Posting Time!

What can I say?... I am such a lousy blogger. My mom told me the other day that if I can't post regularly, than I should just shut it down. I imagine anyone who checks my blog gets tired of seeing the same boring Post Title over and over again. I have to admit, the thought of shutting it down crossed my mind...temporarily...and then I remembered that I promised myself that I would not make blogging yet ANOTHER thing and my already overwhelming and consuming "To Do" list, and that I would only do it when I wanted and felt like I had the time to. Hence, as you have probably noticed, I have not had the time nor the energy...until now. We just finished the finale of American Idol (we watch it at my parents house because we don't have television) and Danny decided to stay to watch something else. However, I was so desperate to get Jane into bed that I opted out and found myself sitting in a quite house. PERFECT! Time to blog. What I really should be doing is my 4+ loads of laundry, preparing my tutoring lessons, or figuring out my activity for achievment days tomorrow. Ugh! The list never ends. However, I find myself sitting here at my computer tickeled pink because I am doing something totally frivilous and unecessary and I am NOT going to let myself feel guilty for it!

Here is an update of the past few months:

• Easter was fantastic! Rainy but fantastic! The Easter egg hunt that we went to even had one especially for mom's. I would like to say that I didn't take it too seriously, but there may have been a few elbows thrown. It was worth it! I got a great tube of lotion out of the deal! Jane wasn't sure what was going on and nearly got trampled by all of the other kids (mostly her cousing Flora Kay). I think that is when her "weet" (aka treat) obsession really began! I don't think that a hour goes by without Jane yelling "WWWEET!" and then giggling like I am really going to give her one.

• Mother's Day was also a great day. Danny woke me up with a note that said that there was only one rule for the day. I was not allowed to do anything...and guess what...for the most part he really stuck by that! He made me breakfast in bed, got Jane ready for church, took her out screaming a few times during Sacramement Meeting, and played with all of the kids so that my mom, sister, and I could lounge by the campfire that night after we roasted hot dogs at the "Gillman" park. He is such a good hubby! I am so grateful for all of the wonderful mother's that surround me daily...I want to grow up to be like all of you (especially my two mom's!)!

• We have definetely felt the effects of the economy on the Rental business and our overall financial stress. However, I am constantly reminding myself how truly blessed our little family is. Time and time again, I have felt and have witnessed answers to my prayers. I know that we are being looked after!


• I have been tutoring two children for nearly a year now, and have just recently added three more (another one of those heaven sent blessings). Between the planning and the actual one hour block lessons for each child, three times a week, it keeps me pretty busy. It has been wonderful to be able to hang on to my love of teaching while still being a stay at home mom.


• Danny has been chipping away at lining our ditch in our backyard with rocks for the past ...well, a long time. I am THRILLED TO SAY that the HUGE pile of rocks that has taken up the majority of what will soon be my backyard is now GONE! TA-DA! The rock wall is finished! Now it is just a matter smoothing out the dirt and we might actually get grass! Then the mowing begins. Poor Danny. We will not have a shortage of grass that is for sure! It has come in handy being connected to a Rental Equiptment business!

• Jane is a firecraker that is constantly on the move. She is learning and growing so much that it causing her mother serious "growing pains!" She is no longer my little baby, but has turned into a little girl. She is the absolute highlight of our lives. When we lay down to go to bed at night we somehow always end up talking about her and all of the things that melt us. Eventually one of us usually says, "Let's go wake her up!" We never have, but the fact that the thought even crosses our minds must mean that we can't quite get enough of her!

Some of her milestones have been:

• These past few weeks she has decided that she is ready to talk. She pops out words all of the time that make me think, "where did that come from?!?" Some of them are words that I would guess would be some of the first to come out of her mouth such as: milk, more, eat, weet (treat), mine, out, weeng (swing), kitty, puppy, etc. But others have popped out when I least expected them to: elbow, bum, broko (broken), Elmo, Costco, etc. She copies words that I say all day long. She is also putting 2-3 words together: baby crying, Nanee's beebee (Janey's binki), etc.
• She loves jumping on the tramp at her pa-pa's (Grandpa's) house. The edges of the tramp has sections with different colors. We started playing a game where we would run to the color that I would yell out. It didn't take long for her to get them down. She can identify all of the main colors and will say green, pink, blue, black, and red.
• Unless it is a CRAY coincidence, I am pretty sure she knows her shapes too.
• She points to letters all day long and tells me their names and/or sounds. She pretends to sing the ABC's.
• She can occupy herself for a long time "reading" books. She turns the page and jabbers and turns it again for a little more jabbering. It is SO cute!

• She LOVES this hat!

• Saying prayers is one of her favorite activities. She picks the funniest times to want to say one!
• She likes to sit on her potty even though not much happens. I think we have just gotten lucky a few times. We just happened to be at the right place at the right time!

• She LOVES to "WEENG!" (swing) and she adores her cousin Ewa (Ella)!

• This weekend I celebrated my 27th birthday. How in the world did that happen?? I haven't yet decided how I feel about that number...all I know is time flies and perspectives change. It seems like 2 seconds ago that I was thinking that 27 was old, now I refuse to believe it! I had a wonderful 4-day birthday. My family had a little picnic for me on Saturday. Sunday, Danny surprised me by packing up Jane and dropping her off at Grandma Jackson's for the night so that we could go stay at overnight at the Hampton Inn. Even though it was located next to his work, we were able to convice ourselves that we were in Northern California. We went to a beautiful park, ate A LOT of food, and totally vegged out in our hotel room. Monday we woke up and drove to Park City where Danny happily walked through nearly every store in the outlet mall. That night we went over to his parents house where we were once again fed a feast! Then, this morning my best buddy, Crystal, took me to Kneaders for their all you can eat French Toast! All I can say is YUM!

• Thanks to all who made my birthday special. After that weekend, it has been hard to get back to reality! Good thing I have a trip to St. George to look forward to this coming weekend. Maybe I will post about it....some day!

xoxo