TMT: Cheerfully

This weekend we were able to take the short 4 hour and 20 minute drive down to my parents house. We left on Friday night after Matt got off work and left yesterday around 6 pm. A big thanks to my parents for such a relaxing weekend! It was much needed. We also were able to see Nate, Kelly, Tanner, Dallin and Ashlyn a few times too :). Both drives had their ups and downs but they weren't terrible. MUCH better then the drive from Rexburg to Salt Lake. 


Anyway, while attending church down there in our old meetinghouse and ward a missionary got up and shared this scripture during their fast and testimony meeting, D&C 123:17 "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us ^acheerfully ^bdo all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the ^csalvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." He shared that is it hard sometimes to cheerfully be a missionary and have doors slammed in your face or people upset that you want to talk religion with them, BUT if he is cheerful about it people are more likely to talk to him rather then an upset depressed person.


I totally agreed with him, people in general are much easier to talk to when they are cheerful so I was thinking I needed to try to be more consistently cheerful as well. THEN a young mom like myself got up to share her testimony. She shared how the other night her three kids were so crazy and rambunctious at bedtime. They missed their naps and she was so upset she just put them to bed early and couldn't take it... then she thought back on that same scripture too and she realized that her mood lied in her power and she then said a little prayer that she could be more cheerful. It had been about 5 minutes since her kids started to calm down and go to sleep. She felt so badly that her children would go to sleep knowing their mom was upset with them that she went back in to their room and gave them hugs and kisses told them that she wasn't upset and that she loved them. 


It really touched me, I missed the entire application of the scripture and one of my fellow young mothers put it into perspective for me. If I am CHEERFULLY being a mom, even on those tough early bedtime kind of days, then after all my hard work I will be able to stand still with assurance and see the salvation of God work in my children. What a blessing and light bulb moment for me. I know it was the Holy Spirit telling me to quit griping in my heart all the time about the tough stuff (which I had been doing a bit too much lately) and do it cheerfully because it will and does make a big difference in my families life how I treat my responsibilities as a mother.

Ty

Since I gave you a quick update on Maylee I thought I would tell you Ty's latest. This is a long post so just look at the pictures and videos :) 

He says a TON more words now and he tries to copy a lot of things that we say. For example he was running down the hallway yesterday at full speed (which is surprisingly fast these days) and he biffed it hard. He looked back a me and said "Uh oh!!! Is Okay..." Jumped up and took off again. It's funny to hear my words coming out of his mouth. That is just what I say to him when he falls, "Uh oh, are you okay?"

Playing on the deck while we were unpacking boxes, he loves to jump off things

He also plays a lot of basketball with his little hoop. We've been watching almost every night with the Playoffs on and the MAVS going to the finals. Anyway, before every shot he yells, TWO! Then puts it in the hoop. I asked Matt why and he said he was counting. Whenever Matt throws Ty a ball he counts to three and throws it to him. SO he is counting before he throws it. In fact he doesn't say one but he can say, FOUR, TRREEE, TWO then he does whatever he is going to do. Last Sunday it was the metal tape measure to my head. He gave me fair warning by counting down, I should have known the throw was coming. He was reminded not to throw tape measures shortly after.

He says "Hi" a ton, but he says it softly. I think it is because Matt and I usually say it quietly to him, each other and Maylee. Yesterday at the grocery store he said "Hi" quietly to the check out person and as we were leaving he yelled "LATER!"

Speaking of that, he is just about over his stranger danger I think. He hasn't had a major melt down when a random person talks to him in a few weeks, thankfully.

A Kiss for Maylee

He LOVES Maylee still but sometimes he loves her too rough. I play a lot of defense through out the day. He is figuring out what Gently means however. He'll say "Kiiiss?" Then gives her a kiss on the head. It's pretty cute.

He loves his sister

He is started with Time Outs when he does things that he KNOWS he isn't supposed to do. He'll sit there until you come get him too, which is nice.

He has decided he likes Thomas the Tank Engine, he calls it "Carrrs" anything with wheels is a car. Luckily it's on Netflix instant watch so he can watch it whenever he wants.

