Three months and other ramblings

So, I am three months pregnant and it seems like the worst of feeling sick all the time is just starting. About the only thing that seems at least a little appealing is carnation, even though I KNOW that will make me sick, and chicken noodle soup with goldfish crackers... yummy right? I know, it would have been my first choice, but it seems that I am not the one calling the shots right now. The other night, and tonight we had super yummy homemade chili. One of my favorites. I was so excited to eat it, and then it was sitting there in front of me, and I had absolutely no desire to eat it, not even one little bite. I ate it anyways, because supposedly food is good for you (really, I don't think I ever ate before I had Stephan... I am just not a food person) So, I ate it, and then spent the next hour on the couch doing me best not to throw up, which, I managed to do. But only because my wonderfully awesome husband bathed Stephan and put him to bed so I could lay there and do nothing. I am so over this being sick thing.

Onto happier things. We had a GREAT thanksgiving. I love thanksgiving, mostly because we have the chance to get together with family. On this day, I don't even mind the food! I eat till I am full, I refuse to eat until my pants burst because then you just feel awful for the next few hours and again when you step on the scale. I think that is something I learned from my husband. He never eats past when he is full, and I think that is great. I love the traditions that come with thanksgiving. When I was little, my grandmother use to make everything. There were so many yummy things that there was no way you could even try one bite of it all without being full. We each have our favorite things that she made. So now when we get together we make those things. I always bring the potatoes (I think the idea of instant potatoes at thanksgiving... or any meal... should be a capital offense) and this year, after three tries, I FINALLY figured out how to make my grandmothers rolls (they take like 5 hours, you can imagine my dismay when the first two times they turned out to be biscuits *yuck*). I was stocked to have them turn out right! And then since we had two thanksgiving at my house, I had to make a few other of her famous treats. It was fun, to know how to make all those things. I hope that these foods will still be on our table 50 years from now, only it will my kids/grand kids making them.

One of the reasons this thanksgiving was so awesome was that Friday and Saturday we had nothing planned. NOTHING. that never happens. our weekends are booked months in advance, right now, I could tell you what I am doing every weekend between now and new years. I didn't even realize we had a free weekend till halfway through Friday. It was great, amazing, so fun! We went shopping Friday, got a lot of good stuff! then chilled at home and got things done around the house. That night a friend came over and watched Stephan so Chris and I could go see New Moon (which was great!) The next day we just did what we wanted to all day long! Sunday we went to church, and later that night we went to Josh and Deborah s and had a blast playing video games all night. Chris had that night off of work, which means we got to hang out later, and Monday was another productive, and yet lazy day. I think we need to make a point of taking at least one weekend off a month.

Christmas is coming. I love Christmas! It is my favorite holiday for so many reasons! I love giving people things, and this is a perfect excuse to give away lots of things. I love getting together with family. I love how happy people are (unless you are looking at the last GPS/Toy/other hot item and they want it... then they can be mean). I love the music, the lights. I love everything about Christmas. This year we have gone a little overboard on ourselves for Christmas. Usually we spend all the money on other people and then do a little something for us telling ourselves we will get what we really want with the tax check. Well, this year I am selling buttons (which is doing awesome btw) and the buttons are paying for our Christmas... well that and a best buy credit card *yikes*. I discovered this year that I spend all the money, leaving Chris with nothing to buy me a present with. He has always found the money to get me something nice. This year though, I made a point of making sure he had cash to buy presents, and that has been so much fun. he gets so excited with every present that he has gotten. he went out and got me a huge surprise, it lasted 10 minutes once he got home before he told, he was busting with excitement. He bought me something else, that lasted 20 minutes before he told me about it. I think it is too funny. There are still a few things that I don't know about though, so we will see if he can keep them a secret :)

I think Christmas is better with kids! I am soooo excited to see Stephan open his presents this year. he is finally old enough to get excited about the toys, and opening presents. I am so excited to watch his face as he rounds the corner. We have to big gifts for him, one is for his birthday, it is a plasma car (do a google search... AWESOME, for adults too) and the other is a step 2 up and down roller coaster. If you have a younger a kid, that is totally worth checking out as well.

I guess this small novel is good enough for tonight. I really do need to write more often. I suddenly realized I have a lot to write about.

buttons

So, I started a new business a few months ago. I have been looking for something that would work for me since before Stephan was born. There was nothing that really caught my attention. I tried teaching scrapbook classes, but I didn't like having to rearrange my house once a month, plus we were getting ready to move, and really I just didn't like teaching. I tried working with Dad to sell some stuff on eBay, but my heart just wasn't there. The Jewelry business is just something that does not interest me, although I love to wear it!! I thought about the medical transcriptionist, or getting into photography, but nothing felt right. I went to a flea market with mom and dad a few months ago and there was a guy there selling badge ID reels with funny buttons. I love them, I had to buy Chris one. Badge ID reels are those things that hold id badges most commonly worn by hospital staff.
I started looking into selling these badge ID reels and called Rachael, my sister, to get some buttons, she hooked me up with some great buttons and that has grown into my own little business. The first priority was to be able to buy my own button maker which I had after about a month, from there I talked to several business downtown and worked up some wholesale accounts, and I have done a few craft shows with a few more coming up . It isn't a whole lot, but I love it!! It is something I can do without it taking away from my stay at home mommy time.
I've been working to become official, or at least working to look that way. I have cards, a catalogue, and I've been working on an inventory so that I know what buttons sell the most. I'm thrilled at how well everything is working out with it!

day care? i think not

So, it's about that time again, time to blog. This has been a crazy few weeks. I have my sister's kid Jakob with me last week and this week. Then a friend called last minute to see if I can take his kid for week or so. I've had a 9 year old, a four year old, and then Stephan who is 20 months old. On one hand it is easier because they can entertain themselves, but then again, not really. Jakob plays really good with Stephan, but when another kid is thrown int he mix then Stephan has been left out a lot. It breaks my heart when I look in the room and see Stephan off to the side and the two boys blocking him from playing. Then I have to find the balance of making sure I'm not over reacting to Stephan being left out because he is mine. It has been a constant struggle. I've tried to spend some extra quality time with Stephan, take him aside and play with just him. The other struggle that I have is that the other boy, D, has never shared, well, at least he acts that way. He takes everything Stephan is holding, or when Stephan tries to grab something else, he takes that away too, going out of his way to take everything from him. I've been struggling with how to handle this and be fair without overstepping parental bounds. He isn't mine, and isn't related to me, so I'm not how or if I should discipline him when he is being mean.
That's one dilemma, the other one is that he wants me to take D on a more permanent bases after his preschool until he gets out of school. I'm not sure that I want to.D just doesn't match well with Stephan. but this guy has no one else, he just moved into town, so I feel bad telling him no. I think I am going to start looking around for someone else who might be interested in taking D.


