Nelson Family 2009

SNOW DAY!!!!

2008-12-17T21:27:00.001-08:00

I WAS GOING TO POST PICTURES OF THE SNOW FALL WE HAD TODAY, BUT THEY JUST DECLARED TOMORROW AN OFFICAL SNOW DAY. EVERYONE IS OUT OF SCHOOL. SO WE ARE GOING TO GET TO PLAY SOME MORE TOMMOROW AND BOBBY GETS A PAID DAY OFF WITHOUT BEING SICK. I CAN NOT WAIT. PICTURES TO COME.

And The Stockings Were Hung

2008-12-12T13:42:00.001-08:00

Here Finally are our Christmas decorating Pictures. These are mainly of just the tree, Bobby's parents came to help us. It made it easy for me to take pictures and film the whole process. Hope you enjoy, and Merry Christmas.

Here is Bobby fluffing.
His Dad redoing Bobby's Fluffing.

Benjamin and Jacob spent most of there time making use of the Christmas Tree box that had just become empty.

Jacob popping out and scaring us all.

We got a pretty good routine going after the boys started to help. Jacob would help Grandma fluff.

Then when they had finished Benjamin would come pick up the fluffed branch...

And Deliver it to grandpa, who would then place it on the tree.

Here we are untangling the lights and making sure they still work.

Benjamin put the first ornament on the tree. It was a lightning McQueen ball his Grandparents gave him .

Benjamin testing the star, before it went on the tree.

Here is Benjamin putting the star on the tree.

And, to be fair here is Jacob taking his turn putting up the star.

Jacob kept putting his ornaments in the same place. I had to keep coming over and moving them because a couple fell off and broke.

Here is hi collection close up.

Here are our stockings.

Idaho

2008-12-10T13:38:00.000-08:00

I do not have a lot of pictures from our trip to Grace, Idaho. My camera battery died the first day we were there. But here is what I got. This was the first time we have gone up there since Grandpa Nelson passed away and it was tough being there without him. But we enjoyed our time with Grandma and the family that was there. Om Saturday we went into Prseton to see the festival of lights parade and I got most of our night on video but have no idea if I can tranfer that to our computer.

All bundled up. This was a new thing for the boys. I think it was in the high 30,s when we were there..
At breakfast.

This was when it got tough. This is Grandpas tractor the boys loved it but would not get on.

I BELIEVE

2008-12-05T09:45:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Tanksgiving

2008-12-04T16:24:00.000-08:00

I can say with out any lies that this Thanksgiving was my best so far. I love thanksgiving and it has always been one of my favorite Holidays. I have enjoyed everyone that I can remember. But this Trumps them all. First, this was my first Thanksgiving that I have gotten to spend with Bobby all day. He has for the last three years been working at Lawry's. Lawry's is open on thanksgiving and Bobby has always had to work. Second, I got to go be with my sister and her family, and her brand new baby girl. I have missed her so much and told Bobby when we left and i quote, "I would move up to Utah and live in the snow, which I can no stand, if I could live next door to her." so here are some of my pictures from my favorite Thanksgiving ever.

Bobby and Joe throwing the football. I guess since they watched the dog show instead of the games they needed to feel manly again.

If you look carefully you can see all the kids and both husbands in this picture.

My delicious food
Erin made dinner. I was supposed to be helping but I was to busy holding Abigail.

Joe doing his part. His put the whipped cream on the pretzel jell-o.

Our Feast

Dessert with forks.

Dessert after the forks were determined unsuccessful.

And Now He Is Three

2008-12-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

For Benjamin's third birthday we have a Pirate Party. He became kinda crazy over pirates since seeing an episode of Sesame Street that has Bookaneers. Here is the two days in pictures. His birthday was on Sunday so we had his party on Monday night.

His birthday breakfast. He wanted oatmeal.

His new outfit for church

Sunday night we had dinner at Bobby's parents. They gave the boys these cars as an early Christmas present a couple of weeks earlier.

They are smashed in this car. Ben wanted to share but not get out.

Jacob got a jeep.

Ben's birthday cake

Just another angle

Bobby's dad dressed for a party!

Bobby got a fire pit so that we could roast hot dogs and have smores.

My mom with the boys

Joey and Kristel (brother and sister-in-law)

Bens first marshmallow

When it came time to blow out the candles he had to have his dragon help.

After everyone had gone we all sat by the fire til it went out.

We left the cooler that we used to put drinks in outside. It did not take long before the boys had found a way to make it fun. They were soaked and cracking themselves up.

Our Halloween in Pictures.

2008-12-02T10:07:00.000-08:00

Better late than never. These are pictures I have finally got on my computer. From now on I should have the pictures with the posts, I finally found out how to do it and fixed our problem.
I will add the thanksgiving one tomorrow and Christmas decorating the next.

Jacob carving his pumpkin

Benjamin attacking his.

I was lucky to get a Picture of them.

We went trunk Or Treating at my moms ward with Jenessa and Her kids.

I am in charge of the treat for our pumpkin carving party this is this years. Witches brew Cake

Thought this was funny. Jacob ate most of the eyeballs of the cake so when we cut into it to eat it it looked like a sesame street monster.

Merry December

2008-12-01T08:03:00.000-08:00

Before I start my December post I have to tell you about our Thanksgiving weekend. We drove up to Utah and spent Thanksgiving day with My little Sis, Pea. She made a delicious meal while I help her brand new baby, and filmed the kids and husbands playing. She I am sure will post pictures soon. On Friday we left my sisters, after shopping of course, and headed to Idaho to visit Bobby's grandma. She made us another Thanksgiving meal. His uncle Steve and his son were there, as well as Andrew and Samantha, his little bro and his Girlfriend. So we all got stuffed again. Friday night we went down to Preston, Idaho for there Festival of Lights Parade. It was so much fun to be in a small town. They take so much pride in everything they do. All of the businesses had a float and went all out to make it unique and festive. They had a fireworks show and a stage with dancers and singers for entertainment all night. After the parade we drove down the streets and into the neighborhoods of Preston and saw Christmas lights. It was so cool, to see all the houses get into the spirit of the Holiday Season. The boys loved it and all night they were saying, "Oh my Goodness!" They would both make sure the other was not missing anything. "Look out my window, hurry see the lights." We had such a great time.

So now for my post.

I married a Christmas baby through and through. Bobby has always loved Christmas, from a very early age he knew that it brought people together and has always loved the family part of the Holiday. His Christmas bug starts about mid September and If I would let him he would probably start decorating then. He really starts pushing for the decorations to go up the first day of November though. I would love to decorate that early as well but I love Thanksgiving and think that it needs it own decor. So, we have decided that we will always decorate on the Monday after thanksgiving. So that is tonight. We are going to have a Family Home Evening Lesson on the first Christmas and try to keep our home centered around Christ. With all the excitement surrounding Santa it is more important them ever. Not impossible though. After our lesson the decorating will begin. Bobby's parents are going to come over and help, as they are Christmas crazy as well. I am so excited for this Month. Me and Bobby have decided to make Christmas more about the whole month of December and the feelings of the holiday, more so than the actual day. We want our kids to know that Christmas and Santa although fun should not be our entire focus for this time of year. We can not wait to start new and continue old traditions. So I say to all Have a Merry December and try to keep the true meaning of Christmas alive and mixed in with all the other excitements of this Holiday Season.

The Best Book Ever

2008-11-20T08:32:00.000-08:00

I have been extremely blessed in my life. I was born into a family that was very active in the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. As a result I have come to love my church and have a strong testimony of all its beliefs. I have read the Book Of Mormon a couple of times and I have been changed because of it. Every time I have read it I have learned so many new things. It teaches love, acceptance, patience, missionary work. It tells the remarkable stories of Nephi and his family leaving Jerusalem. King Benjamin and the best speech of his life. Abinadi who's faith transcends life. Ammon who was a great missionary and his example is to be followed. Captain Moroni who just might be one of the greatest leaders ever. The two thousands stripling Warriors who were so brave at such young ages. My boys I pray will be that strong while fighting there battles on this Earth. the story of Samuel the Lamanite on the city walls. Who was so strong in such a terrifying situation. These stories are so amazing and I know that they are true and were written for our time. I know that Joseph Smith through the power of revelation translated the Book of Mormon. He lived and died so that we could all have this record. I know the Book of Mormon is true and I know that all who read it with an open heart will know the same.

Abigail is here.

2008-11-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

I am going to let her Mom tell you all the details. I will tell you she is 7lbs. 19 in. and I am sure she is glowing and beautiful. She could not have come to Earth to a better family. I love you PEA and Family.

Benjamin and Jacob

2008-11-13T14:53:00.000-08:00

So I am thankful for my boys today. I thought the best way to show you my life with them was to share so me of my favorite pictures, recent pictures, and old pictures. Hope you enjoy and get a little glimpse of how incredibly wonderful they have made my life. They are my inspiration.

Fourth of July. Benjamin loved it this year and even played with sparklers.

Jacob did not enjoy it so much. He fell asleep before the show even started and slept through the whole thing.

We got a small pool for the boys to enjoy this summer. They loved it and lived in it. It was so fun to see them become fear free.

There favorite thing to do was to put a ball under the water and let it bounce up and smack them in the head.

Jacobs favorite toy in our backyard is this trampoline. I swear he is going to be a stunt guy. He is not afraid of anything and the way he jumps is so cool.

I went with my sister-in-law to the Shark Reef with the boys and two of her friends boys. they had such a blast and were goofy the whole time.

Playing with Grandma Nelson. She lets them play with play dough, for hours. She has a ton of cool toys that she has had since Bobby was a boy so they are the cool play dough toys.

Putting on a show for Mom. They love to dance. There imaginations are growing like weeds.They pulled out the markers and just started wailing.

One of those days. The boys got the "marshmallow" cereal and spilled it all over the floor. Benjamin was very proud of his mess.

Jacob wanted to clean it up. He loves to use the vacuum. I think that is why he helped make a mess.

First thing in the morning. They always get up and bring a blanket to this chair and relax in the morning. They like to ease into there mornings, very much like there Mom.

They are best friends. This is just them being silly. They have are toy storage bins over there heads.

Watching for Daddy. They climb up and look for Daddy out the window when it is time for him to be home.

The infamous microwave fire. This is the car Benjamin put into the microwave and started on fire.

Ramdom park pictures

The mission Hills water park. It took us about 45 minutes to convince them to play.

Then this is where they stayed. Just taking turns and very upset when other kids started lining up.

Sunset Park. These swings are the best. My kids feel safe and they swing high.

The fire truck at Sunset park. They would not ride alone. It was both of them or nothing.

Benjamins thinking spot. I find him out here all the time. He is sitting on Bobbys pool trailer. I ask him what he is doing and he says " I just thinkin' mom." Like duh.

Another buddy picture.

Carmel apples with Grandma Lori.

We Are Family

2008-11-12T13:57:00.000-08:00

I am so incredibly blessed to have the family that I have. I have amazing parents, and I have amazing siblings. They are who I am Thankful for today.

