Gummy Bear: 1 Year!

Gummy Bear is a year old! He weighs 23 lbs 5 oz, and is 31 inches tall. (They forgot to give me percentiles, which is a bummer. Why do I find those so interesting?)

I had this questionnaire thing that I saved to do with my kids as they got older, but as I'm looking over the questions I see they're more for kids who can actually answer the questions... but I'll try it anyways.
Age: 1
Favorite food(s): Grapes, spaghettios, greek yogurt, and hot dogs, especially if that hot dog comes with ketchup. And did I mention he loves grapes?
Favorite dessert: Marshmallows. Hands down. And popsicles.
Favorite color: Yellow? He's always seemed to have a slight preference to yellow.
Favorite book: Any book he can chew on. So, nothing. Punk.
Favorite tv show: Commercials. Without fail. If I'm watching a show and go into another room, I can always tell when the commercials end because that's when he comes running in to bug me. And when the commercials come back on, he disappears and stands in front of the tv. If you block his view, he moves to see it or tries to shove you away. I may or may not abuse this occasionally during mealtimes... 
Favorite game: Probably playing with Daddy. He gets such big smiles!
Favorite song: ???
Favorite animal: I'd go with puppy. He has two stuffed dogs and he loves to carry them around. When you show him the stuffed puppy, he imitates my "woof woof" noise, sort of by making an adorable "ooh ooh" noise... it's hard to explain. But it's adorable.
Favorite toy: It changes. Often. In general, he loves little stuff that he can carry around in his hand.

 He is still just as opinionated as ever. Lately he has entered the meltdown stage, where if something happens that he doesn't like he just melts into a puddle. I try to hold his hand and lead him towards the car or something, and if he doesn't want to then he pulls and collapses... I also don't sit on the floor anymore, because he often forces his way into my lap. That's tough for me, because half the time he's just being annoying but sometimes he insists on giving me a two-second hug... His loving is sweet but vicious! I still don't get to snuggle him to sleep; instead we're often fighting to get him to take naps. Especially at church. Church naps are still the same: he gets cranky during the end of sacrament meeting, Husband Man takes him out during the last talk, and after sacrament I come out to find him sacked out sideways...

Going outside is the BEST to him. He runs to the rock beds around our apartment building and grabs a rock to carry around, and then he's off. Every time we come inside our apartment building he cries and throws a tantrum, even if we just drove to the grocery store and back. Running up and down sidewalks, eating the bark at playgrounds, carrying rocks around... sometimes he'll even play on park equipment, and ride in the swings; there's a bouncy horse at one park that he thinks is pretty cool. But he loves it all. Especially the running. This kid loves to GO.

He's also ridiculously smart... but sort of in his own way. He could care less about silverware, except when he wants to chew on it. He FINALLY learned to tip the bottle or sippy cup up so he can get FINALLY water or milk out unassisted... but at the same time he also knows how to pour milk all over the carpet. Climbing on the couch? Check. Climbing up my leg? Check. I have five-gallon buckets for flour and sugar, and if I don't keep them stacked then he climbs up on the bucket and grabs everything he can reach on the kitchen counters. He knows how to put the wooden rings on the dowel, and gets the idea of the shape sorter but doesn't understand that there are different shapes. He knows how doors open and close, but either doesn't care (and opts to cry every time they close) or is still too short to try again. And the dishwasher was randomly paused the other day, so I suspect he knows about the buttons on the dishwasher. The tv remote is another favorite--buttons!

Talking? Depends on your definition. He's always loved to babble, but I still don't know if he understands what "dadada" and "mamama" can mean. He says "dada" when he's happily yelling and throwing his toys, and "mama" when he's sad or upset... He still signs his version of "all done", which is great when we're feeding him, and a few times he's tried to say it, "ah dah". Sometimes his babbling isn't repeated syllables, and it sounds like he's trying to say things. Maybe he's one of those kids who won't say it unless he can say it correctly? I dunno. He can also sign "please", or his variation of it, but unless he really wants it and isn't throwing a tantrum... "Uh oh" is another one, he'll throw a toy on the floor while saying "Uh-uh ohh".

If you compare this post with the 9 month one,  you'll notice that he's only a pound and 2 inches bigger... but someone decided to cut six teeth in the last three months, and that brought puking and diarrhea like you wouldn't believe. Five of those teeth came in May, the sixth at the beginning of July, putting the grand total at eight. Husband Man and I are more than willing to have a break! (Since I'm late writing this, he's actually 13 months now. I took him to the doctor to diagnose a rash--dermatitis, just needs lotion--and they said he's now 25 pounds and 32 inches.... he grew a lot in a month!)

I also love this stage. It's so funny to watch him learn about his face and make the goofiest expressions. I love watching him show his personality, play silly games with me, babble and squeal while we're in the store or while he's playing with his toys, grin as he shoves his favorite camo blankie in his mouth every time he sees it... And I still think he's so. stinking. cute!

FHE Monday #7

Further evidence that we are not perfect is the fact that this is the seventh FHE post, and clearly not the seventh week of the year... but we are trying, and that is what counts. Maybe by the time Gummy Bear can actually participate we will finally have it down!

This week we started out by singing "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam". We were listening to the Primary songs on the church website, and I discovered that that particular song has a second verse! So we pulled out the words and sang both verses while Gummy Bear grinned and threw himself at us in his weirdo hug-attacks. Then we prayed, and let him play.

