SKING WITH UNCLE JASON

Wow. Is my kid really old enough to be going sking. Jason has been helping out at the house and with the dog while Aaron is out of town so on one of my days off we took Cabhan skiing. It was so dang cute. At first Jason was just going to take him to give me a break but I didn't want to miss it so me and Ciaran tagged along and hung out in the logde. As you can tell from the pictures Cabhan loved it. He has found a new best friend in Jason. They are attached at the hip every chance Cabhan gets. Thanks Jace for all your help with the boys. They love their uncle Jason.

FUNNY THINGS

Okay there are a couple of things that my kids do that are so funny that I need to write down before I forget. After Cabhan was born before Ciaran could say Cabhan he called him "ya ya." Still to this day Debbie calls Cabhan her "little ya ya." So when Ciaran was finally able to say Cabhan the cutest thing ever happened. Cabhan took his own nick name and started calling Ciaran "ya ya." Well now at the ages of three and five they both call eachother brother. It is so dang cute to me. Just recently they started calling eachother cute nicknames. Cav and Ci.

So also Ciaran has figured out that when we listen to 99.5 on the radio after each song the dj tells who sings it so he will always say mom do you know who sinngs that song and then tell me.



Also anytime we go somewhere and cabhan cant reach something or see something good Ciaran will lay down on the ground and let Cabhan stand on him so he can see better or reach what he needed.

Everytime I ask either of them how I was so lucky to get such cute good boys like them they always answer from Heavenly Father. It is true. I must have done something good to deserve them. They are the light of my life and I don't know where I would be without them. I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for my two boys and the joy they bring to my life.

STAR WARS

This is the present my boys brought me home from Disneyland. They were so excited to give it to me because they love the one of me so much. They still sleep with mine all the time so I told them I would sleep with theirs now. They thought that was so cool. They had a great time and I am so happy they were able to have that experience with their dad and their grandpa Mike and grandma Gwen. They were really able to bond with them because they don't see them as much as others. Now they are all they talk about and I have even been called Grandma gwen and grandpa mike a few times but its all good. Also I want to thank Mike and Gwen for taking the time out of their busy schedules and taking my boys with them and making it possible for this experience to take place. I really do appreciate it a lot. Aaron will never forget it and hopefully the boys wont either. Thanks for all you do.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Today is my dad's birthday and I stayed with my mom until after midnight so I could be the first to say happy birthday to him. I have been so excited about his birthday for a couple of weeks now. My mom took me and my brother to the dollar store to get stuff to decorate my dad's truck. I was looking at my mom's scrapbook a couple of weeks ago and when she was dating my dad she docorated my dads car for his 24th birthday with all star wars stuff so I told my mom
that is what I wanted to do for my dad for his birthday this year. So we got silly string, balloons, crape paper and window clings. I was a little upset that we couldn't find Star Wars stuff again but oh well. Happy Birthday Dad. I love you so much.
Ciaran

DRAPER TEMPLE OPEN HOUSE

Amber, Amber, Abby, Scoshi, Ariana, Jana, Ma'ata, Bret

Mary and Me
On Tuesday February 17th I got to go with the young women from my old ward to the Draper Temple open house. It was so great to see them all again. I do miss them so much but I do keep in touch with most of them by texting. (FYI if you are ever in a youth calling you better learn how to text because that is how you get ahold of them now) I miss being in the young women program but hopefully one day I will get my chance again.
Me, Ma'ata, and Bret Florencia, Alejandra and Friend

After the temple tour the young women came over to my apartment to see it and then I gave a short lesson. I read them the scripture Heleman 5:10 and gave them each a piece of the temple stone and explained how the savior and Heavenly father are our rock and we need to build our foundation upon a "rock". Aaron had been given some pieces of the stone from a friend while working on the temple and we had given them to so many people and I finally got to give them to my young women which I was so excited about and have been looking forward to this night forever.

Valentines Dinner with My Boys

For Valentines Day this year I started a new tradition with my boys that I stole from Trudy. We had a candle light dinner with their favorate thing to eat. Ramon Noodles and candy hearts. Hopefully one day I will get to upgrade to like a steak dinner but it was between ramon noodles and Arby's roast beef sandwhiches this year. They love it. They thought it was pretty cool to drink out of the cool tall glasses with sparkling cidar. I love this tradition because really my boys are the best Valentines I could ever ask for. I love you two.

