Lovin' It

So it's been lovely weather here in Southren Alberta :) and so Kim and I felt the need to clean up the yard. Well thirteen bags later we only finished the front yard and the alley...it's going to take longer then we thought. But hey at least we got something done. Another plus of having nice weather is that we can play outside with the children more, they love it out there and I'm sure if we let them they would be out there all day. Hopefully someday soon I'll be able to start on a tan :P

Last weekend Jill had her cousin's children stay over at our houseand it was so much fun! It's nice to hang out with children without the pressures of ECE philosophy. I can use all the praise I want and no one is there telling me to use encouragement instead :P. They also pretty much loved me. It was great. They also inspired me to clean my room. You know things are bad when a child asks you why your room is so messy...ooops.

So now that it's summer I'm finally getting out more :) Kim, Jill, and I have been going out almost every night this week. We went to a park near our house on Monday and Tuesday then Wednesday we went to a bonfire, it feels so good to not be stuck in our house all the time! Kim and I may be known as the quiet girls (I know right, us quiet??? neverrr) but people are starting to reconize us and slowly I'm talking more :P Yes I know I should be the outgoing girl but that's who I am and quite honestly I'm okay with that. Anyways lets hope this weather continues, because I looove it :)

Mothers Day

My grad in 2009

I love my mom. I say this all the time but she's seriously the strongest person I know. She can balance her calling, family and work and hardly sweats the small stuff. I love her and how she's such an example to me. I'm glad that I still live close enough to be able to visit her and the family every week :) We cry together and often Sunday afternoons turn into deep conversation time :P.I can talk to her about anything and I don't feel judged.

I have learned so much from her over the years. She has made me into the person I am today and for that I am grateful. From a early age I knew that she loved the gospel and put as much effort into her callings as possible. Even now I have seen her grow so much in the past year and a half. I hope that someday I can be like her. She's the best. So this mothers day I want to tell her how much I look up to her and how much I truly love her :).

My Love.

Have you ever noticed how everytime you listen to something it brings you back to when you first heard it? Or if there was a specific time in your life that you listened to it over and over again, when you hear it now you can't help but smile. I was listening to my music today and I find it funny how certain songs have memories attached, I mean my music library has everything from disney to church with some country and pop thrown in there so sometimes it's a surprise as to what will come on next. I love it though, there are some songs from my childhood up through the present and each one brings back specific memories. It's great.

A few years back when I was still unsure about what I was suppose to do my mom asked me what I was passionate about. At the time I was unsure but over the years I have found two; music and children. I have said this over and over but I love music, it can move you to do wonderful things. I don't know if there is any greater influence then music, it can control everything from your mood to your actions. It's pretty powerful.

This past semester I did a music play area and although the children were crazy on the drums I loved being able to combine my love of children with my love of music. It's not very often that we let children go wild and make 'noise' but they absolutely loved it :) and I loved hearing them have fun (taken with two advil of course). But never the less it was fantastic. I love music and how it speaks in a way that nothing else can.

Where words fail, music speaks.

-Hans Christian Andersen

Children :)

So I've gone back to work :) I love it so much, I never realized how much I loved these children until I waqs back with them. Honestly, they are the best. I love the feeling of walking in and knowing for a fact that I am loved and missed. The first day I came in and immediently one child came up with a big smile and gave me the biggest hug then asked if I could read a story to her. I cannot explain how good it feels to know that even when I show up with no make-up, and hair pulled back into a pony tail the children still think I'm beautiful :P actually that happened yesterday and the same child that was so excited to see me a couple days ago looked at me, stroked my hair, then said "I like your hair" it's those moments that make this job worth it.

I also have a funny story. So today I turned off my alarm at eight and thought "I'll just lay here for five more minutes"...well five turned into forty. I had work at nine and of course I live twenty minutes away so when I wake up five minutes after I'm suppose to leave it's never good. Well anyway I threw on some clothes, put on some eyeliner, brushed my teeth and ran out the door, it is now 8:45. I sped all the way to work, what usually takes twenty minutes took me ten. Luckily I was only a few mintues late and no one asked why :P Anyway I'm thinking I need to get more sleep so this doesn't happen again. At least the children are always happy to see me :P

Anyways life is good. And school being out for summer is always a plus :)

Yes Seriously...