The sister missionaries had challenged us to read the chapter in Preach My Gospel about the Holy Ghost. It was about eight pages, and we didn't look up the scriptures so it actually didn't take that long. The sisters read from Helaman 5:44-47 to introduce this challenge to us, and that would be a great place to start. We talked about how those verses explained a few ways the Holy Ghost manifests to us, and how we each individually receive guidance from the Holy Ghost in different ways than others. (That's something I love about the Gospel--we are all different as children of God, and it makes sense that we would each feel the Spirit in different ways.)

As we read, if one of us had a question or a thought then we would pause and talk about it. A couple of times a passage would remind me about something I had read in my personal scripture study, and it added to the discussion. I loved learning the difference between the Light of Christ, the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Spirit of Promise. Even though Preach My Gospel focuses on missionaries sharing these principles with investigators, its a great reminder about basic Gospel Principles that I think are often overlooked or set aside for "deep doctrine". Reading this section reminded me that the Gospel is so simple, and to turn to those simple principles instead of looking beyond the mark towards things that aren't as important.

When we finished, we sang "Hum Your Favorite Hymn" and said a closing prayer. I feel like Gummy Bear feels the Spirit when we hold FHE, even if all he does is listen to the songs. The songs are also doctrine, so he is still learning. I also love how close we feel as a family, and I often feel like the Lord is smiling over our household for taking the time to do as He has asked.

Yockeyite Banter: Part Six

While visiting my brothers...
Me: So I was weighing Gummy Bear the other day, and guess how much he weighs?
BabyBro: Two chins.


I spelled something wrong while texting Meema...
Meema: Haha did you read that before you sent it????
Me: Today I'm not going to fix any if my mistakes so you can see what my thubs do all the time
Meema: Hahahahahaha
Me: You should do it tio
Meema: Except my ohine automayically clrrects things do I don't notmslly type proper
Me: Mine corrects some thongs but not others
Meema: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Me: I was going to get up and do stuff and then you said to pin more funny stuff and now I'm looking at pinyerest and want to eat chcicokate and marshmallows
Meema: Hee hee I live not fixibg things
Me: I don't even think my thumbs jbiw how to sell chcoikare
Me: Spekl
Me: Apell
Me: SPELL CHOCOLATE
Meema: Your thibs? I mean thubs? Hee her this is fantastic
Meema: This is going to remain funny yntil one of us accidentally spells a bad eoed
Meema: Word
Me: Hahahahahaha


Texting song lyrics to Meema...
Me: IF YOU'RE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT PAT YOUR HEAD
Meema: GOSH DANG IT I LITERALLY JUST PATTED MY HEAD IN CLASS


Watching my friend's four kids, and we decide to watch "Tom and Jerry" cartoons....
Me: I love Tom and Jerry! It's my favorite!
5yo Girl: Me too! What is this one called?
Me: "The Cat Concerto"
Girl: Oooooooh... that sounds scary!"


Husband Man, while reading Daniel ?:?? in the Old Testament:
"...and knowledge to them that know no knowledging..."
(Should be "and knowledge to them that know understanding")


Watching my friend's four kids again, and I don't know who said what...
Kid #1: And we have heavy butts.
Kid #2: Yeah, like a tomato.


 Playing Clue with Husband Man's siblings, at midnight, after eating ice cream and soda and are pretty much all loopy...
Me: Chugga chugga chugga chugga... I wanna be a choo choo train when I grow up.
Guy: I think you can.
(I wish I'd written down more. It was a goofy night!)

The Clean Factor

All right, confession time:

I loathe cleaning.

But I also love sitting down after cleaning the house, looking around, and feeling light and free. You know what I'm talking about, right?

I grew up in a household that was always busy. It seemed like there was something to do almost every night, whether it was FHE, symphony rehearsal, dance practices, swim lessons, piano lessons, mutual, scouts, this, that, and the other plus school. By the time Saturday rolls around, the last thing any kid--and probably any mother-- wants to do is clean the house. As the song goes, however, Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday... and for my family, Saturday was the only day to clean. So the chore lists were written, complaints were filed and whining was sounded, guilt was passed around until one of us finally did way more cleaning than was fair, and Mom was probably the only one who cleaned anything properly.

Out of habit, I tried to clean on Saturdays. Now, don't get me wrong-- I have an apartment. Apartments are just the right size that you should be able to clean the entire thing in a couple hours if you just buckled down and did it. It wouldn't be that big of a deal, right? For me, apparently not. Things only really got clean when one of us went on a binge, most likely out of annoyance, and the other joined in because we are really good at sharing emotions.

So while on Pinterest (judge me if you want) I saw an idea for a cleaning rotation. It was a two-week setup that got you to clean the house for what looked like less than an hour a day. Half commitment? Sounds like my kind of chore chart! So I took it, and adapted it for our needs in our apartment.

What I loved most about this is that it got through everything. We don't use our shower enough to wash it every week, so instead of have the bathrooms on one square, I just spread it out. The floors get vacuumed twice a week, but the living room gets vacuumed an extra two times because it seems like there are always crumbs everywhere (thanks to a 9-month-old food lover). Rest Days are Sundays, because that is how it should be. And there are the daily things that need to be done, too, such as making the beds, and loading the dishwasher so that clutter stays down in the kitchen.

Now, I realise this is super minimal and probably makes me look lazy. I don't care, because this works for me. As I dusted the surfaces today, I couldn't help but smile because I knew it would help keep my allergies down this summer. When I use the sink in the evening, it's nice to see it clean instead of hairy and dirty. Making my chore list minimal is fantastic, because it gives me time to do the things I want to do, and it makes my "chore of the day" so much less intimidating. Now I can look around and be proud of my house, instead of being embarrassed every time Husband Man comes home from work. Don't get me wrong-- I fall behind. Today I did pretty much everything that I should have been doing all week. Things were busier than usual, and I didn't get to the cleaning. But I took the time, got it done, and now I'm all caught up. And it feels fantastic. I feel more successful as a housewife.

