First Come Love, Then Comes...

My mom is getting MARRIED! She is so happy and I am so happy for her. I don't know the date yet, but I'll try to update when I get some pictures if I can. Congratulations Mom and Gary! I'm so happy for you both!

Happy Birthday Macey!

Macey turned 3 today! What a big girl she is. She even got a new big-girl bike. We had "Uncle" Jim, and "Auntie" Liz over for dinner and birthday cake. It was simple but nice, and she had fun. Here is my list of 3 for Macey for her 3rd birthday.
1. I love that she asks me to tickle her.
2. I love that she loves to play with her sisters AND her brother.
3. I love how she's the perfect mix of a tom-boy and a princess.
Macey, my list of things I love about you goes on forever, but I want you to know that I love you, my sweet birthday girl!
Here are a few pics from today:

Can you hear her happy gasp? She loves blocks!

Jack-attack

Macey with her orange birthday cake that she requested. Yummm!

Happy Birthday Amy!

Today our sweet Amy turned 6 years old! Here is a list of 6 things I love about Amy (although there are a lot more than 6).
1. She has amazing faith.
2. She loves her brother and sisters SO much! (She's a wonderful big sister)
3. She LOVES to learn.
4. She is (almost) always excited to help with chores.
5. She has a great sense of humor.
6. She loves me even when I haven't been as good of a mommy as I should be.
Amy, I love you! Happy birthday my sweet 6 year-old!

Here are some photos from today.

She LOVES her sisters!

She wanted an apple pie for her birthday.

Happy Birthday, to you!

Going Private

Due to certain personal reasons, we are going to go private. If you want to be able to continue to read our blog, please let me know and give me your email address by June 14th.

Promises

The Lord gives us promises all throughout the scriptures. One that I know to be true, and has and is being fulfilled in our lives is Malachi 3:10 "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Obedience to the laws of God brings forth great blessings. All we need to do is to study the scriptures, search for the blessings He has promised us, and then fulfill the law, or the requirement that it is predicated upon. The blessings may not always come in the way we expect or the time we think they should come, but they do come, in the Lord's time.

Chew 'N Poo Worm Farm

Mike and I have started a new business. We are now worm farmers! Chew 'N Poo Worm Farm is a wonderful new venture for us and it's very exciting. We love being able to do this as a family. Amy and Taylie think it's fun and enjoy helping with the worms. The thing that is most exciting to me, is the home composting system that we are selling. The Worm Factory is a stack-able, indoor home composting system that will change your kitchen scraps and junk mail into nutrient rich compost that you can use as fertilizer for your plants. The two best things are that 1, it's great for the environment, and 2, it's oderless! So take a minute and hop on over to our website by clicking here or just go to www.chewnpooworms.com

Random

So I'm procrastinating going to bed tonight (I have no idea why), and I feel like writing. No, let me rephrase that, I must write. There is an inherent need within me to WRITE! Whether it's an outrageously long email, a post on here, an entry in my journal, or a few pages in a book that I'm writing, a day does not go by that I don't HAVE to write. I will sometimes go all day without having time to even pee, but I make time to write. If there is a day that I, for some MAJOR reason, can not write, I feel very...unsettled. So, therefore, tonight, I MUST write. I love to write. Thank you for reading this totally random blog, and now, I can go to bed, for today, I have written.

Jack's first...

Jack's first big-boy hair cut....by Mommy

*note: the bruise on his forehead is from his sisters new bunkbed. He was getting acquainted with the ladder.

UPDATE

Amy is 5 1/2 and is such a great big sister! She loves doing things to help Mommy and is such a good girl! We love her sweet and unique personality. If asked how she likes school she says, "Perfectly. I'm being home-schooled." LOL It is true, she is doing great and we're loving home-shcooling! She loves to bake and do crafts. She is learning to read and loves math. She loves Primary and reading the scriptures. She's a very happy girl and is growing up so fast!

Taylie is 4 and is as cute as a bug. She loves to play with her sisters and brother and loves learning with Amy. She has become quite the "big sister" recently as well, and is such a great helper. She has a very distinct personality and we love it! She is always ready to make someone happy and feel loved. She loves going to church and seeing the special people there-and she LOVES our missionaries right now, especially Elder Marshall. And we have no idea where she got such curly hair-but it fits her perfectly!

Macey is 2 1/2 and is our little "monkey". She is SO funny and is always making us laugh. She loves to build things with her blocks, play pretend, and dress up (about 15 times a day). When asked her name, she'll say, "I'm a Princess". She's a Princess that loves to get dirty-go figure. She loves playing with her sisters, "Girls", she calls them, and her brother Jack, and she ADORES our puppy Dulcie. She'd play outside all day if she could-in her dress-ups if I'd let her!

Jack is almost 17 months old and is a very happy little boy! He is a "Mamma's Boy", and that's fine with me! He loves his sisters and tries to keep up with them. He loves to pet Dulcie and look at our fish. He LOVES watching Daddy play on the Xbox 360 (which doesn't happen often), and he LOVES to eat. He's skinny as can be, but boy can he eat! He knows a lot of words, but refuses to say many, and prefers to mostly grunt. He's ALL boy!