I also got them both a fun Valentines gift which I have done all their lives but they got to open those at the dinner too and we did some fun Fireworks which was their favorate part and the cheapest part also.

Valentines Day

So for valentines Day this year I had a very cool oppertunity. My neighbor Connie whom has become a very good friend to me and my boys asked if I would take her through the Draper Temple open house on Valentines Day. She isn't LDS so she had never seen inside a temple before so we were both very excited. We had a great time. I think I over did it with her because she was out for like two days after. She said she wasn't used to doing that much in one day but we had a good time together. She is so good to me and my kids. They love her so much and they always go over and hang out with her and always notice if her car is there so they know she is home. Out of all the temples I have been in I think the Draper Temple inside is my all time favorate other than maybe Nauvoo. I loved the colors and all the furniture was so beautiful. If you haven't yet I encourage you to go see it. The open house goes until March 13th I think and is open to everyone.

VALENTINES PARTY AT DEBBIES

My kids are the luckiest kids in the world that they get to go to Debbie Elmer's for Day care. People ask me all the time how I found her and all I say is it was a tender mercy from my father in heaven because she is AMAZING. So for Valentines Day we got a bee in our bonnets to make all the kids valentines boxes. So wednesday for my day off I went over to Debbie's, had noodles for lunch, and we made boxes for all the kids. Yes we made nine of them. Debbie of course had material in her endless supply of craft supplies and so the boys got camo or cowboy and Nikol got beads. We had a ton of fun but dont know if we will do it again next year. It was a lot more work then we thought. So then on Thursday we had the valentines day party. The kids all loved their boxes and they all got to pass out valentines to eachother. Then Debbie had made them all heart shaped sugar cookies to decorate and then we had heart shaped pizza for lunch. We had a great time and the kids love going to Debbie's more than my house most of the time but I love that they love her because it makes it that much easier to go to work and leave my kids with her.

HAPPY 84TH BIRTHDAY GRANDPA

Today, February 15th 2009 would be my grandpa's 84th birthday. I miss him so much and especially lately. I just wish so bad I could talk with him for even just two minutes. When I woke up this morning I was very tempted to miss church and take a drive to Malad to visit his grave and talk to him in spirit on the way. However I knew he would have rather me be at church so that is what I did.

He was a always a great example to me and those around him of unconditionally loving others as thyself and not my their situation. Grandpa I miss you so much and hope I will never disappoint you and know you are watching over me every step of my life right now. I feel your loving presence often. I love you so much and can't wait for the day that I will get to embrace you and live with you again for eternity. Thank you so much for all you ever taught me and for always being such a good example to me. I love you so much and will see you again soon.

Lunch with Dad at his work

I was on my way to take the boys to Kindermusik today and realized I was going to run out of gas. Freaking out that I would stranded with two kids on the freeway I frantically called Aaron to see where he was. He was working at Fashion Place so we hurried over there to get some money from him. He saved our butts. After filling with gas we went back to the mall and Aaron showed the boys all the things he has been doing at Fashion Place mall. They totally ate it all up. They love it when he tells them all about electricity and how it works and they think their dad is a pretty smart guy. Which he is if I do say so my self. Then after showing them around Aaron treated us to some yummy mall food for lunch. The boys favorite is "yummy chicken and rice" from Panda express. They were in Heaven. So even though they were upset that we had to miss Kinder today I think their dad did a good job at making it up to them. They love thier dad so much. Thanks Aaron for being such a good dad to my boys. They love you.

FREE ZOO DAY!

