Something Fun is a Comin'

I feel something fabulous coming from this...

Don't you? Can't wait to get busy on this. It's gonna be lots of late nights in the garage. But then again when else do I have time to do anything with 2 toddlers and a newborn? Sacrifices have to be made. But it is going to be fun!

Easter Egg Hunt

Just wanted to share some of my favorites from our Easter egg hunt. We were hoping for a nice sunny day to do it in, but you learn pretty quick that if you try and wait for the rain to stop over here you may never go out. So needless to say we braved the rain. Didn't seem to phase the kids at all. We is hearty folk! Plus the lighting made for some nice photos.

Easter Photo Shoot

Today after church we had a mini photo shoot in our dining room. I just used the back side of my living room curtains (the white liner part) for the backdrop, set up a lamp without the shade on, and my tripod. I set the 10 second timer on my camera and did a couple shots of each pose. The kids loved it and got to take turns taking pictures of each other afterwards. Here's some of my favorites...

Happy Easter!

Princess Hair

I love having girls! I love dressing them up in frills and super cuteness. But one of my most favorite things about having girls is getting to play with their hair.

We found the blog princesshairsyles.com awhile ago and it is great! If you haven't see it yet you really should. Usually after bath time at night I let Kiera go through their hairstyle gallery and choose a do. Then we turn on a short cartoon or something and I play. The styles usually last 2 days which is great too. Today though was a bit different. It had been awhile since her hair had been done and she was looking pretty shag-a-muffinish. So we did a mid-day style. Today it was mommy's pick (with her consent of course). What do you think? I love it!

Boys

Found this little guy with his head stuck in one of the holes in our collapsible play tent.

I feel like I should feel sorry for him?.. Nah.

Easter Treats

No FHE is complete without treats. After coloring our eggs that I showed you in my previous post we made some cute nest cupcakes. So easy and yet so cute.

Just take your cupcakes (I am an easy from the box kind of girl when it comes to these).

Frost them with some green tinted buttercream icing (that I do make myself)

Top them with some sweetened coconut flakes that have been tossed with some green food coloring (I just tossed them in the bag).

And finally top them with three egg shaped candies (We used Whoppers Mini Robin Eggs).

YUM!

Double YUM!

So not Cool! Oooo Dan I am sooo going to get you back!

Aren't Family Nights great?!

Easter Family Home Evening

Last night was Family Night. Not just any old Family night...Easter FHE! One of the kid's favorite traditions for Easter is the Decorating of the eggs. It is probably one of my favorites as well.

Dan and I like doing it and each year we like coming up with a silly, quirky, or extravagant egg. This year Dan's quirky egg was Jack the Pumpkin King from Nightmare Before Christmas (Not very Easter related but hey). The kids liked it so much they made one of their own as well.

Ethan's is far left, Dan's is the middle, and Kiera's is on the right.

I didn't do much of one this year but I think that was due to the fact I was expecting to hold Emma the entire time. I did get to do a few though. Here's a shot of all the finished ones.

The way we do our eggs is pretty simple. It is the way I grew up doing it as well. 

Step 1

Boil your eggs and let them cool

Step 2

Color cooled eggs with crayons. Crayola is best. Other ones seem to flake off too much.

Step 3

Boil some water and add to individual cocoa mugs (about 1 cup each). Add 1 TBSP of apple cider vinegar to each and then add 6-8 drops of desired food coloring. Once the eggs have been drawn on to your satisfaction drop the eggs (one at a time) in colors with a spoon and let them sit until they are fully colored. Once the desired color is achieved, lift them out and let dry on the original packaging. Easy Peasy. *you can reheat your water in the microwave if the coloring process is slowing down.

The kids love it and are so proud of each and every egg that comes out of the coloring solution. I love how simple it is and love not having to purchase those cheap coloring kits every year. Now we just need to figure out how to keep the kids from dropping them and cracking every other one :) So glad these are boiled!

Happy Coloring!

Picture Update

Just wanted to post a few of my recent favorite photos of Miss Emma.

 

And just another one that warms my heart. I love my husband!

My Talk on Obedience

I was chatting with a friend on FB the other day and we got to talking about our recent moves,  and our new wards in church and such and was reminded that I never posted the talk that I gave in late February. I like to have record things that I have spoken on for when I compile this blog into a book at the end of the year so if you want to read it feel free. It is mostly just my notes rather than all written out word for word.So just note it is NOT by any means spell checked or my complete thoughts written down. It is just the notes I took while writing my talk to give me something to go on while I was up front speaking. 

