Time Out For Women

I had the opportunity to go to TOFW again this year, and it did not disappoint!  I wrote A LOT of what was said last year, you can read it here.  Last year I was in a very spiritually vulnerable place, I needed everything that was said!  It was about Hope, and I was completely filled with it when I left!  This year the theme was:
Choose to Become
"ALL THINGS are possible to him (or her) that believeth"
Mark 9:23

And this year, the feelings I had were quite different.  They talked a lot about Becoming the person you were are meant to be.  Not adding more to your to-do list, but simplifying.  Finding something, one thing, that you can really focus on.  And by doing so, making your life better, bettering other lives, being happier.  

They talked about talents a little in a video at the beginning, and I have to say, I was suddenly very discouraged.  I am not a really talented person.  I like to do a lot of things, and I'm not bad at them, but I don't have a stand-out talent that I am passionate about and excel at.   

So... there was a lot of thought over the 2 days I was there and continued to listen and learn.  And as the time went on, I started to realize it wasn't all about talents.  It was about finding that passion in something, becoming better at it, and the possibilities that follow. 

My list of things I wanted to Become read as follows:

A present mother
More patient
Self-disciplined
In shape
A supportive Spouse
Better organized

As time rolled on and my list got longer and longer, I kept waiting for one of them to jump out at me.  But instead, very persistently, a quote from Pres. Uchtdorf was constantly on my mind:
"In regards to relationships, LOVE is spelled T-I-M-E."

TIME
If I could manage my time better, just about every thing on that list would become a possibility.  If I got myself on a better schedule, I could sleep more = patience; I'd have more time for things I want to do = getting in shape; I wouldn't always be running from one thing to the next = organized, present mother, supportive spouse.  Imagine the possibilities!  :) 

I should point something out...  I am the worst Time Manager ever!  Don't get me wrong, my kids lives are planned down to almost the minute, but me... ya, well, sleep is optional!  It's that self-discipline thing that's going to be my Achilles heal!   So this is my promise to myself... right here for everyone to see... I am going to get myself on a good schedule!  I am going to go to bed earlier, even if I don't want to.  I am going to take advantage of the quiet moments to pray and read my scriptures.  I am going to eat at normal times and exercise because I have the TIME!  :)  And let's face it, who isn't a generally nicer person with more sleep under their belt!  I am going to become a better, higher functioning, me!  :)  Or at least... I Hope to! 

"We Become what we want to Be, by consistently Being what we want to Become." - Elder David A. Bednar

...That's right, we're in "Fake it 'til ya make it" mode!  :)  But you heard it, right from a general authorities' mouth, it totally works!  So here goes nothing!  :)

Some of my favorite quotes:
"Don't be the one thing standing in your way!"

"Do the thing you think you cannot do!" 
- Laurel Christensen

"Jesus chose to become like us, 
so that we could choose to become like Him."

"A God that requires nothing of us,
will make nothing of us."

"Christ is not only concerned with Saving your life.
He wants to make it better."

Redeem = To make Better 
- Brad Wilcox

"Who I am is who I have always been.  
From the seed to the roses death, it has always contained it's whole potential - It was always a rose."

"Becoming is about Remembering... who we Really are... and Returning."
- Mary Ellen Edmonds

"We have a duty to not only enjoy happiness, but to produce it." 

"We can have a bad day and still have a good life."

"Remember it says 'and it came to pass', not 'it came to stay'."
- D. Kelly Ogden

There was SO much good stuff!  I could just keep going and going!  hahaha.  I had an amazing time with a couple of very wonderful ladies in my ward, and it was a weekend I really needed... for so many reasons!  I am already excited for next year!  :)  

*If you made it to the bottom of this post you should get a gold star!  :D  This is the longest post EVER! 

Swain the Deer Slayer!

The week before Halloween, Patrick had his deer hunt.  It was a lot warmer than usual, so the deer were not as plentiful as they had hoped.  After he'd been at it a few days he started to get a little antsy! (There was even a mishap that ended with a broken scope.)  But in the end... he got his deer!  (He would like me to add that it was from somewhere between 350-400 yds.)

The white tail out here are not very big, I like to tease him about it.  They are like a big dog with antlers!  hahaha.  But they are pretty tender.  ;)  And we are really glad he got one!  :)

HaLlOwEeN!

