TANGLED UP

Little B still loves to wear the hair from her Rapunzel party. 
This is how I found her eating breakfast this morning, all tangled up. 
It was just the smile I needed to start the day. 



{{tender}}

I LOVE how sweet and gentle B is with all of her little babies. Even more so now that we are expecting. She is going to be the cutest big sister. She always walks around patting her babies on the back and singing pretty little songs to them. Lately I have found her babies sweetly tucked in to bed all over the house.

It's just so sweet and makes me smile every time I find it.

FHE

A couple of weeks ago my friend Staci gave an incredible talk at a Stake Baptism on the Holy Ghost. It really was amazing. I knew right away I wanted to turn it into an FHE lesson.
She first talked about warning signs and how the Holy Ghost is a warning for us and we need to learn to listen to and follow the spirit.
She used a traffic light at an example and talked about what each of the colors mean, followed by an example of how the spirit works the same way.
Ry and I decided to do the same thing, using our own experiences.


First we talked about RED-how that means to stop. That sometime the spirit will tell us to stop doing what ever we are doing. Weather it be listening to a certain song, watching some show Or in the middle of some act. Ry shared an experience from his mission where he and his companion had made a goal to track every single street in their area. Things were going great. When they were about to go do a certain street and Ry knew he was NOT to go down that street. He told his companion and they skipped that street. He explained that he never found out why he was not to go down there, but he just knew he wasn't suppose to.
Next was Yellow. We were going to tell about a time we were driving in a blizzard to get to Utah for Thanksgiving. and how we felt to just slooooow down and take our time. but Ry likes the story Staci shared better and thought the kids would too. We told them how when she was 10 she was running late for school and in a hurry to head out the door. All she had left to do what put her shoes on. She sat down to do so and felt that she should wait and slow down. She thought to herself I can't wait, I'm already running behind, but she listened to the spirit and she took her shoe and shook it real hard and a scorpian came crawling out. Had she not used caution she would have got stung and been in a lot of pain.
Last was Green. We shared the story of how each of us knew that we were supposed to marry each other and how the go ahead a marry each other kind of feeling was a happy peaceful feeling. The kids really got into it and liked hearing about how we knew without a doubt that we were meant to be together.

Next we played a couple rounds of red light green light.

interestingly enough the stick that we used for the game was from preschool last year from Staci.

Some of the rounds got a little intense.

We all had a lot of fun!

our refreshments were little stop light m&m cupcakes.

I'm so grateful for the great example Staci has been to me and my family. B adores hers as her preschool teacher and I admire her in every way. I think was definately one of my favorite FHE's.

Cub Scout Day Camp

It's kind of weird to think this will be our last Cub scout day camp for our family. The theme this year was AWESOME!!!! Mission Possible. They did different spy like training stations and Jman had a BLAST.

Ry went to help one day and got a few pictures. Not as many as I would have, but that's ok. At least I have something. :)

J had a blast and came home so excited both days. I'm very grateful to our Stake Leaders who clearly went all out this year and made it amazing for the boys.

Easter Craving

I guess it's not just an Easter craving. I have been craving potatoes like nobodies business this entire pregnancy. I can't get enough of them. It doesn't matter how they are cooked, I love them and want them all the time. Well....When we were at my sister Christy's house for spring break she made these to die for twice baked potatos. I decided they would be the perfect addition to our Easter meal. They were SOOOOO good, yet still not quite the same as hers, but we all loved them and gobbled them up. We also had ham, salad and mock magelby rolls. Ry had to leave for work right after our Easter lunch, but we were happy to have him while we did.

Easter

I can't believe it's already been almost two weeks since Easter and I still haven't blogged about it.

We woke up Saturday the day before Easter and colored our eggs.

My niece Brittley gave us a fun challenge on her blog to use a white crayon and color a fun shape on the egg before you dip it. The kids had a lot of fun with it.

For lunch we had fun Spring shaped watermellon chicks and bunnies.

Along with Easter Bunny shaped hot pockets. The kids loved these!

After lunch we had an Easter Egg hunt in the back yard.

The boys were so cute about pointing out the pink eggs to B.

