I Love Primary

My mom has always inspired me. Her love of the gospel has influenced me throughout my life. Not only her love of the gospel, but her constant willingness to accept whatever calling she is given as well as support my dad in all the callings he has been given. And always, without complaint (though nobody would have blamed her if she had!)

However, there is one calling my mom just LOVES...and that is being the Primary Music Leader. In her words "it's the best calling in the entire church." Now, my mom is very musical, but even if she wasn't, her love of the children and her ability to teach them the gospel through these beautiful songs is truly a gift. About a year and a half or so ago, she was the Primary Music Leader again and just loving every minute of it, when the stake called her into the Stake Relief Society Presidency. Like I said, she is always willing to accept and serve in whatever capacity she is asked, but I will say, she was heartbroken (I think she even cried). She asked if she could at least keep her primary calling until the end of the year and she would just balance both callings until then. Of course they were fine with that, but it was hard for her to leave her favorite calling!

My mom is right. The simple, basic principles of the gospel can all be found in these inspired primary songs.

I have also learned the past few months to love my primary calling. I'm just the Sunbeam teacher, but I love being able to participate in sharing time and singing the songs with my sweet little 3 and 4 year olds. There is a a new primary song that was written just for this year's primary program. It's called "I Know that My Savior Loves Me" and it is just beautiful. We have only sung it twice now, but I am amazed at how well the primary children are remembering it. I have a hard time listening to it without getting a little emotional. I thought I would share it with everyone...especially those of you who aren't in primary so you can hear what a beautiful message this new inspired primary song has for all of us! Enjoy!

5 YEARS!!

Can you believe Bryant and I have been married for Five Years?? It's gone so quickly.

I think back on the February 19, 2005, and how much I loved Bryant then,

and realize how much more I love him now.

We've gone through many months of infertility, 9 months of pregnancy, (just 4 short hours of labor), have one very sweet little girl,

lived in 2 states,

visited 7 new baseball fields,

gone through 2 graduations,

(This is Bryant's best friend Ryan...it's the only graduation picture I have on the computer. I don't have one easily accessible of my graduation, so this post have will go without!)

had 3 job changes, started graduated school,

Doctorate of Physical Therapy

we've known comfortable times, and more frugal times,

we've laughed and cried together, we've definitely grown together. It has been a wonderful journey! Thank you Bryant for choosing me!!

Valentine's Day

Let me just start out by saying I AM THE LUCKIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD!!! I never could have dreamed of a life as good as this with a husband that loves me so much and shows it every chance he can.

This year for Valentine's Day/Valentine's Weekend we kind of celebrated our anniversary too. Our anniversary is February 19 and this year Bryant will be out of town. He is going to San Diego to a Physical Therapy Conference with the rest of his class. I am sure we will go out again for a little anniversary date, but this weekend Bryant went above and beyond!

On Saturday, it was so nice outside. We decided to go downtown to Riverfront Park and let Gracie feed the ducks. She loves going outside, and she really loves animals. We then went to Olive Garden for lunch (thanks to my Mom and Dad who sent a giftcard for Bry's birthday !) Gracie was so cute! She made sure and tell everyone that walked by our table "Hi"!

Later that evening, our good friend Jen (who's husband and baby were out of town) came over to watch Gracie so Bry and I could go to a hockey game. It was a kind of spur of the moment kind of thing. We had no idea how popular a hockey game would be and unfortunately, it was sold out:( To be honest, I really didn't care as long as I got to spend a few hours with my sweet husband.)

Sunday, we got home from church, and after a nice nap (for all three of us) Bry kicked me out of the kitchen and said he was going to make something special for dinner. This was the result:

Homemade Chicken Parmesan (with fresh mozzarella!), homemade--as in made from scratch marinara sauce to go on the chicken parmesan and on some fancy pasta as well as a homemade alfredo sauce! IT WAS DELICIOUS!!

He also brought out a dozen beautiful red roses! I don't think I have gotten roses since we got engaged over 5 years ago.

Gracie looked SO cute for church on Sunday (if I don't say so myself!) I just figured out how to get 2 little pigtails in her very thick hair. Isn't she just a doll?!

This was just a random after church mommy/daughter picture! I think Gracie is so cute in it, and I can kind of see my 7 pound weight loss in my face! (Yep, after LOTS of hard work at the gym and lots of counting calories, I am down 7 pounds in 2 weeks!)

I love my little family. Life just can't get much better than this!

INSPIRING!

I have kept up on the disaster in Haiti a bit, just on the news. How incredibly sad. To see people who had died that are buried in a pile of rubble, and children left orphans, it just breaks my heart. My mom emailed me this article about the Members of the Church there in Haiti. I cried the whole time I read it. It is so INSPIRING. I truly hope when disaster/trials of any kind come into my life I can have the kind of UNSHAKEN FAITH and SPIRIT of HOPE these Saints have in Haiti.

So, if you want a little inspiration yourself, check out this article!

http://www.meridianmagazine.com/churchupdate/100202church.html

(sorry, you have to cut and paste the link into your browser)

Busy, Busy, Busy...

