You will never guess...

What I have been up too.

It involves...

Clorox wipes

Kitchen Timer

Lots of candy

Juice Boxes

Washing machine

Lots of Patience

Lots and lots of Patience

Did I say Patience?

You guessed it.

We are potty training.

To learn more about my method, click

here.

(Okay so not really MY method.)

My girlfriend Krysta had the first of our eight children combined.  I pretty much just follow her lead.  If it works for her, it will work for me.  I am so glad that she gets to do the trial run.  Thanks Krysta.

Wish me luck!!  It worked for the first two. 

Lets hope the more stubborn and spirited child can catch on

also, cause we are NOT going back.

P.S. If you attempt this... have lots of candy up your sleeve.

(This is the way to Isaac's ears , I mean heart.)

Inspired...

This was taken in Utah, and inspired by Pioneer Woman.  I love her pictures.

Anyway, I just finished reading her cookbook.  Awesome.  Such a good read.  So much more then recipes.

It inspired me to finally organize all those crock pot recipes into one file.  I have done that now.  I am no good with PDF's so you must leave me a comment with your email address, and I will send you the file.

I think it will help you see why I picked what I picked.  I tried to go for variety.  There are lots of Mexican Recipes(which are my fav). 

I thought you might get a little upset with me if I didn't mix up the flavor some.

I also have a whole new stack of crock pot recipes that I have been collecting.  I will try them out and review them here.

Have a good night.

I leave you with one more inspired picture.

This is my grandpa's farm.  Good Ole County Farm.

Five Months

Tessa girl.

Mae Mae.

Missy Mae. 

You are five months old. 

Almost six.

Where did the time go?

You crack me up.

You give smiles so freely.

I have a hard time finding any pictures of you at this age without your mouth open in a huge grin.

You love eating cereal.

You are still sleeping so well.

You sing yourself to sleep.

We are all smitten with you.

When Isaac hugs you, you bury your head in his shoulder.

Sometimes you cry when Isaac gets near you.

You laugh when Isaac cries.

Jex and Stella can make you laugh by saying "AAA-CHOO."

You are ticklish.

You like watching your mobile.

You love listening to the rain on your sound machine.

You want me to hold you pretty much all day long.

You flail your arms when you are excited.

You are starting to get chubby.

 You love playing with anything you can get your hands on.

You get mad when I give the kids a snack, and I don't pass one out to you.

You are beautiful.

You amaze me.

I love you.

What I have learned Thursday(Saturday)

Where to begin?

After my recent visit to Utah, my head has been spinning.  For a long time it has been spinning with new ideas for crafts or my sewing machine.  Lately, it has been turning with thoughts on how to improve myself and my happiness.

Let me just say.  I AM HAPPY.

I would just like to be more HAPPY.

Wouldn't we all.

Where does Happiness come from?

How do we control our own happiness?

What can I do to control my happiness?

What makes me happy?

I have been doing some soul searching.

I am on a path to answer these questions.

Where does happiness come from?

I think Happiness begins with a knowledge of who you are.

I am beginning to fully realize the scope of what it means to be a daughter of God.

Happiness means being the daughter he wants me to be.

Accomplishing what he wants me to.

Listening, and speaking to him on a regular basis.

With this knowledge and understanding, I believe that we can be happy in any situation.  No matter how hard it may be.

Today, I am putting one foot forward to work on this.

I hope to begin each day in understanding of knowing who I am.  Asking what it is my Heavenly Father would have me do.  Then asking for help to accomplish it.

Our life is ever changing.  There is not to many things that remain constant.

God's love for us does.

How do we control our own happiness?

Prayer.  I think many prayers throughout the day can change many souls.

How can I control my happiness?

My new goal is love.  Showing more love and understanding to others.

And sacrifice, and my new understanding of sacrifice. 

I find myself getting so angry sometimes over the sacrifices that I am forced to make.  Mothers are constantly making sacrifices.

Just yesterday in prayer, I asked "why?, why must I always be the one to sacrifice?"

