Recipes of the Week

I just posted a bunch of new recipes here! Check them out!

I voted for....

David Archuleta, baby!

Only in Murray, Utah would you see these pictures both of which are up and down my street, respectively. David would blush if he saw the hooters one, lol.

Well, I voted at least 30 times last night. I wonder if my vote counts. And it's only a matter of hours until we find out who the next American Idol is....Melanie, Melissa and me are having a rockin' party tonight in honor of the finale!!!! My house is clean, my laundry is clean (though not folded yet), dinner is ready! I am excited to party!

My prediction: I don't know who will win. Last night I thought for sure Archie was going to win with Simon's "knock out", "phenomenal" comments and Randy basically calling him the next American Idol. But after reading some forums today I am not so sure. I agree with the judges and general public, little Dave certainly blew DC out of the water last night with song selection, pitch and connection. Plus he's been very consistently good throughout the whole season. But David Cook appeals to older generations. He has a unique style, though forgettable performances. David A is criticized for looking like he's going to puke or like a "sick puppy" every time he hears the judges comments.

So, did America vote for who was the most popular? They did throughout the whole season? Or did they vote for David Cook to rebel against Simon for praising David A? Who knows? Only time will tell for America! Ya!!!!!!

Well, now I am depressed. Oh, sad. Our party was crashed. Tyler says he'll never watch it again. I won't say I wasn't surprised that David Cook won I am just disappointed. David will still have a great career just not the title. He may be like Clay Aiken! Hope he'll still get a chance/desire to go on a mission.

HELP?!?!?!?

Potty training.....The first day I thought I was a pro. I was so prideful. Samuel had only 1 accident and even pooped in the potty! All in the first day! So then I must have needed some humility because Samuel has only gone down hill since then. Each day (since Tuesday) he has progressively had one more accident per day!!!!!!!!!!! And he hasn't productively pooped. What are we doing wrong? We feel like such failures! or that Samuel has some learning disorder!!!

We tried the potty training in a day. Every 15 minutes sit on the potty, rewarded with a sticker and a potty treat. He even taught bear how to do it properly. Sometimes he runs to the bathroom on his own accord and successfully pee's. Other times he will pee after we prod him to. And other times we ask him to sit on the potty and nothing comes out. And most of the time we ask him if he has to go and he doesn't and then ususally 15 minutes later he has an accident.

So are we not being consistent? We are being so much more positive then we were last time. And 75% of the time he knows when he has to go! He feels it coming and usually goes by himself! So why does he still go in his pants? And he can sleep 3 hours during his nap w/no accidents.......Help!!!!!!!

UPDATE:
After some prayer, patience, persistence, and personal advice I am glad to say that I believe Samuel has finally captured the accomplishment of wearing big boy pants! He has only 1 or 2 minor accidents since I posted this! We're on the right path!

Ups and downs

Well, yesterday was Mother's Day...obviously. And I have to admit that lately after having these "highs" of days I have the "downs" the next. For example, after I came home from Women's Conference I was in the worst mood. I felt so uplifted but I came home and was the total opposite of what I wanted to be. Tyler was like, "Should I expect this every time you come home from cool things?" He was confused because he took the kids for the whole day so that I could have my day. Well, I had to think about it and it reminded me of when my high school days. After I came home from EFY I bawled. It was such a spiritual high all week and then I came home to arguing siblings and that constant spiritual lift had left. So I've realized it was the same for Women's Conference and perhaps the same for Mother's Day.

I had a great Mother's Day yesterday. It really started Friday night when I went shopping and bought some flattering to my curvatious figure clothing. And I haven't felt the pangs of guilt for how much I spent....yet. Then on Sunday I was able to "sleep in" (which wasn't all that productive as my door was left open and I could hear all that was going on in the kitchen) and awoke to my requested muffins for breakfast. Then Tyler toiled away all day to make a yummy roast dinner for me and my parents (and my brother Levi). After 3 pee and 1 poop accident from Samuel and 1 poop explosion from Jocelyn, I cooked for another couple of hours for our dinner groups the next day.

All in all it was a great day! The pee's and poo's reminded me that I am a mother and that I get to teach my children something! Even if it is taking all of my patience out of me. Samuel was excited to present Tyler's gift to me. He "surprised" me with this oil burning thing from the Body Shop. It smells really nice! Go Tyler! Oh, and I did get to nap after Church too! That's all I really wanted...that and some respect from my children.

So after this wonderful day I had my "let-down" today. Why is that? Is anyone else crazy like me? I wonder about myself sometimes...how my mind works.

Anyway.....I hope you all had wonderful Mother's Day either thinking of your own mother, being a mom or soon to be a new mom! Where would I be without my mother? Somewhere completely different I am sure. I love you Lori for raising your wonderful 6 children so righteously! You are a fantastic example to me and I watch you closely and admire your many traits and talents! And mom! I love you mom! You have taught me so much in this life and I appreciate your wisdom, style and kindness! Thank you!

Recipe of the week

Here is a recipe for Overnight Caramel French Toast!

Obsession

Okay, I can't wait for this blockbuster summer and winter of movies!!!
Raiders of the Lost Ark, Harry Potter and Twilight!!!!! Just to name a few.

Here is a link to a behind the scenes look at Twilight
I am so excited!!!!!!!!

I may even try to be a groupie today and go to Murray High School to try to catch of glimpse of David Archuleta.

Potty and play

Well, as I write this I am potty training Samuel!!!!....again. I hope it works this time! That would be the best Mother's Day gift ever. I am confining us to the house for the next 2-3 days and I have a few minutes to be on the internet since he is doing so well! He even went poo on the potty today. I had the bear go poo too, but he quickly recognized that it was a raisin and not poo. But he was still willing to flush it with his other poopy friends and say "goodbye" to the poo's.