Enjoying his first Popsicle from an Ice Cream truck in our backyard

More words he says are:

Hep (Help)

Bee Bee (Baby)

PEAS (Please, that one disappeared for a while but Matt got it back)

Waar (Water, no more HARS for water)

Dank Do (Or something close to that means Thank you)

Cookie ( That is a cracker, we don't have many cookies around here usually)

Canny (Candy, which means anything sweet in general)

Okay

Bu-uh Fly (Butterfly)

oww-er (Flower)

and a whole bunch of YEAH's! When we watch sports.

These are just a few of the many words he says...

Saying Bee Bee. Oh and May DID have a headband on promise, this was right before PJ's were put on.

Don't worry all, the classic What hagning (What's happening) is still a favorite too. He still thinks anything that is turned off, has fallen or isn't working is Bwoke. "Uh oh It Bwoke" he says.

He LOVES to say random letters as well, a few recent favorites are P, O, A, B and U. (We think those last two are BYU but were not sure.

 I took this right after he woke up this morning. He can point to his hair, teeth, nose and eyes if you ask him

Wellll sometimes....

He also says what a cow says and what a lion says,

He opens all the doors now so he is quite the explorer and he has decided that 6 or 6:30 is the time he needs to wake up. He walks into our room around to my side of the bed (even when his Dad is home) and he says, Hep, HeP! While grabbing my hand. Yeah I am going to get him a child safety door handle so I can go get him instead of the current trend.

He still loves all animals and isn't scared of huge dogs at all, he lets them lick his face and he just laughs.

Like I said before he has to have his Woody doll, he can't sleep with out him OR Woody's hat. He talks a lot about hats and likes to try them on, he wont wear them for a long time though.

So much to update on, I know it's probably boring for most of you BUT I know he'll look back on this stuff in 20+ years and get a kick out of it so I am trying to document thoroughly.

Guest

Hey all I was a guest on one of my favorite blogs, BLOOM. Check it out, it's one of my old TMT posts. This month is focusing on motherhood in it's various capacities.

Love this blog, it always gets me thinking... Plus it's all done by two of my most favorite role models while growing up, especially in high school. I remember thinking if "I can even end up a little like her then I will be so awesome." Still don't think I have gotten there but I will, I will.

Maylee is 2 months old!

I originally made this post with just the pictures, but I thought I would re-post and tell you all a little about what Maylee is up to these days. She is quick to smile now, all you have to do it touch her nose or tickle her cheek and she'll give you a good smile if she is awake. 

She isn't on a regular nap schedule yet. Well not one that I recognize. Ty put himself on a napping schedule so I figure Maylee will do the same? She eats every four hours somewhere between 4 1/2 to 5 ounces per feeding. She is getting a little chunkier, this picture makes her look chunkier then she really is but she's getting there. She still fits in most newborn stuff and fits in smaller 0-3 month clothes. A big thanks again to my sister and my cousins for all the hand me down clothes. They are all so stinking cute!

The best news of all is that she sleeps through the night now! We feed her at 11 pm then she doesn't wake up again until about 6:30 or 7 to eat. That is heaven! We didn't even try, we just decided to let her sleep and she doesn't cry or anything. In fact most morning it's me waking her up to eat because TY all ready woke me up. Anywhere in between 8-10 p.m. she'll be a stinker and scream her little lungs out. It's just her colicky time and we do our best with it. BUT during the day she is as sweet as can be.    

p.s. I know I am a terrible photographer... I wish I lived closer to Kelly or Michaela so THEY could take her monthly photos. Sorry you guys get to deal with my monthly point and shoot style. :) 

TMT: I am nothing

Lately I have come to realize that in the GRAND scheme of things, I am nothing... Really out of all the millions and billions and trillions of people that have walked, or currently walk or have yet to walk this earth I am just one. Just one Girl trying to make my way. 

I thought about this while reading from Moses, it says

 7And now, behold, this one thing I show unto thee, Moses, my son, for thou art in the world, and now I show it unto thee.

 8And it came to pass that Moses looked, and beheld the ^aworld upon which he was created; and Moses ^bbeheld the world and the ends thereof, and all the children of men which are, and which were created; of the same he greatly ^cmarveled and wondered.

