haircut- here it is!

Well, what do you think? I love it- it looks exactly like Meg Ryan's. Wait, it IS Meg Ryan's...

Ha-ha. Bet I had you fooled.

No, this is just what I did on photoshop! So I couldn't get the color just right, but I think I did a pretty good job. Don't I look cute? :) I'm still trying to decide. What do you think now?



















Yeah, this one's a little
silly maybe...












Try making red hair from black...























This was the one I was
thinking about before. Hmmm...

blogging is for everyone!

I just wanted to welcome my Grandma to blogging. She just took a little class on starting a blog and now has one. Yeah! If grandma can do it, anyone can do it! ;)

I love my grandma. She is very thoughtful and kind, and she is always serving. She's active in her church and loves the Lord. I'm grateful for her example.

When Jared was born, she came and spent 3 weeks with us, helping out in any way she could (even despite a bad hip, which she got replaced just a few months later). Hooray for grandmas!

haircut?

So, it's about that time when I can't stand my long, stringy hair anymore. It looks really pretty when it's curled, but I'm not curling my hair everyday. (I know this picture is not great- I just took it (it's 11:30pm) to show you that I probably do need a haircut.) I'm looking for a style, such as these. Any favorites here?

I love this one (just above), but don't know if I can pull it off - do I have the right face shape?

Meg Ryan's cuts are fabulous- but again, would this look good on me?

I'm leaning towards this one- of course, they all look pretty similar...

conference

I really enjoyed the talks today for conference. In the last session, as I was listening to nearly the last talk, I was thinking that I'd heard alot of wonderful messages during the conference, but I wanted to hear something in particular that helped me in my role as a mother. The very next talk was Elder Ballard, and guess who his talk was directed towards? Yep. Mothers. But not just mothers, but mothers of young children. Another tender mercy of the Lord. I was pretty emotional as I listened and was reminded of the importance of mothers. One of the very first things he said was that there is no role more essential than the role of mother, but there is no perfect way to mother. What matters is the way mothers love their children and husband and sets her priorities with them in mind. He went on to pose some questions and answers to those regarding mothers. Here's a few of my notes (not quotes!):

Q: How can mothers reduce pressure and enjoy the family more?
A: Joy comes in moments. Live in those moments and enjoy the season of life you're in. Don't overschedule yourselves or your children - need unstructured time, to listen and laugh. Find some time for yourself ("water cannot be drawn from an empty well"). Don't get caught up in time-wasting activities like TV or surfing the internet. Pray, study, teach the gospel.

Q: What can husbands do to more fully support mothers (or wives)?
A: Show extra appreciation and acknowledge the things they do. Set aside time to talk about each child's individual needs and how they can help with each child. Give mothers a day away from home. Have a night out (date nights!) often.

Q: What can children do to help mothers?
A: Do chores, without being asked. Give hugs and tell mothers you love them.

Q: What can the church do to help mothers?
A: Be considerate of time and resource demands on mothers, especially those with young children.

I was grateful for the words of encouragement and reminder of what a great responsibility mothers have to nurture and raise their families in righteousness. I will try to be a better wife and mother.

Drawing

Do these people look familiar? Nathan drew these while we were watching conference today. I think he drew President Monson, Elder Wirthlin, and Elder Eyring. I thought it was pretty cute...

Anyone not already tuned in and interested, you can go to www.byu.tv/ and listen to General Conference. President Monson was sustained as the new prophet in solemn assembly today and D. Todd Christofferson was called as a new apostle. I heard some good talks today and loved the choir.

Pre-K, here we come...

So after all the positive feedback I got about Pre-K, I decided to sign Nathan up... for half-day. I think it's going to be great. He can go have fun for 2.5 hours at school and get ready for the full day kindergarten, and we still get to have him around in the afternoons. And I think it would be easier to push a single jogging stroller as opposed to the double... see, now I'm seeing all kinds of advantages. Thanks for helping me see the light... I still can't believe I'll be sending my baby off to school.

just some thoughts

I guess this is turning into my Sunday insights. I've actually been thinking about this more than today, but when I heard a talk today at church it just got me thinking even more. In the scriptures it talks about putting on the shield of faith to quench the "fiery darts of the wicked." In this talk today, the speaker pointed out that they are fiery darts. Why do they have to be "fiery?" She went on to answer this question. Fiery darts, as opposed to those not fiery, do more long-lasting damage. They don't just pierce you- they burn and damage. These fiery darts are what Satan is throwing at us. She went on to give an excellent talk about how to protect ourselves and our homes against these fiery darts of the adversary.
So I was thinking about what kinds of darts I was allowing to get past my shield of faith. I'm solid on chastity and good at not letting bad things come in through the TV or entertainment. But I think how Satan gets after me is through pride. I don't know about you, but one thing I'm constantly struggling with is my desire for worldly things- "stuff." I find myself wanting more, wishing I had this or that, comparing myself with others. And sometimes I lose focus of what's really important to me. How do we get out of this mindset of always wanting and trying to acquire more stuff?
Alex and I have really been struggling with this. We have chosen a career that makes significantly less money than he could be making. At any time, he could drop what he's doing now and take a job where his salary would be doubled. Our health insurance would be paid for, we'd have some flexibility financially, we could buy a new car, some nice things, etc. So why don't we do that? What's holding us back? I'm not sure, but we do feel like we're where we should be right now, the right place at the right time. We try to think about what's best for Nathan and Jared. But I can't help thinking that we could have more money, more stuff, that life could be more comfortable. I have to keep reminding myself that money doesn't make you happy. I'm trying now to pray that I will be content and grateful for the things we have.