Aiming High

I have thought about what I wanted to give to Cody at his baptism for a long time.

Two years ago I read a talk by President Henry B. Eyring called

Help Them Aim High

It is one of my all time favorite talks. Read it sometime.

He speaks with his incredible insight about helping your children find and strengthen their gifts.

He carves a wood height board for each of his sons with a scripture carved on it.

Here is one of his quotes to give you a taste of what the talk is:

"...you will bless them to help them recognize the spiritual gifts with which they were born. Every person is different and has a different contribution to make. No one is destined to fail. As you seek revelation to see gifts God sees in those you lead...—particularly the young—you will be blessed to lift their sights to the service they can perform. With your guidance, those you lead will be able to see, want, and believe they can achieve their full potential for service in God’s kingdom."

Encouraging my kids to become the best version of themselves is one of the most important things to me. 

I thought about something small and special I could make and decided to make a quilt for him. Until...I started making a quilt.

One of my talents/gifts is not making quilts or mostly anything having to do with making things look beautiful. When I realized my amazing idea would not work (like 20 hours into it) (but I still think it's a great idea, so I think you should do it!) I felt so sad.

One of the things I love about President Eyring's talk is that he emphasizes that we each have unique gifts, and so, we can influence our corner of the world unlike anyone else in the world.

"...help young people glimpse the grandeur God sees in them and their futures and the unique service He has prepared them to give."

My unique gift may not include quilting, however, last night as we finished Moroni chapter 10 I decided my gift to Cody was the gift of reading the Book of Mormon.

WE FINISHED!!!!!

I hope with this goal accomplished Cody you will realize that it's possible to do many, many more times.

I hope you grow to love this book and realize that it will CHANGE your life.

I hope the habit to read every night will stay with you for the rest of your life.

I hope you learn to study and ask many questions and look for answers.

I also want you to know that I know this book is the truth and it does bring peace and joy and knowledge of Jesus Christ and his mission on earth.

I'm not sure how much a three year old or six year old can glean out of what we read, but a habit was formed.

There were several nights throughout this year that I just wanted some peace and quiet at night and rushed to put the kids to bed. Mackayla, my three year old, would let me know every time, very concerned, that we needed to read the Book of Mormon.

This picture is of our well worn copy of our book that we read out of.

We're so proud of you for CHOOSING to be baptized today Cody. We love you!

simple

I found these two random quotes sitting in drafts waiting to be elaborated on
But I think they speak for themselves:

The power of simplifying

I’m ravenous, and life looks to me so sparkly and beautiful, waiting to be devoured like a perfect apple. So I say yes, yes to everything, to that meal and that event and that trip and that person. It’s so delicious, and I don’t want to miss out on even one moment of it. And that’s the point: I miss all sorts of sacred and significant moments, because of my frantic insistence that I can do it all.  – Shauna Niequist, Bittersweet

Admiration's Disguise

"Competition or jealousy is often just a feeling of strong admiration in disguise."

Cody, Macey, Mackayla and a Sunset

Cody started up baseball and they had their "opening day" on Saturday. It's was a crowded place, it seems like Every boy plays baseball in Ladera, and they take their baseball pret-ty seriously here.

They have baseball practice Saturdays, but Sunday is batting practice so we will have to miss that.

Even from a non-lds perspective, it seems sad that there is literally NO day that anyone can rest any more. Doesn't everyone need a break from crazy life at least one day a week? More isn't always more.

Cody also started scouting. It's literally a whole new world I have never delved into with signs and salutes and uniforms and vocabulary. phew.

For one of their first den meetings or pack meetings or wolf attacks, whichever one it is, they did "picture taking." I love that idea. Enjoy Cody's handy work:

Macey was sick last week. Sick enough to stay home one day, but not sick enough not to be incredibly demanding and not sleep. I thought fevers wiped you out?!

(This is her and her cd collection :))

That evening her fever broke and she claimed she was completely better.

Now, you are welcome to judge me with all the righteous wrath that a good protective parent has, but I let her go to school the next day. gulp. After I heard that everyone else in the class had had this sickness I figured there was no one left to expose and it was "100 days of school" day. And Macey loves school more than anything on earth, even though it's mostly taught her...no new things.

