What did you do today???

My week this week started off rough. When we got home from Calgary I was unloading my car and when I went back out to get a second load, I tripped (I'm pretty sure on my high heels) and tumbled down our front steps and banged up my knee pretty good. I had it taped the next day, but it's still pretty tender. Needless to say, I won't be wearing heels for a while.

Conference was today. Growing up, my Mom always worked on a project during conference. Weather it was sewing matching dresses for us (please do not ask), or cuddle quilts after my Dad died, or as recently as card making or putting together each of my 3 sisters missionary binders...there's always a project. I sometimes have projects and sometimes I don't. This year I worked on 4 different projects. Wanna see?????


First, I downloaded (it's a free download)and printed off a General Conference Bingo from Oopsey Daisy. Then after the morning conference I went into town and got them laminated. Tanner is excited to use them for tomorrow.






Second, I bought fabric for 2 projects I'm working on. I'm not going to tell you who, what, when but they're going to be awesome (yes, I'm just a little excited)







Lastly, I had the "feathers" photocopied at the same time I got my laminating done and colored them and placed them on this turkey. We are using this for our daily scripture in the morning. This month is all about being grateful (after all it is Thanksgiving next week for us Canadians). Each scripture (on the back of the feather) has a thing to be thankful for, so we'll be plucking the turkey this month...lol. The turkey is an enlargement and I put it on a ceiling board (I'm sure they have a specific name, but I don't know what it is). I will be laminating these this week too.








I also photocopied stuff for 5 weeks worth of FHE lessons. I just have to color and laminate. I'm all about laminating for durability. We haven't been very good at having thought out FHE's. They're kind of put together last minute and I was feeling kind of let down by my lack of planning. So I thought about what it is I felt we needed to work on improving as a family and what reminders our family could benefit from and put the lessons together with any handout/visual aids needed. We are going to learn about being grateful, education, family, friends, and sabbath day observance.

Anyways, tomorrow I will be pretty much finishing the coloring and cutting out so everything can be ready to laminate next week.

I booked Tanner's birthday party for November and his party supplies came (via celebrateexpress.com) and we are all pretty excited to say the least. We're splurging a bit this year because....well, because we wanted to. Next year will be low key as we'll be up in Calgary for his baptism. We'll have a little party at home for him but the main focus will be on his baptism.

Tanner is such a happy boy and we just love him so much. I am not at all sad about him being 8 next year. I'm really excited and this is something that I've looked forward to for a long time. I do feel a slight pressure to teach him 'everything' but I know he'll make his own mistakes and learn from them and grow each lesson. He is so special to us and we really try to enjoy every moment with him.

Conference was really good today and I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Did you Know???

That we're going to Salt Lake in less than 48 hours! That's right my friends...Sun, great company, first family vacation, no boiled water, no work, stress free. Ahhhh...I'm am about as giddy as a kid on Christmas Eve! I can't wait. We have waited and planned for this trip for about 3 years now. Every time we plan on going, Matt is in a seasonal job, or we don't have money. But now, we can go.

I'm also really excited to see my sister and brother in law for dinner tomorrow night. Those crazy kids are doing the Swam the Dam triathlon and they've been training for months. Not like me who's been training for only a month for my swimming event. They are amazing! I love when my family comes and I especially enjoy when Megan comes because we're pretty close.

Tanner is doing a bit better. He's eaten a bit more today. I'm going to try some bananas to replenish his potassium loss from the runs he's had. Also Pedialite as well. He doesn't really enjoy that very much, but he might drink it thinking it's juice. Cross my fingers.

Also, in case some of you haven't heard, Matt got the job at the school permanently full time and is on contract! He had it temporarily until the end of summer but they just hired him permanently. So that's also really great news. We are so happy and excited to be able to realistically look forward to saving for a house in the near future. Although the place we rent is perfect for us right now, our goal has always been to work towards home ownership. So that's kind of exciting for us.

Things are good right now. I won't have access to Internet in Salt Lake so you'll all have to wait until the 26 at the earliest for pictures and details of our most amazing, FIRST family vacation. Since I'll be kind of busy with last minute packing and mowing and cleaning, I will do my 5 for Friday today.

5 Blogs I LOVE right now:

Busy Bee Lauren: I adore this blog and I am so lucky that Kristi introduced me to this blog. She is totally *awesomespice*

Nine Peas in a Pod: I love that she is so open and honest and she is so funny.

Kinsey Holt Photography: Her pictures are so cute and fun and I just think she's an amazing photographer.

Rebecca Cooper: What's not to love about this blog. This girl is phenomenal. She is truly an amazing person and I love to read her blog

Tiffany: She is super witty and just says it like it is. Love that!

and as a bouns

Jody: she is my new "blogger" friend and she has a really witty sense of humor as well and her JAW are the best!