My older sis Jenessa helped to raise us. She got the "oldest sister" duties very early in life. My mom had to work and as a result we were home together alone during the day after school. Jenessa tried so hard to get us to clean the house and do our chores so that Mom could come home and not have to. She got a bad wrap form us growing up and I am sure could live the rest of her life without ever hearing, "you are not MOM!" She has grown into an incredible woman. She is a devoted Mom and wife. She would do anything for her kids and husband, and often does. She has been my rock lately. She lets me tag along when she goes to the store, so that I can have some help with the boys, and it makes that experience easier for me. She has came by to watch my boys a number of times when I have been in a jam. Most recently she has been my motivation. She has lost a ton of weight, every time I see her she looks more amazing. I am so proud of her hard work. She has done it by working hard and learning how to eat. And on top of that exercising her butt off, literally. She does a jazzersize class four days a week. She rocks and I love her.

My little sis, PEA. What can I say other than, WONDER WOMAN. Ever since I can remember this girl has not been afraid to try anything. She has gone after ever dream she has ever had. She has been a dancer, an actor, she had taught herself sign language and how to sew, she knows the Book Of Mormon cover to cover. I have always looked up to her and wish I had her strength. She is an amazing mom, and spends all her time and energy making sure her children have fun. She is a great example of a true Woman of God. It radiates from her. I miss her so much and wish my kids knew her better and were able to grow up around her children.

My lil brother Matthew, I think is the strongest of us all. He was raised by four girls and, I think we did a pretty great job. Since he was about 12, (just a guess not sure on the exact age) he has been in and out of the hospital. He was born with a cyst in his brain that from birth tilt hey found it was putting tremendous pressure on his brain and left eye. He was have night terrors growing up, he got headaches. When they found the cyst they thought that they could just go in and remove it and he would be fixed. It was unfortunately not that easy. The cyst had grown with him and was not able to be removed. So they inserted a shunt that went from his brain into his belly that after the cyst was drained half way, would be able to keep it half drained by draining the fluid through the shunt. Problem with this was that is was just hitting his growing stages. He grew out of his shunt a number of times. Each time they had to go back in and adjust the size of the shunt, which meant surgery. Another problem was that the shunt malfunction on numerous occasions. They did not know how to fix these problems without opening him back up and looking at the equipment, which meant more surgery. I think total he had 22 surgeries. The las on being when he had to come home early from his mission and have it fixed again. They were able to this last time finally keep the cyst from filling up and it has remained that way for 5 years now. In the midst of all of this he has remained positive and never let this, any of it from keeping him from what he wanted to do. He fought to serve a mission and although it was cut short he accomplished two years worth of work in the short time he was out there. He was an honorable missionary. Most recently he, as I have mentioned before, got approved to start flight school. He has accomplished one more of his many dreams. I wish him all the success he wants in life. This is just the beginning for him. I am so proud of him. I love him. He has a wonderful wife who has moved across the country to help him accomplish this and I am so thankful for her and her sacrifices to help him accomplish this life long dream. I love her as well.

These are my siblings who I adore and would not be today without. They have made my life a blessing. I love you all.

My Many Michael's

2008-11-06T20:28:00.000-08:00

So, it has been crazy at my house trying to get Benjamin better. This has been the worst asthma attack yet. But, he is well now so I can start blogging again. I am not going to try to catch up with my goal of blogging everyday this month. I am going to just start with today and move forward. Today I am thankful for MY MICHAEL"S!

I for whatever reasons, and mostly due to the fact that my Mom married two, have three Michael's that have influence and impacted my life. One was my Dad, Michael Richard Pender Sr. Two is my step-dad Michael DeMille and the third is my uncle Michael Hallewell.

First my Dad. I have talk about him passing away before and this post is what I am thankful for so we will skip that part. I will say that he passed away when I was three and I have never felt that he was gone. I was felt his love for me as long as I can remember. I do not feel like I am like him very much and wonder if that would be different if he was here. Or would I be the same person I am now. Who knows. All my other siblings acquired of of his many talents. Jenessa my older sister got his beautiful gift of singing. Her voice is gorgeous. My little sister PEA, is like him in every way. She writes and acts. She is funny and social. My little brother got his hair, his love and appreciation for all types of music and his singing voice as well. I feel as though I got his genes thats pretty much it. Would that have been different if he was here to influence me? I know this is not a fair question and could stir up feelings of regret of sorrow. But for me it just adds more excited for the day I am going to meet him, and remember him and finally know what it is that I got from him. I love him so much and miss him everyday. Can you really miss someone that you do not remember. I feel like I know him. I have read his poetry and I have his scrapbooks from throughout his life that I look at regularly. I have gotten to know him through those things. I do not have a memory, any memory of him alive. And, still I feel blessed to have him in my life. I know that I will see him again and spend the rest of forever with him and my family, of that I have no doubt.

My second Michael, is simply Mike to me. He is my step-dad and has been married to my mom for ten years now. It was a rough start for us. We had a hard time blending our two, totally different families. It took me awhile to be conformable talking to him, other than the polite talk coming and going. He has become, however a man who loves my mom. He takes care of her. I respect his opinion and ask for his advice. We have found a place where we are both comfortable and I love him for who he is.

Mt third Michael is my uncle Mike Hallewell. When my father died he jumped in and help my mom with the "fatherly" tasks. He reminds me often that he and my Aunt would take me to church when I was little before they had kids and tell people I was theres. We formed and instant bond for that point forward. He has always been there for me. He came over every year at the beginning of the school year and gave us blessings. He was the Priesthood holder for our family. We knew he would come in a heart beat whenever we needed him. He has listened to my problems and given me advice. He helped us go to EFY during the summer and has strength my testimony of the gospel whenever I have been in his home. I spent many days with his family growing up. He was my example of the kind of Man I wanted to marry and have bless my family. He has helped to make me the person I am today. He still cares for me and I love his hugs whenever I see him.

These are my Micheal's. I am grateful to everyone. They have helped me so much to grow and learn.

For Yesterday

2008-11-05T08:18:00.000-08:00

I was woken up yesterday morning by Benjamin at 630 a.m. I know that sounds normal to all of you but he usually sleeps til about 8. He was coughing pretty bad and it only took me seconds to realize he was wheezing. He has struggled with asthma since he was born and this was the worse one yet. I have a nebulizer and a life time supply of Albuteral here so I started treatments. The first one did not do a thing he sounded just as bad afterwards. So I immediately gave him another one. Sometimes it takes two, and thats what we so at the doctors. They told me last time that I could do this at home before I came in. I waited for the second treatment to finish, and had a little voice say in my head that I needed to take him to the doctor. I instantly thought that this was just the "paranoid mom" I have in my head that visit to make things worse and blurs the image of what I see to make them much worse than they are. I tossed it aside and continued to wait for this treatment to work. Meanwhile Jacob was awake now and wanted some cereal. So, I left Benjamin to finish the treatment by himself, he is a pro and I knew he could handle it. I got Jake some thing to eat and came back to check on Ben. He had finished his medicine and I gave it a min before I started to really listen. Sure enough that little voice was not my paranoid self. It was The Holy Ghost. After two treatments he seemed worse. I called Bobby first, he had a teacher development day yesterday, so he had no kids. He told me that we are given as mothers that intuition and I needed to follow it. If I think it silly or not. I then called my Mom and she told me the same thing. So I made an appointment with his doctor and waited for it to be time. I called at about 11:30 and his appointment was not until 2:30 and it was about 45 mins away from me. It was the longest 2 hrs. of my life. In that time I gave him 2 more treatments and kept him calm and sitting, which was not hard and just confirmed that something must be wrong. every other time before this has happened he has still been a ball of energy I have to try to control and keep from getting to excited. Yesterday he just sat on my bed. He did not want anything to eat or drink. So, i left my house at 1:15 and met Bobby at his school which was about 2 mins from the doctors office. He took Jacob back to work with him for the remainder of his day , which was about 20 mins., and I took Ben to see Dr. Nyarko. We got there about 20 mins. early but the staff was great. The doctor was doing a circumcision and for obvious reasons had to finish. His nurses took over. They checked to O2 level and went to talk to the doctor. The doctor came in quickly after that and explained to me that his O2 level was 94. In order for us to leave the office it had to be back up to 98 or better and if we could not get it under control Benjamin would have to be admitted to the hospital. Benjamin was a trooper through the whole thing and this kept me from breaking down. It is so hard to watch your children so sick. Well, sick at all. We had to do three treatments of a medicine I will not even attempt to spell, but it does the same thing as the Albuteral, but is way stronger. His O2 started to gradually get better and was at 98 at the end of that. They tried to give him a pill so that he would not have to have a shot, but Benjamin was not having it. So he had to get a shot in his leg. This was the worst. He cried for about 5 mins., well he screamed and would not talk to the nurse after she did that to him. He had already gotten two suckers for doing such a good job and the nurse felt so bad that the shot upset him so much, we ended up with a bag of farm animals as well. He finally said thank you after we got the animals and we were free to go. On the way home I got to really thinking about my prompting and all day had not given the thanks I needed for that nudge to go to the doctor. If I had waited any longer and his O2 dropped to 93 he would have had to be admitted to the hospital.

So today, well yesterday, I am thankful for the Holy Ghost. I know that He is real and can be with us everyday if we choose to make him an important part of our lives. I am so grateful that I was blessed to be born into the church and have the knowledge of the Holy Ghost since I was little and then to have received the gift of his presence for always when I was eight and choose to be baptized an d become a member of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter day Saints. I know the Church is true and I am so grateful to have it in my life and to see it blessing my children's lives as well.

WHAT????

2008-11-03T21:43:00.000-08:00

I never thought that I would ever be thankful, to the extent I am anyways for todays gift. Saying that however I am thankful today for television. More specifically PBS. My boys have been sick lately and today it was a down day for them both. Great for me bad for them. They woke up and wanted to do nothing. I have never had this happen. They have both been sick before, Benjamin a lot with his asthma, but they have always had tons of energy anyway. Today all the energy seemed to be sucked right out of them. Do not know if it was the medicine they took to sleep the night before or if there little bodies just knew they needed to get better. They sat on my bed the entire day. I turned PBS on and they watched from 7 a.m. til about 2 p.m. I watched with them in between cuddling them and having Jacob pick a book to read, and doing my household duties but most of the day was spent in front of the television.

What I love most about PBS is first, no commercials. I do not have to continue to check if they are seeing something that there little souls do not need, second they learn while they watch. They interact and respond to questions there brains are still turning as they sit. They do not turn into zombies who are having there intelligence sucked out of them. There shows are smart and aimed at bettering children and making them love reading, activities, and asking questions. (I know at the same time sucking you into there world so you will continue to watch and totally contradicting but hey you go with what you got right?)

So today it is PBS.

