{DaY 30 cHaLLenGe}

 A photograph of myself today and three good things that have happened in the past 30 days. 

I don't have a photo of myself today.  And that's a good thing because I was buried in boxes and newspaper and packing tape all day!  Moving is so not fun....there are many other things I would rather be doing right now!

Three Good Things That Have Happened In The Past 30 Days.......

1.  Zoe has slept through the night (all night) for the past 3 nights!!  WOOHOO!!  I can't believe it!  She hasn't done that in months and months and probably even closer to a year!  She's pretty much not a fan of her big girl bed because her moving out of the crib was the beginning of all of her sleeping problems.  Before that, she was the best sleeper EVER!  Now she won't even sleep in her bed.  She sleeps on the floor every night!  UNCOMFORTABLE!!  But I am so happy that she has slept 3 nights in a row.  I have been trying to minimize her drinking in the evenings and waking her to go potty before we go to bed, so maybe that is doing the trick!  Whatever it is....I am grateful and am LOVING my uninterrupted sleep!!  :)

2.  Jeremiah survived getting hit by a car while riding his bike into work.  About 2 weeks ago, he got hit by a girl that turned right in front of him on the "busiest" section of his ride into work.  I worry every morning when he rides his bike in, I track him on his phone most of the way there, and I don't like hearing things like a "busy" section on the route!!  He always rides in with another guy and this day that he got hit, he happened to be alone (which I am trying to convince myself that is why it happened.....1 person is harder to see than 2)!  Luckily, he wasn't hurt and walked away with only a couple scrapes (not sure how that happens when you fly over the handlebars?!?!?)!!  But I was freaked out for a few days and told him I was going to take away all his biking priveleges!  He promised me he would never ride his bike into work alone again!  I am so glad it didn't end up worse....cuz it could've been a lot worse!!  That freaks me out to even think about it!  Thank goodness he was ok!!

3.  I blogged for 30 days straight!!  I can't believe this challenge is over!  It really went by so fast, but I LOVED having something to blog about every single day!  I wish I could continue this for the rest of the year!!  It would be fun to blog for 365 days straight!!  And I have to admit that it was kinda fun to talk about myself!  I am not the type that likes to talk about myself or even really opens up to a lot of people, but doing these challenges really allowed me to share some stuff that I wouldn't normally share!  And even tho it was boring for most everyone else to read, I know that I will be glad I did this in years to come....and hopefully my kids will enjoy looking back on some interesting things about their Mommy!!  :)  I am now on the hunt for another fun challenge!!  Or maybe I should just make up my own challenge.....it's called "GET OUT THERE AND TAKE SOME PICTURES OF WHAT YOU AND YOUR KIDS ARE UP TO EVERY DAY!!!"  I feel like I am slacking in the picture taking department.....taking pics of big kids just isn't as easy as taking pics of them when they were babies!!  But that's no excuse to not do it!!  I have so many pics of them as babies, I better keep going as they grow older!!  So the CHALLENGE is on.....TAKE MORE PICS!!!  :)

{DaY 29 cHaLLenGe}

Something I look forward to. 

I am looking forward to quite a few things right now....and they all will be happening in the next 2 weeks.  Today I finally accepted the fact that we are moving and that nobody else is going to do the packing for me.  It just wasn't getting done on its own, so I decided to get out the boxes and packing tape and go to town.  Jeremiah got the kids out of the house for the night, so I had the whole house to myself and I got a lot done.  But now my house is a mess....boxes are everywhere....we will be eating on paper plates for the next few days....all of the dishes and cooking utensils are put away (as if i needed an excuse to not have to cook) and there are no pictures on the walls which makes for a very cold and empty feeling house.  I have a lot more to do.  And I only have a couple days to do it.  We are moving on Saturday.  I think it is a lot harder to do a local move than a long distance move.  The cross state move from Utah to Cali was brutal, but I know this 1 mile move right down the street will be hard too because I keep feeling like I don't know if I should pack everything in boxes or just move some loose things or what?!!?  Oh well....I know it will all get done. 

