Hide and Seek

Emery is a great hide-and-seek-er. Check out some of her hiding spots from the last few weeks:

She is pretty good at finding me when I hide. Granted I don't have too much time to hide seeing as she counts "1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 13, 17, 17, 17". You can only run and hide so far when you play games with a toddler!

Painting date

Gavin and I bought a groupon months ago for a "Merlot to Masterpiece" which is basically just a painting class. We bought it with some friends but unfortunately scheduling never worked out that we could go with them so we finally just went by ourselves.

We had bought a two hour class and the painting choices weren't the best but we decided on the Van Gogh blossoms interpretation even though it was red and I have nothing red in my house. Oh well.

Here's Gavin, before we started, getting in his artist zone.

It was so much fun and 2 hours FLEW BY! I probably needed at least 3 to feel like I was done. Here we are halfway through, Gavin's is the top one and mine is below.

And here they are at the end of the class:

Gavin's is so beautiful and real looking. He kind of just did his own thing whereas I followed the teacher step by step. I wish I would have just done what I thought looked good because I don't like mine as much. Haha, that sounds so silly, but the example painting they had us follow was NOTHING like the actual painting they showed online so when I got home and looked at the original painting again I was a bit disappointed. Instead I have these weird flowers and I don't even know what they are, I was just trying to paint them like they said. Serves me right for being a sheep I suppose. :) If I had more time I would add more branches and more of the little blossoms like Gavin's painting. I like the look of that better I think. 

Despite some things I would change about my painting it was such a fun experience. We never paint so it was fun to do something different. After we painted we went to dinner at a pizza place called the "Mellow Mushroom" where our young server with his rasta hat kept telling us we were a "super adorable couple". I don't know why but it made me laugh. 

Listening & Moral Relativism

I thought February's Ensign (magazine published by the LDS church) had some very thoughtful articles. I really liked the article on communication in marriage. I also really enjoyed the article about modern moral relativism. I highly recommend reading both articles in their entirety, but here's a few quotes I enjoyed.

From Speak, Listen, and Love:

The greatest communication skill is being an effective listener. One of the most charitable demonstrations in marriage is to truly focus on your spouse and listen to him or her—really listen—regardless of what we want to say. Being heard is akin to being loved; in fact, being listened to is one of the highest forms of respect and validation. By listening, we are saying to our spouse, “You matter to me, I love you, and what you have to say is important.”

As I was reading this quote I thought about Gavin. Gavin is an excellent listener, it's one of the qualities that I love so much about him, and one that I try to learn from. Every time I talk to him he always puts his book down, puts his phone away, or pauses the basketball game he is watching and looks at me while I talk. It  makes me feel important and loved and that what I say matters. Unfortunately as I was reading that quote I had a twinge of guilt as I remembered two or three times the past week where Gavin was trying to talk to me and I was on my phone scrolling through facebook, checking my email, or playing a game, half-listening to what he was trying to tell me. But I resolved to be better and immediately deleted Facebook off my phone (I still get on facebook on the computer because I looooove facebook drama, just not as often) and have been making a concerted effort to show my love through listening.

From The Book of Mormon and Modern Moral Relativism. The author of the article was discussing a man named Korihor who was anti-Christ and taught principles of moral relativism. Letter "h" in the quote below is one of those principles Korihor taught:

4. 
   

4. h. Those who encourage people to keep God’s commandments are stripping away an individual’s “rights and privileges” (Alma 30:27).

4. This last point is particularly dangerous, for it elevates one’s rights while avoiding any discussion of one’s responsibilities. In purporting to be in favor of individual liberty, moral relativism actually threatens one’s privilege to exercise agency by ignoring the negative consequences of not being cognizant of one’s responsibilities to others...

4. Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has noted: “One of the consequences of shifting from moral absolutes to moral relativism … is that this produces a corresponding shift of emphasis from responsibilities to rights. Responsibilities originate in moral absolutes. In contrast, rights find their origin in legal principles, which are easily manipulated by moral relativism.”3

I love this. I see often the attitude of "I can do whatever I want--it's my life--you can't tell me what to do" and while yes, those things are true, that doesn't mean that living an amoral life has no effect on society or those around you. I believe all the human race is connected--we are all brothers and sisters and I feel a responsibility to mankind to be a good, kind person and try to live a moral life. While my actions may not effect people in Madagascar, it does effect those in my sphere of influence and those actions ripple outward. I want to live in a world with standards and high expectations because I think it is a better place to live with those things in place.

