Our crazy/cute family

Playing Apples to Apples
Me and Mindy, my baby sister

Tiffany and Becky are having so much fun!

At least Annie looks normal!

Matthew with his cute cousins, Jared on the left, Daniel on the right.

Poor kid got his daddy's allergies, but he was still smiling and talking the best he could.

Look at those big blue eyes and cute nose-he's a Jessop :)

Wheeler Farm

We went to Wheeler Farm today with Grandma. Matthew just loves the animals. We also got to see some tractors and the vet was there brushing the horse's teeth. It was pretty interesting-it makes Matthew's teeth brushing look much simpler!

Playing in the tree house.

Playing piano

This was from a while ago, but it's so cute. He's looking at some flash cards I have. We have talked about which notes are high and low; when he's looking at the yellow flash card, that's what he's saying.

Lunch with Grandpa

We went to see Grandpa's new building today and had a picnic lunch. His company is in the process of moving buildings so he is splitting time between the old and new. It has a cute little picnic area that we ate at.

Playing with grandpa's hard hat.

The picnic area-dad's building is on the right.

Matthew with grandma and grandpa.

Camping

We went "fake camping" (Jason's term) a couple of weeks ago. We just went to Cherry Creek. It was fun to be out and Matthew loved it. I think it would be nice if the campsites were a little further apart, but other than that it was good. I didn't take many pictures, but here are the two I did take-

Brian cutting some wood

Our awesome subaru, packed to the brim, but we only had to drive the on car :)

Temple flowers

I am very behind on posting this, but at least I'm posting, right?
Here is everyone (the big people at least) getting instructions. We had to do four flower beds this year so it took a lot longer than last year.

Matthew loves the temple. I went visiting teaching and we were talking about taking kids to the temple. This sister said they used to go every Sunday to the temple and even though they can't get up close they walk around. Her kids really enjoyed it. I also noticed there were a number of talks in conference that talked about the importance of the temple and having that spirit in your home. I am going to try and focus on that for the next few months.

Mother's Day Weekend

I was completely spoiled this weekend. Brian took Matthew on the Fathers and Sons campout (there are some cute pictures on Brian's web site under the MyFlickrPage tab). I did a quick clean of the upper level and then went to dinner by myself. Nothing fancy, just Old School, but I took my book and tried the strawberry milk shake, which did not disappoint!
On Saturday I got up and ran five miles with Jenn, which went much better than I had anticipated (I'm such a weakling!). I came home and got showered and ready for the day, cleaned downstairs and folded laundry. How exciting! That afternoon I played at a wedding which was nice to have a reason to practice. The only downside was I got some food poisoning from the wedding (and poor Leah did too :( ). While I was at the wedding Matthew and Brian picked out some flowers so I had a nice surprise waiting for me when I got home.
Sunday we got to go to Relief Society which was so nice. For dinner we went to my aunt and uncle's house. Tiff and Mark did a delicious dinner; it is always nice to relax and talk with the family.
So all in all it was wonderful! Thank you to all the beautiful mothers out there who bless us, especially mine!

I finally did it!

Finished the Old Testament. It took me two years, but I stuck with it and finished. There was a lot of it that I didn't understand, but I'm glad I kept with it. I think the next time I study it I will focus on the prophets so I can skip most of the other stuff. The part I enjoyed most about it was how it helped my understanding of the Book of Mormon. It gave me a better idea of the background and beliefs they had. I think I'm going to keep going and read the New Testament next.

Aahhh, motherhood

I've had kind of a roller coaster week, but doesn't it seem like they are all that way? I have been thinking a lot about this role of mother, but not coming up with much. I do know that I don't want to give up. Being a parent just seems to take any quality or virtue that you need to be working on and throws it in your face (unfortunately, in the literal sense sometimes) in the form of your children. Oh, so you need to work on patience, well be patient with this! You think you need a full night of sleep to be a good person? Oh well!

On the other hand what is more wonderful than your toddler planting a big wet one on you out of nowhere? Or looking at a book and having them "read" it to you and get most of the words right? Or knowing that your heart has grown three sizes since this child has come into your life?

I fasted today about this issue and did receive some help. I'm not going to go into everything, but at the end of the day I feel that this job is so hard because it is so important. When we feel like we are alone and sinking that is Satan working on us. Heavenly Father only wants what's good for us and will never leave us alone as long as we continue to ask Him for help.

I read this talk by Elder Holland a couple of years ago, but found it again today. I need to print it out and read it regularly. I would recommend it to all mothers out there.

So with this new week and Mother's Day coming up let's try and remember what an important role we play and that we can succeed!

Mary Poppins ponderings

Matthew and I watched Mary Poppins for his first time yesterday and I think he liked it. He started to get bored toward the end, but so did I! The movie got me thinking (yes, I'm kind of a nerd) about how sneaky Satan is. You've got a good guy like Mr. Banks who is working hard to support his family, he's an honest, upstanding guy. But somewhere along the line he loses sight of what's most important. And this movie was made over 40 years ago! One of my Institute teachers said something about how Satan doesn't tempt good people with totally obvious things; he tempts them with things that are good. Fathers are working to support the family, but they also need to enjoy those they are working for. Sometimes we just need a "Mary Poppins" kind of experience to remind us of the things that are most important.

All around people's families are falling apart. We have to always make sure the choices we are making are the ones that will lead us to our goal. One of my college professors said that if you don't have an objective it doesn't really matter what you teach. If eternal life truly is our goal we will make sure our choices lead to that.

I love Goop

My mother in law gave us some Goop a while ago and I am a believer! It's this hand washing stuff you find over in the automotive area, but it's also safe on clothes. It seriously gets out every stain I have used it on! Even really old stains! And did I mention it's cheap? It was $2 for the container. Is anyone excited to do some laundry? ; )