Talk on Obedience:

Introduction of us as a couple. . .

Nephi’s Courage (Children’s songbook)

Oft times our obedience to the commandments of God becomes the very armor that protects us from evil (see Ephesians 6:11–17; D&C 27:15)

There are a lot of different levels of obedience or reasons why we choose to obey and some of those are:

• First we are obedient because we want a blessing.
• Second maybe we fear we will lose the blessing.
• Third is simply out of duty.
• And the fourth reason to be obedient is for the love of the person that asked us to do it. In this case being Heavenly Father

• First we are obedient because we want a blessing.

I think the easiest one for me to understand is when we are obedient we receive a blessing. In the Book of Mormon, Lehi was teaching his sons and he said:
…And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever. (2 Nephi 1:9)
So when we are obedient to the laws of God and keep His commandments, God has a blessing promised to us in return for each act of obedience. And it may be that we say our prayers daily, or partake of the sacrament, attend church, obey the word of wisdom. These commandments help us to keep the Spirit of the Lord with us and those of the things that come from it.

This same advice has been given to us by modern day prophets.

“By following the rules,” said President Packer, “you will never make a serious mistake … either while you are on your mission or thereafter without being warned. You will never take the wrong road, you will never go around the wrong bend, or make the wrong decision without your having been warned. That pattern is the pattern of the Latter-day Saint. You were confirmed a member of the Church, and you had conferred upon you the gift of the Holy Ghost to be a guide and a companion to you.” 

So when we are obedient to the laws of God and keep His commandments, God has a blessing promised to us in return for each act of obedience. And it may be that we say our prayers daily, or partake of the sacrament, attend church, obey the word of wisdom. These commandments help us to keep the Spirit of the Lord with us and those of the things that come from it.

 

• Second maybe we fear we will lose the blessing.

Think about our traffic laws. Do you obey the traffic laws because I love WA or is it because you don’t want to part with your $?

What about the things Heavenly Father asks us to do. Do you obey him because you love him or do you obey because you don’t want to schedule a visit with the bishop?

Think of a rear view mirror. If you’re driving along and you run a red light you automatically look in the rear view mirror to see if the police are following. But if you are choosing the right you don’t have to worry about it. You can keep on driving along and enjoy the music. I don’t want to spend my life having to look back in the rear view mirror.

I like the quote that someone has said I don’t know who but it said, “It is better to obey commandments because we fear punishment than to not obey them at all. But we will be much happier if we obey God because we love Him and want to obey Him.” (“Obedience”, Gospel Principles, Chapter 35)

 

• Third is simply out of duty.

Jury duty, a church calling, PTO position. Do you fulfill those responsibilities because you love to do it or is it because you feel responsible while others are counting on you.

• And the fourth reason to be obedient is for the love of the person that asked us to do it. In this case being Heavenly Father

I can see this concept with my children. When I ask them to do something I want them to obey. When they don’t do what I ask or put it off until they are good and ready to listen I get frustrated and impatient with them. But when they do what I ask I am so much happier and I am willing to give them more opportunities for fun things. So what does Heavenly Father think of me when he asks me to do something?

Any kind of board game Monopoly rules for the game. It is always fun to go past GO and $200. But there are things in the game that are not so fun such as paying property taxes, income tax, getting sent to jail and so on but there are rules and part of the game. You can try to cheat in a board game and get away with it but there is no cheating in the game of real life.

“From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever”-Chief Joseph

I’d like to change that to, “From where the sun now stands I will sin no more forever.”

There comes a time in your life that you decide enough is enough and you either do what’s right or you don’t. I like to ask myself. Do I play church or do I really live the Gospel? So do I live the Gospel, obey and choose the right or you am I just playing church?

Dan's Lil masterpiece

Tonight our ward and another ward in our stake are battling it out at in an adult pinewood derby competition. Dan has been out in the garage all day working on his baby. The original plan was to have the kids help him paint it but needless to say that didn't happen. Maybe they can make their own cars with him later. Here are some quick shots I took of it before the races tonight.

