2 more late pictures

Here are 2 more late entries,

First one is of Ty and Calin, we noticed that suprisingly they were wearing the same thing so we had to snap a picture,

then Michaela and I noticed we were both in black so we had to snap another!

A time to be Thankful

This weekend just flew by, with so much family and so many activities!

These are only a few pictures, I took a lot but I need to get more from Suzanne and Michaela. It seems all of us had our cameras out at different times so I don't have all the pictures from everything.

Wednesday:
Jordan Michaela and Calin came in to visit. We hurried to snap a few family pictures, they turned out awesome, I will post them in the next post.

Thursday Thanksgiving:
Jordan, Matt, Preston and Suzanne went and played football with the ward. Michaela, Ty, Calin and I stayed home and made a Pumpkin Pie and a Heath bar cheesecake. After the boys got back we all got ready and headed down to the Wu's for the feast! We ate with my Parents, Grandparents, the Wu's and the Readings. It was good food and great company!
After the meal we all laid around and took naps, then we headed out later that evening for pie at my Grandparents club house. There were about 10 pies there.... SOOO good. We had the pleasure of seeing more family, the Maxwells and the Coombs.

This is a picture of Ty's thanksgiving feast I made special for him, Sweet Potatoes, Pumpkin and Apples. Then Matt decided Ty should get desert too so he had a little bit of melted marshmallow. He loved it.

After Pie we went bowling with the gang and met up with the Kearn's family. I somehow managed to not get any good pictures of them. Matt bowled a really good game too! He smoked us all in the first round.

Friday: In the morning, Matt had to work for 4 hours. Jordan braved the crowds at Wal Mart and Kohls while Michaela, Ty, Calin and I slept. Then we headed out for some lunch at Paradise Bakery and to the movies. We saw "The Blind Side" It was a great movie, I highly recommend it.

H, Brit and the girls were there by that point and that evening we all went to a BYU Basketball game against Weber St. It was close at one point but the Cougs pulled it out in the end.

Saturday:

Matt went to exercise while Jordan and Michaela were packing and getting ready. I offered to watch Calin while they were upstairs... aren't I a good babysitter? These boys were SO CUTE together. I know in a few years they will be best buds. Calin is only a few months younger. (Ty is the one on the right in case you couldnt tell)

After we all got ready we headed down to Orem and Michaela took pictures of all the Grand kids in their Christmas outfits that my mom bought. It is always a tricky situation to get 5 kids under the age of 4 to smile at the same time, hopefully there were a few good ones. I must say Ty was a CHAMP and was great letting Jason hold him.

Jordan Michaela and Calin left that afternoon when we all headed to the BYU vs. Utah football game.

We normally don't bring Ty but we ended up taking him and he was an angel. He was awake until the kickoff then fell asleep the ENTIRE GAME. It was warm for the first quarter a bit chilly for the second quarter then by the fourth quarter it was COLD. We had tons of warm stuff for all and none of us went cold.

The game was AWESOME and the Cougs ended up going into overtime with the Utes. We pulled it out in the end with a final touchdown pass from Hall to George in our end of the stadium. Normally Matt and I would have rushed the field but with our little Ty Ty it wasnt quite worth it.

So wee took a picture from where we sit instead (Notice Ty is STILL asleep)

After the game we went to Purple Turtle and got some good food then headed home.

Sunday:

We went to church and Ty wore his new clothes. Isn't he so cute in his little tie? I was re-called as the Young Women's Athletic Director for our new ward, we'll see how it goes. I hope my other girls don't get upset! I'll be coaching against them.

It was such a long weekend that all three of us came home from church and slept for a few hours. We LOVED having our family around and have so much fun hanging out with everyone and making new memories. :) Hope everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving weekend.

P.S. Michaela showed me how to spiff up my blog. ISN'T IT AWESOME! I mean come on how can you resist SNOW falling like that... its so cool. Thanks Michaela.

We love it when family is here!

We LOVE to have our family come visit (or visit them), we have been so busy! Yesterday was great, good food and family. Jordan, Michaela and Calin are here, along with my parents and H and Brit with the girls will be here today. Michaela took our family pictures on Wednesday, they turned out perfect! I'll post pictures of the whole weekend soon. :) We've got a ton more going on today and tomorrow. Movies, Basketball Game, Shopping, Football Game... lotsa leftovers. Have a good weekend all!