Today It Is Washcloths

2008-11-02T15:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my boys were having one of there weird days. Benjamin usually is very independent and loves to be on his own doing his own thing. Yesterday all he wanted was Mom. Jacob was overly whinny and also just wanted Mom. I spent most of the day taking care of them and just giving them what they wanted and needed. At about 630 they both lost it, they started crying and fighting over who got me. I decided that it was a great time for the bath. I got them both in and they asked me for washcloths and we played in the tub for almost an hour. I would have kept them there all night but the water was cold. I am amazed still how the littlest things make them so happy. We spent an hour making storms, cleaning up, and dropping the washcloths in the water to make big slashes. All day I needed something this simple and so that is why today I am thankful for Washcloths.

I Am Thankful

2008-11-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

I have decided that everyday this month I am going to blog about something I am thankful for. I am not promising anything long each day but I am going to make a post each day. Anyone that feels as grateful as me fell free to do the same.

1. I am Thankful for my Husband.

I know easy. But not many people know just how much he does for me on a daily basis. I ma not talking about work, or those things he does to support us. He is my best friend. HE is the only person in my life that continues to have faith in everything I do (aside from my mom). He never gives up on me. If I am having a bad day and take it out on him, he is very quick to be understanding and forgiving. He loves me for the real person I am and he believes in everything about me. He is my rock. He makes me want to be better everyday for him. I feel incredibly lucky to have him forever.

He Can Fly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-10-29T15:21:00.000-07:00

My little brother Matthew just got his approval papers from the FFA. He and his wife, Lauren having been living in Florida for about a year waiting for this to happen. They moved down there so that he could go to the school Delta has there. He submitted an application for approval and was denied. The reason being that he was born with a cyst in his brain and has had to have over 20 surgeries since he was about 12. Well to make a long story short, he appealed it and he just got approval today.

This is so incredibly amazing and I am so excited for him. His whole life he has always wanted to be an air force pilot. He could not join the Air Force because of this whole thing with his head. So he turned to the next best thing. HE has struggled for so long and has come just within arms length of all of his dreams and now one is finally coming true. I love you Matt and Lauren I am so glad your dreams are both coming true.

I Am Grateful For...

2008-10-27T06:58:00.001-07:00

MY LITTLE SISTER PEA!!!!!!!!!!!

We are going up to Utah to spend Thanksgiving with her and her family.
I can not wait. Before we decided to go up there all I could think about was Christmas. Now I have a huge reason to start counting down to Thanksgiving.

Benjamin TAG

2008-10-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

I got tagged by my friend Ashlee. Well Benjamin did.

Name and Meaning: Benjamin William Nelson. We can not name our babies til we meet them. We had a few names in m ind but they flew out the window when we both sat down with Benjamin the day he was born. After a day we decided on Benjamin. William is his dads and grandpa Nelsons middle name. That was decided when we found out it was a boy. Benjamin means Right Hand Son, good for the first born right. We did not know the meaning when we choose it, in fact I just found out.

Age : 2.11

Nicknames : Benamin (Jacob calls him that), Ben, doodlebug.

Favorite Activities : Playing with Jacob, anything you can do outside. Watching a movie he has never seen.

Favorite Foods: Tootsie Rolls, spaghetti, meatballs, green beans, all fruits.

Least Favorite Foods : Any veggies other than green beans. Just found out tonight that he is not so found of pepperchinies.

Favorite Music : I Am A Child Of God, I Am the Champion(from chicken little) the entire soundtrack from chipmunks. Dances to Jason Maraz, and Love inc.

Favorite Toys : Train set from IKEA-inside. Shovel and bucket-outside.

Favorite Book : I Can Fly by Mo Willems. Goodnight moon.

Favorite Item of Clothing : His Incredibles shirt. His daddy is on it, his words.

What Makes Him Happy : Any family member that comes to visit him. Taking care of Jacob, when he can help him stop crying it the best.

What Makes Him Sad : The Pumpkin choo choo. Its the train at the pumpkin patch at sunset station. When Mommy cries.

I tag Ora (ERIN), Madisen (JENESSA), anyone else that wants to or that has a cool meaning for there name.

Help!!!

2008-10-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law bought me some gummy eyeballs to use as cupcake toppers for our Halloween party we have every year at my Sister and brother-in-laws house. Problem is I have no idea how to make them work.

I have thought about just frosting the cupcake and topping it with the eyeball. But thought maybe that was not "ghooly" enough. Then I thought that I would make a one eyed monster cupcake but they eyeball is huge and I do not know if it will work. I am going to try my ideas this week and see what I like, but thought I would let you come up with some ideas and maybe add a little more creativity to the cupcake.

So for all you out there with this gift, and you know who you are, please let me know if you have any ideas that I am just not thinking of.

This is what the eye ball looks like.

Mo Willems

2008-10-17T12:06:00.000-07:00

When Benjamin turned two, my brother and sister-in-law got him a book. When I first went to read it I hated it. Do not get me wrong the book was so cute. Adorable illustrations, cool colors, but I did not like the way it read. It was simple with only a few words per page and frankly I found it boring to read. Benjamin on the other hand instantly loved it. I read it everyday to him and could not figure out why I found it so bland and he found it so fascinating. Then about a week before Matt and Lauren (the gifters) left for Florida they came over to spend some time with us and our boys. Benjamin of course went to get his favorite book and had Lauren read it to him. It was then that I fell in love with this book. She read it they was it was supposed to be read. With life and character. She yelled when the word were CAPITALIZED , read it with the right punctuation?!. She brought the book to life. Now I love it. I love to read it. I love the message which I missed all those times reading it because I was clouded by the fact that it bored me. Now I have read all of this authors bo0ks and I will own them someday. I am still going to collect all of Dr. Suese's books, but Mo Willems is right up there for me right now. Here are my favorites of his.

This has got to be my favorite. It makes me laugh to read. And it is a great story about friendship.

Great story about finding yourself. Best illustrations.

This one was the gift. And is still the favorite of both Benjamin and Jacob.

Pictures

2008-10-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

Bobby and I took the boys to get there pictures taken yesterday. It was our second attempt. Our first attempt was a disaster, and resulted in zero pictures. I was preparing for the same outcome this time around, but we got better results. Andrew the photographer, would not give up. He stayed positive and made the boys feel welcome and happy. I did not get all the shots I wanted but He did get some really adorable shots that captured my kids personalities to a tee. He was a little discouraged when he only got 26 shots to choose from but we sat down any way and this is what I got.

Benjamin's Profile

I love this one. He sits just like that when we are playing. My sister Pea sits that way as well.

This is my Jacob. This picture is his personality. He would not keep his tongue in his mouth.

I could not, not get this one.

This is the only shot we got of them together, with hands out of the mouths and looking forward.

Anyone Know?

2008-10-13T09:34:00.001-07:00

Whenever I add anything to my side bar it does not fit. The Christmas one there now is the olny one that has even come close. Does any one know how to fix this? HELP!!!

I Am A Child Of God

2008-10-07T18:42:00.000-07:00

So for weeks, well since he was born, but more recently weeks, I have been teaching Benjamin I Am A Child Of G0d. The primary chorister wants the nursery kids to join them in the primary program to sing this song. Benjamin does not have the best attention span, or so I thought. Every time we would start to sing it he would stop somewhere in the middle and just change the subject, or want to sing a different song. I was kinda loosing hope that he was going to sing it. But today I was swinging my boys outside and he started to sing it without any cue. He sang the whole thing. I started to cry, I was so proud. Obviously he has been paying attention. He also ask me today if Nephi was the one who built the boat. I feel like I am doing ok now. I feel like on a day to day basis my kids are not learning anything about the gospel. I know that they know who Heavenly Father is and that every night they want to say prayers. But I was feeling like nothing else was sticking with them.

So any of you out there that are having the same experiences, on day out of nowhere your child will surprise you and let you know they get it. Do not get discouraged.

Be Who You Have Always Wanted To Be

2008-10-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

President Uchtdorf's talk in the General Relief Society Conference really hit home for me. I was not going to go to the meeting. The UNLV vs. UNR football game was the same night. For those of you who do not know, UNLV and UNR are huge rivals. Every year we fight for the cannon. Whoever wins the game get to keep an actual cannon on there campus until they either win to keep it or loose it. UNLV has not won in forever but this year they are blowing any previous records out of the water and it is only the beginning of the season. They are playing better than ever. We actually had a chance to win this one and get the cannon back. Well as it goes Bobby was ask to go on a Scout camp out that weekend. I did not want to go alone. So the game was off. No biggie. He thought that he would be home Sat. by 5 so I made plans to go tot he broadcast. Only then I found out that the camp out was not even scheduled to be done til 7 sat. night and its a +- 2 hour drive home. So plans canceled. Or, so i thought. My father-in-law called me when he found out and told me that he would watch the boys for me so I could still go. Now any other night this would have been just another nice offer, but hello UNLV game night. My father-in-law is a huge football fan as well and has all the packages available with cable to see any game at any time. He also has a six-in six picture, which means that he can watch six games at once. I told him that I did not want him to have to miss out on the game. He said the sweetest thing next, and I quote "The game is no big deal, I want you to go, bring the boys over and I will not let you say no." Well what could I say other than be there around 430.

So I got to go. I went with my mother-in-law , Kathy and two sister-in-laws, Kristel, and Kari. (For those that put that together yes, our girls include, Kathy, Kristel, Cristen, and Kari, crazy, i know) To make this night even better Kristel is not a member but wanted to come tag along. Cool part coming later. To top that off we ended up going to Kari's stake and it the same steak my Aunt Dawn and her daughter Megan are in so we all got to sit together. My mom was up with my Grandma, I did not leave her out.

So we all sat and talked until the broadcast started. Kristel had a few questions and we answered and filled her in on who that speakers were, and there "jobs". As I sat there I few things hit home as the Relief Society General Presidency gave there talks. I absolutely loved Sister Barbara Thompson's enthusiasm. She just made me smile.

But I have to say that president Uchtdorf's talk is the one that made me sit up and fill guilty for even thinking about not being there. He is truly a man of God. There is no doubting that he prepared and was instructed by the Lord on what to talk on. I have had the "I feel like I am just not doing enough" conversation with almost every women I know in the church. And all very recent conversations. Relief Society has always been an easy joke, in church meeting, talks, and even the movies made about the church. We tend to go a little overboard. We try so hard to make everything perfect. We want everyone to be touched by what is said, sung and heard. And no matter how wonderful everyone else may think the meeting or activity went, those who were on the committee, or those who gave the talks, always think back and wonder about what they could have changed. I do it all the time. Whenever I have talked in church I go home thinking, oh man, if only I had done this, or said that. I leave Nursery every week thinking about how it can be better next week, and then continuing that thought to , I know someone else could do better.

What makes this all the more crazy, is I do a pretty dang good job. When I really look back I have seven or so kids that remember what they were taught week to week. I have kids that remember the songs that the learned. They are all happy when they go home and happy to come back.

