Need a Hand?

Mormon Helping Hands

When we are helping, we are happy!!

Prepping the painting project!

We were able to particapate in the Mormon Helping Hands.  It was great to see so many faces in our stake to help out our community school.  We cleaned, painted, planted flowers, repainted on the cement and various other tasks.  It was a great event.  The greatest feeling is to serve with a happy heart!

How did you grow up so fast?

In a blink, my baby is getting to be so big.  With every day, she is showing signs of independence that I swear she is too young for.  I love seeing her work her way through life with focus and determination.  Life is fun with my Lylabee!

Time Out! Yes, Please!!

Had an amazing time at Time Out for Women in Fresno with my friend Kim and her mom!

John Bytheway was one of my fave's growing up. 

My new Hero Kris Belcher.  She is blind and had such an amazing story to tell, 

When I grow up...

I want to be like my mom!! Couldn't be prouder! look at the intensity of their faces!!

Great News!!

Just found out Ty's dad got a job in Sacramento!! Yeahhh!! He is here for good!!

 We are so excited that Ty is going to be around.  He is such a good friend!! Can't you tell by the love shown here!!

Follow the Prophet

Last night before going to bed, Sean and I were up talking.  He asked me if my next door neighbor, Barbara told me what Julianna said the other day.  That could have been a million things considering Barbara is Julianna's new bestie.  She is about 60 years older, but the connection they share can not be beat.  The other day, Barbara had guests over.  Julianna being the independent child that she is decided to walk over to her house without her mom and dad knowing (I know, really shocking)  She decided to crash the party by bringing up some gospel chat.  Mind you, Barbara is not a member of our church, but has always been very respectful of it.  So the conversation went a little something like this...


J: Barbara, do you follow the prophet??
B: What do you mean??
J:  The Prophet.  Heavenly Father sends prophets down to earth so we can follow them and learn more about him.  Do you know Noah?
B:  Yes, I know Noah.  Tell me more about him.
J:  Noah was a prophet and he was told by Heavenly Father that he needed to build a boat.  He brought all the animals on the boat and when the flood came, he was saved with the animals. 


Needless to say, Barbara was speechless and frankly so was I! 

Bonding with the Cousins

Beatty cousins came to visit!! SO fun to reunite!

Jarom bonding with our dog. You guys need to get one of these for him!

Fast Friends and cousins for LIFE!!  

Thanks for putting us on you things to do Amy! We can't wait for a repeat!!

Traumatic Tuesday

My oh My, was this day difficult to live through.  I am not sure if it was the fact that this week is a slow work week and the pressure of being the bread winner is weighing heavily on my mind.  Or if it is my son, who every day this week has managed to get in trouble at school for one reason or the other.  Or the fact, it takes him HOURS to finish a journal entry that should only take 10 minutes at the most.  Or the fact, I actually have to bribe him with pizza to actually see some pep to his step and master it in 3 minutes.  Or, when I am getting the girls ready to go to our favorite pizza place of choice, my second child manages to take down my whole salon leaving everything to clean up including my floating shelf, with only holes in the walls to show where it once was.  Or, that my son punched a hole in his bedroom wall, to say that it was there anyway (which was not because I think I would notice a tennis ball size in his wall), or that fact when we finally get to the pizza place, while I was thus enjoying my 10th piece of pizza, that a huge group of people surrounding the claw clutching toy machine only to see MY son inside the tiny space and to try to get him out with everyone still watching!! Yeah, it is a good thing I am not an alcoholic.  Oh, and my hubby is the sickest I have ever seen him which leaves me the only one to take care of my little ones.  Yeah, good times,  This is going to be fun to talk about in my parenting class tomorrow night!  Hold on Nancy!

Music makes the world go around

Day 10 : Music you listen to when you are bored, happy, sad, mad and hyped

I recently have grown very dependent on music.  It just speaks to me.  I have always had a pretty wide range of likes since I was very young.  Recently I have really liked teeny bopper music just for the main fact is that it is fast paced and let's face it, I need a little hop to my step in my day. 