SLEEP OVER

Ty and maybe Jason had his first sleep over last night! Well sleep hour I should say. As Matt my Mom, Dad, Jason and me walked in the door from the BYU Basketball game last night Matt told Jason that he and Ty could have a sleep over and Ty could sleep in the top bunk (Matt was kidding) but Jason got VERY excited about it!

Matt left to go play basketball with Will and when Jason was going to bed he said "Where is baby Ty isn't he sleeping in my room?". My mom and Kristin both said "No, baby Ty cant sleep in your room." Then he started to cry he was SO sad! So we decided it would be okay if Ty slept on the floor. He was all ready asleep so I told Jason he had to be extra quiet, and go to sleep right away. I set everything up for Ty and he laid on the floor. About an hour later I went to check on him and Ty woke up minutes after I shut the door. So it was a great sleep hour for Jason. He was so happy to have Ty in his room with him for that short time. I would have taken a picture but it was dark and both boys were asleep. Next time I will, I bet this will be a trend.

Jordan, Michaela and Calin come visit today, we're hoping to snap a few family pictures and bake some pies today. I still have a bit to do before they come too! Wish me luck i'll be busy.

Oh and HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL! We love you :)

Tender Mercies Tuesday: Invisible

This short story was read in Relief Society on Sunday. I felt like I knew what they were talking about, even though I am not QUITE in that stage of life yet. I thought about it though, and I know a lot of you ARE or HAVE been there. I know my mom MUST have felt this way more then once. Thanks mom this one's for you. You're the best mom ever, to more then just your own children. (Some of which are now, but weren't then :)

In my patriarchal blessing it talks about how people I don't even know will be effected by my influence, not to toot my own horn but I am sure this will be one of the ways they will be effected, by my invisible mom skills. After this was read I felt like a little pat on the back was happening, I realized that it will be rough, and most of the time the work I do will go unnoticed, but God will know and thats all that matters.

"I'm invisible - The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more.


It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store.

Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

I'm invisible - The invisible Mom.


Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more.
"Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?"

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?'


I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?'

I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'


I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!


One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well.
It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'


In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.


A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.'

And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'


I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'


At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.
When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women."

Busy Weekend all ready

Matt and I went to the Salt Lake Temple on Friday night with my grandparents and parents. It was so cool! The building itself it so old and beautiful inside! We dropped off Ty at Aunt Sharon's house, she was happy to watch Ty for us. It was so nice.

Saturday I actually woke up and thought it was Sunday. Nope! We got up and went to Will and Kristin's house before the game. We met up with my Parents and the Readings. We went to the BYU football game against Air Force while Kristin and Will watched Ty for us! Thanks guys.(Yes that is an awful picture of Matt and I but I had to put it in because he was in the middle of saying "Mick I would be a bad Defensive Coordinator because my only play would be TO KILL" -to kill were the words coming out of his mouth while the picture was being taken haha)

It was freezing for me, next game (against UTAH) I'll have to dress warmer. The Cougs won and we are excited for next week! After the game we ate a delicious dinner at Los Hermanos then watched a Brian Reagan DVD.

Sunday we went to church, Matt taught Elders Quorum on a talk given by Elder Cook last conference called "Stewardship- A Sacred Trust". It was Great talk and from what I hear it was a great lesson. Afterwards we had a meeting with the bishop so we waited around with my parents who came to our ward. We had a get to know you meeting with the new Bishop and we enjoyed the 2 hour chat with my mom and dad before hand. We drove down to the Wu's then headed over to Art and Mickey Coombs for my Grandma's birthday party. It was TONS of fun to chat and hang out with the whole family. We came back home to our house with Preston and Suzanne and watched a borrowed Star Trek on Blu-Ray, IT WAS AWESOME! We love the new Star Trek movie! I am sure Matt will buy it soon and will want to watch it again soon. Last night the weather was insane, just like Rudolf the red nose reindeer! The wind was blowing hard and the snow was blizzard like! All is calm this morning though :)

Few random things about Ty these days:

-He still doesn't roll over much but he DIGS standing up and jumping in his jumper, he's a crazy baby in there!

-He doesn't know he can breathe in the cold or the wind. He'll squint his eyes and purse his lips and inhale quickly through his nose. It's funny, hopefully he gets it down because we are just starting into the winter!

-He loves to be held by EVERYONE, I have never seen him get nervous around anyone! He especially loves his uncles and boy cousins. Big smiles (even a balancing act!)