 9And the ^apresence of God withdrew from Moses, that his ^bglory was not upon Moses; and Moses was left unto himself. And as he was left unto himself, he ^cfell unto the earth.

 10And it came to pass that it was for the space of many hours before Moses did again receive his natural ^astrength like unto man; and he said unto himself: Now, for this cause I know that ^bman is^cnothing, which thing I never had supposed.

There are SO many people on this earth, so many people just trying to live each day, so many people praying for their little trials and issues to change or be resolved, so many people praying for peace and comfort. Who am I to be one of those people praying about the littlest things. I prayed last night that my kids would sleep well, I prayed last night that Matt would do well on his tests for work, I prayed last night that we would be safe, I prayed last night that my extended family would have health and strength. This is just a small list of the many things that I hope and pray about. Why would God value me or even try to answer my prayers when He has so many more important things to worry about? 

I'll tell you why, because He loves me. I am his child and it doesn't matter how many He has to take care of I am special to him. D&C 18:10 says, Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. He knows me, He knows my heart, He knows my needs and wants probably better then I do. He has blessings in store for me, He has a plan for me. Something my BIL Braden said on his Mission blog struck me too, he said "As small and insignificant of a person I am compared to Christ or God, he still created this world for me...why? Because he loves me that much."

When Matt and I were planning our big move it seemed like every time I was about to give up on something, when I was worried or frustrated to the max, something fell into place. Things happened not on my time frame but His, and I am so happy they did. Matt got the job here, we got renters for our home in Utah, we found a great place to live here... etc etc so many miracles happened it is truly hard to keep track of them all. That is proof enough that God loves me. 

But even more so, God loves me so much the He sent his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ to die for me that I might be able to return to live with him. Think about it, what a sacrifice it would be to send one of your children to die for the rest of your children, to take all the sins of your children on himself and carry that burden all by himself, even you couldn't help him it would be something he would have to do on his own. Pretty heartbreaking when you think of it that way. 

I feel peace and joy when I think of that sacrifice and when I realize that in the GRAND scheme of things, I may be one of billions but I am a daughter of God. A very special daughter of God whose Father not only hears but answers my prayers on a daily basis. Not a day goes by that something I have prayed about has been answered. I am so lucky to have such a miraculous, kind and loving Father in Heaven. Oh and lucky for all of you, he's your Father too, pray to him I am sure he would love to hear from you :)  

Farmers Market and Frolfing

This Saturday our friends took us to the Vancouver Farmers market. It was really fun. TONS of people and interesting vendors. They had all sorts of foods and Matt just HAD to try a hand dipped Corn Dog. I tried a bite, it was pretty tasty.

We also bought some fresh made doughnuts... Ty was in HEAVEN. He kept saying, PEEEEASE for another bite.

 Steph and I were buying some produce while the boys were playing.

Then of course they noticed the tunes the street musicians were playing and had to show off their moves.

Maylee hung out in the stroller the whole time.

After our shopping the boys played on the playground

Once we peeled the boys away we headed up to the Disc Golf park. It was a 12 hole course, very family friendly with paved trails the whole way AND it was gorgeous!

Ryan was scoping out the basket location while Matt gave it a go.

Ty was showing Sam how to throw, they both got pretty good by the end of the day.

Matt was trying to figure out his discs here, with the elevation change from Utah he says it's MUCH different.

Check out all the green and HUGE trees! Matt didn't like this video, he usually isn't that far off but like I said the elevation changes with his discs were driving him nuts. Ryan had a pretty good throw though! It was his first time Disc golfing. 

Walking across the bridge, Ty just followed Matt the whole time.

The last hole.

Since Ty walked the whole course he was SO tired, he fell asleep with in a few minutes of hopping in the car.

The Latest and Greatest

Here is a bunch of random flavors of syrup.

Ty got his first side walk burn. He was running to the park down the street tripped and fell. He was wearing shorts. He hopped up and said Owww! I said does your knee hurt? He said Uh oh... then ran off. Tough kid I guess.

Ty wanted his picture taken with me after I took a picture of his knee.

Yummy Starburst! Oh and he is permanently attached to Woody now. He takes him EVERYWHERE.

Matt always gets good smiles from Maylee

Big smiles

Whelp, done with the smiling I guess...

