Jay and the Boys

Jay and the boys are wrestling on the bed and I was just thinking how lucky I am. I love to see them play. Both of the boys love to attack daddy and climb all over him. Ethan is laughing his head off while Jay attacks him and then when he turns to Jayden Ethan says "Gain". Again is his favorite word. At night we sing songs at bed time and he always says "gain" over and over between verses and songs. He is really funny about it because we sing the last verse of Old McDonald differently than the rest so he knows its the end. He immediately goes from jumping on his matress and squealing in delighted laughter, to disappointed crying. They are so much fun! I had a hard day yesterday and was really tired by bed time. I made Jayden go to bed and he was really sad. Finally Jay and I went back in his room to comfort him and he was melting my heart. I laid there by him for a minute and he kept putting his arms around my neck and saying "cuddle me" in this pathetic little voice. (It was so sweet, I just couldn't leave him). He finally calmed down and when I told him I needed to go to bed he asked for his dinosaur, and his dinosaur cup. Then when I got back he said cuddle me again but it was in this funny growling authoritative voice. He cracks me up.

New Callings

(Just a warning, this is a journal entry, if you are easily bored, you don't have to read it!)
I forgot to update about our new church activities. Our stake has had a crazy couple of months. Just after our entire stake was reorganized, my bishop got a job in Cedar City and had to be released. We were all very sad because his family is amazing. I personally feel the loss because I taught their son in primary, and their daughter in Young women's. Not to mention Vicki Nielsen was my visiting teacher, and a member of the YW presidency with me. They all set such a great example and I hope our ward can survive without them!
We got a wonderful new bishop who had to hit the ground running. He immediately had to call a new primary and Young Men's presidency. I got called into the primary and Jay into young men's. I was released from yw's only a few months ago and have been teaching in primary. I have LOVED that, Book of Mormon is my favorite book to teach! But I am excited for the new challenge.
I am even more thrilled for Jay. He has been in scouting, and he hated it. (Sorry scouting lovers, he just never liked it as a boy and so he was never involved in it, and he had no idea what to do.) But he loved working with the boys. So this time he gets work with the youth without doing as much of the scout stuff. I haven't seen him so eager about a new calling in a long time.
I love the opportunities we get to serve and learn. I'll admit, I have done my share of complaining about my callings. I spent the first ten years of my adult life determined to avoid primary. Of course, it seemed that I ALWAYS got called into those callings and couldn't escape them even if I attended a singles ward. I was convinced that I would be forgotten and spend my entire life in that calling... But eventually, I gained an appreciation for primary and a love for the children and the blessings of being a part of that program. Just as I finally learned to love primary and decided I wouldn't mind if I was left there my whole life, I was called into Young Women's.
This was a suprisingly difficult transition for me. I always thought that it would be my dream calling. But I was startled to find out that it was very demanding, both physically and emotionally. It required tons of time, and often I felt that no one appreciated my efforts. In fact, it was extremely upsetting to have constant complaints about an activity that you spent hours of time and weeks of effort planning. (They are teenagers after all!) That said though, I had a wonderful group of girls and was able to find my groove eventually. I loved that calling and was heartbroken when I was released.
I was called back into primary to teach several kids I have taught before (one is probably my favorite I have EVER taught). And it is a book of mormon year (MY FAVORITE!). So in spite of my sadness, I was excited too. And I was able to spend a lot of time studying which was such a boost for me. I am SOOO bad at setting priorities and organizing my life. At times when I put my gospel studies first, everything just goes so much better. I have learned this lesson so many times, but somehow, I still slip, and have to relearn it again. Needless to say, it was very rewarding teaching that class, I know it was just what I needed right then.
I guess what I am trying to say, with this long story, is that I have finally learned that the Lord is aware of me even in my callings. I often thought I was in primary because no one else would accept the call, and they just had to find someone who would do it. I know our service is the church is important to move the work of the Lord forward and help his children. But what I have learned is that the Lord knows us so well, and he knows just what we need.
I have always believed this about the path my life has taken. I have often said that I am so grateful that the Lord didn't give me what I wanted at any given time. Because the life he has blessed me with is so much greater than what I sought out for myself. I have only recently realized that the same is true for the service we are assigned to give in his kingdom. The Lord has miraculously engineered even the smallest things to give us what we need. We aren't just dropped into random callings that will not help us.
Service brings AMAZING people into our lives that change us and make us better. It gives us an opportunity to realize where we are weak and need to improve. We can contribute in a way no other person can. Each assignment can help us grow to reach the potential that only our Father knows we have.
I am thankful for my callings, and the dear friends that have come into my life as a result of them. I am thankful for the strength they give me that helps me in my personal life. I am thankful to know that our Father is aware of our every trial big and small. I am thankful that he helps us to endure, and overcome and find true joy in our lives. I am thankful for the comforting, peaceful feelings of the spirit. And I am thankful for the assurance that the Church of Jesus Christ is directed by him. That we don't need to worry about the future, we just need to strive to follow Him. That he will prepare us and give us the strength to continue to endure and eventually return to him. My greatest hope, is that my whole family will all be able to be united in the celestial kingdom. I hope I can teach my children the importance of obedience, the blessing of devotion, the joy in serving the Lord. I don't care about anything more than to be able to see them make good choices. In fact, my greatest fear is that they won't. But I guess even in that, I just have to do my best and leave it in His hands right?

