Tag!

5 Placed I've Lived

• Heaven
• Provo, UT
• My parents house
• The dungeon ( 3 years!)
• Summerland, B.C. (okay not yet but I will one day)

5 Snacks I love

• Hostess cupcakes
• Pickles and cheese
• Sour skittles
• Fresh fruit
• Cool ranch Doritos

5 Jobs I've Had

• Salesgirl at Below the Belt (Remember Barb?!?)
• Nanny
• Full time Mommy (also my current and favorite one)
• Dental Assistant
• Janitor ( in college)

If I had a million dollars I would.....

• Have as many kids as I physically could and then adopt a couple more-then hire a chef and cleaning lady...
• Take all my best girlfriends on a cruise and give them all a cruise clothing allowance before we went so they could feel their best
• Have a nightly massage before bed
• Have a REALLY COZY soundproof reading room with shelves and shelves of books in the massive mansion of a house I would need for all my kids. With a door that locks.
• Somehow anonymously get envelopes of cash/gift cards to the people in my life I know really need it whether friends, family, or ward members. Someone gave us a $100 Safeway gift card anonymously once when we were first married.

5 things I love

• Being organized
• Josh's imagination
• Caitlyn's chubby cheeks
• Joey's backrubs
• My mom's examples of unconditional love and the power of change

5 people who should do this tag...

• Alison (because you need to get your mind off real life)
• Julie ( because you need to think about something other than Gabby~J/K!)
• Heather (to see if you're as practical as you seem)
• Juliette (ditto above)
• Erin (since we don't write each other letters like we did when we were little girls ;>)

Fulfilled

I know I've mentioned this in blogs before but it's something that is a constant revalation to me in my life since I've been on maternity leave. Things that used to matter to me just don't anymore. Like if my hair is perfectly done or if my butt looks ok in what I'm wearing. I don't know if it's just because I don't have the time with 2 kids or that my attitude truly has shifted over the past 5 months. I have also been debt free and living within my means for the first time since 1996 ( Long time-Shocking-I know!!) This is also adding to the whole fulfillment issue. I don't feel the need to HAVE more but to DO more. I purged my closet of all the things I don't wear and find that I feel the need to take better care of the things that are left. The less I have to clutter my life and my home, the better. Suze Orman was on Oprah and she said Debt=clutter/chaos and Savings=Order/peace or something along those lines. That completely hit the mark in my life. It's like I'm finally getting the lesson I should have been learning all these years. It's GREAT!!!! I find such fulfillment in my role right now as a stay a home wife and mother that I"M NOT SEARCHING FOR IT IN HAVING STUFF. Amazing. Don't get me wrong. Things are great. But not when they're taking the place of the things you really want in life but can't or don't have at the time. I think we live in a world where people constantly do this. I can't spend lots of time with my kids so I'll just buy them a lot of stuff and that will fix my guilt and their neediness. Nope-doesn't work.

I really enjoyed this past General Conference as well. It left me feeling empowered as a woman in my life and home no matter what the situation. It seems like the message of unity in our wards and families was focused strongly on. The ward we are in is AMAZING. Our wonderful bishop has a knack for bringing people together. I really believe that as women, we are the keys to our families lasting in these difficult times and we HAVE to be the glue that sticks our families together. We need to be better than we've been. What worked 10 years ago won't work today as Satan has beefed up his game plan. We have to fortify our homes and be a source of strength and peace for our children. My paternal grandfather passed away recently and it really struck me how committed he was to living the gospel day to day and the righteous legacy he has left to his posterity. This October has really changed my outlook on the world. I think we all need that encouragement from time to time to keep us constantly committing to improving ourselves day to day. I had been stagnant for a long time and now I'm on fire again. It's nice to feel the burn!

Speaking of burning-I'm still trying to do Tiffany's challenge of losing 10 lbs by Christmas and did a full body workout at the gym on Saturday. OUCH. Not Biggest Loser worthy but I did push myself harder than I had lately and it showed in the sore muscles the next day. Funny that I didn't think I was in shape until I wasn't. Isn't that just how it goes. Here's to dropping a few more pounds in November.

Halloween was a blast this year. It was one of my top 10 best days so far for our little family. Joey even dressed up as a vampire as he'd dropped the ball last year for Halloween and was trying hard to make up for it this year. He completely succeeded. (Like he needed to look more intimidating than he already does-there were a few freaked out little kids in the neighborhood.) It's Josh's favorite holiday and he got to dress up as a witch which he's been talking about for months now. I gutted my first pumpkin this year and Joey gave it a scary face which thrilled Josh. Caitlyn was blissfully ignorant of the whole proceedings which will not be the case next year. That Halloween candy lying around isn't helping mommy here with the weight loss. Do any of you mom's out there NOT eat your kids candy? And how do you avoid the temptation???? Do tell.