Yep, I'm behind, so let's get started!  :)

Halloween was a pretty busy day!  I got to go to Jackson's class party to help out for a bit.  He has the best teacher and she went all out... mostly in the form of sugar!  :)  They had witches brew, mud and worms, and made an apple/ice cream cone witch!  He was in heaven!  hahaha.

Then after school, we carved pumpkins.  We waited until the day of for a couple of reasons, mostly so Dad could help.  But it had also been 90 degrees for most of the week and a lot of our neighbors had theirs go bad before Halloween!  But it was worth the wait... we turned on The Nightmare Before Christmas (it's become a tradition) and had a good time! :)

I helped too... that would be me multitasking!  (I don't normally stand like this, I was on the phone!)  :) 

They were very proud!

And then the trick-or-treating!  We actually have a neighborhood this year, which was great!  The boys made the rounds with Dad while Reagan and I handed out candy.  (We actually had trick-or-treaters too!)  And they were pretty happy with the piles they had accumulated!  :) 

Happy Halloween! 

TrUnK-oR-TrEaT

Presenting... the Mario Brothers! 

Jackson as Luigi.

Harrison as Mario.

And last, but certainly not least, we have...

Reagan the Cupcake.

The ward party was a lot of fun!  (We have the best ward!)  Complete with a chili and pie cook-off, live music and dancing, and the trunk-or-treat.  Patrick decided he was going to try his hand at the chili contest this year.  He has never made chili before.  He did not win for best chili.... he won for the HOTTEST chili!  hahaha.  Here he is with his oven mitt of glory!  The 2011 Golden Glove of Hotness!  hahaha.  He was so proud!  And it really was hot!  I had a small test taste and my nose started running... it was a while before I could feel my lips again!  ;) 

The music and dancing was really fun too!  Reagan got to dance with her dad, she loved it!  :)  And Harrison found his groove-thang with me on the sidelines!  hahahaha.  Dancing Mario was pretty stinkin funny!

I only saw Jackson twice, here....

And when it was time to start the trunk-or-treat!  hahaha.  I know he had a lot of fun because when he did finally come back and find us he was sweaty from running around with all his friends... and wet from the sprinklers!  Oh that kid!  :) 

We had such a great time!  We have been a little off beat this year about Halloween.  I haven't been as on top of it as I would have liked.  But we are getting it all in.  It's already the big day!  We will be doing our carving, movie watching, school partying, "for real" trick-or-treating and more... should be LOTS of fun!  I'm exhausted just thinking about it!  ;) 

Where'd Reagan Go?

Hmmm.....  Can you find her?  :) 

She has found a new favorite place. And now that this girl is definitely on the move, (she has rolling down to an art) she can get just about anywhere she wants to.  She likes to pound on the window... or look out the window... or talk to the dog through the window.  :) 

I love that she is doing to much!  But I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little nervous about what being "mobile" for real will be like!  hahaha. This is the face I get when I tell her "No".  hahaha.  Oh boy, am I in trouble!  ;)

"Spooky" Preschool Fun!

I have to start by saying how very much I love the 4 little people we have in our co-op preschool this year!  They are SO cute!  And SO much fun!  :)  I found this fun idea here for this spider web activity.  We spread out spiders and then added ghosts, they had to pick up the spiders without falling off the web or stepping on a ghost. :)  They had so much fun they did it for about 30 minutes.  :) 

My boys liked it so much it stayed on our floor for over a week!  It was even Spider Man's web for a bit!  hahaha. SO much fun!  

Fall Break...

We are still around!  It's true.  Life just seems to be moving along and keeping us at our usual crazy pace!  haha.  I haven't been very good about blogging, mostly because there hasn't been too much to report.  But the regular, every day fun shouldn't get left out, right?!  So here it is:

As of Monday Jackson has been on Fall Break!  (And so was Patrick for most of the week!)  We tried to keep busy, partly to make it fun for the kids and partly to keep Mom sane.  ;) 

Monday night we had a group FHE at our house with 4 other families.  Patrick was Goliath for our lesson, so naturally he got pummeled with balls and had his head cut off numerous times!  lol!  (We had to be sure every kid got a turn.... and there were A LOT of kids!) And then we roasted up some s'mores! 

