I LOVE GMAIL!!!

So I was getting ready to send an email with attachments but I totally forgot to attach them. Have you ever done that and then had to send a second email with the attachment? I have-several times!!!

Back to my email-as I sent 'send' without attaching the photos, I got this message that popped up

AWESOME!! So I only had to send one email, not two. Isn't gmail awesome! I love technology.

This is how we start summer break:)

Evan is officially on Summer Break...let the chores and tasks, I mean the fun begin!

I have been searching for swing sets for a bit now, and I found one for $40, they accepted $30. We REALLY hoped that it wouldn't be a dud deal and missing parts(it was already taken apart and ready to sell). We had fun putting it together(only missing two bolts that we don't need until we decide to attach the slide), this is what our day looked like (with sick Lucy-but she was a trooper)

Lucy likes to read anywhere--the elliptical was moved for installation of our new windows

Evan mowed the lawn while Lucy and I walked the neighborhood blowing the white puffy dandelions. Then we began sorting and putting together our new swing set.

Lucy liked "helping" daddy
But we needed to get an allen wrench to help tighten everything so we all packed up and went to borrow a wrench, we saw a FREE sign and went in to a church handing out leftovers from a garage sale. We came back with a lot of loot, including a bike helmet just slighty too big for Lucy-I've got to hide it so she doesn't think that she needs it for her little bike:)


The finished product(I might spray paint to another color later)


Then we decided that Lucy didn't love the big girl swing because she kept slipping out and it wasn't safe for her or Peter. So we got some birthday money from Grandma Liz and Grandpa Steve and coupons from Toys R Us and came back with a new swing for the two cuties. The other swings will be saved for when they are older.


At the bottom is a video of Peter and Lucy swinging and squealing together.




After lots of swinging we came in for leftovers of gnocchi, bbq chicken, peaches, avocados, and cabbage salad...yum! Kids are a little sick and pooped and tucked into bed. Lucy kept dragging us by our hands and leading us to outside..she was NOT happy when we wouldn't go outside each time she wanted to go.

Magic Erasers..they really are magical

Among other things like crayon off walls etc, Magic Erasers can do ANYTHING!


My sister handed down her kitchenAid to me. It definitely had a lot of love on it:) She cooks a LOT! I have eaten many yummy things that started in this machine.



Then I tried washing it with wipes, hot water, soap, it wouldn't budge. Then I remembered I had magic erasers. Amazing before and after!



Now it looks like this!


I can't wait to get cooking!

two pieces of advice from Patriarch Jensen

In July 2009 Evan, Lucy and I went to a 4th of July picnic and there we had talked with Patriarch Jensen of the Littleton Stake. (turns out he was my parents bishop way back in the day before I was born). He gave a great piece of advice that has stuck with me ever since

"You are not entitled to anything"

We were telling him that we were looking for a house to buy. He said too may people think they "deserve" or "are entitled" to everything they want. He told us that we didn't need a home with the most bedrooms, or the most space, or the most whatever. He told us that we were blessed to have a house with walls, roof and enough space to sleep. That we didn't need all the vacations and luxuries that people in this time feel they are entitled to but can't afford. He said we needed to pay attention to our needs and not our wants.

Boy, if that was ever some thought provoking advice!!!!

Evan and I searched and searched and searched for homes. We looked at close to 90-100 homes. NO JOKE! We really felt we needed to stay in the Littleton Stake but only had a limited price range.

We prayed that if the Lord would bless us with a home in the right ward with a good house payment and something that was good for us then we would try to bless others through our home and other things that the Lord would bless us with.

The house we really felt we should be in had an offer on it in May, and in two more months of house after house after house, the offer was rescinded and we were able to put an offer along with 2 other people. We prayed so hard that if it was the right place for us that it would pull through---IT CAME THROUGH. Prayers were answered, we rescinded our offer on another house (that would have been prettier, more updated etc) and started to prep for this house. It tooks MONTHS before everything came in how it should, and finally we closed in January of 2010(it was a short sale). It took us 3 months to fix up the house to be able to live in it. We LOVE our home.

As many of you know the house had lots of issues, and it wasn't until about a month ago in talking to my friend Jessica Berg, that I saw a HUGE benefit in buying a house under what we could have paid. Jess said that in our heeding the patriarchs advice, he saved us from financial trouble-maybe he had some foresight for us. We had so many things "come up" like a new sewer line etc. It was tough trying to balance everything financial but now we are blessed being able to take care of those projects that come up and pay on our house payment and still eat. We may never be rich but we have definitely been blessed with what the Lord knows we need. I think Jess was right, that he gave great advice, we listened, we struggled through some major trials, and now we are being taken care of by the Lord.

