Spiritual One

I'm not usually the type that would post something like this on my blog, I'm not sure why either. Anyway, this is the kind of story that you would read about in a magazine. Most likely The Ensign, or something similar.



So David and I decided awhile ago that we would follow the counsel to pay our tithing. Tithing is in the Bible, it's everywhere. I was going to delve into some stuff I would pretend to know but instead I'll just use my own words. However, I will have you know that I did some extensive research on the topic of tithing and I can prove to you that it is a commandment of the Lord. Go ahead, fight with me. If you know me though, I don't do something just because I'm told. I HAVE to figure it out for myself. Tithing is one of the few commandments I haven't struggled with understanding. It's simple. God gives us everything. He has asked that we give only 10 percent back to Him. It makes sense. To each his or her own. If you are rich, you give 10 percent, if you are poor, you give 10 percent. I've been the recepient of the blessings of other peoples tithing which I think is why I have such a testimony.

I remember when I was younger and my mom was working 2 or 3 jobs to support my sisters and I and we got food from the storehouse of the church. I think that actually comes from fast offerings. Anyway, if it wasn't for that, we would probably have starved. That may be a little dramatic but it is such a blessing to be a part of something so wonderful.

David and I have struggled these last few months to keep up on paying our tithing. It wasn't that we didn't want to give, it was really a matter of forgetfulness. So by the end of the month, we were out of money. Literally. We had a yard sale and decided that all the money we made would go to tithing. We desperately needed that money (I think we had less than $20 in our bank account). On Sunday we stuffed our $98.00 cash into an envelope and handed it in. It was a relief to give back, but kind of a stress because we didn't know how we would get through.

The next Tuesday I was cleaning up the house, specifically around the computer desk. Guess what I stumbled upon? A hundred dollar bill. I know right? Stumbled upon a hundred dollar bill you say? Yes. That's what I said. I couldn't believe it and neither could David. Some would call this luck, or something similar but I call it a gift from God. That hundred dollar bill kept our bank account above zero (barely) until we were able to get paid again. How thankful I am. Really. I don't think it was coincidence at all. Maybe on another day, in another week, sure. But at that moment, I knew we had been blessed.

Things like this have happened to me before. I think that is why the law of tithing is so easy for me. I have seen the blessings of it and I am grateful for that. Anyway, this is more of a serious post but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

That's all for now.

Mine, all Mine

We went and saw Wall-E tonight. I loved it. It's great to have a child because you can use him/her for excuses to see Disney movies. Not that I need one, but just in case I'm ever feeling self-conscious (me? What?)... anyway, it was a good time.

Yesterday Janell and I (with kids in tow) went on a walk in the forest. Besides the humidity, bugs and fence barriers, it was a great time. Jarom encountered a giant's table (see pic). It was so cute the way he said it. I can't remember exactly how it came out but it was so priceless. From a child's view I can totally see how this resembles what a giant might sit at for his meals. For the giant, it might be like one of those old school desks that tilts up. I wonder if in Jarom's head the giant is a good one or bad one. Maybe a combination of both? One who sleeps during the day but gets up to eat all the bad monsters under the bed at night? I don't know. What I do know is that it was a sweet moment. One I enjoyed very much. Mostly because it made me daydream a little bit. I think sometimes I let the worries of the world get to me so taking a walk into my imagination was fun.

I'm feeling a little bit tired now. I am also starting to feel pregnant which I don't know if I am happy about. I told David that this time around I want a body pillow. I told him it's a necessity and not even a want. With Jackson, I slept with multiple pillows and it was not so fun. One for the swankles, one for the belly, one for between the legs. That's too many. Getting a body pillow would resolve all of those issues. Yup. It's time to go shopping.

I love everyone today. It's a good one.

The Stupid Men

So for awhile now I have been complaining about the jerks who keep coming to my house. Currently, I sit in the wake of their leftover smell. I know right? It's not what you think though. It's drywall mud. I guess I should be grateful it's not body odor and farts. Anyway, Richards Home Improvement has been at my house for the last few days fixing the gaping hole in my bathroom ceiling. Again, maybe I should be grateful? I'm not though. Let me explain why.