I am prepared and sometimes go to extreme measures to help the kids learn and remember. I think I am pretty fun and I have fun with the kids. I do not get stressed out if one of them feels like walking around instead of eating snack or participating in singing time. I try to include them as best I can and hope that it all goes well. Every week presents a new challenge that I love to solve. I do mess up but from now on I ma going to take it and learn. No more lingering thoughts about ,, "if only I could go back and do it over" That ends today, or should I say ended Saturday night.

I urge all of you to take his message to heart and really think about your individual creativity. Make yourself better on a daily basis. Feed your EGO. And no comparing yourself to anyone else. You are special and our Heavenly Father made you just the way you are. You can accomplish anything you want. Be who you have always wanted to be, but were to afraid to be.

For those of you who are interested UNLV lost, well they got killed by UNR. Game was a bust and I made the right choice.

Back To School, To Get Some Knowledge

2008-09-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

I have had nothing really to blog about lately. My life has been HO-HUM lately. Everything is pretty much the same. Except that.... I get to go back to school.

I am so excited. I am going to go back to get my Dental Hygienist degree, which if I had been on the ball before I got married I would have had it already. But hey can't live in the past you have to just Keep Moving Forward.

It is a two year program but, it will take me about two and a half. I am not going to take a full load each semester, but I can do all the easy stuff online. Now it is Bobby's turn to do my homework for me. I have to take two English classes that I am nervous about, and thats where Bobby comes in. But the pre-calculus and biology classes I am looking forward to. I have a sister-in-law here in Vegas that is a nurse and has very recently taken a lot of the science classes I have to take and has told me she will help me study and give me quizzes.

I love school and learning new things, and I am excited that there is a way for me to continue my education and be a mom. I am not going to start until the spring. So I have time to get my schedule together and work with Bobby so that the kids are always with one of us.

I also have to tell you that I have the coolest husband in the world. He has known that I have wanted to go back and He is just as excited for me. I know that he will be so supportive and help make this as easy as possible for me and our boys.

Nursery, Nursery, Nursery!

2008-09-10T20:25:00.000-07:00

I mentioned awhile ago that I am now the Nursery Leader in our new ward. My job includes, being in charge of our schedule. You see we have eight Sisters not including me, who rotate weeks. This gives all the Sisters an chance to attend Relief Society and Sunday school twice a month. It also keeps us from getting burned out. I have not yet grasped the idea yet though. I love being in the nursery and I would not want to be anywhere else. I think that the kids need some stability and some routine and I think that it is important for them to have a familiar face every week. I can not leave without Jacob crying historically so I have decided to just be the one who is always there. The problem is convincing the other sisters I serve with to let me do this. I have been there for six weeks straight, and although it has not always been easy, I have loved every minute and I do not see myself getting burned out any time soon. I think that as long as I continue to study and pray on behalf on me and the kids I will be able to handle it. We only have eight kids for goodness sakes. Eight good kids for that matter. I guess the problem that the sisters have is that most of them have kids in nursery and they feel that Sunday is there day off. Well the three hours of church anyway, and how dare them have to serve the kids while they are there. I can not get over it. On top of being in charge of the schedule I have to meet with all the Sisters and give them the schedule. Make sure they are ok with it, and then listen as they try to get out of some of the weeks. The craziest part is the most of them only have to be there for one hour. We have so many that I have split it up so that I am there the whole two hours and the other sisters rotate between being there with me the whole time and coming in for the first or second hour. On top of that the Nursery Leader that was in before me, wonderful person by the way, made the schedule so that each week some one different was in charge of welcoming the kids, setting up snacks , and giving the lesson. We also have a great music leader who comes in for about 15-20 mins. and takes over. I do not want to complain anymore, but my goodness, does anyone else see the problem or am I just being a baby. Help me out.

On another note, we just received a new manual from the Church Leaders that is awesome. It is called Behold Your Little Ones and we were given a letter with it to tell everyone with children that it is a great resource to have in the home. I am so excited to teach it, and have the kids enjoy it. Thanks for listening to me grumble.

I Owe It All to " Welcome to Mooseport"

2008-09-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

Bobby and I have been married for 4 years today and I thought I would tell the story of how we ended up together and how he proposed.

As some of you know Bobby and I met in High School. We dated for about 4 months and broke up but remained pretty good friends. When he left on his mission I wrote him and was excited to have him come home. We started hanging our when he got back home but did not start really dating for about a year after he returned. While we were dating each other we were still seeing other people as well. He was always the one I wanted to end up with and I was very patient waiting for him to fell the same way. well there came a point in time when I was done waiting. I knew he felt the same way about me that I felt about him but he was still running from it. Typical guy right.

I told him I was done waiting and the easiest thing for me to do was just make a clean break and not see him anymore. But, of course it was not that easy. We had a class together at school with a friend of ours, Chad, not his real name but he plays a part in the story. Chad and I had the class together and then met Bobby at the lab attached to the class after. We all sat together and it got awkward after the fight between Bobby and I but we were all civil and still had a good time. During this period of no Bobby Chad and I became closer friends. He was there for me and listened. He was an amazing friend, but he was not Bobby. I knew that if Bobby asked me and we could work everything out, I would go back to him in a heartbeat.

About 1 month of Bobby asked me if we could be friends again. That he knew why I felt like I had to leave, but he missed me and wanted me back in his life. I told him yes and we started hanging out again but only as friends, and on February 27, 2004 everything changed. We along with Chad, and Bobby's parents, went to see Welcome To Mooseport, a great movie that I highly recommend. For those of you who have not seen it, it is about a guy played by Ray Ramono who has been with his girlfriend for years and has not stepped up and asked her to marry him. She wants to marry him but is not willing to wait for him to be ready anymore and so When the ex-President of the United States moves back to Mooseport, she decides to let him take her out. So here is Mr. Ramono watching his girl slip away and into the arms of another man who treats her the way that she deserves and he realizes that she is worth fighting for, and no matter what she tells him, and how many times she tells him to go away, he is going to fight for her until he wins. So here we all were watching this movie. Me in the middle of Bobby and Chad wathcing a movie loosely based on the past couple of weeks of my life. I am sitting there hoping that Bobby is getting the message while I am watching this love story unfold on screen. I even go as far to say a prayer that he will get it.

Well he did and not long after that we were dating again, this time it was serious and we were on our way to marriage. Little did I know it was closer than I thought. You see while Bobby and I were not talking He had a lot of time to think about what caused him to act the way he did. He was afraid. He had lost his job, because he broke his foot and it put all his plans on hold. He could not support me any more. So in turn he felt like he had to keep me at arms length so I would not expect anything right away. As a result I thought that a proposal was only going to come after he had a job. So I was once again waiting but this time I knew what was going to come. And I had never felt more loved.

On May 19, 2004 Bobby called and asked me if I wanted to go out to eat with some of our friends and then go hang out with them. He came to pick me up and we went to eat. We went out with Andrea and Prasith, they were newly married and were so fun to be with. The whole night the conversation revolved around when Bobby and I were going to make it official. Bobby quickly changed the subject and we moved on. After dinner we went to see Nick, another freind of ours who had just gotten engaged. As we were sitting at his house, Andrea and I were talking on the couch and the boys were having a different conversation at the table. I overheard Nick say that Bobby was now the last to get engaged and when that was going to be. I kept listening hoping to get a clue, but Bobby just said "No, we still have James, and he is not even close." There went any hope for a wedding in the near future. We had a great night and left our friends and Bobby started back to my house. It was still early though and my curfew(yes I was 23 but still at home, and I love my mom) was 12. I decided that it might be fun to drive up and around the lake and just hang out a little longer. Bobby just smiled and agreed. We ended up parking and getting out at the lake overlook. We sat on the wall there and talked for awhile, then it started. Bobby turned to me and said, and I quote " Cristen, what do you want out of this relationship?" I gasped and said "you know, what I want, we have been over this tons of time." I got defensive because he asked me this at least once a week and it was very clear how I felt. He ignored my frustration and just looked me right int he eyes and said "I know but what do you really want out of this" now having asked me this as I mentioned about a hundred times already he knew what my response would be and I did not disappoint. I looked him straight back in the eyes and stood up to stand and face him, to make sure he really understood and said " All I want is to be with you forever." He took his hand from behind me and said " I guess you will need one of these then." He held up a box, with a ring in it. And I started laughing. Yes you read that right, I laughed. I could not believe this was happening. I was truly shocked and all I could do was laugh. I felt so bad when I looked and saw terror on his face and tried to compose myself. I apologized for laughing, told him I was just shocked. He then said "Cristen Pender, will you marry me" and I started laughing again. I put my hands on his face kissed him and yelled yes. All the while I was still laughing. I reassured him that the laughing was out of my control and that it was just the total shock that was laughing. Needless to say I was ecstatic and we were married 4 months later. He is my best friend and I love him to pieces. I can not imagine myself with anyone better. He is a great father and a superb husband.

Say A LIttle Prayer For Me

2008-08-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

As you can see from the Countdown's I placed to the right, my boys birthdays are coming up. What some of you may not see is that for two months I am going to have two, two year old boys. HELP!!!!! Jacob has already started with his attitudes, he is saying no and talking back. I think that he thinks that timeout is worth it. That whatever he did to get there is worth the time sitting in the timeout chair. Benjamin luckily is on the other side of two and is calming down just a bit and understanding that maybe the timeout corner is not always worth the minute of fun he had driving me crazy. I do not know what is is about two that makes them so smart all the sudden. They know that if they can get me to laugh then the punishment is easier. And it does not take much to make me laugh with these two. The following are just a few things that they have done recently.

1. While I was showering this morning Ben thought that maybe it would be fun to nuke a car. in the microwave. The MICROWAVE. Luckily I was out of the shower when the fire started, yes the fire. He came running in my room yelling Cristen, there is a fire.

2. Earlier this week Jacob decided that the bathroom was the ideal place to play. Of course he can not play in his bathroom, where his bath toys are and there is a very good sink with water. He decided to play in mine. So I come to the bathroom because I hear water running and he has flooded the bathroom. sitting in the sink is all my makeup. Open and wet, and needless to say ruined. It gets better though. He then as I was cleaning up got out of the bathroom with my powder and played with it on my carpet and down the hall.

3. Again in my bathroom Benjamin and Jacob found my colorstay lip gloss. Of course they could not have found my ordinary lip gloss, they have to search through all my stuff, shoved under the sink in containers for the one lip gloss I own that does not come off. They put it on there faces, my walls, and my sheet in the bedroom. I was scrubbing lip gloss for an hour.

I know you are all thinking where are you when this is all happening. I am thinking the same thing. It only takes them a second to cause this much destruction. I could just be in the bathroom, or changing laundry over, doing dishes. They just wait for the perfect moment to strike and have at it.