I felt so strongly about this piece of advice that after church today I went up to the Jensen's on the way to their car and told them how I appreciated that piece of advice so long ago. As I walked away he said the kids were great and then said

"You are the mother that every kid should have" and when I repeated in my mind I took it as or thought of him saying it like "You should be the mother every kid has"

I took it as a compliment but then the instruction of that has been flashing in my mind all day. (I wish I could go up to him and have him say it again so I can hear the influctions etc so I know I got his wording right-maybe I'm making up the compliment part of it. Either way heading the instruction part of it is incredible to me)

I NEED to be the mother that every kid has. WOW. He was paying me a compliment but then instructing that I need to be "that" mom. Don't slack off but get better and better. How would I know what that means other than praying for guidance, watching other great mothers like my own, learning from mistakes, not feeling "entitled" to anything, working alongside my great husband, setting goals, not slipping to the things in my life that have brought me down before, following what is instructed in my patriarchal blessing, praying praying praying for guidance and direction and having the Spirit more in my home. I could go on and on.

Needless to say I am grateful for the compliment and have felt rejuvinated in my calling of who I am and who I need to become. I have been feeling a weight on me that I don't know quite how to explain other than I feel like I have been suppressing who I am and who I can be because of some hurtful things done and said to me in the past few years. I am done feeling like I am less than I am or holding back who I am or my potential. I am ready to fight for who I am and who I need to be.

I am blessed with a good husband who puts up with all of my shenanigans. Evan is a great person to stick by my side, support me always, lift me up, understand me, listen to me, care for me and allow me to do all the crazy things I do that help make our family, our family.

YAY! I feel like I am getting a fresh start and I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for me. I don't know how I can do any of this without the Lord's help. I guess Patriarch Jensen's comment has invigorated me to do good and go forth and develop a better relationship with the Lord.

I like how our Heavenly Father loves us so much that uses all of us as His hands to bless others. I am happy that he has blessed me with Patriarch Jensen in my life. Hopefully I can be used to help and bless others-pay it forward right?

Cleaning out my emails and found this written to Lucy

I was cleaning out my email drafts, and came across this letter to Lucy. We had tried for a long time to get pregnant and finally a little miracle.

October 1st, 2008
I have wanted you my whole life. When dad and I got married we didn't know when we would start our family, but when we decided to try, it was difficult for us. I have PCOS, which means I have cysts on my ovaries and complicates things for me in that department. We started working with a fertility specialist and were given some great advice.
We were told to have me try to lose some extra weight, and to cut stress out of my life. I quit my job and tried losing weight, but that was very difficult for me. I still had stress in my life, but it has been decreasing as the time goes on.

I started taking Chlomid to help me ovulate, and on the third month of that medication, we went in for insemination on August 6th, we became pregnant a few days later, but did not find out for a while.

I wanted you so bad, and a week or so before my birthday I started having lots of gas and heartburn. I normally didn't feel that way, so I thought I was pregnant. I called the dr and asked if I could test early because I just knew that I was pregnant by how I was feeling. I had taken many many many pregnancy tests since the month I got married, but on this special Tuesday morning, August 19th, I peed on a stick, while dad was showering, and to my amazement, it read positive. Dad wanted to be told in a cute or surprising way whenever we found out, but I couldn't hold it in. I asked him that if I wanted to tell him something, if I could do it in a different and sooner way, and he said yes. I started crying as I showed him the test. He started crying and we were both in shock. It was such a great day! I was so elated, that I had to call everyone! There was no holding this news to myself.

Since then you have been a little pill. Just kidding. I have definitely felt the pregnancy symptoms. I have thrown up in the Target parking lot and the Cannery now, and the rest has been at home. Before we knew we were pregnant, I HAD TO HAVE mexican food. Dad just laughs at me:) You sometimes keep me up at night, and Dad and I got to see you dancing inside of me and you waved at us. Dad thought it was to him:) People ask me what I want, a boy or girl, but I don't have a preference. Some days I feel like you are a little boy, and other days I see all the cute girl clothes and wonder what that would be like. I am heavier than I should be so I am trying to eat well for you, so you can grow healthy and strong. I am also trying to exercise more, but that is going slowly..we shall see. Tonight dad said he thinks we should start walking around the temple. That would be nice.

I have been selfish and wanted to be the only pregnant lady around, but I realize that you are one of many coming to this earth to receive a body and to fulfill your mission that the Lord has given you.

You are such a wonderful gift to me and your father, and we hope that you will always know how much we want and love you! We are trying to be good people so that we can be good parents and provide a great home for you and your brothers and sisters yet to come. Please be patient with us. We can be very funny and do great things, but we are still working on our weaknesses.

We love you and I will try to keep writing to you so that you know you were on your first 9 months with mom, like how you make my stomach growl every couple hours and I NEED to eat.

I got mad at a baseball game and was a little too vocal about it. A Lady was smoking, making me feel sick, and it was not safe for you. I hsould have been more Christlike and not said anything. I am trying.

Dad does the dishes now, because the smell of dishes and garbage make me vomit..your father is a great man. Very special, as I am sure you will be too.

PS..I went to the ER the other night. It was 2am and my right side went numb and then tingly and then in lots of pain. We went and got checked out, and they didn't find anything wrong. So hopefully I can learn to lay better in the bed. They said that since I was laying on my back, it pinched some nerves or something...I am doing fine now though.