Rest unto Your Souls..........

This is the name of the talk i read this morning by Elder Per G. Malm from Octobers conference. Its been on my mind all day and there are a couple of quotes that I want to remember as a wife and a mom. I think sometimes as moms we get lost and worn down. Its a sacrifice, a really BIG sacrifice at times to give all your time and energy to everyone around you. Somedays are easy to be home with kids i feel at peace and love everything about it, others are hard and wearing and you may even feel the urge to get in the car and drive far really far away from the chaos!!! The past couple of years I have dwelt on it a lot and tried to find the right balance of everything. It seems i have had guilty mom syndrome over everything in the past. Maybe feeling i didn't measure up or feeling guilty for taking an hour for me to just go to the gym when i could be doing mom stuff instead. Its hard to find the right mix and just be fine with yourself, your messy closet, your kids messy face at church, being late, piles of laundry on your treadmill, your messy office that you can never get to........ok i'll stop!!! I am coming to realize that is life and you can be happy or not with it! I am a major quote person. I have them posted on my wall, mirror in the bathroom, written in journals and i keep a collection of them in a notebook. I love this one by Liza R. Snow "Women should be women not babies that need petting and correction all the time. I know we like to be appreciated but if we do not get all the appreciation which we think is our due, what matters?" I love that so basically NO whining ladies!! I feel like the lord knows what we have done and that is good enough we don't always have to be thanked by those around us....even though it is nice:)

I think the most important thing of all is kindness towards others which can be hardest with our own family. Elder Malm said in his talk "In our day-to-day actions, it is often the small and simple things that will have a long-lasting impact (Alma 37:6-7). What we say, how we act, and how we choose to react will influence not only ourselves but also those around us. We can build up, or we can tear down." Its hard sometimes but lets face it the mom has the influence to set the tone in the house. I am grateful and happy to be a mom and always trying harder to be better. I love these people! Even Will made it in the picture in the mirror!

Davis and his disappointment...............

Last night Davis would not stop begging for a ho ho. Thats right a hostess ho ho. I have some strange attraction to hostess products ho ho's, zingers, twinkies, donuts, and chocolate cupcakes. I just like them. Most people don't but i do! I always buy treats for the kids lunches. I'm sorry but you have to have a treat after lunch and dinner, just my opinion and the school can just live with it. I don't let my kids hoard sugar but i think that a treat is great. So now that I am sidetracked from the story i will continue! So I wouldn't let him have one because those were the "treats" for their lunch. He cried whined and the night was not fun. Anyone that knows Davis knows his diet consists of about 5 things and ho ho's are one of them. I told him I would put one in his lunch in the morning. So I did. He got home from school came up to me and screamed you didn't put a ho ho in my lunch along with a horrible sad cry. I mean he was really devestated that I would make him wait and then it wasn't there. I told him I did and that he must have thrown it in the garbage with the rest of the stuff! The wrapper on ho ho's is white and it blends in with the inside of his lunch bag so I think he didn't see it and ended up just throwing it away. He was absolutely devastated as if he had just done something horrible. He literally cried for an hour because he was so sad he had made that mistake and now the ho ho was gone and we had no more at home. This sounds dumb but it made me think about how life has a lot of disappointments along with the good but we have to learn to deal with the sad things too. It starts when were little and then gets a whole lot more complicated when we are older! I guess I better go buy some more ho ho's!

For my family far away................

This is the CRECHE! My family far away has heard about it for the past 2 years but not so sure what it is. This is a project that my good friend Erin and I have worked on together and believe me it took miracles to make it happen but it did happen! It is fun, stressful, exhausting, rewarding, and peaceful all mixed together. Will did the silhouettes and his sister Kathryn made all the scripture boards. The cool starry night back drops were put together by everybody. It is a four day event for the community and i am amazed how much people in the community love it and count on it yearly. We really wanted the focus to be on Christ and what Christmas truly is!

So there you go family. Miss you guys TONS!

Baby Beckham..........

