Happy House Day!!

Yesterday marked the one year anniverary of our closing on this house. I think that's pretty awesome. We've loved being home owners and living here. We've appreciated everyone who's come to visit. We're looking forward to many more exciting years here and raising our family, making this house a home.

To celebrate, here's a sneak peak of some of the things I'm doing as I decorate Sariah's new room.


Look! A dead tree! No, I'm just kidding, but it does kinda match the ones outside. Here's completion of step one, with leaves to follow...

I have managed to get green grass though...I made these really easy throw pillows for Sariah's day bed. The purple one has the same fabric as her monkey sheets on the inside! Plus its the same purple color that I'm making her curtains out of. Decorating is lots of fun! :)

Change

I love Doug, he's a pretty adaptable guy. He's been supportive of me whenever I get one of my crazy ideas. He's really good at his work with new things he's creating or things he's redesigning. That being said, some things are really hard for him to change. Like buying a new pair of shoes. He's needed a new pair since last Summer. Over the Winter the soles cracked, but he still wouldn't admit he needed a new pair. I've taken him to look several times, but he's never found anything that he felt compaired to his old pair. Wednesday night I finally took him to a shoe store and told him that he had to find a new pair. After much resisting, he finally agreed to a new pair. Of course, they have to be a Father's Day gift, and even then he's still going to wear his old pair until they fall off his feet. Stubborn? Yes, sometimes he is. Cute? Most definately!

It was a buy one get on 1/2 off sale, so I snagged myself a new pair of running shoes. I bought my last pair when I worked at the shoe dept. at Sears in 2001 and they've traveled to Germany & back with me. Still, you wonder why I need running shoes at all... Well, speaking of crazy ideas... There's a group of women in my ward that have decided to run a half marathon at the end of Oct. I've decided to join them. (For all those who don't know, a half marathon is 13 miles.) I just might be crazy, but here I go. I've found a "How to get started with running" program online that takes 8 weeks, then I'll start a 12 week training program. I'm suprised how excitied I am about this, because I've always hated running, but I'm up for it. (I also haven't started yet, so we'll see how I feel in a couple of weeks.) So I guess change can be good!

And Sariah? Well she's always changing, but she's still cute!

Happy Easter!

Here's Sariah before Church in her Easter dress. She was the talk of church, untill she pulled her pigtails out... oh well, she was still really cute! We had a LONG church day. We thought that all Doug's meetings had been cancelled, but then we found out he had ward council after church, and we had all come to church an hour early so I could sing in the choir. (I also sang in a women's quartet, it was a really nice Sacrament Meeting.) Needless to say, we were happy when we all finally got home and Sariah took a nap.

That is, until she woke up from her nap and was a super grouch (I think teething strikes again!) The Easter bunny had come while she was napping and left her a basket & some eggs filled with gerber crunchies "hidden" for her to find...

You can see, she wasn't really that excited...

She did finally warm up after we put on one of her new Wiggles dvds and she calmed down. Then she got interested in her basket, and by the end of the day, found all the eggs (once she realized there was tasty treats inside!)
Its been a crazy week, so we didn't get around to dying our eggs yet, but I think we're planning on doing it for FHE tonight... Sariah also got some sidewalk chalk that will be fun to use outside, but of course by the time we could've gone outside to use it, it was snowing like crazy, AGAIN. Luckily not enought to stick to the sidewalk though. (We've had a new record here, over 100 inches of snow this Winter... our average? 46.)

Of course all this was really fun, but I am still very thankful for the real reason of easter, the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In RS we were actually talking about Julie Beck's talk, "What Mothers Know." but it was amazing how it related so well to the Easter message, since what it really boils down to is Charity. This pure love that Christ had allowed him to make these sacrifices for us and give us the gift of the ressurection. I'm thankful that through the atonement I can one day return to live with my Heavenly Father (and have my family there forever!) HAPPY EASTER!

Jess D's Baptism

"Hi Mommy! What are we doing at the church on a Saturday?"

This Saturday was our ward's second baptism in a row. Last week our friend, Beth, was baptized and this week it was Jess's turn! We were lucky we showed up at the church 2 hrs early, because after the 8inches or so of snow we got, there was lots of shoveling to be done. (The weather is really nice outside now, so that's a blessing!)

Jess asked Doug to baptize her, so we took these pictures before hand. Her husband, Tim, was also able to attend, which was nice since we hadn't met him yet. It was a nice meeting and Doug did a good job. Hurray for baptisms!

