Forever Family

I am feeling overwhelmed with gratitude today for our family! Today is Josh's birthday and my parents 29th anniversary. We went to the shooting range to celebrate! It was so much fun seeing every try it out. The guys had a little more experience then us ladies but we all did pretty good! I personally had fun but shooting is not something I see myself choosing to do on my birthday :-) but spending time as a family was my favorite part of the day. There is something special about family. Just feeling so comfortable around each other. Being able to completely be yourself and feeling so proud to be a member of our family. Poor tommy has been super sick but he woke up early to go shooting then went straight to work! Such a trooper! I hope he is doing okay tonight at work! 

Tonight was also our church's General Women's Broadcast. I would have loved to go watch it at the church building with all other sister but since tommy is working and babysitter choices are few I decided to watch it at home. Although I'm sure I didn't get quiet all I could have gotten from the meeting if I was at the building, I did really enjoy listening to out church leaders. They have so much wisdom and are so good at inspiring others. From this session what really stuck out to me was that I need to go to the temple more often and I need to serve my family more. I have been feeling really good about our temple attendance this year! Our goal (tommy and I) this year was to go once a month. It's September and so far we have gone 10 times. So we are above our goal and are determined to go three more times before the year is through. But I think on top of that couples goal I will make it my goal to go once more a month on my own. I know that if I can do this then I can receive more inspiration and motivation to be a disciple of Christ. 

I also have been feeling pretty good about my effort to serve. I pray for it everyday and I am finding little things that I can do to help others. Mainly it is babysitting and making food for other families in our ward. But right now that is what I'm able to do and so that's what I will try my hardest to do. But what I can be better at is helping serve our "extended" family. So our parents, grandparents, siblings ect. Sometimes it's easy for me to do things for other people but maybe not so much for my family. I can pray for opportunities to serve them and I know that I will recognize the moment. I think through this they will be able to better feel my love for them. 

Needless to say, it's been another great day! 

Don't be sorry

Today I was starting to feel sorry for myself. Again! I was thinking about how this year has been pretty rough. Tommy going through the police academy and now in phase training has been hard on our whole family. Also, having another misscarriage this past May has been very hard. With November around the corner that will make one year that we will have been trying for another baby. Well what  I realized today is that it's not that bad!

Sure it has been a pretty hard year so far but as I was looking through pictures on my phone we have had some really fun times as well. Tommy's 30th birthday. Kids safari combo party Kennedy 3 and Oli 1. Trip to Utah and Sacramento. Plenty of beach time! Beach camping. Family dinners. We really have so much to be grateful for. It's just like we were taught in the last session of general conference, we need to be grateful no matter what our circumstances are. Tonight I'm grateful for our amazing family and the knowledge I have that we will be together for ever! We have our amazing parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and of corse our kids and most of all each other. 

Tommy was talking to me today about how he is feeling a little overwhelmed with work right now and getting ready for his test at the end of 3rd phase. I selfishly started thinking about how I too was feeling overwhelmed with everything I have to do at home, my calling, and with our families. Then on top of that I find myself never sitting down because I am constantly trying to make sure tommy gets as much rest as possible when he is home so he can be rested and alert while he is at work. Safe! Well later this afternoon I was thinking about how we always talk about both of us giving each other 100%. So what happens when we both are feeling overwhelmed at the same time? I don't think I have an answer yet but what I do know is that we need to pray together! Pray about it individually. With an eternal marriage like we have we are blessed to have made a covenant with our Heavenly Father and He will help us both give our 100%. So in the mean time while we are praying to figure out how to not be overwhelmed I am going to focus on the positive and do my best to be there for my husband. 

We have a great life started together and I'm really excited to experience the rest of eternity with my cute guy!! 

Front Yard Garden

We have been working on starting a vegetable / fruit garden since probably... June. So that's about 4 months! First I had to find and collect about 20 pallets. Took them apart (12 hours) then build the planter boxes (3 hours) and then find free dirt. Tommy unloaded all the dirt into the boxes (4 hours). So now we are just about ready to plant. Yesterday we went to the store and bought manure and seeds. Kennedy was most excited about picking out the seeds. On our way there she said she wanted to buy banana seeds. I explained that bananas grow on trees so we probably won't be finding any seeds. Once we were next to the seeds she yells, "mom! I found bananas!" She brought me a pack of seeds for yellow squash. It was so cute! I explained to her what they were. She didn't seem to mind and went on her way searching for other types of seeds. She LOVED picking out the seeds. While Kennedy and I were excitedly looking through the seeds Oliver and Tommy patiently waited. Kennedy was not thrilled with the idea of us buying "cow poop" and Oliver loves to say "cow poop!" It was a great day! 

Presents

This girl LOVES to give presents. She finds thing around the house (today it was string cheese) and wraps them in paper and stickers the. Gives them to someone. She gets so excited to watch you open her "gift". Such a giving girl! 

Teaching

I took a video yesterday of Kennedy trying to get Oliver to eat his dinner. He is going through this thing right now and will not eat anything when we sit down to eat a meal. Well, in this video Kennedy is so patient and loving with Oliver. She first tries to get him to eat his beans then tries to get him to take a bite of his taco. He won't do it. So she then tells him to watch her as she takes a bite of her taco. He watches... And takes a bite of his taco. I love this so much for two reasons: 1. It shows what a great sister and teacher Kennedy already is. 2. It shows how much Oliver loves his big sister. 

Moms night out

I just watched a movie called "Moms Night Out". It's about a group of moms who are feeling overwhelmed with their job as "mom". They decide they need just one night out. The night ends up being a disaster but the unexpected message that this movie gives is so great! At the end of the movie the husband tells his wife, "your job is so important." Sometimes my job as mom might not be super glamorous. I might not have the extra money to buy new clothes or take fancy trips. But what I do have, has eternal value. What I do have, is irreplaceable. I have wanted to be a mom since I can remember. I remember one time as a little girl. I must have been around 7 years old. One night I was playing house and I wanted my baby doll to come to life so bad. I prayed SO hard that my doll could be a real baby. That might be weird, haha, but I can't even express how happy being a mom really makes me and when I think about being a mom I think about being a wife. 

How cool is it to have a husband?!? To know that you have someone who is always looking out for you. Someone who will go to work everyday for me so I can stay home and have my dream job. Someone to hang out with, to laugh with. This morning the kids were being crazy. Both Oliver and Kennedy were fighting over something. Despite what was going on around us, Tommy still made me so happy. I don't really remember exactly what he said but what I do remember is him holding my hand as he stood up, kissed me on my head, then went to take care of the kids without me saying anything. As he stood up I remember thinking, "my husband really is my best friend." I sincerely think that. He always tells me he loves me. He always tells me I'm a great mom and he always thanks me for working so hard. That is just a couple of the reasons why I think he is my perfect husband.