31

Did you know that many US citizens have to renew their driver's license when they turn 31? Ya, well we didn't realize it either, so Mitch spent part of the day on his birthday at the DMV. Ha, ha. What a way to spend your special day, right? Actually, he did realize it would expire about one week before his birthday, but he was in Chicago that entire week, so he couldn't do anything about it until his actual birthday. Now it's all fixed. 

And I must add that I am horrible about taking pictures at family events, so I don't really have any of Mitch's birthday celebrations. Sorry! But I do have this pic of Layla. She got some new shoes, which she loves. The day we got them she insisted on putting them on immediately, then walked around saying, "New shoes!" for a good ten minutes. I'm glad she likes them! Today she also insisted on wearing her sunglasses everywhere, including inside at playgroup. Silly girl.

On Sunday we went to Mitch's parents house where he was spoiled once again. Kevin made his famous pulled pork fajitas. They are so yummy, and they were what Mitch wanted for his birthday dinner. (Well, really, Kathy asked me what he wanted and I suggested those, but Mitch told me later that's what he would have picked.) We also had some yummy cake with rich ice cream. Those guys sure know how to pick some good ice cream! Mitch got some cash and new shirts and he loves both of those gifts. Thanks, guys, for making Mitch feel so loved on his birthday!

The evening of Mitch's actual birthday, after he got home from the DMV, I made him his requested dinner of choice: breakfast burritos. He loves them! I also tried a new recipe for a molten lava chocolate cake that you make in the crockpot, but I will not be recommending it because it seriously wasn't good. It had almost no flavor and it wasn't sweet at all. Weird, considering it had loads of sugar in it. So, that was kind of a flop, but oh well.

Over the weekend Layla slept at her grandparents' house (thanks again, Kevin and Kathy!), so Mitch and I could go to dinner and a movie. Mitch chose Tepanyaki for dinner, and we both splurged, and it was delicious. No regrets. For a movie he chose "This Means War" which was good, but probably just rentable good.

I tried to teach Layla to say, "Happy Birthday!" but she would just spit out something incoherent. But an A-plus for effort. I may have already mentioned this, but Layla and I gave Mitch a new watch for his birthday. We gave it to him last week since he was going crazy without a watch after his old one broke. He picked out the new one; I wouldn't dream of picking it out for my picky husband! The one he chose is super cool though! I also picked him up two boxes of Girl Scout cookies — thin mint and savannah smiles (lemon), his favorites — and told him they were for his birthday, but I must admit I ate at least half of the thin mint ones myself. Sorry, Hubby!

Here's a pic of Layla eating her breakfast burrito, with ketchup. This is the first time she's ever had ketchup. I don't know why we never gave it to her before ... she LOVES it. She was making us both gag because she kept eating it plain, then she'd yell, "More ketchup!" Gross!

I think Mitch was sufficiently spoiled for his birthday. He deserves it. He is the best husband and father a girl could ask for. I know that's cheesy to say, but it's exactly how I feel. I love you, Mitch!

Joseph Kony 2012

Please take the time to watch this video. These children need our help. I might buy a kit. I feel like it's the least I can do as I sit here in my safe home in this blessed country while others are suffering half a world away. I will pray for them too.
KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.
Let's make Joseph Kony famous so that he can be brought to justice for destroying so many innocent lives.

Together, we can do big things.

Water

Layla loves to play with water. Sometimes she'll ask me to put some water and ice in a cup and give her another empty cup so she can dump the water back and forth between them. Today, after dumping all the water out on the floor and eating the ice, she lined all the cups up in front of Harvey, who laid down and watched her the whole time.

Look at those facial expressions! Harvey looks super annoyed and she looks like she's never been more excited.
These two crack me up!

I can't wait until she gets her water table for her birthday next month! Maybe then I won't have to mop water off the tile floor every day. It's worth it though — I mean really, look at her face! Happiness.

Exercising

Most mornings, I try to wake up early enough to run outside before Mitch goes to work. But sometimes usually I keep sleeping until Layla wakes up and YELLS, "Mamma!" at the top of her lungs over and over until I roll out of bed, pray, then go to her room. One diaper change, pink blanky, and sippy cup of milk later, and she's set to watch Sesame Street while I exercise.

Before I could tell her to say, "Cheese!" she said it, all on her own, and made this face.