Doug & Jess

Our Family with Jess

Us and Jess & Tim

Jess & Tim

The Sisters and Jess & Tim

Easter Egg Hunt!

Today we attended our first (secular) Easter activity. The library had a HUGE Easter egg hunt for kids 5 and under, so I took Sariah. Really, there's nothing cuter than Sariah hunting for eggs.

We got there about 10 min. early and they had roped off the children's section so they could hide the eggs, so Miss Tiffany sang songs with the kids so they wouldn't get restless. The we were off. She did a really good job! She found 2 in the bookshelves before we decided to "check the story time room." (Also known as the room for the littler kids where there were just eggs strewn everywhere.) There were tons of yellow eggs and a few other colors so I suggested which color eggs Sariah should go for. I was impressed when she followed all my directions. She found a purple, then orange and finally pink with just a little nudge from Mommy! She even used my old Easter basket from when I was a kid. Sometimes she would carry it, but she wasn't really that interested, so I followed behind with it.

It was a great morning activity!



Verona Library Easter Egg Hunt

Pointless Thing

I learned today that if you feed your child green eggs and ham (for St. Patty's day!), that sooner or later, her poop will be bright green. Yup, my life is exciting...

Human, Define Thyself

(Warning: This is kinda deep, read at your own risk)

I've been thinking a lot about this lately, so forgive my self indulgence for a moment. As humans, I know we tend to ask the "Who am I?" question a lot. There is, of course, the obvious answer: I am a child of a loving Heavenly Father, who sent me here to learn and grow and prepare to return again to him. I know this; I have a testimony about it. That particular part is not my problem.

I start thinking about the labels we put on ourselves or that society puts on us. These are the things that define our personalities. I guess I'm asking myself, "What am I?" For example, I can define Doug: He's a computer programmer, a gamer, an intelect, a great husband and an amazing father, an organizer, a money manager. He's quiet, avoids social situations, prefers the company of his family, he's a worrier. All these things (and probably more) define who Doug is. In my eyes, Doug is special. He has qualities that nobody else I know has.

Then I think of my labels. I'm a mom. I'm a return missionary. I have lots of hobbies that I'm okay at, but not spetacular. I never went to college, so I have no degree. If something were to happen to Doug today, there would be no way I could support us. So is that it? Am I defined my something I did for 18+ months of my life 5 years ago and how my child(ren) will turn out?

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not downplaying motherhood. Its an important calling. I love it, and I love Sariah. The world would not keep turning without mothers, but I don't want to lose my identy while I raise my kids. I don't want them to all grow up and move on and I have nothing left to do. I don't want to feel like I have to keep mothering when its past time because that's all I know how to do.

My problem is more like Salieri's in the 1984 movie Amadeus (minus the crazy revenge part.) Its mediocrity. I do a lot of things average, but I don't do one thing well. There are things I wish I did well, but they are either not practical or I am limited by my imperfections. I identfy with Salieri's frustrations. In the story of my life, I am always somebody's sidekick.

Life is about balance. We've kicked around the idea of me attending a local community college or something of the sort, but its unrealistic while child(ren) are young and not in school, since I refuse to send them to a day care when I can be here to be with them during these early years. I also don't really know what I would even study if I returned to school. Few things interest me much that I would enjoy studing, and those things would either be nonpractical with having a family (theatre production for instance) or things I'm once again just meodicre in.

Then there's the labels people put on us. Thoughs and stigmas I can't control. Often I feel like these are mostly negative. Isn't it hard to really say what others are thinking about us though? Yet, its easy for these perseptions to bring us down.

So until that time when I really figure out who, or what, I am, I'll do my best to be the best mom I can be and do those little hobbies and things that bring me some joy. The world will keep moving on and people will continue to do things beyond my control and I will someday, somehow define myself.

5 Years Ago

I meant to post this Monday, but I kinda forgot until this morning when I was watching Good Morning America. On March 10th, 2003 I flew from the MTC to Munich to start my mission! I still remember it like it was yesterday...

calling my parents (& Jess!) at the airport in SLC, g

etting lost in the Chicago airport,

flying a LONG ways to London Heathrow Airport over Ireland and a very clear London Town,

almost missing our flight to Munich because Heathrow is a wierd airport where you don't wait at your gate,

meeting Pres. Wirthlin and Sister Wirthlin for the first time on March 11th and traveling by U-bahn for the first time... and getting lost with the APs in Munich!

