Funny Holidays

So after I posted my last post I got to wondering if there was a "national get all of your toys out and make a mess day" - or something of the sort. I haven't found a specific holiday for that occasion, but I did find a website that had a bunch of off-the-wall holidays listed.

Check out this site: BIZARRE AMERICAN HOLIDAYS

Apparently April is . . . . International Guitar Month, Keep America Beautiful Month, National Anxiety Month, National Humor Month, National Welding Month, National Garden Month, and Uh-Huh Month

And just for a laugh I looked to see what my birthday was (June 18th) - It's International Panic Day. I thought that was funny since I've been known to have a bit of anxiety in my life.

So start celebrating darn it!

Happy National Grumpiest Day of the Year!

Apparently somewhere in the world it must be "National Grumpiest Day of the Year" - because we are certainly celebrating at our house!

This morning Gabe woke up giving us the definition of "Terrible Twos" - screaming, yelling, throwing fits - you name it. He was supposed to have a friend over to play, and I almost cancelled because he was such a wreck....I should have....They played ok, but Gabe kept yelling at me, throwing fits, and bossing poor little Noah around. And during all this Hunter was exhausted and screaming too. And either he has allergies, is teething, or has a cold (it's anybody's guess which) - and his nose was running like a faucet.

BUT - the silver lining to the day was that BOTH boys took a nap this afternoon, and it seems that we're now only celebrating, "National (pretty) Grumpy Day".

And join us tomorrow as we celebrate "Get every toy out that you possibly own and make a huge mess of the house DAY". I'm pretty sure celebrations have already begun today, but will be sure to continue through the week :)

layouts, and why I love digital scrapping

So I officially have decided what I love about digital scrapbooking. I love that I can create a duplicate layout for each of my boys, but personalize it for them. For instance - the Easter basket layouts. I wanted to showcase a picture of each boy for their individual layout. It was a simple switch, and took me seconds instead of having to recreate a separate layout for each boy. I love it!

And I've been using some digital templates this week, and REALLY enjoy them. I do feel a little like cheating...but oh well, right now - cheating works for me :)

Trip to see Grandparents & springtime

Last weekend we headed up north to help move my sweet Grandma Marilyn's stuff out of her apartment. She has moved into a care facility, and we were just helping out to get the last things taken care of. We were lucky to spend some time with my Aunt Sandra, Grandma Marilyn, and then went to see Grandma and Grandpa Whisler. Gabe had been spending time with his cousins for the week, so we picked him up so he could see grandparents.

First of all, I was very happy with the place my Grandma is staying. For a nursing home it was one of the cleanest, nicest ones I've been in. I've had a phobia of nursing homes ever since my Great Grandma Snyder lived in one close to us as I was growing up. So I was nervous to see Grandma Marilyn. But you know what? It was very pleasant, and I had a strong feeling of peace with her there. I know she will be very well taken care of, and that she will physically have what she needs.

And on Sunday we went and saw Grandma and Grandpa Whisler too. I love seeing my kids with their grandparents, and their great grandparents. Hunter and Gabe have 8 grandmothers living, and 6 grandfather living. It's so great to see them be loved. And it was fun to hear Grandma Whisler singing the same songs and rhymes to Hunter as I remember her singing to me, and to watch Gabe playing with the toys behind the couch that I played with, and sit in the chair I remember rocking in. Ohh....memories...

I don't have any pictures from Gabe's adventures with his cousins - but check out this post on my sister-in-law's blog. She documented things really well, and you can see what a great time Gabe had. We're so lucky to all be loved by grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins!

And with the weather being nicer (at least occasionally nicer...it doesn't seem to be able to make up it's mind!) the boys have enjoyed playing outside more. We brought in several loads of playground bark and have it under our swing set now - it's nice. However, our back-yard has NO shade. We really need to get an awning put up (you'd think we could get that done - since Cory sells awnings!), and some trees planted. However, the sunshine has not deterred the boys. They have loved swinging on the swingset, and Gabe has had fun now that he can climb the stairs up to the top of the slide and go down - ALL BY HIMSELF. It's been fun to see Gabe being able to do a bit more this spring than he could do last year. I can hardly wait until Hunter is walking and running after Gabe - they'll have a blast.