Thanks to all you who share in our triumphs and defeats and constantly support us along the way. We could navigate our way without you...but it wouldn't be the same. :>

3rd time's a charm or 3 strikes you're out?

My 3 Joys

• My family


• The gospel


• Good books

My 3 Fears

• Having to go back to work outside the home because I have to not because I want to


• Not making it to the celestial kingdom with my husband


• Sharks ( I had to get away from all the serious stuff!) We watched all the Jaws movies growing up and even when I jump into the deep end of the pool I get freaked out

My 3 Current Obsessions

• What Not To Wear-Seriously. Cracks. Me. Up. Though some days if they captured me on a secret video I would look worse then their candidates.


• Finding things to stick in my Magic Bullet


• Trying to get more than 4 hours of sleep at a time

My 3 Surprising Facts

• I LOVE to do laundry. I am the QUEEN of laundry(I need to be the queen of something.) Not enough to come to your house and do your dirty clothes so don't ask


• I want to retire in an old cottage by a lake with chipped dishes and comfy quilts and an endless supply of books. Not sure where my husband factors in to this whole scenario.


• I love to be near oceans and lakes-they calm me. Why I live in Calgary I don't know.

Beautiful Blessing Day

Here is our sweet baby girl on her blessing day. She was blessed on Sunday, September 21 by her grandfather Graham Bourne. We were lucky to have many family members and friends in attendance and I was lucky to not be too sleep deprived to enjoy the day. I was up til 1:30 am the night before organizing our house which was ironic as the luncheon we had was at my in-laws. I just felt that the more organized we were, the more I'd be able to enjoy the day. I was right. We were early for church and I didn't feel too rushed. Here is some of what was said:

• -You have chosen to come to earth at this time as one of the elect daughters of your Heavenly Father
  
• We bless you to grow in strength and understanding of the gospel.
• We bless you to be a light unto the world and a light unto those you meet as you share your understanding of your Heavenly Father
  
• Listen to your parents and those who love you (I'll remind her of this one frequently)
  

Here's one of the better pics of our family-Josh was ready to be done with pics at this point. I hadn't slept for 2 days when he was blessed so I was grateful that was NOT the case this time around. Caitlyn continues to be an angel~let's hope the trend continues for many years to come...One of my favorite things is to have all my family gathered together and I had the best day. Thanks to everyone that came to support our family on this special day.

4 Generations or Caitlyn does the hula

Great Grandparents

Auntie Launey and Caitlyn

Josh really got a kick out of "Uncle" Mike that day. Mike is really great with keeping kids entertained and they were having a fun time playing around. Tammy and Ashley are in the background. We were thrilled their family was able to attend last minute and I really miss hanging out with them. It's so much harder to get together when you have kids.

I attended my first Shade clothing party at my good friend Wendy's home a few weeks ago. Yet another person I don't see enough of. I really loved the clothes-not sure why I haven't ordered Shade before now. Probably because I don't buy things off the Internet. Literally never have. I can't wait for my order to arrive. Happy post baby bump shopping to me. Now if only I could find some pants....

We attended the Calgary Corn Maze this past Saturday and though it was FREEZING out-we all had a great time. It was their first year and I was quite impressed with everything they had set up. Unfortunately the corn wasn't as high as it had been due to an early frost combined with a windy day that snapped a lot of it off. It was actually nicer to be able to see over the corn-not so freaky Children of the Corn feeling. Josh had the most fun out of our family for sure as you can see below.

Last but not least-Caitlyn turned 3 months old today. She continues to bless our lives with joy and I finally got her to belly laugh just for me in the mirror today. Usually she's laughing at her brother. I love this time in my life to be home with my family and it's really amazing to finally feel like I'm living the life I was meant to live, not the one I have to.