So my blogging motivation has been bugging me lately and my awesome friend Amy told me how to do these collages so I had to try!! We went to Utah in July to see our cute new cousin Baby Beckham! Cutest little boy who is already 3 months and my heart hurts when I think that he is getting bigger without us there! They are now in Ohio and my kids are still talking about when they will get to see him again! Of course we had to take pics while we were there.

When I look at these pictures of my sister Alyson I can't believe she has her own little family. To me she will always be the baby in our family. I remember when I was a senior in high school and I had a class where I got to go to her classroom and be the teachers assistant on Fridays. That was game day so I always had my cheerleading uniform on and I remember the kids thinking it was such a big deal! I just remember looking at Alyson and thinking I can't believe this girl is in 2nd grade. She was so studios and mature compared to everyone else. I looked up to her even then. Love you Zach, Aly, and baby Beckham!

Family.......

Nothing more fun than to be with family! Well not everyone was here but quite a few. I'm kind of mad at some of them because they are all leaving me to move back east rrrrr! Aly and Zach are heading to Med school in Ohio right after Aly has her baby in July. Can you believe she only has about 6 weeks left she is a tiny pregnant girl and so cute! Then they are taking the baby and leaving us for four years and then will be who knows where. Christian and Audra are in the process of moving to Virginia and leaving us forever. Hilary is already in Virginia, so 3 out of the four siblings will be back east and leaving me in the west. Luckily my mom will still be in Idaho and my dad is in Seattle which is still kind of far for a drive. It's just kind of a weird feeling to think none of my family will even be in Utah anymore. I guess we are just to adventurous and need to sow our wild oats!! Love your guts family:)

Cheap fun........

99 cents will keep kids outside for about an hour! I remember when Makenna was little and my mom bought her this automatic bubble blower it was my best friend! It could entertain without me almost passing out blowing bubbles all day. These pictures just make me laugh because they just capture the stages my kids are going through. Makenna has her stylin scarf on that she bought at target for $1 and couldn't wait to put it on the next morning. Taylor is just chillin and could probably care less about what she is wearing as long as it is comfortable. Davis has his pajamas and his shades on which he will not even go outside unless they are on his face. Kate has her old pajamas on that she HAS to wear and HAS to dress herself! These kids are fun, but man motherhood is not for wimps!

ummmmm the Warren Family does still exist.....

Sweet girl, sweet day. Most everyone I know is proud of their kids and I am too. So I am going to gush for a minute. Taylor is such a sweet dedicated spirit to everything she does. She is taller for her age and so people automatically think she is more like 10 or 11 instead of 8. You would probably think that too if you talked to her she is just mature and gets it! Its nice to raise a child like that. When the bishop interviewed her he said she has such a mature spirit and she really does. I want Taylor to know how much her parents adore her. As soon as she was done being baptized, we were in pulling her wet hair back and she said excitedly "I already feel different!" I hope she remembers that she is unique and it is for a reason. Love being her mom and am overwhelmed that Heavenly Father trusts me to raise these kids.

So I am going to try to catch up a little on this blog. I am behind wish me luck:)

The Peaches........

So I got to go on a girls weekend down in Newport Beach with my college roomies. I lived with most of them for my 3 years of college in Provo and also go way back to Jr. High and High school with some! Some of them are going to be verrrry mad that I posted some of these pics but they are waaaay to cute of girls (i still don't call them women i feel like we are still 16) to not post. 4 of them are pregnant in these pictures and well you know how you feel when your pregnant! We have all been through a lot together boyfriends, late nights, heart breaks, homework, trips, weight gains, weight losses, laughing until we hurt, borrowing clothes, and whatever else involves girls we have been through it! Its so fun to see everyone and the families that they have now. We stayed up late, ate sushi, shopped, watched movies, and I think one night we laughed so hard at pictures that i hurt the next day! Love you guys:)

Oh and PS these pictures look the same but I am in one and Becki is in the other we had to trade off with the camera!