Brave Lucy

Last week, my cousin's daughter was bitten by a shark at a North Carolina beach. Here is an article about how little Lucy is doing. She is recovering and ready to go home today!

From the article are some links to the interview (and extended interview) with my cousin, her husband and Lucy with the CBS Early Show this morning. What a great family and such a sweet, brave little girl.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/07/26/earlyshow/living/parenting/main20083393.shtml#comments

Name them one by one

So one of these days I'll get around to posting a load of pictures and updates, as for now life is keeping us all busy!

I need to count these blessings more, I've been thinking a lot about them lately...

I have been in Primary Presidency since the summer and I'm loving it! I couldn't have been more blessed to be with the women I'm serving with, and who I can also call dear friends. They are so fun but also strong, kind and understanding examples. I love our meetings, whether we are gathering at somebody's house after our kid's bedtimes to go over a million primary things or whether we are going out to dinner to chat about a few things primary...we have fun and laugh for hours on end. I love being in primary!! Our whole married life (11 years), I've been in primary in one way or another (minus 2 years of that when I served in Young Women's). One of my favorite parts? Teaching sharing time. I love the lessons and those kids (including being with my own in there!). We love our ward, our friends, our kid's friends and our school just around the corner...close enough for the kids to ride their bikes to.

Another happy thing for me right now....being in love with my little family. The kids are getting older, and I just sit and marvel at how much fun we can have together...and that makes me happier than anything.

I enjoy sitting around the dinner table and hearing what they have to say. I enjoy watching them love to be listened to.

I enjoy all the questions. I enjoy giving them answers.

I love watching Jay interact with them. Just recently, he took Anna on a much needed daddy-daughter date and a few days later, took David & Anna to a spring training game in the middle of the day. I love that they love their dad and that he loves them back. Jay helps me keep my cool. He encourages me and gives me advice when I am feeling frazzled or worried about something. I love that we laugh at the same things, and that he keeps me laughing. He works so hard for our family, for which I am very grateful. I just love him...an important blessing for me to count.

And four more blessings:

Anna is loving 2nd grade. She is in the math club and likes to do homework and read. She is very sweet to others and is always laughing at Blake. Blake is in love with her and waits and waits for her to get home everyday. He definitely plays favorites! Anna was baptized a month ago and has this great desire to do what's right. She also started piano and takes a little dance class with a couple friends. She is so self-motivated...but at the same time we've tried to teach her to not stress out as much as she does :) She has the cutest laugh and loves a good joke or prank. Another thing I love about Anna is that she gets so excited about anything I cook and devours it. She's a great eater! The other morning she brought Jay & I breakfast in bed all on her own. One of her greatest attributes is her thoughtfullness. We love her!

David is loving Kindergarten and his very sweet teacher. He works soo hard at school, that he comes home exhausted and emotional :) He told us the other day that ALL the girls chase him at recess. But he didn't seem annoyed by that, kind of proud. He loves to learn new things and is excited that he is starting to read his own books. He says and thinks of the funniest things and hasn't yet developed a filter. He's constantly asking questions. He is the most ticklish by far. He giggles when he scrubs his feet with his loofah in the shower and I've even caught him getting giggly over brushing his teeth. He is obsessed with the Wii we got for Christmas and loves to play Mario Kart with Anna (and me:). I would say his favorite thing to do is ride his bike, we love to go on walks/bike rides together. Love this sweet boy!

Kate is loving preschool, her teacher and her friends there...she talks about them all day long. What's fun about preschool is that there are 7-8 kids that are in our ward. In public places, she is typically pretty shy. She loves to chat and has the cutest little voice/accent I've ever heard. If you've ever watched Kate, she is still very bouncy and bounces everywhere she goes. She is so happy for the most part of her days, but watch out when she gets tired. Out of all my kids, she is usually the most content. She pretty much plays with her dollhouse all day long and loves her littlest pet shop/strawberry shortcake toys. She plays so well by herself and with her siblings, and I am grateful for that! If she's not playing with her little toys, she loves to color and will also do that for hours. She has a lazy side when it comes to helping around the house. She's used to Anna and David always getting things done for her, so she drags her feet about everything.