I do not want to write a whole blog about how crazy my kids are without saying that they are the best thing that has happened to my life, since Bobby. They are everything to me and I love my job. I love being here for all the good and all the bad experiences and would not change any of this at any time. I like to look at these stories and laugh. Which I do a couple of months after they have happened I open there journals and read what we went through. There are so many more good experiences than frustration ones and it definitely makes this all worth it when your two year old tells you He loves you, or "luv ooh" as Jacob says. Every moment is precious to me and I hope that it does not pass to quickly.

I Just Have to Take A Minute To Brag

2008-08-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

First off I have to say that my camera is not connecting to my computer for some reason so one of these days you will get the pictures that go with these blogs. For now just use your imagination.

Well like many families across the country today was Bobby's first day of School. He finally has is own classroom. He is in charge. On Saturday, we took Benjamin and Jacob to see where there Daddy worked. It was so awesome. They were so astonished I think because I tell them that Daddy goes to work but now they got to see it. They were climbing on the desks, and under the desks. It was fun.

Got a little sidetracked, sorry. Bobby, well now, Mr. Nelson is teaching at Peterson Behavioral School. He has kids from the surrounding schools in our district that have been expelled for various reasons. They are sent to his school and have to pass the program with at least a "D" average, and then are admitted back into the district again. He right now has a total of 14 students, that are dispersed between 7 class periods. They get busier as the year goes on but the classes remain small. What I am going to brag about is the fact that he came home today and had not one bad thing to say about the students. He was prepared I think to really have some trouble, because of what his co-workers have told him. They (his co-workers) never once called the kids they teach students. They chose more colorful ways to describe them, things that I will not even type. When our family came over tonight to celebrate the first day of school He told everyone that these students had just made a mistake, that the ones that really want to try are good kids. I know he will connect with some of them for that reason alone. He has one student who does not care, but he does not cause any problems so far, so Bobby just lets him be. I am sure he will ask him everyday for his opinion and try to get him to contribute to the class, He would never give up on him like some of the other teachers have.

The craziest part is that Bobby is choosing to teach becuase he loves it. He has other businesses that can provide for us, and be expanded. He loves what he is doing and loves making a difference.

He is where I know he will excel. He can help these kids not only get through this but leave positive about school and learning.

The only down fall to this job is that the school is in BFE. It is literally the farthest point you can get away from Henderson. If he likes it we will move that way. We have friends out that direction so I will not be all alone but far from My mom, and Sister. But if he is happy I will be.

My Talk

2008-08-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

So I went to post my talk last Sunday and Bobby had deleted it on accident so I am just going to give you a summary. So here it goes.

About Us...
Bobby and I met when we were 15 when our wards were split to make a new one that we both ended up in. The first week in our new ward Bobby walked in and the only thing I saw was his face, and that was because he had an ugly black eye. He came in and told a story about how he got in a fight at a concert and the other guy had to be taken to the hospital. I later found out that there was no fight and he got hit in the eye by a stage diver at a, get this, Gravity Kills concert. Well a few months later it was my birthday, I was turning 16 and was having a date party. All of my girl friends were older and were bringing a guy and I was going to do the same. That is until my date got grounded and could not come. This all happened the morning of my party and I was just going to go by myself. I was ok with it. I new all my friends dates and would have had a good enough time, but my sister would not let this happen so she called Bobby's mom to find out if he wanted to come. She volunteered him to go because he was still on his way home from a scout camp out. She told us to just come get him he would be ready. So here I am shy already and coming to pick up a guy that said he got in a fight at a concert, and he has no idea we were coming. I had no idea if he was going to be mean or nice or what. We went ice skating and he had never been but did not let that stop my fun. He just put on the skates and pretended he was a pro. We fell a lot but laughed a ton. And that is when I feel in love with his sense of humor and him. We dated after that for about 4 months because we did not want to get to serious. We remained really good friends and he was always there for me when I needed him. Bobby went on a mission in 2000-2002. He served in Birmingham, England. About a year after he got home we started dating and then we were married in 2004. Benjamin joined our family shortly after that in Nov. of 2005 and then Jacob came even faster and was born in Aug. 2006.

We were asked to speak on covenants today and when I first heard our topic I was ecstatic. I was thinking that it would be so easy for me to speak about. I am no stranger to covenants. I have been baptized and have gone through the temple. I am sealed to my husband. Easy right. No not so easy. But I finally decided to speak about my own experiences with covenants and share my experiences and why I choose to follow them and why I chose to make them in the first place.

I remember growing up there were things that were always expected of me. I along with my siblings were to do chores, go to school, we were expected to do our best. Those same standards were set for our church activities and attendance. We were expected to get up and go to church with no complaints, we read scriptures and said prayers as a family, and were challenged to do the same on a personal basis. My mom taught us well and so when I had my interview to be baptized with our Bishop I can remember it like it was yesterday. I remember that the choice to be baptized was completely mine. My mom was not there coaching me. she had sent me in there the best prepared I could be and was hoping that I would make the right choice but could not make it for me. I choose to be baptized because I knew that the church was true, and I knew that this would get me to where I wanted to be and this was the first step to return to our Father in heaven.

It wasn't until years later that I realized that this was not the first step and this was not the first decision I had to make on my own. A long time Ago I was standing in the pre-exsistance and had to choose to follow Jesus Christ or Satan. I choose on that day to Follow our Savior and thus I chose to come to Earth and do the same here. We all made that same choice. It is evident because we are all here on Earth. Whether or not we were born into the church or have since become a member or mission started in the pre-earth life.

So I was baptized and choose to become a member of the church and made promises with our Heavenly Father and in return I got the gift of the Holy Ghost.

I reviewed the covenants we make at baptism and used the book Chances are you will be exhaulted for that. Just review that sacrament prayers for the same review.

I went on to talk about Temple Covenants.

Elder Russell M. Nelson said this regarding the Endowment:
"In the Temple we receive an endowment, which is literally speaking a gift. We need to understand the spiritual significance of it and the importance of keeping the sacred covenants and obligations we make in receiving this gift. Each temple ordinance is not just a ritual to go through; it is an act of solemn promising. The temple endowment was given by revelation. Thus, it is best understood by revelation, vigorously sought with a pure heart. President Young explained that your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, and gain your eternal exaltation."

this is an amazing promise that we make. The part that stands out the most for me in this quote in where it says, "vigorously sought with a pure heart."
I was reading through this talk on my way home from St. George with my Litle sister and we were talking about this part of my talk and she made a great point that I am going to share with you. We read in D&C 82:10 I the lord am bound when ye do what I say... The Lord is bound top keep his end of the deal but so are we. We are bound to keep those promises we made and if we are not doing that vigorously and with a pure heart then how are we to expect Heavenly Father to do the same. Luckily we have a Father in heaven who knows us. He knows our weaknesses and he knows our hearts. He knows when we are doing all we can and when we are just sliding by. He knows when our hearts are in it and when they are not.

I have been very aware and have always had a great appreciation for the temple covenants
from a very young age. My family being sealed has been the biggest blessing in my life. My father and older brother were taken from us when I was just three years old. My mom taught from then on the importance of being a "forever family", is what she would call us. She told us that we would have our turn with them. And I know that is true and as my family grows and as Bobby and I have been blessed with children I am even more grateful for this blessing. I am so grateful that Bobby and I were doing the right things and were married in the temple. I am so grateful that Bobby was worthy to take me there and continues to take me back. so that we can be a forever family as well.

I know that it mat seem hard and for some of you I know the feeling is that you are not doing enough. But you need to trust in the lord. because you have and are continuing to make the right choices you will be blessed.

Sorry if this is a jumble of thoughts I tried to get all I could back.

How Cool Is This

2008-08-18T12:45:00.000-07:00





Found this while playing on the internet thought is was
pretty cool so I wanted to share. IF you click on it
you can go make your own and see mine bigger.

Random Pictures

2008-08-15T10:39:00.001-07:00

I have been going through picture s for the last week trying to get them all organized so taht I could start scrapbooking again and I though t I would share some fo my favorites with you. Hope you enjoy.

Me and my beautiful Mother.
Me and Bobby at my family reunion in 2004
Me and my cousin Brittney H. on Christmas Eve 2004

Me, Matt (my lil bro) and Erin(my lil sis) on Christmas Eve 2004. We get a new pair of jammies every year

Me and my sis-in-law Kristel in California. The Nelson girls all get together to make flower arrangements for our friends for the holidays. This was both of our first year going and we had a blast.

Lindsay, Me, Matt, and Brittney at the Latimer family reunion 2004

Jacob my youngest, this is how he always is. Just happy to be here.

First time he enjoyed the bath was in the sink.

Jacob
So tired, the only time he stayed in this for more than a minute.

Benjamin and Jacob
Best Buds from day one. they will always be friends.

Benjamin
He climbed behind the chair and couch to get this snack he dropped and got stuck. He did not care until he was done eating that he was stuck.

One of my Favorite pictures of my boys. They used to sit and play on the blanket forever.

It has been 4 1/2 years.

2008-08-05T18:17:00.000-07:00

Holy Cow! I can not believe it has really been that long. Bobby and I are speaking in church on Sunday for the first time together ever. We have been married almost 4 years and I have not talked in church since before we were engaged. I am so nervous but excited at the same time.

Call me crazy or weird, whichever you choose but ever since I saw and listened to the first new couple in our ward when I was a teenager I got so excited for the time that I would get to do that. Tell everyone how we met, and introduce our kids, make people laugh, I can not wait. I know i know I am a big goober but hey, I am excited.

Other good news is that our topic is covenants. I am excited to study and learn more about them and also excited that I am familiar with the topic. I have always dreaded talking on sin, or challenges we face in life, because I am pretty straight forward about how I feel about that I am so afraid I would offend people. I would hate to do that.

Well, wish me luck, I will let you know how it goes.

My First Starting Tag

2008-07-22T18:48:00.000-07:00

ABC MeMe

A- Attached or Single: Attached…
B- Best Friend: Bobby, of course.
C- Cake or pie: Does cupcake count as Cake.
D- Day of Choice: Sunday…I get to have Bobby all day and usually get a nap.
E- Essential Item: Chapstick, more specifically softlips
F- Favorite Color: Red
G- Greatest Accomplishment: There is a tie between being Sealed and having my boys.
H- Hometown: Las Vegas
I- Indulgences: Diet Coke
J- January or July: January, hello its my Birthday
K- Kids: 2 boys Benjamin and Jacob
L- Life is incomplete without: My three boys
M- Marriage Date: September 4, 2004
N- Number of Siblings: 2 brothers, 2 sisters
O- Oranges or Apples: Apples
P- Phobias or Fears: Moths, I can kill a spider but jump on the couch when I see a moth. And yes I know that they fly.
Q- Quotes: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present. –Kung Fu Panda
R- Reason to Smile: We are still getting Pools, money for the summer $$$
S- Season: Winter, Cool weather, snow, Blankets, Fires, Christmas
T- Tag 5 friends: Pea, Lindsay and Trent, Bri, 1^st Daughter, Smee
U- Unknown fact about me: I want Twins, one girl one boy
V- Very Favorite Store: Its online, Wilton
W- Worst habit: Biting my fingernails, 27 years now and it still drives me crazy that I do it.
X- X-ray or Ultrasound: Ultrasound for sure. They show me my babies.
Y- Your favorite food: My moms Homemade Tacos. I eat them with meat, ketchup and tomatoes. They are the best.
Z- Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Team Edward or Team Jacob

2008-07-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

This has been a topic for descussion whenever I get together with My mom and sister, Jenessa. We have all, along with most who read this blog, been obsessed with the Twilight series. Jenessa is counting down the days until Breaking Dwan comes out and has bought a shirt to wear, while she and her sister-in-lwas wait in line at midnight for there copies.