On another note one of our old friends are moving into the ward. It will be good to have another kid for Stephan to play with, and another couple our age. It has been a long since we have seen them, so it will be good to catch up.

I've been spending all of my spare time making button designs. I can't wait till I can get the machine to make them, and sell them. I am so excited about the whole button making business. I hope to make enough buttons to start going to craft areas. so, if you have any cute button ideas or pictures.... feel free to pass them on :)

random things/update

So, I've been slacking off on my writing again. I blame it all on the website gamehouse. they give a game away free everyday and I've been playing all their games. I also blame the library because they had a sale the other day in which they were selling puzzles for fifty cents each, I bought 8 puzzles with 1000 pieces each... 8000 beautiful puzzle pieces (minus three missing pieces). I love puzzles! I think they are great! I have not done a puzzle since Stephan was born so I have been loving the opportunity to do them again!

Saturday mornings there is an empty parking lot that fills up with yard sellers.. such a great place! It's not like a flea market where you have the same people over and over. It is just random people coming for the day which means a constant change in things to buy. I have never had so much luck finding good things cheap. One of these things was a train table for Stephan. I have been wanting to buy him one but they are over a hundred new and usually around 50 used. When I saw this one I was willing to spend up to 25 (I'm cheap) and then the lady said she would sell it for 5... I was sold! the best part is that the table has different inserts so you can change the theme... or, for me, take it out and viola, a wonderful flat space to do my puzzles! It works perfectly! The insert is solid wood, so it is strong enough to cover my puzzle and allow Stephan to play (walk) all over it.
We also got a set of almost brand new 400 hundred dollar tired for 60 bucks! Chris also got some tools that he has been wanting and I picked up some clothes and jewelry cheap.

So in other news I have been looking for something that I can do to generate a little extra income. I have seen several different opportunities but none of them felt right to me. Then I ran across this guy who made cute id reels, and I am going to sell some of those, but that led me to the idea of buttons (which he glued on the id reel). My sister Rachael is a button maker, so I gave her a call and we are working out a deal to where I can sell buttons. I was a little unsure, I had thought about it for a few weeks before I talked to her, but after talking to her and working out some ideas I got excited and a little more proactive. last time when I was in town I stopped by the Mast General Store and asked if I could set up a booth and sell them there. They said yes!!! I was so excited! the Mast store is one of my favorite places, but it is also one of the hot spots in this town. I was really excited when they said I could sell them. So, august 29th, I'll be there!!

Stephan is starting to talk a little. He says Hi, Bye, Momma, daddy, he said amen the other day as well as five and six (Chris was counting and Stephan copied). He also meows a lot. It is so cute! He picks up new words so fast. I know that it won't be long until he is constantly chattering away.

Chris's birthday was last weekend and he took a few nights off of work. His Grandparents came down and we had a really good weekend with them. We also went to Splash Country for a day. He said that he had a really great weekend!

Next weekend is our 6th anniversary!! It doesn't seem that long at all. It has been the best six years of my life! I don't know what we are going to do. Usually we end up at the Stake youth tubing trip though, so we will probably do that. I think we are planning another trip to splash country as well (we love that place!)

that's about it for now.

We are pretty busy people, but it seems like summer intensifies how we busy are. Every weekend is packed full of things to do, everything that is but to take a breath. This weekend we are starting it off by working on the cars followed by a fun night out with friends. Saturday is the opposite with a fun day out with friends followed by a night of working on the car and in the garden. Sunday is church and then Chris has to sleep the rest of the day so he can go to work that night.
Last weekend we started out by camping on mom and dads lawn. We tried to get a camping site, but they were all booked. Chris and I decided to go home about 10:30 so that Stephan could sleep in his own bed. The next day we were suppose to go tubing but that feel through so we ended up in the yard while Chris worked on the car and then we went to splash country for a few hours and then we went to the church where they were having a cookout. About 7:30 Stephan was wiped out so we decided to go home and put him to bed. Of course, before bed we let him play (very carefully) with some sparklers. After he was in bed we played with some fire works and then went to bed late that night.

So, I'm sure that you have noticed all the working on the car that is going on. Well, The Honda accord has had an oil leak for a long time. Chris has been working on it trying to figure out what the problem was. He changed the oil pan seal, then the oil pump, and in the process the timing belt broke so he had to fix that, and then he changed something else, and then he just figured out the problem which was a different seal. So after two month of working on the car he finally got it drivable. Then, this past Saturday we all packed into the montero to head to Franklin and trade it for a Honda civic, Chris backed out of the driveway and "crash" he hit the accord... so much for being drivable... the hood is crumpled and the front was just a little smashed. Chris said he can fix it in a day when he gets the time. I just think it is funny that as soon as he can drive it, he hit it with the other car. ... poor Chris.
So, we traded the montero and a four door Honda civic. We were going to trade that for a another car and trade THAT car Jason's passport, but Chris decided he likes the civic and wants to keep it which means we are trading the accord for Jason;s passport... hopefully. that deal is still in the works. Right now Chris is working on the civic and fixing all the little stuff on it.

2008 Scraps

Girls camp -- Testimony meeting

ok, so first, let me explain testimony meeting to those of you who might now know. It is a meeting in our church in which people stand up and simply tell about the things they believe to be true. Sounds easy right? Try being a teenager and getting up for the first time to talk about something so part of you, that you believe in so much in front of a group of people.

So, while I was listening to the girls give their testimonies I was writing my talk that I was giving the following Sunday. Here are the things that I wrote down as I wrote them, followed by my thoughts and why I wrote it down

Younger girls can be an example to the older girls -- Some of the first people to stand up where the 12 year old girls

Rain/hail/prayer -- There was one person who talked about how she prayed for good weather at camp. There was rain, hail, and tornado warnings all around us. We had one storm, all the girls were safe, and only one tent leaked (but they didn't have the rain cover on right).

Brave! -- Most of the girls mentioned how scared they were to get up and talk, but they did it anyways.

Girls camp was a great opportunity for the shy girls to bear their testimony -- There were so many girls that were quiet, or shy, or just didn't like the attention of being in front of people who got up (again, brave!)

cute/beautiful/radiant -- So, this train of though started when one of the 12 year old girls stood up. This girl had caught my attention in the beginning as being cute, as I watched her, and everyone around her I thought how beautiful these girls were, and as they were talking, they all see to radiate a glow of happiness... I love these girls!

Strength in numbers -- The girls were all supporting each other, encouraging each other to get up and talk

Strong -- most of these girls are the only ones in there school. Everyday they are facing some new challenge. A few mentioned how hard it was to be the only member in their school. I love to see them overcome these challenges and temptations

ok, this wasn't in the testimony meeting, but it was one of my thoughts. I think it is amazing that we had 60ish girls and their leaders and almost new drama... I want you to find that anywhere else, good luck.