-He gives me hugs and kisses. He'll wrap his arms around my neck pull me in close then suck on my cheek, all open mouth like. At first I didn't think he was doing it on purpose or that it was meant to be a kiss, but this morning I picked him up and kissed his cheek he smiled, then pulled me in close, sucked on my cheek pulled away and gave me a big slobbery smile. Then we did it all over again.

He is so sweet and melts my heart EVERY day.

Game time

Last night Matt and I took Ty to a basketball game. We got their early enough to get some good student seats. We loved watching the game! Ty was the ANGEL that he usually is, he sat in his seat or we held him. Never once did he whine or cry he just watched the game on the big screen or looked at the people around. He was flirting with all the ladies too. He is such a happy kid.

Another note as we were at the basketball game I was observing all the students around us who are maybe a year or two younger then me... I'm not going to lie the fashion these people were sporting was horrendous! The boys and girls all had on clothes that were ridiculous and didn't fit their body types (or just plain fit) at all! The looked frizzy, sloppy and unkept as well. I have never really been an "in-fashion" type of gal nor do I notice many fashion trends, but if that is what is in fashion I think I will stay far far away. I'll stick with my jeans and a t-shirt approach, that I have had since elementary school! It has worked for me for years now :)

Tender Mercies Tuesday: Consolation

So with out going into too much detail, I'll just say that it's easy for me to get down in the dumps and have a mini pity party these days. Times are rough, and I am not enjoying this aspect of the starving college student days, you know the starving part. Over the last few weeks though there have been people along the way that have unknowingly (or knowingly) helped us tremendously!

There is a light at the end of our tunnel and both Matt and I have decided if it doesn't kill us it only makes us stronger right? We are looking forward to being done with this time, but both of us are learning to enjoy the journey. Even though it may be rough and ugly, and this trial given to us by no fault of ours. Picture something like driving through the middle of no where, flat, tumble weeds and dust... but so windy a road that you feel like either yacking or crying all the time, it is so awful. BUT there is a nice lush BEAUTIFUL place in view and you only have to push through a little bit further to get to the "greener pastures". Okay I know in life the other side of the fence isn't always greener. You don't have to tell me that twice but I will feel like a big weight will be lifted off my shoulders once Matt and I push through this particular trial we are facing.

As part of the consolation we have received, I wanted to share a few quotes that have been especially perfect for me this last week. Don't you just love it when every scripture you read or every lesson you hear at church seems to be prepared just for you?

"Challenge comes as testing from a wise, knowing Father to give experience, that we may be seasoned, mature, and grow in understanding and application of His truths. When you are worthy, a challenge becomes a contribution to growth, not a barrier to it. The final healing comes through faith in Jesus Christ and His teachings, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit and obedience to His commandments." Elder Richard G. Scott

"When it's dark enough, you can see the stars" Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders" Jewish Proverb

This is one of my favorite poems and has been for years now. I have it memorized and I keep revisiting it in my mind, it gives me comfort.

"The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees,
The further sky, the greater length,
The more the storm the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life."
by Douglas Malloch

So in a few years from now I am looking forward to showing off these battle scars that we are aquiring, right now though I just need them to heal! Forward Ho, onto greener pastures...soon.

Dear Daddy

Thank you for being my favorite dad in the whole world. We play together all the time and I like it. Even though I dont look as much like you as I do mom, I think we are alike in other ways. You are teaching me how to sit up all by myself and I think I am doing pretty well!

You are also showing me how to stand. I am just now getting it, but if you give me another couple weeks I think I'll be really good at it. After all that playing one of my favorite parts is nap time! Look Dad, we both sleep the same! I want to be just like you when I grow up and Mom says that is just fine with her.

(It was really hot in the room and SUNNY, Ty takes up the whole bed when you sleep with him he moves so much! Both boys had the sun on their faces I have no idea how they were sleeping)

I Love You Dad! Come home from work soon so we can play again! I'll try my hardest not to puke on you, but I wont make any guarantees, sometimes it just slips out.

Love,

Ty

Happy Birthday Sierra!

Today Sierra is the Big #2! She is growing so fast (well you can't really tell because technically she is still VERY small for her age)

Last night Kristin had a birthday party for Sierra. She planned a girls night at Disney on Ice! So it was a party but really just an excuse for us all to go. Jason crashed the party though. Sierra LOVED it she would grab your face and point something out to you (which was most likely Mickey and Minnie Mouse or the Castle) Jason sat very still and enjoyed the entire show. He did get scared however when Snow White took the Apple from the evil Hag and covered his eyes. Sierra got quite wiggly by the end of the show. It's about 2 hours long. Kristin, Suzanne and I of course enjoyed it. I would recommend seeing the show if it is coming to a town near you.

