Secret Agent Man

I love that my boys are best friends, and come up with the darnedest games to play, like this...

Buddies

Last week we had some good friends over to play. My friend Chelsea has 2 girls and a boy, we have 2 boys and a girl, and I realized as they were playing that they are all just within 6 months in age of their respective "playmate". So of course, I had to take some pictures. Plus, they all 6 are just such stinkin' cute kids!

Jacob (6) and Ashleigh (5+). Ashleigh was Jake's first kiss, on the way home from a temple trip no less.
Hailey (3+) and Austin (3). Have you ever seen a cuter pair of smiles?

Kai (1) and Leah (8 mos).

Chelsea and I have joked that these two are "intended" for each other and call them boyfriend and girlfriend. This was their first real playdate, however, and they hated each other! Ok, hated may be a strong word for such cute little bugs, but there was a lot of glaring and toy stealing and bottle slapping going on. I guess we will need to give it a few years.

Thanks Rivas' for such a fun afternoon!

Before and After

When we first bought our house almost 3 years ago, we were excited at the prospect of having hardwood floors throughout the living and bedroom areas. Unfortunately, when we actually got into the house and started moving in, we realized that the floors had never been treated or sealed and were disgustingly dirty. With no time or money left to carpet before moving in, we bought a piece off the roll at Home Depot and threw it down, never realizing it would be there as long as it was.

So, this fall we finally decided that enough was enough. The carpet had gotten stained and flattened from having no pad under, it and was an embarrassment and an eyesore. With the arrival of Leah, we really wanted to get something better down for her to start crawling on.

Luckily our neighbor and friend Joel installs carpet for a living, and worked us out a sweet deal to do the install and provide the pad. He was also willing to give up the better part of a Saturday with his family to do it - thank you Joel! We got a great deal as well on the carpet, so today was the day! The pictures below show our before and after. I only wish I could capture on film how wonderful it feels to have pad under your carpet and to feel like you are walking on silk. I think I am in love!

BEFORE

AFTER

Halloween 2009

Austin the Rhino-Man

All the little cousins trunk-or-treated together this year:

Leah, Isaiah, Austin, Jake, Skaidy, Caden, Jojo, Syd, Hannah, Tyler, and Sadie (in front)

Jojo, Caden and Isaiah

Jake the vampire


Professor Trelawney aka Hannah
(I hope I spelled this right...apparently I am not hip enough to the Harry Potter stuff to know who she was without being told)

Princess Skaidy

Jake and his first victim - Syd the fairy

Sadie ladybug

Sleeping Beauty and her Pudgy Pumpkin

Wedding Dress

I was laying down on my bed the other day staring into my closet, looking at the bag that holds my wedding dress. Even though it has been 7+ years since I wore it down the aisle, it still hangs in the bag I brought it home from the dress store in. It has long been on my mind to find a better way to store it, but as with many other non-urgent matters, it long ago fell off my to-do list, giving way to things like kids and work and laundry and life.

Today, instead of staring at the bag thinking "Oh yeah, gotta get that thing stored", I took it out of the closet, out of the bag and off the hanger, and attempted to try it on. I did not go into this thinking I would get it totally zipped up the back - come on, 7 years, 3 kids, 30 plus pounds, I'm no fool! - but its an empire waist A-line style, and I was hoping for the best. And I wanted to see my older self in my younger self's dress.

Except I couldn't get the sleeves all the way over my elbows. Really, of all places, MY ELBOWS? The sheer gauzy fabric would not s-t-r-e-t-c-h over my elbows and therefore the shoulders would not go over MY shoulders. So I clutched the dress to my front modestly and wandered into the living. Brian looked up in sheer amazement and asked with a smile "What are you doing in that?", Jacob looked and me and with a worried look asked "Mom, why are you wearing that?" and Austin wanted to know what I was doing wearing a "marriage-thing". After explaining to my three boys that I just wanted to see what I looked like in it now (thank heaven for my new darling daughter... someday she will appreciate moments like this with me!) my sweet husband told me I still looked beautiful in it and I headed back into my room to change.

I don't look - or feel - much like the girl who wore that beautiful dress 7 years ago. Over the last few months, I have been realizing that for too long I have put myself second place to everything and everyone else in my life. I think (KNOW) that as mothers - and especially working mothers - we tend to put our needs on the back burner behind kids, husbands, jobs, household stuff, church callings etc., and I have been no exception. And really, it's just silly because as my mother always tells me, a healthy, happy mom is a better mom.

So, I have been slowly giving myself permission to make it all about me every once in a while! And believe me, it's a hard thing to do. There is still a huge part of me that feels guilty (almost like I'm skipping school or playing hooky from work), when I do things like spend my evenings scrapbooking instead of doing that last load of dishes. But I am doing it because I have realized IT'S OKAY! It's okay for mothers to have hobbies, it's okay to spend money on a hair dresser you LOVE (something else I've recently started) and it's okay to have items in your wardrobe that were bought in this decade and not stained with baby spit-up. I can love my family and try to give them everything they need, and at the same time try to do the same for myself. At the very least, I can find more of a balance between the two.

I long ago swore off New Years resolutions (mostly because I have no will power) but this fall I am going to make some New Mom Resolutions. I am committed to this new way of living and a big part of that is going to include losing some weight. I haven't quite figured out where in my crazy days I am going to fit in time to exercise, but I am going to start somewhere, even if it's just walking to the mini-mart for my Diet Coke instead driving. Maybe by this time next year I will get that dress over my elbows!

To all my other mom friends out there that relate to this, take care of yourselves as much as you take care of everyone else! You are worth it!