.....

"In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance. Let us open our eyes and see the heavy hearts, notice the loneliness and despair; let us feel the silent prayers of others around us, and let us be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to answer those prayers."

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Sensitive little Jackson

Payton has this little Penguin stuffed animal that he carries with him almost everywhere. He had it with him today when we went to Moss Landing to look at the Sea Lions. We were on a deck that was totally fenced in and Payton kept trying to push his Penguin through the fencing. I think he was trying to free him so he could be "back in the wild". Jackson kept trying to stop Payton and was really getting upset about it. I took him to the side and got down on his level so we were eye to eye. I asked him what was wrong. He said, "Payton is trying to drop his Penguin." I asked him why that bothered him, and with tears in his eyes and his lip quivering he said, "If Payton drops his Penguin it will go in the water and I won't be able to go and get it for him and he will be sad."

All I could do was hug him tight and tell him what a good brother he is. It really impressed me to see how concerned he was about Payton's happiness. Jackson really is such a sweet boy. I'm so lucky.......

P-Day

The Turkey is thawing, pies are baking, vegies are being cut, and I'm pretending that I'm not nervous for tomorrow!

I posted about Motherhood on my other blog. Please read it and give me your opinions on motherhood!

Raking Leaves, Turtles, and New Words

Here's a short update on us!

About 2, maybe 3 weeks ago I decided to finally get out there and rake the leaves. This took me two days and I filled up about 12 40 gal. bags. It was a big job and my back hurt. Over the weekend I was so happy to see that Jackson wanted to take his turn raking the leaves!
Jackson's friend Beckham has a pet Turtle. While they are out of town for Thanksgiving we get to babysit little Turtle. I'm thinking this is the best kind of pet. He makes no noise, he eats lettuce, and it takes almost no effort to take care of him. We've only had him one day and the boys and I are totally in love with him.

When Jackson saw me taking pictures of Turtle (I don't know his name, so we just call him Turtle) he said, "Take pictures of me mom!"

Jackson has gotten really good at boosting my self-esteem. I had a doctor's appointment in Monterey today so instead of going home after dropping Nate off we just went to McDonald's for breakfast. We were eating pancakes and Jackson says, "Mom, when we're at home you're a really good cooker. I really like your food that you cook at home. You're a good cooker."
Little Payton put so many words together yesterday! He completed a whole paragraph and I could understand each word (this is a huge deal since Payton's usual communication is in the form of grunting and pointing). Nate had a 24 hour shift on Monday so all day yesterday he slept. Payton knew that Daddy was home, so he was curious as to why Daddy wasn't out playing with him. After Payton looked all around the house for him and couldn't find him he came to me and said, "Daddy? Where's Daddy? I wanna see Daddy!"

Above the Hate

Many people of other faiths are tired of the way that the LDS church has been singled out for the passage of Prop 8. They have started a petition for people to sign to show that we will stand together to say "Enough!" to the campaign of hate and intimidation being waged against the LDS Church and other supporters of California's Proposition 8.

Sign it!

Neal A. Maxwell

I found a great video clip. Neal A. Maxwell gave this talk in the 70's. How fitting is it for our time? Check it out!

Happy Birthday Nate!!

Nate is officially 30 today!! Unfortunately he has school today, then he has CQ tonight so that means he's pulling a 24 hour shift on his birthday. What a way to celebrate turning 30! We gave him his presents on Saturday, then yesterday we had some friends come over for a "BBQ" (we actually don't have an actually BBQ, so I cooked our turkey burgers in a pan. Lame, I know) and tried to play some games. It's hard to play games with 9 kids running around. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE!!

We also had the Primary Program in church yesterday. All the kids did a really good job and it was a great program, but I was focused on Jackson. He got to speak and he did a really good job. He likes to talk into microphones. It was cute watching him sing too. He did really great at first, but as the program went on he zoned out (as did the rest of the Sunbeams!). It is so fun to watch him grow up. I think he might be growing up a little too fast. Thanks to his new "girlfriend" he's learning a little too much about being lovey dovey. His little friend Bella likes to cuddle with him, calls him husband, and we even caught her having him kiss her so she could "wake-up". Luckily he was only kissing her on the cheek. We might have to monitor those too more closely!

So much to be thankful for

As is tradition at this time of year I've been thinking about things that I'm thankful for. Not to downplay how thankful I am for Nate and my beautiful baby boys or anything, but right now I am SO thankful for the church. I am so thankful for that peaceful feeling that only comes while reading the scriptures. I'm unbelievably thankful for an unwavering testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I've always loved to read, but lately my only interest has been in reading church related materials. This has been a massive blessing for me. It's easy to get weighed down with all the negativity that this world has to offer and when I'm feeling my worst all I have to do is pick up the scriptures, or any of these other amazing books and all my worries go away. Usually it's only a temporary relief, but it's so worth it. It's worth it because it's a reminder that I'm not alone. Even with all the things going on in California right now I've never been more aware of the Lord's presence in my life. I consider it a huge blessing that I get to be with Nate and the boys every day and know that the possibilities are endless for us. I can't imagine living life without the blessings of the temple. Well, actually I can imagine it. It hasn't even been a year since Nate and I went to the temple with Jackson and Payton and were sealed together as a family.