Happy Birthday Sierra! Hope it's a good one.

(I didn't bring a camera but Kristin and Suzanne both brought theirs.... WITH LOW BATTERIES!) So 2 pictures, one from each camera was taken. Check their blogs maybe they will post them.

Baby Ty Food

So ever since the Doc gave me the go ahead to feed Ty baby food, I have been making my own food. The Doc told me to stick to Orange and Yellow foods until his six month mark. I honestly can't figure out why EVERYONE doesn't make their own baby food. It's fresher, you can make it in perfect serving sizes and not to mention a HECK of a lot cheaper. One of the perks of having siblings who had kids before you is you get to borrow a few things that they used with their munchkins. (Ty eating his yummy sweet potatoes)
SO I think what I am going to do, for all you other mommas out there, is post a recipe of Baby Food when I make it so maybe you can make it too if you want. So far I have made sweet potatoes which he LOVES. Yesterday I made Apples! (Thanks to Suzanne's in-laws who had a TON of apples on their tree they wanted to get rid of)
(If you don't spoon it in fast enough he'll help you)

Things you'll need, a blender and ice cube trays. All of this food will be blended in a blender and you pour the food into the ice cube trays and put them in the freezer then once frozen pop all the baby food cubes out and store them in your freezer in gallon size zip lock bags. When you want to use some food just pop out a cube or 2 and microwave it OR pull it out a few hours before to let it thaw. I sometimes mix with rice cereal or formula until it gets the right consistency, also you can mix the different foods together like a cube of apples and a cube of sweet potatoes.

I got these from the book, Blender Baby Food by Nicole Young (borrowing it from Kristin)


Sweet Potatoes

3 c. cubed peeled sweet potatoes
1 c. water

In a medium saucepan, over medium-high heat, bring potatoes and water to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are very tender, about 20 minutes. Let Cool.

Transfer potatoes to blender and puree on high until smooth.

Apples

4 c. chopped peeled apples (about 4)
1/2 water

In a medium saucepan, over medium-low heat, bring apples and water to a simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until apples are very tender, about 20 minutes.

Transfer apples to blender and puree on high until smooth.


I will post the my next recipe Pumpkin and Apples when I make them (It seemed like a good Thanksgiving food for Ty :), and also I want to make Pears, Carrots and Squash. Stay tuned for more recipes!

IF ANYONE IS WANTING ANY MORE RECIPES (then what I make) OR WANT NUTRITION INFO ON ANY OF THE RECIPES I POSTED LEAVE A COMMENT OR E-MAIL ME.

P90X

While I was pregnant, a co-worker of mine gave us parts of a work out called P90X. Some on DVD and some he loaded straight onto my laptop. Matt did it a lot back then, it's a video you follow with different exercises but it keeps your work out to an hour long and is intense. I couldnt really do it with him at that time. Well the other night I was thinking of what to do for my exercising and decided to do Plyometrics, something that Matt hadn't done yet. It is one of the parts to P90X. It deals mainly with squats, lunges and jumping but it gets your heart rate up. It was (and still is) too cold to run outside now and I found this a maybe a good alternative I could try. Both of us did it and BOY was it INTENSE! Well it wasn't so bad doing it, or waking up the next morning but as the day went on my legs got more and more sore.

I am excited to start doing P90X with Matt more often, it's a little bit longer then I usually exercise but I need to tone up a little. I lost all my pregnancy weight a couple months ago so now it's time to BUFF up a little. Hopefully I wont BULK up any, we all know that isn't attractive for women. Matt is excited too, that we can both work out together, doing the same thing.

Tender Mercies Tuesday: INTERNET

So I was thinking about what I wanted to write about this week. Really lately there have been so many things to be thankful for I have had a hard time narrowing it down. Well I finally decided on the Internet because of a few things:

1. As part of my veggie integration project I have been trying different recipes. My SIL Michaela used allrecipes.com when we visited last time for a few of her recipes so I have been surfing around on the website too. It is AWESOME! I have made quite a few things off of that website and all have been SO good (Herbed Rice, Garlic and Rosemary Pork, Apple stuffed Chicken) but definitely not something I would have made otherwise. It is so nice that I have hundreds of thousands of recipes at my fingertips when I think "What's for dinner?" believe it or not that is a source of stress for me! (P.S. always read a few of the comments they often improve the recipe or give good suggestions on substitutions)

2. BLOGS! How can I not mention the tender mercy of blogs! We can all share ideas, love and friendship with family and friends that live across the country! It's perfect for grandparents that want to see their little grandchildren all the time or siblings that don't live near one another. Recently one of Matt's favorite uncles started a blog. We haven't been in as close of contact with them as we have liked and are so happy that there is yet another means of communication with them. I know I spend a ton of time every day reading about all of your lives and it is a great source of happiness to me.

