Motherhood

Elder Russell M. Nelson on motherhood:
"During my professional career as a doctor of medicine, I was occasionally asked why I chose to do that difficult work. I responded with my opinion that the highest and noblest work in this life is that of a mother. Since that option was not available to me, I thought that caring for the sick might come close. I tried to care for my patients as compassionately and competently as Mother cared for me."

Julie B. Beck:
"The responsibility mothers have today has never required more vigilance. More than at any time in the history of the world, we need mothers who know. Children are being born into a world where they wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places

However, mothers need not fear. when mothers know who they are and who God is and have made covenants with Him, they will have great power and influence for good on their children."

The First Presidency:
"Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind."



Payton was up in the middle of the night with a bad cough. I got him out of bed and gave him some cough syrup. I was really tired so I was going to just put him back to bed, but I decided to sit on the couch and hold him for a while. Payton always wants to be moving. Since he learned how to crawl he's wanted to be on the move constantly. Once he got past the newborn stage I wanted to train him to go to sleep on his own so I tried to never let him fall asleep in my arms. I'd forgotten what a great feeling it is to have my little one fall asleep while I was holding him. Last night he snuggled right into me and just held me as tight as he could. While he was falling asleep he just rubbed my shoulder with his chubby little hand. It was nice to sit alone in the quiet of the night and look at his perfectly chubby face while he slept. In the craziness of the day it's easy to forget how lucky we are to be mothers. I'm grateful for those quiet moments with my children when I can remember how blessed I am to be a mother.

Our Little Chef

Jackson is starting to take his Independence seriously!

Usually when we wake up in the morning he just sits on the couch and waits for me to get him his breakfast. This morning I was in my bedroom changing my clothes and I heard some banging in the kitchen. Payton is always getting in the kitchen messing with the pots and pans so I didn't really think anything of it and continued to take my time. I'm not a morning person so it always takes me a while to get moving.

When I got into the kitchen I saw that Jackson had gotten out a pan and the eggs and had already cracked four eggs. He did surprisingly well. He got the eggs into the pan before cracking them open so there wasn't a mess for me to clean up on the counter top. After cracking the eggs he did drop the shells into the pan as well so I did have to spend some time getting all the shells out. I was proud of him for trying to be such a big boy. I let him stir the eggs and it made his day.

Now that he's realized he can do more for himself he's also started climbing up to the sink to get his own water. He also decided he wanted to get himself some cheese. He grabbed a 4 lb. block of un-opened cheese out of the fridge and tried cutting himself a slice with one of his plastic kiddie knives. Obviously he was unsuccessful. It was cute to see him try though.

Injured Soldier

Nate was working out a couple days ago and got a "little" injury. He actually tore his Pec muscle. Can you believe that? I've never heard of anyone tearing their Pec. Anyway, we thought it was a little weird that the bruise was on his arm. These pictures don't even do that honkin' bruise justice.

Nightly Visitor

I stayed up late last night watching Pride and Prejudice. While I was laying on the couch I heard some noise in the backyard so I went to the sliding glass door to do some investigating. I saw a raccoon digging around in Jackson's sand box. He had lifted the lid off and was moving around all of Jackson's toys. So I knocked on the window and said, "what are you doing?" He turned around and looked at me for a minute, then got out of the sandbox and came up the stairs to get a better look at me. He went right up to the window so I crouched down and put my hand up to the window. Then he put his little paw right up on the window where my palm was. Then he just looked into my eyes for a long time. The mother in me wanted to go get him some food because he was so dang cute, but if I'd done that he probably would've attacked me, eaten the food, then brought back his buddies. So I just watched the cute little bugger for a while. He was looking around in my flower beds then all of a sudden he just ran away. I looked around and noticed a skunk had made it's way into my yard. I chose not to make friends with him.

Pre-School

Jackson started pre-school last week! I took a picture of him before we left and another one after we got there. He was so excited to be at school that he couldn't even hold still for the picture. He really likes to be at school and loves his teacher. Her name is Ms. Pat, but he calls her Ms. Pet.

