That Time of Year Again~

I finished my classes two weeks ago, and now it's time for everyone else to go back! Hannah and Austin started school this week. I can't believe how fast this summer went. Life is flying by WAY too fast.

What's going on in my life now:

I was released from Young Women's two weeks ago. I knew it was coming ever since I got the calling, I felt it was only going to be until August. Don't ask my how I knew that, but I am glad that I did. I love those girls. I really loved teaching and am so excited to take the time and energy in teaching the youth, to teaching my own children. There is a time and season for everything, and right now that season is family. I am so excited that Faith is three and at a fun age where I get to spend time with her, laugh with her, play, read, and even sometimes take a nap in a blue moon with her! She makes me laugh, and while I miss my other two at school, I will take this time and hold it dear, because before I know it, she too will be at school and then I will be going back to finish mine. Until then, happy days ahead! It's been nice to get onto a routine, new rules, and schedules with the family. I will post my Young Women Lesson/Ideas on here for those who want to use them. I am still assistant camp director (But who knows that's still another year away, A lot can happen in a year, so no hopes up.) For our FHE'S this year we have been doing "House of Order" I made a picture frame with "In Spirit, Conversation, Faith, Purity..." it is our motto on what we represent as a family. You know when you have those feelings where you feel the spirit guiding you so strongly and having a mother/women's intuition? Well I have come to the conclusion my kids are no longer doing sleepovers. I loved sleepovers when I was little with the neighbor friends, we laughed, played night games, and didn't get into trouble... unless you count Toilet Papering' trouble. However, that was also a time when we would sleep on our front lawn in a sleeping bag and no tent. Just under the stars. Time's have changed, and while I know my kids have had a blast sleeping over, I just keep getting that urge that who knows what might happen down the road. I went to two crazy slumber parties when I was younger and I don't want my kids to be put in that situation. Had my mom known how horrible some of the other girls were treating each other, I am sure she would've put a stop to sleep outs and I didn't want that!! With that being said, I also don't like hearing the fighting that goes on when one of the kids get to sleep over and the other doesn't. Both Trent and I have had enough of that! :) I am only sharing this rule with you, so that everyone is aware of our rule so we don't run into people asking why my kids can't sleep over or get offended that we don't allow it anymore. So... "As for me and my family.. No sleepovers... unless it's family." Another rule that I have used that you might like is that for my kid's reading they have to read 20 minutes on scriptures4kids.com They can chose their reading level and the books are even for sale. I love it!

Muddles, Cuddles and more

Today it rained on us, just so we could go outside and jump in the "Muddles" as Faith likes to call it. She loved it until we came in and she couldn't stand being in wet clothes.

My sister took my kid's pictures. I LOVE how they turned out. That is my type of picture style. I am going to frame them above my couch with the vinyl words "Blessings, Name Then One by one"

Today I was rocking Faith and she kept peeking out of the blanket ( It's worth a try even though she doesn't take a nap usually) and I couldn't believe how old she is getting. She goes around in a deep voice and copies what Trent taught her from Tangeled "I Had a Dream Once..."

I am so excited that I have given myself permission to allow all my creativity go into motherhood. For years I thought I had to be "Achieving" something through school, church, or whatever interruptions came. I have grown to love each of my kids more in the last three days than I could ever have imagined. They keep telling me "Mom, you need to tell us we are "good, beautiful, smart" I then tell them (for the third time that day) and they try to grab my face so I can't kiss them, and they laugh and laugh at the face I pull. Here is the schedule I was telling you about:
8:00 or 8:30 (I am realistic that I may not be right at eight, so I don't make goals that are easy to fail at. Give yourself some time) Breakfast/clean up kitch/ Scripture Story/ Kids "DO BOX" (I will tell you this idea in a minute)
(Now that school is in it will be kids leave at 8:45-3:45 for school. However, I still have Faith)
8:35 or 8:40 - individual and family prayers- Tell the kids "You are Good, Beautiful, and Smart"
9:00- Faith and I get ready for the day
10:00- exercise (as little as it may be. :))
10:30- Clean
11:00-11:30- Free Time
11:30-Noon- Craft Time for me!
(That was the schedule for the older kids, at this time from 11:30- noon at first, I will be doing one on one preschool with Faith)
Noon- Lunch, Clean Up Kitchen
1:00-1:30 Project/Lesson/Game/Story Time ( This was as simple as doing a little family lesson, playing or doing a little craft. I will still keep this for faith)
2:00- Free Time-
I save this time hopefully for Faith to watch a movie, or take a nap (yeah right) and I get to write in my journal (I am starting my own biography. I am starting back as far as I can remember so that one day my kids will be able to read all about it. If the kids do something cute, I write it on the calendar and later into their scrapbooks) read scriptures (I am not perfect at any of this stuff, I am only trying :))
4:00 - Plan Dinner ( I am learning how to cook ;) I want to be able to be a day ahead of cooking... we shall see. )
NEW: Kids get home from school, have Snack, Housework, Homework, and for reading "Scriptures4kids.com" you can chose the reading level.
Free time for kids until 6:30
6:30- Eat Dinner/ Clean Kitchen
7:00- 20 minute pickup
7:30- Get ready for bed (bath, Song, prayers, brush teeth, kiss goodnight)
8:00- Bedtime