Simple testimonies -- We are constantly told that we are suppose to keep our testimonies simple and short to make sure there is time for everyone to have a chance that wants too. Yet time after time there are always a few people who end up talking for 20 minutes and give their life story. ALL of the girls who got up kept their testimonies short and simple. Again, I believe that these girls are a great example to us. (on another note, flip flops were not allowed and I had to tell the adults over and over and they still did not listen whereas the girls changed their shoes the first time, maybe the second, again, they are being the better example)

One girls missed her drivers test for the third time because of church activities... how many youth do you know today who would be willing to miss their drivers test for church?

"it's ok to stand up every once in awhile" -- she said it all, stand up for what you believe

"all my friends are doing it" -- When the example is good, and the peer pressure positive, the effects they can have on each other is amazing

ok, so there is a lot more that I have written down, but you get the idea. I love these girls, I love what they can teach us, and I love that I get the chance to spend a week with such amazing girls

Girls Camp

Ahhh, girls camp, an opportunity to trade a house for a tent, a comfy king size bed for an air mattress with a hole. It's the opportunity to trade cooking on a stove for cooking over a fire pit and when that chicken is burnt on the outside and raw on the inside there is no way to call out when you get sick from eating it (ok, so no one got sick). We were able to trade our private showers for one with crickets and spiders starting at you from the side, a tree frog staring from the top (and jumping on you if you are not paying attention) and parasites swimming around your feet (seriously, it was a horsehair worm parasite, look it up) ... all this, and I would do it again?!? in a heartbeat!

I LOVE girls camp!! I love all youth, but I have a special place in my heart for the youth of my church! they are amazing, beautiful, strong, funny, caring, brave, funny.... the list can go on and on. I look for any opportunity/excuses to work with them. This week I not only got to work with 60ish amazing girls I also had the chance to serve with 5 amazing ladies! There are 6 people (including me) who have helped to plan and organize this camp. I feel so lucky to work with them and to learn from them.

After months of planning, it all started last Monday when we met with the YCL at the NOC to go rafting (YCL = youth camp leader, it is the 16-18 year old girls who are in charge of the younger girls). It was a blast! I was guiding one of the boats with five people, and there were two other boats with six people each. Only one girl fell out the while time.

That night we went to Appletree and set up camp. We had a ton of things for the YCL's to work on while we separated out the food, and that night we made chili over the fire. The next morning the YCL's had to learn the camp dance and get things ready for the hold to the rod walk. Later that day we played volleyball, and some of the boys from another camp came over to play... that made the girls happy, but after 10 minutes or so, enough time so that we would not be rude, we had the girls go back to camp. I like the first few days because it is relaxed, and there really isn't a schedule. We have a list of things to get done, but when we want a break, we take it. We stayed up and talked around the campfire at night (well, the leaders did, the girls all passed out early) and slept a little later in the morning (like 9ish). Sometime on Tuesday, some of the girls found a parasite in the shower that was really creepy looking. It turns out that it was a horse hair worm/parasite that feeds off of crickets and bugs, I didn't get a picture of it, but here is a picture that I got off the Internet

Wednesday the real work began. The boy's scouts moved out that morning and we took over there camp. We looked like turtles carrying tents on the back of cars and trailers. It seemed easier to just carry the tent than to break it down and set it back up again. I'm sure that it was funny to watch. The picture below is taken right before we carried it away to the next camp.

Wednesday is when all of the other girls come with their leaders. We go from a little group of 20ish to a large group of 80ish. Once getting all the girls registered and the tents put up we have get to know you games and group photo

Some of the other activities throughout the week include a hike, orienteering, nutrition, first aid, and crafts. There is so much going on all the time, and it is so much fun!

The last night is the best night, it is what the whole camp builds up to, and that is testimony meeting. It is a time when the girls get to share and express their thoughts and feelings about the gospel to each other. it is a time when they can strengthen each other. That is a whole blog in itself, and so will be for another night. I gave a talk on it today in church, and after about 20 seconds (ok, maybe minutes, but it didn't feel that long) I was only halfway through my talk.

I'm so glad I went to girls camp!!

Hi ho Hi Ho it's off to girls camp I go

ok, so before I get into girls camp, I need to rant for a minute...

Almost every Sunday that I go to church there is this one lady who always ask when I'm due. I find this annoying but I can blow it off because this lady is not all there it seems. Today at church two other people asked me when I was due, one, another crazy lady who I don't care for and could blow it off, but the other one isn't. Individually I can ignore them, but it really sucks when three different people ask you when you are due. I was going to put a picture up here of what I wore today, from the side you can see that I have a pooch, but pregnant? seriously people, think before you speak. I NEVER ask someone when they are due unless they look like they are going to pop and sometimes, I still won't say anything. It just irritates me that every time I go to church someone always ask me when I'm due when I really don't think I'm that big. I mean, sure, I know I need to lose weight... but again, pregnant?? so annoying.

ok, so, on another note, I'm going to girls camp tomorrow morning! I'm really excited, I love girls camp! I love being with the girls, watching them have fun and to learn. I love watching them do nice things for other people. I love hearing about their experiences at the testimony meeting. it is such a great environment! Tomorrow we are going to take the YCL's rafting which combines two of my favorite things!!

The only part that I'm not thrilled about is leaving my family. I have never been away from Stephan for more than one night, and a week seems impossibly long to be away from him. Not only that but Chris is taking a week of his vacation time so he can be with Stephan part of the week and at girls camp part of the week. So, I figure that if this is his vacation time that I want at least one fay with him for an actual vacation. I think I am going to take Thursday off and just spend one day with him. I'm excited about that idea, but sad to miss a day at camp. both things are great, girls camp and a day at camp, but I find it hard to choose which one I should be at. I feel that if Chris is taking a week of vacation time I should be with him, but that I should also be at camp. I guess there really is no right answer.

I guess I need to go to bed.. morning comes way to early!

What, you mean I don't deserve that?