One of my friends recently told me a cleaning trick: If it takes less than two minutes to finish, then just do it. I'm not very good at this, but it's starting to work for me. Instead of looking at my shirts on the floor, I can just hang them up and be done with it. I've noticed that it's the jobs that take less than two minutes that are what keep the clutter off of the floor, and that alone makes your house feel cleaner! If you have a smaller livingspace, such as a dinky one-bedroom apartment, keeping clutter away helps your space to look larger.

Just put your completed chart in a clear sleeve, and you're ready to go!

Oh yeah, the "Don't Forget" part is so I could write in events and appointments that are happening in the upcoming week. That would have been a great place to remind myself that we were feeding the missionaries today... 

Gummy Bear: 9 Months Old

The monster Gummy Bear is now 29 3/4 inches tall (93%), 22 lb 12 oz (91%), and his head circumference is 47 cm (94%). Every time people ask how old he is, they stare at me in disbelief! And I just nod and say, "Yep... he's a monster!" Haha!

Gummy Bear is walking: I repeat, Gummy Bear is walking! He's taken a step or two before on his own, but in the last week or so he's really taken off-- literally! I catch him toodling around and then falling over, or tripping over something, and sometimes he just stands there. He is walking longer and longer distances, and walks back and forth from the kitchen to the living room. My favorite part are his hands, way up in the air by his head, trying to keep his balance... Although most recently he walks around while chewing on a toy. This last Sunday he figured out how to stand up unassisted, and we're giving him a week, maaaaybe two, before he figures out how to run. He tries to run but ends up falling over, and then he gets up and walks very carefully, trying to have patience... It's so funny. He's too smart!

The monster also doesn't like grass, or at least the half-dead variety... Our area is slow to get green grass, and the two times I've put him on the brown grass he picks up his hands and looks at the grass like it's gross, and then starts to cry. Every time! A couple days ago we took him out and tried to get him used to it, and he just whined the entire time. It's hilarious! My friend raked the dead grass out of her yard and he likes her grass better, so it's probably just the dead grass he hates. The more we take him outside the more he's getting used to the feeling of grass and concrete and rocks under his feet.

He still loves food. A LOT. Whenever we eat something he comes up to us and stares at the food until we give him some. If he likes it, he hangs around, and if he doesn't then he moves on. The staples, such as Cheerios and graham crackers, he scarfs down; chocolate food is even better. I was eating chocolate teddy grahams at a friend's house, and he thought that was the greatest thing since chocolate pudding. (I figure this chocolate love should be attributed to the maaaaaany bowls of Cocoa Dino-Bites I ate when I was pregnant, haha!) I could feed him all day and he would never get tired of it. He still licks everything, too, (like me and my pants,) although he's starting to test the waters with his two little teeth, and will sometimes give his toys a thorough inspection before slobbering on them, as if he hasn't seen that part of it before.

He's very observant, but only when something really catches his attention. Lately he will stare at commercials on tv that involve lots of animals, and will push you away if you get in front of him and block his view. We were standing by the stairs the other day talking with another couple, and as their 17-month-old son came down the stairs on his bum Gummy Bear watched very intently, just like he did when he watched older kids run around. You can almost see the wheels turning in his head, how can I do that...? There was one time I was trying to teach him how to go up stairs, since we don't have any in our apartment for him to practice on, and he wasn't buying it and spent the entire time whining. Fast forward a month or two, and I'm at a friend's house... and I look over and he's climbing the stairs. What?? This kid learns quickly!

His favorite games are anything to do with being thrown around, and when you roll him across the floor. The rolling game is great, because he almost tucks his arms up so you can roll him unhindered and he will crawl back to you over and over again. Going for walks is great, even if it's just in the hall of our apartment building--I think he's sick of our apartment! We walked to the thrift store down the street today and he just stared and looked around and didn't move until we stopped walking. He also loves to shake his head "no". It seems like the head shaking is just for fun, until you yell "No!" at him when he's touching the tv and he looks at you, grins, and shakes his head... and then touches the tv again. We're pretty sure he gets the basic concept, but doesn't listen. Booger.

See those shoes in the picture? One of my friends uses these soft shoes for her baby, and said she liked them because they were difficult to get off. So we purchased some, and he wore them... maybe half a dozen times. Then the shoes looked to be in worse condition than my friend's, probably because he crawled everywhere in them and scraped them on things trying to walk around, and so we just shook our heads and put them away... and Gummy Bear has been shoe-less ever since.

Being opinionated is another thing he likes. Sometimes (oftentimes) his reactions are extreme. He's either really happy and excited and chirps and smiles and is silly, or he's screaming and crying and yelling... And the squealing! Oh man. We were in Walmart the other afternoon, and every so often he would let out an ear-piercing squeal! It's all fun and games until he squeals in your ear... Naptime and going to bed can be tricky because he will only snuggle with me when he feels like it; otherwise he yells and cries and struggles to get away. So then I put him in his crib so he can go to sleep on his own, but then he sits there playing and chirping in the dark... The little stinker. Reading books to him is also difficult, because he always wants to close the book and pat it, which means you're trying to read him a bedtime story and he's squishing your fingers inside the book trying to push it closed! We still don't let him have the board books all the time, either, because he still chews on them until they start disintegrating in his mouth.

