Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Four. Yuck.

Have I mentioned that 4 years old is not my favorite age? Well...here it is again. 4 years old is not my favorite age.

Today Aria went to a neighbors house to invite them over to play. I watched from the front porch. When the little girl said that her mommy said she couldn't, Aria burst into full tilt sobbing at the top of her lungs, then proceeded to run as fast as her little bare feet could carry her (which was surprisingly fast) back to me on the porch and throw herself into my arms for a tantrum. It was just the most recent of many of them. Entirely too many. December can't come soon enough. (she'll be 5, I swear it's a magic number)

She's still capable of sometimes being cute. It's a good thing too. I practiced panning on her while she rode on the merry-go-round at the park. Which, by the way, I thought those were removed from all parks, but there it was, in a brand new park, no less. It made me sick to look at, but the kids liked it.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

More

Nathan was really sad that he didn't have flowers, so we put some rose petals on his ring pillow. This is how he held it so he wouldn't lose a single flower. He let them go when he got to the front.





I snuck a peak during the closing prayer and saw this. I had to take a picture.



These are my grandparents. I love these pictures of Grandpa. (I did take a couple with Shannon holding the bouquet too)







This was one of my favorite moments. This little girl put on a quite a show for everyone, so I was snapping away when I turned and saw that little boy enraptured by her.


Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Sneak peak of Josh and Shannons wedding!

I'm nowhere near done. I still have a few hundred pictures to proof, but here are the first ones I grabbed. I'll post again when they're all done. Congratulations Josh and Shannon!

In no particular order, just some of the pictures that caught my eye as I scanned them.

Click to see them bigger!













Monday, May 14, 2007

Happy Mothers Day! - a tribute to the influential women in my life

Several women in my life have played important parts in shaping who I am today. This is for them.

First, my mom. My mom is amazing. She has overcome a lot in her life, to become and strong, loving, and giving person. She raised me with love and guidance and the spirit. She taught me the power of prayer. There is no doubt in my mind that she always stayed close to the Lord. I remember many times seeing her pray. She prays long and fervent prayers and I know they're heard. As a Grandma to my kids, she can't be beat. She sends them cards, she bakes cookies with them, she takes them to the park and to movies. She's the best ever, and I'm lucky to be her daughter. I love you, Mom!

My Grandma Jean is my mom's mom. She had a really hard life (she got married when she was 13 to get out of an orphanage that her mom used to just drop her off at for months at a time) and that's just the tip of the iceberg. But what my Grandma taught me was the importance of service. She was very giving of her time and talents. Many of my cousins lived in her home (a pink house with pink trim!) at one time or another. Everyone in my hometown knew Grandma Jean. She was fiercely independant so it was difficult to return service to her, but she just kept giving. She always sent birthday cards to everyone she knew. She was famous for her peanut brittle, and she served in the boy scouts organization til she died. She's been gone about 1 year and a half but her legacy will live on with many many people.

My Grandma Johnson is my dad's mom. She taught me the importance of family. Every year we have a family reunion in the summer and a family Christmas in the winter. All my Aunts, Uncles and cousins are there. I grew up close to my extended family and I remember being surprised when I got married and found out that my husband barely knew some of his cousins. That was totally foreign to me. My Grandma celebrates occasions. My extended family does their best to be at graduations, mission farewells, weddings, baby blessings, baptisms, etc. We like to camp and play games and just be together. Many of my fondest memories are from family reunions. We all live fairly close together, too. I like to think it's because Grandma has kept us having so much fun over the years.

My Aunt Brenda is my dad's sister. Because she listened to the spirit and followed a prompting to invite me to live with her young family when I was 19 (something a lot of people would not have done), she changed my life. She offered stability when I was kinda flying by the seat of my pants. She was an example of motherhood at a time in my life when I didn't want to be mothered, but was just a few short years away from becoming a mother myself. She gave me unwavering and unconditional love and acceptance at a time when I was struggling to find myself. She was a shining example of faith as I watched her endure the hardest thing a mother has to endure with the loss of her infant daughter. Seeing that and learning from that was a huge part in me understand and learning from my miscarriage a few years later.