So the question i want to throw out there is whose team are you on. Jacobs or Edwards. Or in other words who do you want Bella to end up with. I have not made up my mind but My mom and Jenessa are on team Edward. They think that is love for Bella is selfless while Jacobs is selfish. Edward worned bella from the begining that she needed to stay away from him. He has always been concerned for her and her well being as far as to be protective of her soul. Jacob on the other habd is wild and crazy. He could loose control at any moment and hurt Bella, and not only that he could imprint on anyone else at any time leaving her all alone.

My mom has an issue with Edward being cold but feels like she is safer with him. He has had more practice with control and is trying to be the best part of himself. While Jacob is still learning to keep control but he is warm bodied.

So whose team are you on, who do you want Bella to end up with and why?

Update

2008-07-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

I have not posted for awhile because I have been concerned about posting pictures and keeping updated. I figure now that, that is out the window. So I am starting fresh.

I just got called to be the Nursery Leader in our new ward. Suprisenly I am so excited about it. I think that Henvenly Father knows that where my heart truely belongs and thats why I was placed there even though my mind kept saying, "what are you thinking Nursery, I have to boys that age at home and now I am going to have more on the only day I considered a beak" But deep down my heart belongs with those kids. They are at such an important age in life and turely question everything. I am excited to get them to learn and love the scriptures and know the Hevenly Father loves them and is there for them. I am excited to watch there little testimonies grow with each week and hope that I can do my very best. I have already read three Ensign talks about teaching our children and have started the book, "Teaching No Greater Call".

Bobby was just called to be in the Young Mens Presidency as the first counselor. He is excited to get to be involved in the scouting program and even more excited to go camping and fishing with them. He has a tight schedule while finishing his last class in school but everyone is super nice and he is going to get to be flexible until its over.

I am back. For a Minute.

2008-06-12T13:12:00.000-07:00

Yea we finally got our internet back up and running. What a joke it was. I thought that we would have no problems transitioning from one place to another but I guess that this being 2008 is not a huge thing after all. We were going to sign up with cox and get everything; TV, telephone, and internet but the STINK. They WOULD not, I emphazine would because the could but chose not to, transfer our business numbre to the new place because, get this, they have already moved it once. How Stupid is that. In order to have cox we would have to move our number from the old place to the new place using Embark, then have an account with them for a month beforecox would then take over. So needless to say we just went to Embark and now they are getting our money. Too bad cox.

We are pretty much settled into our new place, and I love it. I have almost all of my pictures up so it really feels like home. Benjamin has been testing his freedom since our arrival and I am winning the battle. He found a way to flood my kitchen using the "shower" as he called it to drench everything and leave an 1/2 inch of water on the floor. I have never been that upset with him. He had to sit in time out for most of the time it took me to clean up. My mom had to come bring me extra towels because I do not own enough to clean up that much water. We had to move the fridge and the oven leaked for about twelve hours. It was an experience and Benjamin dioes not touch any water faucet in this house without me right there with him. He will not wash his hands by himself before dinner. I think I made my point.

Jacob loves having a place to be loud and run. He loves following Benjamin around and helps get into trouble but even in timeout he is smiling. I think I need a new method for him.

Bobby has one class before he can recieve his actual diploma but is interviewing with a couple of schools in the next couple of weeks. I am so proud of him. He walked on May 17 and I will post pictures as soon as I get all that working.

I am great and so happy I keep asking Bobby for another baby. Its not possible for another year but hey I can ask. I am close to my family and love being able to have them just drop by because I am that close.

We are off the Clifornis for the weekend. Any of you who live in or near Hemet I am going to be there Saturday. I am going to go see Grandma-pa Pender so let me know if you want to swing by or I can swing by. I am not sure where everyone is. After that I am off to help out PEA, my little preggo sis for a week them I will be back and blogging like no ones business. See you then.

I AM RETURNING SOON

2008-06-05T19:55:00.001-07:00

We just moved into our own place in Henderson. (close to my mom) But we do not have the internet yet. We have had some problems getting a carrier all of which I will tell you about when we finally get hooked up. So I will see you soon.

Scroll Down

2008-05-24T18:27:00.001-07:00

I wrote a new post about a month ago and saved it. I went to post it today and it posted where it it would have if I posted it the day I wrote it. So please scroll down to the post called

I GET THEM FOREVER

and enjoy.

I am so excited

2008-05-06T17:13:00.000-07:00

So it is 5 days and counting til Bobbys graduation and our fist vacation in almost three years. We have had a couple of over nighters and have gone places with our boys but this is going to be a four day three night VACATION, to Phoenix, AZ. So today I am going to make a list of what I am looking forward to the most while I am away.

1. NO LAUNDRY. Can not wait fo this I do at least 2 loads a day and usually more.

2. I GET TO SLEEP TIL I CHOOSE TO WAKE UP. No waking up to crying boys, I guess there is still a chance of having to wake up to a crying husband but I'll take it.

3. I GET TO DO WHATEVER I WANT TO DO. All you moms and wifes out there know that once you get those titles it is all about everyone else. And as much as I am sure you all love it as much as me it is nice to get a break for every once and awhile.

4. I GET TO SEE THE LOOMIES. My aunt Lora and Uncle Keith live in Arizona and I get to see them. I think this is what I am looking forward to the most.

5. I GET TO MEET AND REALLY GET TO KNOW THE OWENS. Formally a LOOMIE, Lindsay got married about 1 year ago and her and her husband Trent live in Arizona as well. I have not gotten to really spend muvh time with the and can not wait to see them together.

6. I GET TO EAT AT A FAMOUS EATERY. Well two actually. Me and Bobby love the food network show, Diners, Drive-ins, and dives. two of our ultimate favortie and in the Pheonix area and we are going to go out of the way to visit them.

Mom's Day

2008-05-06T01:14:00.000-07:00

My mother is my best friend. Without her I would not be who I am today. She raised me and my three siblings alone. My father was taken way to soon and on top of losing the love of her life along with her oldest son she still remained strong. She never questioned what had to be done. She just jumped in and did it. She has worked everyday since then for us. She has been my strength. I call her almost everyday still, now that I have my own family I still have those moments when all I need is my "mommy". She is non judgemental, understanding, and knows me better than anyone else. When I am having a problem I never question where to turn for advice. She gives me fair and not always what I want to hear advice. She is always there to make me better. A better mom, a better sister, a better wife, just simply a better person. She along with my Father have given me the best gift of all. An eternal family. Thanks to there examples and teaching not only do I get to spend forever with them but also forever with my true love and my beautiful boys. I could have never been the mom, wife, sister and person I am today with out her. She tells me the truth even if it hurts. She takes my husbands side if I am being unreasonable. She tries to make me a better person everyday. I love that I get to pass this knowledge onto my children. I just hope I can do it justice and be as selfless as she has and continues to be. I want to be just like her when I grow up.

Scripture Journal

2008-05-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

Late last year Bobby and I went out on a date and left our kids with Mary Hallewell. It was a Monday night so when we returned to pick them up the family was in the middle of there Family Home Evening lesson. And lucky us. They were sharing there favorite scriptures and telling why it was there favorite and how they apply that scripture to themselves. At the end of the lesson My aunt Nancy Hallewell challenged all of them to start keeping a journal and finding a scripture on every page that stuck out to them and write it down and explain how it related to them. I thought this was such a cool idea I started on myself. My goal is to write a scripture journal every year. I think it will be so cool to look back in a couple of years at all of them together and see which scriptures changed and how I changed through the years as well. A couple of my favorites this year are:

Jacob 2:18 But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.
I love this scripture because there is no doubt what the lord is asking us
to do. So many times I think how lucky I would be to have no money problems
and to have money to do everything I want and need to do. And to often I
how many, more important, blessings I have in my life.

Mormon 1:8 And my prayer to God is concerning my brethren, that they may once again come to the knowledge of God, yea, the redemption of Christ; that they may once again be a delight some people.
I have a few members in my family who are not active, and for whom I pray
for everyday to come back. I also find myself praying for the world as it
gets more, and more destructive. How wonderful it would be if everyone
found the light of Christ.

He Trusts Us.

2008-04-28T19:38:00.000-07:00

So Bobby is two weeks from being done with school and we are getting more and more excited with every passing day. I can not wait to move out and have a place of my own and he can not wait to just be done.

One that note we have been trying to decide where to move. Do we stay in Vegas? IF we do do we settle in Henderson so I can be close to my family, or do we move far from everyone and have a fresh start where nobody knows us? Or do we move completely far away to ARIZONA of all places, where we have some family and still get a fresh start?

We have been talking and praying and talking and praying for months and have narrowed down to Arizona or Las Vegas. That was a joke for those who did not catch it. We can not decide and we have gotten no definite this is it answer. Well that was until yesterday.

I was sitting in Relief Society all alone, which never happens, I usually have one of my kids. We were having a lesson on eternal perspective and how we seek to obtain it. We got on the subject of prayer and answers to them. And I got my answer. I was sitting next to Sister Miller who I am sure has no idea here comment was meant for my ears. She said that we can receive three answers to our prayers, 1. A Yes, which means Go for it you made the right choice, YEA you. 2. A No, which means Woo, hold it Go Back Go Back you need to start over and try again. 3. No answer, which I used to take as a You asked the wrong question or went about it all the wrong way. But as Sister Miller continued their it was. I was hit in the head. I knew all that she had said already so I thought that the next part would be more or less the same I had already heard. But she said that when we receive no answer that the Lord is putting his trust in us, now i know that the Lord trusts us to make our own decisions. If he did not we probably would not have agency and who knows what else but I had never heard it is plainly put and never put in the form of an answered prayer. So there it was the answer I have been searching for and the reason we have not made a decision. We are going to take it one day at a time and see where our cards fall. IF all goes well when we sit Arizona in a couple of weeks that will be our destination. Or if he gets a job here that we can not pass up r he feels really great about we will stay here and move close to his school. As soon as I know you will. I am hoping for Arizona in case you were wondering.

I get them Forever

2008-04-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

I am posting this a day early because we are moving, and I may not have access to my computer tomorrow. I have also change my first song on my playlist in memory of them. This is not intended to make you sad but help you all remember them and who they were. Please share your thoughts and memories as we remember Michael Richard Pender Sr., and Michael Richard Pender Jr.