He is doing fantastic, overall. He loves playing with the big kids, getting Mommy's attention (whether by being cute or by being annoying and doing thing he isn't supposed to...), and getting Daddy to throw him around. We love this guy, even if he always keeps us on our toes!!

FHE Monday #6

March apparently wasn't a good month for Family Home Evening; however, we started April off with General Conference and FHE! It probably helps that it is warmer outside. March is so depressing!

I kept this last FHE simple, but I think it's just as important. We started by singing "Book of Mormon Stories", making sure Gummy Bear was watching and listening. I said an opening prayer, and then pulled out our scriptures. I had this great idea to use GB's "My First Book of Mormon Stories" board book along with our scriptures: I opened to the first story in the book, read it to him, and then connected it to a couple verses in the Book of Mormon. This first story was about Lehi and the Lord's promise to lead him and his family to the promised land. The verses I picked were 1 Nephi 1:20 and 2:1....
"...But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance."
"...Blessed art thou Lehi, because of the things which thou hast done; and because thou hast been faithful and declared unto this people the things which I commanded thee..."

We let Gummy Bear play while we talked for just a few minutes about the scripture, and then moved on to the lesson. I pulled it from our little book of FHE for newlyweds. This particular one was about marriage myths, addressing the expectations that people often have in marriage that are unrealistic. It asked us to read a list of 10 myths, and talk about whether we believe them or not.

1. Marriage should always make you happier than when you were single.
2. The romance will stay alive if you really love each other.
3. Your mate should automatically understand you.
4. In a good marriage, partners have identical dreams and goals.
5. If your sex life starts out good, it will stay that way.
6. If you have to work at marriage, something is wrong.
7. You should work on changing your spouse for the better.
8. Happily married couples should never fight.
9. You can't find self-fulfillment in marriage or family relationships.
10. Your ideas about an ideal marriage should not change.

Some of these we had trouble with, mostly because we felt they were so vague. For example, when we read number four we realised that we had similar dreams and goals for our family, but as individuals it is ok to have different dreams and goals. And we were both perplexed by number nine, and ended up skipping over it. At the same time, we also had some good mini discussions about some of these, so maybe the vague-ness is a good thing. In our case, we both knew that marriage wasn't all butterflies and roses and that it took work and effort. We also know that a lot of other couples may not have ever thought about any of these before. Husband Man and I have always made an effort to talk about everything, and I think that helped us learn a lot about each other.

You could easily make this a longer, more in-depth study about marriage by reading or listening to President Gordon B. Hinckley's talk "What God Hath Joined Together" from the April 1991 General Conference. There is a particular quote that he mentioned that really connects to this lesson:

Of course, all in marriage is not bliss. Years ago I clipped these words from a column written by Jenkins Lloyd Jones:

“There seems to be a superstition among many thousands of our young who hold hands and smooch in the drive-ins that marriage is a cottage surrounded by perpetual hollyhocks to which a perpetually young and handsome husband comes home to a perpetually young and ravishing wife. When the hollyhocks wither and boredom and bills appear the divorce courts are jammed. …

“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed.” (Deseret News, 12 June 1973, p. A4.)

He goes on to mention some difficulties that we could face in marriage, and how we can overcome them. It brings hope that a prophet of the Lord acknowledges that marriage can be difficult, and that there is help and hope that we can make it worth our time.

We finished by singing "I love mommy, she loves me..." a couple of times, and then Husband Man said a closing prayer. Once again our home was filled with peace and gentle love as we prepared to go to bed. I am so grateful that we can feel the blessings of having FHE, a simple affirmation that this simple act as a family is so important and so worth it!

While I Was Reading... #2

 38 ¶Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named ^aMartha received him into her house.

 39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.

 40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

 41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art ^acareful and troubled about many things:

 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath ^achosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

--Luke 10:38-42

This is one of my favorite biblical stories. It used to confuse me-- we are taught that work is a good thing, and that was what Martha was doing. She probably didn't mean anything bad by it, and I doubt the Lord chastised her in any way. Ever since I heard a lesson about this story in Relief Society, this story gained a special place in my heart, but I never really felt like I knew what to do with it, or how to apply it in my life (if that makes sense). It wasn't until I read it on my own, for my personal scripture study, that something occurred to me.

Sometimes we turn into Martha, where we are concerned with work and serving and taking care of things, going here and being there and cleaning this and doing that. Our primary goal, however, is to be like Mary. Before all the business of life, above all the tasks that we must accomplish, more important than anything that needs to get done, we must do the things that are needful... we must read our scriptures, pray often, have our hearts constantly turned towards Christ and His Gospel. We must be ready to listen when He speaks to us. We must always sit at His feet, and hear His word. There will be time to serve the Lord later; for now, hear His word. I love the scriptures. 

That They Might Have Joy

The woman in question was of about average height, long blonde hair and a bird-like nose and a bashful smile that was beautiful when she showed it. It came out that this woman was 51 years old, and I think my jaw cracked the foundation of my apartment. She looked maaaaybe to be in her thirties! But this woman would stand in front of the mirror, looking so stiff and uncomfortable, completely worried that she looked horrible and people would judge her. She was so hesitant to and almost unwilling to love herself, that she made Stacey and Clinton feel uncomfortable.

Yes, I was watching "What Not To Wear" again (DON'T LEAVE), and yes, I was staring with my mouth open again at the transformation. But this time it wasn't because the transformation was stunning-- this time, it was because I realised something. The entire time I was watching this episode, I had one thing going through my head...

