Happy Easter

I have felt so humbled and grateful this Easter season for Christ's atonement and resurrection. I love my Savior. I feel such peace in knowing that I have an Elder brother that loves me, and that because of his sacrifice I'll be able to live with Him and my Heavenly Father again. I'm truly  grateful for a Gospel that gives me assurance in knowing where I've come from, why I'm here, and where I'm going.  This Sunday our choir sang a cantata and the theme was..."I stand all amazed."  I would echo that in saying...I truly do. 

These are some pictures we took this weekend (warning there are A LOT). With all the sugar and egg hunts it's kinda a big pastel blur, but you'll get the idea. 

True to Maddie's independent spirit, she had already found the baskets and started the egg hunt HERSELF before getting us up. uughhh, I could have killed her, but... that's Maddie.

It's amazing Brody's still alive after all the candy wrappers he consumed this weekend. I'll literally be seeing tin foil and paper in his diapers for weeks i bet. 

These pics were taken at a farm nearby that has been set up for kids. it was pretty awesome. Lots of fun things for kids to do. oh, and in case your wondering... (if I've lost my mind or not) No, Brody didn't go down that big slide alone, it was a much smaller one. 

This picture of peace and tranquility was taken shortly before Maddie lunged through mid air and nearly mauled another girl to death for throwing corn on her and her friends repeatedly. After several attempts to notify me of the problem, she took matters into her own hands. The girl's mother (who I didn't know) was sitting beside me knitting... how embarrassing. 

Does it show my true colors though to say, that after giving her a firm lecture, my heart silently smiled with pride that my little girl can defend herself so well;)

Can you hear me now?

After 2  solid months of ear infections...and a whole lotta fussin'...  Brody had surgery last week to have tubes put in his ears.  He did great and handled everything like a trooper. The doctor told us that he had so much fluid and mucus (gross) in his ears that he probably couldn't hear much the last couple months (sadly, he's likely gonna prefer that when he gets a load of Maddie's decibal range these days).

They let me go back and hold him while they put him to sleep. He did great... and I was pretty pleased with myself for not completely loosing control and having to be carried out in a white jacket; not fun to say the least. 

- Later that evening. Maddie didn't waste any time getting him acclimated again. Trust me, those tubes must be in there good is all I have to say...

The "what ifs"

Brent just left for a work training and I sit here with teary eyes. I don't know why really...it's not like I'm scared, or sad or lonely.  I mean, it's not like I've never been alone for a week, or away from my husband at night. I think it's just the "what ifs" that are creeping up on me tonight. Don't you hate  the "what ifs"?  When you let your mind wander to dark places, imagining in horrific detail every left-field scenario you could ever think of, until your worked-up to the point of panic and sobbing for no good reason.  It typical happens to me late at night as I lay in bed, or just after I drop my kids off somewhere for a quick "run to the store," or sometimes just before a flight or faraway trip. But tonight it happened at the dining room table following a long sweet kiss. Listening to his car pull away my mind swirled and I thought... "what would I ever do without him?"  I don't often mention my feelings for my husband as I feel that they're private, but I will say this...  I love Brent. He's simply the most genuine, sweet, selfless person I know. This evening he gave each of us priesthood blessings of safety and comfort, and as I watched him with our children my heart was full. 

I don't know why he picked me, but I thank my lucky stars  that he did. 

Happy Birthday Brody!

Today is B-man's birthday. We had his Jungle Safari party last Saturday while my sister was in town (she made that dope invitation by the way). The party was a great time and we were glad to be able to celebrate with so many family and friends.  Thank you all so much for the cards and gifts; Brody has been playing with his new toys non-stop. 

Well, I can hardly believe that my sweet little man is already ONE...it's been a fast and furious year that's for sure. Brody seemed to love the party, except for the monkey hat that is (unfortunately that didn't stop us from making him wear it). 

"We love ya B-man...happy 1 year old birthday day to you!"

