Good Ol' V Day

Started out my Valentines Day with lots of grocery shopping and I found this all made of Dr. Pepper (a staple for my husband) and Diet Dr. Pepper cherry (a new fav for me). And I knew it would be a great day.

The kids woke up and I surprised them with red juice, jello a few treats and gifts.

My surprise was sitting on the table for an over night stay to the Armstrong Mansion Bed & Breakfast and $50 to Rodizios! (and of course flowers and chocolate!) Love that man!!

 Then we had a Joy School Valentines party but didn't get any pictures. Because I was slightly busy...they next few hours went like this....

Right in the middle of painting our hand prints on a card for the kids parents Mollie announces she pooped her pants. I tell the kids not to touch anything and run up and clean up Mollie, sanitize the bathroom and myself.

Then a boy had to use the bathroom and peed ALL over my bathroom. Sanitized bathroom again..and myself.

Kids left, and I tried to make a cute valentine lunch.

I was feeling pretty good after I cleaned up lunch and was just sittin down for some mom time while the kids napped and I heard Carter say he didnt feel well. I bolted up the stairs and ran to the bathroom just in time for him to throw up in the toilet.

AGAIN...I cleaned up him and then sanitized the toilet, floor, sink and myself. UGH.

I was feeling pretty exhausted by now but still wanted to make some our fav V day tradition of chocolate covered strawberries. So I whipped some out (meanwhile Mollie has changed her clothes into her swim dress - a normal occurance) and was helping me eat them.

And make a nice meal in time for dinner! WHEW!

I got it all done and was very tired by the time Chad got home. I took a small power nap and the rest of the evening was spent relaxing, eating, and cuddling. Love my little family so much. I appreciated my mom so much on this holiday because she always went out of her way to make every holiday very special. A tradition I want to carry on with my family. I can only imagine how wiped out she was at the end of every holiday (and every other day for that matter!) but we never knew it. We just knew she loved us.

And I hope my children know how much I love them each and my amazing husband too. We are all working right now on SHOWING love to each other rather than just saying it and I can honestly say I appreciate each person in my family more for showing me love.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

It's Potty Time!

This little girl amazed me at how quick she potty trained! Within a few days she was trained to go pee, we sadly are still working on #2 but I'm hoping she will catch on quick.

As I was compiling last years blog book, I notice that Carter was finally potty trained by Jan 2012 and here we are 1 year later with both kids potty trained in Jan 2013!

She loves wearing her "pannies" and I think they are so cute too! She is really small for her age and with her out of diapers now none of her pants fit. They are all to big and she looks even tinier! Another down side is we often find her naked! This girl hates wearing clothes!

Mollie is...TWO....this pretty much sums it up right now. She is very strong willed and she loves candy. Her sleeping habits are horrible and so are her eating habits. She's a fighter most of the time and not a lover. BUT I love her like crazy. She reminds me of what love is and is teaching more about patience than I ever would learn without her. Her smile and laugh can melt anyone. And those big brown eyes....lets just say she has her daddy wrapped around her finger (and mom too!)

I sometimes hate that girls are supposed to love dress up and babies and play with kitchens and pretend clean up toys. It's engrained in them. Does it teach our girls that all there is to life is cooking, cleaning, looking beautiful and caring for babies? I hope it teaches them service and love. I hope I can teach you the things you need to know and especially how loved you are. LOVE YOU MOL!

Home

One of my dear friends often posts on her blog things that I think were meant exactly for me! She recently shrared this song on her blog.

Settle down, It'll all be clear. Don't pay no mind to the deamons they fill you with fear.

The trouble it might drag you down. If you get lost you can always be found.
Just know you're not alone, cuz I'm gonna make this place your home
~Phillip Phillips "Home"

With moving comes many changes! Friends, routines, schedules...and on and on. I first must say I really hate January and February...(until Valentines day) they are just BLAH! And to have all this change durring the "blah months" can be hard some days. When I read this chorus it spoke to me. Just settle down and make this place your home.

I have been complaing lately in my head alot about this or that...things that dont really matter...like the silverware drawer being too small, the lack of cleaning that was done before we moved in, the tower of boxes in the garage. And then I literaly force myself to snap out of that and change my thinking.  And I really have to FORCE myself to realize my irrational thoughts and change them. Before I didnt think it was possible, but with prayer and help from an amazing husband, I have decided to change my outlook on life here in Tooele. All that forcing of my thoughts has become much more natural and I can easily (most days) change a grumpy mood into a better one.

Dont pay no mind to the deamons they fill you with fear. The trouble it might drag you down. Satan wants me to feel down and find things to complain about and drag me down.

While the first few weeks were challenging, I have to say that now I am in a good place. The people here are amazing. I have never met more kind people who would do anything for you. Truly Christlike people. And that has made me want to be better. One thing about being LDS is that you are never lost. You belong somewhere and have a ward that will support you and strengthen you. Im so glad for that, especially in times of change.

And no Im not alone, and with the cognitive thinking exercises I CAN make this place my own. I recently had an opportunity to learn about Lot's wife who was turned to salt. One thing about what I read struck me. It said - Lots wife never imagined that her future could possibly be any better than her past. She was hanging on to the past so tight that she had to look back and it was the detrement of her.

So while I had a wonderful past in Twin Falls. I am looking to the future. I trust that my future can be just as good if not better than my past. Dear friends will always be dear friends no matter where you are. And I have an opportunity to make more dear friends. So with that all being said.....HERES TO HAPPY THINKING IN 2013.

The most wonderful time of the year...

We had a really fabulous Christmas and Christmas Eve. We started it off by decorating gingerbread man to eat and some to leave for Santa. The kids loved it...well the frosting part anyway!