3. Family History! Isn't it amazing that our entire family history is at our fingertips? We just have to find it! Our church has worked hard to get as much as possible on the Internet so that anyone who wanted to know could find out who their great great great grandfather was. Isn't that SO COOL! I hear our church released an awesome website just a few days ago, I am not sure what it is, if someone knows I would LOVE to know. The only one I know of is FamilySearch.org and that may be the one. Getting in contact with distant family members through family history searches are awesome too!

4. I GET TO WORK FROM HOME! Everything our company has is Internet based, doesn't matter where I am, I can work, as I have said before. IT IS SO AWESOME! I don't think even 10 years ago that would have been possible.

5. E-MAIL! I don't know if your families are the same but my family has multiple conversations every day over e-mail. This includes Matt and I, My brothers sisters and parents and even my extended family of cousins aunts uncles and grandparents. It's great! Isn't it so nice that you can write a nice note to a friend that lives in another country even and know they will receive it within seconds of you sending it? It is PERFECT for missionaries. My younger brother Colton is serving a mission and it is so nice to jump on my e-mail load a couple pictures and write a quick e-mail to him. What a way to keep in contact! (all though something is to be said for a good old fashioned hand written note sent my snail mail)

There are so many other reasons to be thankful for the Internet, it is the greatest invention of all time and I know it is a big part of my life. What I have written about doesn't even touch the surface of it's capabilities. The Internet is the facilitator to things that help me, strengthen me, and teach me and I am glad I live in an age where we have it. I have so many more friendships and a greater love for family members then I ever would have had with out it.

Weekend Wrap-up

Friday night we went up to Westminster College and watched a friend of ours play basketball, he plays for Dixie State. It was a close game but when Westminster started pulling away not sure why they didn't play our friend more... seems to me there was a bit of politics running that team. He is a better player then some of the fellows they were putting in. Hopefully he does well the rest of the season and gets a good amount of playing time. It was nice to chat with him and his dad after the game. Ty was a doll the whole game and during half time they had a massive game of Knock out, Matt made it all the way until the end and then they started shooting 3 pointers. He missed once and was toast... tough competition! (Don't worry he promptly got that chick in front of him out.)

Saturday we watched Preston play his football game in the morning (Matt wanted to play but they had enough guys), in the afternoon we went to my aunts house (who had WAY too many treats out...not good for the waistline but SO yummy) and watched BYU play Wyoming and slaughter them. It was a good game to see in fact by the end there I got a tiny bit bored of watching the game and didn't even realize the game had ended! That evening we had a yummy dinner at the Wu home and played the Newlywed game. Sorry for letting you down Matt, haha we lost to some TRUE newlyweds though so we don't feel so bad, good game Prezanne and Wu's.

Sunday we went to the new ward and met a few more new people, whose names we cant remember 5 minutes afterwards because so many people introduce themselves. Then we renewed our temple recommends and headed over to some friends house for dinner. It was SO good. I made desert, apple crisp and it didn't turn out! Why you ask? The apples were still crunchy! I cooked them for 50 minutes before we went to their house. THEN when we got home I put them back in the oven and cooked them for another 30 minutes and they are still a little crunchy not the usual smooth yummy texture. WEIRD right? Oh well it was still okay because of the ice cream and caramel syrup on top. :)

Now on to the rest of the week!

p.s. for a funny post on a Disc Golfing adventure that my husband and Brothers-in-law had read this post.

Hello Mr. Sniffles

This is what Ty is like the entire time Matt is playing with him. Yesterday we went down to the park and threw around a football in the nice weather.
Later in the evening we noticed Ty having a runny nose... then it all went down hill from there. He was so grouchy all evening and when he would finally fall asleep if you put him down flat he would wake up because he couldn't breathe. Normally he goes to bed at 8 and wakes up around then in the morning. I was up with him until 4 am this morning and then every 40 minutes after that... oh how I love motherhood you never get a day off. I fed Ty this morning and now I am half dead on the couch. He is sitting in his car seat with some toys dangling in front of him. Hopefully he keeps himself occupied for an hour or so, maybe I can get some shut eye.

