Wednesday, September 29, 2010

New Mexico State Fair

We had a great family night at the State Fair. Aaron got a free parking pass so we decided to give it a go. Anyone who really knows Noelle, knows exactly how she feels about roller coasters...she LOVES them. We tried walking around all the booths and animals but there were an insane amount of people. It was plain crazy.

Finally, we gave up and went to the rides. My sweet girl could hardly contain herself! The price was ridiculous, but Daddy couldn't deny her. Madeleine did great (with the help of some lollipops and curly fries) and Noelle was in heaven.

I love how it seems that no matter what we do, we find a way to have fun as long as we're together!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Relief

It's after midnight and I just finished my primary lesson.

And I feel BLESSED.

BLESSED to have a husband who adores me.

BLESSED to have extended family that loves me to pieces.

BLESSED to have a comfortable home, healthy food, and clean water.

BLESSED to have a testimony of God and Jesus Christ.

BLESSED to have healthy children.

BLESSED to have friends that have known me for years and still return my calls.

BLESSED to have listened to a prophets voice.

BLESSED that when we went out afterwards I laughed so hard I almost wet myself.

Things are looking up.

Friday, September 24, 2010

My Madeleine

Madeleine and I both love the time we get
to spend together while Noelle is at school.
She is so precious, not to mention pretty dang funny.
Her vocabulary is exploding, loves to snuggle,
is a great sleeper and still a total foodie.
Yesterday she and I shared the best spinach salad!
Although, she must have texture issues because
most other vegetables get spit out.
~
She just soaks up all of our quality time.
Here we are at the Botanical Gardens
with no big sister taking my attention.

We washed her bedding and
she was completely fascinated.
I can still hear her little voice,
"My pee-wow! My pee-wow!"
(pillow)

Fun times at the park!
Trying to get up the courage to go
down that really big slide.
~
I feel more than blessed that I get to
be Madeleine & Noelle's Mommy.
We have our moments but
most times I just can't believe I get to
spend every day with these angels.
Several times lately I've met been asked what I do
for a living and I was love being able to
say that I get to stay home with our kids.
And their reactions were fantastic,
"Oh, that's so wonderful!"
"Good for you!"
"That's the way things should be."
I LOVE IT.
And it's not that my husband makes so
much money and we're able to do it.
It's a sacrifice.
We go without a lot of material things
but it's so worth it.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

A Little Backtracking...

Here's just a quick review of our California Labor Day trip:

After getting a late start we arrived about 2am Friday morning...

After she woke up Madeleine finally got to spend some
quality time with Lena. She missed her so much.
After Auntie & Unc got home from work they loaded
up and headed off on their weekend adventure.
Camping at Pismo Beach. I was so happy and excited
for her but also sad that she was big enough to leave me.
They had the BEST.TIME.EVER.

Meanwhile, Aaron and I ran around like crazy
seeing people and getting things done.
Dinner with the Lindsays, dinner with Marin,
dinner with my girls. So much dang fun.
Saturday was beach day with Ruthie & Wilde's.
I could have sat there for days and days and not
gotten sick of it one bit. It was perfect.


Sunday after church we hung out with the
Lorenzens for a few hours. We reminisced about
their trip to NM by making Sopapillas.
They were amazing.
We went through and entire jar of her
homemade strawberry jam!

Labor Day was a fun BBQ @ the Meldrums.
Food = yum.
Water = fun.
After food the kids went inside and
played with the Daddies and the girls
sat outside in the fantastic weather and
chatted. Loved it.
(Photo by Heather Keil)
I got to snuggle sweet Naomi Jean who I've been
dying to get my hands on.

Our last night we spent @ Grandmas.
These two girls ran around like crazy getting
so dirty and stinky. They HAD to have a bath.
Auntie M was more than happy to help out.
All the while singing, "At The Car Wash."


We left the next morning. :( Leaving is so painful for me.
I love everyone so much and not having them in my daily
life is difficult. But, each time it hurts a tiny bit less.
That helps, I guess!

Next trip November 4-8...Beach Camping @ Refugio.

Ya-Hoo!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Bad, Bad, Blogger

I have been so disappointed in my blogging the last 6 months. But, I am turning over a new blogger leaf. This is our family journal and I want our day-to-day documented as much as possible. Not just a flood a pictures once in a while, what a bore!

So, I am making it public, I will be accountable! Stay tuned, friends and loved ones, things will be more entertaining around here.

So, whats the haps? Things are actually pretty boring for us, but in a good way. As I have said believe it or not New Mexico is a really nice place to live. It will never replace California but we continue to feel that living here is an opportunity and a blessing. There is always a lot to do, museums, parks, community events, festivals, so many outdoor activities. Speaking of festivals we cannot wait for the Balloon Festival!

Aaron is doing really, really well at his job. Loves his bosses here (and the lack of politics) but is still adjusting to the much more lax way of doing business in New Mexico. Apparently, they are not desperate to make each dollar like they are in California. Huh? He has been called as the ward Choir director, he's never done this, so there is a lot to learn. They have their first performance on Sunday, yeah!

Noelle is as happy-go-luck as ever. She has started a new ballet class with someone in our ward. They live right around the corner so she rides and we walk. As always she loves, loves, loves school and everything about it. Nothing brings my girl more joy than getting on that bus, her bus drivers is named Jack and he is an interesting soul. She is growing and maturing each day right before my eyes. Some mornings she will even get up and make her own cereal. She pulls the stool around from cupboard to cupboard to refrigerator collecting all she needs to get her meal together. It warms my heart and grieves me all at the same time. I love watching her grow up but miss my baby.

Then there is Ms. Madeleine. Sometimes she makes me want to have 100 more babies just like her and sometimes she makes me sure that I will never, ever do this again! And talk about growing up...Oh Boy. Someone needs to inform her that she is NOT the adult around here, nor, is she in charge. She loves to give five, kisses, hugs, and 'hit the rock.' Madeleine has never been and still not one for toys. So, the majority of her time is spent: walking behind me mimicking all I say and do i.e. getting dressed, wiping up spills(see above), vacuuming, folding clothes, putting on make-up, getting into everything (most often destroying it), and pestering her big sister. Actually, both of them do a lot of pestering. I think it shows how much they love each other.

Lastly, there's me. I just finally got a calling, I team teach the 6-7 year old primary class. It's a big group with two sweet girls and about 10 rowdy boys. So, one week I teach and the other does crowd control and then we switch. I've never been in Primary and I love it, but I do miss Relief Society. I am slowly meeting people in the ward but it is so dang huge and now that school is in the opportunities for interacting during the week are few. After we drop N off at the bus I have some quality time with M and it is so much fun! Then she goes down for her nap and I have a couple hours of pure quiet, it's so great, I feel guilty! I clean, I get dinner prepped, I organize. Yesterday I watched a movie while folding clothes and then collapsed on the couch in a crying fest (My Sister's Keeper) and watched the rest. What a treat! A whole movie in the middle of the day! Who does that?

Life is good, we are blessed, couldn't ask for more.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Lately...

Story time...
My heart soaks up moments like these.
Grandma and Grandpa Jones came to visit!
We had fun doing some projects around the house
and taking in some of New Mexico's beauty.
We got hit with storm on the mountain top
and blue skies followed 5 minutes later.

Little sis woke up while Mama was getting dinner in the oven.
Big sis said she would entertain her for a few minutes.
She chose to take pictures.

Made some seriously yummy after school chocolate-banana shakes.

Evening walks down by the river.
Sometimes we are lucky enough to have company.

So much dang fun that sometimes you just knock out where ever you are.