Tuesday Jackson and I got to go to the zoo.  While Harrison had preschool and Dad spent quality time with Miss Reagan.  Fun all around!  We also made a family trip to Lowe's!  (It really was a highlight!  Some people window shop at the mall... I like to look at light fixtures and bath tubs and paint colors... it's in my blood... and it inspires me! :) 

Wednesday, thanks to some VERY wonderful friends, Patrick and I got to go on a DATE!  What?  Its not even my birthday!  ;)  Mmmmm.... Texas Roadhouse!  It was awesome and VERY much needed! 

Thursday we picnicked at the park (it's still 90 degrees here) and then played for hours with some friends.  You know the kids had fun when they come home smelling like dirt and sweat!  :)  It was Patrick's last day off this week.  :(

And then Friday, with all 3 kids by myself, I turned them all out in the yard... even Reagan (in her walker, of course)!  She gets around on the patio pretty good. (And by "around", I mean "backward". hahaha. She's still figuring that thing out!  :)  She was laughing at the boys so hard I thought she was going to throw up!  hahaha.  I love to secretly watch my kids play together! It's the best thing in the whole world!  :) And I even managed to make curtains for the family room and pillow covers for our bed!  It felt good to get some projects crossed my list too! 

I love my little family!  I have been fighting off some kind of cold/allergy problem for the last couple of days, and I hate not having the energy or the patience I know they deserve!  But I tell you what, as rotten as I'm sure I was today, I lost count of how many hugs my boys gave me!  Really!  :)  And when I put Reagan in the bath to make her happy (because she needed some help with that), all they wanted was me out of the way so they play with her! :)  They helped me clean, they had quiet time.  They were good kids.  Jackson wanted me to play the Wii with him, so when we were done working, we did!  And we made a good team. :) Harrison was my little helper. I made cookies yesterday, and that kid will do anything for a cookie!  hahaha. He even did most of his helping with his monster (cheap Halloween) teeth in!  :)  

Jackson spent a lot of time talking my ear off about dreams he had or stories he made up!  They usually involve a mixture of his friends and his favorite movie characters.  :)  And Harrison has a special talent for making up words, they have meanings and he uses them in sentences!  hahaha.  We had at least 5 new ones this week!  I would write them down, but most of them I can't even pronounce!  hahaha.  And Reagan has finally figured out her "M" sound! :) She says "moe moe" ...and apparently its funny!  :)  I don't think it means Mom, but I don't really care!  :) 

It has been a fun week! We stayed up way too late! We ate out way too much! We played hard!  We didn't clean too much! It just might go down as the best stay-cation we've ever had! :) And of course, I don't have a single picture! :/
What a week, what a week!  I'm sad that it's over!  

Reagan's DOings!

Yep, she's a DO-er!  :)  She's been working really hard lately, with 3 different therapists, and the hard work is paying off! ...Although I think we can attribute much of her accomplishment to her "spirit" (or stubbornness ;) as well! :)  I personally like to see it as determination... because that is what she is: Determined!  It's so fun to watch her figure things out!  :)  Since pictures are worth a 1000 words, here are 5... with some commentary by Mom.  :D

Starting position.  Yes, she is using her foot to rub her face!  hahaha.

This is why there is not a video of her doing this... She moves at Reagan speed, which means she has to stop now and then to make faces or squeak or sing.  :)  We call this position "the dead cockroach".  ;)

Getting closer...

Little Miss likes to sit like a frog!  :)  But getting those legs under her is hard work!

Up she goes!  :D 

I should clarify that she is not yet crawling... but holy crap... if that isn't the coolest thing ever!  She is getting so close!  And she wants to pretty bad!  So far she mostly just rocks and propels herself forward onto her tummy and then starts again.  Pretty dang impressive!  :D 

And then there are those little fingers!  :)  Chubby and cute and so very hard to control!  BUT she has finally figured out how to use them to her advantage... that's right, she's picking up small food and getting it into her mouth!  :D  There are not words for how exciting this is!  Feeding herself is HUGE!  We've been working on getting her to table food too, this is a big step in getting there!  Yeah Baby Girl!!!  We are SO proud of you!

(I got the cutest video of her feeding herself the other day... but I can't get it to download! Rrrrr!  I've been trying for 3 days... I finally decided to just post without it. :/ But I will keep trying, it's so stinking cute!)