Ethan's little mishap

This morning we were leaving for church when Ethan had a little accident. We don't know exactly how it happened, but he ended up face down on the cement next to our front stair. He was in so much pain he just laid there and Jay came to rescue him. The poor little kid! His lip and nose were scraped and his front teeth went into his top lip. Jayden said "there's blood everywhere!" These pictures don't do him justice because the swelling has gone down. His top lip was HUGE this morning. We cleaned him up and decided maybe it was best to keep him home. Ethan was not okay with this plan and immediately and loudly protested that we needed to go bye bye. So we gave him some tylenol and went to church anyway. He looked very pathetic, but he was so happy to get to go to nursery. He always gets so excited and chants "church" when we are getting ready to go on Sundays. He seems much better tonight.

Jayden is constantly delighting us with the cute things he says, and tonight he had a genius plan for staying awake. He said he needed to go potty. Jay took him in there and when it was clear that he didn't really need to go, daddy told him he was done and needed to go to bed. In another attempt to put off bed time, Jayden leaned against the bathroom wall and said "wipe my bum" Jay told him he didn't go poop so he needed to just go to bed. He walked in his room and said "man, this stinks" and repeated "this stinks" a couple more times in his bed. They learn early huh?

More Funny Jayden Quotes

Jayden says the funniest things!! I had to include these.

We have been trying to get Jayden to stop sucking his thumb. Last night Jay reminded him to take his thumb out of his mouth and he said: "but it tastes really good!"

Then today Jay was singing the monkey song where they taunt the alligator and the alligator "snaps that monkey right out of that tree" Jayden said to Jay: "that alligator gets them every time."

It's A....

Okay, my last, but not least blog of the day is our ultra sound results!!! But I am going to make you wait till I ramble on about my day. HA HA!



We went to a wedding for Jay's cousin Lisa this morning. I had never met Clint before, but it was so touching to watch him smiling down at her during the ceremony. And in the emotions on Lisa's face, I was able to relive all of those tender feelings I felt almost seven years ago, anticipating a life with the man of my dreams. Nothing can be wrong with the world when you see two people so happy and so in love. And to know that they will be sealed together for eternity, and share all of the beauty that this life and the life to come have to offer. It was a blessing to be there and feel that peaceful spirit that is so powerful in the House of the Lord. I am grateful to Lisa for inviting us. The years pass so quickly, and I feel so fortunate to have spent them with Jay. He makes every day in life so much more fun. He is still the man of my dreams and I cannot imagine a more perfect match for me.

He made my day today even more fun! We went to our ultrasound and to celebrate the news he suggested we go buy a particular memento....

Does this clue you in on our news? You know this isn't for him! He knows how excited I am to be having a Girl and how much I have LONGED to buy dresses. So we went before we told anyone and picked out this darling thing! We had lots of people eager to hear who were a little concerned when we came home two hours late. Particularly my sister Laura who was watching Jayden and Ethan and recieving the millions of calls begging for news. Thanks Laura for putting up with us! Now, I will be able to remember this wonderful day every time she wears this dress and be thankful for a thoughtful and kind husband. Thanks Jay!!

AAAAHHHH!