I'm not claiming I live a perfectly moral life or that I have all the answers. Also I think this stance is easier for me to take because of my faith. The question of, "Well who decides the morals?" Is answered with, "Heavenly Father does." Those answers are found not only in the Bible, but the Book of Mormon as well. And since the world has changed A LOT since those inspired books were written (they are still applicable!) God is still speaking to us through prophets and apostles to help us with the unique challenges of our day. Do we have all the answers? Nope, not yet. But we do the best we can with the knowledge we do have.

New Piano

My friend and I went to a huge garage sale this Saturday at a Methodist church near by. There was SO MUCH STUFF! It was packed with people, you could barely squeeze through the tables without bumping in to people. It was crazy. I bought a bunch of fabric for SUPER cheap and a waffle iron for Gavin (he's so excited!), and as we were waiting in line to pay there was a piano sitting there for $100. Yes, that's right, a piano for $100. I checked all the keys and they worked and sounded decent. I tried calling Gavin to see what he thought because I didn't want to come home saying, "Hi darling husband, I just bought a piano, surprise!" But he didn't pick up so I did just that, bought it, and 1 minute away from home he finally answers and I say, "hello, [WHY DIDN'T YOU ANSWER MY 15 CALLS?!!?!?!] I just bought a piano, come outside and help us move it in!" My friend bought a love seat so we had to borrow another friend's truck, and husband, to load it. There were a bunch of men from the Methodist church to help us load it up in the truck, which I was so grateful for. Pianos are the worst thing to move but fortunately this one isn't too heavy. We got it out of the truck and in to our house with 4 men: Gavin, two of my friend's husbands, and our neighbor.

Take a look!


























The finish isn't perfect so it needs new stain or something but I'm really not too worried about it. I adore it just the way it is! Except we do need a bench. Gavin is thinking he will make one for us.

I am so excited to have a piano! Gavin and I both play a little bit, but my skills have deteriorated immensely. It will be fun to practice and get better. Emery is loving it too. She will sit by me and play and sing at the top of her lungs. I am sure this little piano will get lots and lots of use (and some abuse by littles) over the years.

Potty training

This smart girl is potty training. And potty training is HARD WORK! Warning: this post contains discussion about kids pooping.

Emery actually semi-potty trained herself about 5 months ago--she was completely potty trained for a week--no accidents at all, but then she just stopped trying and would pee everywhere (stand by her potty chair, look straight at me and pee her pants). She was young, maybe 21 months, so I tried to encourage her at it for about a month but I got too frustrated and she clearly stopped caring so we went back to diapers. Luckily she didn't like having messy diapers so she continued pooping in the toilet and I didn't mind changing wet diapers a few times a day. But it was a frustrating time so I have been reluctant to try potty training again.

After a pep talk from some friends we started the process again last Monday and by Friday I felt like nothing was even sinking in and we weren't getting anywhere. Then all of sudden on Saturday it just seemed to click and she went the whole day with no major accidents and did it again on Sunday. We spent most of the week at home, no errands, just potty days. I talked it up for a few days and she was excited to wear underwear again. She got a sticker every time she went in the potty and I took her to go every 20-30 minutes. It was a lot of work, it felt like we were constantly either on the toilet or cleaning up wet underwear for 5 days straight. I think she was probably an easier kid to train because she already pooped on the toilet and every time she sat on the toilet she would pee so we didn't have to sit there forever. It was just difficult to get her to hold it between the trips to the bathroom.

We do use pull-ups for night/naps and sometimes if we are going to run errands. Emery doesn't like pull-ups though so she often won't wear them. Also something that has saved my sanity was a tip my friend gave me to bring the potty chair along with you in the car when running errands. That might gross some people out but it works so well! Before we go in to a store she sits on it and when we get back out she sits on it again. It takes so much stress out of running errands with an underwear clad two year old!

Whooo's the cutest?

My friend is a master knitter/crochet-er. She crocheted some ADORABLE hats for her kids for a character parade they had at school--just whipped up a dog and a caterpillar (for the very hungry caterpillar costume) in a day. I couldn't get over how cute they were and so she made one for Emery. I basically try to convince Emery to wear it every second of the day because it is the cutest thing EVAH!!! My friend asked if Emery wanted a cat or an owl and Emery said she wanted a "Hooo hoooo". The next day we show up to pick Bella up from school and it was done!



