Wow, something to think about

6th picture of the 6th folder

I have been tagged.  You may have seen this before.  Go to your picture files, go to the sixth folder and then insert the sixth picture into your post.  Then explain what is happening in your picture.  Here it goes.

Definitely not the best quality photo.  However two very rare sightings are captured in this photograph, James clean shaven and James in a suit.  This is a picture taken at my niece Haley's baptism.  We were grateful to have the opportunity to fly out to Las Vegas and share this special time with Haley and my side of the family.  The other two people in the photo are my brother-in-law Mike and my third little niece Emily.

I now tag Danell, Shay, Heather and Julina.

A to Z of me

A--Attached or Single: Very attached to my fantastic husband James

B--Best Friend: James
C--Cake or Pie: Cake - Fruit pie al a mode
D--Day of Choice: They all seem to meld together
E--Essential Item: chocolate
F--Favorite Color: blue, brown
G--Greatest Accomplishment: being a part of creating two wonderful children
H--Hometown: Littleton, Colorado
I--Indulgences: James bought me three massages for our anniversary this year.  Can't wait till our next anniversary!
J--January or July: July - because it is my birth month
K--Kids: one boy, one girl
L--Life is incomplete without: My husband and kids
M--Marriage Date: July 17, 2004
N--Number of Siblings: Five - 2 sisters.  I am in the middle
O--Oranges or Apples: Fuji apples
P--Phobias or fears: having anything cover my face
Q--Quotes: "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."
R--Reason to Smile: Hilarious and wonderful children
S--Season: Spring - Autumn, I just can't get enough of the chill in the air.  The changing colors.  The anticipation of the holidays.  Playing in the leaves. 
T--Tag 5 Friends: anyone who has the time and would like to share.
U--Unknown fact about me:  I broke both of my arms at the same time when I was seven
V--Very favorite store: I am not a fan of stores but I would love to have a house that looks like it came straight out of a Pottery Barn catalogue.
W--Worst habit: I rarely finish anything.  I have all sorts  of started projects waiting to be finished.
X--X-ray or Ultra Sound: X-ray - Ultra sound showed me my first glimpses of Evan & Emma
Y--Your favorite food: Thai, Chinese, Japanese
Z--Zoo animal: Elephant

Randomness

Per request from one of my friends I will actually write a post about me and not about my darling children (love you Katherine).  You might want to be careful what you ask for though.

Several thoughts have been running around my head the last couple of days.

Pajama days and unannounced visitors

So why is it when I have one of those days...  (You know the kind I am talking about.  The ones where everybody stays in their pajamas all day, there is laundry piled and folded all over the front room, I haven't looked in a mirror and for good reason, the kids have snotty faces) Why is it that on these day unexpected company arrives?

Now I will be the first to tell people I visit that I do not care at all what condition they or their house is in and I really don't.  But why is it that I care about what my house looks like when people visit?

Sadly I have pajama days more often then I would like to admit.  Now that the kids are getting older there seems to be less  of them.  But why can I not just accept that I have good days and bad days and hopefully people can understand that.

SO I AM A NERD

Some people have really interesting and amazing hobbies like sky diving, painting, music, hiking...you know what I am talking about.

No, not I.  I have really gotten into food storage and emergency preparedness lately.  I am sure that part of it stems from now having a family that I have the responsibility to protect and care for.  But  I have really felt a sense of urgency for at least a year now to get our family more prepared.

I have actually really enjoyed learning more about food storage.  Our ward owns a canning machine and so I was able to can about a three months supply of basic food.  I am gearing up to finish our years supply in the next couple of weeks.  It just feels good to know that if for any reason (and you never know these days) I will be able to put food on our table.

Living vs Existing

So do you ever have those days where you feel like you are just reacting as opposed to acting.  For example, my previous comment about pajama days.  I feel like I am reacting too much. 

One of the areas I would like to improve upon is being more organized and pro active.  I have devised a cleaning schedule.  If I stay on track I only do a little bit everyday instead of taking a long time just putting out fires before company arrives. 

I would also like to have a more organized and educational bonding time with my children ( sorry Katherine you knew they would pop up sooner or later).  I realize that some of the most special moments are the ones unplanned.  I just feel that I have a responsibility as their mother to be teaching them more and learning how to play with them.  It may sound odd that I actually have to put effort into playing but I never have been very good at it.  When I was little I would play grown up.  Not much of an imagination here.  It is funny I don't ever remember playing grown up being so tedious. 

I am realizing that just about all educational and entertaining activities create a lot of work for mom.  If anybody knows of any activities that do not create a lot of extra work please let me know.  Television does not count.

Motivating Change

I would really like to be one of those people who once they recognize a fault in themselves they just change it.  No wailing or gnashing of teeth as they choose to do what is right and not what they really want to do.  James is this way.  No wonder I love and admire him so.

Boy that "natural man"  sure has a strong hold on me.  I really fight change.  Oh why is it so hard to just give in a do what I need to.  Then I wouldn't feel guilty all of the time.  I need to go to bed earlier so I can get up earlier and exercise and try to get some spirituality in my life.  I need to change eating habits so I can resolve and avoid medical problems.  You would think ones health would be motivating force alone.  Oh no, not for me.  Urgh..I am just getting myself frustrated.  You get my gist.  Any suggestions are welcome.

Spending time together

Mondays may become our official hike at Sweetwater creek park day.  Okay, so we have only done this one Monday but it was such a great time.  James happened to be home and rested and the weather was cool but nice so we decided to go.  Evan and Emma had a great time looking for "treasures", Nana would be so proud.  We looked at moss, ferns, lichen, bugs, rocks, trees.  I don't know how far we walked but the little ones kept up pretty well.  We ended up carrying Emma on our shoulders on the return trip.  Evan almost made it all the way back to the parking lot.  He had a great time but he was tuckered out.

 

 

I found some dress-up necklaces the other day.  They have become the toy of choice so you see lots of pictures of Emma and Evan wearing them.  Cross dressing is okay at this age, right?

 

Looking for treasures

Daddy giving Evan rock skipping lessons.  On this throw the rock skipped six times nearly all the way to the opposite bank.  Mommy was very impressed.

 

Good times!!

 

HOMEMADE TUNNELS

On colder days I really struggle coming up with activities to keep the kids from getting too stir crazy.  In a good moment I built a very simple tunnel system.  It took a little while to convince Emma that the fun was in crawling through it rather than jumping on top of it.

Finally I found a good use for the pile of clean clothes piled on my couch, anchoring system for said tunnel structure.

Pure delight

 

Okay, so Emma wasn't the only one with climbing on top of the tunnel issues.  Now if mommy didn't get frustrated continually fixing the "tunnel", Evan and Emma probably enjoyed sinking down on the blanket just as much as crawling through.

SWEET RIDES

The tricycles have been a huge hit.  I am sure they will be loved even more when the kids actually figure out the whole peddling thing.   Evan is wearing the toes out of his shoes from pushing himself around.  His legs are a little long so he looks kind of funny, but he loves the mobility.

 

I Love my family!