Well what another very busy day off. It started off with the much dreaded yearly women exam. That was first thing in the morning so I could have it done and over with. Then the fun begins. I drove back to Angie's where the boys were and we all got dressed and ready to go to the zoo for free zoo day. Yes it was snowing and pretty cold outside but I was going anyways. Also to make it even funner I offered to help out a friend in need and took their two kids also. So I had Riley and Ciaran both 4 1/2 Cabhan and Cole both 3 1/2 and then Cora who is 8 months. We all piled in Angie's mini van (thanks Ang for letting us borrow the bigger car so we could all go together) and we were off to the zoo. Beckie and Melissa met me there too with their two kids each. Well we had a blast. Yes at first it was snowing and we just basically moved from one building to the next but by the time we were at the bears the kids were shedding their coats and were way hot. We had such a fun day and it was great to see Melissa and Beckie again and their kids. So we had Ciaran, Cabhan, Cady, Connor, Cole, Cora, Riley, Alexa and Gracie. Thats a lot of C names but it was fun. We laughed a lot and the kids played a lot. They were still mostly interested in the snow on the ground and rolling around and playing in that then in most of the animals but its all good because it was free. After the zoo we all piled in the van again and I thought for sure they would all zonk out but no such luck. Then we went back to my apartment so I could get stuff done and the kids all just played it was great. I love kids and had five of my own and most people would say I was crazy for taking five kids under the age of 5 to the zoo and to hang at my house but that is what I love and we had a blast. After all thats what life is all about is having kids and giving service to others and I felt so good inside knowing that I was helping out Angie and Zach and Jodi by taking their kids for a day to help them out. I thank my Heavenly Father everday for the two beautiful spirits he has blessed my life with and hope and pray that I raise them in a way that is pleasing unto him.

FUN WEEKEND

Wow what a busy weekend we have had and the busyness just continues. On Friday night I had a "hot" date with all my married cousins and their kids so I called up Shelby and asked her to be my "date" for the night with them. Hopefully that was okay Landon. We all had so much fun. It was me, Shelby and Melissa, then Jessica, Jay, Elyse, Laura, Jason, Jack, Emily, Blake, and Braxton. It was a blast. We ate food. Just a little though. I was doing the Isagenix and it was a cleanse day so I couldn't eat anything but I cheated a little. Jason M. made no bake cookies which are my major weakness (thanks a lot Jace) so I did have one of those. Then we all played scatagories and played in couples and me and Shelby are so good at it together. Landon it was way cute. The letter was L and the subject was Hero and you can guess who we put. Yep you. Your girl still loves you and you are her hero. That is amazing. Jason M. also yelled out your name also but he let us have you and he put something else. Well then the new mommies had to go down and nurse so all the girls went down to the family room and the guys stayed up in the living room and we all just hung. We had so much dang fun. I love my family. I had to get my date home by midnight so I think me and shelb left first and then the others stayed until like two or three. thanks a lot Shelb for a fun date and to all my cousins for remembering me.
Then on Saturday and Sunday I spent some time up at Aaron's helping him organize and turning the kids room into a Star Wars Room and they are on cloud nine. Wow dad just handed all his toys over to his boys. I really cant believe he did it but he loves watching them play with them and joining in and has realized that that is a lot funner then just having them sit in a box downstairs somewhere collecting dust.
Well it was a great weekend and I couldn't feel more blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. Thanks to everyone for all they do for me and my cute little family.

So much for lazy day off

Well Wednesdays are still my day off work but always end up being the busiest day of the week. We started the day with a much needed visit from Quinn and her cute kids. We had so much fun catching up and it has been way to long. Our kids just played and played and we just talked and talked and the time flew by way to fast. Then we hurried off to an appt in Kaysville with my lawyer and then with our Allstate rep for renters, life and car ins. My boys were so dang good considering they were in a laweyers office and then an allstate office for like four hours total. The lady at the allstate office kept telling me how lucky i was to have such good kids and I couldn't agree more. They are amazing and I love them more than life itself and thank my Heavenly Father Daily for blessing my life with them.
So after the long dreadful appointments I totally made it up to them for being such good boys. They got to go over to Angie's house for dinner and to play while I went to institute. They sure miss thier "siblings" at Angie's house and take every minute possible to play and play hard. They all got so close while we were living there and when they see eachother now they just hug and hug and say I miss you, I love you, I miss you. It is the cutest thing ever and I hope they will always be close with their cousins like I am with mine. Thanks mom and family for making that possible even though it was hard at times.
So while my kids were in great hands at Angie's house I went to pick up Melissa Mae and we went to institute. Quinns mom is the teacher and it was amazing. It is on the teachings of the living prophets so our manuel is the Conference session of the Ensign and the talk today was "Finding Joy in the Journey" by President Monson. What an amazing man we have right now as our prophet. I don't remember hearing this talk but have read it many times now and get new things out of it everytime. Change is okay and good. Live everyday as if it were our last. Enjoy my boys while they are young because tomorrow they will be gone and I will miss all the messes they make. and last of all but most important Find Joy in everything. What we go through in this life we signed up for in the pre-existance and God knew we could handle it. So even with what has been thrown at me and my little family lately I take this attitude of I chose this and I have two choices. Be bitter, mad at God or who ever and be miserable OR Be greatful for the trials I am given, learn from them and they will only make me a better person. So I am taking the second choice and couldn't be a happier person even with everything going on and I thank my Heavenly Father Daily for what he has blessed me with and helping me become a better person through all this too. Obviously I am a very hard headed person and it took all this to get through to me and that is all my fault for not just listening the first times I am sure he tried to tell me. What mostly I have learned is for as long as I live I will NEVER judge another for the choices they make. I am not the judge and what ever made me think I was or even had the right to be. It is their life and we all have our agency and can do what we feel we need to do to live this life and make it though it. And second is I will never try to change someone wheather what I want is better or not. I have tried to change so many people and Yes Aaron you are one of them. I can see now how horrible it is to push someone so far because all they will do is push back and go the other way. I am not here to change anyone but myself and try to be the best I can be. Sorry to go on like this but this is my journal also and these are things that I need to remember and be able to look back on.