Getting ready was a humorous humbling experience.

She told me she had an old person look (on the left):

  As we chatted about what old people wore I asked what shoes they wear. She gasped and said, "Oh I know the perfect shoes. They are in your closet." As a parent you have to not be surprised or indignant about these things so I enthusiastically went to see which shoes I would be giving to goodwill.

Incidentally, the only time Macey actually napped this week was in the bathtub. 

I gently woke her and she just smiled a huge grin at me, not sure what just happened, but pretty relaxed.

 These girls are pretty cute together when they want to be.

This is her face one day after I told her that I was once a baby: 

She was PURE mad and told me not to say that.

Macey bed mess:

 Mackayla bed mess:

 Cody, the mad scientist:

 One morning I went on an early morning run in some back(ish) hills. We saw several deer! (I swear they are probably in this picture.) 

 It was so fun to see the sun come up over the city and then watch it set again that night at the park.

Every place has its beauty and it's fun to take it in and sometimes catch it on camera. One of these days I want to take a class and actually learn how to work with lighting.

 We have family coming in two days!! Yippee!!

It might rain on them. Ack!

Cody's getting baptized this Saturday!!

We have SIX more chapters in the Book of Mormon!!!!

Join Us!

We can't wait for some of our family to come!


I talked this guy into pictures at the Montage by promising it would only take a few minutes and then he could change and we could hang out.

I think Montage is one of the prettiest and classiest beaches.



We can't wait for his big day and we're so proud of him.

My sister made the invitation for me using this template, since I'm techno-impaired. Aren't sisters great? Thanks Nette.

Wuv True Wuv

Ben and I celebrated valentine's early so we wouldn't have to wade through the crowds today.

We went to Tannin's in San Juan Capistrano. 

It's a wine bar, so the essence was lost on us, but the food was

AMAZING!!

 Love him.

 

This weekend has been like summer so we went to the beach on Friday with a bunch of families from our ward.

 Each of the kids had a buddy and life was good:)

 Today we had special pancakes made with a pancake pen and strawberries for breakfast. 

 and ribs from Costco for dinner after a swim at the pool and baseball for Cody.

Macey made us valentine's.

Then this evening we watched THE PRINCESS BRIDE.

 Cody probably would have loved the fighting and fire swamp, but unfortunately for him he has little sisters, so we fast forwarded them!

Other than that, it was a hit with the kids.

Happy Valentine's Day!

From Day One - Life Lessons

My first baby turned eight yesterday!
Most of the lessons I have learned about parenting so far I actually learned the first moments of parenthood.

I was in the hospital for three days, and I kept waiting for someone in the hospital to come in to teach me about how to be a mom. No one came and as the moment to go home from the hospital approached I started to panic! They even gave us a video to watch before we left and I thought it would have helpful training tips, but it was just some random informational thing maybe about carseats or something. 

I had random (no history) preeclampsia with my first pregnancy. It left me so weak I couldn't really walk for the first week after I left.

Ben changed the first diapers and took care of Cody in addition to cleaning up the alpacas and house we were house sitting, finishing his finals, and preparing to go to an interview in Washington two days later (where we ended up going!). This was all supposed to happen before Cody was born but my water broke early (at the law firm where I worked in their new office! ha!). 

The medicine they were giving me intravenously made my vision blurred but I remember as my vision started to return two days later I watched Ben sit down in a chair by the hospital bed. I have never seen such a look of sheer exhaustion in my life. It snapped me back into {slow} action. I sat up, told him to go lay down and rest, and started taking care of Cody.

Lesson #1

Once you have kids, if you are resting, someone else is exhausted.

Lesson #2

Take care of yourself so you can take care of others.
(Those two don't really work together. Ah, the irony of motherhood.)

Lesson #3
and most importantly-

"It's not about me."

This little phrase has helped me in big decisions
like whether or not to work
(that works for my situation and I feel blessed to be able to stay home. personally.)
and small decisions
like whether or not I lay in a hospital bed or get up and start being a mom.

School Pictures

I never posted these and I love them :)