What Matters Most?

This has been a post a long time in the making... Trying to figure out what to say, how I feel and what really MATTERS MOST!!!

It really started nagging me a few months ago when a dear friend of mine died after a long struggle with cancer. She was an inspiration to me in her years of health and years of trial. She never let much get her down and never passed a moment up to show her love and compassion to those around her what matters most to her. She had these trials and she lived through them with the best attitude! I thought about this a lot and wondered how I would handle what she went through, I most definitely would not have handled it as well as she did. She was remembered by her friends and family in such a great light. It really made me think of what matters most to me and how I would be remembered.

*How do I want my family and friends to think of me? If they were asked to describe me what would they say?
*What would or do church members say about me?
*What would my children say about what type of mother I am?
And the list could go on for ever! And this made me start thinking man am I a little conceited! So I started asking more and more questions.
*Am I selfish at wanting people to think so great of me?
*Was I trying too hard to have the approval of the world?

In some aspects I believe I was, and in other I just wanted to feel like the Lord is happy with me. I have great examples in my life of people who focus solely on what matters most. This knowledge is what is going to keep me going. All of these wonderful people in my life were not doing what they were doing because they wanted to be recognized by those around them, but that they truly know what the Lord wants for them. This gives me great comfort! I want my life to be focused on what MATTERS MOST! I believe that this is going to be an ever changing aspect in my life. Because what matters most to me right now will be different in a few years. I will have hopefully grown spiritually so I will have to set new goals and challenge myself to be better.

I have pondered this quote I read on my friends blog. "Life is God's gift to us, and what we do with our lives is our gift back to Him." What little time we have to show our Heavenly Father how much we appreciate what we have been given.

Today I was looking for talks to study so I could prepare for my talk on Sunday and I got a little side tracked and found this wonderful Mormon Message. So I am going to share it. It made me want to finish this post. So here it is...


This is just the beginning of what I am going to do as I prepare to focus on what really MATTERS MOST!

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." I love this quote, it keeps me wanting to be better to those around me.

To make me accountable I am going to post my goals of becoming a better mom, sister, friend and companion.

Autumn Time!!

Well once school started for Brody our lives changed funny how that happens. He had to be up and ready to get on the bus at 8 in the morning. Which does not seem that bad, but he is my child that loves to sleep in so I have let him. He still was usually up by 8 but he was never ready for the day. It just takes time for him to get moving. So we now have to wake him up by 7 to get him moving. This made him very mad and he would cry having to go to school. He just needs his sleep. So he now has to go to bed at 7pm so he wakes up happy. This one simple change has made all of us change our routine. But it works out and well I really love that my kids go to bed so early, a lot more free time for me!!! We couldn't do as many of our evening family outings. But it is great we still have the week ends. We now get the joys of doing homework in the evening and making sure we get reading in. Ok so it really just makes us have a routine. We are really enjoying it. Brody had his Paddington Bear for a week and we had fun taking it around with us when ever we went some were.

Brody and his silly faces. He loves to stick out his tongue!

Brody and Paddington Bear on a train. He loves, loves, loves trains.

He had to share ice cream with Paddington Bear.

Reading with Cole and Paddington Bear.

Showing off for the camera! He has BIG muscles.

Just love this picture of daddy and Brody!

Camilla has just grown and started to repeat words and talk. She really is so fun. Most of my pictures are of her making funny faces or closing her eyes or looking at something and plotting what she is going to do next. I just can't seem to get too many pictures of her with her great smile. She is just non stop and too busy. But that is what I love about her. She is so inquisitive and always wanting to run and play. I love that she will bring me books so she can read them and really it is me pointing to a picture and saying what it is and she repeats me. When Brody is doing homework she has to do homework also. She really loves to learn, I hope she stays that way through out her schooling.

No pictures mom I'm busy!

Trying to drive the train, getting mad at dad because he is trying to move her away from the edge of the train so she does not fall off.

Loves to pull out all the containers to find the perfect one to play with.

I love shelves!!!

Loved the water and dirt!!!

I just love this time of year! We always try to get out and have fun playing in the leaves and looking at all the beautiful colors. Here are some pictures of what we have done.

We did not get to eat our watermelon!!!!