Have a great day!

I QUIT!

Is it possible to quit life? I feel like quitting and giving up today. Give me a few days and hopefully I'll get over it : )

Bobbi has this really fun thing on her blog. So I decided I wanted to do it. So on Monday's I'm going to try to be faithful about posting "My Life in Photographs".

Favorite brand of toothpaste:

My favorite brand of toothpaste is Crest...and more specifically the gel. I don't enjoy the paste as much but the paste is usually what's on sale.



Your favorite color:

My favorite color(s) Purple and yellow...hands down. I use to love the color peach when I was younger but then I decided it wasn't a "cool" color. I mean, who LOVES peach? Not many people. So I decided I wanted a new favorite color. I realize that this makes me a bit of a follower but that's me. So I chose a blend of my 2 other favorite colors, blue and red...hence purple became my new favorite color. When you have a favorite color, I think you have to have a color that compliments it and I remember my best friend in High School had a boyfriend that had a dark purple Sunfire with bright yellow rims and I thought, yeah, that can go together. So that's how I chose my 2 favorite colors. I know, kind of a lame story, but whatever!








(A flower at my Mom's)

What camera you use

Nothing fancy. It's a Cannon PowerShot A560. Although I like to think I would like to have a fancy camera, I don't think I would use it as much. Plus there are lots of self taught photographers in my life that do a terrific job. I just want snap shots of our life and I'm happy with that.




Favorite board game:

My favorite 2 games, although I'm not sure you can consider them board games, are Scattegories and Taboo. I LOVE playing those games. Scattegories is actually the first game that I played with Matt and it was that night I knew we were going to get married. So it has a place in my heart.








And lastly for today

Your favorite book:

Tiny Dancer. This book moved me in a way I have not been before. I love this book. Other than my Scriptures, this is my favorite book I've read.





By The Way: You HAVE to check out THESE super adorable pictures of my nephew. This makes my heart happy

Life is Grand

Today is going to be a perfect day...I can just feel it! Tanner has calmed down about 10 notches and is behaving much better.

I ran the 5k that I'm going to be running on Canada day. It was harder than I thought. I did much better than I thought I would. I thought I'd come in at around 45 minutes...nope, 38:35. I'm pretty happy with it. There's still a few more weeks to train for it so I'm going to kick my butt into high gear and practice it more.

I hope everyone has a terrific day! I know I will ; )

The sun will come out tomorrow....

I think my title says it all...don't you?

Tanner has been quite the button pusher lately. He went through the same thing last year at the end of school...just blatantly dis-obedient and getting into EVERYTHING he knows he shouldn't, throwing major tantrums and talking back WAY more than normal.

I am looking forward to the summer, but I hate this stupid period of "the end of the school year". It's just so frustrating. I have the best Mom in the world and when I called her yesterday in tears she never said anything like I thought she would. She gave me some really good suggestions and told me that I should ask Tanner why he does what he does.

Example: we have a rule that when we bake together, no one is allowed to lick the spoon and/or bowl until the batter is out of the bowl (I ALWAYS make 1 or 2 raw cookie dough balls at the end as a treat). So I reminded him of that rule before we started making cookies. 10 seconds after I had the ingredients in the bowl, he licked the spoon! So after I told him he couldn't help anymore because he broke the rule, the cried and threw a tantrum. Then he came to me and said sorry expecting to help again. I told him I was glad he was sorry but he broke the rule and that he couldn't help anymore. Or the fact that he yelled at me at the Dr's office because he didn't want to stay in the room with me.

It's just slightly frustrating. Anyways, he'll get more one on one time with us in the summer and be able to play with his friends more so that will help.

We had a fantastic weekend last weekend. Tanner and I went to Shelby's musical performance and it was really cute. She did great as did everyone else. Then on Saturday we went to see 2 girls in our ward clog. It was such an amazing show and they both did very well. We love going to things like that and this weekend, we get to see Sharon and Susanne clog! I was hoping to do the class with them, but my schedule changed and I couldn't do it. Maybe next year.

We finally planted our garden. Okay, I didn't do any of it...Matt did it all while I was working. But I'm so glad it's finally in.

Anyways, I think that's all for now.

5 for Friday

I can't believe how quickly this week passed by. This one today is a little more personal.

5 things I'm trying to improve on or be better at

1. Being more patient with my life

2. Going to bed at a decent hour. I've had a few headaches this week and I recently discovered that lack of sleep is the main factor in my headaches.

3. Manage my house (ie cleaning and laundry etc). This has become a little more difficult lately since I work and work and then work some more. It's not like we have a huge house that takes a lot of time to clean. I just need to be better at tidying up so that it doesn't get so out of control.