Bored:  Hmmmm, let's see.  I don't know if I ever get bored.  I kinda wish for boredom at times in my very busy life.  So, I will alter it a little and say what music I would listen to in the car is Brandon Flowers "Flamingo"  I know every word and lets face it.  Who dosen't like belting the lyrics at the top of you lungs in a car. 


Happy:  I am a total musical FREAK!! I always say I would love if my life were a musical.  So, my favorite is Wicked.  Every time I hear Defying Gravity, I always have a smile on my face just because I envision Elphaba singing her guts out.  It is such a great musical and anyone who hasn't seen it should go!  Like NOW! 

Sad:  I am a pretty sappy person, so any music that lets me drown in my drama is usually the ticket, but I think the music that comes to my mind is country.  The songs by Kenny Chesney, George Strait, or Tim McGraw are some of the most heartfelt lyrics I have heard that also make me feel better and get me out of my sad mood. 

Hyped:  Like I said earlier, I am a teeny bopper at heart, so Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson and Rhianna are my girls that help me get my workout on and clean the house.  There tunes and beats get me all excited and they are the best tunes to have a dance party with my girls.  It is so fun to run around the house, blaring the tunes and letting go of all everyday stresses. 

No judgments!!

A Bloomin Onion

Day 9-name something that you are proud of in the last couple of days.

I would like to take you back a couple of years to be able to really answer this question.  It was before I started the preschool that I had Julianna in.  I was having the hardest time knowing what I needed to do to tame this wild monkey known as my daughter.  I struggled everyday to know how to be a good parent.  I lost my cool 5 days out of the 7 and was getting no where.  My relationship was struggling with my daughter and I didn't think it looked too good for the future when she was a teenager.  Well, 2 years later and I can honestly say that my daughter and I are the best place.  I am proud of where I have been in my quest to be a better mother and a better relationship with Jules.  I feel that the classes I have taken to teach me have been the best investment.  I am now taking a new class with Sean to further his education so we can be on the same page to make us a better team.  Being a good parent will always be my goal, but right now, I can pat myself on the back knowing I am exactly where I want to be.  Living Vertically!  Onward and Upward!

Sweet encounters

Today, I was able to share a sweet moment with Julianna.  This week she has been especially wonderful about listening and not having tantrums.  I was taught in my parenting class is "catching them being good"  Well, she was on my bed and she was helping me do laundry and I just looked at her.  Like really looked at her.  She was just so sweet and so cooperative.  So, I told her that I appreciated her and all the work that she has been doing.  I went on to say that she has really grown up to be a wonderful girl.  It was like filling an empty well.  I saw her being filled to the brim and she made the huge strides into my arms and I just held my little girl.  It could have been the single sweetest moment that I have shared with her.  Those moments are what you crave as a mother!! 

Disappointment Averted!

You will not believe the call I got this morning!!  Yes,  it was a call I got from California Montessori Project saying that my child (Julianna) got selected for this next coming year!! I was dumbstruck!! After last night and the feelings of rejection I felt, to only go to complete and utter excitement was more than I could take!!  I was on cloud 9!! It was awesome!! I am still waiting on Elijah, but since Jules is in, he will be on the priority list.  I am just so happy that we are in.  I know that they are going to love this school.  It is everything I wish I had when I was in school.  It would have changed the way I view education.  The classes are smaller, the teachers are amazing and patient and I can be involved in their classes with the hours I donate every year.  Thrilled beyond words is what I am!