 Today I was only half way through my run on the treadmill when Layla walked in the room. This does not usually happen. I wondered why she came in, surely her show was not over already, when she handed me this:

A tiny, scrap of paper. She must have found it on the couch. I was cutting some things out for Primary there the night before. I thought I got all the scraps picked up, but leave it to Layla to find the last remaining one! Ha, ha! After we threw it away she wanted to "run" on the treadmill with her blanky.

 I talked her out of the blanket. Don't worry, the treadmill was unplugged. She just likes to pretend.

It will be so fun when she's old enough to come running with us. Maybe we can all enter a 5K together someday.

Inspired

Maybe it's because it's sunny outside and I'm finally starting to get some energy back, but I feel inspired lately. I feel like I have a whole new perspective on things, a higher level of energy, and a stronger desire to do better today than I did yesterday. 

I recently ran across some words from a BYU devotional that helped me develop my sense of being inspired. They may seem random to you, but they are perfect for me:

"What if … (speaker lists several examples of trials. 

Think of your own personal, sad, challenging trial and insert it here.)

What if you decided not to take it personally?

What if, in the face of some of life’s greatest and most immense trials, you decided to be happy anyway? 

What if you saw the difficulty of your circumstances as something outside of yourself, like being stuck in traffic, but knowing you’ll eventually get home, and you might as well listen to the radio?

What if you chose, yes actively, consciously chose to find beauty in life, to love those around you, and to express gratitude for the journey, and it made all the difference?"

Make the best of it, right?  Life is to be enjoyed! Choose happiness! Doing so can make all the difference. We just have to try.


Now, I can honestly say that I feel so very blessed. I don't feel that I've ever had any major trial in my life. Lately, I have felt stressed/sad/anxious/excited/impatient while we're waiting to hear if Mitch's work will make an exception and pay for his school, or if we need to move out of state for work and tuition. 

But you know what? I know that whatever happens, I will be happy. We will be okay. No, we will be awesome! And even though I'm still waiting as patiently as I can to know what our future holds (this is very hard for me; I am the type that must know what will happen!), I am choosing to be happy about our situation. To look at the bright side: Mitch has a good job, we have a nice home, we're healthy, we have a great marriage, and there is an undeniable sense of peace and love in our home. 


I have an image that will be forever burned into my mind from last Saturday morning when all three of us were chillin' in our jammies on our bed. Our closet doors are mirrors and Layla had us all look in the mirrors while she sat in between us, put one of her little arms around Mitch's shoulders and one around mine. In my mind, I see the three of us, heads close together, smiling, with Layla in the middle hugging us both. It was such a sweet moment and one that I will never forget. I am so thankful that we were sealed together for eternity and pray that we can live worthy of that great blessing!

I have come to realize while dealing with Seasonal Affective Disorder over the last few years that happiness is not dependent on what happens to us or what others around us are doing; rather, it is a conscious decision that we make ourselves. You are in charge of your own happiness; you can't depend on everyone else to make you happy. True happiness comes from within. Yes, it can be more difficult to be happy during trials than it is when life is going smoothly, but it can be done when you look at the positive in all things. And, aren't trials what define us? That's how we learn, grow, change, improve. If we didn't have trials, most of us would probably remain stagnant. Most importantly, I think trials are what draw us closer to God and help us learn to trust in Him. 


One of my all-time favorite books is Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. Besides the Book of Mormon it's the book I've read the most times in my life. Frankl is often quoted for writing, "When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." I love that idea! I want to change myself to always be positive and happy. I know it can be done.

So here I am, inspired to "try a little harder to be a little better" as President Hinckley has said, hoping that my new positive, happy outlook is something I can actively choose, every single day. Because it feels awesome! 


A few ways I can apply these ideas in my life:
-always look at the good in every person and situation.
-remember my own and each person's divine potential.
-refrain from negative thoughts and comments.
-stop eating sugar. This seems random, I know, but it really does mess with my mood, and therefore happiness levels. And yes, this was a New Year's resolution, and I did awesome for about 6 weeks, but now I'm a sugar addict again. Oopsy. Time to stop.


Well, I feel much better after writing this down. I think it's good to write down times when we have ups and downs, so we can reflect on them later. A lot can be learned and remembered this way. I am in no means perfect, so if you hear me say something negative, or I'm sad one day, just know that I'm working on it. I'm trying. And I'm happier because of it.