The Truth

There is some controversy about the "Mormon Temples" right now. I believe that to find the correct answer to any question, one must go to the correct source. Click here to watch the video that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has done about the Temple. The truth always has a way of staying the same.
I have only this to add to what the video says - my testimony:
There is nowhere I can go, where I feel more at peace, more content, happier, or closer to God and Jesus Christ, than at the temple. I know that His gospel is true, and I know that God lives and loves us and wants us to return to Him. I know that the temples are holy, sacred Houses of the Lord, where we can perform His holy work. I love my Savior and I am grateful for the blessings of the temple in my life. I say these things, humbly, in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

Star Spangled Banner

Okay, I'll update with some pics and things soon, but for right now, you've GOT to listen to Payton Kemp (a little boy that used to live next door to us) singing the Star Spangled Banner on YouTube. Click here and then rate it. It's part of a compitetion and if he wins (which he should) he gets to perform at a MLB game and at the museum in Washington D.C. Contest ends April 13th, so go on, watch the video and rate it. Payton, you are AWESOME buddy!

WOOHOO!

Okay, I'm so EXCITED that I had to post this!!! For those of you who know Gaylene, you'll be excited too. Her count went from 120 down to 55!!!!!! Yes, I screamed (into the phone...sorry about your ears Gaylene) when she called and told me. Congratulations Gaylene!!! I am SO happy for you (and me...and everyone else who loves you)! I love you!

Our growing family

On Saturday, we went PetSmart, and in the parking lot there was a tent set up with the Animal Rescue pets that were up for adoption. This little girl stole my heart and we couldn't leave without her! Her name is Dulcie and she is a 9 week old Puggle (Pug/Beagle mix). Her coloring is called brendal, and I guess it's pretty rare. All I know is she is SO cute and she is such a good puppy! She was an unexpected addition. Like Mike says, he didn't wake up Saturday morning and think, "I think we're gonna buy a dog today". Even though, we're so happy to have her as part of our family. I don't know who was more excited to bring her home, Mike, the kids, or myself. Besides, we needed another girl in the house!

A lot of posts at once.

So I know I haven't done any "real" posts for a while, so here's a catch up from Taylie's birthday.
THANKSGIVING...
was great! This is a picture of the apple pie I made. It was the first time I did a latticed crust, and didn't it turn out so pretty?! I spent Thanksgiving Eve baking. I made 5 pies and I loved it! They were SO yummy! My mom came for Thanksgiving as well as our friends, the Callahans. Like I said, it was great!
Then we got a very wonderful, unexpected gift. We got to go to St. George for Christmas! The kids and I left TX and took my mom back to St. George the week after Thanksgiving, and we got to stay until the 27th of December. Mike flew in on Christmas Eve/Morning, and got to be there before the kids woke up, for which we were extremely grateful. Mike was sealed to his parents the day after Christmas, which was such a wonderful experience! Then we commenced on the long, 26-hour drive home. I am grateful that our kids are such great little travelers! Here are some pics of our time in St. George...we had a wonderful time with family and friends, and we are so grateful for the time we got to share with all of you! Thank you for everything...especially for letting us crash at your houses (day and night) and steal your time! WE LOVE YOU!

Our New Year's was great too! Our friends, the Hurton's came over and we played games and snacked on some goodies. We even blew up a few fireworks before we put the kids to bed. We are grateful for good friends! Happy 2009!

Full Moon

Go out and howl at the moon Saturday night. It is supposed to be the biggest and brightest we will see in 2009. I know I'm praying for clear skies!

We are still here...

So I know I haven't posted in 2 months, but I honestly have good reasons...which I will post about later! Just for now, I wanted to get this post on here quickly about my friend's baby boy. Baby Dakin is just 5 days younger than Jack, and I thank Heavenly Father that our little boy is healthy and strong. I don't think that I could have carried the load that my friend has carried. Dakin is a sweet, happy boy, and a blessing to his family and those who know him. His first 2 months were normal and we were all unsuspecting of any problems other than reflux. Well, things changed. I took them to the Doctor that fateful day, when they ended up being lifeflighted to Dallas. I spent most of that night holding my son and crying. Tears of gratitude for my son, and tears of guilt, because I have a perfectly healthy baby boy, and my friend does not. I prayed a lot that night (and many others), thanking the Lord for my son and his health, and praying for little Dakin and his parents. Dakin spent 2 1/2 months in the hospital and when they finally sent him home (on a ventilator) his parents were told that whatever he had he would grow out of. Then a few months later, they finally got a diagnosis. SMARD, a very rare form of it. He was the 4th ever to be diagnosed. He will not grow out of it. He will most likely be wheelchair bound and he will be on a vent for his entire life...they aren't sure how long that will be. There is currently a petition online that you can sign to help get legislature to pass a measure that would allow research to be done on this disease. Please take a moment to read my friends blog and click on the link there that lets you sign the petition. If all I can do to help is sign my name and urge you to sign yours, then at least I can do that. Go here to read about Dakin and sign the petition...PLEASE! Every child deserves a fighting chance.
P.S. If the link doesn't work for you (because I can't figure out why it won't work for me), just go to www.ventsuperman.blogspot.com