Do LESS?!

I just came across this talk again and would love to hear your views on it. What does this mean to YOU? Have you really done anything DIFFERENT since hearing this?

Excerpt from "Mothers Who Know" by Julie Beck (Relief Society General President):

Mothers Who Know Do Less


Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord’s kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power.

Please share your thoughts. . .

Round-brush of DEATH!

So, I got my hair cut again, and my awesome stylist told me for the third time that I need to buy a bigger round brush to style my hair. I had been looking at the stores I visit regularly, but to no avail. . .I already had one as big as their biggest. So, this time I took her more seriously and went to Sallys. This is what I ended up with:

It's the same brush she used. Here it is compared to my old one, and here's how my hair looked after she styled it:

Now if I could just get my bangs to be that cute again. . .

Look-Alike?!

Dave and I had been trying to figure out who we think Kaleb looks like. . .a Call (aka Kyra) or a Johnson (aka Mark and Darci). Well, when I came across this picture of Kaleb at 2.5 months old

I knew I'd pretty much seen it before. So, I went looking through some old photos and found this one of Kyra at 5 months old: 

I think our question has been answered!

Here is Mark and Darci, who I think have the same face:

What do you think?

Birthday Bash

Today is our 16th anniversary AND Mark's 11th birthday. Since Mark was born on our anniversary we always made a little bit bigger deal of his b-day because we figured we were sort of celebrating our whole family on that day. Four years later when Kyra came along just 3 weeks before August 16th, we just lumped her birthday into the party. . .and then two years later Darci came just one week before the 16th, so it was a no brainer to continue our family parties as we knew them! Anyway, needless to say, it's become a tradition to have a big family party every year and our kids really look forward to having all of their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins over for an evening of great food, fun, presents, and cake! Well, this year was no different. . .except we scaled down a bit--to just inviting the cousins, as we have so many family members who live close now! :) I'm not sure what Kaleb being born clear the heck in June will do to the family party, but we have another year to figure that out. So, this year we surprised the kids with having a lady come over to do face painting for everyone. It turned out to be a big hit! Here are a few pics of our "1 year older" kids (Mark 11, Kyra 7, and Darci 5) and some of their cousins:

as you can see, the boys loved the Avatar face, and no, it wasn't as hard to wash off as it looks like it would be. :) We are so blessed to live near so many cousins for the kids to grow up with!

Just me and my babe.

Here are pics from the photo shoot I had with Evelyn, my SIL! She's awesome, and we had so much fun. But, BEWARE, these pics are unedited! She assures me she can fix them up however I'd like. . .you know, remove moles, wrinkles, or blemishes, whiten teeth, lighten hair, darken and lengthen eye lashes, etc. But before I look like a celebrity. . .I'd like your vote on which one I should have her edit so I can frame it! :) 

And, this last one is just to show you how much my little guy loves me! :)

Independence Day

We had such a great time at my dad's last night celebrating Independence Day. The kids LOVED the sparklers more than anything. I just love having all the cousins around for my kids to grow up with! :)

"Connecting"

As I sit down to nurse Kaleb, I can also enjoy some time “connecting” with my friends and family through blogs and FB. I’ve loved being able to tell my birth story, post pictures, and share my thoughts and feelings and to get responses from so many of you all within the first few days of having a baby. It’s nice feeling like I’m still involved with everything/everyone around me even though I haven’t really even set foot outside my house. . .let alone showered or fixed my hair/put on make-up, etc. It makes me wonder what it was like for my mother. I know a hundred or so years ago people lived with their extended families or very close by, so they weren’t excluded from the outside world when they were sick or had babies. But, what about just 30 to 40 years ago? It was after most people didn’t live with/near extended family, but before the internet and affordable long-distance phone calls. It’s hard to imagine how lonely or disconnected they must have felt after having babies and being home alone, or with a bunch of other little ones running around the house too. I know a lot of mothers, even now, who feel like they are the only ones who can’t keep up with the laundry, who don’t go out and do something fun/productive every day, who are tired from having interrupted sleep all night long, who dread dinner time, who feel overwhelmed with their kids who throw tantrums or teenagers who have wacky hormones, who think their kids have too much homework that really the parents have to do, etc. I just think that FB and blogs have changed that for a lot of us women/mothers. We can see that everyone else is dealing with the same things on a daily basis and that we aren’t alone in anything that we’re going through. Anyway, the internet is definitely a blessing to me and I’m so grateful for the “connections” I’ve been able to have through this medium.