Dear Grandma and Grandpa-

It has been such a long time since I wrote to you guys! My one new years resolution this year is to write once a month so I can send you pictures too! This month has been very busy for me. I turned three, started school, had a birthday party, had surgery and saw some airplanes!

I am back up at USU and loving it! My friends Gracelyn and Maya are in my class again and I enjoy playing with them very much! In my new class we have show and tell, math time, science time and a turtle and a Gerbil named 'bubbles'! We get to feed them sometimes. I love playing with the HUGE blocks that are in the class room. A friend and I built a tower that was so tall, all the teachers were talking about it the next day, even teachers who aren't in my classroom!

For my birthday, we went bowling! I loved it! I bowled a score of 80, and want to go bowling again soon. I loved dancing in my bowling shoes and after I was done bowling, Uncle Dave let me play some arcade games. I do have to be very careful with my money, I got hungry one day and ate a penny. It tasted awful and my tummy hurt for a few days, but everything turned out okay. I am pretty sure I learned my lesson, but you never know when you will be hungry again and the only thing you have is a penny!

For my birthday party, mom made me a 'very hungry caterpillar' cake. I picked chocolate as the flavor and it was wonderul! Daddy made some pictures of the food the caterpillar eats in his story and we played 'memory' with them on the living room floor. That is one of my favorite games and Daddy's pictures were awesome! The week after my birthday I had tubes put in my ears. I wasn't very happy about that. My ears do feel better and I can hear better now, but I was very sad that day. We had to be there early in the morning so I was very tired, luckily I had my Batman blankie with me. It made me feel better to snuggle in it.

Today we went to see the Air Force Base in Roy.

I LOVED to see all the planes and wanted to ride in one. When Mommy told me we were going to see some airplanes, I kept asking her if we were going to ride in a train too. Now, that would've been so much fun! But I did get to go into a helicopter that flew in the Vietnam war and even poke my head out of a window, so that made me feel better. Daddy bought me a blue airplane from the gift store and I love it! It looks just like one of the planes that was hanging from the ceiling. I met a nice man who worked at the museum whose name was 'Tom' and he showed me one of the planes that he flew when he was younger.

Till next month!- Love Sophia

Its me, Abbie. I have changed so much this past month its crazy! When I went for my check up in the middle of the month I weighed just over 12 pounds and I am 21 inches long! The Dr. said I was short and fat, but Mommy told me that was A-ok. I love to smile and even laughed for the first time! I went to a different Dr. and he checked my ears to make sure I can hear ok. He said that everything is great so I don't need to go and see him again. Sophie and Mommy and I painted our toes HOT PINK! Sophie painted mommy's half blue, but mine are all pink and it rocks! They are very stylish if I do say so myself. I love to play with Sophie and even danced with her this month. I didn't dance for long, but Sophie always treats me very nice. She even taught me how to count the other day from a coloring book the Grandma Forbis bought her. I was sitting in my car seat and Sophie pulled me close so she could show me what page she was coloring. I love to listen to her stories and watch her as she runs around the room jumping off stuff. She keeps me entertained for sure! Love- Abigail

martial lockdown- January

So I have been talking about having a financial/physical lockdown at our house and that has turned a eyebrow or two upward. I thought I would post some tidbits from our lockdown on our blog and spread the joy!
Cam and I have been thinking about how we can best get our lives in order both financially and physically. We both have lofty goals but in reality it comes down to just this: living within our means and paying off debt, and being healthier. Personally I don't want to mess up my body and pay for it later.
So there is the abridged version as to why, now here is the January how to: Financially:this month has two goals (also let me say that each of these goals is meant to become a habit). First: write down EVERYTHING we spend. Right down to the penny. At the end of the month we are going to sit down and add everything up in their respective categories and see how we made out. I know we are both going to be surprised by how much we spent on silly things that we don't need. I am hoping that we will not be surprised by how much we eat out, but I have a feeling we will be. I think this will be a good place to start and see where we can cut back. It might help us make more appropriate budgeting alottments as well. Also for this month we are taking a look at the upcoming year and adding up birthdays, trips and planned events that require us to spend money. We are going to try a revolving savings for some of these so that when these events happen we won't be hit all at once, but will hopefully be prepared.
Physically: This months goal is something I feel will be more in my court instead of a total joint effort. I want to offer something from the fruits and veggie category at each meal. I read an article that said a large percentage of people do NOT get their serving of fruits and veggies each day. I am sure we are in this category. If the veggie is not going to be served as a side dish, I hope to smuggle it into our food :) How evil!! hahahaha!
Well, I hope you enjoyed a look into our lockdown for January. Enjoy!

Fall Frenzy

So here we are in the holiday season. I know the title of this post is "Fall Frenzy" but now that I look at it, it seems to be more of our activities from the fall. Well, anywhoo. Since this is the second time writing this post (I just erased instead of saved the last one) I am going to write this backwards from the time that it all happened. This past week, we went to the live Nativity in the valley. We were disappointed that the Camel was sick, but it was still really neat to see lots of other animals. Sophie got to pet some goats and went to pet a horse, but he seemed really cranky to Grandpa Tryon took her to see another horse. After we saw the animals, we went on a hayride. Since it had rained all day and even while we were there, we (and the hay we sat on) were pretty wet by the time we were done. The horses pulled our wagon through the mud and it made me glad that I wasn't a horse, cause it looked like very hard work!