That is random huh Ty? He was sitting in that big bucket all morning then just started dragging it around the house.

Right before bed, perfect time i know... Matt teaches Ty some football moves. Ty LOVES it. He copies Matt pretty well. 

ANNNND that is the random stuff we have going on these days.  

Welcome to our home!

Okay, so I WAS going to wait until I had all of Ty's room hung up and decorated and until I was farther along in decorating Maylee's room to do this but.... yeah we've been here almost two weeks and it's still sitting there. I have done TONS of things, but just haven't gotten around to those things. Plus I am revamping our room decor as well. Then I thought I should wait to take pictures or video until at least my house is all sorts of clean and stuff. HA when does that ever happen with a 2 year old? Plus I was tired and didn't want to clean this morning just for everyone out there in blogger land. I just took the video, like I said on there, I'm just keeping it real. 

First, here are Before and After pictures:

The Fireplace wall was a MAUVE color, now it's Sauteed Mushroom.

Both kids bedrooms were this Mustard Yellow

Now both are Camel, a nice tan color.

The Master Bedroom was two different shades of mint green. 

Now it's Camel.

There's that GREEN AGAIN.

Whew, Camel saves the day.

The entire kitchen HOUSE was this green, or slight variations of it

Now it's, well you guessed it, CAMEL. 

We thought about painting different colors but it was way cheaper to buy the 5 gallon bucket than different gallons of different paint. That is why we picked a nice neutral color that could go everywhere and matches the decor of our home nicely. The green wouldn't have been bad for one accent wall but it was EVERYWHERE, in the Kitchen, Dining Room, Master Bedroom and both bathrooms. It just had to go, so did the MUSTARD and the MAUVE. Bleck. (Sorry to those who have those colors all over their home and or think they are lovely). I am glad we painted, even if this is just a rental home. Now All three bedrooms, both bathrooms, the kitchen and dining room are all CAMEL. Matt and I feel so much more comfortable. 

On to the tour! 

I kept you on the edge of your seats huh, so captivating! Haha. I forgot to show you all the garage! The door is off the dining room that used to be a small family room. I can see why they changed it, kind of a random place for a family room. HUGE for a dining area though! Anyway the garage actually quite large and has mirrors along one side. Matt loves it because he works out in the garage. From what the neighbors tell me the house was only empty for 5 days and the previous tenant was a single guy in his mid 40's. That explains the huge work shed and the gussied up garage. 

Anyway that is our home, Ty runs in BIG circles all day; out the dining room, through the master bedroom, down the hallway, through the kitchen and back out the back door. He LOVES having a big back yard and front yard he can play in and he has all ready made friends with a few of the neighbor kids next store and across the street. 

I'll maybe have Matt update you all on how he is liking his new job. He'll complete his first week of training today.  

TMT: The Man

I don't think I need to remind you all that my Husband is, The Man. But I will anyway.

He is awesome. On the 6th of this month was our 5 year Anniversary. I was in Oregon at my parents house with the kids and Matt was in Utah packing up the rest of our house, cleaning it and loading up a moving truck. What a romantic 5th Anniversary huh?

Anyway, I was feeling a little down that I wasn't with him on our special day, all though it was a little nostalgic curling my hair that morning in the bathroom remembering that is where I was the morning we got married doing exactly the same thing... Anyway I was feeling depressed and what shows up? A big bouquet of beautiful flowers to the door. What the... in between all the stuff he was doing he thought to send me flowers? Talk about a surprise. I of course felt bad instantly because all I did was call him and tell him Happy Anniversary! I didn't know we were doing gifts. I had no excuse, I was with my parents all week doing nothing but hanging out while he was working his tail off to get our home moved out here. Not to mention it was finals week and he graduated that day... Yes, put a big FAIL sticker on my marriage homework...

Oh and everything is going pretty well here. We have finally finished all the painting and are moving on to the hanging of our pictures, mirrors, clocks and art work around the house. All of which he does while I sit there and say, a little higher or more to the left. Man I am a loser wife...

I am so glad he works so hard for me, I honestly don't know what I would do with out him!

