Lemons are Lame but Add Sugar...Ahh Lemonade

"One's life....cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free...Therefore, how can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, 'Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!'... Real faith...is required to endure this necessary but painful developmental process."

Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926-2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

I love that our Heavenly Father has restored His church on the earth and just like anciently we have Prophets and Apostles. Elder Maxwell has been one of my favorite apostles he taught with authenticity as he struggled with severe health problems while walking in faith. This quote from him has become a favorite of mine, I think of it when things haven't gone the way I had hoped or even prayed for. This quote was taken from an article he wrote entitled "The Growth Required to Return Home." We lived before we came to earth and we will all live again because Heavenly Father sent His son, our Savior. We can make our individual experiences work for our good if we seek guidance from Him.

Confection Creations

When I had Adrianna a friend from the church made us dinner. For dessert she made these yummy cupcakes.
The drumsticks were made with a spice cake, she put a donut hole on top then frosted it with vanilla icing and then rolled them in crushed cereal. She made the drumstick bone out of melted white chocolate. As you can see in the picture someone took a bite out of one.
The cupcake that I ate was the mashed potato. the mashed potato was made out of a generous amount of icing, then she drizzled the potatoes with caramel sauce and the tab of butter was a lemon Starburst. The peas and carrots were made from lime runts and a cut up orange Starburst.
Then the dessert was a chocolate sprinkle cupcake.

I just thought this was so creative I had to share. What kid (or adult) wouldn't want to sit down to a meal like this. Thanks Mindy!

You Can't Catch Me I'm the Gingerbread Girl

I was driving into Tucson minding my own business when WAMO I see a FLASH from a speed camera. Everyday I pass a speed camera on my way into Benson, but I had never seen a speed camera setup on the way to Tucson, so naturally I was caught off guard and apparently speeding. I have been anticipating my little "present " in the mail for weeks and finally yesterday it came.

Yep that's me! I can tell by the hanging vanilla candle from my rear view mirror :) When Parkin saw the picture he said, "Momma that's you and that's Adrianna's seat." Observant little lad.

The damage: $181.50. I had been clocked at 81 mph. Which isn't so bad when the speed limit is 75 mph, but because I was about to go under a train bridge they reduce the speed limit to 65mph. I don't know why they have the speed reduction, unless trolls are jumping out ( which I guess could get messy).


Here is the silver lining. I know there are some of you who think there shouldn't be any silver lining, your thinking you broke the law and you should be punished. Well Ha! I should have the right to plead my case in front of a cop at the time of said incident (I sorta believe that). Back to the the silver lining, the car is registered in Benjamin's name therefor it is his ticket!


The are are three options on my NOTICE OF VIOLATION

A) "Pay the sanction"
B) "If you were not the driver, you must include an enlarged, Clear copy of your driver license to EXCLUDE yourself as the driver"
C) "Contest responsibility"

Nowhere does it say if your spouse, kid, friend, mother in law, bum at the circle K was driving your vehicle you still have to pay. No, simply it says, if you were not the driver exclude yourself of the ticket. SWEET!.

So because the car is registered in Benjamin's name those darn cameras can only catch him when he is driving my car. We are now going to change the registration on Benjamin's car to my name, covering him if he gets paparazzi taking pictures of him, I mean if the speed cameras catch him. I will just have to be extra careful when I drive his car. I honestly am not that big of a speedier, the last person to get pulled over was Benjamin (sorry for ratting you out) but he was able to talk with the cop and viola no ticket.

So take that Big Brother, you maybe watching me but you can't catch me. There are no friendly foxes offering me a ride in Benson so there!

Don't judge a book by its smiling cover

Today I went to the library with Holman, Parkin, Adrianna and their cousin Jared. We headed to the little kids section where Parkin literally took every puzzle apart and was climbing shelves. Holman was playing on the computer and I was trying to discreetly nurse Anna. Jared was helpful he would bring all the puzzle pieces and together we were putting them back together. Finally after I was done nursing and finished reading the boys requests, I was able to really start to clean up Parkins hurricane mess with two hands. We had about five more minutes before we needed to go, and our area was clean, so I told the boys we could read one more book. We sat down in the little semi circle benches they have, they are low to the floor and padded on one side and the other side of the bench is just wood. Holman and Jared were sitting side by side on one bench holding baby Anna and doing a good job I might add. Parkin was on the backside of the bench looking over the boys with a huge smile. All four kiddos were being so well behaved I was so impressed. Then I noticed a lady looking at us intently, I am thinking she must be admiring how well I am manging this brood, or she must really like my reading voice, bottom line she is impressed. Then she politely stops me, I brace myself for the impending compliment, wait for it - wait for it. Then she tells me, "mam your son doesn't have any underwear on and he isn't wearing pants." I quickly go to the other side of the bench to find Parkin completely naked from the waist down. His excited expression at me wasn't because he was enjoying the book, it was because he was mooning the people behind him. Awesome.