4. Figure out how to maximize my time with Tanner and be the best possible Mom to him so he can be spiritually strong and feel the peace of the comforter.

5. Manage our money better this month. I think we went a tad bit crazy last month because it was the first month we both got good wages and we ate out way more than we needed to...plus our income tax return came. We did get a fridge with part of that money. Ours keeps freezing our fruits and veggies and that's a money waster too. We came up with a budget and we are hoping to stick to it a little better than just spending money on dumb things like slurpees and candy.

I'm trying to focus on improving my life and myself lately and I'm feeling positive and optimistic. I think we can all get down on ourselves and we beat ourselves up way to easily. There are lots of serious things in life but we don't need to always be so serious about everything. At least that's what I'm trying to remember.

I think we're finally going to plant our garden tomorrow. I really hope so. I'm getting kind of anxious about it.

Well, enjoy the weekend!

It's official!

I am going to be in my first ever triathlon! I am doing the swimming, Susanne the biking and Natalie the running. I am so excited!

We had an amazing trip to Great Falls this weekend. It was our first across the border with Tanner. I forgot my camera (Bad me!) but it was fun, nevertheless. We went down to celebrate Matt's birthday and my cousins husbands birthday. They share the same birthday. We went on a progressive dinner. We ate appetizers at a Mexican place, the main meal at a Cajun place and dessert at an old fashioned place. It was so much fun and we are absolutely going to go down in the next little while and do it...but at different places.

I was able to dry my laundry on my clothes line outside yesterday...which means summer is close. We have a busy summer already. I'm excited.

Life is great!

No Title

2 post in one day is H-U-G-E!! Lucky you...lucky me...

I was pondering as I was reading through my blog list today about self image.

Recently I said to someone that I'm fat in my pictures and they told me I shouldn't say that. For me, I don't believe in lying or deceiving oneself for any reason. BUT just because I'm fat (according to me) doesn't mean I perceive myself as fat. Now this may be confusing to some so let me explain. Fat is a relative term to me. I'm fat but that's okay. When I look in the mirror I do not think of myself or even see myself as 'fat'. But when I look at pictures of myself that's what I see is me-fat. So what if I'm fat? That's my problem.

Now this may sound like a "poor mandy, she feels bad about herself" or "what is she talking about? why is she saying such negative things?" kind of post but it's not meant to be that.

To me, it matters more about what's inside than outside that matters. If I was really worried about the fact that I'm 'fat' clearly I need to take some action. But I don't really care if people see me that way because I know inside I'm a good person and I'm doing my best.

I certainly don't mope around all day thinking about me being fat. I have way better things to do with my time. But if someone asks me why I don't like looking at pictures of myself it's for that reason.

But I wonder if other people out there are the same way. Do you look in the mirror and see yourself differently than you do in a picture or video of yourself? It makes me think of that cartoon that I've seen in the New Era (or maybe it was a different publication) that shows a normal looking person looking in the mirror and the reflection back is thin and frail. It's supposed to be a representation of the difference between being physically healthy on the outside, but starving spiritually on the inside. I may be 'big' in my pictures, but I do not perceive myself that way when I look in the mirror.

I don't live in a dreamworld and think that I'm thin. By no stretch of the imagination am I thin but I don't think that I'm big like Reta McNeil. Of course I could afford to loose some weight but I choose not to be consumed by weather or not I am or not losing weight. If I gain some poundage, fine, if I loose, then great. But I am not trying to be negative when I say "I'm fat". I just don't believe in lying to myself.

I always think of the skit from SNL where the character sits in a chair and looks at himself in the mirror and says "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and doggone it, people like me". I do not recite that to myself in the mirror but my attitude in life is something similar to that. Saying I'm fat/big...whatever... is not, in my mind, a negative thing. It's simply stating a fact...lol. How I look on the outside doesn't hinder or control what I think about myself on the inside. And for me, that's what's most important.

Sickness

Matt and Tanner and I have all had a period of sickness...okay really...I had a day of the flu (which I haven't had in 7 years) and Matt was/is sick with a cough that could last up to 2 more weeks and now Tanner has a cough along with the cold he got. It seems to not end right now. I am hoping this weekend will be a restful, relaxing weekend. It should, because we have nothing planned. That's a first in about 2-3 months.

I am looking forward to General Conference. It's a great time of the year! It's such a blessing to be able to hear the prophet speak to us and guide us.

The weather here had been nice up until today. Doesn't mother nature know that spring should be here? Maybe she didn't get the Memo.