When it was time for bed I had the kids get in their jammies. Then I turned off all of the lights grabbed a flash light and told them to follow me to the back yard.

Once we were out side they got to go on a glow in the dark egg hunt. I rolled up a plastic glow stick into fourths and stuffed it inside an egg with a treat. It was pretty cool.

When they came inside their was a basket with a book that we had J read to us for our bedtime story, while they ate their bedtime treat from the egg hunt. Then off to bed they went.

Sunday they found their baskets.

They all got some candy and marking pencils for their scriptures, a notebook/journal for them to use at church and other little church type prizes and a toy.

Everybody seemed Happy. After baskets I got out the empty tomb paper model thing I got out of the Friend last year and we told the true story of Easter.

Here they are after church. It was a great Easter weekend.

Tender Mercy

I don't know how they do it, but each one of my sisters is able to, despite the miles always be here for me. Whether its an email, text, phone call etc...they always show up when I need them most. I was having a pretty cruddy day. Heart broken and on the verge of tears after being made known how full of myself I am. ha. I was guilty of letting "the Stinky One" (as my mom calls him) Satan-allow me believe that I was not a good mom, sister, friend or wife. I am the first to admit I AM NOT PERFECT. Nor do I claim to be so. I do try my best, but I am very VERY much aware of my short comings as a mom. Anyway...I was really struggling and felt so sad inside. I had to run an errand quick before Miss B was done at preschool so I decided not to stop by the UPS store and pick up the mail. Then I just had this feeling to go for it anyway. I flipped a U-turn (shhhh.....don't tell Ry) :) and went and got the mail. I was excited to find a totally unexpected package from my sister Carrie. I decided to rip it open instead of waiting til I got home. OH MY WORD!!!! There is no doubt in my mind, that she was inspired to send me the package the day that she did. It was full of yummy treats and an adorable charm that says Due in August :) SOOOOO cute and made my day. But the part that touched me most was the card. The very first line said "Debbie-I Hope you know how amazing you are!" The tears fell and they fell hard. The rest of the card was very sweet and talked about all of the areas in my life that I felt I was failing so miserably in. Although I called and told her how much it made my day, I don't think she realizes just how much I needed it and at the exact time it showed up. I cherish her kind much needed words. I look up to and admire Carrie so much so it means the world to me to hear her say those things. Thanks again Carrie! I sure do LOVE you!!!!

Special Lessons

As always I LOVED General Conference. I thought it was so very thoughtful of each of the speakers to write there talks just for me. :) I can not tell you how grateful I am for the strength I have felt from listining to each talk and re-listening to them on the internet. I can not wait for my conference issue to get here. Those are my favorite.

As I sat here alone tonight feeling sad, overwhelmed and worried I knew exactly which talk I wanted to re-listen to. It was Elder Rasband and his talk called Special Lessons about sweet Baby Paxton. It still made me very emotional, but gave me great strength too.

He talked about the life-changing journey that began when Paxton was born. He said “A perfect body is not required to achieve a divine destiny. In fact, some of the sweetest spirits are housed in frail frames. …
Trusting in God’s will is central to our mortality. With faith in Him, we draw upon the power of Christ's Atonement at those times when questions abound and answers are few.

He said as he and his family are caring for and serving Baby Paxton the are learning patience, faith, and gratitude through the balm of service, endless hours of intense emotions, tears of empathy, and the prayers and expressions of love for dear ones in need, especially Paxton and his parents.

James E. Faust, said: “I have a great appreciation for those loving parents who stoically bear and overcome their anguish and heartbreak for a child who was born with or who has developed a serious mental or physical infirmity. This anguish often continues every day, without relief, during the lifetime of the parent or the child. Not infrequently, parents are required to give superhuman nurturing care that never ceases, day or night. Many a mother’s arms and heart have ached years on end, giving comfort and relieving the suffering of her special child.”

I can't help but feel what a huge call, but great honor it is for those who are given such sweet spirits to take care of.

I like how he then talked about serving others and jumping right in. He said If you come upon a person who is drowning, would you ask if they need help—or would it be better to just jump in and save them from the deepening waters? The offer, while well meaning and often given, “Let me know if I can help” is really no help at all. I LOVE that. It is so much easier to jump in and do for others, too many times we are told they don't need anything, but I am going to try to be better at just doing and not asking.