This critter loved it.... And he ate more than just this watermelon from our garden. He loved the spaghetti squash too.

We has a wonderful Halloween. It was such a wonderful night. It was pretty warm and clear. We loved going first Trunk or Treating at church and had fun going around with the kids and seeing everyone. Brody getting mad that Camilla is breaking his lego...

Camilla waiting to go trunk or treating. She loved using her bag as a hat.

The trunk!

Camilla and Brody had so much fun getting to go Trick or Treating also. We only went to a few homes and that made them soooo verrrry happy. Brody just wanted to say "trick or treat" and get his candy and then he would try to ask about something he saw in the peoples homes. Our little busy body. Camilla figured out that she could smile hold out her hand and everyone would say how cute she was and then give her a handful of candy. She was not really ready to stop when we got back home. But she found the bucket of candy that grandpa was handing out to the tricker treaters ( that was left on the piano bench at her level) and she started taking handfuls of candy from the bucket and putting it in her bag. She would not let go of it or share at all. She loved getting all the candy, and sorry but she did not get to keep the candy she took from the bench. Silly little girl. Brody just saw his candy and wanted to start eating it. I am such a mean mom and only allowed him to have a couple of pieces. He did have to get up and go to school. We more fun this year now that the little ones understood a little more of what was going on.

Tayloranne, Mallory, Camilla and Brody

I almost forgot... My mothers dear friend Kay came to visit so we took her around the Springs and got to go to one of Brody's most favorite places. The United Stated Air Force Academy, because of all the planes. He loves them. Camilla just loved being able to run and play. We have decided that we are going to be the parents that just focus on the Air Force Academy and hope that is were all of our children go... A good education and a job that follows. Hope it works out for us. (wink wink)

He loved looking in the plane.

His thumbs up to seeing the plane.

Yay we get to run.

Wow big plane!

We are such a cute family!!!!!

Summer

This summer has gone by so fast, yet slow at the same time. We have had a lot of fun just being able to go and do. We love to stay busy!!! My summer job ended and we still had plenty of time to get out and have fun.

We loved getting out and going up into the mountains to go hiking. Which with little kids is not really hiking but slowly walking a whole 25yards. Camilla is at the age that she wants to be like big brother and walk every where. She is so independent that she wants to do everything by herself. She is so cute about it too. She is my little explorer when we hike she has to touch and feel everything that she sees. She will pick up leafs, twigs, dirt, rocks and really anything else she can fit in her hand, as we are trying to "hike". Brody also likes to hike and will ask us if we can go hiking. He starts out great for the first little bit until he gets distracted. This is really a constant occurrence for him. If you have ever seen the movie "UP" you will understand my wonderful Brody. He is that nice dog that is doing something and then yells squirrel and he is off chasing that squirrel. He always keeps us on our toes. He likes to look and see what there is around him while we walk, so he will stop and look at the different leafs, bugs, rocks, and animals but never really stops to explore. There is just to much he wants to see. He also jumps at any noise that he does not recognize and screams at anything that comes near him. Needless to say our hiking is fun! But I would not have it any other way. They love the outdoors just as much as Mike and I do. So it just makes me happy being with them "hiking"!!!

We also have found that we like being "Rock Groupys". My moms cousin Calvin is a major rock hound and he this summer has participated in a few gem, rock and jewelry shows out this way and we love to go see all the different booths. Brody loves collecting any of the free rocks that most of the booths have for the little ones that come around. And he loves anything that has to deal with dinosaurs at one of the rock shows there was a booth that was letting the children dig for dinosaur bones. He was in 7th heaven and did not want to leave. He talked about those for a long time after that. Being able to go and be groupys was just fun and we learned a lot about ROCKS!

We chased balloons with the Davis clan and we ran across fields that the weeds were almost up to my hips just so the kids could get close to the balloon. And that they did! They had fun helping to bring down a pig balloon. They were able to play under it as adults played with the balloon like those parachutes you played with in elementary school. They helped get the air out by rolling on it. This just made Brody happy until he realized that he was not going to get to go up in it. He still had fun! We also got to see the balloon glow with our friends Tara and Chris Rhoades. It was too windy that not too many balloons were able to get up. That was a bummer but it was fun going.