Sophia loves to dance with her daddy. She loves jammin' and snapping her little fingers to some crazy dancing music, but nothing seems to be as fun as waltzing around the kitchen while being serenaded by her dad. It is priceless! Perhaps it is just spending time with Daddy. They loved to sword fight with these noisemakers we got at a baseball game, but they were so crazy with their fighting that one popped and now they play sneak attack with the one they have left. It is really funny to watch. It just tells me that my little girl is kind of a tom boy. She will tell you that her favorite superhero is Batman, she loves to swordfight, she loves to kick/throw/toss any sort of ball, and she has even played tackle football with her uncles! Oh, and don't forget that she loves her hotwheels!

Cam's birthday was in Nov. and we invited some people over to have an improv night. That was a blast! The funnest game to watch was 'helping hands'. Kevin (pictured right) was Cam's hands as he decorated his cake. Good thing Sophie and I made two cakes, the one they decorated ended up in Cam's face and all over the floor! It was well worth it though!

Also this fall I participated in a murder mystery show where I was 'Rosita' the cuban illegal immigrant. I was also the killer. (mwahahaha) I thought the mob boss was an immigration and 'neutralization' agent and I did not want to get deported. So, I put rat poison on his cigar and that was all she wrote. It was quite fun!

The last few pics are from the pumpkin walk this year. Sophie loved the wooden cut outs, and many of them were her height which made them all the more fun! It sure has been a busy, but fun fall. Our little family is truly blessed!

Fall 2010

So the summer has come and gone. Now we are looking at another Holiday season. Wowzers! This summer we went down to AZ for a comic book convention AND a wedding! It was a positive blast and we sure love our new sis-in-law! This is our navigator Sophie as she guided us on our LONG car ride down to the grand canyon where we stayed the night! It was Sophies first camping experience.

So lets fast forward to the fall: Sophie is in pre-pre school at USU and is doing so well in it! She is in a class with 11 other students and they play, play, play! Her favorite thing that she has learned is called "Ram Sam Sam" its a little song with hand signs (like eensey winsey spider). She does this song in the car, in the bath and mostly before she goes to sleep. What a silly little girl!

This fall I entered a cross stitch in the county fair, and was able to go to the State fair.

It was really fun to go down and see how it did (honorable mention both times) and we enjoyed seeing all the farm animals in both fairs. At the state fair there was a show of racing pigs (that was exciting) and a sea-lion show! It was so much fun to watch the sea lions jump in and out of the pools they were in. They even danced in a conga line for us!

This halloween was kinda disappointing. It was rainy and cold and all around yucky. We still had lots of fun and too much candy though! Sophie went trick or treating to my work at the mall, went to maceys and then to both Grandmas houses. She is so lucky to have both Grandma's close by. This year she was going to be the monkey from last year because the costume fit so perfectly but then I realized that it didn't have anyroom for her shoes, soooo we threw together an octopus costume! Then best part is it only took one night and only cost me $2.50. Plus I think it is so cute! She wore it to school also. They had a halloween parade and went and saw the kids from the other classes. That was so much fun! Well, until the next time fellow bloggers! (Hopefully it won't be another six months!)

love

I have neglected my mother's day posts for a couple of days, things just got busy :) I have however, been reading and thinking. Why do Mom's get such a bad reputation? Why is it casually dismissed when we say, "I am a mom"? Jane tells a story in her book about how she was at a party and someone asked her what she did. She said that she was a Mom and after an audible pause, the party goer said, "well that's nice" and walked away! Jane said she knew if she would have said a foreign correspondent of something like that, the party goer would have stayed and talked to her longer. She quotes a study where the researcher said that back in the days when farmers depended on their crops for their livlihood, the women were equal partners with them. There was no farm with out each other. As time went on, things that women did (sew, wash etc.) were mechanized and their labors were now automatic. The men went to work and their labors were judged by a paycheck. I think that pretty much explains it personally.
There are instances when women have to work. My mom worked while we were growing up. I know it was hard for her to balance the two, my dad worked in the morning and she worked in the evening so there was always someone home. What sacrifice on both their parts! Personally I respect the crappin's out of working mom's! Coming home from one job to catch up on everything their kids have done/dirtied during the day...
I just want to say I know Motherhood matters! It is like the talk in conference (I am sorry I can't remember who it is) but they said that the love of a mother is like the love of Christ. So selfless, unconditional. When we have those horrid bad days were everyone seems mad at you, where nothing goes right, from one thing to the next with grumpy kids (hubby's in tow) we as mother's matter! It breaks my heart when people think being a mother is something to casually dismiss because it means the world to me, I love it so much!

"You must allow the Lord to use you..."