We continue to learn the important value of being aware of and interested in the lives of those around us, learning not only the importance of giving help but also the overwhelming joy that comes from helping others.
Though we will face trials, adversities, disabilities, heartaches, and all manner of afflictions, our caring, loving Savior will always be there for us. He has promised:

“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

I am grateful for the words of our Prophets and Apostles and for the comfort they bring even on the tuffest of days.

I absolutely LOVED this talk. I hope that if I am called to care for a special needs child I will jump right in and serve and love with a happy heart.

pure act of love

So Miss B brought these pink little nobs out and said she was working on a surprize for me. Hmmm...I got to thinking the only pink nobs like that we have are hanging on the wall in her room.

I went in her room and sure enough she had somehow climbed up and taken two of the nobs and letters off of her name decore in her room.

I asked her why she took them down and she said because I am letting you have my favorite pink ones for your craft door. Ahhhh....I have this craft armoire that has been missing the nobs for years now. She thought it would be a good idea to make it right. I told her that was very sweet, but she could keep them.

An few minutes later she came and got me and showed me my fancy new armoire

Here she is testing it out for me.

And it works. What a cutie. I just love this little girl. She makes me smile EVERY.SINGLE. DAY!!!

Party of Three

It was Ky-guys turn to join us on date night. I LOVE watching the kids be gentlemen and open all my doors for me. Ky-guy made a deal with Ry that he would open my door to get out and Ry could open the door for me to get into the car, so he could be in on the fun too. It was pretty cute. Ky picked Cracker Barrel for dinner and then we went to the store and picked out a few last minute Easter items. It was fun to have him in on it. Then we headed over to the Planitarium at the college and watched their newest movie. It was pretty neat. Ky really enjoyed it and asked a lot of good questions. We ended the night at Nielsons for icecream, (french fries for me) :) I went with a couple of girls a week or so ago and have been craving their fries ever since. Mmmm....We discovered that their is a Spanish cd stuck in the new cars cd player. The music made us laugh and Ry translated it for us. It was a kind of morbid song about how loving you hurts and I want to die if you don't love me back or something. It was just funny to hear Ry translated it we all got the giggles pretty good. What a fun night. LOVE my cute boys!!!

Lean Not Unto Thine Own Understanding

This scripture has always had a big impact on me. Through out my life their have been many things that haven't been clear to me. I haven't always known the answers to things. I know that when I pray, my prayers will be heard. I think it's interesting how sometime the answer comes immediately, sometimes it's not until I've done a ton of pondering and studying of the scriptures. Sometimes it has taken years to get an answer. I think even sometime I have gotten an answer and not even realized it until I take a step back and see how things turned out.

One of the greatest tools we have as parents is Personal Revelation. I love that if we stay focused and in tune we will be able to hear the things we are supposed to do for our precious little crew. I had an undeniable feeling a few weeks ago pretty much out of the blue that I was supposed to put my kids back into their old school from 3 years ago. "WHAT???? Really??? Why???? Okay?!?!" was my immediate reply. I talked with Ry and we did so. I tried to rationalize it and "lean unto my own understanding" I wondered if the bullying Ky-guy had endured was in fact worse than I thought. We talked to him and found out there was definately more going on than he ever led us to believe, but at the same time he is very mature for his age and while I'm sure it bothers him, he lets it roll off his back and does all he can to avoid those people. I get and understand kids can be kids, but to me there is a level that kids should never cross. Kids should be taught what is wrong and right, what is naughty what is nice. When we try and cutesy it up and make excuses for our kids we are only hurting them. I understand why parents of bullies would be in denial though. WE NEED TO TEACH our CHILDREN everyday to use nice words, be nice, love one another, help one another, reach out, be a friend, smile, and be kind. My sister Kathy said it best, "Sometimes you just want to squish those little bullies." haha so true. Although I wish Ky-guy didn't have to go thru it, I see that he came out stronger for it. We found a quote that we shared with Ky on forgiveness by Thomas S. Monson "we first endure, then pity, then embrace/forgive" Love that! Anyway....I'm getting off topic.

