My Life's Promises

I feel like I'm a pretty private person, especially when it comes to blogging and exposing too much for everyone in the world to read. But I felt inspired to share a list that I recently composed. I needed to write this list to help myself see what is really important in life. I've viewed my extended family doing things that are hurting themselves, so I've compiled a list of my life's promises to make sure that my own family doesn't get to that point. I feel lucky in a way, because I've learned the hard way what I must and must not do, and I can avoid certain things so my family will succeed. I know most of that doesn't make sense to most people, but I'm sharing this because the list I made, I think, can help many families, not just my own. And I encourage everyone to make a list of their promises to their families. It's inspired me and I'm so excited for my family.

The List

1. I will never be unfaithful to my husband

2. I will never lie for personal gain

3. I will never abandon my children, physically or emotionally

4. I will fight to keep my family together

5. I will tell my children I love them everyday, and everyday I will prove that to them

6. I will always try to understand my husband and strive to make him happy.

7. I will push my selfish desires to the side to meet my family's needs first

8. I will keep the Spirit in my home

9. I will introduce my children to the gospel and help them keep their love for Christ

10. I will help my children with their homework

11. I will encourage them to do their best in everything they do

12. I will discourage them from quitting

13. I will encourage them to be involved as a daughter/son, sibling, friend, and student

14. I will teach my children to be independent but to not be afraid to ask for help

15. I will teach my children to be fierce as a family member - to love and stand up for their family

16. I will raise my children to be proud of their standards and to not feel belittled by others

17. I will never belittle my children

18. I will help my children to develop a healthy self-esteem

19. I will not belittle myself in front of my children

20. I will raise my children to love and to help others

21. I will show my family what happiness is by loving my husband completely

22. I will teach my children by example

23. I will make my children do what they don't want to do, if it is good for them

24. I will be my children's friend while not neglecting my motherly duties

25. I will turn off the TV and play with my children

26. I will never make excuses to not be there for my family

27. I will not mother my husband

28. I will not belittle my husband

29. I will encourage my husband to do his duties for the church and I will never hinder him from doing so

30. I will be my husband's best friend

31. I will make my husband feel like he can do anything, because he can

32. I will hug my husband when he walks through the door

33. I will work disagreements out with my husband in earshot of our children sometimes, so they know that disagreements don't make a marriage fail

34. I will allow my children to feel like a vital part of the family, because they are

35. I will not scream at my children

36. I will never make my children feel unsafe

37. I will make our home a safe haven

38. I will read to my children

39. I will tell my children they are beautiful

40. I will remind my husband that he is one hot stud

41. I will not laugh at my family members' concerns

42. I will be a great listener

43. I will not feel like a failure even when I can't fix everything

44. I will allow my children to develop a deep love for their grandparents

45. I will not discuss marital problems with my children

46. I will make it my life's goal to make my children laugh

47. I will not be afraid to act goofy in front of my husband

48. Though I can't sing, I will sing; though I can't dance, I will dance, so my children will develop a love of music and expression

49. I will let my kids help me in the kitchen

50. I will inspire my kids to love learning

51. I will allow my kids to be involved in the activities they want to be involved in (ie school activities)

52. I will hug my children when they cry

53. I will continue to add to this list when the Spirit whispers to me on how to be a better wife and mother, and when life's experiences require me to.

I love my extended family, but I refuse to lead my husband and children down their road. I love my family and I love my Heavenly Father and Savior, and I hope that will never be questioned.

Old-ish pictures

Thought I would update quickly. I finally found my camera (it was hiding in the hole in the couch) so I figured I'd just post some of the favorites that a took weeks ago.



Some family updates: Everyone in our family except for Phoebe had the stomach bug. Good thing we took turns and we weren't all sick at the same time. We're all feeling better now. Good thing, too, because our car is currently dead, so we've been walking a great deal. I guess it's good for us. I just hope it doesn't snow any time soon. And even Phoebe has taken up being mobile. She's crawling now! It's so cute to see her go. There's no hiding from her now. She'll always be at my heels.