And before I know it, the obsessive, compulsive, organizer in me will have our new place looking like this in no time.....

And as soon as it does look like that, I can't wait to sit down and enjoy the coziness of our new home in front of this.....

Happy Moving!!!  :)  I so look forward to all of it being all done!

{DaY 28 cHaLLenGe}

Why do I blog?  

Wow....it's been a while!  Thank goodness we made it back safely from being buried in 2 1/2 feet of snow in Mammoth for the past 5 days (that will be another post)!  I have missed blogging and missed doing my "challenge" posts!!

I started blogging almost 4 years ago when Ayden was just 5 months old!  My friend in Utah, Katie, got me started and I am so glad I gave it a try!  I love that all of Zoe's life and almost all of Ayden's life is documented on my blog!  I blog for a lot of reasons.....most importantly, I blog as if this is my "journal"....I love that I have the past 4 years documented with all of the happenings of our family!   I know that in the years to come when my kids get older, they will love to look back on our blog to see what they were up to when they were babies!  I wish my mom had a blog when I was growing up!! :)

When I do my blogs posts, I use them to do a digital scrapbook for my family every year!  Since I have everything already written up and pictures posted on my blog, it makes scrapbooking much easier!

I also love blogging because it allows me to stay in touch with friends close by and friends far away!  There are so many friends that I have whose blogs I read and I often feel like we see each other all the time since I always know what they are up to from their blog!

I love blogging....it is an outlet for me and hope I will still be blogging when my kids are going through high school and college!!  :)

{DaY 27 cHaLLenGe}

My dream house. 

It's funny how if I would've been asked this question 5 years ago, my dream house would've been a big, gigantic house with lots of rooms, plenty of space for my kids toys, a huge backyard where my kids can run and play, and a giant garage!!  Yeah, that was all before we actually owned a bigger house.....that I had to clean all the time and that toys seemed to be spread all over the place instead of just cluttered in one smaller area.  When Jeremiah and I were building our house in Utah about 7 years ago, we got in really big disagreements about which house we should build.  I wanted the biggest house we could get....we were just a young family of 2 at the time, but we were coming from expensive Cali where we started out in a one bedroom apartment and moved up to a whopping 1200 sq footer when we bought our first house.  When I found out we could get a big house in Utah for less than our rent at our first apartment, I screamed "WHY NOT"?!?!  Jeremiah on the other hand was more practical and wanted the normal size one story house.....I wish I would've listened to him!

My mind has changed on this since then.  At the current moment, I am all about the small house!!  When we moved from Utah, we downsized to a 1700 sq footer and I still would be fine with something smaller (I may change my mind on this after we move into our 1250 sq footer in 2 weeks).  That's right, we are right back to where we started about 8 years ago with our first house!!  And I can't wait!

Ok, back to my dream house.  I am sure this is just a phase that I am going through by wanting a small house.  I am sure once I live in a 1200 sq foot condo with 2 kids, I will want to pull my hair out after a year and will want a big house again!  For now, it's fun to want something small and cozy!

But realistically......in the future....when money is no object and we can afford EXACTLY what we want.....this is what my wish list would entail for a dream house....

