Burdens…

I’m not very diligent about doing this…in fact I’ve been falling out of the habit…but I try to read my scriptures or some other spiritual uplifting material to my kids while we sit down to eat breakfast. The other day I was reading (more so paraphrasing) a talk from last conference given by Elder Clayton titled “That your burdens may be light”. After quoting some things from his talk, I asked the kids if they knew what burdens meant. They put in their guesses…then I went on to tell them. This is how the conversation continued…

Mason: “ Mom, I don’t have burdens”

Sadie: “Yes you do….everyone has burdens”

Mason: (screaming) “NO I DON’T SADIE….I DON’T HAVE BURDENS”

Sadie: (screaming) “EVERYONE HAS BURDENS!!!”

Mom: “Yep Sadie’s right!” …..And then I was about to give some examples of what 3 year old burdens might be….BUT THEN I WAS INTERUPTED BY SADIE!

Sadie: “See Mason…everyone has burdens. Want to know what our burden is???? ………….IT’S MOM!!!!”

Mom: “WAIT WHAT?!?!?”

Sadie: “Yea Mason…Mom’s our biggest burden. Like when she makes us clean our rooms and do things we don’t want to do. She a HUGE BURDEN!”

Not quite the lesson I was planning on teaching! Maybe next time I will stick with something a little more safe like what it means to have popcorn popping on an apricot tree. I can’t see how that would end up with fingers pointed at me!

While on the topic of burdens though…..last night I had some of my childhood neighbor friends over for dinner. I LOVE THESE GIRLS! As much as we have gone our separate ways…no matter when we meet up ….there’s always such a sincere bond we have with each other.  (Not everyone could be there….it’s just not the same without everyone!)

As a young child it seems as if the world is simple….free from most pain….and the weight of the world rarely touched down on our shoulders. We spent our youth running a muck through the neighborhood without a care in the world. My perception of each family in the neighborhood was that no one had a problem in the world. Everything seemed so hunky dory to me! But as we get together as adults now and get to talking about our own life experiences and what we are facing and what our parents had to face behind closed doors….you really begin to realize that NO ONE IS EXEMPT FROM DIFFICULT TRIALS! 

Elder Clayton said “Burdens provide opportunities to practice virtues that contribute to eventual perfection……burdens become blessings, though often such blessings are well disguised and may require time, effort, and faith to accept and understand.”

As we were sitting around as friends last night….I realized that each one of us has either gone through something very difficult…or is still going through something very difficult.

I am one who’s still trudging through the mud! Our trial has not been easy…and I have had many unhappy days. But I’m in a really good place right now. I thought to myself the other day “How can I be happy when we are in the midst of uncertainty???” And I think I received the answer in Elder Claytons quote, where he says it requires time…effort…and faith to accept and understand. After struggling for some time…I feel like I’m in the beginning stages of the accepting and understanding. It hasn’t lifted the burden by any means….but it’s given me hope to be able to look at WHY we are going through this…..AND WHAT WE HAVE AND WILL CONTINUE TO LEARN! I’m not the same person I was a year ago….and thankfully I’m not the same person I was ten years ago. I have learned so much about life. And I’m completely aware that I have so much more to learn. I hope that through our struggles I will become stronger and steadfast…so that I can look back and say “I’m so glad I’m not the same Nickie I was in March 2010”. So here’s to trials…..CHEERS EVERYONE!

(You know I’m going to make myself re-read this tomorrow if I don’t wake up feeling so optimistic!!!)

Where two become many….

This is Rich’s family. This picture was taken about 15 months ago…but I just got a copy of it.  It’s really rare to be able to get all 9 kids plus their own families together…but it happened! Rich is the second oldest…and the second child to get married and start a family. It’s been interesting to watch his siblings grow up and move onto their own path in life. It will be so interesting to see how spread out this family goes once everyone is married and having their own children. I’m so happy I was placed into this family early on…and have enjoyed watching it’s growth…and look forward to seeing where it goes from here!

Bless Uncle Taylor…

Yesterday we got a phone call from Rich’s brother who’s stationed in Florida in the Navy. He said he was driving from Florida to California and was stopping in Utah for a quick visit. HOW EXCITING!!! WE LOVE UNCLE TAYLOR!

The best part about the visit was when Mason went to say the blessing on the food. He always includes “Bless Uncle Taylor” in all of his prayers. And when he went to say this blessing over the food, he looked at Taylor a little embarrassed because he wasn’t  sure if he still needed to be praying for someone who was sitting right next to him.  But he still blessed him…and then we stuffed our faces! What a good evening. Full of two of my favorite things…FAMILY AND FOOD!

