New Friends

I made a new friend today.
I got to go and meet/visit her with one of my "old" friends. She really was one of the sweetest, kindest, coolest people I have ever met!
She loves to travel and it was fun to hear all about where she has been. I can't wait to travel someday. My grandparents traveled the world and I always admired them for their adventures that they had. I can't wait to be the one sharing my traveling stories with someone!
Her kids are all grown and out of the house, but she has decided to start taking piano lessons! I think that it is incredible. It seems that most older people tend not to try new things because of their age, but why not?! I don't think you are ever too old to learn or try something new.
And she was so sweet to my kids. I truly enjoyed our visit and I can't wait to talk to her more!

After our visit the kids and I went grocery shopping. This is how I do it with two kids:

It is pretty crazy especially when I have a lot of food to get, but it was worth it today because I found my favorite childhood game Candy Land on a good sale! 

Brad even took a few minutes away from his studies to play with Kade. Kade loves the game! 

Happiness

Today was such a happy day! We didn't even do anything out of the ordinary but my children and I were all in great moods so it made for such a great day!
Early this morning before the kids woke up I was able to go for a quick run with my friends Becca and Danielle. It felt good to go running and to get my workout done before the kids woke up.

It is super dark at 6 am!

After breakfast the kids helped me clean the bathrooms and then played together quietly while I showered. Then we got to go play at our friend Heather's house with Kade's friends Jackson and Jakoby. Kade sat and played Hungry, Hungry Hippos with his friends for an hour and a half! It was amazing how much he loved that game.
After lunch we had a dance party, but poor Tenley was so tired that she mainly just watched the music videos.

Then Tenley took a nap for 3 hours and Kade helped me make dinner: Cheesy Chicken Lasagna and Pizza Factory bread sticks (I really miss The Pizza Factory.)

And after dinner we, of course, danced some more with Dad. Then bath time and bed time for the kids.

It was such a great day! Although it would be even better if right now my hot husband wasn't studying by himself and he was able to hang out with me!

But really, I am truly so grateful for my family. They bring me so much happiness! It really is true that money can't buy you happiness. In our humble little home with our tight budget and so many dreams and future plans left to happen I can honestly say that I am truly happy! 

Mommy Adventures

I love adventures! I love trying new things and going new places. Growing up my adventures usually consisted of the outdoors; biking, hiking, skiing, road trips, and camping trips.
But now my adventures seem to be more simple, like trying to squeeze 3 car seats into the back of my car in the pouring rain so we could take my friend and her son with us to the church to play the organ. Poor Becca got soaked! And then trying to make sure the kids stayed entertained while we tried to actually play the organ. It was a fun and exciting day! Much better than playing inside at home!

And then this afternoon I needed to take Tenley back to the hospital to get her staples out. I had originally planned on leaving Kade with Brad, but Brad really needed to study, so I took Kade with me. I was nervous that we would be there forever and that it would be painful for Tenley and Kade would get bored, but it went so quickly and smoothly! We were in and out within thirty minutes! And it wasn't even that painful for Tenley. Much better than actually getting the staples. Kade was such a big helper too! He read a book to her and told her everything would be all right! He even held her hand on the car ride home. He can be such a big sweetheart sometimes! I am one lucky mamma to be able to have such fun adventures with my cute kids!

Kade was trying to tast the raindrops on the way into the hospital.

P.S. Tonight ended so well. Test weeks are no fun for me and definitely no fun for Brad, but I didn't realize how much the kids miss having their Dad around to play games with or even watch T.V. with. Kade has been asking for time with his Daddy all day! Luckily after dinner Brad offered to have a little dance party with us before he had to go back upstairs to study. It made our day!!

Homemade Pizza

I look forward to Monday nights now that they are our pizza nights. It has become such a fun tradition that we all love! I'm grateful for Paula Deens's awesome pizza dough recipe. It makes for some great pizza crust. And we've made some yummy pizzas and have been able to try lots of different sauces and toppings.
Tonight, though, was the typical pepperoni, sausage, onion, and olive pizza. It was delicious!

We had an "indoor picnic" (thank you to my amazing friend Becca for the idea!) and watched Curious George while we ate our pizza. Yum!

