Fun Saturday- Go Jazz!

Warning- This is pretty much a travelblog of our day yesterday for parents and bored friends. :-)

We had a really fun and packed day yesterday. Steven turned the big 03 yesterday (months of course) and continues to be the sweetest and easiest baby. I love his smile and giggles. He is growing fast, so hopefully we can start his NBA training at 18 mo and use him to fund our retirement. :-)


We then went to the pony rides and petting zoo at Gardner Village. Sarah loves it there and the animals are so laid back.




Steven even got some attention from a hungry little goat. They really will eat anything. We let the goat play until he went up on the rock behind him and wanted to walk on his car seat.


We brought our bikes with us, so after the zoo we loaded up the kids and took a ride along the Jordan river trail to a park where we stopped for lunch. Thankfully I'm not as sore as I was last week, but I have more respect for Lance Armstrong. :-)

Last night we went to game 4 of the playoffs with 7 of our friends. The Whitney's, Shaw's, Merril's and our friend Steve. The only thing missing was the Anderson's. (that's for you Tiff) Thankfully we all got to sit together, but the only row above ours was a make-shift one they created out of folding chairs. It was awesome and WE WON! Hopefully we can beat them in Houston on Tuesday, but 3 wins on their home court would be asking a lot.

Happy Anniversary to Us :-)

Today Mike and I celebrated our four year anniversary. Although I know we'll be together forever I still feel a sense of accomplishment every time April 21st comes around. There is still a couple minutes left in the Jazz game, so I thought I'd sneak away for some blogging.

Since we can't leave Steven overnight a romantic getaway was out of the question, so instead I talked Mike into taking most of the day off and hanging out. We decided to go buy bikes and a kid trailer and go for a bike ride. Sarah loved riding in the "train." Incidentally, I'm not in as good as shape as I thought. Bike riding uses muscles I guess I haven't worked out in a while. :-)

I made Mike's favorite dinner of chicken alfredo and we curled up with the kids for game two of the playoffs. Last year we stayed in Park City where we went to dinner and...curled up for game one of the playoffs. Exciting life of a wife of a Jazz addict. We have nose bleed tickets to game four, so hopefully that's when we finish them off. :-)

Mothers of young children

Yesterday a girlfriend of mine brought her two kids, both a little older than mine, over for a play date. She is a super mom that works hard all day and then comes home and gives her kids all of her attention. While we were talking Elder Ballard's talk from the last conference came up. It is a talk about mothers, and especially young mothers, and all the challenges we face. It was so good to hear how aware a general authority is of mothers of small children.

Being a mother is the greatest blessing I have ever received, but it has also been my greatest trial. I think it is a positive trial, but a trial nonetheless. Our children teach us so much about patience and love, but I hope I'm not the only mother that gets flustered at times. I think that mothers of all ages have challenges, but I think when we're young it is so new to us that these challenges can sometimes seem, or are, greater. There is nothing like waking up with an infant all night and then chasing around a toddler that needs as much of your attention all day. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, but it can be tiring physically, mentally and spiritually.

I loved the part in Elder Ballards talk when he talked about being released from the bishopric of his ward after 10 years and finally being able to join his young family for sacrament. His wife was singing in the choir and he got to watch their 6 young kids. He only watched them for a few minutes, but said it was the busiest he's ever been. Mike is an amazing father, but it makes me feel good when he watches the kids and doesn't get anything else done, because he can't. I'm not superwoman, but sometimes being a mom makes me feel like it. (as well as the wicked step mother also ;-)

Elder Ballard talked about four things we can do as young mothers to reduce pressure and enjoy our families more.

1. Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. I'm so worried about being so busy that I miss out on important moments with my kids. (i.e. I missed Steven rolling over because I was cleaning. j/k)

2. Don't overschedule yourselves or your kids. This is one of my weaknesses. I work about 10 hrs/week from home, but I do it more for myself then the money. I enjoy having something to do, but it's hard when something needs to be done for work and Sarah wants to go outside and play. It can be hard to find the right balance at times.

3. Find some time for yourselves to cultivate your gifts and interests.

4. Pray study and teach the gospel. I seem to find time to blog, but there are days when I don't read my scriptures and I feel bad, because I know I need that for strength.

He also gives some great ideas of what husbands can do to be supportive.

I just really appreciated this talk and would suggest reading it to everyone that hasn't yet. Here is the URL:
http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-851-37,00.html

Congrats to all you moms out there who do it so well. Thank you for your examples.

Steven Rolled Over!