We went ahead and signed all the paper work and got things switched. It was fun to go with the kids on the first day. When we walked in the classroom all the kids were excited and remembered both boys names. The first week came and went. The kids were really happy and things were good. I felt glad we made the switch. It wasn't until the 2nd week that the light came on so to speak. Ky-guy came home with his cute little friend he has known since kindergarten. It seemed like everytime Ky-guy talked to her before we went to the other school, they ended up in some sort of gospel conversation. Now that he is back things have picked up where they left off and I feel like he is their to finished nourishing the seed he planted years ago. She said her and her dad always wished they knew where we lived. We are working with them. Invited them to the Easter Pageant and are hoping that they will embrace the Gospel.

I am soooo grateful we lisened and followed with what we felt was right for our kids. We knew we would be a new school next year (that is if our closing on the house ever gets finalized) so my mind was trying to justify that we don't need to switch schools right now, we could finish the last two months even if we move, we'd drive them in, but the feelings was there and it was real. I love when you look back and see a reason why!

Easter Pageant

By far our FAVORITE Easter Tradition is going to the Easter Pageant at the temple.
We bought a bucket of chicken with all the fixens and went early to get a good spot on the grass hill.
It was a lot of fun. I loved snuggling on the grass with Ryan and the littles, while feeling the Spirit as we reflect on the life, death, teachings and resurrection of our Savior. It was a wonderful night.

Right before it started they brought the animals by where we were sitting.
The kids got to pet the sheep and thought that was awesome.

***on a side note....I am happy to report to my sisters Lauralee and Carrie that I made hope without any accidents. ;) hahahahaha!!!! -good times!

Easter lunch

In order to help prepare the kids for kindergarten little Miss B's preschool teacher has had them start bringing a packed lunch. B thinks it is the coolest thing ever. The theme this week was Easter so I thought I'd send her with an Easter lunch.

I took an egg carton and cut it in half. Then we got creative and filled some little eggs with bite size food. All of my kids LOVE plain pepperoni which is funny to me, but I thought these little mini pepperoni's were cute. Thenwe did cheese squares, gold fish crackers, fruit and cookies.

The older two saw it and that it was awesome. They asked if they could take one in their lunch too. I was going to make them one, but wasn't sure if they felt like they were too old for that. They didn't and to be honest I am so glad. I love that they humor me and my silly little quirks. They both said that everybody at school that it was the coolest lunch ever. :) I put in a little egg shaped paper plate for the boys so they could dump everything out onto the plate. Along with an Easter napkin.

When I went to pick up little Miss she had turned into the cutest little bunny and looked A.DOR.ABLE. It was the perfect start to our Easter weekend. They kids are out of school tomorrow and I just want to relax and have fun.

HAPPY EASTER everyone!!!

Making room for baby

Before Ry and I were ever married he made it clear that he never wants to own a mini van. Haha... I just smiled and said we'll see. :) I mean who doesn't love the thought of having a "mini van" full of precious little cargo" :) Although I do prefer an suv type car too. Well, as we started having kids I saw that he was dead serious. He is a no van kind of man. We've been talking about needing a bigger car and now that we have a baby on the way, now was the time. So yesterday we bought ourselves a new vehicile and I am happy to report on behalf of Ry that it is NOT a van.

We bought a Dodge Durango and we ALL just love it. We were running errands and Little Miss B pipes up and says, "MOM....We can have two babies now cuz we have TWO empty seats. :)

We haven't had a car payment in over 9 years and I feel very blessed that we were able to sale our piece of junk :) Saturn and with a nice tax return get into this car so quickly. We are very blessed!

B-day cake

Since Ry had to work on J-man's b-day we had a mini b-day party for FHE so he didn't miss the cake and icecream. J-man LOVES Lego Ninjago so that was the theme for the night.

Here is an individual size cake for the birthday boy. I made cupcakes to match for the rest of us. He loved it and was one happy kid.

We ended by playing fruit Ninja on the wii. It was hillarious to watch. Happy Birthday cute boy!.