Random Holidays

I wanted my baby to be born in November with the exception of two days, Thanksgiving and black friday. So what does my little independent girl do? She starts to come after Thanksgiving dinner just in time for black friday. But like a good girl she lets her mom finish her chocolate dessert. Bella was born on the national day of the woman, Liv was born on boxing day, so to fit in with our girl trio she was born on black friday, should have known. Like a true daughter of mine there was lots of drama involved, to get full details read Benjamin's blog (plus he has pictures)
http://www.howeuben.blogspot.com/ .

One of the lessons I thought I learned in 2009 was not to take things for granted ( the small pleasures of life, water, electricity, the ability to get a loan etc.) but I missed a great one the ability to conceive and deliver without incident. My heart goes out to friends and family who have had this harsh trial, and now I know with a little measure what you have experienced, all I can say is I have a new found empathy and when I say a prayer in your behalf, it runs a little deeper.

Thanks to all who have prayed for our pretty little Adrianna, there is a cute country song with that title, can't get it out of my head :)

Thanks again.

Yes I Want Some Cheese With My Whine

Well its the 17th and I have 17 more days till my due date. All I can say is bring it! At the beginning of my pregnancy as my belly was growing, Parkin my two and half year old, would look at my tummy and say, "What happen to you." Then I would say you and your three siblings "happen to me." So months later he would pull my shirt up (hopefully not in the grocery store) and say "baby happen to you."

I have two sisters who both have five children and both of them for their fifth pregnancies they went into labor 3 weeks early. Obviously I am following in their footsteps with the number of kids so why can't I go early like them! Wow what a whiner I am. I know it and sadly everyone around me knows it! Last week at my appointment the nurse suggested support hose for my swollen legs, what am I eighty now?! No I am just 37 1/2 weeks preganant (yes i am counting in halfs, just like a five year old would do). I am consuming antacids at an alarming rate. Am I really going to be on my 3rd bottle of antacids? Ok I am finished now with my rant..........deep breath.

It is time to give up my hope of having a November baby, what does a couple of days mean anyway? So we will have three kids born in December, so what if my grandfather said " Gees what are those kids doing in March." What can I say my grandpa is smart and can do the math. Yikes I can't believe I wrote that, oh wait yes I can I am a hormonal pregnant lady and hopefully soon I will be a postpartum lady, sweet the excuses keep coming!!!

I thought I was done complaining?! I guess not...... Parkin now pulls up my shirt and points at my belly butten and says "baby hurt" no that would be "mommy hurt" to which I will reply get over it Lesley! "Cowboy up" and "Git er done".....in 17 days.

It's only a phase......

My sister in law Robin has brought comfort to me with the phrase "its just a phase" this applies to anything that drives you batty that your children do. They will eventually grow out of it. Sleeping through the night, sucking on their thumb, pull-ups, saying a phrase that you dislike, eventually the phase will pass and you look back with gratitude over the change.

Three weeks ago we potty trained Parkin. I woke up on a Monday morning done with buying diapers and thinking that we would soon have an infant to buy diapers for. We used the three day potty trainng method that my friend Alison introduced us to when we potty trained Holman. The first day it was so exciting for him to get a few chocolate chips for his good work. Drop by drop he recieved his reward. The next day our excitment alone was reward for him. I marveled that on day four he would quietly go into the bathroom and do his buisness without any cheering or assistance. We are talking about not just peeing, the real fun stuff no parent wants to have happen in his underwear, he succesfully emptied it in the toilet. Love this phase!!! (Potty training to me is a huge dichotomy, on one hand it is so fustrating! But when it is done effectiviely and their little face lights up because they get it and they know you are so pleased with them it melts my heart).

Sadly like bad phases that stop, good ones do to, why does it have to work both ways?!! A week later I found myself cleaning underwear and mourning the loss of "quietly doing his business phase." Isn't it the same way with adults? We develop good habits, get excited over our accomplishments and then suddenly you realize that you aren't doing it anymore and your good phase has turned into a slacker phase. I guess I can't expect anything different from little people.

Knowing that everything is a phase makes me want to truly bask in those good phases, I would name some of them right now but I fear by typing it or saying it outloud means that that phase will soon turn. So I will take my mental note of the phases that I am enjoying in my children s lives and my own and take a snapshot to remember knowing all good things change and luckily all bad things do as well.

Side note, Parkin has again taken to putting his yucky in the potty only he doesn't quietly do it, he wants me there, fine by me. That is a phase I will gladly appreciate, given thee alternative :)