Disappointment

So, I enrolled my kids in a Montessori school this winter hoping for a change in the way they get educated.  I fell in love with the school at first glance and I was really hoping that my kids would be able to go there this next year.  The only thing is that it is by lottery and if your name does not show up in their hand you have to wait until someone does not want to go there and even then, you are still among many who want it just as much as you do.  This week was the week I have been waiting for since late January.  This is when the lucky find out and the unlucky get rejected.  I am afraid I am in the latter group.  I know that there is still a chance that things can change, but I think it is going to be public school next year for us which sucks!!  I am worried for Julianna this next year for kindergarten.  The teachers are not my favorite choice for her.  Elijah did fine, but they are totally different kids.  I did say that I was going to accept whatever outcome that there was, knowing the Lord knew my children just as much as I do.  He knows what they need.  I have to have faith in that and know that they will be fine that setting.  Dosen't make it easier or less disappointing. 

By the way, this is not part of the 30 day challenge.  This is part of my goal of blogging the everyday events of my life.  Good or bad.  Today was less than stellar. 

My Vices and how to overcome them

I have not been very good about this 30 day blogging challenge.  Every night I think there is something I need to do and for the life of me I can't think about what it is.  Then, I wake up two days later and I realize that I didn't blog.  So, on day 8, it is on short term goals and how I can accomplish them.  So, I think it is only fitting to set my first goal to blog everyday.  I was just peroozing someone else's blog today and she is working on the same thing, but her thing is to blog the everyday happenings of her life and write about it with a picture attached. I love that idea.  I would love to be able to do something along those lines.  So, I will make a goal to blog everyday. 
My second goal is to not spend so much time on Facebook.  It has been such a time sucker and I resent it for that.  I get updates on my phone which really makes this goal a hardship for me.  I make a goal right now to look on FB nightly.  Once a day.  I know.  I feel like it is impossible.  Does anyone have any ideas how to accomplish a hard task such as this,  I need to figure it out.  I feel like if I am not on it, then I miss out on the things I need to know. You would not believe how much of my communication goes on through FB.  It was through FB that I know people's birthdays.  It is through FB that I know when my sweet Mom in law tripped and fell on her face.  It is through FB that I get to record in a matter of seconds sweet mommy moments and get to hear other's moments that helps me so I don't feel so alone in the world.  Dang that Mark Zuckerberg!  You are part genius, part adversary!!
Third and last goal ( I think 3 is a good number so I don't get overwhelmed) is to hmmmm...I don't even remember what I was going to write.  That is so sad.  I had such a good goal, but now it has left me.  Oh yeah, run a 10 K and eat better.  I suck at the latter.  I am needing to figure out how to do it.  So, here is to goals and achieving them.  Cheers!!

Snow College in Ephraim Utah

Day 7:  Name something that has made a huge impact on your life. 
It was the fall of 1996, bags packed and completely thinking I was out of my mind.  I moved away from the life that I lived in Moraga and from a boyfriend that I thought I was going to marry.  I had no idea the impact of my decision and how it would determine the choices I made from that day forward.  Here, I met 5 amazing girls that accepted me for who I was and the baggage I came with.  Here, I gained a testimony and realized that it was way stronger than I had ever thought.  Here, I found who I was and kinda liked it.  Snow didn't just change the course of my life, it was the blueprint on how my life was going to be built. 

My Superhero!

It took me a long time to think about my next post which is; who is my superhero.  I'm a girl so superheros are not really my thing.  So, I went deeper.  I thought, "Who is my hero??  As I thought who I would look up to for counsel and direction, I instantly thought about my main man, Dieter F. Uchtdorf. 
I am a sucker for accents. If anyone has an accent, I am instantly by their side so I can just listen to them  Well, Elder Uchtdorf has the best accent.  I love to hear him speak.  He not only has an awesome voice, he is the most amazing speaker.  I think back to a talk that he gave not that long ago in a YW General Brodcast.  It was titled Happily Ever After.  It was the moment that changed me.  His words struck me in such a way that I never want to forget.  After that, my ears perk up when he comes to the podium.  Don't get me wrong, I love all the apostles and the things that they speak.  But, that special moment that was shared between me and the pages of the Ensign, my heart will always follow Dieter!