Land that I LOVE

I grew up in the small town of Cokeville, WY, population 500. I've been asked many times if I liked growing up there. "What is there to do?" people always ask. Well, my answer is always, "I LOVED it!" I planned on moving back there someday, since it was really the best place on earth.

After high school, I went to Laramie, WY, to go to college, and guess what? I LOVED Laramie! My time there was filled with wonderful experiences, and I met so many great people that had a positive impact on my life. I loved the campus, and so many things about Laramie. When I go back there, I always get really sentimental and really miss it, and my time there.

After Tony and I finished school, we moved to his family's ranch in Fort Bridger, WY. And now I LOVE the Bridger Valley! There are so many good people, and I have everything I need here. I love the schools, my ward, my coaching job, having family around, and having a grocery store and a bank just six miles away.

I think all three of these places are wonderful, and so it's strange to me when I hear somebody say how much they did NOT like living in Cokeville, Laramie, or the Bridger Valley. But it also makes me realize that loving where you live may in fact be a choice, not just a result of circumstances. Could it be that we can CHOOSE to love where we live--that we can FIND things to love about it? I believe this is the case.

On a broader perspective, I LOVE living in Wyoming. I love the wide open spaces and friendly, down-to-earth people here. And I LOVE America. We have so many amazing blessing just because we live in this country. I am grateful for those who fight so hard to protect our liberty. This past week, my father-in-law officially announced his candidacy for the office of Governor of Wyoming. He did it because he loves Wyoming. Follow this link and watch the video to hear him talk. (If you love Wyoming, you'll like some of the other footage in this video as well--like the stretch of I-80:) And if you love my kids, you'll see them in there for a second, too!)

This next video is not as professional, but just as sincere. I love this one.

Our Mold

When Mariah was about six months old, somebody saw her and said, "Looks like she came out of the same mold as the others." I had to agree.

Me and my siblings have all different looks, from very blonde to very dark hair, and all different types of eyes. Yes, we have our similarities, but we're fairly diverse for siblings. I always hoped that I could have the same diversity in my own children. But then I married somebody with the same color hair and eyes as I have, and so far, we've gotten basically the same look with all three attempts.

See for yourself. Here are pics of my kids at about 14 months. Go ahead and guess who's who, (although the clothes and the POOR quality of the scanned photos kinda give it away.)

I LOVE my Life!

It's been a week since I blogged. A wonderful week. In fact, as I look over the past seven days, I can't help but think, "I LOVE my life!"

Now, for those of you who are not feeling that exact feeling right now, don't worry. There were plenty of moments in the last seven days that I wasn't so sure I did. There have been temper tantrums, direct defiance, fighting children, whining children, stressful situations, tiredness, and so on and so forth. . . But as I look back at the week as a whole, I am so grateful to be where I'm at, with the family I have, and doing the things I am doing. As my dad would say, "I live a charmed life."

So here are some of the reasons (from the past seven days) that I love my life:

1. Last Thursday, I got to drive to Cokeville (I LOVE being only 80 minutes from my parents!) for a meet and greet event for my father-in-law's governor campaign. It was so much fun to listen to him talk as well as see friends and family there.

2. On Friday, I visited my sister, Tami, in Star Valley. We always talk non-stop when we're together, and Friday was no exception. We also enjoyed taking the kiddos to Burger King for lunch (WAY COOL playplace) and playing out in the snow.

My snow angel

Connor was SO proud of his final face plant.

3. Friday night and Saturday were spent with another sister, Violet, in Rexburg. Her husband, Austin, cooked dinner and breakfast for us, and both were FABULOUS! We also enjoyed having lunch at Craigos, where Vi works, and going swimming.

Vi and the girls

4. Sunday I got to go to choir practice. Although I'm not sure I LOVE being the ward choir director, I DO love music, and I am so grateful for the support from our ward members that come and share their talents. We're singing my favorite hymn in church this Sunday, and I'm looking forward to that (although I get VERY nervous conducting.)

5. On Monday, I got to clean my house. I don't love cleaning. But I do love my house, and I really love my house when it is clean--something I got to enjoy Monday evening. I also got to go lift weights. Gotta love that! Finally, we had Tony's brother and his fiance over for dinner and FHE.

6. On Tuesday, I volunteered in Connor's classroom for an hour. It was SO much fun, and I'm going to be doing that every Tuesday now. I got my degree in Elementary Ed. and have never taught, so I really enjoy these little opportunities to get in the classroom! Also, last night, I booked our flights to Miami for our cruise this summer. SOOOO excited for that!

7. Today was an amazing day. This was my schedule: Teach preschool in the morning. Start my online class while Mariah was sleeping and Mylie was at a friend's house. I love taking classes online, and am really excited about this one. Go on a walk outside. It was a beautiful day, and I wanted to take advantage of my rare opportunity to have some one-on-one with Mariah. Come home and read to Mariah. Finish reading my book. Go to the library and get the next book in the series, which I can hardly wait to get my hands on. Go to the high school and scrimmage against the girls basketball team. BLOG. :)

My buddy for the afternoon

And so my life goes. Sure, there are challenges and setbacks along the way. But I feel so blessed to be a mom, to have a WONDERFUL husband, to have a great support system with extended family, to have the freedom and flexibility to visit family, and to have the time to enjoy some of my own hobbies, too. And as much as I enjoyed today, I can hardly wait for the next few. Here's what's on the agenda:

Tonight: Start my book, even though it's late.