In love

If I were a person with a little less sense I'd have a house full of white slipcovered furniture. I was seriously in love with them before Rachel Ashwell even existed:)   I mean is there anything more calming, versatile, feminine, and beautiful in this whole world than a house full of beautifully tailored white slipcovers? However... as I said, I'm not delusional, and at present not rich either (as they can be quite pricey to have made)... with kids they would just be too difficult. I've read the 10 billion testimonials that say, "oh you just throw them in with some bleach and they're good as new." Well whoever wrote that statement clearly hasn't witnessed Maddie's capacity for destruction with a sippy cup full of chocolate milk.  So while I'm not having everything covered in white in this lifetime, I did run across a little somthin' today on Craigslist,  that I couldn't pass up.  I'm in love...in fact I've spent half the night just sitting and staring at it...imagining all the perfect spring pillows i'll be making to put on it. 

I've included some of my favorite covered chairs so you can get the idea. Mine is the last two pics. With some new foam for the seat cushion... she'll be good to go. ahhhh, 70 bucks...I love a good deal. 

One down...

Here are the pics that I promised of the finished, hung silhouette's. I'm really happy with the way they turned out. I originally wanted them to look more vintage, with fabric and oval frames, but the look just wasn't right for the room. So...we decided to use sqaure "floating" frames for a more contemporary look, and paired them with an oval border to create the vintage look I was going for. Together...I love em'. One spring project down, 1000 more to go! 

All about B-man

It’s hard for me to believe that my sweet baby boy will be turning 1 later this month. The baby face and body that I kissed and squished incessantly, is now thinning out and giving way to little boy features and grown-up mannerisms. We now have a full fledged little man buzzin’ around this place. Brody's been crawling since about 6 months  and I was sure he’d be walking by now, but he’s cautious (like his dad).  I think I’d almost prefer walking at this point though, because he puts EVERYTHING in this mouth; the smallest most minuscule things....it's pretty much a constant effort to keep him from choking to death. He also LOVES the toilet. I’ve found him (more than once embarrassingly) elbow deep in toilet water chewing on used toilet paper (I know!!)  Which actually pales in comparison to the time that I found him with the goose-neck Clorox toilet bowl cleaner in his mouth...suckin’ that thing like a bottle I tell ya. Nothing like a little   E-coli to start the day out right. Anyway, we love our little man; he’s brought the sweetest calming spirit to our home. I wanted to post some video’s that we've taken recently... WARNING – if you’re not a grandparent, Aunt or Uncle, your likely gonna be bored. 

One of "those" days.

3:00am  child #1, "mommy my belly hurts"

3:03 vomit...clean floor

4:00 vomit....clean bed

5:00 vomit...clean toilet

7:30 "good morning Brody"..."oh my gosh, what in the world!"  

7:31  bathing child #2 smeared in diarrhea from head to toe (literally.) 

7:31  child #1 vomiting in toilet while child number #2 screams in tub.  

8:01 call doctor's office

8:30 shower / scrape dried poop and vomit off my body.

10:30 leave house for doctor's office

10:33 turn around and return home to change yucky clothes.

10:35 - 12:30  doctor's office, vomit, vomit, vomit, and one last vomit in car. 

1:30pm get home

5:00 child #2 vomits for the first time.  

5:05 bath child number 2. 

5:30 put child #1 to bed.

7:00 but wait...vomit...bath child #1... again. 

7:45 change one last poopy diaper and put child #2 to bed

7:50 shower / scrape dried poop and vomit off my body. 

8:00-9:00 watch the biggest loser and find out how many calories are in a fully stuffed burrito, WHILE EATING A FULLY STUFFED BURRITO!!!

10:00 quiet..for now.

10:22 blogging when I should be sleeping.  

Good thing these two are so worth it.

When Maddie wasn't vomiting today...she drew these pics of each member of our family. Now I know I'm totally a mom here, but seriously,  for 3 1/2 years old...these are good. 

dad..

mom...I'm the only one that got shoes...lucky me. 

Maddie...you'll notice that she has "wonger" hair than me, and "is holding baby Brody."

And the Brod-man...I don't know exactly where she was going with this one, but I'd say it's somewhat indicative of their relationship. 

I'm told he's the little blog at the top left with "legs and big ears." 

Do you know these people?

Ever since seeing this idea in "Nie Nie's" house... I was HOOKED. Turns out though that silhouette's are the "in thing" this year and are just about everywhere now...pictures, wallpaper, pins, fabric etc.  Anyway,  I had brent whip me up some of our little fam (he's amazing, what can I say), which I plan to frame individually and place on either side of our fireplace. Don't we look so vintage (especially with Brent's surfer dude hair) lol.