And lastly - my point and shoot camera stinks! Especially when I take pictures indoors!!! Any advice anyone? The pictures indoors especially are super grainy! It drives me nuts because I don't have room in my diaper bag to lug around my SLR....and I thought this was a nice point and shoot when I bought it....Oh well, I guess the grainy, crummy pictures are enough to remember what was happening at the time - right?

Oh - one more thing - I just have to give a shout-out to Cory and thank him for being an awesome husband. I am so grateful that he is around most nights to help me out with the boys! He's been gone for several days, and there's nothing like absence to make the heart grow fonder. I am reminded how much he does to lighten my load and I am even more grateful for him!

some random facts

I'm feeling a little in a blogging slump.  I'm tired/lazy, and don't have much exciting to post about.  I do have some pictures I need to play around with and I'll post them when I don't feel quite so tired/lazy.  But here are 5 random things about me.  Nothing thrilling - but I guess since this is my journal, it's good for me to record some of these every-day things.

 

1. I am OBSESSED with towels.  I have to use my own towel and it grosses me out when someone else wipes their hands on my towel.  And I am obsessed with how towels smell.  The thing that grosses me out more than anything else on this earth is a towel that smells like mold/mildew.  I have been known to actually make myself sick because of the smell of a towel or washcloth.  I am so picky with the smell of towels that I've been known to take my own towel with me on vacations.  Oh - and I can't use a wet towel either - like if Cory uses a towel to dry off with - I CANNOT use it too - YUCK!
2. I don't really like vanilla ice cream – at least not on it's own.  Sure, with a nice hot piece of my mom's boysenberry pie; or if it's with a bowl full of "Brown Betty" (the BEST Hot-Fudge-Cake – I'll need to post the recipe when I'm not feeling so lazy) – but on it's own – I can totally pass it up. This is not something I can say about most treats…
3. I blow my nose louder than just about anyone on earth.  In fact, in 1st grade I had a cold and I blew my nose - one of the teachers at the school yelled at me and sent me out in the hall because she thought I was doing it to try to get attention.  I remember crying because that was just the way I blew my nose!
4. I really enjoy going to movies by myself.  I love sitting wherever I want, not having to share the popcorn (and being able to put as much salt on it as I want!) - and I just really enjoy the time to myself.  In fact, after a long hard day with the boys the best thing Cory could do for me is to offer to watch the boys while I go to a show by myself.  Sometimes I feel guilty, but for the most part I feel relaxed - like I've gotten to escape for 2 hours.
5. I don't love wearing my wedding band…that sounds horrible – but I just feel claustrophobic with rings on my fingers (especially when I'm not 'skinny').  It's right up there with how sometimes when I'm wearing my hair down I also feel claustrophobic and just have to pull it in a pony-tail…I guess I'm a bit of a freak.

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Oops...

Yesterday morning this is what I found when I got Hunter up. Oops...poor little guy was stuck - but had the BIGGEST smile on his face when he saw me. I love that! I love that he gets excited to see his mommy. I love that he give me hugs and kisses, and I love his gummy smile.

On the other hand - I wasn't so thrilled to be the object of his affection this morning - or middle of the night - however you look at it. He was up at 2:00 am. That would have been fine....but he took FOREVER to fall back asleep and also got up at 4:15 am. He was then basically up for over 3 hours!!! I stayed up with him for the first hour and 1/2 - but he had eaten and I figured Cory could handle things for a bit while I tried to sleep. But Hunter was having none of that. He only wanted me. Luckily Cory helped out and let him cry and played with him. He finally dozed off again around 7:30 am. Then he got up about 9:00 and was back asleep by 10:30. It's now 1:00 and he's still sleeping. WEIRD! So this is the 3rd day in a row he's taken an official nap - in his crib - for longer than 5 minutes.

Pretty miraculous - even if he was up most of the night.

Welcome Baby Lucy!

My little brother Jed and his wife Laura welcomed a sweet new baby into the world last night.

