The Last Time

I am not unhappy where I live. I miss my mom. I don't know what the big deal is with me saying that I miss my mom. I miss the place where I grew up. I love living in Washington. I love the friends that I have made here. I am just so sorry that no matter what I say, it is always misconstrued to me saying something bad about this family or this town or this ward. I LOVE MY FAMILY. I LOVE MY WARD. I LOVE MY TOWN. I leave this post up until tomorrow and then my blog will be gone for good.

Taking a break

I believe that I will be taking a bit of a break from blogging for awhile. For those of you who were offended about my last post, know that it was about ME missing my family and where I am from. If you have never lived anywhere else in your life, then it is hard to know what I am talking about when I say that the south is different than the northwest. My blog is or was a place where I could share my thoughts and feelings, as well as share some of the things that my children were doing. It has never been my intention to use my blog to offend others. So, I truly apologize for those who have taken offense to my last blog post.

Thoughts....

I have really been thinking the past several weeks about how much I miss my family. It has been 3 years since we moved to Washington and it just gets harder and harder to be away from them. There have been many times the past couple of months that I wish we could just move back so that I could be close to my family. It is so hard on me knowing that my mom is lucky if she sees my kids once a year. I really miss the south. I think that people there were a little nicer and just willing to do anything for you no matter what. Which, I also think is my downfall sometimes. I always try to be that person that is there for anyone no matter what and sometimes I feel like people around here think that I am some kind of crazy person because I am always checking on everyone making sure that they are all doing OK. (I hope that makes sense and if it doesn't ask me and I will try to explain a little better.) Hopefully, the kids and I will be able to go visit my parents for a couple of weeks in the next couple of months. I just wish plane tickets weren't soooo expensive. I have a feeling though, that if I end up really liking the area where my parents are living right now, it is going to be very hard for me to come home, except that Bryce will still be here waiting for us. I just keep telling myself that if it is meant to be for us to move down there, then some way some how it will happen.

This past weekend was the 5th anniversary of my becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There are many times when it feels like these past 5 years have just flown by and then there are those times where it seems like it has just drug by. This also means that mine and Bryce's 5 year anniversary is coming up in the next 10 days. Kind of funny to think that by this time in his first marriage, their marriage was already over. We joke about how we have made it and since we have lasted longer than his first marriage, then we must be doing something right!

Dutch Oven Cooking

Growing up in Florida, I have always been more of a beach girl, who doesn't want to get dirty. (I hope that makes sense.) Well, the month of May has shown me some new experiences that I have never had before. Now, Bryce grew up camping out all the time with his grandpa. I, on the other hand, have never camped out before. Unless, a motor home counts. So, a couple of weeks ago, we had our first dutch oven cooking social. I had no clue what a dutch oven was or how you cooked in a dutch oven. What a learning experience this has been! I have been scouring the internet looking for EASY dutch oven recipes that we could possibly cook and not mess up. Well, the first social was such a success that the men wanted to do another one. Seriously, you can make just about anything in a dutch oven. Boy oh boy, the food is soooo good! So, I have gone from a girl who had no clue about dutch ovens to an OK dutch oven cook. We have had so much fun hanging out with all the families in the Elder's Quorum and just learning to coook together. I think that these socials have gone over so well, that we are now going to have one at least once a month. So, if you have any good and easy recipes to share, please let me know!

I Need....

a vacation away from my kids. I would like to go stay in a hotel for a whole weekend without them or Bryce. Today is one of those days where I can't wait for them to be a little older. I sure hope that the rest of the week is a little better than today was.

The Mother's Day Gift

Here is the gift that we made for all the moms at church.

Happy Mother's Day!

Just wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms out there in the blog world!!

"God could not be everywhere, so he made mothers."
unknown - Jewish Proverb

For All The Moms Out There

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body..
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.
Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

My New Life