The first day they showed up it was at seven in the morning. For some that is not early at all however for me, it is. Especially because I have been basking in the late arising of Jackson. He has been getting up at 9 lately (10:30a.m. today!!!). So the sound of banging on the wall is not a pleasant sound to wake up to.

Okay fine, they get done 8 hours later and come back the next day. At what time? 1:30 p.m. Right when Jackson and I decide to take a nap. Bastards. (As you can tell, I'm not real happy about this).

Today it was at 12 which I guess is a little more reasonable. Still, I hate the feeling of not being able to use my bathroom when I want. Especially when more recently I have had bouts of emergency bathroom usage. Thank goodness for Janell and Bad who live 8 houses away, and for Weis. That's only a few blocks.

Mr. Richard himself told me he wouldn't be back until 8:30 a.m. on Monday morning. Thank the Lord! That's way better than 7. I can at least plan better for that.

Oh yeah, I made some delicious cookies and offered them to Richard and his helper (who he orders around like a slave) and he says,"No, I don't like oatmeal." That's when as the person on the receiving end, you take them anyway and give them to your wife or dog or garbage can. I gave them to the poor slave instead. I'm sure he enjoyed them much more than Dick... I mean Richard.

One more thing. Richard here has enough guts to post an ugly advertisement for his business in front of my house. The thing is HUGE! I don't even have a front yard big enough for me to sit on let alone enough space for his ugly thing. I am SO mad about that. I feel like I should be getting commission or something. He didn't even ask if it was okay. It's just there. I took a picture of it so you can judge for yourself if his sign is worthy of my hatred. Blah! At least I'll have a ceiling. That's what I keep telling myself in order to stay sane.

Am I the Only One?

David and I always joke about being white trash. We really once were. Living in a trailer on wheels in the dirt qualifies one for the definition of white trash. We were not sad about it though. I loved our trailer with the different siding and I especially loved the couch in our front yard. Okay, it wasn't a front yard. It was 10 feet away from our front door. I remember the days of barbecuing processed meat over the fire with Brian and Sharai, all from the comfort of the couch in our yard. I loved that trailer. However, we have moved on to a different kind of white trash.

We are now the ones that are dressed down to go to wal-mart. Example, picture this: David, Jackson and I having a nice family day out. Jackson is wearing nothing but a t-shirt and no pants (only a diaper). He has bed head from the night before. I'm wearing sweats and a t-shirt with undone hair (due to the stupid men taking over my bathroom but that's another story), and David is wearing work clothes (he's a construction worker). Yes, I know. We are the pretty ones you look at in the store wondering 'where did they come from'. We came from Paulden dang it. And we're proud of it. At least we have our front teeth. For now anyway.

I always said I didn't want to be one of those kinds. David says we aren't, but we are. Because this is not just a once time occurence. It happens more than once a week. Usually I'm a good enough parent to put clothes on my child though. It just happens that day I didn't want to. After I had this realization (yesterday) I have made an attempt to wear normal clothes. Just in case you want to know, I'm wearing jeans and a shirt. The shirt isn't even a t-shirt. I'm proud of myself. Now it's time to change Jacksons clothes. He's only been wearing his "My mommy loves me" shirt for three days now. At least I had the decency to bathe him yesterday. It's mostly Janells fault. We were at her house and her kids wanted a bath so Jackson got to join the cousins. Okay, we are usually pretty good about that too. I'm just exaggerating. It makes for a better story.

I hope from now on I have more stories of a clean child, a clean house, and a clean me. Oh wait, that would be heaven.

Some People

So....I have the desire to update my blog often but it doesn't always work. I have tons of the cutest pictures ever but most of them won't make it on here because I am too lazy to upload them. I know right? There are no excuses.

Jess came last week to hang out with me. It was so much fun. Her baby is the same age as Jackson. They actually played well together. Jackson stole all the toys from Jaden. I kept hoping he would steal them back but it didn't happen. Sad. While she was here, she let me use her camera. Her fancy one. I decided for sure that I am going to be a photographer when I grow up. Here are some of my photography skills.