We love having Kate around and listen to her talk about silly things.

Blake is still mischevious as ever, kind of a huge stinker. But how could a huge stinker possibly get ANY cuter? Seriously. I love that he cuddles with me whenever I want him too. Underneath all that busy-ness is a very sweet and loving little boy. :) He is constantly getting into everything.

I could list those things...but it's just easier to say he gets into EVERYthing, and leave it at that.

He moves the stools and chairs around in our kitchen to get what he wants and doesn't seem phased when he gets in trouble. Aahh Two. He is happy go lucky and quite charming. He loves to wrestle and play chase around the house. I'm happy for him that he has the older brother and sisters that he does. He is definitely one lucky kid. He is a show off and gets a whole lot of attention around here. I love that instead of crying in the middle of the night or in the morning, he yells "MOMMMM-EEEEEEEEEEEEE" at the top of his lungs until I come get him. He has such a solid build, but the cutest soft voice.

My favorite thing: when he sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Melts my heart. Love this little guy.

So out comes all my gushing.

I am in love with my family and I love every moment spent with them.

Okay done.

ISN'T IT FUN BEING TWO??

Happy birthday sweet Blake!!!

[black eye]

[missing these curls!]

[but loving this look right now...more mischevious]

[okay here is the story about the next two pictures. notice that as I was taking this first picture, his hands are behind his back.......

....aaaand I was too busy taking pictures to notice that he was digging around in his poopy diaper. I snapped this picture RIGHT as he was pulling his hand out and he saw his hand full of poop (cropped that out...way too gross) at least he was disgusted with himself.]

ANNA's BAPTISM VIDEO

"Gratitude is the memory of the heart"

My Mom & Dad recently wrote us an email from their mission. They talked about their experiences and "tender mercies". They encouraged us to share with them our "tender mercies" in our lives and families. I started to feel so blessed and realized how much more grateful I need to be about those blessings...those tender mercies...

A couple years after being married, I went through a year of not getting pregnant and ended it with a tubal pregnancy and surgery. Jay and I were feeling really low, but we knew there were children waiting for us. Six months later I felt that same pain during a family get together and Jay & I rushed to the ER. We were surprised to find out I was pregnant. But my levels were low and I was in a familiar pain that didn't end well the last time. We were worried and felt as if things were out of our hands, so we put the next couple of days in the Lords hands. We prayed, as did the whole family. Although my hormone levels were slowly rising after a couple days, they still were not being able to see anything on traditional ultrasounds. The doctors decided it was best to take me into surgery and look for themselves to see if they could find something. They were certain I had a dangerously growing ectopic pregancy (somewhere) that had to be removed. Then our tender mercy happened. Our doctor all the way in Mesa found out of my situation in that Peoria hospital. He later told me that something told him to call my doctors there and tell them to not operate. He told them to do a more higher tech ultrasound that they had not done for me yet. So they took me into ultrasound one last time and...there they saw her, right where she was supposed to be. The size of a little peanut. I was so early on in my pregnancy that it took a couple days for her to be seen. My pain was caused from an ovarian cyst that had burst. This pregnancy was a healthy one. Had they gone in, they could have caused problems to the healthy baby or my fertility. Crazy, right? I remember telling myself as we got ready to leave that hospital to never forget the surprise and the complete happiness I felt. Jay & I couldn't have been more happy than at that moment. Tender mercies...Anna grew a little bigger so that someone could see her ;) and my Dr. was inspired to call & tell them to wait & try something else first.
Now it has been eight years and four kids later. Anna is getting baptized at the end of this month. The kids are healthy and happy. I have a husband who supports me as a mom and can always calm me down or give me perfect advice on the bad days.

I am so grateful for the many different tender mercies in my life.