Eatting my first dinner in Germany, in a Doner Kabab shop inside a Walmart

Wandering around said Walmart and hearing the Wirthlins argue about buying a house plant

finally getting some sleep (in the Gen. Authority room)!

waking up March 12th at 6:30am and wondering what I should do since the Wirthlins weren't up yet

memorizing a scripture while waiting for breakfast

spening the whole day at the Mission Office getting oriented

meeting my trainer, Sister Davis on March 13!

hearing that Elizabeth Smart had been found (hence why I remembered today, GMA interviewed them this morning... I remember being suprised, I had lived in Utah when she was kidnapped, Sis. Davis didn't even know who she was!)

leaving the Mission home and traveling to Wuerzburg!


I seriously can't believe its been 5 years, but its been a GREAT 5 years!

Things

Things I learned from Sariah: Eatting a banana always makes it better. Watching the Wiggles will also make it better. Eating a banana, while watching the Wiggles sing about bananas? Perfect.



Cool Thing I saw while driving: The licence plate in front of me read: ARRGHH

That's exactly how I feel while driving!


Things I thought I missed but didn't: Masterpiece Theatre the last two weeks. Last week because we were out of town and this week because I was doing something else, looked at the clock and went "doh! Its been on for 45min!" Turns out its not on again until the 23rd... phew!


Things I love about Doug: 1) His ablilty to be nice and forgive me when I do stupid things.
2) His willingness to trust me.
3) His concern for others, esp. when it comes to his callings
4) The effort he puts into important things
5) His support for all my crazy projects
6) His ablility to make me laugh
7) The way he is with Sariah
8) everything else... :)

Things I enjoy doing lately: Puzzle games on my Nintendo DS, (I admit it) Watching the Wiggles with Sariah, planning all the cool things we're going to do with Sariah's new room.

Things Sariah tries to do but can't yet: Jump. Seriously, this is the cutest thing ever. We're dancing with the Wiggles, and often times they'll jump around. You can see her brain working as she tries to figure out how they get off the ground like that. So far, she's done a lot of tippy toe standing, like if she can just get high enough, her feet will come off the ground. Its very cute!

Things Sariah can do that I wish she couldn't: Climb. She's all over and into everything! The other day, I saw her perched on the handle of her ride around car reaching over to try and touch the Gamecube. This was a very unbalanced situation! She hasn't fallen badly (yet), but she's into everything electronic.

Our Warm, Wonderful (Extended) Weekend!

Brrr... Wisconsin is cold and its been a LONG Winter! So when we found out that my Sister-in-Law, Jodi, would be going through the temple for her first time in Atlanta, GA, we packed our bags!!! Plus we'd never met my brother's wife and son, so we wanted to get aquainted. I love her to bits. She's awesome and I'm glad we were able to be there for her first session. Actually, everyone in the session knew her personally (it was a small group) and that was great.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. So, we left early Thursday morning and got into Atlanta about 1:30pm. My mom's flight came in before us, so we rented a car and drove out to Jodi's mom's house where we'd be staying. We stopped at a Waffle House on the way and had lunch. Doug had never been to Waffle House before. He thought it was great, and why not? Who can complain with all day breakfast?

Jodi's mom and step-dad live in a newer community in Newnan. The houses were ginormous and all surrounded this lake. It was a beautiful area and nice to be in over the weekend. Saturday, Doug, Sariah and I took a walk around the block and it was perfect weather: sunny, warm and a cool breeze coming off the lake.

The Atlanta Temple was awesome. I'd never been there before. It was really great to attend a session with my family. I love the special spirit of the temple and knowing that my family can be forever. Jodi and Jason were just beaming. We're looking forward to their sealing in early Aug. (They don't have to wait a year because Jodi is a convert, but they're waiting for Jodi's mom to hit her 1 year mark and receive her endowments.)

Poor Sariah. You can see she wasn't a very happy camper over the weekend. She's cutting at least 9 teeth right now, and then a change of scenery, plus scary new people (that we left her with while we went to the temple) and other factors made her an unhappy camper. She loved to be outside and walk around, but she kept falling down. She's got scraped knees and some bonks on her head. There was also a large uncarpeted staircase that she really wanted to play on, but we couldn't really let her, lest she fall down and crack her skull. So she's happy to be home.

We did see a little bit of Newnan, like the Redneck Gourmet, and the Catfish House Resturants. And we went one evening with Jodi and Jason to Jodi's first son, Glenn's, grave. We also had lots of fun playing the Wii and we learned that my brain is bigger than everybody else, but Jason can beat me up easily in boxing. It was a wonderful, WARM, weekend and now we're glad to be home!View all the photos HERE.