Love my boy and I hope he gets better soon, I am a zombie with out sleep. I think my plans of it being a productive day have been dashed.

Goals: The Veggie Integration Project

For some reason the last few weeks and months I have been making little goals for myself and surprisingly I have stuck to them since I set them!

One of them is to eat MORE veggies everyday. I usually eat veggies, but not as much or as often as I'd like. I really struggle with veggies because I don't know how to prepare them with out tons of butter salt or cheese.

Yesterday I made dinner and as part of it I prepared a salad. I ate a large helping of it... YES you read that right I ATE SALAD! Of course no dressing that stuff is gross ( I don't like ANY type of dressing Ranch, Thousand Island, or any of that vinaigrette junk)...It wasn't so bad because I put cherry tomatoes in it. MMMM I love tomatoes!

I think what geared me up for it was the RAW Broccoli I ate the night previous. Now that was gross. I think I'll stick to cooked Broccoli from now on.

Anyone have any good recipes for veggies? Any one have any suggestions on how to integrate more veggies into our diet? PLEASE Tell me! I would love to know!

Jump JUMP!

Ty gets so excited in his Jumper. He has gotten the hang of jumping and playing. Its really pretty cute when his face lights up as he jumps!

Oh just wondering what y'all think. Ty spends time on his tummy a lot and has some how forgotten how to roll over. He'll look around for quite a while then just gets so upset and ends up crying with his face down. I know by his 6 month appointment he should be rolling from back to front and front to back, he USED to do it but now.. nada. He used to roll around all the time and now does it about every 3 days or so... weird? How can I help him remember? He is doing better and better every day sitting up by himself and standing up when you help him... but hates rolling! Has this ever happened to any one else?

Tender Mercies Tuesday: Journals

For all those of you who are worried, Matt and I are out of our funk... well I know I am out of mine... The future looks brighter... in fact, during Relief Society on Sunday a gal was bearing her testimony and she quoted President Monson, he said "Fear not. Be of good cheer, your future is as bright as your faith" I LOVE that! It came from a talk he gave last April during General Conference. Also, I read another talk he gave in 1992 called "An Attitude of Gratitude" to kick of this season of Thanks. It was great, I encourage all to read it :)

So of course, a theme of these tender mercies will be what I am thankful for this month.

A big one to kick off this month was a VERY SPECIAL package we received Friday from Matt's grandmother Bobbie. This package contained a few entries from Matt's mother Holly's journal. Matt and I read Friday, Saturday and Sunday all the entries that were sent. A few of our favorites were the story of how Matt's parents met and fell in love, Holly discussing the temple work she prepared for her grandfather and the strength and power in which she bore her testimony of the truthfulness of the work and the gospel, and also the letters she wrote to different family members, describing the boys different personalities. Matt and I both got a chuckle out of those because they are STILL THE SAME personalities today, 20 years later.

We laughed, shed tears, and Matt recounted memories of his mother that he thought he had long forgotten. I told Matt that it feels like I have FINALLY met my other mom. I have heard about her for almost a decade now. In every single letter or journal entry she wrote about how blessed she was, her belief in the Savior and the strength she receives from the scriptures and gospel. She truly was a missionary and a constant example to everyone around her. Both of us learned so many things about her that we never knew.

This got me thinking more about my testimony and if I have written it down any where. Heaven forbid, if anything happens to me I would want my little Ty to know what I stood for and believed. We are happy now, that as Ty grows up, Matt and I BOTH can share Grandma Holly with him. He feels so much love from his other Grandparents, that it is hard for me especially, to not be able to tell Ty all about his other Grandmother. This is such a TREASURE for us to have Holly's testimony and other journal entries and we will cherish them forever. I encourage all this season, to write down your beliefs, so that those that come after you may be able to read your journal and come to know and love you more. I know that is what I will be working on through out this month.

In honor of Halloween, you get syrup

Pumpkin Carving at the Readings

The end result.. don't I look just like the pumpkin?

Jason wanted to be in the picture too.

Hanging out with Dad

Ty didn't care to Trick or Treat he just wanted to PLAY!

It was dark, that's why their eyes are so wide... Cutest little TYranosaurus I have ever seen.. Matt was ummm Matt for Halloween.

Sorry Preston, you didnt make it into a single picture!