Kinder Musik

Just a few weeks after moving into my moms house in August my young women's president from when i was a Laurel let my kids take Kinder Musik from her for a discounted price. I was so excited. As many of you know me and Aaron have both always been very musical and want our kids to be the same. Well they both have inherited it and we couldn't be more happy. In kinder musik they learn beat, tempo and play and sing songs and when they graduate they will be all ready to play the piano or guitar. And best of all they love "singing lessons" and Teresa. It has been such a wonderful experience and I am so thankful to Teresa for letting us have that experience and we have signed them up for another semester which will start next week. Everyday they ask do we get to go to Teresa or Debbie's today. I am so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life that love my kids nearly as much as I do and my kids love them even more than me I wonder sometimes.

WALKING WITH THE DINOSAURS

For Christmas my dad bought the whole family all fifteen of us tickets to Walking With The Dinosaurs. When we first got there our seats were so close and the kids were a little nervous. Kept asking me if they would come a live and if they were real and that they wanted to sit up higher. All of us had bets on who would cry first and Riley did cry right as we got there because she didn't want to be so close either. Well none of the kids ended up crying and the one that we all bet would cry the most loved it the most and that was Elyse.

Last week in Cap

Wow I cant believe it has almost been a week since I last posted. Not a lot has happened so hopefully that means that my life is slowing down a little bit which would be nice. This weekend I helped my friend Julia (me and her were camp directors together the first year and now she is yw president in my old ward) get her house ready to put up for sale. We had so much fun and it was fun just having a girls night once again with her. Then Mary whom was helping us also most of the day Saturday came home with me to my apartment to spend the rest of the weekend with me.
Sunday was a very busy and awesome day. My mom taught a lesson in young women's on Jesus is the Christ. It was an amazing lesson and i cried most of the time. Our savior is amazing and I am finally beginning to fully understand what it really means to be a Savior. Then we went to Enoch Zenger's Farewell and it was amazing. It sounded much more like a homecoming talk. He knows the gospel very well for a nineteen year old and will do an amazing job spreading and teaching the gospel in Switzerland. After the farewell me my mom and Mary went to see the two new temples being built in our area. They are both so beautiful and it is amazing how the church always seems to find the most perfect spots for temples. The Jordan River, Draper and Oquirrah Mountain will all be able to be seen at the same time from many parts of the valley. So the Lords work is continuing to be done and move on strongly. Stay tuned for some pictures

