Hangin'

Just hangin' at the mall with my favorite two year old.

Cardboard car turned bed?

My kid likes to sleep in a cardboard box.

Park and Primary Activity

Ben has started taking Lucas to the park every Saturday morning for some one-on-one time.

We hosted a drive-in movie night for our Primary as a kick-off to summer. The kids made and brought their own cars out of cardboard boxes and we served popcorn, candy, and soda like you'd find at the real theater. Ben is an awesome dad and made this great BYU car for Lucas.

Dynamite Reading

A couple weeks ago, I saw this on a friend's wall on Facebook:

I was so impressed by this awesome family that I decided to visit their blog.

I started reading about their family and their adoption stories. Jeremy and Christianne had three children, then their fourth and fifth were stillborn. They decided to adopt from China and all five of their adopted children have special needs. This video was their announcement that they are adopting two more children this year!

I felt like I was reading a really good novel. Because it is reality! They don't sugar coat anything and admit that life with special needs children is extremely hard. BUT, they both have such a positive attitude and happy outlook on life. And they love their children fiercely!

They have inspired me to improve my own attitude. The experiences they share remind me that the Lord is in charge and we can do ANYTHING with His help. Ben and I have always considered the possibility of adopting someday, but the idea of special needs adoption had never crossed my mind.
Until now...

They truly are inspiring. Go check them out!

He knows me.

As first counselor in the Primary presidency, I oversee the cub scout program. Our ward is really small and struggles with getting positions staffed.We have no Cubmaster and only one den leader. So I've had to fill in the gaps. In March I planned and executed the Blue & Gold Banquet. I also get to organize the Pinewood Derby for the end of this month. And I'm trying to get the boys registered to go to Day Camp in June. It is hard. So I was once again stressing out about it on my way to church today.

When we walked into the chapel, the Bishop walked right up to me and the first words out of his mouth were, "We got you a Cubmaster. We are calling and sustaining her today."

The Lord heard my prayers and answered them when I most needed to hear it. He knows me. He knows what my worries are. And today He told me that.



Today was also our ward conference. Since Ben and I both serve in leadership positions, we were both invited to a meeting before church. And we were both singing with the ward choir in sacrament meeting. I was worried about what to do with Lucas.

A good friend that recently moved was visiting our ward today. She gladly watched him for us while we attended our meeting and while we sang.

The Lord heard my prayers and answered them when I most needed the help. He knows me. He knows what my worries are. And today he told me that.

Our mothers knew it.

My Mother's Day has been wonderful.
Ben made me breakfast in bed: french toast made with Cinnamon Chip Streusel bread from Great Harvest.
I watched Lucas come running around the corner yelling, "Mama! Mama! Mama!"
------
Oh, wait. Ben said, "Lucas come back, you forgot something!"
Lucas started getting upset.
Take two!
------
I watched Lucas come running around the corner with a giant balloon yelling "Mama! Mama! Mama!"
Ben also gave me a beautiful bouquet of roses.
And a sweet mother's day gift: a small pocket version of the Primary Children's Songbook.

Without fail, someone always references the story of the 2,000 stripling warriors in their sacrament meeting talk on Mother's Day. I've read it and heard it a bazillion times. Specifically these verses (Alma 56: 47-48):

  47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. 

 48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

These women taught their sons to have complete faith in the Lord.
But the realization I had today was that, in order to teach this principle, these women had to be faithful themselves.
Our mothers knew it.

Do I know it? Do I have complete faith in the Lord?
This personal reflection reminded me of a talk given by Sister Julie B. Beck in the October 2007 General Conference, "Mothers Who Know":

When mothers know who they are and who God is and have made covenants with Him, they will have great power and influence for good on their children.

I think I'm going to work on improving in each area that she talks about.

Thank you to all of the wonderful mothers in my life for your examples. I love you!

Happy Mother's Day.

ELMO

Lucas has a new obsession.

ELMO.

We have his friends P and J to thank for this.  ;)

I was curious to see if Lucas would like Elmo as much as his friends, so we watched this clip together.

 He thought it was fun and clapped and said, "Yaaaay!"

So we watched a few more. Then we found this clip.

He started dancing and showing me his moves.

Seriously, the kid is OBSESSED.

He is always asking to watch "Eh-mo" and for me to play his favorite clip "agee?". (I'm not kidding, 15 times before I finally had to say no.) I now have a bookmark shortcut on my browser that will take me straight to the Sesame Street Elmo page.

And in case you're wondering, Mommy really likes this one too. (Although Daddy thinks that Snuffy is just down-right creepy...)