But one evening is just not enough. We wish we could see Tay more often. He is the sweetest, most generous and caring person. And soooooo cute with our kids. Can’t wait to see him become a husband and father some day.  Great to see you Tay!!!

“Get your clothes on!”

If I ever lose my voice permanently, it’s because I have screamed these words one to many times to this boy. What is it with boys running around naked in the house???

Poor Sadie is totally freaked out by this unsanitary behavior. Whenever Mason get’s out of the tub he usually runs around naked and then ends up cuddled up in his bed under his sheets because he’s freezing.

The other night Sadie was really sick with the stomach flu. Mason was asleep on our floor, so we moved Sadie into Mason’s room so she could be closer to us. When Rich went to tuck her into his bed, amidst the moans of sickness, she says “Dad can I just sleep on top of his bed covers?” Rich asked “Honey it’s really cold, don’t you want to be warm under the covers?” Sadie said “Dad I’m just really grossed out because Mason’s always jumping into this bed when he’s naked. That’s just gross”. GOOD POINT SADIE!

Then the poor girl about had a myocardial infarction the other day when instead of jumping into this own bed after his bath…..SADIE FOUND HIM SITTING NAKED ON HER PILLOW IN HER BED. I’ve never heard the girl scream so loud in horror. Oh the ways brothers torture sisters. I used to be that sister and I know the level of emotional torture you go through as a sister!

Now that’s embarrassing…..

So I took Mason to the library the other day to read up on some of his favorite superhero books. The library was pretty packed but we managed to find a table to sit at. When we got to the page where the Batpod (his motorcycle) was on, Mason got REALLY EXCITED. He loves Batman’s motorcycle because of all the guns it has on it. Well before I get to what embarrassed me….let me just mention that my cute little boy has quite the speech impediment. For instance….his “ S’ ” always come out as “H’s”. And instead of calling them guns…he call’s them SHOOTERS! Well he tries to call them shooters…….. So when we flipped to the page with the Batpod, Mason starts screaming at the top of his lungs “LOOK MOM….HOOTERS…..LOT’S AND LOT’S OF HOOTERS. SEE THOSE HOOTERS MOM? (pointing to the book)…WOW, I SURE DO LIKE THOSE HOOTER’S MOM. THOSE HOOTER’S ARE INTERESTING”. By this point we had every adults attention in the room. If I could turn back time, instead of ducking my head in embarrassment…I would look around the room and say “Wow these anatomy books are great. Where can I buy some these babies???”

Tough Skin…

(This picture is just a very small portion of clothes I’ve sorted through today)

Here’s how I spent the day….because I know you’re dying to know \’’/ Well I spent the day sorting through EVERYTHING  we own. I’m still wearing what I wore to bed LAST NIGHT and here I am getting ready to get into bed with bed head hair from the night before. I feel pretty gross….is that because the most I did with myself was brush my teeth??? Or is it because in between digging through dust balls of stuff I was also cleaning up puke every hour or so. YES MY KIDS HAVE THE STOMACH FLU….but I figured what a good excuse to lay my kids in front of the TV and tackle some much needed projects.

Some of you may not know this yet….BUT WE ARE MOVING YET AGAIN…back to Arizona!!! We are done moving our collection of STUFF….so we are selling most we own. That’s one way to make life simple \’’/

But the most dreaded items to sell for me is my kids clothes. I’m not a huge sentimental person…but I think deep down I think if I can box up my kids clothes I’ve somehow boxed THEM UP in some time capsule. Occasionally, I get really sad that they are growing up so quick. But as I was going through their baby clothes today at least I only got emotional once…not bad after sorting clothes for 8 hours!

But I know selling most of our things are necessary. Now a days, we are living a more simple life. As you’ve heard me post before, we have put ourselves on a money makeover (By Dave Ramsey) to help us pay back our school debt as soon as possible. He’s a big believer in garage sales….and since I’m now converted to his money religion I guess this in the next move for us. Hopefully this will help us throw more money into savings \’’/

So if you’re buying baby clothes PINK OR BLUE….come to our garage sale here in a couple of weeks….BECAUSE I HAVE LOTS AND LOTS OF ADORABLE BABY AND TODDLER CLOTHES! A lot of Old Navy, Gap and Children’s place clothes. I’ll post about the sale when it get’s closer.

Need family, engagement or wedding pics Mid-April???

Rich's brother is making a trip to Utah and is a WONDERFUL photographer. He has 3 spots left open during his trip. He is planning on being here around April 22nd. He has some awesome discounts. He usually charges $250 a family...but for this trip he's charging $200 for up to 6 people. Each additional person is $25. For engagements the price is usually $450, but he's only charging $275. If you need wedding pics done he can arrange that too. To see samples go to his website http://larryreeves.info/.