We're obviously going to have to work on the hairstlying and camera angles-LOL :>

Heartbroken

These are my 2 beautiful children at their very best. Laying still and being quiet. So why am I heartbroken? Because this week when they were just kids being kids-well mostly Josh being Josh-I did A LOT of yelling and time out threatening. A lot. I let my frustration at things not having to do with the kids and my self imposed sleep deprivation get the best of me. So tonight after the amazing Relief Society broadcast I came home and just cried at how I'd been treating them-well-mostly Josh. You think when you have kids that you'll always be SO patient and kind and Christ-like and then feel like such a complete failure as a mother when you're not. So I got down on my knees and asked my Father's forgiveness. Then I went and knelt down by my son's bed and quietly asked his while he slept. And it's not that I haven't apologized to him numerous times this week after I've yelled. But really. Does that make much difference after the fact when I continue to behave the same way. Isn't there a little thing called restitution? I know what you are all going to post-that we all have our days and no one is perfect and I get that. But I'm still the adult and the ONE place that my children NEED to feel that they can always be safe should be our home no matter what else is swirling in the air around us. So I am recommitting to being patient and loving and what I need from you in bloggerville is ways that you deal with your children when you are tired and frustrated. I'm finding it challenging to balance Josh's need for my time with the pile of things I need to get done in a day. Please leave me your ideas and say a little prayer for me that I can continue to improve in this area and not break their little hearts with my actions.

It doesn't get much better than this

Yikes! It's been a while since I posted but I have a new baby-I'm excused. Sooooo-updates from the last month.
My mother gave us a professional photo session with Julie Miller as a baby gift and I'm thrilled with how the pictures turned out. We had them done when Caitlyn was 3 1/2 weeks old and Julie was SO patient through the whole session. Especially since my daughter seemed to want to try to leave her mark all over Julie's home when we were trying to get her naked self immortalized. All's well that ends well. Luckily Julie's couch was leather.........

We have officially adjusted to being a family of 4 and having a girl in the house. She's not pulling too much attitude quite yet but she definately is a Daddy's girl already and I'm sure that I'll have to be the bad cop to his good cop for the rest of her life. Needless to say her wardrobe is twice the size of mine and twice as nice too. I think when a baby is born that it should be a rule that the mother should get an item of clothing every time the baby does. Because nothing fits me right now that isn't maternity or contains a LOT of Lycra or shows my baby fat rolls. Of course-I don't get out too much so it's sort of redundant.

I'm still in baby bliss with Caitlyn as she not only looks like an angel but acts like one too-she actually slept for 8 hours straight last night. It makes me want as many more kids as I can which is how they suck you in to having another one. LOL. For us that probably means one more but we'll see how we feel when she's doing more than laying there cooing at us with her big blue eyes. As you can tell from the picture to the left-her eyes aren't the only thing that are big. Our chubba bubba is just shy of 2 months old and she's 12 lbs 6 oz. Check out those cheeks.

Last week I took Josh and Caitlyn on their first bus ride to go visit with Aunt Patsy at the in-laws. I'm getting more adventurous as we are down to one car right now. Josh was thrilled to hop on the bus and every time someone pulled the wire to have the bus stop at the next stop he got really excited. He was a little confused at the lack of seat belts which also made me wonder why they figure we don't need to buckle up on public transportation. While we were there we decided to get a 4 generation picture with Great Grandma Bourne. It turned out pretty well considering it was a spur of the moment thing. I've really enjoyed visiting with Grandma Bourne and getting to know her better while she's been staying at Graham and Leah's.

I turned 33 today. Well-by the time this post is official it will be yesterday. My mom got me a Magic Bullet-let the blending begin!! And there are a dozen red roses on my kitchen table from the hubby. The best gift of today was that I got to spend my birthday at home with my 2 kids and not out at work. 9/11. Now that was a FUN birthday 7 years ago. However-it did make me realize that I was running out of play time and it was time to get off the fence for good and just go to church. I don't know why as humans we have to wait til tragedy strikes to wake us up and get us to do what we should have been doing all along. I also don't get why people get upset over getting older. I have enjoyed every one of my 33 years-some more than others-and I wouldn't want to go back to any of them to relive them. I'm an in the moment kind of girl. At least-I'm trying to be :> I feel so blessed to be where I am in my life and even though we've had some struggles this past year, it has made us bond as a family. I have so many wonderful friends and extended family to rely on when my trials are getting the best of me. I am definately learning patience and that sometimes it's ok to just let things work themselves out on the Lord's timeline. I hope this next year will be a CALM, boring one but none of the previous 33 have been.....

Here's Joshua on his first day of preschool this week. We have him going 2 days a week and he's attending with one of his best friends, Isabella, from his day home. It's just at the Temple community center and I love that I get to walk him over. Needless to say he's loving "school" and I'm really glad we decided at the last minute to enroll him. He's adjusted well to his little sister but I've been trying to emphasize the things he can do that she will have to wait a LONG time to do. I've been missing my one on one time with Josh and seeing this picture makes me realize how grown up he really is. He has elaborated on his standard 5 line prayers lately and we've been cracking up at some of the things he blesses.