awhile ago, ok, a long while ago I had a conversation with a friend of my who is extremely liberal. This was during the election and we were talking about the pros and cons about the presidents and this lead into a conversation on school and medicare and such. This person, for sake of the post I will call her sam (I'm watching a show and the main female character is sam) was talking about illegal immigrates and how they deserve all the same rights we do. Another person in the moms group was against this idea. Not against Mexicans, but the idea that anyone can come here and use the programs that we pay for. Medicare (or Medicaid) was a hot topic at the time as we were all trying to pay off huge doctor bills, and as we sit in the waiting room there are three other people there who get everything for free. When we mentioned an opposing view Sam would say in a most accusing manor (at least it seemed to me) "do you not think that every kid deserves schooling? don't you believe that every person deserves medical care?". To say anything other than yes makes us seem like a bad person, or a racist person. I've thought a lot about this because I feel like her point was wrong, but I could not find a way to say it that sounded right.
A few months later (it was bothering me for awhile) I figured out why it bothered me. It seems that in our society that everyone feels like they DESERVE everything. they deserve medical, they deserve education, they deserve that nice home and the new car.
you see, it is my opinion that no one deserve anything for free. It sure is nice when we get something for free, but who ever said that we deserved it? When I was in school I saw many people who had a free education, well, not free, but their parents paid for it. They did not work nearly as hard for their school, for their grades, as the students who paid. (yes, I'm sure that there are exceptions). I look at our society where everyone is on hud housing, food stamps, and medicare. I've yet to meet someone who is on all three of these things who are truly happy. there are those who use this system to get off their feet, and I whole heartedly support that. But then there are those that make a living off of abusing the system... have you ever meet anyone that was truly happy on these programs? What pride is there to be had in living off of someone else?
We have a garden, it's a lot of hard work, but I can promise that those tomatoes are so much better than the ones I buy from the store. Those tomatoes have my heart in them, they are the result of a summer of work, they are something that we had to watch over, to take care of, they are something we can be proud of.
So, although it is ideal that every person has an education and medical, I think that what people miss is that the only right we really have is the right to work for those things. We need to take responsibility for ourselves and stop looking for everyone else to take care of us.


btw, another irk, driving is another privilege that too many people think is a right... so get off your cell phone, stop looking in the mirror and DRIVE (ok, so that is a whole different rant)

scrapbooking

I LOVE to scrapbook. I use to do it all the time before Stephan. I have several scrapbooks laying around the house. I taught a few classes both at home and in a store (ok, so I didn't actually teach at the store... but that was because they were new and still did not have a lot of customers, so I had a class, people looked at my stuff and then bought everything to do it, but then did not sign up for the class. before we could work getting more people I decided not to get into it too much since I was having Stephan). I also helped a few different people with their scrapbooks when I worked at the scrapbook store in Maggie. So, if you still don't get it, I LOVE to scrapbook.

When I had Stephan I didn't have the time/space/patience to scrapbook with Stephan around. I was really protective of all of scrapbook stuff that it just would not do to have a little one (or a cat) around when I scrapped. So, I switched to digital scrapbooking. I love it just as much!! there are a few things that I miss, but the fact that I can actually get around to it soooo makes up for it. I can also do some things on the computer that I can't do with paper and there is sooo much to learn that I will never know how to do it all. The other perk is that I can get almost everything for free to scrapbook online (a good place to start is lumapix.com or scrapbookmax.com I use lumapix) There are so many people giving away free digital kits... a good site is ADSDesigners (or something like that, google it) they have collabs with a list of blogs with people giving stuff away.

So, anyhow, below are the pages that I made tonight... I'm sure there will be lots more post with my pages in them.

my weekend

So, we had a GREAT weekend!! It was busy, and a lot of work too, but after the work was lots of fun! We have been meaning to get our garden done, and have not had a chance yet because for one, we have no tiller, and for two, it has been raining constantly. On Wednesday we borrowed a tiller from the burrows, and on Thursday we finally got the garden tilled... in the rain. We gave up on having a whole day without rain.. what were we thinking.... a whole day... no rain. Friday we got up and mowed the lawn, cleaned the house. Later that day we went to the burrows house and had a cookout and swam in their pool. When we got home we finished mowing the yard (actually, I re mowed it to push all the grass to one side cause I hate walking through grass) and Chris weed whacked the river area. Saturday we worked on the garden for most of the day, then I went over to the neighbors house and she taught me how to make Mexican beans and rice.... mmm good!! We hung out at their house, with Stephan running in and out playing with their girls. That night the burrows came over here and we played games all night. Today we went to church, came home and took a nap before going back over to the burrows house to swim in their pool. We all had a lot of fun all weekend! And it also feels really good to finally have the garden done and a mowed yard!

At one point Chris was cleaning out the shed when we saw our friend.... He has been living in there awhile, but this was the fist time he was stretched out and let us have a good look at him.

While we were playing I took some pictures of Chris and Stephan that are adorable! so here they are... first up is Stephan in my rain coat. This was when we were tilling the garden in the rain

One of my friends is a photographer, and she took some pictures of her kids like this, and I liked the shot so I took some like it... the lighting is way off, I want to retry, but they are cute!

To much fun

This week has been a busy one! I went to dollywood once, and Splash country twice which left my house in ruins and I just got it back to somewhat of a normal order today. It started last Thursday, I had two free tickets to dollywood that expired that weekend. Jessica came with me and Stephan. We had a lot of fun while we were there. We took turns on the a few of the coasters, but mostly we did things that Stephan could have fun on too. We had a good few hours before they shut all the rides down because of a supposed storm... which we never even saw one rain drop of. After the rides has been closed for about thirty minutes we just decided to come back home. About 30 minutes into our drive, we were on a little two way road when we came across a fallen tree that was half on the road and half tangled in the power lines. It was going to be at least an hour (probably more) before we could get through there, so we turned around, passed back by dollywood and through Cherokee. It took us three hours to make a one and a half hour trip... so mad. On the way back through there was another detour that went straight though the krispy kreme drive through... you know, the one with the bright red "HOT NOW" light flashing.... mmm, they were soooo good!!!!

The next day we got a lot of work around the house done. Chris wanted to work on the car a little, and then we mowed the lawn and weed whacked everything... I do love a nicely mowed yard! The next two days we were at splash country. We has planned on going on Sunday, but then decided that we really should be in church, so I changed the plans around and found a different sitter so that we could go on Saturday and we had a BLAST!!! I love water parks, I could easily live at them! I can't ever decide what I want to do because everything is so great! We really missed Stephan though. There were so many cute kids running around with big smiles on their faces. As much as we missed him, I think that it is really really really really (is that enough reallys?) really important for couples to have a date night at least once a month, more is possible. This was a good excuse to have such a night. After the park we went out to eat and then headed home through Cherokee which is such a great drive!!

Sunday we had planned on going to church, but Stephan woke up at 7:30 which is early for him, and he went back to bed at 8. We went back to bed also thinking that he would get up in an hour or so, in time for church. He woke up a few minutes to twelve... so much for church. We woke up from a few text from our friends who had also missed church because their son had a bad poison Ivy rash and had to go to the Urgent care. Well... Since we had both missed church... we decided to go back to splash country. It was a totally spontaneous trip. This time we took Stephan with us, he was a little tired, but once he got over that he had fun. We spent the majority of our time with Stephan in the lazy river. We tried the baby play area, and although he liked it, he was to tired for it and would cry every time he fell or got water splashed on him... or someone looked at him... very grumpy. In the Lazy river he took it easy for awhile, and then momma got him and we played. he was sitting on the float with his legs in the river and then we would run up to Chris or the burrows and bump into them and Stephan would laugh... it was all to cute! I would put the cutest picture ever of him on here, but, our camera has been having issues and the pictures are gone... so sad. I think we are going to have to call Olympus up and have a chat.