We had our annual Relief Society party last night. It was really fun and very uplifting. I was so happy to be there and I sat at a table with some ladies that I don't normally hang out with so it was really nice to get to know some other sisters in the ward. I think it's important to get to know other sisters and step out of your comfort zone. We have such a great ward and I am very blessed to be part of it.

Spring break is coming up for Tanner. We are doing a scavenger hunt for him and Emerson instead of trying to find hidden eggs. They'll just be lead to a big treasure this year. I got Tanner a watch to put in his basket. It's a Spiderman one. I think he'll love it. He is really into the Magic School Bus as well as the Magic Tree house. He just loves to read the books and watch the movies. They are so well done for kids and they're easy to follow.

Tanner also had his final skating performance. He did great. The theme was Candyland so all the music had something to do with Candy.

We've decided not to put Tanner in anything for the spring. I think it might be too much. We're waiting to hear back from a couple of places for Matt to get a job. I think from now until September will be the hardest because if Matt works in the summer while Tanner is out of school, we'll have to find someone to watch him. I know the Lord will provide the way.

Anywho, life has calmed down a bit and it's been nice.

A birthday gift

Last night I received my first birthday gift. Guess what it was....no really guess...your guess is as good as mine because I am not allowed to open it. When? Well my birthday is over a month away (April 9th) and I am not allowed for one month and 6 days to open it. I am only allowed to look at it and yearn after the beautifully wrapped gift that sits in my house. I know it will be a really good gift...after all it is from one of my dearest friends. Ahhhh...the agony of having to wait. For those of you who want a list of things (no, I am not assuming certain people will get me a gift) that I would like here it is:

Hot Rollers for my hair

A stock pot

A glue gun(I don't even own a little one)

High School Musical 1,2& 3 on CD

Miley Cyrus' CD breakthrough (or is it breakout???)

Carrie Underwood's last CD (I have Play On, her newest one)I think it's called Carnival ride.

Movie passes

fun, everyday bracelets/necklaces

Knee socks-I like wearing them at night to bed

So, nothing too fancy. I will be celebrating my birthday in Calgary with my family during Easter break.

We have had Tanner sleep without pull-ups this week and for the last 2 nights, he has been dry in the morning! It's kind of a big deal because we told him he could sleep in our bed when he was dry through the night. Matt is sick right now so Tanner and I will sleep on the guest bed so that we don't get sick.

I have had some really good study sessions the last couple days. Really good for answering questions that I have had for a while and also at provoking (for lack of a better word) more questions. I am grateful for people who know the answers or for finding the answers through reading more. It helps me to understand the principle of line upon line, precept upon precept.

Life feels a little crazy right now. We are so busy babysitting, me working, delivering papers and cleaning that it keeps us out of trouble and from being slothful.

I haven't been feeling overly great lately. I've been getting a lot of bad/migraine headaches. The doctor wants me to get some blood work done but it's a fasting one so I'm waiting to do it next week when I have time to do it. It could just be that my migraines are changing...which kind of sucks because after having braces I got one maybe once a year...if that. Life goes on, though.

I am running in the Moonlight 6k run in 2 1/2 weeks. I'm excited to do it. Sharon, Susanne and I are all going to do it. Well, Susanne and I are doing it together while Sharon gets her goal time...which will be at least 5 or more minutes before mine and Susanne's ; )

We are looking forward to our trip to Salt Lake in the summer. This will be our first family trip together. It's kind of exciting!

Well, things are good and we are looking forward to spring.

Word of the week...

B L U F F

Those of you who are familiar with my life right now, know why this word would be a great word for the week right now. Enough said...moving on...

L O V E

Another really great word right now. The things I love the most right now in life:

-Matt. He made his first loaves of home made bread last week and they were by far better than any I've ever made. He loves me for me and I know some days that can be really hard...it can be hard for me to love me some days ; )

-Tanner. If you had told me 7 years ago that a child could bring a person so much joy and sheer happiness, I'm not sure I'd believe it. It's something you have to experience to understand. Tanner is a very very very bright spot in my life...constantly...even when he's being a pickle, he is my pure joy in my heart. I know that the way I feel for him is only but a small particle of the way Heavenly Father feels for us. That is unimaginable to me...incomprehensible. How could anyone love me more than I love Tanner? I don't know how, but I know it's true.

-Friends. I love love love my friends. They are a strength to me every single day. They are a constant source of forgiveness, understanding, laughter, joy, happiness, and most of all love in my life. I don't have a huge circle of friends. I have but a small handful of friends that I trust with my life and heart and that's good enough for me. I'm not one of those people who needs to have lots and lots of friends to feel good about themselves or to feel a certain way. I know my friends love me for me, no matter what.