He did have a little breakdown on Thursday. Some of the other moms picked up their children early and when Jackson saw that I wasn't there yet he thought that I wasn't going to come and get him at all. It made me so sad to see him crying there because I remember those feelings from when I was in pre-school and worried that my mom would forget to come and pick me up.

Our Beautiful California Views

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just ordinary people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey...delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

Gordon B. Hinkley

My friend had that quote up on her blog and it made me think. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in negative thoughts. I try to always be positive, but sometimes I can't help but think that maybe I'm missing out on something. It's taken me a while to realize that love and marriage doesn't turn out the way it does in the movies. Your own love story never seems great once you've seen those amazing (and fictional) love stories in the movies.

Lately when I talk about myself I say I'm "just a mom." I don't know about the rest of the moms out there, but for me it's easy to feel like I'm not contributing to the world. When the majority of your conversations are with a 3 year old it's easy to think that there are bigger things going on that you aren't a part of because you're "just a mom."

It's nice to get a reality check every once in a while and realize that even though marriage has plenty of ups and downs, and it constantly takes hard work, it's the most worth-while thing we can be doing. And our individual love stories are better than the ones in the movies because ours are real. And what more can you do to contribute to society than by being a loving, positive influence in your childs life?

Monterey Bay Aquarium

The boys and I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with my friend Amanda and her two kids. The last time we went to the aquarium Jackson was really scared of the sharks and cried his eyes out so we had to take Payton out of the stroller so Jackson could hide in it. This time I made sure he had a friend with him hoping that would help him be strong. He freaked out a little bit at first but ended up having a really great time. They also have a special part of the aquarium just for toddlers so Payton got to get out and play and have a great time. Jackson and his friend Emma were so cute. They walked around holding hands for a while. It was adorable!

Fun At The Beach

Family fun at Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA

Catching Up

The past 6 weeks have been pretty hectic. In June Nate's oldest sister Deborah passed away. She battled breast cancer for eight months. She had most of her family there by her side when she passed away. We bought a plane ticket for Nate to go and see her, but she passed away the night before he was scheduled to leave.

Nate got 8 days off for emergency leave. It was so nice to be able to spend time with family, especially for Nate. He was at basic training when Deborah was diagnosed with breast cancer and didn't really get to spend any one on one time with people while he was home for his Christmas break. He didn't get to see Deborah once she got sick so it was good for him to be close to his family and talk about all their memories of Deborah. I've only been in the family for 2 1/2 years so I didn't know Deb as well as everyone else, but I did know that she was an amazing woman. I loved talking to her. She also really helped Nate out with so many things in his life.

While we were in Utah we stayed at Nate's moms' house. Deborah's husband Mike and their 3 kids stayed there also. I was so thankful for the opportunity to cut Alexis' hair and fix Alexis, James, and Gabby's hair before the funeral. Fixing hair is such a simple task, but I was humbled doing it because I know it was something that their mom usually would have done.


After we got home Nate ended up getting dropped from his class. He was passing with a 2.4 (which I think is still pretty amazing considering all of the things that were going on in his family at the time. How do you concentrate on learning a crazy language when you're constantly worried about your sister. I'm really proud of him) but his school has a strict attendance policy so they had to drop him. There weren't any seats available in the next Farsi classes so right now they're just trying to decide what to do with him. His unit back in Utah has offered to put him in another language, so now it's up to the battalion commander to OK it. We're waiting semi-patiently.

In happier news, Payton took his first steps about a week ago. I thought he'd be walking all over the place by now, but now he refuses to walk. He's a stubborn little boy, sweet, but stubborn. Nate and I are both pretty stubborn people, so I guess he got a double dose.

Jackson will be turning 4 on August 29th. I still can't believe I have a child that old. He should be starting pre-school in August. I'm excited for him to go off to school on his own. He's going to love it so much.

We also had Nate's sister Maria and her husband Ben come visit this month. We LOVED having them here. We wish they could've stayed longer.