In other news... we had a cookout Friday night with the burrows. We were hanging out around the fire when Chris saw a fox in our yard. It was neat to see him, but kinda strange since we live in the middle of town... on a different note (I hope) we have not seen our baby ducks in awhile...

The ninty and nine

ok, I totally stole this from a friends blog (hope you don't mind jenny!). I first heard this song by Micheal McLean about a month ago at Womens Conference and it really hit home for me and I feel like everyone should have a chance to hear it. So, this is for most of us, for the ninty and nine...

One of the ninty and nine

"I am one of the ninety and nine.
I'm not perfect, but basically, I'm doing fine.
I have not lost my way. I have not gone astray.
I'm just one of the ninety and nine.

I am here in the heart of the fold.
I'm not mindless but I try and do as I'm told.
I'm not tempted to run, or become the lost one.
I'm just here in the heart of the fold.

I'm just one of the Ninety and Nine
I have stumbled and fallen but I've kept in line
I'm not one he must seek, I'm not all that unique
I'm just one of the Ninety and Nine."

Then why is my Shepherd treating me like a lost lamb?
He's searching to find me, and He's holding me now, yes
He's holding me now, and teaching me who I am.

Why am I feeling like I'm the only one here?
It's like I'm his favorite, and He takes me aside
And He sweetly confides, these remarkable words in my ear:

'You are one of the ninety and nine.
Have you any idea how brightly you shine?
You are safe in this fold, and it's time you were told,
That I know where you've been so I know where you'll be
Because all of your life you've been following me.
You are more than just one of the sands of the sea
Or just one of the ninety and nine...

You are mine.'"

My day.. and other random things

Man, It is getting hot! I could never live at the beach, the humidity kills me there. I don't really like the humidity we have here, but I grew up with it, so I guess it isn't that big of a deal, but when we travel somewhere like the beach, and I step out of the car, I feel like I am literally melting away. today was one of those hot yucky muggy days.... so, like other millions of Americans, we rush off to wal-mart (or lowes depending on your preference) and buy an air conditioner. Ok, so there was only one other person looking at them today in the store, but the prices are a lot higher than they were even a month ago, so I assume that is wal-marts way of preparing for the millions who might want an air conditioner. I digress (I love that phrase lol)

So, my little boy HATES being hot. I'm not sure if I have told this story before, but when he was a newborn, he would not sleep if he was to hot. He definitely runs at a higher temperature than his cold mama. Anytime he is over dressed or hot, he gets really cranky. So when the temperature started getting hot, he got our air conditioner. He has had an air conditioner in his room for a month now ('cept when it got cold). We have another air conditioner in the living room window. That leaves our room all hot and muggy. It has been nice enough that we have just been leaving the window open... but it got to hot for that today and Chris stole Stephan's air conditioner. This left me on the quest to buy a new one, because heaven forbid Stephan get to hot in the middle of the night!

I learned a few things while installing the air conditioner, One, Stephan LOVES pushing the buttons and generally crawling on top of whatever it is I'm trying to work on (ok, so not new) and 2nd, the back of an air conditioner leaves pretty little scratches all over you if you pick it up while your finger is on the back... my finger looks like I'm a cutter now, seriously, if it was on my arm, I'm sure someone would call the cops on me or something. But, at least the air conditioner is in place and I know Stephan will Sleep through the night!

Speaking of sleeping, Stephan has to have LOTS of it. He sleeps way more than any other kid I know. Last night he went to bed about 7:30 and woke up this morning about 10:45. Now I heard him rustling around about 8:50 and I figured that it was about 10-40 minutes early for him (at least recently) so I rolled back over thinking he would wake me up in a few more minutes. When I did hear him rustling around it was 10:30. I got up, and since he wasn't really awake, had time to actually fox my hair without my leg looking like it has grown a rather loud growth. It was a good morning, we leisurely ate breakfast, played, and had a good time before daddy had to go back to bed (he has been up and down all day, he went to bed at 8ish, got up at 11, went back to bed at 12, got up at 5).

A strange fact about Stephan, he HATES it when I do the dishes or fix my hair. he could be happily playing in the next room over, but if I go near the Kitchen sink and start messing with dishes, or he hears the bathroom door open, he comes running. He will sit at my feet and cry the whole time I am doing dishes.... and we don't have a dishwasher... I don't get why he gives up happily playing in the next room for a thirty minute crying tantrum at my feet... strange kid!

So today Jessica came over. we walked downtown with Stephan. Jessica just got back from her first year of school at State. I'm glad to have her back for the summer, but sad that she will leave again soon. She is usually one of the first people I call when I'm bored and dying to get out of the house.. which happened today. After walking around downtown we went to wal-mart to get the air conditioner and then we did our best at putting it in. Afterward Stephan took a nap and me and her watched a movie and ate chips and salsa... sounds like a good afternoon to me!

My week in pictures

We have been working toward a friendship with the people across the street, two families that live together. They have an eight year old, two two year olds, and 6 month old twin boys. The older three absolutely LOVE Stephan. One of them kept dragging Stephan to whatever she wanted him to play with it. Here are a few pictures of them playing.

At one point, the two little girls started kissing Stephan and knocked him over, and then kept kissing him... it was really cute! There is another girl, the eight year old who also follows Stephan around. Today she played peek a boo with him for about 30 minutes while I mowed the lawn.

We have several ducks that hang out by our house on the creek. When we first moved here last year and there were seven little babies, 5 survived. The numbers went back up sometime last fall. Now, they have just had more babies. There are 5 fuzzy little ducks waddeling around our yard. Below is a picture of one that our neighbor caught (we held him about 10 minutes and then gave him back to his mommy... she didn't seem to mind tooo much)

Tonight after Stephan's bath, we let him tun around naked. He usually does just to air out (I know I would hate to be in a diaper all day). Anyhow, while he was running around, he stepped into daddy's shoes... it was so cute I had to snap a photo.

The other day we found this in our shed while pulling out the air conditioners... gotta love those type of surprises

And now for some really cute Stephan pictures

This was the first time that Stephan slid down the slide by himself. He was so proud of himself. As soon as he hit the bottom of the slide, he would stand up and give us the biggest smile before doing it again.

Again, bath time. When Stephan got out of the bath, it was kinda cold in the house, so I wrapped a towel around him. it was soo cute to watch him walk... but he kept tripping so it really didn't last that long.

I was trying to clean up the house, and so I let Stephan "help" me clean. This is a cabinet that he always plays in, but this time he found some cups that were in the back. He was determined to separate every cup and it made such a big mess.... so of course I had to take a picture!

Stephan has been pulling the cats tail a lot lately. most of the time I stop him, but every now and then I let the cat stop him so that maybe, he might learn. So here is a picture of him torturing the cat...