My answer came quickly and briefly.  "to understand what the Savior has gone through." 

His life was one big sacrifice.  Yet he managed to be so happy.

What makes me happy?

My family... yet they are also the ones that make me so furious at times.

I know that my happiness affects their happiness.

I am looking for ways to find more happiness in them.

I know that all the sacrifices in the world are worth their happiness.

I will stay home from events, have less money, miss exercising, share my chocolate, and stop what I am doing to listen to them. 

I will find a way to shut my brain off so I can fully enjoy them.  Time with them is happening now. 

I am positive that the Savior really stopped to listen.  This is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

I will find ways to share laughter with them.

I guess what I am trying to say is, "I am the only one who can decide to be happy about whatever situation I may be in, whether bad or good, hard or frustrating. I will be happy. I choose to be happy."

Where does your happiness lie?

Back... So much to tell.

I am finally back from vacation, and finally on two feet again.  Okay, really I am only on one foot but I am trying to balance.

I have so much to share mainly for my own record keeping.

So much to share about our vacation.  Only my BIL, Wes, says it is not a vacation when you have kids.  It is a trip.  A "trip" it was. 

It was so nice to see our family, and I must apologize to all my friends who I did not get to see this trip.  I must explain:

We did not rent a car, and with four kids now it was nearly impossible to go any where with out two vehicles.  It made visits very tricky seeing I was there alone for nine days before Jonathan came.  Once he did come it got very busy.  We enjoyed some time together, and he also had some job interviews to take care of.

Time was up before we knew it.  To all my Utah friends, I love you and hope to catch you all next time.

The beginning of our vacation started with me taking 4 kids on an airplane by myself.  I don't think I have had so many "looks" in my entire life.  I survived.  I wanted to cry, but I did survive.

Our trip consisted of:

Meeting little Luke for the first time, and taking pictures of him.

Tessa turning 5 months, and meeting some of her family members for the first time.

Cousins getting to know each other.

Cousins getting reacquainted.

Jonathan's parents have 19 grand kids.

We enjoyed lots of late nights chats, and quality time spent with our loved ones.

A baby shower for my sister Lindsay and baby London.

 

A couple of small projects I could work on at home.

(this was so easy.  I found the tutorial here.)

A few girl shopping trips.

Attending the Taste of Home cooking school

A few boy(shooting guns, training dogs, four-wheeler rides) outings.

Stella went with the girls to have a pedicure.

Jex went with the boys to shoot clay pigeons.

We also made a trip to our old stomping ground; Logan, Utah.  It was a very quick trip.

Jonathan met with a group up there to discuss the possibility of a job.

I would love to live there, but I have questioned moving back because of the weather.

This is what happened once we arrived:

It really was beautiful.

Jonathan's two sisters live there so we enjoyed some time with their families.

Jonathan's sister Lorinda has a bounce house in her basement.  Let's just say the kids were in heaven.

Then it was time to say goodbye to our beautiful Logan, and head back to Utah County.

We had a great time getting together with my whole family.  My family has not all been together since before Kristin got married.  I know it was nice for my parents to have all their kids, spouses and grandchildren together in the same place.

My mom planned Mexican night.  We had stacked enchiladas, and margaritas.(non-alcoholic) Then a rousing evening of games and laughter.

Easter weekend approached quickly.  We made sure the Easter Bunny made his visit on Saturday morning as usual.  We would also be leaving for the airport on Easter morning, so we hoped he could find us the day before.

We did all the traditional Easter festivities.

Easter Attire for Sunday:

Traditional Easter picture.

All of us laughing during pictures, because:

you guessed it; Isaac is a goof ball.

At least we have some one to laugh at.

We colored eggs with our cousins:

We also had a really fun egg hunt:

And then we ate the candy on the airplane ride home.

We are all feeling a bit melancholy.  It is so hard to leave loved ones, but it is so great to be Home. 

My trip left me pondering what I have realized about home in our journeys to far off lands:

Home is really where your loved ones are.

We have had loved ones in every place we have lived.

So where is home?