my next 25 years...

Well, I had a great birthday. I got great stuff, enjoyed visiting with family, went for a nice drive with Dave, and got to eat my favorite cake. (Thanks again, mom!) I know that, at 25, I can hardly consider myself old. But still its a landmark age. I still feel the same as I did at 17 and in many ways I think "How did I get here?" "Am I really a mom?" and "I can't believe that these little people rely on ME to teach them, to feed them and to love them." Sometimes I think, "I'm not old enough for this."

A few months ago I wrote a list of goals to accomplish before my birthday. I didn't quite finish it up. But I'm still proud of what I did accomplish. I really have made an effort, even if I'm not quite there yet. There are so many ways I want to change, so many things I want to be. Today I went visiting teaching to a sweet old lady. She said that even now she feels the same inside as she did when she was young. The other day while she was working at the Temple she saw a group of widows who were in the waiting room. She thought about how wonderful it was that, even at their age, they are still faithful and continued to serve in the Temple. After thinking of this for a while she realized that she was probably older than all of them. Talking to her today, I was amazed at all she does at her "ripe old age." Its really made me think about life and reflect upon what I want to be known for. What will people say about me when I am gone?

*I hope they say I was always happy.

*I hope they say that I was active. I remember attending a funeral of a great aunt when I was young. I didn't know her well, but she died while doing yard work. I remember her son saying something like, "I can just imagine Mom waking up that morning and saying, 'I'm going to pull these weeds if it kills me.'" That's how I want to go.

*I hope they remember me being fun and spontaneous.

*I hope they say I was gracious and always thinking of others. I think that it would be the best compliment in the world for someone to say that of me. I've still got a long way to go.

*I hope they know that I had a testimony of my Savior. Especially, I hope my children have their own testimonies, and have shared it with their own families.

*I hope my family knows that I love them.

These are such simple things, yet it is so easy to lose sight of them. They are the important things. I suppose everything that I do should channel into these 6 legacies. All else is just chaff in the wind.

In my next 25 years, I want to be closer to having these qualities. If the world still blogs then, I'll let you know.

What legacy do YOU want to leave behind?

has it been a week already?

I could also say "its only been a week?" Here's what we've been up to:

*Me and the kids spent a couple days at my parent's house last week. We got to see a few sisters, and it was fun to have a mini-vacation.

*I had a great birthday on Sunday. The big 2-5. Crazy! It was a lot of fun. More on that in another post.

*Jack is WALKING! It is so cute.

*Dave and I have stayed up really late the last few nights working on his med school personal statement. Its almost finished and then he'll be ready to send it off.

*I ventured a trip to twin falls with both kids in tow yesterday. Once we got there, it was fun. But first we had to get through an hour of running around town here and cleaning up Jack after a throw-up episode. I got all of Jack's b-day presents bought, and it turned out to be quite fun.

That's all. Happy Wednesday.

what we've been doing....

*

Getting ready to submit Dave's med school applications for the 2010 entering class. We have a book of all the med schools in the US and we've been looking at all of them.

Among the possible locations:
St. Louis
Omaha
Philidelphia
Des Moines
Seattle
DC

and more...

Wish us luck!

*this comic strip was found here

to the park

A few days this week we've walked across the street to a neighborhood park. The first day we went, Ana wanted to ride in the stroller, but I convinced her to ride her bike instead so I could push Jack. She loved it. We sit in the shade and she runs around in the grass. Today we took a picnic lunch and met her cousins there. I love summer!

on bunnies and battle wounds

for a few days last week we had a bunny adopt us. her family found her yesterday and she's back home now, but it was fun to see this little guy hopping around. Ana loved to try to pet it.



On Saturday Dave and I went mountain biking. It was so fun! It was my first time, and it was really fun. I am so out of shape, which I hate, and I walked my bike up a lot of the mountain. I crashed on the way down, and got a few battle wounds. I can't wait to go again! It a really fun date.

fishing

Dave brought Ana home a surprise a few days ago. Her very own fishing pole. She was so excited. She was jumping up and down and spinning the reel and talking about it for the rest of the day. With a big hug she said to Dave, "Thank you for... Thank you for my... Thanks for... Thank you, Daddy."

When Dave got home from work that night they went out to practice casting. So cute.

why i love being a mother

My kids are busy kids. High maintainence. Intense. Sometimes out of control. Most days by the end of the day I'm exhausted and drained emotionally. I suppose they get some of their intensity for me. I've never been accused of being overly calm and collected. Emotional, yes. Irrational, yes. Calm and laid back, not so much. Most days I feel like I am not great at my job.

Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a mom. I played house until it was too embarrassing to admit. And even after that. I am so grateful that I am a mother. What a blessing these two little spirits have been to me.



What makes it worth it:

Ana saying, "Happy Mother's Day, mommy. Its your day."
"I love you"s, hugs and kisses.
Jack giving me big smiles and reaching his hands up to me.
Snuggling with Ana on a chair to read stories.
Hearing people say how cute my kids are.
Knowing that nobody takes as good of care of my kids as me.

Happy Mother's Day!

note to self

Next time you can't find Ana's blanky right at bedtime, don't offer different blankets. This will result in a 30 minute temper tantrum. Instead, offer a doll, and she'll be asleep in minutes.





p.s. the second picture is from a few nights ago when she fell asleep on her own. Incidentally, I did find her blanky in about 5 minutes after she fell asleep - in an recently emptied cupboard in the entertainment center.

new stuff

Actually, just one new thing. But, it's the biggest thing we have purchased since being married. We just went outside where it was parked and took a few quick pics before the sun went down.


It is a 1996 Mazda B2300 with about 97000 miles. A gutless 4 cylinder with a manual transmission. Just what we wanted. We weren't specifically looking for a Mazda but that is what was available - and we like it. It was fun driving down to Utah with all the cash we needed to buy it. I am glad to know that even though we have two cars now, we still have zero car payments.

It rides really well for a little truck, has almost brand new tires on it, gets good mileage, and is pretty quiet on the road. Best of all - Erin has the Buick all to herself and can go wherever she wants, whenever she wants. She is pretty excited and I feel all extra manly with my gutless truck - I can carry... stuff now.

Here is one last picture of us all tired out after the photo shoot.


Also, as a side note - This is awesome...

This truck has the factory tape deck stereo. And, if you can't tell, that is my handy dandy Tape-->CD converter that I have had for like a million years. You know, the one that plugged into the headphones of the CD player and had a fake tape-type thing that tricked your stereo into thinking it was playing a tape? Yeah, I have kept that thing with my portable CD player for a long time and have contemplated chucking it many times. I am glad I didn't. Now I can listen to the ipod in the truck and I didn't have to buy anything new to do it.

four down infinity to go...

a few things that ROCK about my husband of {4} years:

1. his daddy skills
2. he is SUPER smart
3. he downloads awesome CDs for a surprise for me
4. he is all about serving other people

there are so many more things, but i'll stop there.

Happy Anniversary, Dave. I love you!!!