• Although I think old homes are very cute and charming, my dream house would not be an old home....I want something new.....I always want new things....I can't stand when someone else has sat on the toilet seat or when there is hair in the bottom of a drain or in a bathroom drawer!!  EWWW!!!
• Have to have at least a 3 car garage for all of our garage "junk"!  We have a hard time fitting 1 car in our garage because we own so many bikes!  We need a double car garage just for all of the bikes and bike stuff, then another car garage for all of Jeremiah's tools, then another car garage for all of the kids outside toys/bikes/scooters/balls, and then another car garage for our actual car....so we need a 5 car garage to be exact!
• I would love a one story home....I think they are so cute and I like how they spread out instead of stack on top of each other....but I am terrified to live on the bottom floor....I like to sleep with my windows open and that would freak me out too bad...that boogey man just might come in to get me in my sleep!
• If I had a house cleaner, I would love a house with all wood floors....I hate tile....and I don't like carpet that gets stained!  So wood floors would be ideal....with lots of big area rugs!
• An upstairs laundry room....we had this in Utah and I miss it greatly!!  Whoever invented putting laundry rooms as far away from the bedrooms as possible and where people get dressed was a moron....ours is currently in the garage!!  UGH....it doesn't get much worse than that!
• A swimming pool in the backyard.....I had one my entire life growing up and totally took it for granted!!  I would love to have one for my kids now!
• Multiple fireplaces.....one in every room would be nice!  :)
• Large bedrooms with large bathrooms and large walk-in closets! 
• A quiet street.....VERY quiet....on the end of a cul-de-sac to be specific!  (Can you tell that I am over living on a busy, noisy, corner lot for the past 2 years?!?!?)
• Close.....VERY close to family.  Honestly, in my dreamland of dream houses, we would live (not only in the same state or city) on the same street as ALL of our family!!  I would love if we lived in the middle, my parents were our next door neighbors on one side....Jeremiah's parents were our next door neighbors on the other side and all of our siblings branched out from there!  Seriously, that would be the most amazing thing ever!  I know that most people think that is a crazy statement.....but I guess I am glad that I like my family that much to have that be part of my "dream house" plans!!  :)  Too bad that will NEVER happen!!  That's ok though.....that's what dreams are for......for DREAMING, right?!?!

{DaY 26 cHaLLenGe}

A photo that makes me angry/sad excited.

This is a hard one for me.  I don't really have a photo of anything that makes me angry or sad...and if I did, i wouldn't want to post it because why would I want to make myself angry or sad again!!  :) 

So I am changing this challenge to "A photo of something that makes me excited"!!

This is what we will be doing in a couple days!  Well, not all of us, but maybe Jeremiah....actually, I hope he isn't this crazy to do this (we deal with enough danger with him being a cyclist....last week he got hit by a car while riding his bike to work....luckily he is ok, but his wifey has him on a short leash right now and won't let him do things like this that risk his life....that was too scary)!!  Anyway, in 2 days we are leaving for Mammoth to spend 4 days with Jeremiah's family.  It took me a while to get excited about this vacation because I am dreading the drive, I am thinking about all the things we need to do to get ready to move in 2 weeks, and let's be honest, I am NOT looking forward to being in cold weather right now!!  But I am coming around and I am getting excited!  Neither one of us has ever been to Mammoth.  Jeremiah and Ayden are excited to get out on the slopes.....Zoe and I are excited to stay warm by the fire indoors!

{DaY 25 cHaLLenGe}

A list of my whole day. 

A list of my whole day....so when does "day" start?!?!  Does day start at sunrise or at midnight??  Since I was up at midnight, I am going to start then.  After changing all the clocks in the house, I went to bed shortly after midnight.....had a hard time falling asleep for some reason....was woken up once before I even fell asleep by Zoe....took her back to bed....finally fell asleep.....was woken up again by Zoe at about 1:30 am....took her back to bed....was woken up by Ayden at about 2:30 am saying he was having a bad nightmare about a Spinosauraus eating him and all his friends....Jeremiah calmed him down and let him sleep in our closet for the rest of the night....minutes later, Zoe is up again....took her back to bed....come back to my room and Ayden is out of the closet telling me all about his nightmare....fall asleep again....woken up again by Zoe...maybe even two more times.....Zoe is up for good at 6:55 am (which is 5:55 am before we changed the clocks back)....take her downstairs, turn the TV on for her and give her milk....back to bed, but can't fall asleep very easily....Ayden is up at 7:30 am (6:30 am before changing clocks) and that is OFFICIALLY the beginning of my day!!  OH MY!!  Are you exhausted yet?!?!  I am!!  That is pretty much how most of my nights go (with the exception of Ayden waking up)....Zoe is usually up many many times in the night.  It's getting REALLY REALLY old and I don't understand WHY she can't sleep through the night!!  I need HELP!!  Supernanny!?!?!