About the "DO BOX" I found this awesome blog that shows you ways to have your kids get ready. I thought about doing it and gave it a try. It was a success! My kids LOVE Doing the BOX. I put brushes, toothbrush, toothpaste, lotion, and even some fake deodorant in the box. This will help them get used to doing these things for when they are older. Here is the post:
http://preparednotscared.blogspot.com/2010/07/preparedness-project-get-ready-box.html

Operation: Scripture Study

I have a couple of secrets that you may find silly. First one: I made it a goal to find out how many women are in the scriptures. There are NUMEROUS women. So when people say there isn't much about women, they are not reading between the lines, doing the research and finding awesome stories. I found this awesome blog to help get a start. It's pretty fun when you can research a person and get to know a little. It is kind of like family history, you get to understand a little about who a person was. I love it!! Another thing, is in the book "The Help" I had to chuckle because Abilene would write her prayers down. I too have "Emailed" my prayers and kept them in a file folder journal. I feel like I am writing to someone who then I can find His "TEXT" in the scriptures. But Shhh... that's my little secret. If you have trouble praying... give it a try.

http://womeninthescriptures.blogspot.com/p/book-of-mormon-women.html

Here is another fun site that you can print out scripture labels and your family can have a night finding where they go.
http://tencowchick.com/2011/02/05/scripture-journals/

Today I took Austin and Faith to Artic Circle. I decidied to put down the phone and go play tag with them. While I was trying to find Austin, he snuck up behind me and slapped my right on my butt! "Tag you're it mom!" hmmm...

#1 thing in my life right NOW.

