Sweet Sunday and What Matters Most

This week I did great with my sweets challenge! Honestly, the cravings aren't even there, until I see a scrumptious piece of chocolaty goodness, but that doesn't happen very often so I'm good!

I love this video featured below and it has one of my favorite quotes from Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.

That's something I really struggle with, but by keeping that quote in my mind, I have been doing a little better!

Enjoy the video:

A little late

Sweet Sunday update: well, I ate a fun-size twix and had 2 bites of chocolate cake, but I'm not having a heart attack over it. If we're going to be honest here *and we are* I just think it's fantastic that I didn't eat the whole cake! yup. Anyway, on with the plan: no sweets. As Anne would say: "Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet." --L.M. Montgomery

Sunday was a somewhat gorgeous day so we took a family walk around a little pond/lake near where we live. We got some great pics of the kids!

It is almost impossible to catch this girl smiling. She hates the camera.
But I love her...every little bit!

And I got some great pics of my Big Hunk!

Strike a pose

I wonder...

Huh?

What did you just say?

It's easy to see why I love him! He makes me laugh!

*And he wonders where our children get their dramatics from.*

And of course, it's easy to see why he loves me!
Every now and then Paige does decide to cooperate for the camera. This is her "cheese" face.
Parker put a noodle on his nose and this is what happened:
Timeless!

Sweet talk and sweet Sunday.

No junk for the past week (and since by "junk" I mean sweets, that really good bag of Doritos I plowed through is a-okay)!

And then on to some sweet stuff about the kids. For a bit they seemed to pick and pick and PICK on each other, but lately they have been so good with one another! One of my favorite sounds is the sound of them talking and laughing together back in Parker's room. So sweet! I love it!

More sweet talk: I got to support a friend of mine during her labor and deliver this past weekend. It was such an amazing experience. Her husband is gone right now for a deployment--returning in 2 weeks--and so she asked me if I could help her through her delivery of their baby. Wow! Leading up to it I was a bit nervous because she desired to do an unmedicated birth and I just wasn't sure about what to expect since I've delivered both of ours with epidurals (and plan on continuing to do so! :] God blessed us with them for a reason!). But it was so amazing! Being there in support gave me such a different perspective than being the one to have the baby. It was amazing! And she did so awesome! When she got admitted she was at a 5, and then an hour later, she was at an 8. They decided to break her water (because her never broken voluntarily) and from then until the birth it was about 30 minutes. It was incredible to watch my friend and her strength. At the same time, there was some sadness because she wanted her husband there so badly and he wanted to be there as well. However, all sadness was trumped by the joy that came when their sweet little girl was born! Picture were sent immediately to the happy father!

I got to hold their sweet girl and I marveled that she had just come from God. She is so innocent. She is so pure. So beautiful! It helped me to think about our children that we've been blessed with. They, too, came from our Father. We came from our Father. Now, we need to grow and learn about our Savior, teach our children to have faith in our Father and His son, Jesus Christ, so that we can return home to our Father!

The triple threat

pee. poop. and more pee. That has been our day today.

Paige is potty-trained. Or was. Or something. ? I don't know. She peed her pants at least 4 times today, plus she pooped in her underwear too! What is the deal with my kids and pooping in their underwear?

Then, Parker, who is normally so conscientious, somehow managed to miss the toilet every single time he went to the bathroom today. Most of the time he will clean it up, or come and get me if it's really bad. But today, he left it every time.

I know messy toilets and floors come with having young boys, but every time?! Jiminy Cricket!

Okay, now I'm done. This is just one day. I know, eventually Paige will consistently tell me when she's got the urge! And I know, someday, I'll be able to let Parker clean the bathrooms all by himself (because does the male gender ever learn how to urinate without making a mess?)!

There are lots of lessons to be learned through parenting. For me, it's just a matter of setting aside my frustrations and actually learning those lessons.

But for now, I'll just hold on to the hope that "this too shall pass."

Sweet Sunday and some sweet snuggles!

No sweets? Correct. I've got 1 week and a couple days under my belt which is a pretty huge deal for me!

And now, here is a fun picture from about a month ago. Parley's brother, David, came to visit us at the end of January and we had so much fun with him! He was great with the kids and they were so sad to see him go. Plus, I had lots of fun getting to know him better too. He brought Parker a Marine hat and Parker wears it all the time! For Paige, he brought a pink teddy bear which suits her perfectly! The time went way too fast!

I wish we lived closer to all our family; it is so fun to spend time with each of them! Plus, I feel like it is important for our kids to know their grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. Maybe someday we'll be closer! But for now, blogs, skype, and phone calls will have to suffice to fill in all those gaps!

We always love visitors, so if any of you ever head to the Northwest, stop by to see us!