A new year... A new me!!

Happy New Year all. I'mmmmm Baaaaaaaack. I love New Years. It gives me a clean slate to start fresh. I feel renewed. I feel like taking on the world. Actually by the world I mean the parts of me I want changed. There are a lot!!! And I'm going to start at the top of my list and work down and see how far I get. This blog is going to hold me responsible, and you are going to hear the nitty gritty of how it's going. I'm prepared to be completely open and honest. Which is something I don't usually like to do. But hey, this is my blog and if you don't like it by all means don't read it! So... Are you prepared?

There are several areas in which I want to improve. I do feel however that in order to strengthen the relationship you have with others, you must first strengthen the relationship you have with yourself, and before doing that, you must find the strength and the time to strengthen your relationship with your Lord. And so.. my first resolution is to make it my very top priority to read my scriptures every day and to never leave my house in the morning without kneeling and speaking directly with my Heavenly Father. Evening prayers are less of a challenge for me than in the mornings. So it is not on my list. There are some of you who have mastered this already. To you I say...well done. You are my inspiration. There was a time when this was an area of expertise for me, but I have learned that self mastery is a life long, (actually eternal) pursuit. Areas in which you felt you had mastered can fall to the wayside and become your challenges yet again. It can be daunting and very humbling to find yourself at the age of 28 working to improve in the same areas you were at the age of 16. But here I am... No holds bar. Honestly saying that I need to do better. I hate excuses, so therefore will venture none. I am not looking back. Only forward with an eye of faith that I will accomplish this for not only the year 2011 but hopefully for the rest of my life.

Going forward with my belief in helping yourself before helping others. My next resolution, is to put my health next on the list. To work out at least 4 days a week and eat right. Yes, you read this correctly...I am putting myself before my children in this category. Those of you who know me well, might know that this is something I struggled with for a long time. I have however gotten a head start on this one and in the past 3 months have been working out regularly and eating, not just healthy, but the proper amount for a person my size. I have lost 15 pounds and am continuing on. I LOVE food, which will never change, so I will not be doing any crazy fad diets. Rather digging to the root of the problem and finding out a way to eat that will continue throughout my life.

Next comes my wonderful husband Randy. No, I am not making it my New Year's Resolution to change him. Although there are times when I try!! It is to strengthen my relationship with him. Don't get me wrong.... I consider myself happily married to an amazing man. One who sometimes I feel I don't always deserve. One who sometimes I can push aside for the needs of my children. I really hope someone out there can sympathize with me on this. I hope I am not alone. I adore his company and love spending time with him, but sometimes feel it is a luxury I can't afford. LUXURY??? WHAT??? Sounds crazy huh? It should not be a luxury. It needs to be a necessity. So it is my resolution to have a two hour date together once a week. We do not necessarily have to go out somewhere every week. It can be at home while the kids are asleep. But two hours to spend talking and laughing the way we did before our lives became so crazy. Every time we are alone together I remember why I fell in love with him. I need that reminder sometimes. What can I say... marriage can be hard. :)

Sadly I am leaving my kiddos out of this. Not saying that I am a perfect Mother. Far from it actually. I need to control my temper better and be more patient, but as far as my relationship with them goes... I'm doing pretty good. I am a full time mother. Most of my day is spent building my relationship with them. Actually, I love being a mother so much that I really believe it was my excuse for allowing these other parts of my life to suffer. I will probably be changing my story once they are teenagers, so please don't rub it in my face in about 10 years.

Hang in there... I'm almost done. Next is the organization of my house. We have a small house, which has it's advantages. It's really easy to clean. But hard to find places to store stuff. I am a habitual thrower awayer! But over this past year with my third baby my house has become a lot less organized. So I will be digging through cupboards and going through closets and buying storage bins and making trips to donation bins. I love being organized, but don't always take the time. So My resolution is to make the inside of my cupboards and closets look beautiful. As well as the inside of my home.

There I am done. Here's to a New Year filled with mending relationships and organizing not only my home, but also my priorities. I will keep you updated with progress in these areas as well as pictures of the family. (which is what I know you really care about) If you have taken the time to read through this, I thank you. I also encourage you to re-evaluate your own life and perhaps compile your own list. It is truly empowering to realize that the only limits we have on us are those we place on ourselves. I am looking forward to the year 2011 and hope you have a happy and healthy one.