-My job. I adore my job. I love getting up and going to work and meeting people everyday. I have amazing employers and I am grateful every day for the opportunity they have given to me.

-My sisters. Word cannot express how much I love those girls. I love them. All my sisters are unique in themselves and there are certain things that I know I can talk to each sister about. For example, I can talk to Megan about marriage and kids because her and I are the only ones with children. It's something we understand with each other. Amy, she is a movie nerd (a good thing) and she can tell me what movies are worth seeing. She is also really good at talking about real life and political, deeper subject...especially the gospel. She is so stinkin' smart when it comes to the gospel. Melany, she has a quiet strength all her own. She listens when you don't think she is and she can make me laugh like no one else can. I love my sister a lot.

-My Mom. What can I really say but good things about my Mom. She is amazing and awesome and loving and kind and understanding and forgiving and patient and charitable and generous and strong and just a really really great person/mom/friend. Sometimes the way I feel about her is too much for me to put into words. The love I feel for her is forever.

-My Dad. Although my Dad died in '91 I still love him and am grateful for all the things he taught me. He was a great great man/leader and I still look to his example.

-My Savior. I love the Savior. Enough said for now.

-Music. I can not live without my music. I am very frequently plugged in. I don't listen to hard stuff. Quite often in the house I play the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or Tanner's Children Songbook C.D.'s. Music can change a mood or emotion so quickly and can calm and relax or liven up or make me run faster.

-Time. I love the time that I get to enjoy each day and each moment with the things and people that I love the most.

I just love life!

In a lull

My life is in a bit of a lull right now. Things are going fairly well and smoothly. Same old stuff. Matt and I went out to the Firestone Grill last week. It was really yummy. I had this pomegranate chicken on a bed of leeks and pomegranate sauce with goat cheese on the top...it was super yummy. Matt had the rib roast (insert eye roll...such a man). Matt's Mom sent us money for our anniversary and so we decided to go out for dinner with it. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to try something new. I'm a bit of an adventurous eater. I like to try new things and I am not afraid to try anything at least once. There are some things that I've eaten that I wouldn't choose to eat again, but I do like to try new things. Tanner is a little bit the same way. He'll try most things for at least one bite but if he doesn't like it, then that's it. Matt is a mediocre eater. He eats most things but he doesn't like to eat vegetables if there's something better like meat or potatoes. He's not super picky but he's the kind of person that has to be in the mood for certain foods on a particular day. I could eat rice or spaghetti any time, every day for all meals (same with Tanner) but Matt has to be in the mood to eat that. Otherwise he doesn't like to eat it.

Anyways, enough about food.

We are going to the Temple this week. We will be eating in the cafeteria afterwards...mmmmm...soooo yummy. The food in the Temple is like food from Heaven.

Tanner is getting ready for his skating carnival in a few weeks. He's done so well in skating. He was also officially published today. The local paper had a picture of him and a friend riding on GT's behind a quad on Saturday at the fun Elders party. It's a picture of him from the distance but we know it's him because of his coat. It's kind of exciting.

Matt is such a homemaker. He made his first loaf of homemade bread this week. It was much better than any bread I've ever made. Tanner had a bad habit of burrowing the bread when it's warm and it wrecks the bread so we have to be careful not to leave it out on the counter without maximum supervision. He burrowed in one of Matt's loaves and so we told him he couldn't have the "good" bread until he ate the hole-y bread that he made. He was totally fine with that. He continues to bring us much joy and laughter every day.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Life is just chugging along, which is fine by me ; )

Laughing on the inside

Some people have nothing better to do with their time...seriously!?

In other news, things have been going pretty good. Tanner is such a funny kid. He has learned to try to trick us to get his way. Matt had an interview today. Hopefully it works out but really, it's in the Lord's hand. We are loving the weather here. It's been so nice. We have a lot of stuff going on for the next while. We'll be really busy which is good. We are going to a potluck at the end of the month. It's a celebrity one...we have to all dress up as celebrities. Matt and I are going as Luke and Lorelai from Gilmore girls. We were going to go as Derek and Meredith or Izzy and Denny from Grey's but I couldn't justify buying a dress (we were going to go as them from the season finale of season 2 where they are all dressed for the prom) that I would probably only wear once. So I got an outfit that we'll be able to wear anytime.

Well, I guess that's it for now. I hope everyone has a great day!

Could somone please shoot me???

Normally, for those of you who know me, I rarely complain about pain. I have a very high threshold for pain and even my Mother will tell you that she never knew when I was sick except if she looked at my eyes and they were glassy and by that time, I was sick, not just a little cough but sick. Anyways, can I just say that I am almost unbearably uncomfortable today. My neck is so sore. No I don't have Meningitis. I went to the doctor and he checked my neck and said although it was sore it was still loose enough not to be concerned about. Plus I'm not sick sick.

