I Can't Believe She is Old Enough to do THIS

I just feel like my little girl is getting so old. I was painting her toenails and the way I always get her to sit still long enough for them to dry is I tell her she can't go running off till we sing some songs. So, we sang a few songs, then I started to sing the ABC's and she said, "NO Mom, I do it!" (granted she gets a bit distracted toward the end, but lets all remember she is only 27 months old!)

How do I Love thee Summer, let me count the ways!

I am a summer girl, inside and out!!! JD is always saying he wants to move someplace cold, like Idaho (gasp) or even Wyoming (double gasp), but I am having NO PART in that, because I LOVE SUMMER!!!!!!!

Reasons to love the summer? Oh I do say, I will tell you them:

1. The satisfaction and glee of looking at your thriving garden!

2. Playtime in the pool!

"Here Jaff, get yo toy!"

Giraffe kisses!

3. Watching your turtle, Bernardo Antonio, who has not been outside in 9 months try to climb into your garden.

4. Then watching him fall on his rump!

Doi!

Our Night Out!

JD and I went to a Trace Adkins concert last weekend with my parents, it was SO fun! There just really isn't any feeling quite like when they pump up the bass and your body is saying, "Ahhh what is going on?" And your mind is saying, "Oh so excited! Its starting!"

Waiting for Trace Adkins to come out...seems to take forever!

HE'S HERE!!!!

After the concert.We had so much fun! Thanks for the Tickets Mom and Dad!!!

To Give is Far Better Than to Receive!

Here I was, average day, just doing the dishes while Morgan is forced to entertain herself because of my new cutback on TV time. When, lo and behold, one of the cutest moments of my motherhood happened:

Morgan came in and started "doing the dishes" in her kitchen, which is pretty normal when I am doing dishes. She goes through a whole routine, and has to have a little bit of real water in her fake sink, and she has to have a towel to dry after she has washed (dunked the dish in the sink.) Well, I had no clean dish towels (I know I know) so I gave her a paper towel.

After a few minutes of that, she disappeared behind our kitchen curtains. This too is pretty normal, and I silently bless her when she does it because she usually spends at least 15 minutes back there just looking at things in the backyard and quietly watching the dog and such. Well, before I knew it, she was tugging on my pant leg.

So, thinking to myself that was not nearly as long of a quiet sabbatical as I usually get, I looked down to see what she wanted. And that was when she handed me what I thought was just a wadded up paper towel. But then she said,

"Mom, I wrap it up. A present. Present for Mommy"

It wasn't much, it was actually a piece of an egg carton that I save cause they are handy to put her finger paint in. Anyhow, she continued to wrap up "presents" for me and bring them to me all through me doing the dishes. It was just so sweet. And the kick she got out of the whole thing was even better!

So Long My Good Friends...

Who do most people turn to when they've had a bad day?
A friend.
Who do they turn to when they are bored?
A friend.
Who do they turn to when they want to get away?
A friend.

Who do I turn to when I've had a bad day?
Ice Cream.
Who do I turn to when I am bored?
Chips.
Who do I turn to when I want to get away?
Candy Candy CANDY!

Tomorrow is my first Weight Watchers meeting, so I just gotta say:

Old friends, I have loved you, and BOY will I miss you but you gotta go! So long you stomach stretchers, I'm moving on!

We Made it Through!

Today was Morgan's dental surgery, and the whole thing went really well! I had a small breakdown when I had to sign a form that stated I would not sue the dentist, anesthesiologist, or facility in the event that Morgan didn't wake up from the anesthesia. (What Mom wouldn't have a hard time with the chance, regardless how small, that your baby might not wake up?) Needless to say, I was really nervous for the whole thing, and am so thankful for priesthood blessings and the peace they can bring to a worried mother's heart!

Morgan is just amazing. She really just rolls with the punches, I could stand to learn a lot from my sweet little girl! When she had to change into the gown and hair cap and all that jazz she just took it right from the nurse and started having fun. (I'm sure the fact that the first thing they did when we came in was open a big drawer full of every kind of stuffed animal ever created didn't hurt Morgan's impression of the place)

Anyhow, when the anesthesiologist came in and picked her up, she seemed a little surprised, but didn't cry at all as he carried her out of the "parent/child separation" room and took her into the O.R. I am thankful for that most of all I think, because if she would have been scared and crying as they carried her away, I would have had a really hard time for that hour in the waiting room.

The hardest part of the ordeal was when they came out and said she was awake and alert but that she was pretty upset and that we still couldn't see her for another 15 minutes. I just kept imagining I could hear my screaming baby and it really hurt to know I couldn't do anything to help.

But, eventually they took us back, and I had to hold the poor girl down for another 15 minutes because she kept trying to rip the IV out of her arm. Besides that little set back, everything really went fantastic.

She is so brave, and I realize a lot of it is just her being naive to what happens in a hospital, but I couldn't help but swell with pride every time a nurse or doctor would comment on what a great personality she has.

I am so glad to have her, and so thankful that my Heavenly Father blessed me with her!

My Knight in Shining Armor

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST IS LIKELY TO CONTAIN MUCHOS CHEESY MATERIAL, NOT AS IN TASTY QUESO, BUT CHEESY I.E. CORNY, SAPPY, ETC

Before I go into the whole point of this post, I wanted to inform everybody I also posted a little something about Morgan just before this, and I know only the most recent posts show up in everyone's blogger update list thingy, so I am just telling everybody to check that one out too :)

And now, onto the cornyness:

I don't really know what has been my deal lately. I think I have just used these ridiculous allergies as an easy-out, and I have just been using them as my excuse for all the things I have let get out of control. And yes, while they make me miserable, I have just been in a funk. A real bad one.

My house has seriously gotten out of control, I feel like Primary has been a complete mudslide the last couple of months (with me at the bottom of the horrendous thing), and I hate to admit Morgan has had more TV time than Mom time. Oh man, and now here come the tears.

I am not going to go into too much detail about all the many things I feel like I have been neglecting, because that is not why I got on here today.

I didn't get on here to blog about all my little problems, there have been far too many of those posts on our blog recently. I got on here to blog about JD, and how much he really saves me sometimes.

This morning, I got up with the same attitude I've had everyday for the past month or so: There are a million things to be done, but its all past the point of help, so I just won't do any of it. Then,trying to muster some motivation, I started to clean up some of Morgan's toys (purposely avoiding the kitchen because it was the worst) and JD, I don't know if it was Heavenly Father just pushing him in the right direction as an answer to my unsaid prayers or if it just so happened that he really does know me a lot better than I give him credit for, but anyway, he walked right past me and my pathetic attempts to clean and went right to the dirty stuff. He did the dishes. He filed, shredded, and recycled all the mail and bills from the last month that I have just let stack up. He cleaned out our refrigerator. He did it all without complaining.

I cannot even begin to describe the difference a clean house has made in my mood. Its like somehow, he knew what would fix me. I give him a lot of crap for not showering me with compliments and running to recognize when I do something I should be doing anyway, but its his unsaid, quiet actions that show me what love really is.

Sometimes I wonder if Heavenly Father gives me these phases of my life to remind me that I'm not in charge, and sometimes I really do need help. Then I love the moment when I gain the sweet realization that Heavenly Father has also sent me the help I need, in the form of my wonderful, eternal, always-all-mine husband.