When I am 50 years old, will I love myself?

(Oh no, this post is getting pinterest cheesy. Hang in there with me, I won't do it again.)

It's obvious what that image is saying, but think about it with yourself. If there's one person on this earth who is always with you, it's you. In this world where there is so much to do, so many places to be, so many things to get done, do you really have time to be hard on yourself? How much of your precious time is spent in front of the mirror criticizing yourself? They say that you spend something like two weeks of your life waiting at stoplights; I bet there are a lot of women who spend that much time frowning in the mirror.

While I was reading my scriptures today, I was directed to 2 Nephi 2:27...
"Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." (Emphasis added)

I also found Luke 22:31...
"And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat..."
Or, as I see it,
"And the Lord said, Ashy, Ashy, behold, Satan hath desired to have you..."
(You can put your own name in there.)

The adversary is unhappy, and seeks to make you unhappy. The Lord has placed us on this earth and told us to be happy and joyful. If you're constantly bashing yourself for how you look, how much you weigh, how "old" you look, how many lines you have on your face, whatever it is, then you aren't living as the Lord wants you to. Trust me on this: as I have been learning to love and be happy with myself, even with all my "flaws", I have been learning that there is even more joy in the Gospel and in this life.

Quell the "If only..." syndrome. We all have it. If only I could lose ten pounds. If only I could have smaller feet. If only I didn't have acne. If only I didn't have stretch marks. If only I could have a waist like her. If only I could have straight hair. If only I could look like her. If only...
I am guilty of this. I've cried myself to sleep over the stretch marks, the leftover baby chub, the big feet, the unruly hair, whatever else I look in the mirror and see wrong.
But when I look in the mirror and focus on what I like, I realise that these things are the things other people see. No one judges me on my leftover pregnancy acne, or the stretch marks, and if they do then I hope that it can bring them joy, if only for a moment. (After all, you will be judged as you judge others...)

I'm not saying that you shouldn't care about working towards losing ten pounds, or getting rid of your acne, or whatever. Those are good goals. It's when those "if-only's" start taking over your happiness, when those flaws become an obsession, that it is a problem.

You may never look like a runway model or magazine cover girl, and that's ok! I know I won't-- my post-baby hips fit in a size 10 jeans and not a size smaller. It is physically impossible for me to look like a runway model. But let me tell you-- I look darn good in my jeans, because they flatter my body, they are comfortable, and I like my hips. I didn't always like these hips, but I do now because my husband forced me to look in the mirror and tell him what I liked about myself. I still remember his face when I told him I didn't like anything about me-- he was disappointed, sad, that I couldn't be happy. Our Heavenly Father is unhappy when you are unhappy, because He wants his children to have joy. As I learned to voice what I like, I learned that I like other parts of me that the world says are bad. We are told to live in the world but not of the world, and I believe that includes the world's standard of beauty. The world wants you to dislike yourself, because then you'll relentlessly spend money on products and things that will supposedly hide or remove those flaws. I'll say it again: The Lord wants us to be happy.

Don't spend your life criticizing yourself. Don't turn 51 and still be sighing as you look in the mirror, wishing you didn't look like you did. You will age. You will change. You will still be beautiful. Don't waste two weeks of your life saying "if only..." Don't let the world tell you what you should look like. Set goals to achieve fitness and healthiness. Be content. Be happy!

Trust me, it's so worth it!

Yockeyite Banter: Part Five

While getting a wedding dress for KT in Utah....
KT: This is going to sound weird, but that is a cool picture of asparagus.


After looking at a recipe she asked me to send her...
Meema: It says "butter, no substitutes" and I always go "you can't tell me what to do!"


While sitting with a friend at her house, the week before Christmas, we overheard the kids talking while they played in a blanket fort...
Oldest girl: Ok, who wants to hold the baby Jesus?
Two younger brothers (together): Me, me!!
Oldest girl: Ok, rule number one... Never, ever, let a little shepherd hold the baby Jesus.


Texting my seester...
Meema: I was eating a banana and dancing in the car and I accidentally wiped my banana on the ceiling
Ashy: Bahahahahahahaha Oh my goodness that is hilarious hahahahahahaha

Meema: Sold my truck :(
Ashy: Don't worry, you left a banana smear for truck to remember you by
Meema: No one knows it's there but me
Ashy: And me

Meema: Hey, want to see something really really funny?
Ashy: Of course I want to see something funny!
Meema: Did you get the picture?
Ashy: No picture. My phone is stupid.
Meema: Sorry. The pictures not that important. There's a banana smear on the car I'm gonna buy
Ashy: Hahahahahahaha Are you serious??
Meema: Yes oh my gosh it looks like boogers but I'm confident it's banana. Banana smear on the truck I sold and the car I'm buying.


While sitting in Primary during sharing time, I overhear something that goes like this...
Teacher: And how do we know that Heavenly Father loves us?
Sunbeam: Jellyfish.


Helping a friend out with her kids... I'm sitting with the oldest, a girl, on the couch while she makes a "book"...
Oldest: (reading out loud while she "writes") Dear dumpkin, I'm writing to the great pumpkin. I hope to see you in the next thirty days. Love, gramma and grandpa


Texting my sister again...
Me: I just took all my dirty dishes, loaded them on cookie sheets, and hid them in my bathtub. I can't decide if I should be ashamed or proud.
Meema: Hahahaha why
Me: Because the missionaries are coming over for dinner and I ALWAYS have dirty dishes. ... And of course the first conversation we have is about "honesty is the best policy"
Meema: Haha oh you're great

Word Art and Almost Walking

I love creating things. I always have. Making music, beading necklaces, little craft projects to make people smile... I also love the scriptures. Now that I'm not in school I make time every morning to read and study and learn. I try to find verses that stand out to me, that touch my spirit. I think words, no matter where they come from, can be so powerful and uplifting.