My fav is the mother in the rain.
Imagine how fast the last ten years have gone. Now imagine your teenage daughter/son want nothing to do with you. Imagine that the adult children you have don't want to bring their little children to see you. You never talk to your once upon a time children. They are grown and you ask yourself "Where has the time gone?! Why didn't I.....(Fill in the blank) Those reading this who are not yet mothers, you are a woman. What a gift. You can use this to learn from all our examples.
I have cleared off my schedule with school. I have made new plans. My biography and book will always be there, but my kids will not. I have many goals, but some will just have to wait. Right now I am starting "Operation Motherhood" which means back to basics while my kids are still young. Please post any cute fun ideas for families, FHE, or motherhood. I have decided a few things I am going to do with my kids. I have decided that I want to take control of my life in ways that I can and learn new things.I know that one day I am going to have to teach my kids homemaking skills like cooking, laundry, sewing on a button, finances, cleaning, and so on. I better start learning how so they can be confident themselves. Now is the time to start teaching. Here is the steps that will help me now:
Step 1- Start a schedule. If you want an organized life (or at least somewhat organized) you have to start with a schedule. Kids thrive off of routine.
Here is an example of a routine for my household (It is going to change once the kids are in school)
Step 2- Find time for yourself, so that you too can rejuvenate. When you are on an airplane and a problem occurs, you must put the mask over yourself first. If you aren't taking care of yourself, how are you going to take care of the kids? Find something that makes you happy, whether it is writing, reading, exercises, or planning/scrapbooking... find something for YOU. I for one love to create things. I love to be given a topic and have to research and come up with ideas. I loved coming up with fun ideas for Girls Camp and YW Lessons. Whatever calling I have had I love to put my all in it and come up with creativity. I want this as a mother and plan on it. While I was at Girl's Camp Hannah wrote me a letter that said "Mom I hope you are having fun with your girls" I wanted her to know that Hannah, you and Faith are my girls. Sometimes (if you are like me) we get lost in the shuffle of life and put our children on the back burner. Well no more! I feel like Scrooge who has just woken up to realize there is still time!! What a gift.
Step 3- Get to know each of your children personally. Let them talk to you, even if you feel you don't have time or what they are trying to say is silly. If you think your kids will talk to you when they are 17 and yet you don't want to talk to them when they are 7 you are going to have a big wake up call
Step 4- Be realistic in the world in which we live in. If you think your kids are living in a bubble, guess again. It's not the same world in which we grew up in. You probably just don't know everything they have done, seen, or question,(or will) because once again if you don't want to listen to them now, why would they ever tell you? This is the step in not to Shame. If you are shaming your children into doing something, all you are doing is creating Fear. Fear is the opposite of Faith.
Step 5- Enjoy the journey and LOVE them. Love who they are, even if sometimes they do silly embarrassing things.
You still have ten more years, no matter how old your child is now. It is still TODAY. Let's rejoice in the present, not the past or future. Let's thank God for the time given and learn from others who have gone before us. Let us do what Jospeh Smith has said "To teach children correct principles and let them govern themselves."
Warning: I claim not to be perfect, and even though I am
"preaching" this things out loud, I am doing it for my own good. The number one thing that ruins a mother is ... herself. By having horrible thoughts of what a failure she is will only make matters worse. Rejoice that we aren't perfect, that all we can do is teach and have fun with our children. That we too get to learn. When they are older and they end up down a slippery road, DON'T BLAME YOURSELF. Now is the time. Tomorrow will come and go before we know it, we will wake up and realize our kids are gone, and what will we have to show for it? I for one had plans to finish my teaching degree so I can go teach children. I love teaching and I know I can be just as good by teaching my own. The most important children I can teach is my own. Why rush so fast into getting my degree and letting my children sit on the back burner. When I am done with my degree do I want to say " Ok kids, I can play now" only to look around at my grown children and wonder where the time went? No. NOW IS THE TIME! If you want to join me in my journey of motherhood, through the tears, the smiles, the laughter, and the hardships... then climb aboard and comment your two sense worth once in a while!! If you want to post please do, I will be posting the tips and tricks I have learned so far in being a mother, SAHM, and Wife.

" A Child-Like Faith"

I can't believe it has been three years. My how fast and blessed these last three years have been. I am so excited that my older two kids are going to be in school and I can spend some one on one time with Faith. Don't get me wrong I ADORE my older two kids, but with her being the youngest she is always tagging along with her siblings, so it will be nice to be home, and help me get fun things ready for the older two. It reminds me of when my siblings would come walking home from school and my mom and I would be making cookies looking out the window for them. I still remember that. I love you Faith, I love that when we go to church oon Sunday you scream "THERE IT ISS!!!" and point to the church. It makes me smile every time. I love that you have little friends, and that your sister Hannah will carry you in the store when you are tired of walking, even though you are pretty much the same size. I always hear someone giggle while they watch that. I love hearing your laugh, and I adore watching you play with toys that are for Hannah's age group, yet you play with them like you are mature enough to. I love that when you watch TOY STORY 3, and Jesse yodels, You do too! I think it's cute you will try to shut the bathroom door and sneak into my makeup.(At least I will think it's cute in a few years.) I always laugh when you have something behind your back and try to sneak out of my bathroom. I already know you are stealing the band aids. I love that you say "it's my Durday." instead of Birthday. If someone were to ask you how old you are you would say "4" I love that you can count to 6 and have for a while.I love that dad told me to start taking pictures when you get into things you aren't supposed to, so that way I can laugh about it later. It works. I love watching you dance, you really have come far in dancing and I know that just because you aren't in dance class anymore, doesn't mean you have to stop dancing for me. I love going downstairs and watch you dance to "Dance central" with Hannah. You love your family, friends, Cinderella, and Buzz light year. You are probably my best eater. I love your cute little face, and what a joy you have been in our life, and the lives of others. You are Loved, Happy Birthday FAithy!