On this day in 1985 my Father and oldest brother were in a car accident that took there lives. I was three and at the time could not even begin to comprehend what death meant or what it even was. Throughout the years I struggled with the way to handle the emotions I felt as the reality of growing up without a Father manifested itself. I never got angry. I never felt terribly sad. I from very early on never really felt like I lost them. I struggled with this while my sisters and brother would talk about how life would be different if he was here and if they never left us. I am sure that is true but I never had those feelings. I did not understand unitl the day I was married why it was so easy for me to put those emotions aside and not grieve them. I was kneeling across the alter looking into my future husbands eyes. He was looking at me with a smile on his face and as we both said yes I looked into the mirror behind him and there standing in the room with us was my father Michael R. Pender Sr. and standing next to him was my brother Michael R. Pender Jr. It was then that all the emotions I had felt throughout the years came flooding back and i knew. This life is a blib in the whole scheme of things. I get them forever. Now do not get me wrong. I miss them terribly and cry when I miss them or feel them near. Whenever I feel lonely or lost or happy I feel them with me. I never have had a day go by that they have not been with me. Its crazy to because I do not remember them. They re in my memory the way they looked in 85. But I feel that they are still here everyday and when I need a friend or have a moment when I need my Dad he is there.

Please help me remember them and celebrate not only them in this life but that we all get to live together with them again and share all the memories we made together hear and make new ones with them in eternity.

YES!! She is my Favorite.

2008-04-22T15:34:00.001-07:00

You Are Ariel!

Headstrong and fiesty. You have a mind of your own that's full of romantic dreams about the world around you. Exploring exotic places is your ultimate dream, and although you can be a little naive you'll realize that there is something to be gained from your family's wisdom.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

63 Things To do with my Kids.

2008-04-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law stole an magazine on her last flight because it had an article she read and thought of me. She gave it to me last night and it was awesome. It is a list of 63 things to do to get wild with your kids. I loved them all and am going to do them all over the course of my children's life. I will post my success as I go and let you share in our adventures with us. Here is the list if anyone else is interested. Its fun and it made my mind spring off into a spider web creativity effect and I can add more as I go.

1. Run a marathon. I am definitely going to do this we run everyday and can not wait to run a marathon with my family.
2. Destroy a toaster. When your old one needs to be replaced let your kids experiment with the old one. Take it apart with them to learn how it works.
3. Screen silent movies.
4. Build a super sand castle. they have workshops to teach you how in South padre Island.
5. Vote. Have your kids go with you when you vote teach them young about its importance.
6. Walk off the edge of the Grand Canyon. They have that new see-through glass sky walk.
7. Get old school. Show them you high school year books and let them laugh at you and your clothes.
8. Pull Taffy. We used to do this with my Grandma and I loved it. I can wait to make it a tradition in my home.
9. Tour the world in a trio of American cities. Chicago's Ukraine Village. Washington D.C.'s Little Ethiopia, and Anaheim's Little Gaza.
10. Do lunch. Take you child out of school and take them to lunch with just you and them.
11. Crack Cascarones. They are confetti filled egg shells. Just break of the top portion of an egg. Pour out the eggs contents. Let them dry. Decorate the egg shells as you wish. Fill egg with confetti. Cover hole with tissue paper. Them have a egg-static time throwing them around.
12. Camp out. In your backyard. Pitch a tent and enjoy the stars.
13. Go guerrilla. Commit random acts of kindness anonymously.
14. Get lost in a snow globe. Make your own family version of a giant snow globe. Instructions can be found at hgtv.com
15. Got to work. Let you children see what you do for a day.
16. Explode a volcano. Just a little baking soda and Kaboom. eshow.com has step-by-step instructions.
17. Discover planet Earth. Watch the 11 part series over the course of a couple of weeks.
18. Go puddle jumping.
19. Make a portable height chart. in case you do not live in the same place forever. Our is a piece of 4x4. The magazine suggested a piece of felt.
20. Score a pro baseball. Or at least try to. Do not just try to catch a fly ball ask the players to give you a ball when sitting there watching the game.
21. Make pizza. let you kids do whatever and add whatever they want to the pizza of there choice. Let them be creative and enjoy finding out for themselves why we do not eat, pepperoni with chocolate and jellybeans.
22. "Get" money. Teach you kids young to save and pay tithing or share, there money. Have three piggy banks and label them. Tithing, Spend, Save. Teach them and let them decide what to pay to each.
23. Make snow angels.
24. Read kid classics. My uncle Mike and his family read a t least one book a month with the whole family and would read before scripture study. It was so cool and fun to be there and enjoy in the family time together. It also instilled a love of reading in most of there kids.
25. Give piggy back rides.
26. Pitch in. Volunteer to help clean up your city or town. There are a tone of ways even in the smallest of town.
27. Stuff a time capsule. include not only important things for you at the time you make it but write a note to yourself about why you liked those specific things.
28. Make a tasty breakfast in bed. For mothers and fathers day let your kids help make breakfast and jump into bed with you to enjoy the meal. Isn't that what we are celebrating on these days. HELLO!
29. Swim with the dolphins. Find the closest place to you on the web.
30. Build an obstacle course in your backyard.
31. Get carded in D.C. The book City walks with kids is a book with double sided cards with fun things to do in D.C. centered around kids. The book is by Chronicle books.
32. Watch Julie Andrews. Or whoever your favorite kid friendly actor was at there age.
33. Skate on Olympic ice. You can skate where the athletes skated in Salt Lake city from October to March. Visit utahathleticsfoundation.com.
34. Visit a petting Zoo. Find locations in every state at pettingzoofarm.com.
35. Write thank you notes. Teach you kids young that this is a good way to show your appreciation for those that do things for them. I love sending out thank you for birthday cards and presents.
36. Make mud pies.
37. Launch water balloons. I would totally make this into a science thing and have my kids play around with a whole bunch of launchers and have them build there own. Predict which launcher would go the farthest and see what you can do to make those that do not work as well better.
38. Install a tire swing.
39. See a drive in movie. Love this because there is no stress to keep your kids quiet or worry about them disrupting others with questions about what is going on. driveinmovie.com has locations around the states.
40. Ride a pair of wooden roller coasters. There a a few different locations to choose from. aceonline.org is the roller coaster enthusiasts website with the locations.
41 Meet the Wizard of Oz. L. Frank Baum’s classic fantasy series comes in many different forms, so your kids can enjoy it over and over again as they grow up:

4 to 8: Ease your child into the Oz universe with Robert Sabuda’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz pop-up book (Little Simon). The spinning cyclone, rising hot-air balloon, and set of wearable emerald-tinted eye spectacles will get them hooked.
8 to 9: Watch the classic 1939 film. If your kids startle easily, you might want to fast-forward through the flying monkeys and melting witch.
9 to 12: Read Baum’s books—all 14 of them. Dorothy’s adventures didn’t end when she returned to Kansas. In fact, she soon sets up shop in the Emerald City, taking Auntie Em and Uncle Henry with her. Grab the Dover edition of the books, complete with John R. Neill’s delightful illustrations, and introduce your child to Jack Pumpkinhead, Ozma, Rinkitink, and the rest of Dorothy’s new friends.
10 to 12: See Wicked, the smash Broadway musical about Elphaba, Glinda, and life in Oz before Dorothy showed up. Reserve a seat at the permanent shows in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, or catch the tour near you this summer.
12: Watch Return to Oz, the 1985 cult classic. A quasi-sequel to the original film, Return incorporates characters and plot elements from Baum’s later books, including Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz.
Adult: While your kid watches her fifth straight showing of Oz, amuse yourself by reading Salman Rushdie’s The Wizard of Oz, part of a British Film Institute series on classic movies.
42. Race downhill. I have many, one in particular, fond memories of racing downhill with my siblings. I will never forget them.
43. See stars. On the Hollywood walk of fame.
44. Fly to the home of flight. Manteo, North Carolina. See the Wright brothers museum with films and reproductions of there first fliers.
45. Bottle up lightning bugs. Go east of Kansas and catch these guys by the hundreds.
46. Make a mobile. visit artcyclopedia.com for a guide.
47. Sled in sand. Add furniture polish to the rails of you sled and go for it.
48. Bust mutton. In English ride a sheep.
49. Make a bird feeder. Buy a bird book at the store to indentifiy the birds that drop by for a feed.
50. Teach good greetings. How to talk and communicate successfully. How to introduce yourself under every circumstance.
51. Hunt for fossils. If you do not have someplace near home to do this. Make your own with some bones and sticks in the back your.
52. Meet your inner pirate. There are tons of pirate celebrations year round in many different locations. search for the closest near you and find your treasure.
53. Grow a carrot top tree. Kind of like a potato in a jar. Just cut off the top of a carrot and put it in like warm water and watch it grow new leaves.
54. Eat king cake. Its a mardi gras classic and the best is found in Lafayette, Louisiana at Meches Donut King.
55. Do Disney. Smee this one for you. You can not let your kids get to old before you experience Disney world of Disneyland.
56. Play with shadows. Perfect FHE. Put up a white sheet and a light and write your own shadow puppets story. Get crazy and use your feet as well as your hands.
57. Learn Math. This is such a cool idea. Instead of chalk boards and dry erase boards. Cover them with shaving cream and let them use there finger to work out problems. Then just smooth it over and do another one.
58. Beckon butterflies. Make a butterfly garden. There are tons of books that explain how and I am sure you could find instructions online as well.
59. Ride an electric trolley. They have them in Dallas for free and San Francisco for a price.
60. Spin in a circle. At my house its called twirling. We see you can last the longest without falling over.
61. Sail into the sunset. If you do not have a sail boat. Rent on out or go on a tour.
62. Climb a tree.
63. Saddle up. Find a place to go on a horse riding adventure. It is an awesome alternative to hiking. And you get to be in nature. Can not beat that.

Things I have taught my kids

2008-04-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

I love the teaching aspect of being a Mom. I love watching my kids figure things out and, learn things. Having my boys at the ages they are now, (2 1/2 and 19 months) they learn a lot in the course of a day. That being said I have learned more and more everyday that your kids not only learn those things that are taught, for example colors, shapes, numbers, words. They learn everything from you. I have comprise a list of those things that I inadvertantly taught my kids, this is not neccesarily a good thing.

Benjamin now says:

"That's enough", whenever jacob cries, which I say to jacob (when he is whinning) and the dog when he barks.
"Are you kidding me?" whenever I catch him doing something naughty.
"Get off your phone" whenever I say anything to a car while drivng.
"What", whenever I speak to him, i think because it is hard to understand him so when he is with people other than me and Bobby, but us included, we say what to him when we can not understand him.

He not only says these things but it is like looking in the mirror when he says them. He makes my facial expressions and somethimes stands just like me while reapting these phraes.

Jacob now says:

"Benjamin", with a tone like I use when Ben is beating Jacob, whenever he is being attacked.
"Eww, that is stinky", with his nose in the air when I changed Benjamins diaper.

