{Alix's Art Show}

Alix got 2 of her artpieces in the School Districts Artshow K-12. The Art Show was at the High School and we all went down to see it. It was fun night seeing all the fun creative artwork.

Here's Alix with her artwork. She does such a great Job. Her teacher always tells me how creative she is. Alix so kindly always says . . I'm creative because of my mom!

Melts my heart every time!

Emberlynn needed her picture next to one to copy Alix. However she can't take credit for it.

{A Product that works for Me}

Mason is a sweet little boy, however the month he was very high maintenance. He constantly needed attention when he was  awake. Since my old swing I sold in Las Vegas at my garage sale I needed to get a new one, I was a bit hesitant about buying one cause the  baby rocker I bought he wasn't keen on so I had to return it.  So we were at Buy Buy Baby which I really love and found the new cool MAMAROO. You can change the rhythm of the swing to ocean, kangaroo, car-seat, swing and etc. how fast you want it and everything. It moves so smooth. Mason was a huge fan and because this purchase my life it much better. Previously I would try every sling there was and little baby Mason would cry we thing he's a big colicky, but as he gets older he seems to be getting better. Anyway Buy Buy Baby match prices other stores, so I found it on sale at another store, showed them my phone that had the price and then I had a 20% off coupon from their store, so exciting to say I got this cheaper then the other swings they had for sale.

Where you buckle the baby it says 4MOM. I defiantly think this purchase was more for me then it was for Mason. My hands are now free to clean, make dinner and many many other things.

What a life saver!

Mason I will always take you colicky and all!

{Jon Brings Home the Bacon}

Well it actually wasn't the bacon instead it was a 75.00 worth of Sushie. Jon worked a month in the clinic where the Doctor there would take Jon out for Lunch or a Drug Rep would bring them food. One day the Drug Rep brought too much food so he brought up the Sushi for us for dinner. Which worked out great cause he came home a bit early that day and I hadn't even started making dinner. All the kids love sushi too so I had a night off of cooking.

{Mother's Day}

This year was my first year being a mother to four beautiful children whom I love very much.  Each has such a unique and fun personality and each one teaches me new things that makes me a better person. I feel at times the Lord gives, gives and gives and I have only little to give back to Him. I am grateful that I have the privilege to be a mother especially when so many wonderful woman cannot because they are unable. My heart goes out to them and their trial they may face. It just makes me think how more serious I should take my responsibilities of motherhood.

This Mother's Day I was deeply touch by the a painting I saw on a cover of a book in the Desert Book Catalog. After searching online I called the store and asked them if they had it in a frame. To my surprise they did. I found out it was from an artist named Elspeth Young and the painting is called "For this child I prayed"

It is a picture of Hannah & her boy Samuel. For those who are unfamiliar with the story you can read it here.  Many woman may love this story and painting for the long yearning for a child. My thoughts towards that is humbled; however that is not all I see in that picture.

There has not been such a picture that has touched my heart and has driven me to such action. What I see in this picture is a Child of God. A noble boy but aren't we all children of our Heavenly Father? I also see a mother who's duty is to raise her child for only three years and hand him to the Priest. 3 years she has with this boy. 3 years she needs to make the biggest impact on this little boys life. What does She teach him that will have the biggest impact? How does she do this?

We don't know how much time we have with our little children. Hannah knew she only had 3 years that she could make a daily impact. We may be blessed and have our children live throughout our entire life time. I ask myself am I giving my very best efforts to my children. Will they be prepared to fight the evils of the world. Will they be strong noble youth who will make a difference in the world?

Hannah knew she had 3 years. How would my actions change if I knew there was a limit to my motherhood? This picture reminds me that my children are not mine for they are God's children. They are a children of God and they are noble. When I saw this portrait is was around 250.00 I was willing to pay that price for it. Days then weeks went by and I promise I thought of that picture EVERY DAY. I knew I needed it. I got an email later almost a month later and it was 60% off  I believe. It was a tender mercy from my Heavenly Father. It now hangs in my room where I see it more then 20 times a day to remind me to be a better more loving, nurturing and one with purpose. It hasn't gotten old and I don't think it will. I love it.

Like I said earlier . . .There has not been such a picture that has touched my heart and has driven me to such action. This may sound silly but this painting makes me a better person/ a better mother. I know it's feeling from the spirit that fills my mind, soul, and heart with such sweet whisperings telling me that MOTHERHOOD IS TRULY THE NOBLEST CALLING HERE ON EARTH. It is sad that somedays I can easliy forget that.

I AM GRATEFUL I AM A MOTHER

 Where's your smile Addison?

Here it is!

 

Baby Mason was inside sleeping but let's never forget him.

{Mason's First Photo Shoot}

Okay Jon bought me a camera for Christmas. I will admit I was super excited and overwhelmed at the same time. Photography was a hobby I always wanted to play with and I have been telling this to Jon when we first got married when we went to a beautiful garden up by the U and saw a community photography class going on. The majority of the people were old and there I told Jon that gardening and photography is going to be a hobby of mine when I'm older. 

Anyway I guess I'm older now . . 

There is so much to learn so please don't be too critical with my pictures.  This was the first shoot I took out of automatic mode and I have to say I'm loving it! 

 I took these photos April 30th. 

Mason was 16 days old.