I have updated on Girls camp and Birthday, so make sure you look at older posts too!!

A Princess and her Frog

Today was Faith's birthday party. The kids went to Holly's house to be babysat while I went to the dr. A couple days ago Holly's daughter Alina gave them a little frog. My dad had once given my kids a little frog, and it lasted for five hours. Well this one lasted for a night. Needless to say we are done with Frogs, because my kids can't keep their hands off of them. I come back and Austin is holding a jar with a frog in it. He said he gets to keep it. I said No. Well we get home and Austin is having a tantrum because I didn't let him keep it. Fast forward ten minutes. I hear Hannah screaming "MOM!! FAITH HAS A FROG!" I go walking into the front room and there is faith with a closed fist freaking out. I asked her what was in her hand. She started screaming "MY GRASSHOPPER" (Faith loves bugs, she will pick up everything, even spiders. The other two scream their heads off and Faith has to come rescue them.) I said "Is it a grasshopper or a frog? bugs don't come into the house" So Austin Pryed her hand open and there was a sqwished dead frog. Needless to say this princess's frog ended up in the toilet.

Heber Valley Girls Camp 2011

For cleaning I made some special gloves. I found some at hobby lobby plastic gloves and blinged them up. Then when the girls started cleaning they were singing " A Happy Little Working Song..."

I left the crown blank so the girls could write the name of their cabins on it.

Girl's Camp Theme for Stake "Happily Ever After"

I talked to the camp director and didn't want girls to feel the following story I heard from a BYU Talk *Forgive me I forgot the man's name, but there is a book about him that I read, If you really want to know I will find it.* There was a stake president who was sitting at a young women's New Beginnings night. He watched a fun game of the yellow Brick Road *Which I did and would totally do it again but not with their ending....* at the end of the yellow brick Road was a huge temple picture of the L.A Temple. The YW president got up afterwards and spoke, "If you guys will just get to that temple, everything will be perfect! I am so grateful for a perfect husband, wonderful kids and so on...." The Primary President asked this stake president to speak. He said she probably shouldn't ask him... but he got up anyways. He thought to himself how perfect looking this yw president and her husband and children looked. He spoke that getting to the temple was very important, but it wasn't something that meant your life would always be "happily Ever After" because you got married in the temple. Trials are part of this life, and surly they do come. But the temple is there as a refuge from the storm of life. Just as he was saying, I too didn't want to set my young women up for failure in the sense that as long as they got to the temple life would be easy and free of pain and trials. so I changed the theme to say " LEARNING TO LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER THROUGH THE YOUNG WOMEN VALUES" because no matter the trial we can learn to be happy and trust in the Lord. Each ward had a princess. The girls in our ward chose Gieselle from Enchanted. Can I just tell you there is NOTHING that you can find on Enchanted? ?! So it was a challenge but a fun one to come up with things for this theme. I made candy apples with the song attached "How does you know that he loves her?" But I changed it to "How do you know HF loves you?"

The most important thing I wanted to do was "The Iron Rod" experience. I thought it would be cute to have a motto for our camp and I thought it would be cute to use "The bucket man" *The prince she makes out of buckets in the beginning of Enchanted" as such. Every time the girls did a service, they got to put kiss stickers on him. We also got a basket and wrote "Kiss your Electronics Goodbye" that I had found off sugardoodle. We then would hand over hershey kisses when they gave us the electronics. I was in charge of decor, I wanted each girl to have their own sheet of paper that everyone could write wonderful things about them on. I made three small pom poms for each cabin *3 cabins* With schedules of the day. I Incorporated flower magnets that I made, along with butterfly magnets to go with her wedding dress. I found "Happily Ever After" water bottle labels to go along with her dress when she sings "How do you know" *teal color was the color theme we chose* on etsy. I found a squirrel *Thanks to DI* to be used as "PIP" We played "Pip Punting" instead of Snipe Pinting. When you found Pip you had to hide him again until someone else found him and so on. I got this idea from Mr. Moose on Sugardoodle. Now that we are back from camp we are Doorbell Ditching him with treats to each girl. When they get him they have to cross their name off of the list and send him to someone else. We had a cute flag that one of the awesome leaders who has her own WAY Creative blog made for us. I used to blog stalk her and she moved into my ward I was so happy. Poppiesatplay.blogspot.com is Andy's blog. We found mirrors at Hobby lobby and Andy used her vinyl lettering to write "Mirror, Mirror, on the wall" For each cabin. Andy also came up with the awesome crafts for both the stake *A crown wooden ring* and the ward * a daughter of a king and fabric flowers* We made a food list to prepare to go on a scavenger hunt to get all the food we needed, our ward is so cool we got everything we needed on the list!