The Prophet Joseph Smith / Happy Birthday on December 23rd

This is a part of a letter I wrote to my Landon last night on his misson and would like to share it with my blog readers. It is long but please take the time to read it sometime. Joseph Smith is an amazing person and I remember Dianne reminding me on the 23rd that it was his birthday and being so greatful for him again and again.
I would like to bear you my testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith and all he did for us. It is so comforting to me to know that even a person as "perfect" as Joseph Smith still needed the lords help at times and that he used the atonement so much knowing that the Lord had already suffered for him and he would need to just turn it over to the Lord but still had hard times and doubts at times. If that makes sense Basically it is just good to know that even our prophets and even Nephi as good as a man as he was still had to turn to the Lord and Christ and ask for forgiveness and ask for help and turn their lives over to him. I am sure you heard about the FHE lesson that Chris gave back in November about the atonement and it all started because of a letter you had sent home about finally being able to understand the atonement and the talk that Bednar gave about it. So Chris gave the most amazing lesson and that was the other turning point in pulling me out of my rut and wanting to die stage after I moved out of Aaron's. (thanks Chris I will never be the same person after that lesson. You litterally changed my life. Thank you so much) I decided that I had to turn my life over to him because He has already suffered what I am suffering and he know what I am going through and I can't do it without him. My life has been totally different since then and I am so much happier now that I don't do anything with out checking with the Lord first because he knows it all and sees the big picture. I just love my prophet Joseph Smith and can not wait for the day that I get to meet him and thank him for all he has done for me and the church. A patient gave us an amazing story / letter for christmas and I would like to share it with you. If you don't have time to read it now I understand but it is just amazing what this man did and endured and I love him so much.

Joseph had many stressful trails to deal with in his life. Let me relate some of those, and later tell you what I think was the most gut wrenching times of his life:
From lds.org:
Few have confronted more antagonism and trials than did Joseph Smith. He was desiged with dozens of unjustified lawsuits and was often in jeopardy of his life. He was poinsoned, beaten, tarred, unjustly impirsoned, and once sentenced to die by firing auad. He and Emma seldom had a home of thier own, and six of their children did in infancy. Financial difficulites continually plagued the family.
Legal Trials of the Prophet: Joseph Smith's life In courtn by Joseph I. Bentley
From my years of reserch and work on the Joseph Smith Papers project (which I cant wait to start reading they sound amazing. We will have to start sending them to you if you can read them) i have gained a deeper appreciation of Joseph's achievements, despite intense and unrelenting adversity. Among his other tribulations was the fact that his ministry was shadowed by many persistent legal prosercutions. Anyone who has been through even one lawsuit knows how all consuming it can be. (Yes I can attest to that. My dad is in another one right now because a patient overdosed and died and I am so scared for him, my job for everything and it is so consuming. It is hard not to think about it every moment. )It can demand your time assets, body and mind.
At best we can tell, he endured an average of one lawsuit per month during most of his ministry! (can you imagine How stressful that must have been. Just one every ten years or so is enough to damage me for life)
Joseph's court trials were a very stressful time in his life. Yet, in my opinion, that was not what caused him the most grief and sorrow.
Josph's Imprisonment:
Joseph was a prisoner in a number of jails, including Leberty Jail.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopdia: "Joseph SMith, Jr., and his companions were imprisoned in Liberty Jail for four and a falkf months during the coldest pat of Missouri winter.
No bedding was provided so the prisoners were forced to sleep on the stone floor with only a bit of loose straw for comfort. (the height of the Jail ceilin never permitted JOseph to stand fully erect, (remember we went there can you imagine not being able to stant up straight for four in a half months. we have no idea) which must have been frustrating experience).
Food was scanty, of poor quality.
Joseph's time spent as a prisoner was a very stressful and difficult time in his life. Yet, it was not what caused him the most grief and sorrow.
Zions Camp:
Zion's Camp must have been a very difficult time in the life of Joseph SMith. The journey itself was long and arduous. According to Map quest the distance from Kirkland to Indepencence Missour is 808 miles. Zio's camp particiapnats didn't sleep in deluxe motel or hotel rooms. They had to sleep in tents, which was not a very luxurious accommodation. Then to experience the sadness of seeing deaths occurred so rapidly that coffins could not be prepared, so the dead ere rolled up in blankets and put hurredly into their graves; and while part of the brethren were engaged in digging the graves, others had to stand gurard, musket in hand. In all about seventy suffered from the cholera, and out of that number thirteen died.
(Contributator, vol. 7( Cotober 1885 - September 1886), Vol. Vii March 1886. No. 6. 210.)
Zion's Camp was a very stressful and difficult time in the life of Joseph Smith. Yet, in my opinion, iw was not was caused him the most grief and sorrow.
Then what did cause Joseph the most gut wrenching sorrow of his life? His absence from his family, and the hardships he and they had to endure becuase of him not being able tot be with them.
I was deeply moved by an article in the September 2008 Ensign concerning "The letters of Joseph and Emma Smith." This article gave me a much greater appreciation for the many sacrifices Joseph made as God's first Prophet in these latter-days.
May I quote from that article:
"Joseph and Emma endured many hardships. Joseph traveled extensibely for the church and was often obliged to find safety amoung friends to avoid angry mobs or numerous legal harassments."
(omg it is two in the morning I got to go to bed I will finish tomorrow)