We were able to go out to Laramie WY to visit with one of my dear friends Trish and her family before they moved to New Hampshire. They were making the long trip to New Hampshire so we decided to meet them at one of their stops that they had along the way. It was great to see them especially knowing it will be a while before we get to see them again. We loved being able to see their new baby Caiden and hang out with them. It was not the best place to stop and met up with them, there was nothing to do and the hotel was pretty crappy. But really it was just about seeing friends! Love and miss you guys!!!

We visited the Temple with the kids and they loved walking around the Temple grounds and taking pictures for mommy.

Really I am not sure what else we did. We stayed busy being a family. I was not the best with taking pictures all the time but I will put the ones that I have on.

Well that is our happenings this summer. Now on to post about our Autumn time!!!

Brody turns 3!!!

Well it has been a crazy summer and I am just now getting around to posting about Brody getting so big and turning 3 he turned 3 in May! I know I suck!!!! I love that he can show me how old he is now and that he can count to 3 on his fingers. He is just growing so fast, it seems that he just keeps getting taller and taller. He is now in size 4-5 pants and sometimes even they seem short. He wants to be such a big boy, if I even say that he is my little boy he will firmly correct me and tell me "I'm not a baby, I a big boy". He wants to do as his older cousins and friends do, like play on the wii or play on the game boys all by himself. He knows how to play some of the phone games better than us adults do. We have to make a rule that he ask before he uses any of the cell phones to play with, because he will start playing and run the batteries dry! He now hums the music from the games. He is my little or "big boy" (as he would tell me) singer, I could come home from summer camp and teach him fun camp songs and he will be singing them to himself as he plays, he loves to sing Old MacDonald and Defiying Gravity! I know we must listen to that song way to much, but it is great to see him belt it out!

He is getting so big and is being so protective of Camilla, when other people are involved, but he can pick on her all he wants. He loves to play and tickle Camilla and make her laugh. He is such a good big brother.

Brody is starting to be a mommy's little helper! He loves to clean up the dishes when I am doing them. He loves to sweep and mop. He is always willing to pick up after him and Camilla. Most of the time it is cheerfully too! Which I love!!!!

He is having a little bit of a speech problem so we have been able to put him into a pre-school that he will be in speech therapy through our school district and he is getting so excited about it. We met his teacher today and he already feels comfortable around her. I really think he is bored and I am just mom and he does not want to do anything that I ask him to do, even if it is going to be fun. He is my little social butterfly and I think he will just thrive with new friends and a new setting. I really cannot wait to understand him better. So we don't have to play the guessing game of what he wants or needs. It is very odd to know that he will be starting school in a couple of days and I am finally realizing that he is really getting to be a big boy! Even if I don't want him to! I am excited to see him grow more!

Brody loving sticking his tongue out for the camera, and standing in front of the door! He was pretty excited to be going to pre-school. He really couldn't wait. We took him to school his first day, but he normally gets to ride the bus!

I think his face tells it all on how excited he is to be riding the bus to school.

Well here are some other pictures of his birthday cake and him getting so Big!!!

Brody at the Aquarium! He loved all the fish but especially "Nemo and Dori"

Playing with the canon at Old Bents Fort

Brody's cake and him loving the cake! He has so much fun swimming we thought it would be fun to make him a swimming pool cake! He even named the kids on the cake! So is so funny.

I love to mow the lawn. He wants to be just like daddy. And I can't wait until he can really mow the lawn.

He loves panning for gold and finding special rocks. Guess he is just like grandpa and is going to be a rock hound!!!!

We all love being together outside looking for animals. He decided because he did not have binaculars that he will make them himself, that is what he is doing with his hands on his eyes. He is so creative!

Catch up time!!!

Well we have lots that have been going on!!! So I have not been the best at keeping up the blog, if you have not noticed!

Mike is working on finding a new job, he just found out that the doctors he works for are getting out of the medical group they are in and cutting down how many patients they will see and in turn cutting down staff. They will also not be giving health insurance, so we have decided it be best that he find a better more stable job, one that will hopefully be less stress! He has had a few interviews so we hope one will work out. He is also really wanting to be done with school, he only has 4 more classes and has is often called senioritis. But he is finishing strong and will be finished in Dec. We are so excited!!!!