Having faith and having a true testimony of Christ's teachings truly does change you. Anyone who knew me 5 years ago or even 10 years ago would tell you that I'm a completely different person now. Back then I didn't deny what I knew to be true, I just tried to pretend that it didn't matter to me. Luckily the Lord never gave up on me. All of my bad decisions led up to one monumentally amazing blessing.........Jackson. Although the change didn't come quickly, I grew to understand the gospel more through Jackson because I could finally understand what it felt like to really love someone else more than I loved myself. I grew to understand, and am still trying to understand the huge responsibility it is to be a mother.

The decisions that I made after having Jackson led me to Nate, and now I have little Payton too. Things haven't been simple for our little family. We have had many struggles in the almost three years since we've been married. But the Lord's hand has been in our lives.

I never thought that Nate would be able to adopt Jackson, I hoped for it, but I was doubtful that his "birth donor" would ever agree to it. I just prayed and prayed for it, and one day I just knew that the time was right. I made the phone call and he just agreed. I called around to find a lawyer and found out that this would cost us at least $1000. A few days later I happened to be at the gym riding a bike. A girl who was acquainted with my parents (and I had only briefly met her once) came up and started talking to me. We just made small talk for a while and then her job came up. She said that she worked for a lawyer. He practiced some type of corporate law. I jokingly said, "Hey, ask him if he wants to do a free adoption!" I didn't think anything of it until my mom called me three weeks later and said, "Colleen talked to her boss and he said he'd do the adoption."

It took about 7 months for the whole process to be done. Jackson was officially adopted by Nate on March 29th, 2007. Two weeks before Payton was born. Then on December 28th, 2007 we went to the temple while Nate was home for Christmas Exodus.

When I look at those experiences I know that those blessings came from the Lord. I know that he has looked over us and protected us and I hope that I will always be worthy of those blessings.

HELP ME!!!

We are staying in California for the Holidays, which means I will be cooking all the big meals by myself. I've got almost everything picked out for Thanksgiving but I just can't decide on a really great side dish to go with the Mashed Potatoes and the Turkey. Give me some advice on your favorite Thanksgiving side dishes so I can get some ideas!!!!

Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon

I'm only about 100 pages into this book, but I highly recommend it.
It looks at the Book of Mormon from a historical point on view to see if it could really have been written by people during that same time period. I already have a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, but it is still amazing to me to see so much evidence that Joseph Smith really was called by God and translated such an amazing book of scripture. There really was no possible way he could have made up such a historically accurate story about this group of people. Read it!

Is there anything better than this?

Moments like this one are so refreshing! It makes you momentarily forget that your child is rapidly approaching the Terrible Twos.

My Favorite Thing

The boys are getting to the point where they actually play with each other and hang-out. Whenever I leave the room to do something, then come back to check on them they're always doing something together. Today I found them reading a book together. Other days they are wrestling. Usually they are quietly getting into trouble together. It's a lot of fun!

"The chief tragedy in the world at the present time is its disbelief in God’s goodness and its lack of faith in the teachings and doctrines of the gospel."

~David O. McKay~

An all new blog for Jessica!

I've enjoyed voicing my opinion out about issues that I'm passionate about. I also enjoyed getting feedback from people that read my postsn whether they agreed with me or not. Since this is my family blog I've decided to start a new blog so I can write about whatever I feel passionate about at any given time. This way my family blog will be the place for pictures and updates on my family, and my personal blog can be a place for political views, religious views, etc. etc. etc. Please check it out and feel free to comment. www.thehousewifethatcould.blogspot.com

Things are looking up!

Today got off to a great start! I filled up my gas tank today and it only cost $29.00. A few weeks ago it was costing $50.00 to fill up our little Honda Civic. I was really missing those days when it only cost 22 dollars to fill the tank!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

We had so much fun this year! The boys had three days of dressing up in their costumes. First they wore their costumes to the ward Halloween party/Trunk 'R' Treat.

Jackson got his face painted!

And Payton cried while Jackson got his face painted

Then on Thursday Jackson got to wear his costume to Pre-School. When Payton saw Jackson getting his Dragon on, Payton decided he wanted to wear his Monkey.

Jackson the Dragon!

Payton the Monkey!

The party animals!

Then they played for a while!

Jacksons good friend Ricky goes to his pre-school class so we caught some pretty sweet pictures of them together.

Then FINALLY we went Trick Or Treating tonight!!