Look at this hat! She is so cute in it! I can't get over how cute she is.

Emery LOVES her Hooo Hooo hat. She won't wear it all day long like I want her to, but wears it whenever we leave the house and puts it on randomly throughout the day. It was the first thing she had to show Gavin when he got home, and one of the first things she tells people about when they come over.




She outgrew her other warm hat so my friend making this one was good timing. It is seriously FREEZING here. It's been in the 30s, but it's a humid 30s and and the cold seeps in your clothes and chills you to the bone. I am getting ready for it to warm up but can take the cold for a bit longer if I have Emery's hat to make me smile and laugh. :)

Sledding with Poppa

I was looking through my posts and realized I had never published this one from New Years! We enjoyed the snow in Idaho and Emery got to try sledding again. My dad pulled her down the little hill then ran her back up at least a dozen times. She would laugh at the bottom and shout, "Again! Again!" It never got old.

Of course she rarely smiles in pictures so you have to take my word that she was having a good time.
I like that she calls her grandpas "Poppa". She started that on her own and she knows they are grandpa, but still calls them Poppa. I think it's cute. Here she is, posing with Poppa, who got a good workout.

Natalie and Olivia joined the fun too and had a blast.

This sled was my favorite, and I think Emery's too, because you can steer it. There were some grassy patches and sticks around so it was nice to be able to avoid them.

Emery was so cute in her snowsuit. Natalie had the snowsuit from Olivia last year and thankfully kept it and let us use it this year. I really didn't want to buy a snowsuit for one hour in the snow, but if there is snow you HAVE to go sledding, so hooray for hand-me-downs!

Choosing faith

I recently re-read a General Conference talk by Elder Neil Andersen entitled, "You Know Enough", from October 2008. It was one that stuck with me then and the remembered words have continued to refresh me over the last few weeks of setbacks.

I recently had surgery looking for causes of our difficulty conceiving. It wasn't major surgery, in and out in 4ish hours with a few days recovery, but it turned up nothing in our quest for answers. Add to that the recent bill I received and the procedure was five times the cost we thought it was going to be (which won't put us in the poor house but it's still very discouraging) and you end up with a frustrated and disheartened couple. It's my nature to be positive and look at the bright side of things, but in this situation I think I'm just trying to ignore the ache. I think I'm afraid that if I open up my heart and admit how badly we want another child that the grief might overwhelm me. So I push it away and try to stifle the bitter questions that sometimes arise out of my heart asking God "why".

In those tough moments I think about Elder Andersen's words:

 Brothers and sisters, we each have moments of spiritual power, moments of inspiration and revelation. We must sink them deep into the chambers of our souls. As we do, we prepare our spiritual home storage for moments of personal difficulty. Jesus said, “Settle this in your hearts, that ye will do the things which I shall teach, and command you.” 

Several years ago a friend of mine had a young daughter die in a tragic accident. Hopes and dreams were shattered. My friend felt unbearable sorrow. He began to question what he had been taught and what he had taught as a missionary. The mother of my friend wrote me a letter and asked if I would give him a blessing. As I laid my hands upon his head, I felt to tell him something that I had not thought about in exactly the same way before. The impression that came to me was: Faith is not only a feeling; it is a decision. He would need to choose faith.

My friend did not know everything, but he knew enough. He chose the road of faith and obedience. He got on his knees. His spiritual balance returned.

It has been several years since that event. A short time ago I received a letter from his son who is now serving a mission. It was full of conviction and testimony. As I read his beautiful letter, I saw how a father’s choice of faith in a very difficult time had deeply blessed the next generation.

Challenges, difficulties, questions, doubts—these are part of our mortality. But we are not alone. As disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have enormous spiritual reservoirs of light and truth available to us. Fear and faith cannot coexist in our hearts at the same time. In our days of difficulty, we choose the road of faith. Jesus said, “Be not afraid, only believe.” ⁴

I have had those moments of spiritual power, of knowledge that there is a God in Heaven, that He knows me and cares about and will help me with my struggles. I may not know everything, but I do know enough. And I am choosing faith.