Chainsaw

The sun was out last week and it was warm while Phil was in Portland so I decided to take out the chainsaw and do a little pruning. The first picture was taken almost 2 years ago, but I couldn't find another picture of the front of the house. Anyway we had two LARGE Camellia bushes out front that were very Alice-in-Wonderlandish so I cut them down.

All the other bushes have been forced to grow in directions over the last 10 years we will have to correct by staking and tying them down, but it does show a lot more of the house. I love fall weather when you can be outside working and cleaning up the yard.

One year older...

Well yesterday was the day I turned 32. Someone asked me last week how old I would be this year and for some reason I answered 34 and it has been stuck in my head ever since. Maybe that is going to be my year? Yesterday was fantastic starting off with Phil making the kids school lunches and letting me lay in bed an extra 15 minutes. Ashlee brought her girls and we hung out for a few hours. She brought some brownies to make, but I didn't have eggs. (don't use applesauce as an egg substitute in brownies) The kids had a half day at school so got to play with cousins then we headed off to piano lessons. For my biggest birthday present the kids went happily to piano lessons and even did their reading during the other piano lesson. We took the kids to Red Robin for dinner, because that is what we do for birthdays and then went to the church for temple recommend interviews.

I have a friend that has inspired me to write 32 things about myself now for my kids to read later to better understand who I am right now. I actually had the thought yesterday before Ashlee arrived that my mom was once me and I was once Miya and that it was weird to not remember much about my mom at that age. So we will try this...

1) I love spending time with your dad, even if it means working together on the cabin

2) I work out at least 5 times a week or it drives me crazy.

3) lately I have been riding the bike instead of running and have really enjoyed it

4) I love reading

5) I am the worst at putting laundry away...we are often going down to the basement to get clothes out of the baskets

6) your dad and I are currently watching all of Lost on Hulu once you are in bed even though we mostly just make fun of it

7) I love spending time with you swimming down at the beach during the warm summer

8) I still love playing volleyball

9) I still get super competitive while playing church basketball

10) I love getting a letter in the mail

11) I am currently serving in the relief society, but will always miss being in young women

12) I am super serious when it comes to your bedtime (7:00)

13) I have a really hard time watching cartoon movies and haven't made it all the way through one with you kids

14) I am not great at teaching you kids things because I don't have the patience. Cannon, you even taught yourself to ride a bike at Aunt Steph's because I was just making it harder.

15)I love cold cereal anytime of day

16) I love picking you up from school and having you at home in the afternoon even if you fight with each other a LOT

17) I can't pull out teeth. Miya dad has pulled 2 and you have done the rest yourself

18) I love Fall, but it always makes me a little homesick for Driggs

19) I love spending time with my sisters

20) I talk to one of my sisters almost everyday, but not on the weekends when I can hangout with dad

21) I am terrified of dogs,

22) snakes

23) and imagine that most animals are waiting to attack

24) I love sweets

25) I don't like beef

26) I was a super picky eater until I married your dad and he put his foot down

27) Grandma O'Brien made me my own meal because I was so picky and I make you eat what I cook or you go hungry

28) Your dad and I watch a lot of movies and once we have started it we have to finish it no matter how stupid it is. (we have even seen Dude, Where's My Car)

29) this year I am learning to really love myself and it feels great

30) I love to have a plan for things, but am finally learning that things don't always work out according to plan

31) I love strawberries dipped in chocolate or strawberry/oreo blizzards

32)I love life and I love being a wife and mother to you wonderful, beautiful kids

First Day of School 2010

Miya and Cannon are off to 2nd and 1st grade this year. They were both excited for school and have enjoyed the first week. They loved their new backpacks even though they are driving me crazy with the wheels and pulling them around. I tried everything in my power to get them to choose other backpacks, but they would not be convinced that these weren't the absolute coolest ones ever.
Cannon has Ms. Toy who Miya had last year and finds himself in a class with 16 girls and 4 boys. Someday he won't mind these odds. Miya has Ms Sandusky who was her reading teacher last year so she is excited. It has been hard getting back into a schedule after the summer, but the weather around here is making it pretty easy to be back in school.Lyla needed her picture taken that morning as well...yeah, she is too cool for school.

Baseball Game

We decided to take the kids to the last game of the season for the minor league Tacoma Rainer's. I am pretty sure the actual baseball game was the most boring part of the night. The kids did however love the hot dogs, the pop, the cotton candy, the ice cream and the team mascot. Then to top it all off they had a fantastic fireworks show.

The kids were super rowdy and I was happy we were in bench seats and didn't have very many people around us to mind my kids wrestling and moving around. This was the last game in this stadium because they will start playing in Seattle while they build a new stadium next year. Lyla didn't enjoy the fireworks like Cannon and Miya.

Lessons

So I taught the lesson on Sunday in Relief Society. I read a talk by Elder Holland called To Young Women and loved it. It seemed to be exactly what I needed to hear and when I prayed about the topic I didn't really want the answer because I felt it would be a hard topic to cover and not offend anyone, but I did it and everything seemed to go okay.
To summarize the lesson:
In a study done they found that women have, on average, 36 negative thoughts per day about their bodies. Richard Evans said, "We can break bad habits; we can acquire good habits; we can choose what we think by the sheer determination to do so." Well I have this bad habit of having negative thoughts about my body so I decided once I read this talk to acquire good habits and change my view about my body. I have been trying to think about something I like about my body when a bad thought comes into my mind to try and counter my other thoughts. I must say that over the last few weeks I have slowly started to feel better about myself.
Some of the favorite highlights from Elder Holland, "I want you to be proud you are a woman. I want you to feel the reality of what that means, to know who you truly are. You are literally a spirit daughter of heavenly parents with a divine nature and an eternal destiny...Be a woman of Christ. Cherish your esteemed place in the sight of God. He needs you. This Church needs you. The world needs you. I say to you what the Prophet Joseph said more than 150 years ago: 'If you live up to your privileges, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates.'
"I plead with you young women to please be more accepting of yourselves, including your body shape and style, with a little less longing to look like someone else. We are all different."

Then he went on to say, "Every young woman is a child of destiny and every adult woman a powerful force for good."

I love the words of love and encouragement we receive from the Apostles.