I thought I was pregnant...3 week late...but 3 negative tests...2 pee sticks and one blood...show otherwise. I have been unusually nauseated and tired and thought that was why. But no.

So now they are going to run a bunch of blood work and I've been referred to a GYN to get a histogram (I think that's what they're called.) I've had one before and they are not comfortable. Anyways, I hope that by Monday my neck is better because I feel like I can't live with this constant pain. It's been going strong for 2 weeks so I'm doping up on robaxacet this weekend and we'll see how that goes. If that doesn't work, they'll inject this stuff that freezes my muscles or something and it relieves the pressure on the joint and or muscles. Cut my neck off, I don't care. Just let this pain go away! So that's enough complaining for now...moving on.

I took down our guest room this week and put Tanner's room in where it was and made Tanner's room into the play/reading room. It's so nice to not have toys all over the living room and kitchen. That way if I want to read or watch a movie, he's not in there making a bunch of noise.

Tanner had a really special day on Thursday (yesterday). He was invited to school for a spa day. They are working on the "m" sound so they had foot massages, marshmallow "m" pictures to make, milkshakes, music and a movie called Madeline's manners. It was so fun. I got to help with the massages of the kids feet. He normally doesn't go to school on Thursday so it was a real treat for both of us. His teacher called up and invited him to come and he thought that was pretty neat.

His teachers are really impressed at how well he reads. He's reading at about a grade 1 level maybe a little higher. They haven't tested him but he can read big words like package, and especially, and chocolate, and loose. Words that most kids can't read until they are older. We are so very blessed to have a child that reads so well. We are trying to focus on his fine motor skills like printing and threading beads on strings to get fine motor control of his hands. It's frustrating for him sometimes, but it's important to have this skill for printing. He gets to have a transformer when he's done his workbook that we have for him. He is really excited about that. He keeps telling Matt and I every day that he's really into Transformers. He carries the one he has around the house everywhere and can't wait to get another one so his Optimus Prime will have someone to "fight" with.

He has gotten so sweet and caring lately. The other day I asked him to go play in the toy room because he had his toys in the living room and I was trying to read the Ensign and he said "but you'll be all alone" and I said it was okay because I was just going to be reading about Joseph Smith and he said "but I don't want you to be all alone". Also, when I switched his room, when he saw it for the first time, he told me 4 times that he loved it, he really loved it, thank you, it was the best room ever and he really loved it.

Well, I think that's about it for now. I hope February is a great month for everyone. I can't believe that January is already over. We celebrated 9 years on the 28th of January. Time really does fly.

How long is too long

I know it's been a while and I feel bad about that. I just haven't had much time to write or do much. I think because I am really busy with really reading and studying my scriptures and preparing my weekly lessons. I am reading 3 of the 4 standard works. I'm not reading the New Testament this year. I have found that with reading and studying the other 3, I don't have a lot of time. Plus now that we are down to one vehicle and walking, we have to plan ahead. And things are more time consuming. Taking Tanner to play group or picking him up from school and getting home before we have to go back to the school for play group is very time consuming. And then on Thursdays he has, in addition to play group, music class which is on the other side of town. Luckily I have arranged for someone to pick him up and drop him off for that. They are in our ward and 2 of her kids are in the class with Tanner. I am enjoying the exercise and the blessing of getting out in the fresh air daily. But when Friday comes, I am ready to just hang out and not go anywhere.

A week ago I had something happen to me that was really an eye opener and now I am feeling better about my parenting abilities and being able to stay more calm than before. I have really been able to tell the difference in how I talk to Tanner and Matt and how I deal with my own irritations and annoyances.

So, other than that, not much is too new.

My favorite things right now are reading, doing dishes, laundry, hanging out with Tanner and enjoying the sun when it shines.

The things I wish I could be enjoying are longer days, swimming, bike riding, feeling better about myself and finding sleep...I am totally suffering insomnia and it sucks

Things that excite me right now are preparing my lessons for Primary and thinking about how to teach the things I need to teach in the best possible way and be fun for the kids, my 30th birthday in 3 1/2 months, and the non side effect of my pre-diabetic medication.

So that's a little for now.

Pause

This week has been the busiest week so far of my life that I can remember. Monday night was the viewing of my Uncle. I was the only one of my family that went in. I understand some people don't get the point of a viewing but I do. My Mom had a viewing of my Dad and that was really the first time I had ever heard of such a thing. I did not bring Tanner to it because I just don't know if he really understands death yet. I don't want to over expose him to it but I don't want to keep him totally and utterly sheltered from it because it happens and at some point, I know I'll have to explain it to him.

