Monday, January 19, 2009

Families

Ben and I went to a Temple sealing on Friday. It was a great experience. It helped remind me of my own sealing, especially since it was at the Manti Temple where we got married. While we were waiting for the ceremony a temple worker came by with a sister who was getting a kind of tour of the temple. He asked if we wanted to go hear about the spiral staircases while we were waiting. We joined the pair and while we were talking, the sister made the comment that as memebers of the church we have three families: Our immediate family, our extended family, and our ward family. I would just like to take a moment and express my gratitude for each of my families.

My Immediate family: I have the most wonderful husband. Ben is the BEST husband for ME. He never cares if the housework gets done. He doesn't mind if dinner isn't always on the table. He is always expressing his love for me. He is always willing to help out with housework or taking the kids off my hands for a while. My little rugrats are also a blessing to me. Audrey has been SUCH a big helper lately. She is getting to be so big. I told her she had to stop growing one day. She told me she couldn't. When I asked her why not she replied: "Because Heavenly Father said I have to grow!" Marissa is slowly leaving the tantrums and whining behind. It is so nice to have an occasional bad DAY or bad MOMENT instead of feeling like we had the rare GOOD day or moment. Trent is just full of personality. I love his little smiles, and his laughs. He is SO mischevious and climbs on EVERYTHING. I love that he's such a happy and easy going little guy.

My Extended Family: I have the BEST mom. My mom is always there for me and she always knows how to make me feel better. I love my mom so much and I'm so grateful that HEavenly Father gave me her. I'm very thankful for a sister who got me through a rough time yesterday and then called me this morning to check up on me and just talk for a few minutes. I am grateful for my friends the Vincents, Hesses, and Crandalls who are more like my family than friends. They each are so wonderful and help me out in so many ways!!

My Ward Family: Ben and I have been truly blessed to live in so many wonderful wards. Our current ward is so friendly and loving. It is so nice to be in a ward where most of the ward are families in our same position of life. We understand each other and make good friendships because of this. It gives the kids so many friends to play with that share the same values. I love our ward.

I am so grateful for my three families. I love them all in different ways.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

A Glimpse of the Divine

Motherhood is a hard job, at least for me. The thought of raising kids to be honest, spiritual, compassionate, responsible, self-disciplined adults is very overwhelming. Motherhood is full of frustrations, whining, crying, fussing, laughter, smiles, fears, and many other emotions. However, once in a while, when you least expect it you can catch a glimpse of what the Lord means by calling motherhood a "divine" calling. As I held my baby boy, who is closer to a full on toddler than a baby now, at 3am last night I caught one of those glimpses of the divineness of motherhood. When my little boy, who rarely sits still, just wanted me to hold and snuggle him I felt such a surge of love for my calling as a mother. I was not excited to be up at 3am with a child that RARELY wakes during the night, but has done so multiple times in the last few nights. I picked him up and took him to the front room to just hold him. He fell asleep in my arms and I felt so special. I put him back to bed and when I climbed into bed, my little Rissa snuggled over to me in her sleep. Suddenly it didn't matter that Marissa had been in our bed since 10:30. It didn't matter that she ends up in our bed every night. As my beautiful little girl snuggled up I was happy for this moment in her childhood where she loves her mommy so much. Suddenly I felt so proud to be the mother of a baby boy who climbs on everything and makes a break for the bathroom at every opportunity. I was in awe of the little girl who loves her mommy and craves her company so much that she drives me up the wall day in and day out. And for just a moment, I thought of my 5 year old sleeping peacefully in her own bed. I wished, for just a brief moment, that my little girl, who is so happy and sure of her world, needed her mommy a little bit more.
Happy Birthday Trent!!!!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Flour Boy

Trent, a very active toddler that is into EVERYTHING + Flour in a cookie jar because the old jar broke = THIS

Sunday, January 4, 2009

New Year's Resolutions

Taking a page from my friends book, she said that the more people who know about your resolutions, the more likely you are to keep them. So here, for all the world to see, is our family's resolutions for 2009.
1. Ben and Shelly will attend the Temple AT LEAST Quarterly.
2. The front room will be picked up every night before bed so that at least ONE room in the house is clean in the morning.
3. Audrey will learn to stop sucking her thumb during the day.
4. Marissa will learn how to fall asleep easily in her own bed and learn how to STAY in her own bed all night long (at least MOST of the time).
5. Trent will get his own room and move out of the girls' room. This will require a MASSIVE rearranging of the house, but needs to be done.

Now, it is the job of all that read this to REMIND me of my goals and make sure they get accomplished!! Don't you wish you hadn't read this post now?