Well, Saturady was a nice day. I decided not to work and to clean. Then all of us went to the local aquarium. On the way there Tyler wanted to picnic in a real park but couldn't remember where one was so we ended up on the hillside of east Sandy looking at expensive homes for sale and driving past horses and through "the mountains". Anyway, we finally made it to the aquarium and it was fun! It cost what it would to go twice to just get a membership for a year. So we decided to to do that and now we can go anytime for free and stay as long or as short as we need to.

I must admit, though, that it is a bit ghetto. We went to one in Seattle a few summers ago and that was a real aquarium, this is more like a glorified fish pet store combined with Cabella's (which are both free) bcse it has the local fish and information.

But it was still fun! Samuel LOVES sea creatures and was happy to reach the end where his wish came true...sharks. Though they are small they still have fins and big mouths so he was happy. His arms are still a little too short to reach the touch pool full of stingrays but he and Jocelyn liked to watch them anyway. It's a fun place to go and perhaps the best we have in Utah so go if you get the chance! And I was just grateful to spend time together as a family. I love those kinds of days.

BYU Women's Conference

On Thursday I was able to steal away for a day! I was able to attend the annual BYU Women's Conference. If any of you have been before you know how neat it is. And if you not gone before take your first chance to do so when you are not nursing (no babies or children allowed). It is such a fulfilling experience! It's a 2 day conference full of lectures, lessons, service, entertainment, food and socializing. It's wonderful!
I chose to go to the first day only. The parking is crazy, you get a work out from booking it across campus. I LOVE the BYU campus. It's beautiful, well manicured and I feel at home there. And there are A LOT of women of all ages and every stage of life. It's awesome!
They day started with a talk by Sherri Dew. I always love to hear Sherri Dew speak. She is so straightforward and honest. She spoke about the theme "Awake, Arise and Come unto Christ" She shared the "unvarnished truth" with us about being a woman in the Gospel. She mentioned several times that it is a process and that we "won't become perfect in this life" so "give it up, will ya," she reminded us. We need to arise, focus, minister, be pure, walk away from the worldly things, and look at the prophets for guidance not celebrities that clutter our magazines. She said there is no secret formula (though women are the Lord's secret weapon, you've heard her say that before) to hearing the spirit. She just said to go to the Temple, study the scriptures, and be pure. She mentioned that we, women, have the greatest influence on the world. That if we took out all the sleeze, immodesty, and other impure things the world would change overnight because of our power if would just "unleash" our power as women. I love Sherri Dew!

Then I attended 3 1-hour classes. The first was for young moms. I LOVED it! Just what I needed at this time in my life. In a nutshell they said that our children need to be first priority (like you and I were talking about the other night, Melissa) and that our "To-Do" lists need to include them first. And that we should care more about what the Lord thinks of us and not the other women in our ward. I am guilty of that....Another sister talked about her obsession with tennis. She was thinking about her ego more than her children. Even when she was home she was just there physically. "But how are we supposed to develop our talents while being a mom?" She wondered, as I do too. She knows are hobbies are good but they become bad when they take too much time away from our children. That's a hard one for me when I think of all things I could be doing to develop my talents in a bigger way than just at home. We need to joy in the journey of motherhood.

The 2nd class was about creating scripture traditions in the home. They were both great speakers and I don't want to go into a lot of detail but one said, "try not to become discouraged by setbacks [in patterns set up for scripture reading together] because it is not an event but a process." We need to search, ponder and pray. We can also use tools such as re-enacting the scriptures stories. Dress up and film them to help the children have fun and learn the stories at the same time. Buy them their own set of itty bitty scriptures. Those cheap covered handheld size. It's perfect for their little hands, even if they can't read them yet they feel like they're participating. This one family only took 4 minutes a day to read the scriptures. They chose one scripture for the week and each day they would do a "scripture dance" (they have an 8, 3, 1 year old), read the scripture, highlight it, talk about it briefly and then pray. The end. Pretty simple, right? We'll have to try that one.

The third class was about stress and it was my least favorite so I won't share anything.

Then President and Sr. Bateman spoke (previous Pres of BYU, GA emeritus and now Provo Temple President). They spoke about the importance of temple work. He compared the Temple to our homes. 1. It's quiet/soft voices. Harsh shrill voices do not mix with the spirit. 2. House of learning and training. It's important to teach our children in the home. Teach them tasks. 3. Every shift begins with prayer. Pray morning and night together. 4. Place of order. Everything has it's place and it's clean. And orderly home demands respect from the children. Later he spoke about a specific experience about a woman who did over 2500 temple ordinances!!!! Wow! But I was very touched by this story and realized the importance of doing work for the dead. Some have been waiting for a long time! It was a nice to hear them speak again. I saw them on campus, just walking through the Wilk one day when I was a student. They are a foot apart in height but they were holding hands and there was an aura around them. Like a halo of white light surrounding their whole personages. It was incredible to see. I know they are holy people.

After all of these uplifting, inspirirng and empowering lessons, I ate dinner (which was a little disappointing), did some service of assembling newborn kits and school kits and then saw a viewing of "Errand of Angels" which starred my friend Erin Chambers. Then after the show I was able to chat with her and her husband.

Although I went by myself, I wasn't lonely. Everyone was friendly and I got to choose which classes I wanted to go. And I after each one I saw a friend I knew! April Cobb, Brittany Hall and my cousin Lynette to name a few! It was fantastic! I am grateful to my husband who enjoyed the day with the kids. They were happy to see me but are more attached to Tyler now. It's great! Again, I apologize for this long post. I just wanted to share w/you some things that are on the minds of our great RS leaders. And go if you can next year!!!!! It's so worth the sacrifice!