I did, however, take him to the cemetery on Tuesday. They buried my Uncle before the actual funeral service and I felt like that was something he could handle and I could explain to him in terms that were simple and that he would understand. I think it helped that we went to the cemetery on Monday afternoon to visit my Dad's grave site and place a wreath on it. My Uncle was buried right beside my Dad, which was really nice. Then after the burial, we (my Mom and Amy) dropped Tanner off and went over to the funeral service. It was a beautiful service. Just all around a really nice service. Every one in the whole family was there except 4 of the cousins, 2 of which were my other 2 sisters. Then 2 from the states were missing. Lots of my cousins traveled from distant places and it was so nice to be able to see them.

Anyways, then we spent the night in Airdrie with my Aunt. Today, we were at the Hospital all morning and for part of the afternoon for appointments and then to Erica's to visit and then to my Mother in Laws for a party. So it was a bust day and I am so looking forward to tomorrow when I have only one thing to do...speech therapy.

Tanner has been an angel for the last 3 days. Just really good and patient and loving and just really really great. It just makes it less worrisome for me to know that he's being so good.

I miss my friends and especially Matt right now. BUT...he did have 2 interviews so hopefully something comes of one of them.

I have a feeling this next year will be a year of a lot of deaths. Life can just be so fragile sometimes. I am thankful that I chose to come to earth and have this experience because I know that it will help me to be a stronger person. Death is not the end and I am so grateful for that knowledge. The gospel is true and that's all that matters is knowing the gospel and living it the best we know how through faith in Jesus Christ.

Life is not easy, but it is so worth it.

Some sad news

I will first start with the bad news, my uncle died on Friday from his heart attack. It has been very sad for everyone. He was dearly loved and we will miss him all.

Second, my sister went back into the hospital. She has an infection. She was thankfully able to keep the baby with her so that was a blessing.

And as if that's not enough I just found out that a relative has cancer.

It's been a long week and will most likely continue being a long week but I want to be there for my family and be supportive and be strong. I know my Mom is really sad because it brings back memories of my Dad. When someone dies, the pain never goes away completely, it just gets less intense over the years and less frequent. I am actually good. I am trying to focus on staying calm and doing whatever I can to help. I hate when I offer my services and people say that they will use them and then they never do so I'm really trying to put myself out there. Right now, it is all about just being with my Mom and sisters and making sure they are okay too. I have it kind of good living further away than the rest of my family because I don't feel the intensity that I probably could feel if I lived in Calgary. That's not to say that I haven't cried, because I have.

Anyways, Tanner's birthday was on Friday. What a gem Tanner is. I just love him so much. At church today someone put into words how I feel and she said that she felt she is able to feel a glimpse of how much Heavenly Father loves her by having this little girl. I think sometimes we underestimate how much we are loved by Heavenly Father. I always think "how could I love Tanner any more than I do right now?" How could anyone love anyone so much? It's such an intense feeling and I know that that feeling is only a portion of how much the Lord loves us. Tanner had a great party. He had 5 of his friends over and we had cake and ice cream and played games and opened presents. I didn't want to do anything fancy because we didn't have a lot of money so I thought cake and ice cream is so easy and not expensive at all. I made him this really cute cake. It was a crayola crayon box cake with 3 'crayons' sticking out. I'll upload pictures later. We also went to the show choir dress rehearsal and he loved that. He just loves music. So that was about it. He is having 2 parties up in Calgary and is really excited about them.

So for now, that's all.

Slowly going crazy!

This week has been a very steady one and one that I have no complaints about so far...other than a day and a half of feeling sick to my stomach I want to believe is due to some bad food that I ate because if I were pregnant that would literally in all sense of the word be a miracle. Anyways, I feel okay today. Maybe it's close to that time of the month...who knows. This week I had my first IPP meeting with Tanner's teachers. It went so much better than I thought AND he has a new speech therapist that I am so happy about. His teacher had nothing but really great and wonderful things to say about him and she was really happy with him and said he was such a happy, pleasant boy in class. Phew....I've done something right. His life is about to go from 10-95 in 2 weeks.

I had this great opportunity that I wasn't sure about at first. The story: There's a lady here that does musical theatre in her home. When I first heard about it, I thought for sure I'd put Tanner in it and then for some reason I decided not to. Maybe because they did music last year in school I thought they would do the same thing this year but apparently they aren't doing as much of it. So I felt kind of bummed out. Then a couple of weeks ago, Susanne told me that she was putting Shelby in it because she had talked to the lady and there were some openings. So I talked to the lady and she said that it would be fine to bring Tanner to see how he did. I brought him and she said he was fine. So then I committed to it. So that's on Thursday afternoons from 2-3.