On a lighter note, I was watching New Moon last night, you know one of those Twilight movies, to see if the landscape really is the same as here in Vancouver as the movie is, which it is...moss, HUGE trees, green green and more green... Anyway while watching it Matt said he wanted to be a werewolf then came out of our room wearing only cut off jean shorts and dancing around. Then he started quoting lines from the movie and saying he needed to find some body glitter so he could be a werewolf pretending to be a vampire. It was HILARIOUS. He makes me laugh every day almost to the point of skittling my pants! He is seriously the funniest person I know I am so glad he's my best friend and he chose me to be his.

First things first

Last week, wait I think it was last week all my days are blurred... anyway... last week Kelly came over and got some pictures of Maylee in her blessing dress.

Also on Mothers Day was the first time I saw Maylee smile :) She is growing but the dress is still huge on her, now we'll send it to the next girl cousin, Jordan and Michaela's little lady!

I know all of you want to know how we are, what we are doing, how the house is coming etc. etc. I'll save that for another day. We have been doing so much yard work, unpacking, painting, arranging, and shopping that I cant even think straight. The house is pretty much put together now only a few more finishing touches. Matt starts work tomorrow so we are just vegging out the rest of the day!

BACKYARD!

Ty is LOVING my parents backyard, he has all ready asked to go swimming numerous times! 

He picked a flower, now he knows NOT to do that. My moms Tulips are the size of Ty's head, that is one big flower!

We put a bowl of snacks out and a sippy cup and he is good to go.

Well unless my mom or I can come out and play then he is even MORE happy. He likes to point out every bird, airplane or ask "who is it?" when a dog barks. It's great. 

Now on to an episode of "The CAT! The CAT!" before nap time. 

Maylee's Blessing

I have a ton of pictures!

We blessed Maylee on the 1st of this month. Matt gave a beautiful blessing to our little lady surrounded by a ton of family and friends. We thank all of those who were able to come and make it such a special day for her and for us!

We blessed her at our new chapel and I felt bad that a lot of people went to our old meeting house. It's okay though I think everyone eventually made it to our building.

After the blessing we headed over to the clubhouse to eat some food and hang out for a while. I wish I would have gotten a big picture of everyone right after church at our building, then one of all the men in the circle but I didn't get it. Oh well we were busy saying good bye to our ward, that was the last time we will meet with that ward.

Steph, Will, Holly, Kenz and Grandpa Coombs

A bunch of people... 

My Grandpa Bragg holding Maylee

Sierra Bug

Preston and Suzanne can't ever take a normal picture

Elena... uhh bug. haha

Aunt Kristin holding Maylee

My Aunt Carolyn

Grandma Bragg 

Uncle Nate, Grandma Kay and Uncle Will

My Aunt Sharon and Me... you can bet my mouth was full in that picture :) 

My Dad and my Grandpa Bragg (Great picture huh!)

A bunch of people... again.

Baby Lucas, Holly, Eric, Tyler and Uncle Colton

Jason!

Jason and Aunt Zan

A little Father to Son chat.

All of us, my three most favorite people ever... Matt, Maylee, Ty and myself. 

My handsome husband and Maylee

Matching Uncles... Colton and Nate

Good party huh Uncle Preston?

I wonder what is so interesting?

Grandma Kay and Ty with sad faces on...

Jason and Sierra hiding upstairs

Tyler was so good to play with all the kids the whole afternoon. They sure love to play with him!

Look who finally woke up!

Uncle Will, Aunt Kristin, Elena, Aunt Zan and Ty

Here is the only photo I took of just Maylee... Not a great one. She is getting her pictures taken again this week by her Aunt Kelly in her blessing dress. Hopefully we can get some good ones. As you can see the dress is huge on her since she is still just so stinkin' small. 

A few people are not pictured. I don't know how they all evaded the camera... Ryan and Lisa and my Grandma Coombs... Art, Kai and Mac aren't pictured either... None of Connor or Conner either! We missed a bunch of you but you were probably dodging the lens on purpose!

Thanks again to all who came and who helped with everything. It was wonderful.

Now Ty, Maylee and I are all in Oregon hanging out for the week while Matt ties up the loose ends in Utah and packs up to move to Vancouver. After he has arrived, I will make the 4 and 1/2 hour drive up with the kids to settle in. :)