Who's who?

Earth

The boys and I went to the theater today with some friends to see the new Disney Nature documentary "Earth." The half that I saw was really cool - great cinematography (is that the right word?). But what was I thinking taking a 4 month old, nearly 3, and 5 year old? They hadn't ever been to a theater, so I thought I'd give it a try. They're not quite ready for that yet. They actually didn't do too bad - they weren't running around the theater screaming or anything. They just like to comment and ask questions. Jared changed seats with some of the kids, but at least he stayed in the same row... there were only about 6 other people in the theater not in our little group. One of the couples complained, and we had someone come tell us to try to keep our kids quiet. This couple was obviously someone who had never been around kids, or they would have known that they were being really good. Maybe I'm just past feeling to it, since I'm around them all the time. Anyway, since someone was annoyed, I started feeling bad about it and knew that my kids were most of the distraction. So I took Owen and Jared out. They were getting restless. I hope Nathan was able to be quiet for the rest of it - he just likes to talk all the time.

Anyway, we tried. But I don't think we'll go back to the theater again any time soon.

Cowboy's 10 commandments

I thought this was funny and appropriate since I live in Oklahoma. (Thanks Brenda for passing it along.)

Cowboy's Ten Commandments
(1) Just one God.
(2) Honor yer Ma & Pa.
(3) No telling tales or gossipin'.
(4) Git yourself to Sunday meeting.
(5) Put nothin' before God.
(6) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal.
(7) No killin'.
(8) Watch yer mouth.
(9) Don't take what ain't yers.
(10) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff

Now that's plain an' simple don'tcha think?

Choices...

So I had to make a choice today - whether to go to church or not. For some of you, you'll just think I'm shallow. Others of you might know how hard a choice this would be. I did the unthinkable - I went to church today with no make-up on and glasses. Ugh! I felt less than pretty today. If you look closely, you can see that my left eyelid is red - it has a stye, a common infection, although not contagious (like pink eye). It was a hard thing to do, since I'm used to wearing make-up most of the time and all the time to church. For those of you who don't wear make-up, this won't mean anything to you. And more power to you for not wearing it and still feeling comfortable. My fair-skinned sisters know what a difference a little bit of make-up can do (if only we had those natural dark eyelashes). Anyway, I couldn't think of a good reason why I shouldn't go to church - not being able to wear make-up is certainly not a good enough reason. And Alex spoke in church today - I didn't want to miss his talk. I also started thinking about why we go to church. We go to worship the Lord, to remember Him and His Son as we take the sacrament. It has nothing to do with how you look or trying to impress anyone. I thought about the scripture, "Come unto me." The Lord wasn't just calling to the beautiful, the confident, the well-to-do, etc. He was calling to all, and especially to the down-trodden, the poor, the meek, and the humble. I also heard a good message today in Relief Society (women's organization; 3rd hour class) about peace. We were talking about what peace is - I think one kind of peace is lack of contention, solitude, etc. (think world peace). But a more important kind of peace is inner peace, the peace that we can feel even amidst all the distractions and chaos of the world. Mothers of young children certainly have to be able to find this peace, or they might not ever have peace. The true peace within our heart can only come through Jesus Christ. I thought about that today, and I felt peace in my heart that I had made the right decision and that I didn't miss out on the messages today. And one other thought I had - it's not just me that I'm making choices for now. I have 3 little boys to think about - the choices I make ultimately affect them. At least they were cute today, as always!

4 months!

Stats are in (his 4 month check-up wasn't until 4/27): Owen weighs 16 lbs. 10 oz. and is 26" long. Puts him in the 75%tile for height and weight, which is pretty much cookie cutter for our boys at this age.

other April moments

Here's a few random things this month:



I love this new set up - Jared entertaining Owen in the stroller. Keeps both of them busy and happy.

















We've been getting more lazy with each child. Nathan almost never slept in our bed. Jared slept with us every once in a while, but lately Owen has been ending up in our bed every morning. I'm just too lazy to take him back to bed after the early morning feeding. (I think we're creating a bad habit out of this.)
I love this picture because I'm snoozing and Owen is awake! And he's rubbing my arm... something that was Nathan's trademark (rubbing "mama's sleeve"). I love these mama moments.




I don't know if you can read Alex's shirt or not - it says, "I'm not trespassing. I'm a geologist." How true this is, especially since Alex has so many field trips this month. For some of them he has to go on people's land. Most of the time he gets permission...

I love this guy and I miss him when he's gone.







The jogging stroller made its debut this month. I wasn't planning on getting it out quite yet, but the van was in the shop for 3 days, and I didn't want to miss out on anything...