Monday: Camp director Claudia and I (assistant Director) went up early to set up and decorate. The girls showed up. (Every night we found cute princess stories to read and hand out things to go with them. For instance princess and the pea and Hilary *yw leader* got green sixlets as peas to give the girls. Princess and the kiss, Princess and Hiking Boots, and Paper Bag Princess were what the YCL's got to read the girls at night) We had a blast playing all kinds of fun games and songs after we set up for camp. We had a stake craft and dinner that night. I think the first day was probably my favorite because everyone was singing and happy and just so nice to get out! We went Pip punting that night.

Tuesday: My favorite spiritual day. All the girls got lost on the stake hike- I stayed to fix up the Iron Rod. I found a pretty walkway to put the rope up on. We had the girls blindfolded and holding onto the rod. Many of the leaders were "Tempters" And two of us where whispering positive things in their ears. It was spiritual for the leaders as well. then when they got off the rod they held onto each other's shoulders blindfolded back to camp. I found a song "Hold On" from Sugardoodle and each girl sat to listen quietly. When everyone came back we played a game I like to call "Stick it to you." I have used it for my lesson and learned about it with my husband at a group we attended last year. All the leaders wrote on sticky notes positive things about each girl. All at the same time we whispered what we wrote in the girl's ears and stuck the note to them. Not a dry eye there. It was spiritual and I knew this was what needed to be done at camp. I know some thought it was too much work but I knew deep down that It had to be done. My motto to each girl and leader was "You are worth it" No matter what happens in life I wanted everyone to know that they are truly worth it. Luckily the leaders gave into me and did the game the way I wanted, it turned out really good. What really touched me was while some didn't want to do this because they were scared of others getting hurt, or it took too long, one of the leaders came up to me and apologized that she was sorry that she was questioning as well. That meant a lot to me. I know that It's hard for me to stand up for myself so I am sure I was pretty pushy, but in the end it was "Worth it." A lot of the people said that was one of their favorite experiences. I was just glad that none had done it before!! At the end I had a YCL tell how in this life we are holding on to the rod and sometimes it's hard to hang on tight, but that if we are still, we will hear the whisperings and truth of the Lord. They then opened their eyes and went to a tree filled with white Japanese lanterns and white envelopes. Their parent's/spouse for leaders or kids/ had each written a letter to everyone. I included a testimony of mine about this experience and when I was youth. I didn't want shame ( I know a lot of ways is when you fall off you have to go "Repent" to the bishop. I find that shameful way to play the game, so instead when they fell off, one would come put their hand back on and tell them to keep going. To me that is what the bishop does, he guides us to the one who can lead us back- our Savior Jesus Christ.) I was lucky to receive letters from each of my kids and husband (I thought I was so tricky getting the spouses to write to the leaders... little did I know that was so..."last year" but oh well I think they still liked it!!)I am so thankful I was able to share my spirit along with the leaders to these girls, and that in return they shared theirs with us. Later that night we went on a stake Faith Walk. At the end the leaders came out and found our girls singing and crying. It was very touching. We had the biggest ward and no one fought the whole time. It was a beautiful day full of the spirit and I hope it was refreshing to the ones who got lost on the hike to come back to feel the spirit.

