mormon prom-senior edition.

One of the greatest things that I have taught my daughter is to love everyone unconditionally, accept those who feel unaccepted, forgive others, and to never exclude anyone no matter their race, gender, and religion. 

This year Sierra decided to take one of her dear friends to her mormon prom. Although he is not a member of the church he truly is one of the nicest boys we'll ever know. He is a gentleman, and is accepting of Sierra's knowledge with her belief of the LDS church, and where she stands as a person in holding true to her young women values. They are good friends, and I see that they have a wonderful friendship. 

I'm grateful for the way she stays true to all of her girlfriends inside, and outside of the church. Even though she may not see them very much because of distance & time, and the fact that senior year gets busy for everyone, she was happy to have seen all of these lovely young women.

**soul sisters**

**SENIORS**

When we first moved to New Jersey this lovely lady told me that Sierra reminded her of her only daughter. I was impressed because a compliment like that coming from such an amazing family whom I just met assured me that Sierra truly is a wonderful person. 

Soon after Sierra became great friends with her, and serving in the youth committee together last year was the icing on the cake. After seeing how sweet, and fellowshipping this young woman was, she too reminded me of Sierra. Personality, looks, the hair, big smile, and the bubbliness that they both exhibited. The example of this sweet girl grew on Sierra even more. Sierra will always remember her example of kindness. Now she's happily married & she & her hubby are both attending BYU. 

I am so proud of Sierra, and the way she holds herself as a virtuous, lovely daughter of God. She is one of my greatest gifts that He handed to me 17 years ago! The greatest gifts she has given me for every mothers day since she turned 12 is having that pure love of Christ grow & prosper, and to never forget who she is.  

Being different is what makes her such a special, unique individual, and that is one of the many reasons why I love her. The light that she portrays is that of the Savior, and she is always willing to share that  light of love that Heavenly Father puts in her path with others. 

She truly is something else, and I'm so happy that she brought JC along with her so that he can see the other side of her life. 

Here are links to her past church proms:

**mormon prom-sophomore edition

**mormon prom-junior edition

the best mom I can be.

Being a mother is one of the greatest blessings in my life, and most of those blessings come from my mother. 

My mother did her best in raising me, and I feel as if I've come a long way in what I've learned from her. I have fond memories of our life together, and some sad. What I will always treasure are the fond ones. 

Throughout the years as I got older, and converted my life to Christ I knew that I wanted to become the best mother when it came to having a family. I also knew that I wanted to take the best attributes I learned from her with me, and correct any mistakes that she did while raising me. 

And I hope that I did. 

My mom had a rough life and because of her example of strength, and endurance I want to be the best mom I can be.  

There are days when motherhood can be hard. There are days when I cry, and days when I laugh. There are days when I smile, and days when I want to pull my hair out. But at the end of the day going to bed exhausted is a sign that I gave all of my energy in entertaining, and being attentive to my kids. 

Telling them I love them gives them assurance that no matter what kind of day I've had whether it was filled with stress, or happiness that love abides in my heart all around them.  

It is my hope that as my daughters grow up, and when it is their time to become a mother that they will learn from all the mistakes I've done (and believe me I've done quite a lot), and that they too will remember to correct them. 

And that our only son will find a wife who is kind, loving, spiritual, and a lover of children.

So to all you mothers out there I wish you the very best in being a mom, and in teaching them all about love, and mothering. Cherish, love, and take interest in all of their needs because they sure grow up way too fast. 

Although motherhood can be challenging at times especially in this generation we know that we can turn to the light of Christ who helped create our children.

He is the goodness that comes from the innocence that our children carry, and I pray that like a child I'll be able to have some of that innocence when it comes to being a mom.

"What matters is that a mother Loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."~Russell M. Ballard (Daughters of God General Conference April)

**Happy Mothers Day!**

happy half birthday.

picture via

I cried when I read this quote, and let me tell you something...It is so dang true, because in six months this little boy will be turning four. There is no time to waste, no time to say no to the little things. No time to reprimand for the pettiest things, and no time to give equal time to this little guy. Things I'm doing with this kid are things that I did not do with my three girls. Am I spoiling him? Possibly, and I'm okay with that. 

Time flies by so fast when you're having fun, but they also fly by when you're too busy. I've learned to never be too busy for our boy, or any of our girls. I've had the privilege of being a stay at home for 13 and a half years now, and I am so glad that I made the choice to sacrifice a career, and stay home to nurture and tend to my children's needs long after my second daughter was born.

Continuing to be a stay at home mom to raise my kids has been a huge blessing. All the girls are at school all day, and having Noah to myself is a treat. Therefore I have no excuse to not give him my time, and to do things for him, and with him. No excuse. 