Todays post is kind of a continuation from yesterdays theme of being a"pencil in the hand of God". What a wonderful thought, being a pencil in the hand of God. Isn't that cool? I mean, what a concept! Letting the Lord use us to change lives, for us to be humble and moldable enough to be the tool for the Lord to change lives.
As Jane opens her second chapter, she talks about her story. When she started BYU, she had a script for her life, when whe would be married, when she would have kids, graduate, etc. Not much went according to her plan. She didn't get married until AFTER she graduated. She didn't graduate in the field she wanted originally, and so on. Even though some of her journey has been painful, where she is now makes her 'soul happy'.
One of the events in her life that was different than planned, was when she got offered a job in NYC. In the midst of moving (from the west coast!) she received a phone call from Elder Maxwell's office saying he wanted, if possible, to meet with her and give her a blessing for her new job. She said that many things were said in the blessing but one of the things that stood out to her was "you must allow the Lord to use you". Her religion made her an "anomoly" in her career. She said that many times she would be introduced to someone and they would say "Oh you're the Mormon!' or "I don't know any Mormons!"
As her contract with CBS was drawing to an end, her manager got her a "lucrative" contract with another station, truly what her career was headed to. But something else had also happened, she had just gotten engaged. She said that God had placed before her two very separate paths. To let her deal expire would not be placing her career on hold, but ending it. This is why I love Jane! After much thought and prayer, she decided to start her family. As she said in my graduation ceremony (yes, I have met her! She did indeed speak at my graduation, I already loved her and her story though!) "It is easier to craft a resume than to rebuild your family". What faith, not to mention strength, to choose a family over a promising career.
The title of this blog can be applied to many situations in life, but this week lets apply it to mother's: We are teaching our children all they need to know, right from the simplest of tasks such as using a fork and a spoon, to getting dressed. We also need to teach them to look to the Lord. The calling of being a mother is such a sacred, shared experience with the creator, He will continue to use us even after life had begun. Even those of us who do not have children yet will be a tool in His hand to teach others. It is a divine right that befalls each of us as women.
So to all women who are reading this blog, I will end with a challenge: How can we allow the Lord to use us? No matter our situation, that is part of our Divine Nature, God has placed in us potential, a divine destiny to help Him better the kingdom here on earth, lets allow Him to use us and see where that takes us! We can't go wrong with the Lord on our side guiding our steps!

"A Pencil in the hand of God"

"I am like a pencil in God's hand. That is all. He does the thinking. He does the writing. The pencil has nothing to do with it. The pencil has only to be allowed to be used." Mother Teresa: Missionary of Compassion, Time, December 4, 1989.
Long have we been told that "The Hand that rocks the cradle rules the world", where does that saying come from even? For so long I have just heard it repeated and repeated. Perhaps because it is repeated so much, it becomes more common place and while it still means a lot, it is just another one of those cute sayings that is logged back in the files of our brain somewhere.
Even Oprah says that "To play mothering down as small is to crack the very foundation on which greatness stands." Back when I sold Mary Kay, the saying at our meetings was "If Oprah likes it: every woman in America likes it. "It still doesn't seem however, that women know that being a mother is a Divine calling. Perhaps it is because more women are in the workplace. They have been in charge of budgets, in board meetings, they have been a place where they receive some sort of praise and pat on the back for doing something good for the company.
When I was a Financial Manager, I loved what I did. If I might be so bold, I think I did my job well. (I know that sounds prideful!) I always wanted to be stay-at-home mom (SAHM) but part of me wondered if I could really do that after I had done so much in the workplace? Perhaps that is why the choice was made for me to leave that job. Back then I couldn't understand why I could be fired for a bogus reason. I was so mad that my name would be smeared so badly; after I had done so much to better that company, why would they tell so many lies about me? How could they treat me that way and still feel good about themselves? I suppose I still have baggage from that experience, but a little more clearly every day, Heavenly Father reveals a little bit of His plan to me. I can truly say that nothing I ever did at my old job would even compare with those big blue eyes of my baby smiling at me while she eats, or a glancing smile while we plant flowers. A hug or a slobbery kiss followed by a sparkle of happiness in those eyes, that just does something to my soul that makes me feel so whole. Nothing I ever did at that job could possibly make me feel as good as she makes me feel!
In "I am a Mother" Jane Clayson Johnson tells a story about going to a dinner in D.C. with her husband and about 75 mostly LDS couples of different professions got up after dinner to tell a little about themselves. The Men told of their careers but when it came time for the wives to stand, mostly all of them said to some effect, "I'm just a mom". As a society we hear that a lot, that motherhood is a day full of meaningless tasks. Mopping up spilled milk, changing diapers, cleaning up lunch, etc.
I think Jane says it best is summing up her first chapter. She ends by quoting Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (which she has typed up and on her nightstand): "'You are doing God's work. You are doing it wonderfully well. He is blessing you and He will bless you, even--no especially-- when your days and nights are most challenging. Like the woman who anonymously, meekly, perhaps even with hesitation and some embarassment, fought her way through the crowd just to touch the hem of the Master's garment, so Christ will say to the women who worry and wonder and weep over their responsibility as mothers, 'Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.' And it will make your children whole as well.
'That is a mother.
'We are mothers.
'The next time someone inquires what you do or asks you to describe yourself, would you say with confidence and with joy, 'I am a Mother'?"