This is the one that I made today. There are endless color combos you could do with this, and because it is simple, it can enhance a wall display. I love adding text to a group of photos, like I did with the one my SIL gave me for Christmas. (I posted a picture of it in my last post.) Word art is one of my newest favorite projects!

Also, Gummy Bear is VERY mobile. He loves to pull himself up on everything, and if you hold his hands he will walk and run everywhere. Lately he will try to walk while holding on to you with just one hand (although that is still very wobbly) and he is starting to get brave and let go of things for a moment or two to stand on his own. When he is happy he yells and chirps and squeals as he power-crawls all over the house. When he is crabby or upset, he will definitely let you know. He loves apple-cinnamon cheerios, and always scarfs down food as though we are starving him. We went to the temple this last Saturday, and while the other two mothers were just sitting with their babies, I kept getting up and chasing after GB. He is very, very ambitious and when older kids are running around and playing, you can see it in his face that he wants to play with them. It's as though he is a big kid trapped in a little kid's body. This week he will turn 8 months old. I love this little guy!

FHE Monday #5

This comes late, but who cares? We had FHE this week!

So when Monday rolled around, I asked Husband Man to plan a lesson. He mentioned that he wanted to create a little book of pictures of family members for Gummy Bear, so he could have a book to see all the people related to him. I printed some off at Walmart when I went grocery shopping, and bought a little album for the pictures to go in. I was super excited about a FHE about families, especially since that is a big part of Primary this year as well.

That night we sang "Families Can Be Together Forever", and said a prayer. (That's how you know FHE has started off right!) Then we put Gummy Bear in my lap, and Husband Man started putting pictures in the album. He held the first one up--one of all three of us--and said "Who is this?" I pretended to answer for GB, and pointed to the people and said who they were. We had a picture of Husband Man and I when we got married, a picture of HM's older sister and her family, HM's little sister and her hubby, my sisters and brothers, and our parents and grandparents (GB's grandparents and great-grandparents). Then we sang the "I love daddy, he loves me, we love mommy yes-sir-ree" song a couple times, and closed with a prayer.

I loved doing this activity with Gummy Bear. He was actually attentive (which was really weird, he's not known for sitting still) and smiled when Husband Man held up each picture. The only thing I want to add is a picture of just Gummy Bear, and also a picture of Christ, because He is in our home as well. (It was also kind of a bummer because I didn't look at all the photos before I left Walmart, so in the photo of my little brother he only had half a face... So we have to reprint a couple pictures.) Now GB has a little book that he can look at (and hopefully we can keep him from eating it) during church or whenever to learn more about his family!

While I Was Reading...

While reading in the scriptures with Husband Man and on my own, sometimes things really touch me and I want to share them in hopes that they touch someone else as well. I have two things I just wanted to share.

The first is one I read last night in the book of Jeremiah. Husband Man and I have been reading through the Old Testament together since we got married... and three years later we're still going!
But there is a story in the beginning of the thirteenth chapter of Jeremiah that really stood out to me:

1 Thus saith the Lord unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.

 2 So I got a girdle according to the word of the Lord, and put it on my loins.

 3 And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying,

 4 Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.

 5 So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.

 6 And it came to pass after many days, that the Lord said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.

 7 Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.

 8 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

 9 Thus saith the Lord, After this manner will I mar the ^apride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.

 10 This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the ^aimagination of their heart, and ^bwalk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.

 11 For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not ^ahear.

So as I started to read this, my thought process went something like this: A girdle? Ok, a little strange... don't wash it? Weird... Go hide it? Ok... what on earth??
Admittedly, a lot of my thought processes go like this when reading the Old Testament. But when I got to the end of this story, something struck me. All the Lord asked was something simple, and all Jeremiah did was do it. There wasn't any questioning (that we know of, haha), there wasn't any dawdling... The Lord spoke, and Jeremiah followed. The end. That simple. And as a result, the Lord was able to teach Jeremiah something, and give him more wisdom and understanding.

I turned to Husband Man, and I wondered out loud how many times the Lord tried to ask me to do something so simple, and I wouldn't do it because it seemed weird or I was embarrassed to do it, or whatever. I wondered what I could have had learned by now, but hadn't because of my silly and petty reasons.

Just something to think about.

In my personal reading, I can across a quote from Ezra Taft Benson that really touched me:

"When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities." (Ensign, May 1988, 4).

I hope that I can remember that quote as our lives continue, as more kids come, as more things require our attention and our time. I'm grateful for the happiness I feel as I try to make Christ and His Gospel the center of our home.

FHE Monday #4

This was just a simple activity. I love seeing how well I know my husband, especially after three years of marriage.

We started with a song, bouncing Gummy Bear, and we held him while we prayed and read a scripture. Then we let him play while we did this activity.

The book gave us a list of questions that we could ask, and I was supposed to guess what Husband Man would say. So the first question was something like "What famous person from history would you like to meet?" and I know that there are a lot of people my hubby would like to meet. I guessed Captain Moroni, and was right. Then he listed off a few other people he would like to meet from history, and then tried to guess who I would like to meet. We did a bunch of these questions, and some were harder than I thought! You could easily make up your own-- favorite food? Favorite song? Favorite actor/actress? Dream location to live? What would you do with a thousand dollars?