So I've been meaning to do a post on this for a while now. One Sunday I came home to our fridge smelling unusally nasty. So being the smart person I am, I decided to clean out a couple bowls that had been on the shelf for a while....well lets just say fruit + yogurt + three weeks = nastiness. Here is what the bowl looked like AFTER washing it three or four times:

Yes those are permanent mold stains. They did eventaully wash off, but seriously??? This wasn't the only bowl either, there was a salad in the fridge too :S. My mom found it quite funny when half an hour after I leave their house I phone asking how to get rid of mold stains :P Anyways it was an experience and I now will make sure our fridge has been cleaned before I leave on weekends.

PS: Easter is this Sunday :) I can't wait to spend time with family.

Changes

As promised here are some pictures of new things Kim and I have been working on:



Flowers we put on the table

 



Antiques Kim found

 


Some glass jars we found to put some bathroom stuff in.





Flowers in the kitchen :)

 

Our table





A new coffee table.

  So there you have it, some of our house improvements. It looks so bright in here I love it, but as always we're not quite done yet so keep your eyes open, we have a few other projects on the go :). Also a sidenote, most of these were from the dollar store and second hand places. That coffee table you see above cost us thirty...amazing hey? Anyways today I was actually productive and cleaned the whole place so when Jill moves in tomorrow she'll see that we are actually clean :P (the last time she came over we still had our matresses in the living room, dishes in the sink...anyways it wasn't pretty).

This past week I went out to lunch with my friend Megan. It was so great to see her and be able to talk to her again. We really haven't talked in almost two years :( which was why it was so much fun to talk with her and update each other on our lives. Her baby is the sweetest, and he's almost eight months! Crazy!

Oh another update is Kim colored my hair and it looks great :) then yesterday I got a hair cut as well. It looks pretty fantstic if I do say so myself. I can't believe I let Kim color my hair with a box dye...anyways it turned out so it's all good, and it was only ten dollars! I love it.

 I love change every once in a while, it seems lately though I have been changing up quite a bit. Why the sudden urge to change up my room layout, my haircut, my hair color, my blog layout, my house, my nail polish color (not that nail polish matters), my dresses, my shoes, friends? I honestly don't know, perhaps it's because it's spring??? But I just have a feeling that things are about to change even more, like there's something coming, don't get me wrong right now I welcome change...I just would like to know exactly what is coming so I can prepare for it :P But I suppose we're always being prepared, whether we know it or not.

Take my mom for instance, she didn't know that she was being prepared for her current calling but I believe that she was. My mom always jokes that maybe had she not started attending the temple as often she wouldn't have been called to Stake Relief Society President. She would have anyway, but attending the temple deffinately helped :P. It's because of my mom that I am learning that you can't be invisible forever. Unfortunately. But I'm learning to embrace it...slowly. Anyways I love my parents and how much they have taught me. They're great!

To go with the random-ness of this post here's a video that applies somewhat...

New Layout

Since it's spring time I decided it was time for a change.So I decided to change up my layout, it looks very plain but I think I'll like it this way. I would rather people focus on what I have to say more then how cute my blog looks.I also changed up my blog decription "Sometimes the best things in life are not the once in a lifetime occurences; rather the everyday simplicities." And yes that deffinately came from my head :P pretty profound right? Well anyway I will expand on that a tiny bit.

 Sometimes we wait around for the huge WOW factor, the things that make you go "well that was amazing!". But often in waiting around for those you miss the simple things, the tiny moments where you gain a glimpse of eternity. Look around you, there are so many spectacular things in this world, the opportunity to be alive is amazing in itself. I have realized that in the hussle and bussle of everyday life we forget to live. I am very guilty of this, often I just go on autopilot and forget to enjoy life, but I'm trying to gain a greater perspective. I can't believe how fast it's going, and how much even in the past year of school I've learned not only academically but spiritually and emotionally as well.

This semester I've just cruised along, probably missing out on many opportunities for friendships and growth. But honestly if I had to do things over, of course there would be things I would change, but I have realized that through experiences I have had new insight that might not have otherwise come is now mine to keep. I'm trying to keep the insight I have and continue to love life because to be quite honest I do love life. I do love where I am. I do like where I'm heading. I love who I have become. So from now on I'm going to keep things simple, so I can learn to see things in a differnt light.