Lanie's third birthday

Okay, Okay... so Lanie's birthday was over 2 months ago but i thought I would publish some pictures from her party.

I always promised myself that my children would all get equal treatment (I really don't want middle child syndrome in my family) but lo and behold Delaney's third birthday was closing in and she is yet to have had a birthday party. Guilt began settling in and I decided that I needed to do something big for her. Seeing as she was just trumped from being the baby of the family two months prior. (Once I became a mother, guilt has become a frequent companion! Go figure!) Madelyn has not had a birthday go by without having a party. And once Lanie grows up, she may never let me live it down. Those of you who have more than one child may understand, and those of you who don't... Don't judge.

I asked her what kind of party she wanted and she told me... Monster's Inc. I agreed and thought that was pretty cool until I started planning and realized that Lanie and I were alone in that oppinion. I couldn't find anything anywhere. I was, however, able to put some things together and it turned out to be pretty cool.

Monster's Inc bounce house!

Some Monster Cup cakes that my mom and dad helped me whip up! My dad is surprisingly creative.(Thanks guys)

I found these cute monster suckers online at Oriental Trading!

Here is Lanie opening her presents with Uncle Matt.

The kids decorated their very own cupcake and made their own monster mask! but for some reason my computer wont let me post more than 4 pics:(

She had a fun time and it did appease some of my guilt. Happy Birthday my Big girl

I guess after a year of never posting anything, I should hop to it! Baby girl number three is here and I must say I can't believe that I actually felt as though my life was complete before she was welcomed into it. She just popped out (TMA?) and made our life more calm and more filled with love. Of all three of our additions to the family, this was by far the easiest transition.

When a stranger learns that I have three girls they usually remark with, "Three girls? WOW!" followed with some kind of facial spasm! The question usually to follow is, " Are you going to try for that boy?" I must admit that the thought that runs through my head first is, "why would I ever want one of those?" But of course I never reply that way!! I try to oblige them with the answer they are looking for and act as though a boy would be a true blessing. The truth is (No offense to those of you who have adorable little boys) that I guess I don't know what I am "missing out on" as you all call it. I am perfectly content with my three girls and according to me nothing could be better. Besides, at this point I feel as if a little boy were to eventually come into the family he would be tortured and dressed up and poked and prodded and would probably be bossed around constantly. It would just be cruel for Heavenly Father to send a boy now. In a few years you may all be laughing at my predicament when I have a boy on the way! Wow... I sound cynical!! I swear I'm not!


Anyway... This is sweet Mallory Kay!!! I just want to squeeze her all the time and if I weren't so busy all day, I would! She is the happiest baby and right now her favorite toy is a human face to look at and laugh with!

Delaney Marie! Goofy girl. She is my softy. Can't stand to see anyone cry or be upset. So sensitive and yet always trying to make me laugh. I must admit I am a pretty easy crowd. I'm just a bit partial to her. I do fear, however, that I'm going to give her a false sense of her own comedic genius. Oh well... she has her whole life to be disappointed!

Madelyn Mae. She is truly a spit fire. So self assured that sometime I find myself learning lessons from her on how to truly be myself without worrying what others may think. She has no doubt that she is smart and funny and that everyone she meets will one day(even if it's not today) be her friend! And you know what, everyone does, if not instantly, than eventually come around to it!

Well here they are. Till next Year! Eehhhh..... just kidding, I'll try not to wait so long. No promises though. I'm way to afraid of commitment

Police open house.

Randy and I went to a seminar on how to keep your children safe. It was quite interesting and a lot of the things they talked about were common sense but some things I hadn't thought about. Like for example, for each child you should have a kit prepared with a recient picture of your child, an index card with their height, weight, hair color, eye color, and any distinguishing birth marks. In addition you should have their finger prints and a DNA kit. (you could make one your self, just swab the inside of their ckeek and put it in a zip lock bag) I know it sounds crazy, but in case something does happen where they go missing, we all know that time is of the essence. They also talked a lot about good strangers vs. bad strangers and practicing making 911 calls where you are the operator and they are calling. Pretend there is an emergency and make sure they know what to do.