Lucy Marie Rhien

We're excited for Allison to be a big sister, excited to see Lucy grow up, and wish like crazy that we lived closer to family - not getting to hold Lucy is heartbreaking.

It makes me think alot about living close to family, we never really have. When we were first married we did live close to Cory's parents in Rexburg, but that was only for like a year or 2. Other than that - we have lived on our own for the most part.

A friend of mine recently said, "It must be hard to not have family live close by." (She's lived here all of her life, and so has almost all of her family - they're even all in our ward!) It made me realize that some people don't even understand living far away from family. Some people live next door to their parents, down the street, or just across town from their siblings. Lucky....

I wish my kids had cousins to play with, grandparents to babysit when we needed to go out, family to have Sunday dinner with, a sister or sister-in-law to scrapbook with, or just go to lunch with.

Sadly, I don't think we'll probably ever live close to family. At least not in the next few years. Visits to see family will involve packing bags, driving hours and hours, and taking off work.

But we love you family. Whether you're in New Mexico, Utah, Texas, or elsewhere.

template layout and a miracle

So now I'm hooked on these templates - so fun! I found some fun ones - that are right up my alley. Check out this site: Manda Girl. This template is one from her site. And fun part - they're free!

Anyway, if I didn't over-think the templates, I bet I'd be a lot faster at putting together layouts...but alas - I think to much about what papers/elements/etc to use. Hopefully over time I'll get faster.

And for the miracle - HUNTER IS NAPPING! He slept in the car for several hours on Tuesday (don't worry - we were driving, and I was in the car), he took a 4 HOUR nap yesterday (Cory finally woke him up because we were worried he'd slept so long), and he's been asleep over an hour today so far too. YAY! If all goes well, maybe we can develop a napping schedule, and all will be good in the world.

Digital templates

So I have been seeing all of these digital scrapbooking templates on the web, and wondering what the big idea was. I didn't know how the templates worked, and quite frankly they seemed like a waste of time. To me they just looked like sketches - what was so cool about that? Becky Higgins came up with that idea years ago. HOWEVER, today I read this template tutorial - and thought I'd give it a try.

HOLY COW!

Digital templates ROCK! It makes a digital scrapbook page come together in just a few minutes. I'm so dang excited about it - and plan on using these fun templates all the time now. Anyone want to list their favorite digi-template websites? I'd love to know other's faves.

Miss you bubba!

Well Gabe is off - off on Spring Break. Now what would a 2 year old be doing on Spring Break (and what does a 2 year old need a 'break' from?) Well he's having fun and playing with his Mullen cousins. The Mullen kids have been asking for weeks if Gabe could come and stay for a while - but they wanted to be able to have fun and not have him at home when they were off at school - so Spring Break it was! So I met my sister-in-law Ashley about 1/2 way between our house and their's, and we passed him off.

And know what?!?! I miss him! It's so much quieter - there's no one chattering around, no one telling me what to do (for a 2 year old he sure is bossy!), and no one to talk to. Hunter has noticed that Gabe's gone too - but he's been quite happy - and enjoys having all of the attention. It's funny that even at 8 months I can tell that Hunter tells a difference in the amount of attention he's getting from Cory and I - with Gabe gone.

Anyway - little bubba - we know you're in good hands and having a blast. But we miss and love you! See you Saturday.

START NOW!

The Daffodil Principle
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, 'Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over.'

I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead 'I will come next Tuesday', I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

'Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!'

My daughter smiled calmly and said, 'We drive in this all the time, Mother.'

'Well, you won't get me back on the road un til it clears, and then I'm heading for home!' I assured her.

'But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks,' Carolyn said. 'I'll drive. I'm used to this.'

'Carolyn,' I said sternly, 'Please turn around.'

'It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.'
After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, ' Daffodil Garden ..' We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.

It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different colored variety was planted in large groups so that i t swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

Who did this?' I asked Carolyn. 'Just one woman,' Carolyn answered. 'She lives on the property. That's her home.' Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

On the patio, we saw a poster. 'Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking', was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. '50,000 bulbs,' it read. The second answer was, 'One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain.' The third answer was, 'Began in 1958.'

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I h ad never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.

That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world .

'It makes me sad in a way,' I admitted to Carolyn. 'What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think w hat I might have been able to achieve!'