I am enjoying my life being a mom and finding little things to do! My new hobby this time is crocheting. I have found it very fun and sometimes relaxing. If anybody knows anything about my mother she is absolutely elated! She has always wanted one of her girls to pick up knitting or crocheting. I am glad I can help her dream come true!!! I also have a summer job, I feel like a college student that is so excited about getting a summer job for extra money! It was funny how I ended up getting the job, I was having problems understanding how I can get my CEU's to keep up my certificate so I can continue being a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist, so if I ever need or want to work I can. So I went to the city of Colo. Spgs. Therapeutic Rec department asking for help on this and we talked and then asked if I wanted to be interviewed for a job. I said sure. So I got a job as director for a summer camp for children with developmental disabilities. I have worked for a week and just love it! I have a new BFF, and she happened to tell me that I was "as cool as ICCCCCCCE"! Love it! So I think I will be using that saying often!

What can I say I just love being a mom and wife doing fun things with my family who also make me laugh and keep me on my toes. They make me happy when I walk in the door and they come running to me so happy to see me.

Brody is still growing like a weed and he just keeps getting taller and taller! He has finally hit his terrible twos, but the problem with that is he is three, so I call it the terrible threes! He has mood swings that really keep me on my toes. Most of the time they keep me rolling laughing about some of the smallest things he gets upset with. We are noticing that a lot of his atittude is that we are not understanding what he is saying. The doctor noticed that at his 3 year check up so she wanted us to get his hearing check, which is fine, and also get into speech therapy. We have started paperwork to get him into preschool through our school district. And we also have an amazing sister in our ward that is a speech therapist who has givin us some stuff to work on with him! I think his mind is just moving way to fast for his mouth and his words do not come out like he wants them too! But it is coming.

He loves to play and be outside! If he could live at a park I think he might. I love to watch him interact with his sister, and help her even if it is not needed. This does not always make her happy but it's the thought that counts, right? Can't help but love my cute boy.

Camilla is such a funny little girl! She is not nearly as friendly as Brody, it takes her awhile to get close to someone. But she will at her own time get to know you. She is my screamer, she loves to let people know that she is upset, happy, mad or laughing. She loves to scream especially if Brody is or is not doing something to bother her. She is a tiny little girl, she is only in the tenth percentile for her weight. She really does not like to eat anything healthy. But we are working on that. I don't think I could say one thing that I know she will eat, it changes from day to day. She is healthy that is all that I care about.

She is all girl she loves her dolls and stuffed animals. She is always hugging them and pushing them in her dolly stroller. She does not like to have things stuck to her hands or being dirty. So she is always coming to me with her hands held out wanting me to wipe them off. The only thing that is not so girly is she is a climber!!!! She loves to climb anything, she is getting so brave and is not afraid to climb! This scares me so much, not sure I like this, but guess I have to make due. I just love her.

ONE

Camilla is one!

Camilla is such an inquisitive thing! She wants to be apart of everything and gets into absolutely everything. And she is already testing the waters of how much she can get away with. You will tell her no and she will look at you with her big blue eyes and do it again. She will then look at you and smile with her big blue eyes and written all over her face is how can you be mad at me I'm so cute!

She was walking before she was one, enjoying being free. She loves to sing, she will sing in the morning when she wakes up, unless she is rudely woken up by her brother, then we get screams! She wants to be so grown-up, she only wants to eat grown-up food, and gets up set if we are eating something different than she is. She loves to hug and kiss on her brother, and tries so hard to have him love her back. Brody can make her laugh sometimes just by smiling at her. They are so cute together. It is also very funny to watch her try and take Brody down when she gets bothered by him, and sometimes she can!!!

We just love our Miss Camilla, Millie Moo Who, Peanut!

We had a little Birthday Party with the family, and in tradition I made her cake! It was my first time using fondant, and I have never had any classes. But mom has and she was there helping and teaching me along the way. I thought it turned out ok. Still learning, so there are plenty of mistakes. She loved taking all of the decorations off the cake. It was pretty funny, She made a huge mess!

The cake with candle was the cake just for Camilla, thought it would be easier without the fondant. She didn't want it! She wanted the other one.

We ended up having to strip her down so she could open her presents.

We are just so grateful she is in our family!