Happy July 4!

We celebrated the 4th of July in Murray this year. We are blessed to live close to Murray Park so we didn't have to drive or find parking. It was awesome! We started the day off by watching the parade. One of our closest family friends son was in the parade as the Chicfila cow. So, it was incentive for us to go, to show our support for this wonderful young man. I didn't know how Elsie was going to think of the parade, but she loved it!

At the parade!

 Later, that day we went swimming which is quickly becoming one of Elsie's favorite activities to do. Ross has taught Elsie how to make motor boat sounds while playing in the water. It is pretty cute. It was also nice to go swimming because the week of the 4th we were in a heat wave. It was pretty much to hot to do anything but eat ice.

Ross, Elsie, and Kim at the pool

Ross, me, and Elsie at the pool

We ended the day with a private firework show put on for Elsie by Ross and Kim. Well, it was more like a couple dozen sparklers and Kim dancing with them while Ross lit them. Elsie loved it! She kept insisting that Ross give her one. Obviously, that didn't happen.

After, the private show we went and sat on a blanket in the park and watched the cities fireworks. Elsie clapped the whole time. She is so much braver then I was as a kid. I was convinced that the fireworks would fall in my hair and burn it, so I never liked them as a kid.

Elsie and I watching the show.

I am so thankful to live in America and to celebrate the freedoms that I enjoy each day! I am thankful for our solider who work around the clock to protect these freedoms.

Happy 5 Years!

This picture was taken on our way to Denver on our way to be sealed for time and all eternity.  It has taken me awhile to post about our anniversary this year. We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on June 21. We are truly blessed to have each other and  be each other best friend. 

The our first night of our marriage we stayed in Denver, we had dinner at Chili's and then we went and saw the movie, Get Smart. It has become our tradition to eat at Chili's and then go see a movie. This year due to being pregnant and not wanting to wait 30 minutes for a table at Chili's we at a steak house and saw Man of Steel. It is a humble tradition that we have and Ross is convinced that I will get bored and want something more exciting each year. I won't because it reminds of where our marriage began. 

I have been thinking a lot about the song Wonderful, Wonderful, by Johnny Mathis and I decided that it is my song to Ross this year.  I truly do say to myself how Wonderful, Wonderful, it is to have Ross as my eternal companion.

Dear Elsie!

Elsie the day she was born!

My Dear Elsie,
    On Wednesday we celebrated your first birthday and it was a great party. Your daddy took the whole day off from work. You spent the day at the zoo with Jackson, your best baby friend. It was truly a perfect day!

You and Jackson!

     It is hard to believe that it has been a year since you became our piece of heaven on earth. I can still vividly remember the first night you laid in your hospital bed next to mine, and I didn't want to sleep cause I just wanted to see my beautiful baby girl.
     Here we are a whole year later, I have been so blessed to watch you grow and learn everyday. I love watching you interact with your "dadadada" and I love watching you wrap him around your tiny little finger and I love that you let him think he is still in charge. I love you vampire smile and you kisses are simply the best. I love when you let me snuggle.

You and your dadada

      I have been told  to cherish every moment with you and never take a day for granted. I truly have, I have done everything in my power to be with you every moment. You have changed the way I view my time and my life.  When I am not with you, you are constantly on my mind and in my prayers.

Your family!

      As you continue to grow, I look forward to watching you with your baby sister. I know that you will be an amazing sister and daughter. I know there will come a day when I am not cool, and you won't want to be around me, but even those moments I will still be your biggest fan and will love you always!
     You are a smart, funny, energetic, beautiful and silly little girl. I know that when Father in Heaven created you He knew that you were just what I needed. I love you with all my heart. Happy Birthday my sweet little angel.

Happy Birthday!

With much love,
Your Mama

In the Moment

I always feel like it need to be a big event for me to blog about it, like a Birthday, Christmas, Wedding, or a Vacation. Recently, I have been thinking a lot about this quote and trying to implement it into my life.

I do think of myself as a happy person, but I do think that I am guilty of waiting for my golden ticket or my golden moment. As I do this, I put a huge emphasis on the big moments. I expect every holiday to be this magical memory. Or wear myself thin,  trying to make sure that everything is just perfect. That way if Good Housekeeping, were to ever stop by, I would be ready for an impromptu interview and photo-shoot. While I think that perfect holidays are a "worthy goal", I do want to stop and "discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments."
Since, I have stopped working I feel like I now have more of these moments, or more time savor them, or I am not as busy and  now recognize them. I would like take the time and share some of our moments from the past three weeks.

