Setting things STRAIGHT!

My friend Valerie did a straightening perm on my hair today and I think I have joined my Mama in heaven!!! Ive wanted a Brazilian blowout ever since I heard about them but it was not even close to our budget range. Val suggested we do the straightening perm and it is A-MAY-ZING! I don't even recognize my hair.

You all probably think I'm being overly dramatic but I got my prepregnacy hair back!
Hallelujah!



Updated to add: I will post a picture when I do my hair tomorrow but it looks pretty much the same as when I did it straight - the difference is the work to get it that way. I use to use my flat iron over and over to get it straight (if it would go completely straight) but now it goes almost completely straight with me just blow drying it and its not as frizzy.

A straightening perm is a just like a perm but instead of using rollers Val just kept combing it straight while the solution was on. My hair was really curly in the back and got curlier after every pregnancy but the very front was still mostly straight. It was not evenly curly so it did not look good curly but it was impossible to wear down without intense straightening measures or using hot rollers.

My hair still has a tiny bit of wave that is gone with simply blow drying and there was one spot in the back that was very curly that I will still probably have to flat iron but most of the curl is gone.

Don't know if that helps any....

Easter!

I loved Easter this year! Someone told me that this year Easter fell on the absolute latest Sunday that it can possibly fall. I think it landed this late just for me. To have it directly follow my Mom's Birthday was beautiful reminder of life and hope and that the Savior conquered death. Death is not the end! That makes me so happy and brought me peace this year.

To kick Easter off we went and decorated eggs on Monday with our good friends the Dana's.


It was fun and there was a big change from years past when our kids were not that into the egg dying!




Saturday Morning brought the....

It was so fun and so funny to watch! Davis and Caleb both got right in there!



But Beckham was clueless for the first little bit and a little shell shocked! I love this picture because its a perfect reminder of what he did for the first few minutes as all the other kids raced around him wildly!


He finally got the hang of it!






We dyed a few more eggs on Saturday night....


And then we left our eggs out for the Easter Bunny to hide as well as a few carrots for him to snack on with big hopes that he would fill our buckets with all sorts of goodies!


And he came! Which was pretty lucky because rumor has it that the Easter Bunny was reallllly tired this year :)


The boys were dying to come out in the morning!


Some more than others - Caleb actually came into our room 5 times during the night asking if it was time yet and just about got his Easter Basket thrown out to the curb! They had a lot of fun looking through their baskets and chowing on candy for breakfast.




They hunted for eggs and were remarkably good at finding them. Next year the Easter Bunny is going to make it more challenging!



I always try to take a picture of the boys before Church on Easter and this year we struck pure photo gold! Could these be any cuter!






And of course one with Dad and Mom!



I got so many compliments on my beautiful beaded sweater. It was my Moms and I think its my new Easter Sunday Sweater. I actually wore that white dress to the Temple the day John and I were married. A few years ago I figured it would make a good Easter dress because it serves as an annual gauge of where I'm at based on how it fits. It was a little more snug than I wanted it this year but it fit! Good motivation for next year :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Birthday Grandma Silly!

Saturday was a big day here for us. It was my Moms 59th birthday and we did A LOT of celebrating in her honor!

First we all wrote her a letter and attached them to balloons.


We climbed to the very top of the red rock by our house and sent them up to her in heaven one at a time.



I sent mine with a special hug and kiss.


I like to think she snatched mine up really fast because we were on top of the red rock with a perfect view of the sky in every direction, but right after launching mine - we couldn't find it anywhere in the sky! She must want a hug and kiss from me just as badly as I want one from her!




Then we hopped in the car and drove to Star Nursery to pick out a couple of trees to plant in her honor. We knew we wanted a Wilson Olive but we were not sure about the second. We spent an hour or more looking and finally came up with this tree.


After we amazingly fit them into our car (with me crammed in the back to hold them still) I realized that the tree we had picked out was a Carolina Cherry! It was so perfect but so funny that it took that long for me to get the significance!

We had a blast singing Sweet Caroline on the way home. The boys think that song is so much fun and that it was written especially for Grandma! They are pretty good at singing it too! All day long we would hear them singing it to themselves!

John and I spent the next 3-4 hours working hard in the yard planting the trees, planting melons, mowing, weeding, bug spraying, weed whacking....it was busy! Here is the Wilson Olive tree.