Joe's been working long hours with a company named KWL

trucking doing dump truck work to pay the bills while he

continues to work on his solar street light business. I just hope that his business starts generating money before my mat leave ends so I can stay at home with my kids. I love creating my own schedule and not being ruled by my work schedule-it's SO liberating. I'm just trying to enjoy every day even if we're having a rough day-at least I get to be the one rocking my little one when she's fussy and playing Candyland with Josh (his latest obsession). Which is why it doesn't get much better than this ;>

I'm in love....with a girl

Well-she is my daughter so it's not sick and twisted. You just forget how in love you are with your newborn-it's nature's way of getting you through the sleep deprivation. I don't know if it's because I expected to not sleep a lot or if it's just that she's an easier baby but the second time around is SO MUCH BETTER for me. Probably helps that she's not a preemie, my delivery was easier, and she basically eats, sleeps and poops with minimal crying in between. That was definately NOT the case with Josh. I love her to pieces-even the smell of her. There have only been 2 times I've been slightly annoyed with her the past 3 weeks and they were both middle of the night cases where she just wouldn't latch-just kept bobbing her head around and I was like-get it done or just go back to sleep so I can sleep please. I just feel so blessed to get the opportunity to have another child. I love that the kids are 4 years apart so I don't have to chase after a toddler at the same time that I have a newborn. I really feel like I got to know Josh before Caitlyn came around and fully experienced each stage he was at. It's really great not having to go to work too. I much prefer this job-it's really rewarding though challenging at times. I think I could get really good at it if I could just work at it for 20 more years. ;>

One thing I DO notice with having a new baby around is I just cannot read or watch anything about child abuse or children dying as it just hurts my heart too much and makes me feel physically ill. I'm not usually too bad with stuff-I get that bad things happen in the world. But when you have this precious bundle cuddled up to you and mommy hormones buzzing-the stories are too hard to stomach. So I try to cuddle her a little longer because I can and because there are babies out there who don't get cuddled at all.

On another note-Josh is starting to calm down from the upstaging that his little sister has brought into his life. He had a MAJOR-can't talk because he's doing the chest heaving crying-meltdown the first night he was home after being at my Mom's for 4 days when Caitlyn was first born. Which is understandable as that was the longest he'd been away from us in his short life and he'd had my undivided attention the 5 weeks prior to Caitlyn's arrival. But still was hard to watch and he'd been so great up to that point that it baffled me slightly. Today we had time just to ourselves while Joey watched Caitlyn-Josh and I went to Prairie Winds park just the two of us. I really miss our time together and it was fun to spend time with him. Lately he's been saying "Oh thank you Mom" all dramatic like and it always makes me smile. We also went to the zoo as a family yesterday for Joe's birthday which was nice but HOT.

Tonight Alison and I escaped to Southcentre for a girls night shopping trip and then our usual dinner at Moxie's. So Caitlyn has been introduced to the mall at the tender age of 3 weeks. And so it begins....LOL. It was fun to look at the GIRL side of the stores-all that pink-it's a good thing I'm broke right now. I had such a great time and really wish Alison and I lived closer-we always have fun together and I love that she's always there for me. It's nice that some relationships are just easy.

2 things that are baffling to me lately. Music on blogs. Why? I just don't get it-I guess because with Josh around there's always so much noise that when I'm on the computer I just want quiet. But I get that it is your blog so you can put whatever you want on it-I just always go down and mute the music. Except for the classical stuff on Tiffany's blog-Yurima or something like that-LOVE IT. Very calming. But that's the only one. Word verification. Again-WHY? Trying to prove my typing skills are up to speed or just making sure it's not my 4 year old trying to post on your blog? Fill me in here people. Though I do get posts only being shown with blog owner approval especially after the anonymous fiasco. Drama drama.

Speaking of drama-I watched the first episode from the first season of Grey's Anatomy. It was fun to see how the character's have evolved since then. Lately I've been thinking of trying to go without TV for a month. Which has made me realize how much TV I actually watch even though I think it's a complete waste of time. And September will start new season's of my favorite shows.....so that idea has been shelved for now. I don't watch TONS of TV but I do like certain favorites that I'm not willing to miss out on. I'll set some other goals first. Maybe next summer I'll try the no TV thing when I don't have to sit in a fixed postion and nurse a child for 30-40 minutes.

Just to show you what we're mostly up to lately-here's a hint. :>