BUT then I came to find out that they are starting swimming classes for the PUF kids on Thursday mornings. So not so bad. THEN I am told that they are putting Tanner in this play therapy group 2 times a week and guess what days that falls on????? Yep, Tuesday and Thursday. So his schedule on Thursday looks like this:

9-11:30 School...aka swimming
12:15-1:15 Play therapy group
2-3 Musical theatre class

I am seriously debating not sending him to school for swimming. I think I'll try it for the first couple of weeks and see how it goes but if it's too much for Tanner, then I'll just send him to the play group and musical group. I already talked to his teacher and she said that it would be up to me and she would be fine with whatever Matt and I choose to do. So if he doesn't go to swimming on Thursday morning then I'll do some Phonics work with him. The problem with this routine is that swimming is all year, play group is until February and music theatre is until may. So I have to eliminate one thing if required and swimming is the better choice.

Hopefully he's okay with the routine. If he misses swimming, it's fine. He loves to swim but he needs these other 2 things because they will benefit him in way more ways than swimming.

So what else have I been up to? I made pies at my Aunty Elaines on Monday. It was fun. I don't like that it's so finicky but I know with time, it will be easier. I made an apple pie and a rhubarb pie.

I also really enjoyed the Relief Society broadcast. It is so amazing to me that we are so lucky and privileged to be part of the generation that the Lord has so much faith in to be stronger and more steadfast. Not that the past generation wasn't but when Sister Beck tells us that we need to be stronger and more faithful, it is such an honor to feel like the the Lord trusts us to be obedient to what we are being asked to do. I hope that makes sense. I'm not really sure where we'll watch conference this year. Last year we listened to it over the Internet but we don't have that anymore so I'm not sure what we'll do. We can't take Tanner to the Stake Center because he just runs around. Maybe Matt and I will take turns going. It hard when General Conference comes because at home, we just listen and don't enforce Tanner to sit and listen although he did sometimes sit for 10-15 minutes and listen. But it's harder on kids for conference, I think. If Matt and I are running after him, then it's harder for us to get anything out of it. Maybe I'm a bad Mom for doing that but that's just something that I choose not to fight over with a 4 year old. We talk about the prophet and the things he's told us to do but his comprehension to sit and listen for 2 hours isn't quite there yet. Most of the time he's just in the room playing but we'll see what we end up doing this year.

Matt and I have a date this Friday. We are going dancing! Well, we are going to a class to teach us how to dance. I'm soooo excited. We are going with my Aunty Elaine and Uncle Doug so that should be fun.

So what's everyone doing for Thanksgiving??? We're going up to Calgary and having 2 dinners and then we have to head home on Sunday because I have to be back by 7 for stake choir practice. I am looking forward to singing in the stake choir for stake conference. We are singing The Lord's Prayer. It's such a beautiful song and the chorister is really great.

So I think that's all for today. Until next time...

Where are you???

My brain is not functioning on blogger mode like it usually is. I can think of a lot of things to say but for the last couple of days, not much. So maybe I'll just tell you what we've been up to.

Today, I decided that I am going to can peaches when I get back from my super awesome trip in Calgary.




My adopted Mom...not really adopted literally but in heart, Ann, is going to help me do them because I have no clue how to do them. I am soooo excited. I remember having tons and tons of peaches when I was younger. They are so yummy. I think I'm going to get a 20lb case and then when pears come in, I'll do a 20 lb case of them.




I only have about 32 jars and I don't really want to buy more. I have to buy a bunch of rims and seals because the lady that gave me most of hers, kept the lids on and they're all rusted. I got some last year to do my raspberry jam, but I don't want to buy more if I don't have to.



My raspberry jam is not going to be overly successful this year because we didn't get as many berries as we did last year. So I'll just do them in the small jars. Maybe if anyone has raspberries they would like to give to me????? lol.

So that's what I've been up to today...for the most part. I took Tanner to swimming, did some laundry before it rained, did the dishes, finished packing and went to work. Oh, and Tanner and I played too and we made peanut butter cookies. They are so yummy. Of course we had to put chocolate chips in them. Tanner loves to put chocolate chips in every cookie. Tomorrow, I'm going visiting teaching, taking Tanner to his second last swim class, and cleaning the bathroom. So, until tomorrow...

Is it even possible?

To be over happy? Lately, I just feel so so happy. Like more happy than I think I know how to handle or deal with. People keep asking me what I'm on and I just say that I'm high on life. Does that even makes sense?
I got an opportunity to talk about the gospel with one of my co-workers and that made me so grateful that I got to share some things with her. Anyways, I feel like I could spread the happiness around a bit so that's it for now.