He is such a stud. He's as sweet, and cute as they come, and I am treasuring every single second with him. 

Happy half-birthday Noah! Can't believe you'll be four in six months! 

potty training...for real this time.

For the past year I have been asking Noah time and time, and again "you need to start using the potty." He'll look at me with a huge smile, and just laugh. Sometimes he'll give me a tight hug, and with a few giggles say "no"! I let it go, and continue on with the day. He is spoiled, and I know I shouldn't just let it go. I really don't want to be mean about it, but I do need to be serious, and not give in to that sweet face of his. He knows that he should be using the potty. He knows what it is, and when he hears any of us pass gas he'll say to me, "mommy, you need to go potty." So he definitely knows the whole concept of poop, potty, in the toilet, underwear, "diapers are for babies" is. He will be four in six months, and I am pretty much at my wits end with this diaper changing on a three and half year old.

And here's why...

I'm tired of changing them! His poop reeks like an adult, and sometimes they are the smallest rabbit looking pellets. 

I'm tired of buying them! I know that I can be saving a ton of money if he was just potty trained! 

I'm tired of him always pooping in a fresh diaper. Every morning when he wakes up he waits for me to change him, he'll eat breakfast wearing a clean diaper, and then will almost immediately poop right after he's done. I know his routine now, and I am going to take advantage of that.

So I have decided to seriously start potty training Noah this week. He has a few of these anchor diapers left which I'll miss dearly, but it's time to say bye to them for now. I mentioned potty training him when spring came along, and well...spring is here. 

Our house gets super cold throughout the winter months, and I didn't want him running around in plain underwear freezing to death. Now that the weather is warmer I think it's seriously time to tackle the potty training.

Some of you may be asking "why isn't he potty trained yet?" Well... call me lazy, impatient, uncaring, whatever. The fact that he's my only boy, and possibly my last child I wanted to enjoy him being a baby still. I also didn't want to force the issue on him, and I've had a few people tell me that he will go when he's ready. 

I believe he's ready.

I am so glad that he has shown signs of readiness because it was starting to weigh me down. All my girls were easy to train, and pretty much learned on their own. So glad he only frowned a bit when he put his underwear on. 

He said, "I want my diapers" one time, and then I proceeded to show him pictures of kids his age on the internet going potty, and this nice potty seat that we're going to get for him. His demeanor changed, and now he's having fun playing with his toys in the living room wearing his cute underwear as I blog. 

I know there will be resistance along this journey, and the ongoing question of, "do you need to go potty?", but we're ready for it. 

I know consistency is key, and now that the focus is off of Sierra now that she is all set up for college, I can now focus on putting my full attention on potty training Noah. 

I hope this is it! Wish us luck!

a picnic, frisbee, & mr. softee.

The weather this past weekend was unbelievably beautiful, and this whole day was picture perfect. While my two teenage girls were at church prepping for the girls camp kick off, I had a blast spending most of the day with my two youngest.

My energy seems to increase when the weather is good, and as always we wanted to go to a park. Chelsea had the idea of having a picnic, and we were debating on which park to go to. 

We packed up some sandwiches, went to dollar tree to pick up some chips, drinks, and kosher pickles and headed out to a place where it was once a lake. 

When I blogged the other day about cherry blossoms, and mentioned how as we walked around the park & saw signs that read par 3 tee 13, well it is actually for disc Frisbee golf. 

The history of this park is very interesting, and I can't believe that every single photo on this post was once surrounded by water. 

Hard to believe right? 

*****
I hardly ever had picnics, or played frisbee as a youngster. Seriously I didn't. I only remember small moments in my youth in which my mother would take my sister and I to the park. It would usually be in the evenings when it was nice and cool, and the only thing they had were swings. Those hot Texas summers would really kick her butt, so she would mostly take us out in the evening (plus she worked most days). Back then we could stay in the park until 10 pm. Now most parks have curfews. 

I am so happy that I am doing things that keep me physically active with my kids, and that being a 'stay at home playground mom' is my role at this moment. Focusing on my kids totally helps me forget about the stresses of life, and any burden I may be carrying on my shoulders. And then there's ice cream! Mister Softee totally brightened our day, and it put a huge smile on the kids faces as they were eating their treats!

Unfortunately there are days where I may not be as motivated, but luckily I wake up with a prayer asking the Lord to help me be a good example to Noah and to give me the strength in doing this thing called motherhood. I want my kids to be happy, and when I see them laughing, and smiling I know that I'm doing something right. 