If we couldn't guess it then we would tell each other what we would have said. The book told us to write our answers on paper, and if they matched then the spouse was correct, but we thought that was too much work and possibly too difficult... so if you think you know your spouse perfectly, then do it that way! After three years I don't profess to know everything about Husband Man, but I know I'm getting better. I wouldn't have been able to answer these questions when we were first married!

Then we grabbed Gummy Bear and sang a closing song and said a prayer to end it. I'm sure he has no idea what was going on, but we were paying attention to him and he loved it! I still enjoy the wonderful feeling that is in our home after Family Home Evening. This is a good resolution!

FHE Monday #3

In my last post I mentioned that we are going to do better about Family Home Evening, and today, even though we didn't have it until 10 PM, we held FHE and I am so happy about it!!

When I was visiting Husband Man's family for Thanksgiving, we went to church with them on Sunday and in Relief Society his mom gave the lesson. I can't remember what her original topic was about, but the these are the things that touched me the most:

Pattern of Prayer
Library of Learning
Legacy of Love
Treasure of Testimony
Family Home Evening should have an opening prayer, a purpose, and a closing prayer. (And music.)

Looking over these simple notes I had taken, I realised that FHE can help us develop all of those things, and can be a great way to help our children feel and learn these ideas. It can also help us guide our FHEs so that they can guide and uplift and teach our children.

Anyways, this evening we did a time capsule. When I was going through my things at my parents' house, I discovered a time capsule I had done when I was about ten or eleven, probably with a church activity. I opened it, and read all kinds of goofy stuff-- I liked pink and grey, only wanted one kid, and the thing I remembered most was that my friends had just moved away. I really
thought it would be fun to do one every couple or few years as a family, and open them in the future. We picked a few questions and had each person in the family answer them, things like favorite color, food, scripture or scripture story, and how many kids we wanted (or brothers and sisters). We kept it mostly silly, but tried to have a question or two that was gospel-related. We also did a small family section that told where we lived, what callings we had, etc.

So we sang "Families Can Be Together Forever", Husband Man gave an opening prayer and did the scripture (he chose one about Noah, since Gummy Bear received a Fisher Price Noah's Ark in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa S), and I led the time capsule activity. Then we sang the "I love Daddy, he loves me" song and I "helped" Gummy Bear say a closing prayer. When it was over, we blew raspberries with Gummy Bear (his newest thing). I felt such warmth and happiness, and I know that we were doing the right thing. (Finally!)

Blowing raspberries!

I think this is going to be a great goal for this year!

Gummy Bear: 6 Months Old

Gummy Bear has been growing way. too. quickly. these last few weeks! At his six month checkup today he weighed 18 pounds 13 ounces (72%), measured 27.5 inches long (82%), and his head was 45cm (90%). He still has a gigantic cranium! And he's definitely a long baby. My mom encouraged me to buy a pair of Osh Kosh B'Gosh overalls at a yard sale, and when I pulled them out yesterday they just looked like they would be balloon pants on him. The nurse said his BMI was about 50%, so he has chub... he just puts most of his energy into getting taller!

It makes sense that he is in high percentiles because he LOVES to eat. He eats rice cereal or oatmeal, a variety of baby fruits and baby veggies. He loves all of them, and recognises the jars now when we open them. The only one he maybe doesn't like is the carrots. I don't know if it's a texture thing or what, but he always makes tons of goofy faces and noises when we feed them to him. He also loves formula, though, and for the most part holds his own bottle... until he gets bored, and then it becomes Mom's job again.

He still loves his bunny rattle and his elephant toy, and preference towards eating cloth over smooth toys. Sometimes he is perfectly content to just chew on a burp rag. On the other hand... he is getting very opinionated! If he doesn't want to play with a certain toy, then he just ignores it. If he is done sitting in the walker, then he will let us know. He is always a busy little boy, moving here and there and eating this and chewing that, talking or squealing or smacking toys on things, smiling and whining... When he's whining he puts his head down on the floor, kind of like in the picture above, being a drama queen! We just shake our heads at him and tell him he's silly.

He is quickly getting mobile. He rolled everywhere for a while, and now he army crawls across the room with record speed. A couple of days ago he started to crawl on top of things instead of just crawling up to them and touching them. I was sitting on the floor, and suddenly he was crawling over the walker (it was collapsed), around and over my lap, and then over to and on top of the humidifier. Today we caught him pulling himself up on his knees while using the walker as leverage. My mom made a guess that he would skip formal crawling (hands and knees instead of army crawling) and go right to walking... I suspect she could be right!

The johnny jumper is one of his favorites, too. He will stand in that for a while, walking forwards and around and dancing when he gets excited. The best doorway for the jumper is our bedroom door, and just inside the door is the cabinet we got to store his clothes, the sheets, and the towels. He has figured out how to open the lower cabinet doors, and he pulls out the washcloths and eats them and throws them on the floor. We had the ironing board tucked between the cabinet and the wall, but he found that and pulled it out. We're pretty sure he dropped it on his toes once, so that is now sitting out in the hallway. If you help him stand up by hold his hands, he wobbles a lot but he loves to walk forward. Sometimes he will pick up one foot really high and forget to move the other foot, and we just walk him around and laugh and laugh!

He still charms everyone everywhere we go, and still loves to flirt with the ladies. In Walmart today, for example, I went up to refill a prescription and the lady in the pharmacy caught sight of him as I was walking up and she smiled at him and talked to him for a minute before she said, "Oh, I'm sorry. What can I do for you?" I just laughed. He loves attention and has definitely figured out what he needs to do to get it. We love him so much!