Caregivers

I love the talk "The Caregiver" by President Henry B. Eyring. In it President Eyring reminds us what Lucy Mack Smith said about our role as Relief Society sisters. That "we must cherish one another, watch over one another, comfort one another and gain instruction, that we may all sit down in heaven together."
I'm so grateful for all the people throughout my life, beyond just Relief Society sisters, that have cherished, watched over, comforted, and taught me. All my leaders as a youth, my friends, my siblings and especially my parents.
My wise, humble, happy to please, fun-loving Dad.

 And my sweet, kind, giving, loving Mom.

And of course all my current church leaders, home teachers, visiting teachers friends, family, and my children and husband who constantly care for me.

Kade is such a sweetheart. He will randomly say, "Mom, I love you!" to me all the time and it always melts my heart! He makes me feel so loved.

Little Tenley miss is so big and independent. Lately I feel like she has been teaching me about patience. I love her so much and I'm grateful for her fun personality and how she'll share her smile with anyone.

And of course, my husband. I know he is busy with school, but I have never felt neglected by him. He is so good at balancing his studies with being a good husband and father. He is my best friend and I feel safe with him because I know he'll watch over and take care of me and our children. He cherishes me by making me feel special all the time and showing appreciation for the things that I do. He comforts me whenever I have a bad day, and he teaches me through his example to be a hard worker and to never give up.

I wish I could go through and list all of the people individually who have taken and do take such good care of me. I'm so lucky to be surrounded by such great people who are so willing serve. I pray that I can follow their examples and show great care and comfort to those around me.

President Eyring adds "I testify that the Lord will be with you and that your way will be prepared and marked for you by Him in your service to those He loves in their needs and trials."

Google TV

I love having Google TV. It is so nice and convenient to be able to access the internet, Netflix, our computer files and more all while sitting on the couch. I guess you could say that it makes us pretty lazy. But we enjoy it!

It also makes our dance parties really sweet! Being able to access YouTube or our music files on the computer mixed with Brad's new sound system makes for some really fun dance parties! Our neighbors will probably start hating us soon...

Kade loves to dance on the couch

Tenley has even been adding her arms into it lately! Her favorite song to bust a move to is this one.

Subway

As a young dating/married couple Brad and I often went out to dinner at Subway. My husband is really frugal so splitting a $5 foot long sub at Subway was one of the cheapest ways to eat out. And to save even more money, instead of getting chips and a drink to go with it, we would buy chips and drinks at the store and then pick up Subway. It makes me laugh now to think about it.
We haven't been to Subway in a long time, probably since Kade has been old enough to eat and he'd rather eat somewhere other than Subway, but with their FebruANY deal going on, we decided to bring back our old tradition!

And it was delicious!

Brownie Batter

Today I made Ghirardelli chocolate chip brownies for a youth fundraiser. It is my favorite brownie mix. They really are so delicious! Tenley and I got to enjoy eating some of the batter.

She is so cute when she's messy! As long as she is in her high chair and not about to wipe her messy face all over my shirt or the couch!
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We experienced driving in an ice storm tonight. It was scary! But luckily we made it home before it got too crazy.

Water Filters

When we moved into this new home a few years ago we were never very fond of the way the water tasted. Water shouldn't have a taste, right? So the fact that it did, and that it wasn't a good taste made it so I didn't drink a whole lot of water.
And then, Brad bought us a fancy Brita water filter online and it is always stocked with cold water sitting in our fridge. I LOVE it. It is so yummy. I even have a few friends who are always so excited to drink it when they come over to visit.

You can even see the difference looking at the two filled glasses of water side by side! 

The filtered water is on the right.

New Recipes

I love trying new recipes, but I especially love them when they are something we like and are willing to have again and again. This is one of those recipes.

I made these yummy Southwest Chicken Wraps for the first time a few months ago and it is now one of my favorite quick, go-to meals!

By the way...Tenley is feeling great! She was happy and smiley all day long. She especially loved watching Kade and his friends play superheros all afternoon. They loved dancing around to the Superman theme music. It was adorable.

Staples

We had a fun night as a family tonight. We had yummy chicken pesto pizza for dinner, learned about missionaries, and video chatted with Brad's parents. And then after the kids were ready for bed and we had said prayers, we had an incident...
Poor little Tenley miss fell off of our bed and hit her head on the dresser. And it wasn't just a little bump. She was bleeding so I took her to the ER (luckily a friend came with me so Brad could stay with Kade and I could console/keep Tenley awake in the backseat) and she received 2 staples.
She was such a trooper through it all! I was impressed. I felt horrible the whole time, but she should be fine and hopefully she won't ever remember.
I'm so grateful for friends who are willing to instantly drop what they're doing to help others. I'm so grateful for nurses and doctors who are so helpful and friendly and were so sweet to my little girl. I'm so grateful for staples now, in a weird way, and that they will help my daughters head heal back.