Wed: We each had cooking groups and the girls got to chose the names of the cooking groups. For instance we had a "pips Pantry" group. The food was so good. We had bread from Kneaders and made grilled cheese w tomato soup, breakfast burritos, walmart roll sandwiches 2 times, Italian night, cafe rio salads, french toast, costco muffins the last day. I thought since it was a stake camp we wouldn't be in charge of cooking, but this gave me a way to understand how to prepare if I ever need to in the future for another camp. Each day we had to come up with new roll calls for the wards. On Wed we did the "Ropes Course" with the girls. It was fun. I climbed up to the top of this wooden swinging log and had to jump to get my foot in the right hole. I realized that while my balance and heights are still great... I really am not the athletic 12 year old I once was :( But hey at 28 I still can still do it... just not as graceful as before. The leaders with the stake taught us how to do some of the courses, I was the youngest in my course and I was able to balance walk across these boards, others had some problems, and it was hard to keep holding them up when I was on shaky ground myself. It was a good lesson and can be used in a spiritual sense too. Later that night we did skits. I brought a white dress and awesome shoes I found at the DI for Gieselle, and a witches outfit. The girls camp up with the skits. It was fun. The girls did some of the leaders hair and make up. Later that night I got the glow sticks out and we played. I wanted all the girls to stay up but many had to go back to their cabins. So in my cabin, we played for a bit and then the girls asked me and the other leader about our love lives LOL. It was fun.

Thursday: We went to the Lake to go canoeing. Some of us were sad we only got paddle boats because we wanted a canoe. There was a fake little alligator in the lake that was pretty funny. Once we got back we did a ward craft and chilled for a while. Later that night we had the stake devotional and then testimony meeting. I really wanted to let the girls/leaders know if they were questioning their testimony that it was normal and that God wants us to decide for ourselves, so not to feel guilty about having normal feelings. We need to find out for ourselves not just rely on others. I think a lot of times people feel bad that they are having those emotions, and they shouldn't. That God is there for them whether they realize it or not. I wanted them to know they were worth it and to look in the mirror everyday and say they were beautiful and worth it. I just wanted them all to know regardless of the trials, issues, and so on in their life that they are beautiful. I'm glad you don't have to be perfect to be worth it. God is there. After the testimony meeting a bunch of the girls grabbed their sleeping gear and slept in my cabin. Everyone was doing hair, or talking quietly. Friday we woke up and went to the last roll call. Camp was awesome. I love this ward and the girls and leaders in it.

I made these to go with the book "Princess in Hiking Boots"

(My friend and Yw Leader Andy on Poppiesatplayblogspot.com made the idea "Ding Dong Ditched" with dingdongs attached.)

My friend Lyndee made Girls Camp Awards, and was nice to make a generic one for you!! Here:

http://wilkninenpboi.blogspot.com/

What a ball!!!

This summer has been B-U-S-Y! Yet, here we are almost done with it! For the first half of summer I was busy in my craft room planning and making things for Girls Camp! I love coming up with cute ideas and making them, it is my hobby. Thanks to the D.I and Dollar Tree I was able to find things cheap. After Girl's Camp I started planning Faith's Cinderella Party! Two weeks ago I was in the E.R because I dropped sheet metal on my toe, cut it all the way to the bone and broke it in my big toe. At first I was worried my toe got cut off, my grandpa lost three fingers with sheet metal. I saw the toes still on and thought I would be ok, since there is nothing they can do for broken toes. My neighbor convinced me to go to the E.R, I am glad I did. I needed stitches in both toes, I had a broken one, and had to get on antibiotics to make sure I didn't get a bone infection. I no longer have a toe nail... pretty freaky. That put me behind a little. I still need to update my YW lesson's and Camp before I forget, but I will work my way back. TODAY we had FAtih's 3rd bday party with friends. I made a tutu for Faith and set up the party. Girl's came dressed as princess's and we played "Pin the mouse on the pumpkin" And with the magic wand " I had a glass slipper and it won't fit you.... but it will fit you!" We had Cinderella come and give the girls hugs and bubbles *A girl in my YW's dressed up for me she is awesome!* they ate PB&J Sandwiches in the shape of glass slippers, along with pumpkin sugar cookies, and cupcakes! They each got to take home a magic bibbidibobbidiboo wand, tutu, candy necklace, ring from the cupcake, castle with candy, and a Cinderella dress I made out of paper. Faith had a BALL !!!

Nothing is wrong with her legs, she just loved bandaids