 

Since this is Sunday, this is going to be a boring day to track because we don't do much of anything on Sundays.  And we try really hard to not have the TV on until after we get home from church on Sundays....and since we don't go to church until 1 pm, that makes for a long, long day....especially when the kid's day starts around 6 am.  Today, we woke up, had breakfast, we read books, had pillow fights, played Ayden's new game "Don't Break The Ice", had a tournament for "Don't Break The Ice", we wrestled, played hide and seek, played with toys.....and when we all got bored of all of that, we whipped out our Animated Book of Mormon movies for the kids to watch....they love those on Sundays!  :)

It doesn't matter what time church is...whether we go at 9 am or 1 pm, we are always rushing around at the last minute and running late!  I hate it!  1 pm church time is a bummer.....glad we are already 3 months into it and I can't wait til next year for 9 am!  We rushed around and got everyone ready and were out the door by 12:50 pm!  Went to church from 1 pm - 4 pm!!

After church, we ate an early dinner of leftovers from this week....changed clothes and went outside to enjoy the warm sunshine and the extra hour of daylight.  We were getting close to bedtime now, so decided to let the kids watch a show before bedtime while we picked up the house, talked budgets, and planned for our week!

Zoe fell asleep early during her show....and we slipped her right into bed!  That was easy!!   Ayden was in bed by 8 pm and thus began our night of some TV on the couch!  :)  It's now 10:15 pm and we are hitting the hay....I know it won't be long before I have a little 2 year old tapping on my pillow!!  Oh my!!

{soCCer}

Yesterday was Ayden's first spring AYSO soccer game.  He played in the same league in the fall and had fun.  For the under 5 year olds, to introduce them to soccer, they do an academy type thing where every Saturday, they have a 45 minute "practice" where they learn skills and how to play the game and then a 30 minute scrimmage afterwards.  We noticed this time around, the games are a lot more interesting to sit through....last year, it was a bunch of kids that talked on the field instead of playing the game, they picked grass, they compared uniforms, they cried....pretty much anything they could do that wasn't playing soccer!  Yesterday during the game, they were all involved and it was intense....there were lots of elbows being thrown and pushing going on....those kids just wanted to get the ball and did whatever it took to get it!  Ayden definitely did his fair share of pushing as well.  He was playing really well and running and almost scoring a goal a few times....we thought to ourselves this is going to be a fun season!  Then it was halftime and everything went down hill from there.  The coach told the kids to take a water break and we realized we forgot to bring a water bottle.  So Ayden cried and whined for a while that he was DYING OF THIRST....and he told everyone that his Mom didn't bring him any water!!  Then it was time to go back in the game and he soon grabbed onto a kids arm and swung him around.  The kid didn't like this and he grabbed Ayden's arm back and pushed him.  Ayden then had a meltdown and wouldn't stop crying.  We had to make him sit out of the game because he was acting ridiculous!  So most of the 2nd half was a nightmare!  We were tempted to get in his face and tell him to stop acting like a baby and get out there and finish the game....and then we realized he was just a little 4 year old that has a lot of maturing to do.  We will keep trying and hope that next week is better!  Last night I was just chatting with Ayden and asking him what all his favorite things are and I asked him his favorite sport and he said "NOT SOCCER"!!  He said he doesn't like soccer anymore because he doesn't like when people are angry at him and that boy that pushed him was angry at him!  We tried to explain to him that he asked for it since he pulled the kid's arm first!  He also doesn't like to lose and hates when the other team scores a goal!  We also tried to explain that that is the way sports are.....people aren't nice and it's all about the competition....you win some and you lose some!  He has a lot to learn....I hope this little spring soccer league doesn't scar him from liking sports as he gets older!

First day jitters....

Jitters are gone...."I'm the MAN"!!! 

"GOOOOOAAAALLLLL............"

Little Miss enjoyed picking dandelions and making wishes.....

