what do you think? do they look like twins? they do almost weigh the same: D 21lbs and R 18lbs

 .last two pics are from over a month ago

its been a while, so...here's a few things

Daveney has a new favorite cracker and we made a reading corner for her. She loves "touch and feel" books.

Roderick is so smiley and giggly these days. Also, every once in a while he sleeps like this aka like his father.

While my mom was here helping out I went and changed my look. Chopped my hair and died it. Im still getting used to styling it.

Daveney turned ONE! She ate pizza and cake for her first time on her birthday.

Robert took me on a really fun date....he spoiled me. We went to the Cheesecake Factory (presently our favorite restaurant) and ordered the avocado egg rolls (to die for, LOVE) and of course a slice of cheesecake. Robert got a red velvet cheese cake and I asked for a snickers one..mmmmmm.

Robert then took me to the Fossil store here in town and bought me this beauty for my birthday. Love my husband.

Our new hobby: Rock Climbing, there arent any mountains to climb so we climb rock instead. I really enjoy indoor rock climbing.

Another special event in our lives was Roderick's baby blessing. We are so glad he is in our family. We feel very blessed as parents.

The Mormon Trail Center and Winter Quarters Temple

Yesterday We decided to go visit the Visiter Center in Florence, Ne. Its about a 20 min drive from our home. The big reason we went was because they have an exhibit right now of Liz Lemons paintings of the life of Christ. They are so beautiful. One of the paintings of Christ was life size. There were a couple of paintings that both R and I would like to have in our home someday. After viewing those paintings we watched a 10 min movie called, "God's Plan." R said he had recently watched it with the missionaries and said it was good. When I heard the title of the movie I braced myself because I had watched that movie a thousand times on my mission and it was outdated and super cheesy. To my pleasant surprise the Church had remade the movie and it was fantastic! They tied in The Proclamation to the World: The Family in the movie very nicely. Im so grateful for the movies that the Church makes and that we can use them to teach not only investigators and new convert but for our own families. After a fun time at the VC we walked around the temple. It was the first time i had smelled flowers in what seemed like years. It was simply gorgeous and I didnt really want to leave the grounds.

 

 

 

Falling to Heaven

This book is really awesome! I would recommend it to everyone I know. The author describes how we can have true and lasting happiness, through the gospel.

Its so simple and incredibly profound. It was a quick read, mainly because the chapters are nice and short. Im excited to better my happiness and lean on my Redeemer a little more. My outlook on life and the gospel have changed for the better.