Stephan got a ball pit for Christmas that he loved to play in. His favorite part to play with is the top, here is a picture of him looking through it

And now for the cutest pictures ever!!! Me and Stephan were in his play room, and he crawled into a storage cube. He played in this storage cube for at least thirty minutes.

A little while later he crawled into this side table that his TV sits on. I tried to store toys in there. That didn't last to long until Stephan pulled them all out and crawled in. He would open and close the doors playing peek-a-boo. he has done this a few times since and it always makes him giggle!


PEEK-A-BOO

My Weekend

Well, I'm still having trouble with the laptop, so I'm on the mac again, which means no pictures... or no sounds, I have the cutest sound files if I can get them up here. Stephan is learning to talk, and we have taken some sound files using the cell phone, one is of him meowing. and the other one, is the cutest one ever of him making techno music kind of sound. It cracks us up whenever he does it, I can't wait to get the sound file on here.

This weekend was really busy. Chris's grandparents came on Friday. They took us out to eat at Bogart's, and then spent the night here. Saturday morning they left to go back home, and Chris and I left to go to Stephan's kindermusic graduation, We made it to the graduation just in time for Stephan's part to be over. I was kinda bummed about that, but since we had missed t hat part, and Stephan was really tired, so we left early and went to my sisters house instead. We hung out there for about an hour and made some brownies. When we left there we went back to the house where Chris took and nap and I got things ready to go to dollywood. Jeannie came over around 2 to watch Stephan for us until 7:30 when Jessica would take over until we got home later than night. Chris and I left for dollywood around 3, We were tired before we went, and the long drive made that worse. When we got there, there were no lines and we got to ride all the coasters that we wanted to at least twice. It was great!! While we were there we met up with Tracy and Madison. We left the park when it closed at 8, and went to get some food at sonic. The drive home was super rainy, at least Chris told me that is how it was, I tried to stay awake, but it was a pointless battle, I was asleep within a few minutes. When I did wake up I could not even see the road because of the rain. I'm so glad that I did not have to drive. We got home at 11. After my shower, I went to the bedroom to get dressed, I sat on the bed for just a minute, and woke up an hour later on the foot of the bed with no clothes on.... man I was tired.

This morning, Stephan woke up early after a late night, he was sooo tired. We put him down for a nap thinking that we were not going to go to church, but then he did not sleep. So we made it to the first meeting, but barely, Stephan was having a rough time. He was so wiggly, and if he was not laughing, he was crying. So we went home after that meeting and put him down for a 2 hour nap. When we got up we went to Madison's birthday party, and then ended up at Tracy's mom house until 6:30 when we came home. Stephan and Chris were both in the bed by 7:30. Chris got up later to go to work.

So, that was our weekend, we were super busy, and now, we are super tired.

mostly Stephan updates

Not a lot has happened this week. Me and Stephan have just been hanging out at the house during the days, and then when Chris gets up at 5 we are usually working in the yard. Tonight Chris is working a double, so he had to leave at 2 this afternoon, and will get home about 6:30ish.

We went to the park today just to get out of the house, and Stephan made friends with this little girl that was a month older than him. It was cute to watch them because they were copy each other. Stephan would slap the bridge they were playing around, and then the little girl would copy him, and then later the little girl was playing with the mulch, putting on the slide, and Stephan copied her. There were also two older girls running around, and Stephan wanted to follow them around... I'm going to hate when he is old enough to actually keep up with all these girls!

Stephan is starting to talk, a little. He has the cutest little meow sound in the world. He draws it out, and uses a soft higher pitched voice, I am going to have to put a video of it up here... the problem is that as soon as I take out the camera he gets fixated on it and won't meow anymore. Has picked up a few other words. Chris taught him to say "nice" Why he chose that word to start saying, I don;t know. I have been trying to get him to say mommy for months now... he won't say it, He says dadda though, or some variation of it anyways.

Stephan is turning into a biter. He is biting us constantly it seems. Most of the time it is when he is tired or sleepy, or we are playing with him, or he is bored... I really think that some of it is coming from frustration, he has the idea of how to talk, but doesn't quite know how to do it, so he bites us as a form of communication.. one that I'm not thrilled with. So, if you have any ideas on how to fix this (without biting him back) then feel free to leave some ideas!

I think that it is time to start teaching Stephan with things like time out. He has a fixation on the computer, and he also loves taking all the movies off the shelf, and out of the containers. Again, he mostly does this when he is tired or hungry. He isn't quite big enough to get the whole "sit in time out for one minute" idea, so we made him a time out corner using the baby gate we had going around the wood stove. This place, that was meant for punishment, has entertained him for about three days now. he is constantly going in and out of it, slamming the little gate on it, throwing toys in it, and then getting them out. I will have to put a picture of that up on here soon too (I'm on the wrong computer... I'm using the mac right now, I usually use the PC when I blog). I have only used it twice as actual punishment, but because it was new, it didn't work. When I do use it, I tell him "no" and place move him to a different place, if he goes running back I do it again. On the third time I put him in his baby-traz for a minute. We will see if this actually works or not in a week or two.

Today Stephan and I were hanging out in the play room. I was reading a book (one that my mom got at conference!) and Stephan was playing. He has a shelf that mom got him (or me depending on how you look at it) this really cute shelf for his birthday last year, and it has the cubes that seem to be so popular. He pulled out the cube (the only one I bought for it so far lol) and climbed in. Then he started crying cause he could not get comfortable, so I took all the toys out of it for him, and he happily sat in that cube playing for about thirty minutes. I got some of the cutest pictures of him! I'm going to pos.... oh, wait, wrong computer... maybe tomorrow night.

The last of my thoughs from conference

So, as I was sitting here thinking and listening to the great speakers, I made a few notes. You see, when I go to listen to a speaker, or at church, I listen to what the speaker is saying, but mostly that is when I can do some good thinking. I remember one time at church in Sunday school that the teacher said that sometimes, by letting her thoughts wander some while reading scriptures that she was able to get answers, or ideas. I feel that I am the same way. So anyhow, I may not be able to repeat back what a speaker said, but I am still able to walk away from a speaker with my own type of knowledge.

So anyhow, mostly, what I thought a lot about was friendships (which I already wrote about) and also the reasons I feel like we are suppose to be in waynesville ward where my main focus. I did listen really closely to the talk on free agency parenting though.

