Simply inspired...

In the hours between boy bedtime and when my wonderful husband gets off of work, I blog search. I do it frequently and with fervor and passion. Most of the time, I see artistic and gorgeous sites, but a few days ago I discovered one blog in particular that has captured my heart.

It is the moving story (and life) of a young LDS mother of four children, who was severely injured in a small plane crash a few years ago. Her name is Stephanie Nielson. Both her and her husband were badly injured, but he was able to pull her out of the wreckage and save her life.

A few months ago, she was on the Oprah show and as she was talking about her slow recovery in the hospital, she said:

"[I was] with somebody who told me that I could choose to live and have a hard life, you know, embarrassing at times and painful. Or, I could just stay there, and there's lots of work I could do there too. But I thought of my children and my husband, and it was easy. An easy choice."

This may seem like a simple quote, but when faced with the possibility of everlasting peace and eternal knowledge she chose to live a much more difficult life surrounding herself with her loving family, showering them with love. She may call that an easy choice, but in those words I am reminded of the amazing spirit that must reside in such a woman and I am simply inspired. 

If you wish to view her blog, I am adding her as a link on my favorite blogs. 

I am thankful!

Do you ever have those days when you are constantly waiting, waiting, waiting for something better to come along and brighten your horizon? Well, every once in a while, I tend to have days where I lose sight of the most important things in life. And in truth, I have an amazing amount to be happy about.

I have four energetic, healthy little boys... who drive me insane! (But also keep me insanely happy). And I am thankful for little taste buds that delight in having self made "Butter Jellies" for dinner...

I am thankful for busy, busy days that lead to peace filled sleepy nights...

I am thankful for the wisdom and blessings that the Book of Mormon brings to me and my family. And I am thankful to four little ears who try so hard to listen patiently...

Mikey, oh, Mikey!

Mikey is now 21 months old!
And as he is creeping up on the scary "terrible two's" I thought it would be nice to check out how beautiful this little boy is.
He doesn't talk much yet, but he knows how to spread his message through grunts. And he has us wrapped around his chubby little fingers, that's for sure.
Mikey is a spunky, naughty, silly, precious little guy and these pictures capture a tiny bit of the sparkle that we see in him.

Bringing back the styles

Many, many years ago (back when leg warmers such as these were still popular) I made a banana-yellow floppy hat. When I showed it to my Grandmother AnnaBelle, she said 8 words that changed my creative world.

"You just have to be different, don't you?"

Now, I almost use this as a personal slogan. I do "just have to be different." I really enjoy not looking exactly like everyone else. I love to use my talents to be creative, even if this creativity makes people look twice at me.

I know that my Heavenly Father helped me to develop my creativity in His presence and I love knowing that this creativity can help to define my Earthly life and enrich the lives around me.

The mama pig and her little piggy

So, yesterday, after watching a Jim Carrey movie (Yes man!) I got a little carried away with some left over scotch tape from Christmas. Then I reined the craziness in ~ at least a little bit ~ and let my piggy side show!

It was love at first site!

A Sun(ny)day

Yesterday, we went to our new ward. This meant waking up at the crack of 8 am, getting everyone up and dressed up, and placing the Sunday roast in the preheating oven.

Jeremy's not-so-subtle hints about roast beef, mashed potatoes with gravy, and corn being his favorite Sunday dinner finally won me over (again!)

Now, admittedly, in the 9 plus years of marriage I am not known my delicious roast dinners. They usually turn out tough and dry, and on top of that butter has been my natural substitute for gravy. Not delicious!

So, personally I didn't have great expectations out of the roast that was being slowly baked in my oven while I was in church. I was just thankful that the lessons were fulfilling!

When we got home, I checked the roast and to my absolute amazement, it wasn't dry or tough, it was just right. Then I splurged by cooking up some gravy (from a mix, of course). Needless to say, dinner was a pleasant surprise, at least until we found out that the roast was only about half as big as we need! I am in shock at how much the boys eat - and they're not even teenagers yet! We are currently accepting donations of any type to survive their future growing spurts! :0)

All of my boys looked so handsome, so we took a few pictures; after sorting out the outtakes we found one that is decent enough to share!