I know right? Amaaaazing. Just kidding. But I did LOVE taking pictures of nothing. It was so fun. That's an amish farm by the way. I think. Or maybe not. BUt we were in amish country. I came up with this quote that describes our trip perfectly. "Our Hollywood is the Amish country and we are their paparazzi." We spent a bunch of time sneaking pictures of them. We saw amish on scooters, amish with weedwackers, amish at Wal-Mart etc... How cool is that? We almost died a few times trying to capture the perfect moment. But it was all worth it. Here is the proof.

I am a good housewife and made cookies today. I know right? Thanks mom, for the recipe. I love them.

Well it's time for me to go now, I am going to eat chicken with Janell. And probably carbs. Because I can and she can't. Isn't that mean?

Secret.

I never thought it would happen to me. But I am so excited!!! 

amish

"Our Hollywood is the Amish country, and we are the paparazzi." - Lisa and Jess, 2008
The rest of this post is mostly dedicated to Jess so don't be sad if you don't get a lot of it.
You know you are a visitor to Pennsylvania if:
You confuse Pittsburg with Philadelphia.
Your definition of green expands to include more than just pine trees.
Previous to eating one, you thought a Philly cheesesteak was just "cheese and steak".
One way streets are a new thing.
You go to Wal-Mart and there are parking spots (buggy tie-ups) reserved for the Amish.
You go to any restaurant in town and there is only one booster seat.
You're surprised that people actually ask you if you need help.
If I think of any more I will have to add them. We had a good time while she was here (minus the time when we almost got ran over... a few times). I'll post pictures in the albums. Check them out. I am going to be a photographer when I grow up. So if you want my skills to come to your next event, just hit me up. What am I now? Ghetto?

This is a semi-boring one. Mostly it's cause I'm tired. Getting up at 4:30 am to have to deal with a jerk at the Delta counter is not fun. Ugh. He's gonna have some words. Only one might be pleased to hear that Jess and I left sweet notes for our waitress last night. She was super nice and really good at serving. See, I don't always complain. Just sometimes.

Get Smart is a movie. We went to see it at the classy Roxy. It was fun. The movie was actually really funny as well. "Well that was a major blow to my gonads." I loved it even though I have no idea where it comes from. I know it's a remake of some show from the 60's so some of the stuff was probably more funny than it should have been. OR maybe less funny depending on how you look at it. Anyway, if your town only has 3 movies to choose from, and Get Smart is one of them, pick that.


It's time for me to nap. But not before I post something else special. I guess if you read this, you will already know because this will come second in the blog list. It involves sexual reproductive parts. I know right? 

Oh yeah....

Thank you to Jess for this! Not the child, but the picture. :-)

Because We're Cute

We are silly. This is in the car waiting for the line to move at Central Mountain's graduation. Congrats to our seniors Matt, Megan and Megan. You go people! I love us.

Churchy Wurchey

Bad times at church today. I don't even know why we go. Okay, I know why we do but it doesn't seem worth it sometimes. Mostly because church happens right when Jackson is supposed to sleep. I can't exactly rearrange his entire schedule for a once-a-week occurence. Ugh.

Needless to say, we don't experience much of the goodness of church. I have been telling David for awhile that sacrament is the most important. After that, it's still good but not as necessary. Some might disagree but this is my blog so I get to say what I want. I also think that I would get a lot more out of my sabbath day by being at home meditating on the scriptures while my child happily sleeps.

I have so many cute pictures to post. I must post the picture I took while talking with my mom on the phone. Jackson is naked except for his "chick" bib. Previous to eating almost the entire box of macaroni he had eaten a nutri grain bar and Barbie cereal. I feed my child well huh? At least he's happy and he is healthy too.

It's Father's Day. Good thing Jackson has the best Dad ever. They really are sweet together. I love watching them. David went in to get him today after he had woken (word?) up and you should've heard the squeal that Jackson made. It was unlike any other. He is most definately a Daddy's boy.