I thought about being away from my family a lot, and I also thought a lot about being with my mom and sister. It is so rare when we get the chance to be together! My sister is one of my greatest friends. I think we view a lot of things differently now than when we were growing up. growing up we thought a lot alike, but being married to different guys, and having totally different lives has made us a lot different from each other. However, even with those difference we have a friendship that has lasted through years and years, and will always last. When we do get the chance to hang out, we have a lot of fun! We don't get to hang out as much as I would like.
My mom is what I wanted to write about the most tonight though. She is a great person! I don't think she really knows what I great person she is. She has done so much for us growing up. She was always there when we needed her. One of the most important things to me, is that I never felt like she put the business above us kids. She never doubted (that she showed anyways) that we would make it in the "real school system" since we were home schooled. She is a very giving person as well. She is always looking for ways to help us out, or to just spoil us. This weekend was a great example! She took care of all the traveling plans including driving the whole way there and back. When we got there she bought us each one thing (I got a really pretty picture frame), on the way home she bought us dinner. She did so much for us this weekend! The thing is, she is always doing things like that for us.
I think she is an incredibly strong woman. she probably doesn't think so, she doesn't always see the good that the rest of us see in her. She has helped my dad for years in building his dream business. Something that the rest of us decided was not for us. Working with dad's business is not always easy, and I'm sure that they have had their fights, but for the most part she helps him with out complaint. She has also stood by my dad in life, and that is something that is hard to find these days.
I think that she is really good at her callings. I have seen her in several different callings and she always does a good job... she even does her visiting teaching! (something I need to work on... and I'm suppose to visit teach the bishops wife!).
So basically, I think my mom is a great person, and I was really excited to spend so much time with her this weekend.

So, on a totally different note, at the conference we are learning all these things. It suppose to be all these great LDS women, women who are suppose to stand for truth and righteousness right? Apparently not when we are hungry. The food line was a bit confusing, ok, so a lot confusing. All these women, who were in the middle of being spiritually uplifted, started showing their claws to the poor people working at the conference when the food lines got messed up. I was thinking how much like Lamen and Lemuel we can be. They were told over and over to do the things they should, but as soon as things got hard they started whining and not behaving. Well, here we are, being told what we should do, and then we hit the food line and it's confusing and we start whining. I just thought it was amusing.
Since we are talking about food, I also thought it was amusing that they served Ice tea. It was funny because as soon as they brought it out, I think they were probably told by ten different people that we don't tea.

Friendships

While I was at the conference I met up with a lot of different people. One was a friend from a loooong time ago. We met at a camp when we were about 15 or 16. It was really neat to see her again. We also saw several people from the stake. I love getting to see the people from our stake! There are so many good people that I don't get to see nearly enough.

So, one of the things about me is that I don't make friends easily. I guess I am really picky about those I call my friends. I have come across several people who claim to be my friends that have been.... less than friendly. These people make more cautious.
I have always felt that most friendships are temporary. I think this is because we moved around a lot growing up, and I was not around a lot of people my age. The friends that I did make that were my age were usually temporary. This is how I feel about the average friendship... but then there are the friendships that are different, the ones that I know, or at least hope, will last. After six years of college, I made friends with four people that I hope to be friends with for a long time, one of those I married :) The rest, if they read this should know who they are. For you guys, I am very grateful.

Alright, I guess I should get to the point of my blog. I do not make friends, good friends, with a lot of people, but then there are other people who I feel a pull towards, those people who I really want a friendship with, but not sure how, or don't get the chance. Even though I don't know them as well as I would like, I still miss the friendship. Does that even make since? Every person that I have ever felt this extra pull toward are members of the church, I think that might have something to do with it. With one person in particular, I almost feel like we have been friends before, and that we would be great friends now, if given the chance. That was the biggest feeling that I got while at the conference (well. with friendships)

I really hope that one day, I will get to know these people well, to become good friends with them.

There are other friendships that I have made that, after we have been friends for awhile, that I know there was a reason for that friendship. like, with yesterdays post, our friendship with the burrows that has helped us find out place in the ward. I also feel that these friendships are meant to be.

I know that my thoughts in this blog are probably confusing. The bottom line is that, while at the conference, There were two people that I met up with that I hope, in the future, I can be better friends with. I felt pretty strongly that if, given the chance, we would have a great friendship.

My Weekend

This weekend I left my boys to go on a trip with my mom and sister. We went to a Women's conference in South Carolina. It is a conference that is designed to uplift women through great speakers and music.



Mom and Deborah picked me up about 1 on Friday. The drive seemed to take forever... mostly because I hate being in a car that long. It was fun to hang out and chit chat though. We stopped by sonic on the way, and that was an adventure in itself. Mom has a garmin, and we used it to get around. We did a search on food, found sonic, and decided to eat there. The garmin took us through some... less than desirable area... and back into a normal neighborhood where sonic was. the trip delayed us for about an hour (driving + eating). We got to the conference just in time for it to start. When we got there we walked around looking at the different displays with books and CD's and a really cool food storage display. Then the presentation started. There were two song presenters, Michael McLean and Mark Mabry (I think, I'm awful with names). There were a lot of really funny songs. The speakers were all great, the problem is that I am awful at remembering them. I seem to remember them when I need them, but other than that I forget them. However, on Friday, there was one thing that stuck with me very strongly, and that is free agency parenting. Chieko Okazaki mentioned it for just a few minutes Friday night, and that was it. It caught my attention, but then that was it... I wanted to know more on this theory. I was disappointed that I just got a taste... but then, on Saturday, She gave a whole talk on it!! I was really excited because the theory seems exactly in line with the kind of parent I want to be. I know that it probably won't work quite as well as makes it sound, but it is worth a shot. The theory is to teach your child the principles, and then let them govern themselves. An example that she gave was with her second grade class, when the students fought, she has some discussion chairs that faced each other, and the idea that was instead of figuring out the problem for the kids, to let them sort it out themselves. I love this idea! I hear of t0 many parents who, in my opinion, over parent. they allow their kids no freedom, and the kids usually rebel against that style of parenting. So anyhow, that is a theory that I want to try and use.

The conference theme, and most of the talks, were about the worth of women. That we tend to undermine ourselves as parents and wives. They spoke a lot on how much we do without even knowing the things that we do.

They also had several tables loaded up with books, music, and other things. My mom bought me a really pretty picture frame with a quote about families on it.

So, while I was at the conference, there were several things that stuck in my mind that had noting to do with the conference, but that I feel came from being in a spiritual environment. The first is a feeling that I have gotten before, and that is that we are suppose to be in the ward that we are in. We were in Cherokee for a long time, and never once did we get the feeling that we belonged there. There are a few people from that ward that I love, but there were more people there that showed an obvious dislike for my family, and me, and therefore my spouse. We were prevented from fulfilling our callings there because so many people believed a bunch of rumors. The while thing. There was a lot of other drama and hard feeling from Cherokee. I do feel like we were suppose to be there to learn that going to church is not always a social thing, but to go for ourselves, which I think was getting us ready for the ward we are in now. In Between wards we went to Franklin for a few months, and that was just a pick me up to get us ready for waynesville as well. I love Franklin, and wish that we could go to church there because of the people as well as the spirit there. anyhow, all of that brings me to what I felt, and that is that we are suppose to be in waynesville ward. Waynesville is not an easy ward. There is us, another couple about 5 years older, and then everyone else is around 75. Our Bishop, who is in his fifties, says that he feels really young in this ward. There are only about 40-60 active people. there are no kids in nursery, and about five in the while primary who are active. I've Sundays in which there is only one kid, or no kids in primary or nursery. The youth program has 2-3 active young women, and maybe 3-4 active boys. I say active, but two of those never really come to activities. The people in this ward refuse to commit to anything it seems, So many people turn down callings. There is no example that I can give without offending. The things that I am saying about this ward are all common knowledge, and people talk about what to do to make it better. Our current Bishop is doing a great job at making things better, but it takes time, a lot of time. Another problem that our ward has is that they (I say they, but it is just a few more out spoken sisters) are against youth and technology. Anytime someone mentions either of those categories, the lesson turns to the evils of today and how technology is going to doom us all, and that these kids today just have no since of real work or responsibility and blah blah blah. It always irritates to me to hear this. there are a few other people who stand up for the youth and technology. But imagine you are new to this ward, and you are under the age of 25, and you hear them talking trash about the younger generations. It just doesn't go over well.

