My Sweet BAILEY

THIS AFTERNOON I PUT PAIGE DOWN FOR HER NAP. AFTER I WAS DONE, I HAD BAILEY GO AND GET A BOOK SO THAT I COULD READ TO HER BEFORE SHE WENT DOWN FOR A NAP. IN MY MIND, I THOUGHT WHAT A SPECIAL LITTLE MOMENT FOR BAILEY AND I. AS I STARTED TO READ, SHE SAID, "MOM YOUR BREATHE SMELLS BAD". I LAUGHED AND SAID, "WHAT DOES IT SMELL LIKE"? SHE SAID, "BEEF". NOW THAT IS A SMART CHILD. I HAD JUST EATEN A PB&J SANDWICH AND RIGHT BEFORE THE SANDWICH I ATE 2 PIECES OF JERKY.

EACH OF OUR CHILDREN TEACH US SOMETHING NEW. BAILEY IS A STRAIGHT SHOOTER, IF I WAS READING A BOOK TO HAYDEN, HE WOULD HAVE NOT SAID A WORD. (NOW THAT IS OK WITH ME!!!) I HAVE OFTEN THOUGHT ABOUT HOW MANY THINGS SHE DOES THAT REMIND ME OF ME AS A CHILD. NEXT YEAR SHE IS GOING TO KINDERGARTEN AND I AM GOING TO REALLY MISS HER. SHE IS PAIGE'S OTHER LITTLE MOTHER. TIME FLIES BY WAY TO FAST.

ONE AFTERNOON, SHE SAID, "MOM TAKE PICTURES OF ME". SHE HAS QUITE THE PERSONALITY YOU KNOW.

I LOVE IT!!

HAPPY!
SCARED

SAD!

TIME OUT

This weekend, I went to Time Out for women. It was really wonderful. We listened to Hillary Weeks, Jenny Oaks Baker, Ardeth Kapp, Kristin Oaks (Elder Oaks wife), Emily Freeman, Kris Belcher, and many more. I loved all of the wonderful insights that I had and spending time with friends. Thanks you guys it was a lot of fun! I was very happy to be given a time out!!!
This is a picture from the very end of the Saturday session

Carrie, Liz and I waiting in our seats for the next presenter to start.

Carrie loved her Purell. We teased her about how many times she used it!!!

Kelly, Liz, Selena, Carrie, and Me

The night has finally arrived!

Our happy cub scout Carter holding his pride and joy at the Pinewood Derby!!

Carter racing against his friend Dagan.

After one of his races one of the den leaders gave him back his tank.

Carter and his good friend Ethan.

Everyone waiting for the race to begin.

Paige played with play dough at the children's activity table.

We had a concession stand and Bailey is enjoying her sucker.

At the end of the night, I presented all of the boys with an award, Carter is holding his award. The judges voted his tank their favorite derby "car".

We set up an area for the siblings to play legos, color, or do a word search. Carter and Hayden are making lego cars.

Derby Day!

Today is the big day.! I wanted to share with all of you the measures that Matt has gone to to make sure that the car is in safe racing condition. I decided that before the big race, I should take a picture of the tank. Well, all of the sudden, I realized that I couldn't find it. I thought,"where did Matt put this derby tank?" I started to look around and then I decided to check on the top of the fridge and I saw this Hotties box. I thought, "there is no way that he put "Carter's car" in that box, right." I was wrong.

Last night, before we went to bed, he instructed me that Carter was not to touch his derby car. I said no problem, I think that Matt was a lot more serious than I realized. I guess that the first time Carter will touch his car is when he gently lays it on the track and Matt is there to steady his hand. NO, I am kidding. It is fun to see how hard Matt, Carter and Hayden have worked on this tank. I think it has been 90/5/5!!!! Good Luck Carter, you are going to have so much fun! The HOTTIES box.

Kept it on a soft towel.

Doesn't that look sweet! Every cub scouts dream.

Matt hand painted all of the camouflage on the tank. He is very good at detail.

PEANUT BUTTER!!

I just want to tell all of you that I love peanut butter. You ask why? I will tell you. Today, Bailey walked up to me and said, "mom, I got gum stuck in my hair". I noticed that she tried to remove the gum and it went further into her hair. In the past I have had people tell me that peanut butter works when trying to get gum out, but I have never tried it. So, realizing that I was either going to cut her hair or try peanut butter , I chose the later. I took her to the kitchen sink and rubbed peanut butter in her hair 3 times and the gum came out. I can't believe it. Thank heavens for peanut butter!! Maybe, I should do commercials for these peanut butter companies!

FAMILY

Tonight we had the adult session of Stake conference and it was wonderful. I really needed to be there and hear the talks and listen to Elder Perry give us words of wisdom. Some weeks you feel very frustrated as a mother and wonder if anything you do is worth while and if it is going to help your children be the best that they can be. You get mad, cry, worry, over think, and vent to your husband, and then you have a night like we had and everything comes into perspective and you realize why you do what you do. You love the Lord! After the adult session ended, I noticed a sister in the back of the overflow sitting all alone, I could see that she had tears, so I went up to make sure that she was ok. As I sat down, I said to her, are you all right? She then shared with me that she was trying to gather herself together to return home to her 14, 9, and 4 year old. I asked her if she was single and she said yes, then she told me that over a year ago, her sister was murdered by her husband and so she is raising her sisters children and this particular week happened to be a hard week. I felt deep emotion inside of me. Here she is a single sister trying with all of her heart to raise these children and wondering if what she is doing is all worth it. Although, I didn't say it to her, It is worth it!! She will be so blessed for all of her love, patience and effort. I left talking to her feeling so thankful for Matt, our kids and all that we have. Someone out there is struggling far more than me and I need to be praying for all of their needs to be met. I love my family and all of the bumps in the road.

Pinewood Derby preview!!

Ok, so it is Friday the 6th of March and Carter has his pinewood derby next week. Matt, Carter and Hayden drew sketches of what they wanted the car to look like. They have decided on an army tank. No shocker for us girls at home. Carter and Hayden love anything army. Matt is very excited that Carter gets to "make" this tank and race it next Wednesday. Some people have recommended to me, that we rent a movie called Down and Derby. I think that I will have to get it before the race begins!! Send all the good vibes you can Carters way for the big race on March 11th!
Matt stayed in the garage for another 30-45 minutes after the boys went to bed last night just to make sure that the tank was looking really good. I wonder who is really wanting this derby car to win?

Carter is sanding down all of the rough edges, trying to make it look sleek and smooth.