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. 'Start tomorrow,' she said.

She was right. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, 'How can I put this to use today?'

Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting....

Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die...

There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like you don't need money. Love like you've never been hurt, and, dance like no one's watching.

Wishing you a beautiful, daffodil day!

Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

If you want to brighten someone's day, pass this on to someone special.

The night that Bunco ended in blood and tears....

So Cory and I are a part of a couples group that gets together to play Bunco each month. This month the hosts decided to have an 80's theme. Normally the themes just apply to the food - so at first I was a bit concerned....but then a friend of mine suggested that I do a cake with 16 candles in it :) So with that out of the way I talked to my friend who was hosting, and she said we were supposed to dress 80's too.

Cory instantly wanted to be Richard Simmons. Scary! But we pulled together a costume, and he was the hit of the party. He even acted like good old Richard - with his jazz hands, scary voice, and flamboyant personality. It cracked all of us up. We had a blast though - singing to 80's hits as we played the game, laughing a lot - and just having a good time. One of our friends looked at me at one point and said, "I don't know what the deal is with people drinking alcohol. Look at this group of Mormons - we're having way more fun than anyone drinking ever could!" So true....

Anyway, at the end of the party the prizes were given out. I know some Bunco groups go all out for prizes - but most of the prizes in our group are gag gifts. (I won a set of BIG 80's belts). But our friend Angela who was hosting the party also runs an Ebay store that sells airsoft guns - so she had a few airsoft guns as prizes. Some were little pistols and then there were some HUGE shot-guns. Well, I bet you can see where this is going.....

The party ended, and the gun-fire began. The little pistols aren't a big deal, and don't really hurt when you get hit with them. HOWEVER - the shotgun is a completely different story! And of course our little "Richard Simmons" was in the heat of the action - especially because with his very little clothes on - there were lots of places it would hurt if he got shot. He was quite the target! It got crazy - with like 6 of the guys running through the house, garage, yard (it was pitch black outside). When it was all said and done poor Cory had blood dripping down his face, and was COVERED with roughly 50+ welts - BIG welts!

The pictures don't do it justice - he really was quite wounded. My little point-n-shoot camera in the garage just doesn't take great pictures....

So the moral of the story is - if going to an 80's party where you know guns will be involved - it might be a good idea to dress as the stay-puff-marshmellow guy from Ghostbusters, rather than Richard Simmons dressed in next-to-nothing. :)

(Edited to add: This morning I asked Gabe if he'd seen how daddy was dressed up last night. He said, "Yeah - he was Green Simmons!")

some pictures

Here are the boys checking out their Easter basket. (Or bucket in this case). We were in California for our trip to Disneyland, so the Easter bunny luckily knew where to find us. I loved how they looked in these cute ears.

Last weekend when Grandma Tammy came to visit she brought Gabe a kite to fly with Daddy while the girls all went to Lexie's dance competition. Gabe loved it. It was so cute to see him show Lexie how to use the kite - he kept saying, "Hold on to it! With both hands!"

It was fun to have Grandma Harding, Grandma Tammy, Aunt Ashley and Lexie come to visit last weekend. Gabe sure loved the attention from all these special ladies in his life!

Hunter really does love Grandma Harding...he was just hungry and we kept making him take pictures.

Hunter's latest thing is his tounge - it is constantly hanging out of his mouth, it's kind of funny.

This week Gabe just can't get enough of Hunter - I have to keep an extra careful eye on the 2 of them because Gabe will squish poor Hunter if I'm not careful and leave them alone. Not on purpose - he does it when he hugs Hunter. Most of the time Hunter loves it. I can see LOTS of wrestling matches with these two in years to come.

Tomorrow I'll post pictures from "The night that the 80's themed Bunco party ended in blood and too many welts to count..."

(I bet you're curious now - huh?)

Weekend Top 10 (in no particular order...)