the point of explaining that is to say that we have trouble getting new people. they come to our ward, meet a few people, and then never come back. There is no way that a ward can grow if it is a place that most people do not want to be. I feel like this is part of where Chris and I come in. We have already learned that we need to go to church for more than just social reasons from being in Cherokee. me and Chris have been praying for the ward in that we hope more people will move in (something we got from Franklin ward). We have talked to the bishop about this idea as well. I believe that Chris and I are here to help out those new people who are not 75 years old. This ward could do it without us, but I believe that we are here to help the ward to grow by just bringing the age curve way down. As people move in, I hope that we can make them feel welcomed. I hope that we can be friends with them. I hope that we can help them to better understand the uniqueness of our ward. Mostly, I hope that we can help them to stay in our ward, so that they to, can help encourage the next new person to move, and so on until we are actually the size of a ward. I'm not saying that we will be the reason this ward grows, simply that we are suppose to be here to help it grow.

There is another very strong reason that I believe we are in this ward, this is a feeling I get often, and that is our friendship with the burrows. They are the greatest people ever! We hang out with them all the time, and love every minute of it. They are the people who make going to church easier for us. We get along on so many different levels. I'm really not sure who helps who more. I know that their friendship means the world to Chris and I, and I believe that we help them out as well. It is always good to have strong friendships in the church. I believe that we support each other in going to church (or skipping...in case Jenn reads this lol). I know that our friendship was something that was meant to happen. On a side note, the first time we went to church in waynesville, I picked them out and told Chris that we should invite them over for dinner and get to know them. They could not make it that night, and it was a year before we actually hung out. I just think that it is neat that they caught my attention early on, and then we became really good friends)

That brings me to my next topic that I thought a lot about while at this conference, and that is friendships.... but that will have to wait till tomorrow.

(btw, I know I said some things about waynesville that were not best, but I do love this ward, and know that this is where we are supposed to be)

it has been a few days since my last post, nothing big has really happened. It has been raining a lot, I love it when it rains! It just makes for a peaceful day as long as I do not have to go anywhere. However, I think Stephan is getting a little claustrophobic though. He LOVES to be outside, and when we don't go outside, he gets antsy sometimes. There have been enough breaks in the rain so that we can get out around dinner time every day and get a little bit of work done. Some days it seems like we will never catch up on all there is to do around here, but then again, I look around at our house, and remember how thankful I am for it. I love working on the house, making it better! So although it is a lot of work, it is worth every minute of it!

Tomorrow I am leaving to go with my mom and sister to woman's conference in SC. I'm excited to spend time with them, however, I hate leaving Chris and Stephan. The weekend is the most quality time we get together because we are not fitting a whole days worth of stuff into a few hours before Stephan goes to bed, and then an hour or so later Chris goes to work. On the weekend we can take all day to do the things we need to do and to just be together.

I am excited about going to the conference! I remember going a few years ago and I really enjoyed it. I especially like just being with my mom and sister. This time I am really looking forward to actually hearing what I speaker says. It has been awhile since I have been able to pay attention to someone other than Stephan. I am also excited about seeing some friends there that I do not get to see much. A few old friends from my past as well as other people in my stake that I do not get to see very often.

I guess I need to get in bed so that I can stay awake through the speakers :)

Man, having a kid sure has turned me into a sap. I remember once when my sister and I went to see step mom with my dad. During the sappy part me and my sister were laughing at something, my dad on the other hand was tearing up and getting irritated at us for laughing. That is how is has always been, I never understood why people cried at movies... after all, it wasn't real... then I had my own kid. So tonight I was watching Grey's anatomy, and part of the show was about this kid who was terminal, and her dad coming to terms with that. Well, I kept seeing Stephan in that little kid... what if it was him, and that was it, I started tearing up. It's official, I don't like sappy stories about kids getting hurt in any way. I don't mind adult drama, just leave the kids out of it *sigh*

On another note, Stephan is entering his terrible two's at eighteen months. I've heard that this phase it more like eighteen months to three years, so I guess I am just going to have to get use to the sound of Stephan screaming. Today, he cried for what seemed like 5 hours straight. ok, so at some point I put him down for a nap, and I think he slept for a little while, but I forgot to turned the monitor on, so I'm not sure. I honestly did not mean forget to check the monitor, Stephan is always playing with it, so sometimes it is not plugged in. usually I can still hear him when he cries. but, even if we take out the iffy hour of sleep, he cried for FOUR hours. Nothing made him happy, I have him Tylenol in case he was teething, he ate a good lunch, he had lots of opportunity to sleep... there was NOTHING wrong with him other than he wanted my undivided attention.. and so he cried. i did sit down and watch non the builder with him in an effort to save both of our sanity. He sat in my lap for almost the entire show and snuggled up to me, which reminded me why I put up with all the screaming. he has been really grumpy like this a lot lately, he just had a doctor appointment, and they said he was fine, I really think he just needs to learn that he can not have our complete attention all the time. Around 3, we ran some errands, and he was happy the rest of the night (when he had our attention). His best times are in the morning and after his bath. During these times he is running all over the house giggling at everything, it's adorable!

Yesterday our neighbors threw a party for their six month old twin boys who just got baptized (they are catholic). It was interesting because they speak hardly any English, and we don't speak Spanish. But, they know enough that we could communicate. They had invited us over about a week before. I was outside playing with Stephan and Erica, the twins mom, came over and started talking to me, and that is when they invited us over. A few times this week our kids have played together (she also has an 8 year old, and a 2 year old). the day of the party the kids came over to our yard, and then it slowly moved to their yard, then they gave us some yummy yummy yummy... did I mention it was yummy... authentic Mexican food. It was probably the best chicken I have ever had! I ate soooo much food! they seem like really good people (except for the annoying loud Mexican music that I hear all the time). I hope that we can get to know them better, and that Stephan can learn Spanish from hanging out with them.

thats about it for tonight.