Just a short post to say that Steven rolled over once yesterday and today. Yesterday I put him down for tummy time and Sarah informed that he rolled over and when I looked, sure enough he was on his back. Today I put him down on his stomach next to Mike and he turned over while Mike was changing Sarah's diaper, so he has now done it twice and neither of us has seen. :-) When I'm watching him he just whine's for me to do it, so I guess I'll have to set him down and hide so I can see it. ;-)

Baseball games, Blessings and Airplane crashes

This last weekend has been the nicest I've had in a long time. It was so much fun as well as peaceful and quiet. We got to spend time with family and friends and had a lot of time to ourselves as well.

Our Friday wasn't really exciting although you may be interested to know we are having a "Lord of the Rings" marathon. Yes we are nerds! The best thing is that since we can't watch it until Sarah goes to bed we've only gotten through about an hour of the first one in the last three days. :-)

On Saturday we joined our friends the Whitney's and my sister Kris and kids at a Salt Lake Bee's game. It was all of the kids first time and they really enjoyed it. They have a playground behind the grass in the backfield for kids and a train they can ride after the first inning. I don't think anyone watched much baseball, but it was a lot of fun to be there.




On Sunday was Steven's blessing. Mike gave him a really sweet blessing and thankfully we had a good number of friends and family that came to see and participate. Even the normal non-church goers made it out, which is impressive considering our church is at 9am. Mike really does love his kids and just like Sarah's blessing, this one was really special. Too bad he "got something in his eye and throat" again. Darn those inside dust storms. ;-)

Everyone came over to our house after for some light refreshments and mingling and the whole house was cleared out by noon. We had the entire day to ourselves so we napped and took a nice long walk around the surrounding neighborhoods. It was so nice outside, it really was the perfect day. I love how Sundays really prepare us for the week. I think God really knew what He was doing commanding us to have a day of rest, because we need it. We need to have a day without errands, stress, and even certain types of entertainment. It felt so good to just lie in bed knowing there was nothing else that needed to be done at that moment.







My parents also had a pretty exciting day up in Oregon. The weather was nice so they decided to take my Dad's plane for a ride. He has an older, but really nice Mooney which is kind of like an airplane sports car. Before they flew any distance my dad, being the cautious pilot he is, decided to do some practice landings. On the first landing the landing gear failed and the plane crashed. They were both fine, but the plane will need some work. The propeller is of course bent and I assume the under side of the plane isn't too pretty, but thankfully no one got hurt and my dad has insurance.

That will teach them fly on the Sabbath. ;-) J/K




Another side note is that Mike heard from the Air force recruiter and the board is in session and looking at his application, so we'll see. We won't find out until June, but we're still hoping for the best.

A girlfriend of mine that isn't on Myspace of Facebook asked for pics of Steven, so here you go. He is such a smiley baby. With Sarah we took pictures every day, but I've been more of a slacker with Steven.

I cut my hair!!!

Normally a hair cut would not be worthy of its own blog posting, but this was no ordinary hair cut. :-) This is the first time I have really cut my hair in about 18 years. When I started growing it out it was so I could look like a girl, and then it just became a fear of change and my being a wuss.

When I was younger I was a tom boy and had really short hair that was permed and sat right on my head. I was mistaken for a boy all the time, but didn't really care at first. I remember going to school with my mom and her being asked her sons name and going to a restaurant and having a waiter ask what the "little boy" wanted. It wasn't until an instance in elementary school that I decided I could act like a boy, but I should look like a girl.

The local Boy Scouts group had come to our class to talk to the boys about joining and gave a presentation about all the activities they would do. After the presentation they handed out a flyer to all the boys and I got one. My nickname was "boyscout" until my family moved.

So...after that boring story you now know why I'm so excited that I actually did it. My friend Larra, that cut my hair, made fun of me by saying I'm all "grown up" now. BTW, she really does great hair and is super affordable if you don't mind the drive to Springville.

Feel free to tell me you like it, and if you don't, lie. j/k

Congrats Mike!

Those of you that know Mike know he can be a glutton for punishment. This is first evidenced by the fact that he married me almost four years ago. ;-) Last May we both graduated from the University of Utah and I knew I was done with school for a while. Mike however always likes to better himself :-) and has decided to get an MBA. Today we found out that the U accepted him into their Professional MBA program for this fall. My dreams of owning a Honda Odyssey are dwindling even further. j/k We're "excited" for him and know this will be good for his career development. I'll have to go easy on him with his chores when he goes back. Oh well, there are worse things in life than dishes.

Have a great weekend! We're going to my mission reunion tomorrow, Frank Caliendo on Saturday and his grandma's Easter brunch at the old folks home on Sunday, so we have a few busy days ahead of us.