This photo was taken across the street in my neighbors yard. She was so excited that I wanted to use her yard to take some photos. A few people would drive and stop and look and awe. The neighbor who's house this was came to me later and told me she got a phone call saying, "There is someone in your yard doing something suspicious." My neighbor Marie Ann replied with a smile, "Was there anything with her?" The lady said, " some basket" Marie Ann then said, "did you see what was in the basket?" She said, "no". Marie Ann . . . IT WAS A BABY! She kindly thanked her for keeping a watch over her house though. I just wanted to document that cause I thought it was a funny story to remember. Earlier that morning my neighbor Marie Ann brought over some wonderful outfits for Mason and got me doing Mason Indoor photo shoot (see below)

Indoor pictures

I'm still need to work on lighting issues and a few other things, but I was happy with my first shoot.  I will also have to figure a way that the web doesn't distort my photos when I upload them.

{10 YEARS OF MARRIAGE}

On April 26, Jon and I celebrated our 10 year Anniversary. Since Mason was only 12 days old we decided we have all year to celebrate. But in celebration we purchased a Large Personalized picture of the Salt Lake Temple (where we got sealed). I also received a beautiful long letter from Jon basically telling me how great I am : ) lol let's be real.  Jon asked for  the day off and we pulled Alix out of school and decided to buy a season pass to al the zoos in NY. Our first stop was the Bronx Zoo.  The day was calm, peaceful. There were no hiccups along the way and thought to myself I'm so blessed. I don't need something big (but I'm not saying I wouldn't appreciated it very much), to celebrate. . .

but I do need and we all need a time to celebrate  

and a moment to look back 

and see how far we have come. 

It is times like that where we see the bigger picture.

We need to pause . . .

and  

We will see moments we thought we could never get through, 

we see times when we were strengthened 

moments when we failed

flashes of love & laughter.

Life is easier lived when we see it as a whole not as a single moment or day.

I wish I could say Jon and I have never fought in our 10 years of Marriage.

 But we both know that's not true. 

What I can say is that we have never given up trying to work on our Marriage to make it better.

 I love Jon and if there were a better spouse between the two of us I would say it was him. 

He is the one who has taught me to think of others before myself. 

He has taught me to relax when things get stressful.

He has taught me that sometimes it's okay to laugh when all I want to is cry.

He's reminds me constantly to live in the moment, and to make each moment count.

Sometimes I feel like I fool Jon in thinking I'm something great and marvelous, because he always seems to think I am. Sometimes He says things to me that are so nice and sweet and I think to myself "who is he talking about?" the best thing is he really thinks it. hee hee hee!

Jon does anything for me and works each day making sure I am happy. 

So to say . . .

 I have paused. . .

I have taken a moment and reflected back on the last 10 years.

I can honestly say I am happy I made the decision I did to marry this unique loving man.

I would say I am lucky,

but I believe more that I am BLESSED.

Happy 10th Anniversary Jon!

BRONX ZOO

The Bronx Zoo is very exciting. We arrived when it opened and left when it closed and we still didn't get to see it all. This Zoo is huge and very exciting. If you go to the Bronx Zoo you have to buy their all exclusive pass or you will find out you can't see half the zoo. 

This zoo is so beautiful. They have so many old beautiful buildings; however if you go into them like this one you would think you were going to see the Lions, nope you saw animals of Madagascar, no lions or tigers. I want to think when it was built that's how it was, but who knows.

I love MB's smile here.

We are in the Gorilla Exhibit.

{A Beautiful Easter Morning}

On Easter morning I woke up and looked out my window and saw this . . .

Since living here I haven't seen such a beautiful morning with heavy fog and the sun trying it's best to break through all of it. It was stunning.

The day before Easter we dyed our Eggs!

I think Emberlynn was purposely trying to break them so she could eat them. 

I think she broke a full dozen of eggs this night. But no problem cause I used those to make a traditional Eggs Benedict in the morning.

This year tried tried a roll on paint. It was fun for the kids to use but a bit sticky. We found in the morning the ones we rolled on where still sticky too. They did turn out really pretty though.

Here is a series of pictures of Emberlynn Painting her eggs and then deciding to Eat the dye and then sticking her tongue out at me and basically saying, "No I will not listen to you mom I like doing things I'm not supposed to do. "

I still love MB.

Here's the girls after finding their baskets. 

Poor Mason wasn't too excited at this moment.

Addison & Alix were in their own competition to find the eggs while MB was in Lah-Lah Land.

EASTER DINNER WITH SISTER JONES

After church we had a wonderful Sunday Easter Dinner. We had Sister Jones over who is a widow in our Branch (There are 2 Sis. Jones and I like to talk about them both so this can be quite confusion). She loves to cook! She says if she's cooking Italian then she an Italian, if she is cooking French then she is a Frenchie, Mexican then she is a Mexican. I love hearing about her Heritage and the life she grew up in. Her mother was a slave and told about it. I admire Sister Jones for being so strong and brave. When she joined our church a year ago her daughters told her she would have nothing to do with her since they were from a strong Catholic Heritage (which Sister Jones herself taught them to be).

Anyway she has found much happiness in her new faith and we are so proud and glad to be such good friends with her. She loves my children very much and cooks for us all the time. Her food is DELICIOUS.  This Easter day she cooked a Traditional French Style Easter Dinner. VERY VERY YUMMY. I also cooked because I really didnt' think she was going to cook up entire Sunday Dinner by herself but she did, so we had so much food  : )

And to Wrap up our Easter. 

Yes, and MB still loves Mason very much!