This is a picture of Elsie and her friend. He is 6 months and 1 day older then Elsie. That is why he seem so big next to her. He has already "stopped" using his binky, but he likes to take Elsie's and use it. When he gets caught he always acts like he was just putting it in her mouth. This normally is not a big deal. This, however, is the moment where my whole family got the pukes. We were watching Jack that day cause his mom thought she had food poisoning. It wasn't we learned that night during scripture stories when Elsie threw up twice on her book. Within a few hours Ross had caught the bug, and by morning I had it. This was the longest weekend of my life. I have vowed that we will never ever again be sick all at the same time.
Elsie is a social butterfly. She can't stand being stuck in the house for to long. So I have been looking for things what we can do during the day that are free or of little cost. One of my absolute favorite activities is Wiggle Time. It is at our local library on Tuesday and Wednesday. It is just a 40 minute singing time. Elsie loves it she loves playing with the scarves and with the bubbles.  This is also were she learned to clap her hands and say, "Ya!"

Our first time at the library. 

Elsie is starting to want to eat more solids. Recently, I made the mistake of feeding her spaghetti. The mistake wasn't the spaghetti, it was that I thought that I could feed her while we sat on the the livingroom floor. I know, even as I read that sentence, I still don't know how I thought that would be okay.

Well, it turned out to be my favorite moment. Elsie now loves spaghetti. 

Look, at that cute face. I think I could feed her spaghetti everyday and she would have no problems. My favorite part, you can see in the first picture, is she without being taught knew that spaghetti was meant to be slurped. She has also recently became a fan of crackers. 

I have really enjoyed this challenged to focus more on everyday moments. I have liked it so much that I want to continue doing so. I would like to challenge each of you to savor the moment, because like Ted Mosbey says, 

“The beauty of a moment is that it’s fleeting. By its very nature, it slips through our fingers, making it that much more precious”.

A New Year

I am surprise with how fast the years go the older I get. Now, that I have Elsie, I really want to slow down time and just savor my sweetheart. Last month, I was feeling like I was missing out on too much with Elsie and was sad that I was working. I always thought that I would want to work at least part time. My job was very important to me. At Parkside we have some students that the only people who really care about them, are the teachers. I love all my students and I wanted them to strive an become something. Amy, decided that she could no longer watch Elsie, as she need to to tend to her family. So I left my position at Parkside. When I told Ross it was what I wanted to do, he was shocked, cause he knew I loved my job, but I love Elsie more. We took the leap of faith, truly believing that God would take care of us, and He did. On my last day of work, Ross was offered a new job that made the difference, and Ross was able to use this to lobby for a higher paying position at Tomax. I am so thankful to be starting a New Year, putting my family first and that we were able too. I am thankful that I married such a wonderful man, that is so very hardworking and loves me. I am so thankful that God heard and answered my prayers this last year with a wonderfully clever little girl. I am only one week into this year, and I already know that this year will be one for the books.

My sweet little family.

Big Tub Bath

 Earlier this week, I was being a great mom, and great moms take care of their kids. So I thought, "Hey,  I bet my kid would love a bath!" Elsie loves baths, she loves chillin in them, getting clean in them, but she mainly loves splashing in them. So, I went to her closet got out her little pink tub filled it with water, and placed her in it. She chilled in her bath, she got clean in her bath, but there was no splashing. Now, I know that many of you are worried about why Elsie, who loves to splash, wasn't splashing in her little pink tub. I was worried too, then I saw it. She is too BIG for her little pink tub. Now, as a great mom, I provide for my child, if that tub was too small I was going to have to get her a bigger tub. As luck would have it, our apartment came with one, whew, saved some money there. 
I am not going lie, it stressed me out to put her in the big tub. Some of the things that stressed me out were, she might be too big for the pink tub, but she has to be too little for the the big tub, what if she goes down the drain, what if a sewer alligator gets up the pipe and eats my child, the list goes on and on. But I am great mom, so I took a deep breath, put on my great mom pants, and gave her a bath in the big tub. 

She loved it! She did try to drink the water, but most importantly she splashed. She could have stayed in there all night. Elsie is so lucky to have a great mom that would have fought off sewer alligators just so she could splash in the big tub. 

Happy Anniversary!

I feel really blessed today. Today is our 4 year wedding anniversary. I met Ross when I was 14, and I really like him then, because he was so tall. We started dating when I was 17, and after 3 weeks, I was madly in love with him. We broke up when I was 19, and we spent a few years apart. After several failed relationships on both our parts, I think we both finally realized that what we wanted in a spouse was what we had with each other.

I saw the movie,  Shall We Dance,  the 1937 version with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, when I was 16. I love this film! There is a song in the film called, "Beginner's Luck". It is a song about a guy who talks about how lucky he is that because the first time he fell in love he fell in love with her.

 I have always said that I had beginners luck with Ross. I am very lucky, I was able to marry the person who also happen to be my first real love. Last year, when we had the ectopic pregnancy, the hospital social worker was telling Ross and me, that a lot people can end up divorced after an event like that. We told him that wasn't possible because for us divorce isn't option. The social worker told us to be realistic, and I told him, "If Ross and I were to get divorced, we spend a few years being stubborn, and then come to our senses and get married again." I honestly know that I was made for Ross, he is my soul-mate and my bestfriend.  Thank goodness for beginners luck....