Hot and Humid

Does anyone wanna tell me why it is so gross out today? I seriously haven't stopped sweating since I woke up. I'm so mad. Part of that reason is because I went yard saleing. Is that a word? I guess I should say yard selling. No. that's not right. Anyway, it was fun. Went with Shannon and we got some super awesome items. She got one of those old school chalkboard desk things with the magnets. Does anyone remember those? I do. I got a whole bunch of super cool toys for Jackson. And clothes. I'll have to take pictures of my treasures. I got lucky.

I almost can't type because my sweaty fingers keep slipping on the keys. I don't wanna talk about it. Do you? Are sweaty fingers a real thing?

Apparently, when its a thousand degrees outside the only fun thing to do is sleep. I don't even think that is fun since once gets all sweaty and gross from just doing that. My boys don't seem to mind.

I should stop complaining. It doesn't make it any better.

I'm gonna go read Anna Karenina. I know right? I got it at a yard sale for $.10. Can't beat that. It's a translated version and looks like it might be easier than reading it in Russian. I'm hoping the authors who translated it make it a little easier to read.

Ok. That's all.

El First Haircut

It seems lately, everything starts with "el"... like I'm Spanish or something. I guess it makes me feel important.

David and I are doing an amazing job at spring cleaning, or summer cleaning I should say. We, he cleaned out the basement and organized it all (so we can get a washer/dryer), and moved stuff down there that has been cluttering our lives and our house. It's so wonderful. I have a super cool husband that cleans. Okay,that's a lie. But he does clean sometimes.

So I decided I have a new goal in life. And that is to be an important person blogger. I want to have nicknames for David and Jackson and I want to have so many readers that I am able to have contests and stuff. It would be so great. Maybe someday. For now, I'll keep posting pictures of my super adorable son.

He had his first haircut today. I said I was going to do it but dad ended up doing most the work because I was too scared. Now his bangs don't get in his eyes, and he doesn't have as much of the wings as he used to. He totally has/had the wings that I did. If I could only find that one picture of me. You would understand. I used to think (and sometimes still do) that I could fly away. I still have them because of the hair growing back from what I lost after Jackson was born. Mom, do you have any?





I love this boy!

The Birthday

So Jackson didn't really have a party for his birthday. We decided to celebrate it this next weekend because of other activities which have taken up a lot of time. He did get a present from his grandparents and loved it very much.

I love his face in this picture. You can see the smile. Richy!





Thank you to Grandpa and Grandma "C" for the card and money! He got a super cool toy to play with.




We had a yummy brunch at the Texas Restaurant. No, not the Texas Roadhouse, but a local restaurant here in town. It was delicious. Then we went down to the river and enjoyed the sunshine. It was a super good day!

I've gotta say he is the cutest boy ever! And conveniently, on his b-day his top left tooth came in! Yay. He is growing up!

Baby Love

It's a good day today. I gave my lesson and I think it was successful. I hope anyway. It's a good day today. David and I are breaking the sabbath and cleaning house. We are totally getting a lot accomplished. I'll take pictures of the finished product. It wouldn't be a big deal but we are completely switching things around. The room that used to be shared by all of us is now just Jacksons room. We moved into the other room and I think it's going to be fabulous. We can now ignore him when he wakes up just to wake up. Because that room is so big there will be plenty of room for baby #2...who is already on its way! That's right, you heard me. We are having another one.

It took my some time to be okay with it. I was in denial at first. I am now really excited. Jackson will have a sibling close in age to play with (mostly torture I'm sure), and we will be done sooner! We will still be young when they get older and will have plenty of time to enjoy them. I think it's going to be a boy but I don't know for sure yet. I kind of hope it's a girl but I won't be sad if it's not.

I'm kind of tired of people telling me I should have lots of babies. I think today is the first day I actually have stopped caring about it though. In the past I would have dwelt on it and made a big deal but because of the self-love I am working on, it's helping me to realize that it does not matter what other people think. God is the only one that matters. Him and David and I, we are all partners. I think some women are meant to have babies...lots of them. I however, am not. And God does not hate me or think I am a bad person. He loves me and knows me and what I am capable of.

David is making me mashed potatoes and gravy. He is a sweet boy. I have been wanting that all day. Yum.

Oh yeah, please move to PA. It's gorgeous here. It really is.