And every chance she got, she got in the middle of all the action.....always wanting to be JUST like BIG brother....

And these next 5 pictures are my FAVORITES.....I love that he is smiling so big in EVERY single picture!!!  He was so happy (these were all the first half of course).....and I think he smiles better in soccer than he does when I am trying to take his picture!

Future soccer star.....and STUD MUFFIN.....

Going for the goal......

{DaY 24 cHaLLenGe}

My favorite book. 

I am so not a reader....never have been.  Even growing up and through school, I never really loved reading.  And as an adult, I am the same way.  I do love magazines and I love reading self help and parenting type books....the type of books where I can learn something, but you will never ever ever find me reading a novel!  EVER!! 

So if I really had to pick a favorite book, I would have to say that my favorite books are children's books.  I have a kind of obsession with kid's books.  This all started back in my teaching days....before I even had kids.  I started ordering books in book orders and then ordered more and more so I could get extra bonus points so I could get more and more books for free.  Oh my.....it was quite crazy....I spent lots of money on books!  I had quite the collection by the time Ayden was born.  And my obsession with them has only gotten worse now that I have kids!  I love to go to the book store and get the kids new books and we always order from the book order when Ayden gets one at school.

So today, we have bins and bins and bins of books.  We have bins in the garage, bins under the beds, bins in the closets....all filled with children's books!  Every couple months, we rotate our books out with "new" ones....it's funny how when kids don't see the books for a few months, all of a sudden they are new to them!  And luckily, I think my obseesion has rubbed off on the kids a little bit....they both LOVE books so much....they love to read and I am so glad about that.  It's a good thing.....cuz we have lots of books in this house that we need to make good use of!  And because I was a 3rd, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teacher, not only will the kids have their fair share of picture books, but they will also be able to enjoy our collection as they go through elementary school and junior high!  :)

{DaY 23 cHaLLenGe}

Something I could never get tired of doing. 

I know this is bad to admit, but I really don't get tired of watching TV.  Maybe it's because my DVR is always almost entirely full of shows that I need to watch.  I seem to never be able to catch up...I think that means I watch too many shows!  It would probably be easier to just eliminate the shows that I watch so I don't end up watching TV.  I always hear about people/families that don't watch TV for weeks or months at a time and I honestly don't think that would ever work at my house!  That would not only be really hard for my kids, but also really hard for me!!  TV is my outlet....that is my thing to do to relax....at the end of the day, I sit on the couch in front of the TV and veg!!  Don't think I could give that up.  The funny thing is that I don't really like to watch movies....just TV shows.  That's a good thing though...at least I don't have to waste my entire life away with TV AND movies!!!

I saw this picture and really had to laugh......

Now this is exactly what I need!!  If I had that many TV's in front of me, I probably wouldn't need to watch so much TV....I could watch all my shows at once!!

Another thing that I don't really get tired of is being on the computer.  I love to check my email, check blogs, do my own blog......whatever!  I love to just look at things on the internet too....decorating ideas, clothes for my kids, vacation destinations, the weather.....anything that grabs my attention!  :)

And the last thing that I can never get tired of doing is spending time with my family (but only after I spend time watching TV and on the internet....HAHA...just kidding....I do spend my TV time and MOST of my computer time at night after the kids are in bed)!  I really do like spending time with my family....not just our little family of 4, but both of our families.  Every weekend that goes by, we are spending it with at least 1 of our families.  It really is fun and so nice to have family in the same state.  I remember a lot of times when we were bored in Utah and wished we had our families there to hang out with (although we did have some family there towards the end of our time there, which was nice).  So it's really nice to have that back.  And I am the happiest when my little family of 4 is doing anything together!! 

{DaY 22 cHaLLenGe}

My celebrity crush. 

I wouldn't really call this a "crush"....in fact, not at all! I don't really have a celebrity crush.....there is nobody that I can think of that I really Oooooh and Aaaaah over!!  Really, there aren't any celebrities that I like SO much that I have a "crush" on them!  But I do love these two guys......Vince Vaugh and Owen Wilson.... 

