Boulder

We took a short trip to Boulder, CO this weekend. Alex had a conference, so the boys and I tagged along. We drove on Thursday- the trip was going so well until Jared puked all over himself and his carseat. And it had just started snowing. We had a little tv hooked up right in front of Nathan, so he watched videos the whole way (13 hours of video? - oh well.) We stayed in the Millenium Hotel, a pretty fancy place. You could drink the bottled water they had in the rooms for you, if you wanted to pay $6. Accomodations were paid for- this wasn't our choice...

Alex had meetings all day on Friday and Saturday and on Sunday morning. So the boys and I were mostly on our own. I took the boys to a children's museum on Friday for a few hours. We got to see my aunt and uncle on Saturday evening. They live right by the Denver Temple, about an hour from Boulder. They cooked salmon on the grill for us. Wish I could have enjoyed it more - I have bad morning sickness right now. We enjoyed seeing them. Quin hadn't met Alex or the boys yet. The boys went wild after they got warmed up- Nathan was really getting into the baseball game on TV. "The hitter hit the ball." "Strike 8!" I took the boys to church Sunday morning- to the Flat Iron ward (?). Everyone was really nice. Right after church, we picked Alex up and headed home. It only took us about 11 hours to get home. Did I mention that we ate at McDonald's about 5 times in the past few days? I can't eat another hamburger for a while...

1st diaper cake

April showers bring May babies! There are 5 ladies in our ward who have due dates in May (or very close to). I helped with this one and I'm hosting one in a week and a half.


I made my 1st diaper cake for the baby shower this weekend - nothing fancy, just very simple. It was so easy. I thought it was cute. I also did the lovely fruit kabobs. Notice how many olives are on the vegetable tray. Jared ate about half of those...

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.