Being Silly

We were bored today so I decided we'd make silly faces for the camera. I told Layla what to do, she'd look at me so she could copy, and then she'd make her best version of whatever face I was pulling. Pretty funny.

silly face!

blow bubbles!

stick out your tongue!

smile! (I have no idea why she's smiling like this, but it's funny!)

Lately Layla is obsessed with owls. Not sure how it started, but it's hilarious. Also, for 2 or 3 days she was obsessed with the arctic fox. She saw one (for about 12 seconds) on an episode of Little Einsteins and talked about if for days afterwards. When she sees something new she says, "Wow, cool!" Our favorite right now is when she says, "Ya, okay." She usually says it in kind of a sad voice, like she's just given up and going along with whatever. "Ya, okay."

I know I say this a lot, but Layla is SO social. I'm not exaggerating when I say that in every store we've been to in the last two days she has made new friends. For example, at Deseret Book yesterday she befriended a 5 year old (or thereabouts) little girl. I look down and Layla is telling that little girl to "sit down" and they sat there talking and laughing for several minutes. Then Layla followed her around the store saying, "Hi!" over and over again. Today at the library she ran around in circles with a group of 4 other kids and kept saying, "Hi! Mamma there," while pointing at me. She also said "Hello!" to an elderly man sitting on a bench reading a book and it made him smile. I love that about her; she says hello to strangers and I can tell that while it catches them off guard, it makes most of them so happy.

We've also had our battles the last few days with her throwing tantrums or telling us no. We're holding our ground on enforcing rules and time outs. We don't want to raise a little brat and we feel like if we don't start enforcing things now it will just get out of control real fast. Most days she's really good, but I can definitely see the "Terrible Twos" starting to kick in. Even so, we love her to death!

Spring?

It was so warm out today! At least 63 degrees; unusually warm for this time of year it seems. I hope this means spring is coming early! Layla and I took advantage and after running some errands we played outside and had a picnic. I thought the fresh air and sunshine might help her get over her cold (after I got strep throat, Mitch got it, and now Layla seems to have the baby version of it. Darn winter!) Thankfully, she's doing a lot better today. I think she'll be fine tomorrow.
After our lunch it was nap time. Only the first attempt wasn't successful. I heard  Layla over the monitor saying, "Helpa you," which means she needs help with something. I was worried that she was stuck in her crib or something, so I went down there. Nope. She was just fine, but wanted out. Then she told me she needed to go pee pee on the potty. I was excited, but she didn't even go. I think she was just trying to get out of nap time.

She kept pointing to that bush and saying, "Harvey tree." She was so upset that he wouldn't come out.

She wanted to wear my hat and put it on backwards.

We tried a second time for nap time. She cried the second I laid her down and I kept hearing her over the monitor for a good 20 minutes. While crying, she kept saying things like, "Mommy! Mamma. Come on, Mamma! Mommy. mommYYY! Helpa you. Baby OUT! Harvey. Harvey, come on! MamMAAA!" It's pretty hilarious, and sad at the same time. I have no idea what Harvey would do to help her out, but apparently she thinks he can do something. At least she finally went to sleep!

Finally got a shot of both of them looking in the right direction.

Even though Layla is so mean to Harvey at times (we're working on being "nice"), he still follows her around everywhere. It's hilarious. They are best buds.

Since my parents will be in HAWAII over Mitch's birthday, which I am completely jealous about, we decided to celebrate early with my fam. Mitch really wanted a chocolate, Nutella crepe cake (recipe here. Note: I don't put the hazlenuts on top). I grudgingly complied. Let's just say that while this cake is absolutely delicious, it is a lot of work, but since I love my hubby so very much, I made it anyways. (Too bad I can never make it stand up straight, so its's always leaning and looks like crap.) He loved it and kept thanking me while I was making it. I'm glad he appreciated it.

My mom made Snider's Santa Maria Tri-tip for dinner, which is one of Mitch's faves (he got to pick the menu since he's the birthday boy). If you've never bought one of those from Snider's, you should. Delicious! Thanks again, Mom! Everyone gave Mitch gift cards to the places he suggested: Best Buy and I-tunes. Perfect. We'll be celebrating some more over the next week and half! Happy early 31st Birthday, Mitch!