Oh yeah-- he drools a ton, but no sign of teeth yet!

Christmas and the New Year!

Husband Man was able to get a whole week off so we could go and visit my native people for the week of Christmas. It was so much fun, and SO CRAZY!

Quick breakdown:

21- arrive in the evening at my parents' house

22- church and a big house party

24- Christmas Eve: feed elders and stay up until 1AM finishing Christmas gifts

25- my baby sister wakes everyone up at o'dark in the morning (I think I literally saw sunrise while I got out of bed), stockings, breakfast, presents, down time, huge dinner......

26- extended family starts to arrive, and our annual day-after-Christmas swimming trip

28- everyone is here (my dad's eight siblings and their spouses and... 38-ish children?), family talent show (an hour and a half long, holy cow), forty minutes to change and turn the church gym into a reception (while I ran to Walmart again), large reception

29- church, packing, family dinner, packing, return home

The wonderful thing is that my baby sister and her fiance, my foster brother, and all my grandparents were there for Christmas. It was amazing for us all to be together! And Gummy Bear enjoyed all the attention he received the entire week. He and Grandma S are besties, and when my aunts and uncles showed up everyone wanted to hold GB and say hello.

So when I got to my parents' house, she heard I had only given GB fruits and rice cereal and oatmeal and told me I needed to get him on veggies. Within the first few days GB had sampled pizza crust, peppermint candy cane, pistachio pudding, cool whip, Cheerios, animal crackers, the crust of french bread, mashed potatoes, ice cream........ and been introduced to beans, peas, squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes. At one point in the week I changed no less than 5 diapers in 24 hours. I kid you not. After talking to his dad later in the week, Husband Man informed me that introducing everything like that all at once will cause problems. Nowwww you tell me! My life is suddenly filled with so much poop......

(Sorry if that was a little TMI, but............)

Anyways, after we got home and spent a few days cleaning up it was time for the new year to roll in! Husband Man worked Monday and Tuesday (New Years Eve), but then Tuesday night he had to chaperone a youth activity at church. So I went and played games with a friend in the ward whose husband also had to be at the activity. It was so much fun! We had cake, and sparkling cider, and chatted. Husband Man had New Years Day off (our best guess was that his company didn't want people with hangovers showing up to work, haha) and we had a lazy day doing whatever. It was so nice, to just spend the time together and relax and play games!

The new year is always so exciting, a chance to use the new year as a fresh start to achieve goals and try harder to be a better person. Shortly after New Years, Husband Man and I decided we would write down four family goals and three personal goals each that we wanted to achieve by the end of the year. (And if we post them, then we really have to make sure we achieve them! Hahaha!) We tried to think of goals that would increase health, spiritual health, and financial safety:

1. For a financial goal, we decided that we would try and save up a certain amount each month to reach a goal by the end of the year. Husband Man is on salary, and looking ahead we know that in the next few years we could potentially be looking at purchasing a second car, maybe putting a down payment on a house... We really felt like it would be a good idea to save as much as we can.

2. This is a financial/spiritual combination goal: we are trying to pay our tithing every month. Since we have been married we pay tithing on every penny that enters our home. When we were in college, we even paid tithing on our pell grants, and we definitely felt the blessings of giving that money back to the Lord and His church. What we aren't so good at? Paying our tithing monthly. Instead it gets forgotten, and then suddenly we're using 80% of a paycheck to catch up. It would be much easier on our bank accounts if we just did it every month.

3. For a spiritual goal, we decided we are going to try and have Family Home Evening every Monday. I know, I know, we are already supposed to do that... but we are HORRIBLE at it! Now that Gummy Bear is starting to understand more and more things, we want to set the pattern now.

4. We needed a physical goal, so we set it that we should exercise twice a week at least. I don't feel like either of us needs to lose weight, but I have turned into a weakling pansy since I had Gummy Bear and Husband Man has been talking about trimming up as well. We've tried to set more specific exercise times, such as exercising every Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday, but that never seemed to work. So we are going to make it a little more broad, and hopefully it will feel like more of a choice rather than forcing ourselves to do it.

For personal goals, I'm really proud of Husband Man's choices.
1. Read "Miracle of Forgiveness". (He told me it used to be required missionary reading, but they removed the requirement right before his mission.)
2. Finish first draft of The Dream. (That's the codename he's given his novel that he is working on.)
3. 33" waist. (What? You said you weren't worried about losing weight! Don't worry, he said as long as he is fit and active then if his waist never goes back to 33" he'll understand. It's the principle of the goal!)

My personal goals:
1. Maintain a regular journal. (And GB's journal too.) I've been trying to do this, but the longer it goes the more I don't want to spend hours catching up! But I know that it is super, super important, so here it is.
2. Write every day, whether it is on my novel or on the blog(s). (This is coupled by the fact that I was allowed to have cable so long as I worked on my novel, so now I have tons of reasons to write! Haha)
3. Finish at least one project every month. I am one of those people who starts projects or gets all the materials for a project, and then never finishes it... but enough is enough! Time to actually do some pinterest projects!

I am so excited for the opportunities we are offering ourselves. And the best part is that we have chosen goals that will allow us to evaluate how we are doing each month, or even each week. There is always time to improve, and just because you fail at your resolutions in January doesn't mean you have to wait until next January to try again. We figure that if you are doing better by the end of the year, then you have succeeded!

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Here is to 2014! Woohoo!