Oodles of Cuteness.

I gotta get this while I can. I have seen what is coming down the road and this cute stage does not last long enough.

I present to you...

Anna and Maria. Maria is the one with the glasses on.

My Fitness Pal

I have started something new.

I am very excited and love the instant motivation

It is called My Fitness Pal. There is an app for my I pod so I can update on the go as and it syncs with my computer no matter where I am.

www.myfitnesspal.com

At the end of the day it gives me a break down of my intake and exercise.

For my nutrition class this year I need to keep track of all I consume and break down my daily nutrients to make sure I am eating a balanced diet.

I have a couple of my bestest best friends signed on along as well and I am hoping we can cheer each other on.

A historic moment

See this little slip of paper?

 It is a very important slip of paper.

 It signifies something huge for us.

This little slip of paper shows that we officially have enough money set aside for Daniel to serve his mission!!



This is huge. It has taken three years to save this amount. Now everything else that goes in there above and beyond this amount will go towards getting himself established after his mission. Rent, household supplies, down payment towards schooling and what not. This is a huge relief for me.

I worry and stress so much with each of my kids. Wanting to make sure they have what they need (no it does not ever seem to match up with what they want) to be feel loved and have balance in their lives.

I parent with a shadow that looms over me. A voice that is always whispering in my ear, "Is this how Dan would have handled it? Is this what Dan would have wanted for his children?" This shadow makes me hold my girls a bit longer and hug a bit harder as I put them to bed at night. As they ask for extra hugs and kisses hoping to delay bedtime just a few minutes longer I asked myself, "What would Dan do if he were here?" He would long so much to hold his daughters in his arms, of course he would hug them and kiss them as much as he possibly could.

 This makes me extremely driven. I am more worried about answering to Dan when I die about how I handled raising our kids and be found coming up short in his expectations than I am talking to God about all my sins.

This shadow makes me sad to see them grow up because with each passing year I am thinking of all the wonderful milestones he is missing and I wish I could just stop the clock.

This September I will start setting aside money for Isaac's mission and post mission fund. I am super excited. I count this as one more thing I can actually be successful at as a parent.

Note this day!

December 27th, 2012

What is this a picture of??

This is a picture of my laundry room devoid of any dirty laundry. I was so excited I actually folded the last load of laundry as I pulled it out of the dryer. All was washed, folded and put away. I always seem to stumble at the folding part of the laundry process.

The laundry room stayed like this for a total of 45 minutes. Then showers started and the viscous cycle started again.... But I had 45 glorious minutes. You can never take that away from me. NEVER!!

I know for a fact I will not be caught up on laundry again until I get to my spring break at the end of March this year. Until then I will have this picture to remind me of this note worthy day. 

Yes, I will have it printed and hung up in my laundry room.