 Then we headed out back to our own private sledding hill! Its just perfect for the kids. And the big kids too. :D

 Carter was in heaven and Mollie took a while to warm up to it, but when she did...

 We couldn't stop her!

The ledge behind us is the "jump" we tried to go off...NOT a good idea. It resulted in back pain for me and a bruised tailbone for chad! We aren't as young as we used to be!

 After some hot chocolate, naps and a yummy dinner, we read and (tried) to act out a nativity story. Carter knew the story really well and Mollie just wanted to hold the baby.

 It was very sweet nonetheless.

 New Christmas Eve Jammies, then off to bed!

 So Santa could finaly come!

 Mollie woke up at 5:00AM!! She wasnt going to go back to bed so we just decided to get Carter up and get opening presents! Chad has a fun memory of his dad gathering all the kids at the top of their stairs every christmas morning and they would all go down together, youngest (him) to oldest. He wanted to carry that tradition on this year.

 Santa did not disapoint! Mollie was so excited about her "chicken"...AKA Kitchen!

And a puppy!

                                              
Carter was thrilled with his Lightning McQueen Hawk....yes, Hawk (the wings pop out)....who knew?!

 and a LM race track!

 Chad had a few surprises that I hid in the garage so he would be surprised. (dont look at my garage, we just moved in!)

 I was spoiled with lots of clothes and money to buy more clothes and massages! What a wonderful Christmas.

 If you asked Mol what she wanted from Santa, all she would say was a hat. Me and Mol got matching hats!

Of course their would be nothing to celebrate with out our dear Savior and his birth and life. Despite the craziness of the season and moving, I tried really hard to think of the Savior daily. I took a few moments on Sunday to ponder the Atonement as Pres. Uchtdorf has counseled us. What an amazing blessing to have our sins taken away so that we can be perfect! Do we always stop and realize that reality? I can be PERFECT through Him. In Sunday School we also talked about how He never will leave us alone. Never. He is there for us always no matter how lonely, sad, or confused we are. We just have to humble ourselves and ask for his peace! What a beautiful blessing. I'm so greatful for Christ. He is the reason for the season. Merry Christmas. I hope you have been as blessed this year as we have.

I hope they call me on a mission...

I'm too old for this, but yes, my baby brother surprised us all at temple square with his mission call. He had lied to a bunch of us and told us it hadn't came yet....Little Turkey!

 My whole family was able to be there except one brother who lives in CA. But I'm so greatful for technology because we had him, his wife, and grandma and grandpa all on the phone while he read his call.

 You are called to serve in the Moldova/Romania mission. You will study the language of Romania. Please report May 1! It was a spiritual emotional moment and we got to read it all at temple square. There were many shouts of joy and lots of tears. His girlfriend Shayne has been a good influence in his life and they are picured below.

Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. What an amazing missionary this kid will be. He has strength that I didn't know until I was much older. Adam - the people of Romania don't know whats coming!

So glad for forever families. Our family motto growing up has always been "No Empty Chairs" (in our home in heaven.) It wouldnt be paradise without all these wonderful people. In April, we will ALL get to be in the temple as Adam recieves his endowments. No Empty chairs is becoming a reality and I CAN NOT wait! :)

The MOVE

We left our Twin Falls home on Dec 13, 2012. We had movers pack up our whole house, load it in a truck, and deliver it to our new house in Tooele, UT. It was quite the trip!

Our moving truck had some clutch problems and was put in the shop for a 'quick fix'

Around Ogden area, we realized we lost the bearings on our boat trailer and it was grinding and smoking like crazy. We spent about an hour at a rest stop while we waited for a tow truck that could load a boat. The truck was a little smaller than what they should have used and while they were loading it, the front tires of the truck came OFF THE GROUND about 6 inches! (Im sure these trucks are designed to do this, but you can imagine my horror as I watched from the car!!)

 Its a strange thing to ride down the road behind your boat....

 About this time, we learned that our moving truck wouldnt make it to deliver our things until Sat. (It was supposed to arrive on Friday) So we booked a hotel and spent the night. We arrived early at our house the next morning to this....6 inches of fresh snow!

As we waited for the truck to arrive we introduced the kids to their new home. They were in heaven and loved the fact that it has stairs.

Our truck arrived at the house and they started unloading immediatley. Poor guys had been on the road for 4 days! Its amazing how all your possesions can fit into one tiny space.

 Our house is similar to a duplex. It has a main floor, an upstairs, and a down stairs. It has hardwood floors and new carpet! Its a 3 bed and 2 3/4 bath. Its hard going from our own house that we built ourselves to something different, but so far things have been good as we have been getting settled.

Who knew a box could be so fun?! This is what Carter and Mollie did while I unpacked. Later, Carter sledded in our back yard. We have our own sledding hill in our fenced back yard! YAY!

 We put our TV down stairs and our couch up stairs so we have had lots of movie parties on the floor. Coming soon: a new couch!

 I told Chad that having our tree up ASAP was a must. After 2 days of being in our home, our living room was mostly organized and our tree was up! What a good husband I have! Now Christmas can come.

 We were a 1 car family for a week and it was not very fun. We have been planning on getting Chad a commuter car and so last Tuesday, Hewey the Honda joined our familiy. I named him after I drove him home in the crazy utah traffic for about an hour!  I think it will be a good little car!

So far our ward is amazing. We have been the recipents of several treat plates and I have been invited to play dates and yoga! People are so kind and we feel like we have really been blessed.

Chad hasn't started any real work yet and probly wont until about May, but until then they are keeping him busy with saftey meetings, orientations, and trainings. He likes his boss and thinks he will be really happy here. The company with Rio Tinto continues to impress both of us so we have high hopes for this job.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and remember the real reason of the season!