Its just a little bitty thing right now. I am so excited for Grandpa Lew's wheelbarrow to all fill in again. Last year it was amazing! And this is our front porch and window boxes before everything has had a chance to fill in too.


I think it will look really nice - especially if the honeysuckle will fill the lattice in. You can sort of see our brick pile on the right. John finally found a brick building being demolished and was able to score us the brick we need to fill that sitting area in. We are SO excited about that brick...now we just need the time!

We finally came in got our yummy dinner prepared! I had asked my Mom what she missed eating the most and she said if she could have any meal again it would have been Flank Steak, baked potatoes, Caesar salad, and homemade lemonade. She has such great tastes! Since our Bountiful Basket had come with all sorts of veggies but no lettuce I decided to do her Smoked paprika veggies instead of salad.


It was yum-my! We ate on her china and the boys got to use the cups and silverware that were given to them at their blessings by Grandma and Grandpa. They get to use their silverware all the time but I keep the cups for special occasions.


John and I finished the night off by watching a couple episodes of The Young Riders. We are always looking for good clean shows and its been fun to go back and watch these since both of our families use to love that show!

Happy Birthday Mama!
We love you....we miss you!

9 years ago...

It has been a very busy weekend with my Moms birthday and Easter but something most people don't know about April 23rd is that it was the day John received the answer to his prayers about his decision to marry me.


We have had some great years and some years that have been really hard. We have seen each other at our best and at our worst. 9 years later I am still glad he got the answer he did.

I love you babe!

My Moms gift to Davis

I am not sure how to write this post - I don't think the words exist to describe my feelings and I'm terrified I wont be able to convey what I feel in my heart.

Davis has always held a very special place in my heart. All of my boys do in their own unique way- but my heart is very protective of Davis. He is so tender and he looks at the world in a different way than most children and even John and I do. He is creative and smart but in some ways he lacks social awareness. That last sentence is exactly why this post is so hard to write! It makes it sound like its a bad quality, a fault, or that he is lacking something when its the exact opposite! Our world lacks the awareness that come so easily to Davis! For Davis the world doesn't get complicated. He does not let the distractions around him deter him from his purpose and he sees joy in everything he does! He isn't always looking for something new or ready to move onto the next thing - he finds joy in the tasks of life.

He moves at a slower pace than the hectic lifestyle our society has created. I have always been (and probably always will be) a go-getter. I cant help it - I just am. I want efficiency and to squeeze as much in as I possibly can so that I can squeeze in even more.

A while back I wrote that he was beginning to stutter. Some days he does really good and other days he stutters quite a bit. We went and had him evaluated and based off of what the tester saw in our evaluation he thinks Davis is above average in his language but will need intervention with his fluency. I guess that is pretty common- they are either really behind or really ahead when it comes to vocabulary.

When I made his appointment the person that would be doing the evaluation told me to start talking slower to Davis, which I did. I also started to notice that in almost every interaction I had with him I used the word "hurry" repeatedly. I cant type that sentence without my heart aching in shame. Knowing that I have (unintentionally) tried to make his perfect little gift conform to my pace of life fills me with sadness. He has a need that I didn't see and it breaks my heart now that I realize it.

The handouts they gave me to read of things parents can do to help a child who stutters goes like this:
1. Provide a calmer, less-hurried, less-stressed life style in their environment.
2. Speak slowly when talking to the child. Sound mellow and relaxed.
And on and on all basically reiterating the same point....

SLOW DOWN! CALM DOWN!

Thanks to my Mom we did slow down our lifestyle but lately I feel the pace building again. I thought perhaps I could start adding back some of the commitments I had put on hold. But now I think of my precious little Davis and I want to bar the doors, disconnect my phone, and throw away my calendar!

I know I cant do that but I also know that there are things that really matter, there are things that are nice to be able to do, and there are things I do because I feel obligated. I have to have the courage to say, "No, thank you" to most of the extra stuff in order to keep our home life a peaceful and calm sanctuary for his little mind to master fluency.

I am so grateful that my Mom prepared me with the courage to put him first in front of everything else I might feel obligated to do. I had wanted to pull back and detach myself for a long time before my Mom got sick but couldn't figure out how to walk away until I was forced to walk away. The best part - it wasn't hard at all!