For being a stay at home mom, I sure am on the go ALLLLL THE TIME! Last Wednesday, I came home after taking Gracie to HeadStart and realized that I was absolutely exhausted. At first, I thought maybe I was getting really anemic again, but then I went through about the last week and a half and realized I am busier now than I ever was when I worked full time. Between watching my friends kids (all my friends here are pregnant and since we live right by the hospital it's easy for them to drop their kiddos off for a quick appointment....please don't get me wrong, I LOVE having other kids here, and so does Gracie!), all of the dentist appointments I've had to go to, making it to the required HeadStart stay and plays with Gracie as well as the weekly home visits, and then just the everyday chores, cooking dinner, grocery shopping, cleaning (yeah right!), paying bills, Gracie's baths, naps, meals, etc. etc AND making it to the gym for AT LEAST an hour every day, I feel like a chicken running around with my head cut off! On top of this, I have an editing job I am trying to finish that is on a deadline! After tomorrow, I think life will calm down, at least for a few days!

I was getting a little overwhelmed with all the stuff I am responsible for and all the stuff I have going on right now, but then I realized how lucky I am to be busy. I mean, would I rather be bored out of my mind sitting at home with absolutely nothing to do? I love that when my friends have an appointment or something, I can (for the most part) be available to help with their kids. I love that I am able to have Gracie is such great programs and that I get to participate in them with her. I also love that I can help out Bryant by taking care of all the everyday things so he can focus on school. Though I am looking forward to a few low-key days, life is good! And the time is going by SO fast. Before we know it Bryant will be done with school and we will have a whole new set of adventures to look forward to!

2010 so far...

I cannot believe we are already mostly through January! Time just keeps flying by, which I am kind of grateful for because that means Bryant will graduate before we know it! So far 2010 has been good to us. So far this year:

• Bry is already 3 weeks into his second quarter of school
• Besides a very brief flu bug that Gracie got, we have all managed to remain healthy this winter
• Celeste came to visit!
• Bryant celebrated his 27th birthday
• Bryant and I have gone out on TWO dates without Gracie!
• Life is just good!

I also have to report on a few of my new years goals. This year I have decided to work on my "spiritual self" instead of the same old goals of losing weight (which I am working on!) or keeping my house clean (which I got over when Gracie got mobile, and really got over when she went to only one very short nap a day!) So, my main goals are to read my scriptures every day. I have gotten so bad about that! I have great intentions that seem to last a week if I'm lucky. Then a month will pass and I realize I haven't read them for weeks. I know I can't really strengthen my testimony and grow closer to Heavenly Father if that isn't a part of my life.

I am happy to report that since January 1 until today, January 25---I have read my scriptures EVERY DAY! I think it is finally a habit, and something I look forward to! I only read one chapter a day, be in long or short, and it has been wonderful!

Bryant and I also determined that this year, we are going to go to the Temple once a month. We are so blessed to have a temple in Spokane, and we need to take advantage of this and not just take it for granted. I remember when we lived in Kansas City Missouri, and my parents would have to travel 8-9 hours to the Dallas Temple. There really is no excuse for us not to make it once a month, especially since it's only 30 minutes away! So far, we are on track and we have everything set up (meaning a babysitter for Gracie) to go in February too!

And finally, I want to report that I am FINALLY enjoying my calling at church. I have been the Sunbeam teacher for quite a while now. Last year, my class through me for a loop! It's not that I didn't like the kids or anything, it's that I had between 10 and 12 kids every week (most of the time by myself) and most of these kids had something to their disadvantage. At least 3 of them were severely developmentally delayed (didn't talk, could sit for more than a few seconds, etc), a few of them had serious issues holding still at all, one of them would cry and cry when his parents left, etc, etc. To be honest it was a VERY difficult class. I would come home from church completely drained, not feeling uplifted at all. I felt like Sacrament meeting was spent trying to entertain Gracie and keep her quite and then the next 2 hours were spent fighting with a bunch of 4 year olds to sit in their seat, stop touching each other, to be quite, to stop picking their nose, etc.

Well, I have a new class now. They are very young--just out of nursery, and I still have quite a few. Today at church I had 8 and there were a few missing, but they are the sweetest little kids ever. They love coming to class, they love singing the songs, listening to stories, saying the prayer, etc. It is evident that he gospel is taught in their home and they have an excitement for learning and growing. One little boy told me today that he "loved me!"

I have wondered the past week if part of this is because I am working on my own spirituality, and because of that the Lord is helping me in this calling. That may be part of it, but these are wonderful kids and I am so excited to teach them this year and watch their little testimonies grow!

Happy Birthday Bryant!

Today my favorite guy turns 27 years old! I have been thinking a lot about how blessed I am to have such a wonderful man in my life. He has truly changed my life for the better. My life is so full and happy and complete because of him.

I hope as Gracie grows up, she realizes how lucky she is to have a Daddy like Bryant.

I am so grateful to his parents for bringing him into this world and raising him to be such a righteous, sweet, caring, hardworking man. I LOVE YOU Bry! I hope you have a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!