Kisserbella

OF COURSE!!!

SO she is walking. Really? Can she be that big? Yes. She is. So. sad. But. So. Fun.

She says "mo mel" which means oatmeal, which means food. It is so cute.

Dad just got back from seeing my super cute nephew and says that she has some competition in the cute department. Hmmmm. What do you think?

Baby Carter

Isabella LOVES her daddy. Today he was in the living room and walked out (he did this like 3 times) and she followed him to the office door where she thought he was and just stood there and cried!!! I couldn't even get her to come to me. CUTE! Or not. Depending on who you were :).

The other day we were at the park with like 13 kids between the 3 of us (friends) and Isabella had a cigarette butt (GROSS) in her hand. One of my friends ran to her and took it away and says, "I feel so sorry for babies. They just don't know what is good for them and what isn't."

This got me to thinking. No. They don't. They rely on us for EVERYTHING. Food. Clothing. Baths. Keeping them safe. Changing their diaper. These are things they can't do for themselves. They just can't and they just don't know.

Makes me feel like I have to be so responsible. Sometimes I feel inadequate at the task. I watched this movie where one of the characters who was a therapist said, "You know what I say to people to think their parents messed them up? I tell them to GET OVER IT."

Now I am not saying that I think MY parents messed me up, but I hope that one day my kids aren't seeing a therapist someday to "get over" me messing them up. I am sure to some degree I am not perfect, ok a lot of degrees.... but I hopefully they will forgive me :).

Anyhow. Make sure you squeeze your babies a little for me. Oh. And have a diet coke. Been needing some support lately. Loves.

Teaching Moment

A few months back I was sitting in Savannah's primary class. It was interesting. It always is. I used to teach it. But now I don't. Thank GooDnEsS!!!! NO offense. I usually sit in there anyway. She can be a turkey sometimes. Ok a lot o times. But she sure is cute.

Anyway, the lesson was on Taking the Lord's name in vain.

The teacher approached it like this:

"What are your names?" (then looked at each child and had them tell her their names)

"Where did your name come from?"

"Do you like your name?"

"What if someone called you the wrong name?"

"Ok so now we know what your names are, where they came from, and that you like them (most said yes... LOL) and that you don't like being called the wrong name."

"What if someone started saying your name when you they were mad? Or sad? Or frustrated? Or expressing some sort of emotion? How would that make you feel?"

Most of the kids thought this was not a good idea. I think that I would be upset if when someone dropped a chair on their toe, they yelled BRITTANY!!!

Or if they hit their car as they were backing out of the garage in their much bigger car. BRITTANY!!!!

Or if they forgot something at the grocery store. BRITTANY!!!

Or if they just heard something that was good news, bad news or in the middle news. BRITTANY!!!!

Or if they just lost a game or their friend lost a game or on the TV their team lost a game. Or won for that matter. BRITTANY!!!

I am not sure that I would love this. For one thing I would be saying "WHAT" all the time and lets be honest here. I do that already with "MOOOOO-OM." SO thank you. No.

For another, I am not sure I want my name to be said when people are mad or frustrated or peeved or whatever else.

For example when Savannah is in trouble (hardly ever ;)) I say Savannah RANAE!!! My mother in law says please don't say my name like a swear word (her name is Ranae, bless her for her patience with me.) And its true. When my mother used to use my middle name it was ONLY because I was in trouble (as infrequent as it was.... LOL). And even then I didn't like my name to be shouted like a swear word.

SO then the question is...

Why do we think that taking the Lord's name in vain is ANY different than saying our name when we are cursing or our mom's name or our mother in law's name or a dear family member or friend.

Why would that be ok? It wouldn't.

I learned a very good lesson that day in Primary. I actually had to give that lesson today. It was a teaching moment I am grateful for. I am grateful to that Primary teacher. And I am grateful to have a new perpective.

New Look

I have a new look.

I am not sure how I feel about it.

Time will tell (or it will change it :))

I spent a lot of time trying to play around with it today, so I just don't feel like changing it just yet. But I am sure I will.

I like to change things.

My friend and I were talking about moving furniture. I was giving her a bad time because when she gets in a rut, her thing is to move furniture. SO is mine.

Kind of like changing my blog. Not to say I am in a rut, but sometimes a girls just needs a little bit o change. Hey it is better than cutting my hair :) or dying it brown AGAIN. Oh no don't do it.... although someday I think I might AGAIN. And then I will go back. I always go back. ALwAys.

ALWAYS something to do

The other day I woke up.... I work nights and sleep days so I was just coming off one of those stints.

I was confused (not sure what day it was).

I was overwhelmed (dishes, laundry, homework, music practice, backpacks, permission slips)

I was tired (12 hours in 3 days is just not enough for some reason :))

So I did what I usually do.

I called the cleaning lady. But then I called and cancelled her. Because Doug and I have decided we need to save money for the big fancy house we are gonna buy someday. Someday. Someday. Someday.

And I thought to myself. I could scrub my house from top to bottom today and do my laundry and run all my errands. Ya right. On what planet? That is why I was going to have the cleaning lady come. She does the cleanin. I do the laundryin. And then it all gets done. In one day.....ish.

That is until the kids come home. Backpacks dropped by the front door. Jackets in the corner. Papers all over the counter. Crumbs on the table from snack. Dirty socks in the bedroom. Piles and piles of toys strewn across the house. All within a matter of minutes it doesn't matter that the house WAS clean. That all the laundry WAS done.

SO the cycle begins again. All the work that needs doin isn't always done. Especially when you have a family.

And you know what? THAT'S OK.

You know why? Because it means that I have children.

It means I have a family.

It means we are alive and well and can make messes and can clean them up.

It means I HAVE a toddler walking around making messes.

And it is refreshing.

And somehow it doesn't matter that there is always something to do. Because there IS always something to do, but it is just a matter of WHAT that needs doin.

Marathon Day

Well yesterday was Marathon day.... and I didn't do it.

I was all trained and ready to go. ALL TRAINED!!!! If you can endure the training, you can run the marathon. That is the "easy" part.

Alas, it was not to be. I have had 1 steroid shot and 3 weeks of physical therapy. It seems to be helping (at least I keep telling myself that because my co pay is going to send me over the edge soon).....

Since I couldn't run the 26.2 miles, I thought that I would hop on my bike and ride. I got to 20 miles. Not bad I guess. It wasn't running, but at least I was outside with an increased heart rate :).

Just another bump in the road.

I have been inspired. Just a few days before Daxton died, when we were in Havasupai, one of my friends fell off a cliff and shattered her heel (I think) and tore up her knee pretty badly. The doctors told her she would never run again. Little did they know, you don't tell a girl she CAN'T do something because boy she will do everything she can to PROVE THEM WRONG. And my friends she did just that. She just completed her first 1/2 marathon.

So I have been inspired. If she can run after all that then I can endure greater trochanter bursitis and iliotibial band syndrome. I will run again. Maybe not this week, or next, or the next, but I will pick myself up and I will do it. (Maybe I will even put in for the St. George Marathon)