Tomorrow: Go visiting teaching in the morning. Enjoy my girls in the afternoon. Make chicken and noodles from scratch--a favorite growing up that I've only made a couple times, but can't wait to eat!

Friday: Go to the temple and visit with Tony's sister and her family.

Saturday: See my sisters, Olivia and Tessa, play basketball WITHOUT having to travel far. They're playing in Lyman. Woohoo!

As I write this, I realize more and more that my life is very simple--but I love it! And so I'm wondering, what simple things do you love? If you've done something in the past week that has made you think, "I LOVE my life!" please share it with me. (P.S. Sorry if this post is a little too much like one you've read on "Seriously, So Blessed." Oh well. At least this one is true!)

Addendum to Previous Post

Sunday night after blogging about my guess and check methods, I knelt down to pray before bed and realized that my post definitely needed an addendum. Although I may resort to using guess and check for more trivial problems, such as getting my kid to take a nap, our Heavenly Father has given us some very direct help in solving much larger problems.

There is an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where Ray's daughter needs to ask her dad an important question. Ray assumes that she is going to ask him about the birds and the bees, and is very nervous about the whole conversation, planning out how he is going to answer her. But then when she asks, "Why are we here?" he is dumbfounded. He has no answer for her and wishes that she had just asked about the birds and the bees. Although this was meant to be humorous, each time I've watched it (yes, more than once) I have been grateful that if my child asked me that, I wouldn't hesitate at all. I know the answer.

But I don't think my kids will ever ask me this--they ALREADY know the answer. We've talked about it. And not in a setting that I've made up to try to get this point across. No, in Family Home Evening. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father, through his prophets here on earth, has told us HOW to teach our children--by having FHE, family prayer, and family scripture study. When it comes to the testimonies and eternal progression of our children, Heavnly Father doesn't make us use guess and check, and I am SO grateful for that. Because by the time I finally found the right answer using MY methods, it might be too late.

My Honorary Degree

Okay, so I tricked you into reading this. I don't really have any honorary degree, but I think I (and every other mother out there) really deserve one. Earlier this week, in one day, I had three friends post (either on a blog or facebook) that they were having trouble getting their babies to sleep. It made me think about that problem and many other issues that we face in this crazy job called mothering, and I realized that motherhood is really just one never-ending series of problem solving. And after having been at it more-than-full-time for six years, I think I should at least have a Bachelor's Degree in problem solving. And my incredible mother, who has been in the business now for nearly 30 years should definitely have an honorary Ph.D.

I remember back in elementary school when I was learning about problem solving in math. We went over many different method of problem solving and then tried to choose the most appropriate method for the problem. I don't remember very many of those techniques, but the one I do remember is the one I use CONSTANTLY in mothering: GUESS AND CHECK. I think that every problem I've solved with my kids has been solved via this method. For example:

Mariah has almost always been a great sleeper. She actually slept 14 hours straight when she was just 4 weeks old. However, at about 6 weeks, we started having problems during the day. She just could not get to sleep. I tried rocking, I tried nursing, I tried bouncing, car rides, etc. It was so much work to get her to sleep, and then after I laid her down, she'd be awake again with 20 minutes. Finally, one day I just decided that she could cry in her crib just as well as she could cry in my arms and so I laid her in there. She cried for a few minutes, then went to sleep . . . and slept for 2 hours! Later that day, same thing. And suddenly, we had a sleeper again! I guess she didn't want any help. Guess and check!

For the past two months or so, she's been waking up once (or twice) in the night and wanting another bottle. I know she doesn't NEED one, but she didn't want to go back to sleep until she got it. I was getting fed up with this, and wondering what to do. I tried a few things, and finally remembered how well she slept at night when she was on formula. So I tried it one night. We have now had an entire week of Mariah sleeping 10 or more hours straight at night! Guess and check!

I've been struggling quite a bit with Mylie lately. She basically just wants to do what she wants to do--regardless of what I want her to do or what the consequences may be. I've tried all forms of persuasion, discipline, etc. And then this week, I accidentally found an answer. Things aren't perfect still, but it's amazing how well she obeys me when I talk with a southern accent! Guess and check.

Connor has a problem with his temper. We've done incentives such as sticker charts or quarters when he goes all day without losing his temper, we've tried punishing him--timeouts--for losing it, we've had tons of talks on the subject, and it actually is getting better all the time. However, I don't quite consider this problem SOLVED. And so we're trying something else. We had Connor set one new year's resolution this year, and HE chose to stop losing his temper. He wrote it on a piece of paper and taped it up in his room. We refer to it often and remind him that he doesn't want to lose his temper. Maybe this year and this method will be just the thing. We're guessing--and will be checking constantly.

So for you new mothers out there who are wanting some ANSWERS: I don't have any. Just try something. And then try again. And again. And eventually you'll find what works. And when you do, celebrate. But beware. The next problem is just around the corner, waiting to test your newly acquired problem solving skills.

And for you more veteran mothers, I have a question: Is there a better method than guess and check? It would really save me a lot of time and hassle if there is. And maybe if I had more than one tool in my bag, I could graduate and move onto my master's program.

Toddler in Boots

There's just something about a toddler in boots that makes me smile! Mariah is obsessed with this pair right now. I love it!

Yeah . . .

THIS

is coming off tomorrow. All I can say is HALLELUJAH!