1. Driving my new car. I LOVE my new car! It was fun to drive down to St. George in it yesterday, and I look forward to trips in it too. (Aside from the gas-mileage that is!) One thing I love on it is XM Satellite Radio. I haven't ever had it before - and I don't know if we'll keep the service - but it's fun. There are all kinds of interesting stations and we could have fun listening to them. We'll see...
2. This weekend Cory's Mom, Grandma Harding, Ashley (Cory's sister), and our niece Lexie came down. Lexie had a dance competition on Friday in St. George. So I went down and got to see her dance. (I was also overwhelmed by the whole "girl-liness" involved with dance competitions - WOW!) She did a great job and won several awards with her group. Way to go Lexie! The girls also went to lunch, did some shopping, and came home. I really enjoyed the time we had together.
3. I had an epiphany yesterday at the dance competition. I had always thought that I had become a perfectionist over the years - something I'd developed. But as I watched the little girls dance yesterday I remembered when I had taken dance (I think I was 4...maybe 5...?) I had wanted to take dance, I wanted to be a graceful ballerina and dance beautifully right away. Imagine my disgust and disappointment on the first day of dance when I learned a move called, "THE BRICK". It involved jumping from one end of the dance studio to the other - and it was anything but graceful and beautiful. I remember being upset and not wanting to dance anymore - because I wasn't immediately a prima ballerina. Anyway - as I watched the youngest groups of girls dance, and stumble up on stage I realized that it doesn't come all at once - it take YEARS to develop what I had hoped - even at age 4 - to achieve overnight. This happened again a few years later when I finally convinced my parents to let me do gymnastics - and I was upset because on the first day they didn't teach us to (perfectly) do back handsprings. And this has followed me through life. For instance - I'd love to be a runner - and run marathons. But I know that won't happen for a long time, and I'll have to build up to that. I hate that idea - so instead of putting in the time and effort - I don't run at all. Dumb, I know. But this weekend I realized that this curse of mine started at the young age of 4. Sad...
4. It was SO fun to watch Grandma Harding (one of Gabe & Hunter's GREAT-grandma's) with the boys this weekend. She was out really playing hard with Gabe yesterday afternoon - playing with water guns, playing with his new kite - just really getting out there and having a go at it. It was fun to see them connect. It was also neat to watch her get to spend some time with Hunter. I always enjoy watching family enjoy my kids. I mean I know they're great - but it's fun for other's to love them too.
5. Lexie and Gabe - Gabe sure does love his cousins and had a great time with Lexie this weekend! It's fun to see him with the older kids, and get to have fun with them. I had worried since our kids would be younger than Ashley's older kids - I didn't know if they'd connect. But the Mullen cousins have really embraced him, and love him to pieces. I'm glad he has fun with them. Last night it was almost impossible to get Gabe to sleep because he was so excited to spend time with Lexie.
6. A fun BBQ with friends. We had 2 families of friends over for dinner tonight after conference. We tried cooking ribs for the first time, and I dare say they were fantastic. (Now I don't like ribs - so that's saying a lot!) Wanna know the trick? We took a big stock-pot and 2 liters of Dr. Pepper. Bring the Dr. Pepper to a boil and place your ribs inside. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours. Take the ribs out and slather in BBQ sauce and put on the grill. Cook for a while (Cory did this part - so I don't know how long it took - but not too long) - and ENJOY. They were tender, juicy fell off the bone and yummy. (The reason I don't enjoy ribs, or fried chicken for that matter - is that I don't like eating off of the bone. It's just too messy!) We also had other yummy stuff like Cherry Chocolate Cake, Spinach Salad, potato salad - it was fun to visit, and fun food too! I love summer time when we can have BBQ's and really enjoy spending time with good friends.
7. Made the commitment to start going to water aerobics with some friends starting this week. One of my friends has been going for 6 weeks now and just loves it. She's been trying to get me to come too and I've managed to resist until tonight...So starting tomorrow I'm going to be going in the evenings. We'll see how it goes - I'm not much of a swimmer, but it might be fun. If nothing else it will be good to do something for myself, spend time with friends, and exercise. Cory's been encouraging me too - because he knows when I'm exercising I'm much happier and easier to live with :).
8. I found some fun digital kits this weekend. I've been bad lately and downloaded quite a few fun new kits. Some of my favorite sites are: Shabby Miss Jenn Designs, The Shabby Shoppe, and probably my favorite - The Sweet Shoppe Designs. The layout I posted was from this kit. Now if I could just find the time to get to do some scrapping....
9. Hunter has eaten like a HORSE this weekend. He must be growing because he has just been packing away the baby-food. And last night at dinner he was totally wanting to eat our food too. I have to say I did give him a couple of french fries (just to gum for the most part) - and he loved them. He wants to eat foods he can feed himself, but without any teeth he doesn't do too good. But he does love these little puffs that he can feed himself - and packs those away like nobody's business. But if anyone has great ideas for other finger foods that he won't choke on - I'd love to hear it. And I think Hunter would be grateful too :)
10. General Conference - Now this one is a little bitter-sweet. Because Cory's family was here (which we loved) - we didn't get to watch conference like we normally would have. We did catch today's sessions (although I say 'catch' loosely - the boys did not co-operate and let us pay much attention. Thank goodness we recorded it!), but we didn't get to watch yesterday's. I was disappointed when I realized I wouldn't get to enjoy the Saturday session (which I LOVE, and feel spiritually charged by it every 6 months). But when I got home last night from the dance competition I sat down to watch and at least see who was called as the new General Authority. Then it hit me, and I realized that we missed the sustaining of our new prophet - President Monson. I started to cry. But I watched the beginning of the session and just cried some more. I felt left out. I felt like I had really missed something. But I stood and sustained our new prophet as if I had been watching it live. I wanted to have that experience and get to commit that I would sustain and honor his teachings in my life, and the life of my family. But I was also overwhelmed as I watched those in the Conference Center as they stood and also committed to sustain him. And then I thought of the members all over the WORLD - who were doing the same thing. Wow! I felt a part of something HUGE, and yet - I felt like I had missed out on it a bit. I didn't like that feeling, and it made me want to do better at being a part of that awesome huge group so I wouldn't feel left out again. I wanted to live like that group should live, and I wanted to be a part of something so much bigger than just me. Does that make any sense? I look forward to quite moments this week that I will hopefully get to sit and watch Saturday's sessions more in depth and partake of the spiritual food that is offered with conference.