I think the boys enjoyed it. :)

Soccer!

Spring soccer is here! Nathan has played 3 games already (half of them) - he plays on the "Rockets". He's so much better this year, and he's even scored a couple of goals (and in the right goal). His most recent game was really fun to watch because the other team had these 2 little redhead girls on it, and they were really good. They reminded me of some other aggressive redhead soccer players that I know... this could be me or one of my sisters. Nathan has to watch out for the girls out there - they can really push you around!

His soccer shoes are too small,

so he's playing in his hiking shoes...

Two of Nathan's really good friends are on his team too.

Soccer and great friends - doesn't get much better than that!

all nighter?

I feel like I'm back in my college days... I pulled an all nighter to get a project done. I'm a little embarrassed that it took me until 6:00am to finish this project. But I gave away the cutest scrapbook I've ever done this morning to my institute (scripture study class) teacher. I found out last week that today would be the last class this semester. What? I thought I had a few more weeks... so I had to get something together this week. See, I knew I wanted to do something special for my teacher since they're moving. I've had him as a teacher for about 3 years now - he has been kind and brave enough to offer a class for moms. We've been able to bring our kids to class and let them run around and play while we have class. It does get a little crazy, but it works. I've gained so much from these classes.

Anyway, there's a scripture story in the Book of Mormon that talks about young warriors going into battle. Their fathers had made a covenant not to fight, but their sons had not made that promise. (People actually kept their word back then.) When they needed to defend their homes and families, the sons went into battle. In Alma 56:47 it says, "Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them." (The sons went into battle, with thoughts of courage and faith, instilled by their mothers, and not one of the young warriors was killed.) I used this scripture as my theme. My first page had this scripture on it, and the 2nd page said, "But who taught the mothers?"

Someone had to teach the mothers - I imagine their parents taught them, but they also probably had some good teachers who inspired them and strengthened their faith and testimony. The rest of the book was pictures of the moms and kids, along with a thank you note. I was a little sad to give it up - I love all these good moms too and have enjoyed getting to know them. But I did give it away and I also got all emotional when I tried to give it to our teacher. I couldn't even get a word out... thanks mom and dad for those darn emotional genes. And I guess there's some other genetics in play too. My perfectionism, mixed with a little determination (stubborness) kept me up all night working on this project... and some computer issues. I did hold my tongue though with the computer... ;)

Easter weekend

true meaning of Easter

If you have 5 minutes, watch here for a wonderful Easter message.

I can fall asleep anywhere...

new friends

Owen has some new friends, a blue horse and giraffe that came in the mail from grandma. Thanks! By the way, the boys were pulling the stuff out of the box, and Jared pulled out the horse and giraffe and immediately gave them to Owen. "These are for you Owen!" It was a very valiant effort to replace Raffe, but it didn't work...

but now Owen has a Raffe!

Easter egg-citement

General Conference

Our church has what is called General Conference (for more info on what this is, click here .) This weekend we were able to watch and listen over the internet (http://www.lds.org/). We listened to messages from a living prophet, apostles, and other leaders of the church. It was very inspirational. Even if you aren't a member of the church, the talks are very uplifting and encouraging. And the tabernacle choir was amazing. (If you're not interested in the talks, at least listen to some of the musical numbers.) Some of the talks were on overcoming adversity, becoming provident providers, and ways to strengthen our families. In these challenging times, it's comforting to hear messages of hope and ways to be of good cheer. It's so easy to become discouraged. The boys even listened to some of it. It worked really well for them to listen for words like faith, prayer, or Jesus. Nathan liked making a mark whenever he heard particular words, although he had to announce it each time he heard one (Mama, he said, "Faith!"). They also played a Bingo game with pictures of things to listen for - Jared ended up just eating a bunch of Cheerios...

One of the talks that I thought was very powerful was Elder Holland's. He talked about loneliness and particularly Christ's loneliness on His journey to Atonement. Although much of it was something He had to do alone in the garden of Gethsemane, His disciples were supposed to watch and wait for Him. When He found them asleep, He asked, "Could ye not watch with me one hour?" How often do we abandon the Savior or betray Him by our actions or our lack of actions? Despite what we do, though, the message of hope is that because Jesus walked the lonely path, we don't have to be alone on our journey. We truly are never alone when we accept the Savior's atonement.

I know - I'm sharing my religion. Sometimes it's hard not to.

Are you missing something?

Okay, so it's been a while since I had these in my possession - I've had these since Christmas and they aren't mine. I think they are either Ashley, Alison, or Audrey's. Anyone want to claim them? I'm becoming quite attached to the jacket...

more March madness...

Look very closely at this one below...