Tiny Family Update

Our family is still doing what we normally do: hanging out, having fun, cleaning up lots of messes. Nothing big has happened yet (still job searching, still praying) but I felt like doing a couple kiddie updates.

Gwen is growing smarter, cuter, and ever louder. She seems to be learning a thousand words a day, and yet I still have to strain my ears and my brain to understand what she's trying to tell me most of the time. She is just dying to speak in sentences. For every word she doesn't know, she replaces with "wa wa wa." The other day as we were sitting down for dinner, she said, "Prayer!" folded her arms, closed her eyes really tight, and before I could get to the table with the food, she started blessing the food all by herself! It went something like this: "Dear Hebbly Fater, Bless wa wa wa, please wa wa wa. Christ. Amen!" We were so proud! She loves to say the prayer now, and she never lets us forget to bless the food.
Phoebe is still as sweet and precious as ever. She's a big momma's girl, and she wants to do everything like me and with me. She's started giving me kisses. We have a game that we play together. I kiss her cheeks really fast, and she laughs and laughs. Then she opens her mouth really wide and plants a big wet kiss on my cheek, then laughs and laughs. She's also learned how to get to the sitting position all by herself. She hasn't attempted to crawl yet. She doesn't have much interest in mobility right now. Gwen usually gets her what she needs to play with and Phoebe is happy to be served. Whenever I put her on her stomach, she immediately pushes up to sit. Not much tummy time, so she doesn't try to crawl. I'm sure it'll happen. Maybe she'll start walking first. She certainly loves to stand with mommy's help! Maybe she'll just skip the crawling stage all together.

Family Photos

We got back the photos from our session that we had in the gardens on BYU-I campus. Here are some of them. I'm having a lot of fun going through the pictures, deciding on which ones to develop. We're finally going to have pictures to go on our bare walls. We have about a million pictures of Phoebe smiling, but only a handful of Gwen smiling. That's okay. Gwen took a very good "artsy" picture. But we never could get Phoebe and Gwen to smile in the same picture. Oh well. One day.

A Couple Pictures (Surprise!)

You know, I don't really have much to say. I just wanted to post cute pictures. But I guess I can share a couple things, now that I think about it. Gwennie is starting to talk a whole lot more. The other morning when I came out of my bedroom, she ran up to me and exclaimed, "Hi, Mommy! I missed you!" And one day she needed a band-aid on her foot so I made her wear socks to keep her from pulling it off. She asked for me to take them off, and I said no. She looks up at me, blinks, and asks, "Why?" It's starting already! The phase of "why?" Sheesh. Gwen's also saying hi and bye to everything imaginable. "Bye trash!" "Hi, cheese!" Today after nursery when I came to pick her up, she said, "Bye, bubbles!" then ran out of the room. I don't think she likes the people at nursery so much.

Gwen likes "holding" Phoebe. Phoebe's almost Gwen's size already, but Gwen likes to sit behind her and lean Phoebe back. She looks up and says, "Cheese!" every time. She's my little ham. Phoebe tolerates it, mainly because she has the improved chance of grabbing Gwen's hair.
And Phoebe loves her daddy's hat. She thinks she's so cool when she wears it. And she is. There's no doubt about that.
We've just been hanging out here. We can't wait for Halloween. I've been searching for the cutest costumes for Gwen and Phee. I'm thinking Gwen should be an Indian, but I have no ideas for Phoebe yet. Something cute, I'm sure.

I guess I had more to say than I thought.

Oh, Poop! *Warning: Baby Fecal Matter!!*

Logan begged me to do this post. So if you have a very weak stomach, you probably should just skip this post. You've been warned!

In our family, we have our fair share of poop stories. I swear, Gwen is the princess of poop, and she's teaching her sister well. I'm not sure how Phoebe managed this one. She was sitting up the entire time, and we looked over, and her outfit was soaked in her sweet, yellow yuck. She's done this to us many times. I'm talking 3 to 4 times a week. It's causing much laundry mayhem.
And this picture is kinda gross, I'm sorry. I just couldn't believe it. This was the day that Gwen tore off her diaper and refused to let me put one back on her. So I thought, today must be the day she will be potty trained! So I brought out her potty chair once again and had her sit on it for quite a while. But nothing happened, and she soon got very bored. She ran around without her diaper on for just five minutes once she got off the potty, when she came out of her room showing me the poop that was all over her hands. Really?! I ran to her bedroom, and this is what I found. She pooped on her toy box. And her poop is no where near as sweet as Phoebe's. Ugh.