It is amazing to me how much they watch and listen to you. I have also learned that if I over reacted when the little things happen that they both over react over everything they can not do. I am trying to remain calm and the last couple of weeks have been wonderful. I find that Ben and Jacob try to figure things out on there own a lot more. They are less whinny, and a lot more happy. It is true what they say, The mom sets the tone for the mood of the house.

I Have Been Tagged By PEA!

2008-04-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

If your life were a soundtrack, what would the music be?

Here’s how it works:

1. open your library (iTunes, winamp, media player, iPod)

2. put it on shuffle

3. press play

4. for every question, type the song that’s playing

5. new question — press the next button

6. don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool

opening credits: The Little Things, Cobbie Calliat

waking up: What A Beautiful Day, Chris Cagle

first day at school: Hide and Seek, Imogen Heap

falling in love: You're a Superstar, DJ Sammy

breaking up: Sending Postcards From a Plane, Fall Out Boy

prom: Tequila Loves Me, Kenny Chesney_ That was Funnny

life’s okay: Your My Angel, Anberlin

mental breakdown: True Colors, Fredero Starr

driving: Fine With Me, Little Big Town

flashback: Ellsworth, Rascal Flatts

gettting back together: Say It Right, Nellu Furtado

wedding: Days Of New, Lagwagon

birth of child: You'll be in my Heart, Glenn Close_ That was crazy

final battle: Take my breath away, Dido

death scene: You've got a Friend in Me, From Toy Story

end credits: Ocean Avenue, Yellowcard

That was fun. Alot of these songs have never heard either. This is manly Bobbys music.
The country and kids songs i know but the other ones are a mystery to me. Crazy that the titles of some of them match what it corresponds to but when you listen to the song it has nothing to do with it. Thanks Pea that was fun.

I tagged penders

I Can Cook. Who Knew?

2008-02-14T20:27:00.000-08:00

I have never been a good cook. When I was about 13 I made a cake with out the oil and it was disgusting. That same year I cooked pudding on the stove in a glass bowl. For any of you who are thinking, "what's wrong with that?", Glass + heat= explostion. I broke the bowl into a thousand little tiny pieces. When I was seventeen I burned macaroni and cheese, the kinda that comes in a box, it was not even homemade. I was eighteen when I finally flipped a egg and was so excited that I made a long distance phone call to my mom in Utah.

So needless to say this has been my biggest struggle lately. It has taken three years, one husband, and two hungry boys later to finally master the skill. I have made for the first time in my life four nights in a row, good heathly, and not from a box, dinners for my family. On monday i made homemade chicken nuggets, which were good enough that we had none left. (I am feeding my in-laws too. Tough crowd) On tuesday I made a pork roast and homeade french fries. And yesterday and tonight I have made casseroles. I have finally gained enough confidence to try new things and venture out. It has been so fullfilling and I feel like I am finally one of those moms that people talk about how they miss there moms food most when gone. Hopefully I will continue to get better and better.

Hello!

2007-12-29T16:18:00.000-08:00

I am going to do a quick update. We have been in the middle of a move and without a computer for awhile so I have not been able to post. I have been busy with birthdays, halloween and christmas and wanted to update all on those holidays.

First was Jacobs 1st birthday. We had a blast. We had it at my moms house and set up a pool in the back yard for the kids and the insdie was full of food for the adults.

Second was halloween which was a blast. We did not celebrate halloween a lot as kids because we were usually at Disneyland (way more fun), so this was my first halloween in a long time. Benjamin was Fred Flintstone(my sister "Pea" made the costume) and Jacob was a dinosuar. We taught Ben to sat yabba-dabba do and he did once the whole night. We put Jacob in his costume and without any instruction he started to growl. It was so cute that we put him in his costume for entertainment over the next week.

About a week before Halloween we had our annual pumpkin carving party at my Brother-in-laws house. Benjamin was not intersested in carving but loved pulling out the gooey insided of the pumpkin. Him and his uncle cleaned out almost all of them and Benjamin would say EWWWW! with every handful that he pulled out. I also made my first cupcake cake that was a pumpkin and was very proud of it.

In attendance was a friend of the families who was pregnant and due on the first of november. We painted her belly and made it a pumpkin. Funny thing was that I think we willed her baby to come on Halloween she was born in the morning of halloween a week before she was due.

I will have to update you ob Bens birthday and Christmas a little later. Duty calls

Facts/Habits

2007-10-09T23:15:00.000-07:00

I got his meme from Pea. And have no one to pass it onto. I am new to the blogger world so I do not know what to do, other than to post it. So here it is.

6 facts/habits about myself:

1.(fact) I love to learn. If I was rich and had loads of free time I would be a full time student. I would love to major in; ultra sound technology, meteorology, education specifically history, message therapy, culinary arts, physical fitness, just to name a few.

2.(habit) I have a shower and morning routine, that I stick to religiously. If I do not do everything in my "order" I always, yes always forget a step. It is nothing out of the ordinary I just wash my hair, shave, clean my face, clean my feet, in the same order every time i shower. I put my makeup, lotion, and do my hair the exact same way every morning. I can choose to skip a step without any consequences for the sake of time, I do have two kids here but I have to do it consciously and take note of it.

3.(fact) I was pecked by a rooster. I know many people can say the same due to having to feed or catch them but my story is entirely different. I was 4 years old playing on my grandparents farm. A huge rooster snuck up behind me with no warning what so ever and clobbered me. I was pushed down onto the ground while the rooster preceded to peck me on my head and back over and over and over. I was apparently screaming because anyone within ear shot came running and rushed me inside. I was ok just minor injuries no hospital visit needed but afraid of roosters ever since. The best part of the story, my Grandfather came home that evening and heard what had happened. Without saying a word walked out the front door and rung that roosters neck. I found out years later that the rooster was worth 500 dollars. Now that is true love.

4.(habit) I pluck my eyebrows three or four times a day. I do this not out of vanity but because I love plucking hair. If I could I would pluck all of the hairs off my husbands face, legs, arms, etc.

5.(fact) I am older than my husband, Yes it is true i rock the cradle. No not really. I am exactly 31 days older. WOW huh. We have know each other for 10 years and he has never let me forget that he is the youngest. He loves pointing it out when we play games and take turns based on age. Everyone assumes he is older and you can almost always she him smirk when it is either assumed to be my turn or his.

6.(habit) I can only eat snack foods two at a time. If left with an extra in a bag I throw it away. It started innocently enough with M&M's. My favorite snack in High School. It has just stuck with me I guess. I eat chips and crackers and cookies this way. All candy's that are sold in multiples. Odd thing about this is that my favorite number is 3.

Crazy Pictures

2007-09-30T11:55:00.001-07:00

I saw these pictures and thought I would share them. The turtle was bought by a pet store here in the states to put on display. It is so small it fits on a silver dollar, The frog is transparent and researchers develped them to help see how diseases and sickness spred without having to dissect them. Pretty Cool. Enjoy

"I Love You"

2007-09-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Three simple yet so powerful words. They change any mood to happiness. they make a smile appear through tears. They make someone feel wanted and needed. And yet even with this knowledge they are so often not said. We walk through our lives with the assumption that because we say it every so often those that we love know that we love them and it does not need to be said. Maybe some believe that the phrase "I Love You", has been taken for granted for years and said when it was not truely meant and so it has lost some of its value. Or maybe it is just that people feel if said to much the recipient may start to get accustomed to it and it will start to loose its full potential. Those outside of relationships where it has been said may be sacred and feel that it will not be said in return. In any case I urge everyone who feels it to say it as often as they feel necessary. It is a phrase that if said is never regretted. But if left unsaid is almost always regretted.

It's not even Haloween yet

2007-09-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

It is not even halloween yet and I am ready for Christmas. I want to start decorating today, shopping today, and cooking and baking cookies. I love Christmas and I married a Christmas Boy as well. My Hubby is in love with everything Christmas and we go all out. We decorate not only with Christmas things but our home is centered around Christ. I think that is why we both love it so much. Everyone seems to be in such a good mood and so incredibly nice and that does not come often where we live. We both love to go shopping for things the day after Thanksgiving, we love buying little inexpensive things for everyone we know. I love to make cookies and give them to neighbors and friends. I love getting cookies and breads. I love our Ward party and our Wards Secret Santas. I just love Everything Christmas and cannot wait for it to come.

Why Patience???

2007-09-18T12:58:00.001-07:00

I named my Blog the Patience pursiut for two reasons. First one named, BEN, second, JACOB.

My boys are ten months apart, Irish Twins. They are currently both 1 and both try my patience everyday. I love them to death and they are what gets me up everyday, literally and ???. I love every aspect of being a mom. Yes sis, you know who you are, every aspect. I have learned more in the last almost two years than I have ever before. I love watching them learn and teaching them new things. I am challenged everyday to help them accomplish the things that they have been working at. And all of this requires an incredible amount of patience. I do not even come close to having it all right now but hope that with there help it will come slowly and surely. I will work at it everday and try to always enjoy it.

Jealousy

2007-09-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

I use to pride myslef on not being a jealous person. I grew up being la dee da about everything and not taking anything to seriously or letting things get to me. I have been married for three years and I find that it gets harder and harder to not get jealous around my in-law family.

Now do not get me wrong, because as far as in-laws go I got the best. I have always gotten along with them, well most of the time, and there has never been any huge fights or disagreements. Now that the disclossure has been discuss I have juat recently began to have feeling of jealously when it comes to the other girls in the family.

My husband comes from a famliy of four boys so the girls in our family are married into it. This year we have added two. I have been very lucky and have and I believe will always get along with them both. I have known one for three years and have grown to adore her and we have become good friends. The other one we just met this year and she is also amazing and I love her. But I have had a hard time sharing my family. it is so ridiculous that I am having this issue and I am not quite sure what to do with it but I am pretty sure it needs to go away.

I have just recently found out that my mother-in-law goes to movies and dinner with just the girls on an individual basis and I have never done that with her. I have also in the last couple of months seen how well she gets along with the other two and I feel like me relationship is not as good with her. Know on my mother-in-laws defense becasue this is not at all about her, it is all about me, I have know her for 10 years. She was my Young Women leader in church I have served under her in church in my callings and have gone to girls camp with her for years so maybe she justs feels like we know everything about each other all ready. She does so much for me and so do my sister-in-laws it crazy that I am having these feelings. Every time we are all together I find myself constantly watching for signs that They really do not like me and that becasue they now have two more girls they can just toss me aside. I get really self conscience and constantly doubt my self and how great I am. I know that this comes from a crazy place and that I need to stop this feelings but it feels like everytime I think about it, it gets worse and worse. I pray everyday that it will go away and hope that it does soon.

Virtue

2007-09-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

I am not by any means a fantastic writer but would like to try to be better. This is going to be the way I do that. Whenever I feel a burst of inspiration of the need to vent I am going to do it here. I also find that I gain patience by understanding and feel that the more I try to understand things the more I become aware of different aspects and views of certain situations. This is my way of also gaing patience.