Wish us luck. I'd like to just say that the stuff/junk hanging out the back was my idea :)

Emma's Hospital Stay

Ok I am going to give you all an update of what has been going on with Emma. Starting on Saturday the 2nd I took Emma into our walk-in clinic because she was coughing profusely and seemed to have difficulty breathing comfortably. They took a look at her and sent me to the ER since she was have retraction in her lungs and was working much harder than an infant her age should.

At the ER they hooked a little monitor up to her foot that measured the oxygen levels in her blood. They weren't at their best either. It had an infared light on it and when she was all wrapped up it glowed red through the blanket. It sort of reminded me of a little glow worm toy I had growing up.

They also listened to her lungs and did test for pneumonia, RSV (which it ended up being), Plutusis, and something else I don't remember. They also tried a breathing treatment with albuterol to see if they could get her airways to open up a bit more. Oh, and they also took x-rays of her chest. It was not a fun stay. Poor Emma was so worn out from not only trying to breath but had the other stuff on top of it. I was so worn out too. Not to mention this was my birthday...What a way to celebrate right?

I thought a energetic child could make you tired but MAN! having a sick baby is even worse! We were admitted to a room upstairs in the critical care unit so they could keep a closer eye on her and we could have a private room. There they continued the breathing treatments every 6 hours or so and did lots of suction to keep the excess mucus from getting in her lungs and causing more problems such as pnemonia.

The nurses and staff were so nice and made me as comfortable as a sleep deprived and worried mother could be. The hospital even provided me with complimentary meals 3 times a day. I even got a chocolate brownie the night of my birthday! Occationally the nurses would come in and chat with me about everyday things rather than what was going on with Emma. It really helped to get my mind off of things.

Dan would also come in the evenings to give me a breather and a chance to get out of that room and go home for an hour before I had to be back to feed Emma. It was nice but I still couldn't get myself to fall asleep during those breaks. I think my entire stay over the 3 days there I had a total of 4 hours of sleep.

The chest x-ray results came back the first morning and the radiologist saw a patch on Emma's left lung and so they kept us another night. Then the next morning we were told to stay yet another night because the previous evening Emma had an episode where she kept having coughing spouts with lots of gagging and her oxygen levels kept going below 85%.

So all that day and night I just prayed her Oxygen levels would stay at the 98-100% like they wanted and that there would be no more hiccups. And I can just say that I know Emma's guardian angels were there with us. She had no more episodes. Her levels stayed high, she didn't require any more breathing treatments, and her feeding times increased and she was back on the breast whereas before I had to pump and bottle-feed her to make breathing easier. But the best comfort for me was that Emma smiled.

Our entire stay she would not only smile at me but every once in awhile I'd see her starring off in the distance at something and a huge smile would come across her face.  I just know someone was there watching over her.

That following morning the doctor came in to check her over and gave us the green light to go home. She sent us with the rest of the antibiotics that she had taken to prevent any bacterial infections that might come up, and the instructions to continue the albuterol treatments as needed rather than the every 6 hours. It was so nice to go home!

So here we are a few days later. Emma has been back to our pediatrician just to check up on her progress and she is improving all the time. She still isn't out of the woods yet. The doctor could still here some rumbling in her lower lungs while we were there. Which she said she had expected to. And we still have coughing fits and raspy moments here and there, but for the most part she is doing much better.

We had been planning on traveling this next week (Emma and I) to go to Boise and Rexburg, ID for my little brother's wedding/reception. I was sooo looking forward to seeing family and spending time with my little sister, Dan's cousin, and everyone, but I HAVE to do what is best for my baby. I'd do anything for her and she solely relys on me to do what's best for her. So we are staying home and will continue to help her get better. I am so grateful for all the prayers in her behalf and for all the help my mother-in-law has been by coming up here yet again to help out. I seriously don't think I could have done it without her help. Thank you so much Shellie!

Grateful

I cannot imagine what my life would be like without my children. I am so grateful Heavenly Father has trusted me with these sweet little spirits.

They change so fast! Its all I can do to savor each moment and feel grateful for each and every little breath (more on that later...)

I have a picture frame hanging above my computer that says, "Life is not a matter of counting the years, it is a matter of making the years count." Today I am reminded of how precious each moment really is and how I need to better myself in making the most of the ones I am given.

Pardon the Absence

Pardon the absence. We've had a long, stressful couple of days spent in the hospital with little Miss Emma. All is well now and I will fill you in on the details soon. I just got to get some SLEEP!