I have wondered lately why I was chosen to be Davis' mother...NOT because I don't want to be - rather I feel so inadequate! I am terrified that I am not the Mom he needs and he deserves the best. And then I think about how loving, kind, and patient he is and realize that I wasn't chosen to be his Mother to help him - he was chosen to be my son to help and teach me.

Davis,

I can hardly find words to tell you how much you mean to me. I have said it before - I want to wrap you up and tuck you away from this harsh busy world because I don't want you to ever hurt! I never want to allow anything to dampen your Spirit or make you question your worth.

What a gift you are to me. You make me stop and appreciate all that I have around me. You take the time to do things right and give a project or a person your total undivided attention. I have so much to learn from you, and buddy I am committed - no matter the cost - to give you what you need here at home!

I love you son!


Here is an example of his amazing mind and persistence. He built this track entirely by himself! In fact at one point I saw where he was building and saw the pieces left and felt a little pity because after all his hard work the track wasn't going to work out. I tried to jump in and help him "fix" it. After a few minutes I realized my help was not appreciated and so I walked away and left him to play alone. About a half hour later he asked me to come look at his track. It was amazing! He saw potential and possibilities my mind couldn't see existed!

Why I love 1:00 Church

Most people dread the 1:00 block time for Church and normally I am right there with them! But this year its bliss! Each of our boys has slept in my arms during Sacrament for a year or two while they are toddlers if I will sit in the Mothers lounge and rock them. By the time we moved to CA in November Beckham would hardly go down at 11:00. Those months in Brea were pure Sacrament meeting misery and I missed that time so much. But now with 1:00 Church each Sunday I get to spent 1 hour rocking my babe and watching his relaxed face and perfect lips dream in my arms. That precious time has been one of my greatest joys in motherhood!

Its funny how each of them have projected their own personality onto that time too! Caleb fought to go to sleep! Each Sunday I would hold him tight while he fought and screamed and screamed until he was so mad that he would finally stick his two little fingers into his mouth and fall asleep in about a minute. Davis was the complete opposite of Caleb! He rebelled at the idea of being held tight. He simply wanted to sit in my lap as I rocked and let himself drift slowly to sleep. I couldn't try to hold him laying in my arms - he had to be sitting up! Beckham is right in the middle. He loves to go to sleep and will do it willingly but he does have to be held and told to go "night-night" as he tries to tune out the other distractions.

I love the long blinks as their little eyes fight to stay awake until finally they drop and stay closed.....I love the little pucker their lips make while they sleep....I love how their total relaxed weight feels in my arms!

As I held Becks this last Sunday while he slept in my arms I realized how lucky I am to have one more year of this. One more year to stare into his face and spend that time just him and me. I tried to sneakily stand up and move to the actual Chapel but he immediately woke...I still haven't learned that they want me to stay put because none of them would make the transfer - but deep down secretly I'm glad!

Cantaloupe & Ice cream

Dear Mom,
FHE treat was in your honor tonight.


I enjoyed it almost as much as I did reminiscing of our camping trips in Glen Ivy. I thought of divinity, the tent trainer, and the Glen Ivy Day Spa. My favorite memory of the night was thinking of you and I taking a mud bath! Those were good times!

Love,
Girly

Shutters!

Finally! Here is the project I procrastinated for 3 whole years!

(they do close and open)

When we moved in I discovered that if someone were on a latter on the top of the hill with binoculars they could see into our bathroom and bedroom. I know - remote possibility but still kind of weirded me out. I didn't worry too much since the neighborhood was so sparse but I always wanted to build working shutters to put on the window. And now we finally did! I love the way it turned out. We went to St Thomas on our honeymoon and Ive always tried to give our room and bedroom that rustic beach feel to remind us of the romance of the Caribbean. These shutters really help give that ambiance and we did it for only $25!

Here is the last of my projects that Ive been working on in our Entry way. The first was to get our coat rack under control!

Now we each have our own hook to hook 1 jacket on - not every jacket we own :)

I also had two hanging frames next to our big mirror in the entry way that needed to be freshened up. My Mom had a framed arrangement of keys that hung in my parents house. It fell and broke shortly after she passed away and my Dad told me I could have the keys if I wanted them. Many of these are actual keys from my Great Grandma Lula and my Moms childhood. I made displays in both of the frames and am really happy with the way they turned out and both of these projects came in at a whopping $2 total! Now I just need to paint my mirror!