......these guys are totally hilarious to me.  I love any movie that they are in.  If a new movie comes out and they are in it, I totally want to see it.  They are a couple of my favorite celebrities, but I don't thinik they are good looking at all.  So pretty boring, but that is the closest that I am gonna get to a celebrity crush!!!

{DaY 21 cHaLLenGe}

5 of my biggest pet peeves.  

1.   Rude Customer Service People - I don't blame them....I would hate to work in customer service too and hear complaints from people all day long, but HELLO....you picked the job, so you might as well be happy about it!  It doesn't matter if they are in person or on the phone,  I can't stand when people that are supposed to be "of service" are nasty....totally bugs me!  And that is why I like to shop at Nordstrom....I love their customer service!  :) 

2.  People that lie - I hate people that lie.  I would rather be told something mean or bad than be told a lie.  When somebody lies to me, I have a hard time trusting them because I have a hard time forgetting things....or maybe I just hold onto grudges!?

3.  A Messy House - I really don't know how people live in clutter and mess and filth.  I cannot live that way....I am so far to the other extreme that I think it is sometimes a fault.  It is not my pet peeve when other people live in messy houses, but mostly when it affects me....like when the people I live with are messy!!  :)  I really like to have an orderly house....it makes me feel happier and less stress!  And it really bothers me if I clean something up and somebody comes and messes it up before I can even enjoy it clean!  Usually 24 hours at my house after I clean a bathroom or mop a floor or something, I ususally am a nazi and beg everyone to just let me enjoy my cleanliness for just 1 day!!!  :)

4.  Flaky people - "Flaky" people says it all!!

5.  Full of themselves people - It bugs me when people think they are all that....actually, I don't mind if you "think" you are all that, but when you express that you are all that all the time, that is annoying.  I really like humble people....I like people that do good things and don't need to be acknowledged for it.  I often try to give these people the benefit of the doubt and think that if they are like this, then feel sorry for them because they have low self esteem, but it still bugs me!  

{"BE PRESENT"}

What if you gave up your obligations to school, to church, to just about anything else, especially when they just made you feel stressed and frantic?

What if you cut to the core everything but just the bare essentials of time commitments?

What if you woke up in the morning to see an almost blank calendar staring at you in the face everyday?

What if you were able to fill that calendar only with what you felt was best for your family?

What if you never felt torn in a million directions, but could "keep your accounts on your thumb-nail"?

What if you felt calm almost all the time?

What if you said no to playgroups, no to toddler activities, no to endless play dates, no to so much running around?

What if you refused to feel pressured, guilty, or weird for living a life that looked quite the opposite of the way everyone at the time was living theirs?

What if you could say 'no' without following it with an apology or an excuse?

What if you were able to stand strong with constant endurance against the daily onslaught of the frantic pace of society and find a different quiet, child-friendly path of mothering?

What if, in spite of what society is telling you, you decided that the role of mother is enough work to warrant all of your time, attention and talents and never needed to be shared with less important man-made things?

We have the power to decide what kind of mother we want to be to our children. How will your children remember you when they are older? What kind of mother do you want to be described as one day? I know, it's a question that sends a little fear into the heart of all of us. Will they say I was too stressed, too busy, impatient and angry? Will they say I seemed to spend time on everything else but them? Will they say, "I needed you then, but you were never really listening?"

But now more than ever, when I look around the see us all struggling with the juggling, the part that can make me pretty darn angry, is that, more than ever, we moms are supposed to, expected to, told to, demanded to, fit SO MUCH into our lives in addition to doing the most important thing in the world...raising our children.

Our children deserve a mother who is unstressed, happy, content, and PRESENT. We deserve to feel unstressed, happy, content and PRESENT....we are doing the most important job on earth.