Mrs. Taylor was my third grade teacher. She stands out in my mind as a great teacher. I always felt like she trusted me and encouraged me. She had a gift of gently correcting her students without making us feel badly about ourselves. She gave me opportunities to help my fellow students and she facilitated a love of books that I've never lost.

I could go on...

My Aunt Jami (actually, my dad's cousin...but she's always been like an aunt) has taught me about being positive and kind all the time, various Young Women leaders taught me to love myself, Sister Hafen (my Sr year seminary teacher) taught me how to make everyone around you feel like they're the most important person in the world.

I've been very blessed.

I love you all and thank you for helping to shape me into who I am today!

and now....3 reasons that I love to be a mother.

Nathan. He's so much like me. He's quiet until he gets to know you, he's sensitive and he loves to make people happy. He's also logical (not like me) and has a sarcastic wit that cracks me up coming out of a 5 year old. For Mothers day, I got to go to school with him where he read to me, his class sang to us (all the moms were there), he served me fruit and sweets and he said "My name is Nathan, and my mom is special because sometimes she lets me play video games in bed." lol. He also made me a shirt that says "The art of being a mother, 2007" and has a picture that he painted of me on it. This is after school on Friday. He was showing me the tree that's always covered in lady bugs and that's me in my shirt that he made.




#2. Aria. She's my best girl. She always wants to be wherever the party is. She loves attention and she loves to cuddle. She's great at complimenting people (especially me). She's happy, and creative and fun and sweet.

That night was the father/son campout so Aria, Gabe and I invited my sisters, my friend and a girl my sister babysits to go out with us. We went to the spaghetti factory, then to this really cool place called Catacombs. This is Gabe going down the stairs...it's decorated like a medieval dungeon, they serve pizza and smores that you can cook at the table. We just went for smores.

Gabe going down the stairs to the dungeon.



Aria making smores. She was completely enthralled with it!




The kids that were with us on our girls (and baby) night out.



And Gabe. Gabe is awesome. He's hilarious. He loves to make people laugh, he loves to tease, he loves to play and have fun. The world is a big joke to him. And you can't help but love him.



I mean, seriously....this is what he does if I try to scold him. You just can't stay upset when after saying his full name in a "mom voice" this is the face you're met with. That grin is going to get him out of a lot of trouble over the years.



HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

The twins are growing up!

Remember the twins? Well, they're almost 1 now! And I still think they're just about the cutest kids ever. You just can't help but love them!

You can see all their pictures here.






They don't think the teacups are nearly as fun as I do.




This was the end of the shoot. Think they're done?

Monday, May 07, 2007

Mean people suck.

What happened to what we all learned on Bambi? Say it with me now, "if you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all."

Lately, it seems like everywhere I turn people just don't sensor themselves. They say whatever pops into their head and I just can't figure it out. Why? Stop and think. Seriously!

Let's see how vague I can be here.

There's this place that I go. A lot. There's this person who also goes there daily. This person has a reserved parking space. This person is just not nice. This person seems to think they own the parking lot. I have seen on several occasions this person laying into people who parked in said reserved spot. I have been the recipient of this persons wrath when this person backed up quickly as I came around the corner slowly. Had anything happened, it would not have been my fault, yet the person rolled down their car window and proceeded to angrily gesture and yell things at me while I smiled and waved while seething inside. (oh, and I did not open my window or acknowledge the meanness).

But why? What's the point? Park 3 spaces away on the rare occasion that the reserved spot is taken. It's not going to kill you and will reduce the negativity being released into the world.

Vague situation number 2.

Toddlers make noise. They also have a short attention span and can't sit still for 3 hours. And if they have a runny nose, they shouldn't be around other small children. So, if someone has a huge problem with said toddler (who, by the way, was being quite good and not super noisy), in a room with adults then that person should quietly get the Mom's attention and tactfully mention that the toddler is a bit too loud for the room. That person should not call the Mom out twice in front of the entire room.

Again with the negativity being released. It makes me sad.

Okay, and I know I'm kinda releasing negativity by writing this blog, but it's my blog. I'm allowed.

Friday, May 04, 2007

"Bull" is right!

Salt Lake City radio personalities from the morning show on Kbull sure know how NOT to treat a military wife! Check out Emlouisa's blog for the whole story. The woman that they treated so badly is a mutual friend of ours.

It's apalling!

Go here to Digg it!