Elder Ballard's message in conference this afternoon was one of my favorites of conference; and maybe even my favorite talk in YEARS. It made me want to be a better mother, and also made me feel good about what I am doing. I am going to be referring to that talk for a long time to come I think. (If for some reason you missed it - you can find it here and listen to it. Later in the week the transcripts will be available too)

I LOVED seeing President Monson in conference. I have loved him as a church leader since I can remember. He has always had a special place in my heart, and I felt a connection to his stories even as a little girl. One of the things I loved the most during this conference was his sense of humor. That was an aspect of President Hinckley that I knew I was going to miss - he always had a quick wit and kept people smiling. I was worried a bit that that aspect of conference would be missing with him no longer with us. But I felt like President Monson was just as quick-witted today. He had some comments this afternoon that had me smiling and giggling a bit. I look forward to his sweet comments over the years. I love that my kids will hopefully get to know him as a prophet of their childhood, and look forward to helping them develop testimonies of living prophets.

General Conference Packet

I had several people forward this to me. WOW! I wish my boys were older, and could appreciate all that is in this. I think I might print a couple up and use them myself to stay focused :)

Have a great Conference Weekend!

(eddited to add: Here's the link....)

layouts

New Wheels

So Cory talked to the owners of that Yukon XL and they agreed to sell it to us. I guess if you want something - you just need to ask :) It's a pretty sweet ride, and I'm excited to be traveling in style. I love the color, it has much lower miles than our suburban had, it has a built in DVD player, really nice rims....I'm happy!

(oops....I wrote that it was a Yukon XL - it's not. It's just a plain Yukon Denali - not an XL)

monthly desktops

Since I've been digitally scrapbooking I like to change my computer's desktop each month and I love having pictures of my little guys on it. This website: http://shabbyprincess.typepad.com/ has the BEST pre-made desktops each month. You just download it, add your picture, save it and load it as your desktop. I love it! Anyway - here is the cute desktop they have posted for April. You can make your own too - but the ones on this website are so much cuter than what I create!