This week I read this on a blog that I follow.  I was amazed at how much it resembled the lesson that I just gave in Relief Society at church last Sunday.  My lesson was on "Priorities and how to balance our busy lives so that the things that are NOT important don't take priority over the things that ARE important."   I was not given the topic....I could pick whatever topic I wanted.....this usually stresses me out...I would much rather be told what to teach on....but after thinking a lot about it, I just couldn't get "PRIORITIES, PRIORITIES, PRIORITIES" out of my head!!   Just like most lessons and talks that we give at church, I quickly realized that this lesson was more for me than for the girls I was teaching.

Two moms in particular on Sunday said some things that I know will stick with me for a long time.  My lesson on priorities quickly turned into a lesson about how being "the mom" is the most important job we have right now.  Those two moms that I mentioned (both moms of 4 kids each.....one of them is a mom of grown children and the other a mom of kids older than mine) said to always remember that there is a "time and a season for all things".....that kids grow and are gone before you know it....that we will look back on the time when we had young children and will give anything to have that time back.  I know I have heard this all before, but for some reason it really shouted to me this time....maybe it's because that is exactly what I needed to hear! 

I love this......

"Our children deserve a mother who is unstressed, happy, content, and PRESENT. We deserve to feel unstressed, happy, content and PRESENT....we are doing the most important job on earth."

The laundry, the household chores, the jobs, the cleaning, the organization.....whatever....it can all wait!  I realize that I will have plenty of time to stress about that stuff in years to come when I no longer have the business of my kids being around.  And although this is hard for me, I have really tried this week to be more "present" for them....to just sit and be there to do whatever they wanted......to really listen to what it is they have to say....to let them know that I am "present" and they can count on me RIGHT NOW!  And it has been a good week and a good feeling.  I feel like a good mom this week.  I love it.  I know this is so important to do.  I want my kids to remember me with all positive memories....and to remember me truely being "present" for them.

This part of this blog post I read this week really had an effect on me.....

How will your children remember you when they are older? What kind of mother do you want to be described as one day? I know, it's a question that sends a little fear into the heart of all of us. Will they say I was too stressed, too busy, impatient and angry? Will they say I seemed to spend time on everything else but them? Will they say, "I needed you then, but you were never really listening?"

This morning I had to run an errand to Seal Beach, so the kids and I had my mom meet us there for breakfast.  It couldn't have been a more perfect day to be at the beach with the forecast saying it was going to get into the 80's today!  The beach was beautiful.....we walked to the end of the Pier to have breakfast at Ruby's.....and after that we went down to the sand....just to let the kids play.

I tried really hard to not sweat the small stuff today....I let Ayden run as far ahead of us on the Pier as he wanted (even tho I worried he would slip and fall into the ocean), I let them walk up and get really close to the disgusting birds (even tho I feared they would get a disgusting disease), I let them go and get a gumball in the restaurant all by themselves while Grammy & I finished our breakfast (even tho I worried about them bothering all the other diners in the restaurant), I lifted them up and carried them when they said they were tired of walking (instead of telling them they were big and could walk by themselves), I let them play in the sand for 30 minutes (even tho I would've rather had them stay clean), and when they threw sand in the air and in their hair and in their shorts, I let them (even tho I knew I would be paying for it later with sandy bums).  It felt good to not hold such a short leash on them and to not worry about the things that don't really matter.  Because all that mattered today was that they were a little happier and they knew I was "present"!

{DaY 20 cHaLLenGe}

My worst habit. 

This is easy for me because I have had this bad habit my entire life!  For as long as I can remember, I have bitten my nails.  I know....gross!  But it is a habit!  I can't stop!  The only time I ever don't bite my nails is when I have fake ones on.  And not only do I bite the nails, but I bite the skin around the nails....until they bleed...and hurt really bad!  It gets really bad when I am stressed or worried about something.  For some reason they are really bad right now....maybe I am stressed or worried?!?!?  I would love to have nice pretty nails like my mom....but I will never know if I do because I never give them the chance!  Poor nails!!  The good thing about not having nails is that nobody ever asks me to scratch their backs!!  :)

{DaY 19 cHaLLenGe}

A picture of me last year and now and how have I changed since then?   

Then......