They're my little stinkers! But who doesn't love sharing poop stories once in a while? (Yeah, I'm sorry. But in my defense, Logan really did beg me to post this!)

Sick Ramblings

We've all been sick here the past few days. Gwen brought home a cold from nursery and gave it to the rest of us. We're doing much better now. The weekend was horrible. We were all grouchy and stuffy and feverish. But now we're only slightly stuffy, and I can taste food again! Phoebe is still cranky, but she's not sneezing as much any more. So we're all getting better. Thanks bunches, Gwen.

A scary thing happened the other day. I was in the bedroom, trying to sleep out a fever, when Logan's shouting woke me up and made me dart to the living room. Gwen had fallen out the window. Thank goodness we're on the bottom floor! I swear, we're not neglectful parents. Phoebe had been screaming, and Logan was trying to calm her down when Gwen climbed up in the window and pushed on the screen. She's all right. She only got a little bruise on her chin. Scared the crap out of us though. We've been sitting a lot in the hot apartment now with the windows closed. Gwen hates it, but she just won't listen to us and keep out of the windows. You know, I got hurt worse than she did when she fell. When I ran out of the room, I slammed my foot into the door frame and just about broke my toe. I think I jammed it. It still hurts... as I keep telling Logan. Still, I don't want Gwen to make a habit out of falling out of windows. We may have a second floor apartment one day. I don't even want to think about it.

So Lindsay tagged me for one of these questionnaire things. So here we go.

What is your current obsession? Hmm. Besides my wonderfully wonderful husband? Well, recently, I got into the exercise kick. I'm trying to lose all my baby weight. It's not working though. Logan says I'm gaining muscle. He's just trying to make me feel better.

What do you hate (or dislike) the most that everyone else seems to love? Clothes shopping. I've always hated it. I like online shopping, but I hate going to a store and hunting for clothes for hours. I like book shopping though, as long as I'm in and out.
What's for dinner? Beats me. I'm sick. I don't feel like making anything. So we're most likely having big daddies or tostadas.
What would you eat for your last meal? Seafood. Clams, crabs, and shrimp. Mmmm...
What was the last thing you bought? Cough drops and Dayquil.
What are you listening to right now? The tv. Watching Reba.
What do you think of the person who tagged you? I think Lindsay is tons of fun and a great person. I'm really glad that I have her as a sister-in-law. I know I'm usually extremely shy around everyone, but, Lindsay, I think you're really great and I like spending time with you, even though it takes me a long time to warm up and be talkative.
If you could have a house fully paid for and totally furnished anywhere in the world, where would it be? I have no idea. Probably in a small town in the beautiful country.
If you could go anywhere for the next hour, where would it be? I could really go for a shower. I smell like sick person.
What is one of your hobbies? I love to read. I'm also trying to get back into the writing habit.
What are three things that annoy you most? 1) Rude drivers 2) Twilight 3) my inability to sing like Celine Dion
What is your favorite color? Purple
What is your favorite item of clothing in your wardrobe? This question makes me sigh. I have no wardrobe. Well, I do, but it's packed in a box until I can fit into my old, favorite clothes again.
What is your favorite fruit? New Jersey Strawberries and blueberries tie
What inspires you? Honestly, the scriptures and prayer. I made a goal to study the scriptures and pray whenever I'm having a bad day or moment, and I've noticed that my attitude has changed drastically.
Who was the last person you kissed? Logan, of course. I can't wait for him to come home from work. I suddenly want kisses.
What are you currently reading? What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson. I just finished I Am Legend by Matheson, too.
What delighted you the most today? Getting a nap in. I love naps.

I guess I need to tag someone. I tag Eliza, if she hasn't already been tagged, and Katelyn.