Elle Sleeps Over

Well Ciaran and Cabhan have found a new love in Elle. I think the thing that made them fall in love with her so much is her for singing and their love for singing. A couple of months ago I had gone over to Trudy's to have her help me with some "love and Logic" questions and the three of them went up to Elle's room and sang Mamma Mia to their little hearts content and as loud as they possibly could and they have been instant friends since. Not that they didn't like eachother before but that was really one of the first times that just the three of them had hung out. So Elle is off track right now so she got to come spend the night at our apartment on Tuesday and Wednesday night. We had so much fun and it really was not like babysitting and the best part for me was I had a little girl for two days. I got to do her hair in the morning I braided her hair in french braids wednesday night and got to do her hair again on Thursday morning but kind of ran out of time before it was done. Sorry Trude. Well Ciaran had a doctors appt on Wednesday for his eyes and they were all three so good we went to all a dollar. Then they came with me to work for a few hours and were so good there too and helped me put the Valentine decor up at the office like they had done at my apartment the night before. Then we went to Ikea and the best thing about having Elle with me is how polite and obidient she was. Good job Trudy and Lex on raising such a good girl. She is amazing and kept telling me thank you and just listening to everything I said and tried to get the boys to listen to me as well which they are getting a lot better at using Love and Logic. Its amazing stuff. So it was so fun to have a girl for two days and hopefully one day me (well and now Ciaran) will get our little girl that we want so badly. I actually think Ciaran might want one more than me and all who know me that is pretty bad so I guess I better have one pretty soon. The other day while taking care of Elyse he said that he loved her so much and that he would take care of her in the car while I drove and then he asked me if I thought she loved him too. I told him of course she loves him so much and that he is so good to her. I told him maybe one day maybe we could get a little girl just like her and he quickly answered "but mom you got to get married first." (oh my gosh can we say cute. and how did he know that. I must be teaching him better than I thought) So I said of course Ciaran who do you think I should marry. He quickly answered Jessica. I think he connected Jessica with Elyse and that she is pregnant again so we would quickly have two more babies in our family if I married her. I laughed and told him I couldn't marry her because she is my sis and she is a girl and in order for me to have a baby I have to marry a boy. Well the story went on from there but he just wouldn't give up on me Marrying Jessica so we will have to see. LOL I hope that one day both of our dream will come true.

New Apartment - An Answer To Ciaran's Prayer

My cute bathroom. Thanks mom for buying me all the decor for christmas. I love it so much. THanks dad for helping me put up all the towell racks and cleaning.

My washroom/salon. Thanks dad for getting me a washer and dryer. I love it so much. Thanks Kathleen for letting me borrow your chair. Yea Kimberly is going back to school in the summer with Shelby and maybe Caroline to finish Cosmotology school. I am so excited. Thanks Shelb for going with me.

My Cute Kitchen. My Colors will be red black and silver. THanks Laura for helping me decorate and thinking of doing red. Thanks dad for buying me all the stuff at IKEA the other day. I love it all.

My cute bedroom. Thanks Laura for letting me borrow your mattress. THanks mom for buying me the bedspread set for Christmas. I love it all so much. ALso Thanks Arch and Clay and lew and everyone that helped getting my bedroom put together last Sunday. I couldn't have done it without you.

As you can I am sure tell my family has been so giving and amazing to me as I have moved out eand into my moms and then into my apartment. I don't know where I would be without all of them. I can go down the list starting with Grandma and Grandpa all the way down to Kathleen and her kids and tell you something that all of them have done every last one of them to help or given me something or just been there to talk. Thanks family you are amazing and I will be explaining in more detail in my new years letter that you all should be getting soon.