And now....(well, actually this was around Christmas time, but I don't have any pictures of me recently)....

This is me and Zoe almost exactly one year ago.  This was on Zoe's birthday....which is less than a month away!  I can't believe that my baby will be 3 years old soon!  When I look at myself in this picture, the biggest change I see is my hair.  It was blond...and short.  And now it is dark and longer.  Other than the hair, I don't think I have changed much in a year!  But the doll face next to me....oh boy....she has changed a ton!  She looks so little and dainty to me here.  And her hair is SO short!  It has really grown a lot in the last couple months....and is curlier than ever!  I am sure there are lots of other differences about her than....because she is my big, grown up little girl now!  It's crazy to think that in 1 year from now, I will most likely look the same....yet I will have a almost 4 and an almost 6 year old! Time is going by way too fast!!

{DaY 18 cHaLLenGe}

A photo of somewhere I've been to. 

When this little cutie was not even a year old......

.....we went to beautiful Puerto Vallarta with my whole family.  We got this house for the week.....right on the beach....it was huge....and we had maids....and cooks for every meal!  It was seriously a divine vacation!  I want to go back.....

Here is our view from inside the house looking out on the patio and that beautiful picturesque view of the ocean.....

This has been one of our all time favorite vacations to date....

And right after this little cutie turned 1, it was time to enjoy another all time favorite vacation of house boating in Lake Powell with Jeremiah's whole family.

What a lucky little boy this guy was....and how lucky we were to go on such great vacations that summer!!  I loved the amazing sunrises and sunsets in Lake Powell.....so pretty!

I think it's time for little Miss Zoe to get to go on a vacation like this.....looks like it's time for us to start planning our next family vacation!

{DaY 17 cHaLLenGe}

A photo of something that means a lot to me.  

What means a lot to me?  The fact that I live in the same state as my family.  I love that on a Saturday, we can head down to San Diego to watch my nephew's baseball game....and that Ayden can have so much fun tagging along with another cousin at the game.....and that Zoe can have a blast with another cousin.....and that us adults can sit and watch our cute little 8 year old pitcher....and that we can go to dinner afterwards to celebrate a special 3 year old cousin's birthday....and then go to their house afterwards for cake and ice cream and to open presents....and that after all of that, we can leave and drive a short 1 hour drive home.

A day like this means a lot to me.....especially since I spent so many days living 700 miles from my family and missed out on things like this!

{DaY 16 cHaLLenGe}

What's in my purse? 

My purse....

Lotion

Lip gloss

Chaptstick

Planner

2 wallets

Garbage

Receipts

Checkbook

Coupons

Ziploc bag of cash for kid's clothes

See's Candies bag (I made a trip there today)!!  :)

Gum

Keys

Floss

Random kids candy

Checks that need to be deposited

Cell phone

Zoe's hair clips

Car sick wrist bands (for the drive up to Big Bear)

Crayons

Hand Sanitizer

Mirror

Pens

I'm glad I had to get everything out to see what was in it....now I have a clean purse!  :)

{ThaT's wHaT wE geT}

Tonight, the kids took a bath and with 30 minutes left until bedtime, we decided to let them watch a show on the computer at Playhouse Disney so that Jeremiah and I could take advantage of the time and watch our own show downstairs.  We were about 10 minutes into Modern Family when Ayden came downstairs and said, "Look at my face"!!!!  I looked and knew right away what happened.....we came upstairs and found his little partner in crime with the same problem.  I guess that's what we get for trying to keep the kids occupied so we could watch our own show instead of just waiting for them to go to bed first!  They said they were trying to look like "Captain Hook" from the new show "Jake and the Neverland Pirates"!! 

Oh yes....I do see the resemblance now!!  I have to admit....it was pretty funny!  I was having a hard time holding in the laughter!  I'm not sure how funny I think it will be tomorrow when we have to go out in public and the remains of a black Sharpie marker is left all over their face!!  Hopefully people will laugh at them and they will learn their lesson!  Either that or it will make them want to do it again!!