Church

I'm so grateful for my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I'm so grateful that my husband and children and I attend on a regular basis, even if we don't feel like it once in a while. I'm glad I was raised going to church on a regular basis. I think it is so important to go even if you're having a bad day because it usually ends up that those are the times that you are the most spiritually fed!

I was very uplifted today. There were so many good talks and comments in all of the meetings. In the first meeting one of the speakers was talking about the Atonement of Christ and he said,

"Christ willingly suffered and died for us because he knew that it wouldn't be for nothing. He trusted us enough to know that we would use that gift." 

I have never thought about the Atonement that way. I have always known that we trusted the Savior's plan, that is why we are here on Earth. We trusted that he would be able to come to Earth, withstand all temptation, and suffer and die for us. We also need to now trust in Him that if we repent we will be forgiven and can still have the opportunity to live with our Heavenly Father again.
But I have never thought about Christ trusting in me to use the Atonement. I like that thought. I need to use the Atonement in my life not only because I want to, but also because Christ trusts that I will and of all people I do not want to let Him down. I need to repent and keep trying to be a better person! I'm so grateful that we have the Atonement so that I'm able to do just that.

I love my Savior and I know that He lives!

Hair Dye

The other day Kade and I had an interesting conversation:
Kade "Mom, what color is my hair?"
Me, "Blonde. What color is Tenley's hair?"
Kade, "Blonde."
Me, "What color is Daddy's hair?"
Kade, "Brown."
Me, "What color is my hair?"
Kade, "Blonde. (long pause) And brown!"
Me, "Really, where is it brown?"
Kade, "Right here!" (as he pats the top of my head).
I guess if my 3 year old is noticing my roots then it is time to color my hair again!
I've been putting blonde highlights in my hair since I was in high school. Sometimes I am tempted to just dye my hair back to it's natural color, but I really like being blonde. Ever since we've been in dental school and our budget has been tighter I've been coloring it myself. So, this morning I got my color out and fixed my roots!

Hopefully now I'll just be blonde!

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We had a fun day today! This morning Brad played church basketball and Kade enjoyed running around the church with his friends. And I heard my new favorite song on the radio twice while driving in the car!

Then later we took the kids to The Incredible Pizza Co. It has a pizza and salad buffet and a lot of arcade games, bowling, mini golf, go-kart, and laser tag. It was really busy and a little bit of sensory overload, but I think the kids had fun!

And then after the kids were in bed we had some friends over to play cards and eat yummy chocolate cake to celebrate Joe's birthday!

It was a fun Saturday especially because we got to spend so much time with Brad! It feels like it has been a long time since we've had him around so much and we are loving it!

Surprises

Brad has been saving his pennies and looking for a good deal on a sound system since before Christmas time. I'm still on the fence as to whether or not we really need a sound system, especially since we have such a tiny living room space, but he saved the money for it so I can't really argue.
He has ordered each piece one at a time and the last piece arrived today! Brad was pretty excited. As he and Kade opened the box in the living room I was in the kitchen when Kade walked in and said "Happy Valentines Day Mommy!" and he handed me the book Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielson! I have been wanting the book and did not expect Brad to get it for me. It was such a nice surprise!
I'm so excited to read this book again!

I'll probably have a lot of time to read while Brad enjoys his new sound system.

In other news: we just switched Tenley to a forward facing car seat! Our kids are getting so big! It is so weird to think that when Kade was Tenley's age I was already pregnant with Tenley. I kind of feel guilty to admit that I haven't even thought about baby #3. Life is crazy, but we love it so much!

Valentine's Day

Even though my husband and I don't go all out on Valentine's Day with gifts and fancy dates, we still enjoy having a nice dinner together at home. This year I made chicken cordon bleu, twice baked potatoes, green bean casserole, orange rolls, and chocolate covered strawberries and chocolate covered Oreos for dessert. It was delicious! I am overly full now. We also watched Madagascar 3 tonight as a family. It was a funny movie.
Today was extra fun because it was Kade's friend Matthew's birthday! We got to celebrate with him at the bowling alley. Kade had a blast!

Kade doesn't really like to smile for pictures...

Brad in his fancy 'just went running' clothes.