Anyway, it got me thinking that it may be time to make my blog PRIVATE! Not that I think anyone is stalking me or anything but I just want to be safe rather than sorry. So, if you would like to continue reading, please leave me a comment with your e mail address. Even if I don't really know you, but you are a friend of a friend or something, just let me know and I will add you. I promise to check every day and delete you address as soon as I copy it down. I won't switch over for a few weeks.

Okay on to better things. The girls and I went to our city's police open house. It was a lot of fun with a rock wall to climb and a bounce house (for free), and lots of exhibits. I got a couple of pictures even though it was blistering hot.

Me and my girls.

Maddie loved the rock wall and did really well. Lanie was a little unsure.

Ella loved it also. She did great.

Maddie and Ella with McGruff? (I think) Lanie kept her distance.

Strawberry Picking!! mmmm!!!!

Well it's been quite a while since my last post, but I have a great excuse... I haven't felt like it! No really, I just lose track of time. But we have been doing some fun things in the mean time.

Madelyn, Delaney and I went on a field trip, with my mommy and me class, to Tanaka Farms in Irvine to do some strawberry picking. It was a lot of fun. We took a wagon ride through the farm where they picked fresh veggies for us to try right there on the wagon. My girls will eat almost anything. (like their mom) So we loved trying everything from the carrots down to the onions (spicy)! Then they dropped us off in a strawberry patch to pick as many as our tummies could hold and also fill up our cartons. They were the most delicious and enormous strawberries I have ever had. I need to find out how to make mine grow so big. I only get these puney ones off of my my plants!

Mmm carrots!

Maddie loved the strawberries!
So did Lanie! ( I think)
walking back to the wagon.
We had a great time. Will do again!

Mother's Day!!

Happy belated Mother's Day to all. I hope you were able to sleep in, eat good food (that you didn't have to make), not change any diapers, and have the day filled with people who told you how much they love and appreciate you.



I love Mother's Day because it is my one day a year when I have the perfect excuse to say... "Go ask your Dad!" I had a great one. Randy made his famous french toast and I got this bad boy as my gift.

I know we are a bit behind the times. That's because we aren't really into video games. However, this is so much more. I also got the Wii Fit to go with it. We have been playing it all day.

Now a shout out to my Mom. You all probably think you have the best Mom, but I actually do. Even as a child I grew up wanting to be just like her. She was perfection as far as I was concerned. I still try to do things the way I think she would. Now, as I get older, I know she's not perfect, but just about as close a human can get to it on this earth :) (I know totally sappy) If my Mom were to read this she would think I was crazy and be very embarrassed. Oh well. I don't want to go on and on, but I really did learn a lot about patience, humility, never judging, always seeing the bright side of things, service, and unyielding faith. (just to name a few)

Now If your not thinking, "Wow she sure is lucky to have a mom like that." You will be when I say few things about my Mother-in Law. I hear horror stories about Mother-in-Laws and I have been so blessed. I have loved her from the first time we met, when I was 16 and she was my Laurel advisor. She was such a great teacher who shared her testimony so freely. I've learned a lot from her. She truly is the picture of generosity, steadfastness, love, faith, and thoughtfulness. (again, just to name a few).

Okay, i know this was a mushy post, but I just needed to write a few things about the women who help shape and mold me into who I want to become. Thanks to all the women out there who work, or worked, so hard to raise righteous children and who are the glue that hold their families together. The Lord knows you, and knows the sacrifices you make.

I swear I'm turning into a feminist! Happy Mother's Day!

A Day At The Beach!

We spent a day at Reef Point Beach in Laguna. I grew up going here and it has the coolest tide pools where you can find sea enemities and different kinds of crabs. The kids had a blast. Here they are in one of the tide pools. Madelyn and Ella found their way up to the top of this huge rock. I must say, it made me a little nervous.

Here's Madie on her way up!

My sweetie cutie Lanie. I must explain why I don't have as many pictures of her on this trip. It's because she is such a mama's girl that I was usually holding her, or she was clinging to my leg crying for me to hold her. She's still my baby and part of me loves it but I do hope it's a phase she will eventually grow out of. Wait no I don't, okay, for her own sake, I do.

Finding her precious, priceless sea shells.

What A fun day. We need to go to the beach more often.