Another exciting event this week in a not so good way is that a mouse got into my house! I was so distraught about it, I was determined to catch him! When I first saw him it was in the boys room. I thought I had him quarantined in there. I layed mouse traps across the doorway and spent the day going through EVERY toy, EVERY Drawer, lifting all of their drawers and toy boxes, etc off the floor so I could scare him into my mouse traps. I ended my day exhausted and disappointed. I have NO IDEA how he got out of there!!! I was still determined. Ethan and I slept downstairs for two nights,(I had filled his crib with all of their larger toys and boxes so there would be NOTHING on the floors.) As I worked my way through the rooms trying to make sure that there was no safe haven for a mouse, lining every door and hallway with traps I started to get pretty frustrated. I could not stand the thought of him in my house, but I am so tired all of the time anyway, and this was starting to wear me out!! Luckily, day three was our lucky day! Jayden started screaming in terrible horror and ran to me telling me he saw something scary. I was so relieved to see that the scary thing was our little mouse wriggling on a sticky trap. I wanted to kill it so it wouldn't try to come back in our house in the same way it had the first time. I really tried, but I just couldn't do it. I threw it on the ground as hard as I could, it didn't die, and I felt so bad. I didn't want to hurt it... I know that probably sounds a little ridiculous. I did want it dead, but I did't want it to suffer. It was so small and cute, and so I layed it in the garbage can to wait and make Jay kill it. I had sandwiched the thing between two sticky traps, and within the hour it took for Jay to get home, it had escaped. My only hope is that it didn't also escape the garbage can. That has now been taken to the dump. I am perfectly happy for it to go there and live its little life. I just hope it didn't escape and lead its whole colony into my house!!! I don't think my sanity could handle it! In the end, there is a silver lining. That silly mouse gave me motivation to do some deep cleaning that was WELL overdue. And Jayden and Ethan's room hasn't been this clean in months!! They really enjoyed playing on their clean, uncluttered floor today.

Our Family Weekend

I have so much to write about I don't even know where to begin! Last week we scheduled a long trip to Vegas. Candice and I were going to go up Monday and then Jay, Randall and Laura would meet us for the weekend. Sunday night Jay's grandma Beth died and that changed all of our plans. At first I wanted to arrange a way for me to still go for a few days. One thing I learned from Ethan's early birth is to listen to the little promptings that say, this is not a good time. I got the same feeling this time so I LISTENED. (My water broke in Vegas six weeks before Ethan was due. Everything seemed to be against us going on that trip. I really wanted to go and worked through all of the problems and dismissed the little promptings that I had. After his early scary C-section birth, I realized I probably shouldn't have gone. I guess life is full of these lessons.) Anyway, Laura decided to go with Candice and I was so happy for them that it overcame any sadness I had at missing out. It ended up being a really fun family week for us and I was glad to be here for Jay. We spent a lot of time together all week.

Friday we decided to try out the county fair. It wasn't as exciting for us as the state fair but we still had some fun petting the animals in the petting zoo. Jayden tried to feed them, but the big ones really overwhelmed him so we just dumped the food and went around petting them. There were cute little baby sheep and goats as well as a couple of turtles. Ethan really liked petting them too. He just didn't want the big ones to get too close. Their little merry go round was three dollars a person so we decided to forgo the rides and go to South Town mall instead. We all rode that merry go round for about two bucks total!! :) Then they had fun in the dino land.

Saturday we went to the funeral. Beth had cancer the entire time I knew her. She was often weak and sick and didn't get out much. She was always very nice, but I didn't get to know her that well. It was fun hearing all of the nice things she did when she was younger. I feel I know her much better now. Jay's mom babysat the kids for us so we could go and participate in everything.

Jay had taken monday off and we were determined to make it a fun vacation day! We had such a great time! We ate lunch at Carl's Jr. and Jayden played in their little play area. Then, we went to the Sweet's candy factory here in Salt lake for a tour. It was so interesting seeing how they make the candy. And we got to wear silly hats. (That was Ethan's favorite part. He is obsessed with hats and actually cried when we took it off of him!) We forgot our camera, but we took some pictures in our hats today to capture the moment! (see below) They also let you sample fresh candy off of the line. One of Jay's favorite candies are cinnamon bears. (I HATE them usually :) They gave us chocolate covered cinnamon bears and even I loved them!!! I wish you could buy them that way all the time. Then they gave us a little bag of taffy and we bought some sugar free cinnamon bears for my dad. Anyone who hasn't gone on the tour should go. It is totally free, you just have to call to set up an appt. We took Dad his treat we got for him, and then headed off again.

Our next stop was thanksgiving point to see their dinosaur movie. Technical difficulties caused them to cancel our showing so we had to settle for playing with the toys in the gift shop and reading some of my favorite dinosaur books. The boys didn't seem to mind. And then we got to spend our movie money on fun stuff. Jayden was happy to end up with a "transforming" dinosaur(it turned from an egg to a dinosaur). And Ethan LOVES the books we bought. He read them all the way home. (BTW the books I like are by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. Most of them talk about manners. They are cleverly written and have the most amazing illustrations! Jay's mom gave us three of them for Christmas last year and I fell in love. Now we have a couple of board book ones. Yeah!) We ended our night at chuck a rama, where we had to leave a little early because Jayden lost his lunch, or I should say, his mac and cheese and punch! Even that couldn't spoil our fun day. Well, I guess you would have to ask Jay, he is the one who had to clean Jayden up, poor guy.

Here we are in our candy factory Hats.

Ethan loved the taffy

We love to be outside!!

Memories

Memories
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

I am finally copying the rest of you :)