Especially when your kids see you "trying" to do the zipline (it's not for adults) & watching your eight year old grabbing your iPhone to take a quick picture of you while laughing at the same time. You know that you're day is pretty much complete, and that your "aha moment" passed & that is proof that their life as a child is pretty darn good. 

My days...I choose to make the best of everyday. No matter how gloomy the weather may be, no matter if it's that time of the month, no matter if I'm going through a trial, I always want to make the days for my children more meaningful, creative & fun. One that will go out of their way to do what they love. I'm young at heart, and if I have to cross those monkey bars next time with Chelsea so be it. Who cares if I get blisters. That's what a parent does, and that's what I'm trying to be great at. 

It's days like this in which I'm so thankful to God for helping me be the mother that I am today.

And this day was one of those days. 

Happy Monday! 

Phillies vs. Marlins

When you have four children five years apart you always want to find equal time with all of them. I swear we have more date nights with our children than with ourselves. Luckily Jon and I have the best friendship, and our communication is excellent. We talk about everything! So sometimes our date nights are pushed back a week or two so that we can spend time individually with each child.

Tonight was Alexandra's night, and we all went to a Phillies game. She and her middle school band get invited every year to play the National Anthem for the Phillies. She plays the keyboard, and you can see them playing here, and they all sounded great.

I wasn't able to record her last year because we didn't know that the parents of those who are in the band can go down to the field to watch and record the band play. We did just that! If we could have only stayed in the seats where we stood we would of had a closeup of the game, and possibly be seen on the big screen catching a foul ball. 

When they played the Mets last year we sat up in the nosebleeds and that wasn't so bad. No matter how high up we sat we still had a good view of the game. We saw a wedding proposal on the big screen, and many many come here for their birthdays. This was my time to let loose by cheering, clapping, and singing "take me out to the ballgame", and it was a lot of fun! I can't wait until Noah is older so that he can actually have fun, and understand the meaning behind baseball.

I'm grateful when opportunities like this come along in our community for our children because it gives us the time to spend with our child. I count my blessings for having them five years apart because when one graduates college, one will be graduating high school, etc. etc., and that's fine with me. I'll always have a "free" babysitter when we take their siblings out. It was totally meant to be that way, and I love it!

I can tell my girls all love when they have one and one quality time with us, and we really enjoy, and take in every moment spent with our kids. This is one thing I'll miss when Sierra heads off to college.

That's another story.

Happy weekend!

P.S. The Phillies won! 

for the love of cherry blossoms.

The first time I fell in love with cherry blossoms was when we experienced visiting Washington D.C. for the first time seven years ago. We were living in North Carolina at the time, and as we were leaving the temple we asked a member outside how to get to the bookstore (this was before GPS.) He gave us directions, and couldn't help to notice we had Utah plates. He then asked us if we lived here, or if we were visiting, and we mentioned to him that we had just moved to North Carolina. 

it was a beautiful day.

So we were supposed to get rain this whole week, but so far it's not happening so don't wish for it! We have been enjoying this glorious weather, and I cannot help but to go outdoors with our little guy. I sure am going to miss these days when Noah gets older. Hopefully he'll always want to venture outdoors until he's old enough to go on his own with good friends, but for now he has his old man, and mua!

April is the month for grilled cheese sandwiches at this wonderful family friendly restaurant, and I am so glad we waited until the last day of the month to go.

The Pop shop is my friend on Facebook, and I saw a post on their wall that it was superhero week, and that Jack the balloon man was going to be there making light sabers, & super heroes. How cool is that! They also had The Fantastic Four playing on the big TV, and super hero coloring sheets. It was a fun filled day with my favorite boy, and one big kid (a.k.a. my husband Jon)!

Can you believe he requested for Jack the balloon man to make him a red light saber? Such a man-child!

I'll tell you everything on this menu is delicious! If we could eat here everyday we would! The grilled cheese sandwiches, onion rings, lemon coke, everything here is just awesome! I remember the first time we came, and once I had awesome service I knew I was going to return.

This is one place where one go for any occasion whether it's a birthday, Valentine's day, or just for fun! Oh...did I mention they also have breakfast? We came here during Dr. Seuss week this past March, and the pancakes were huge! This place sure makes it fun for kids (and big kids) of all ages! We love it here so much!

******
We couldn't waste this beautiful day going straight home so we had an hour to kill before Lexie, & Chelsea came home from school. We went to a nearby park and once again I made two new friends, and Noah had a ball playing with their kids. The sun shined so bright, and Jon really needed to relax. He loves this time with Noah. I know he wishes he could have more days like this.

Look at these two with their life sabers and all.

This day was too perfect, and I'm so glad that Jon was with us to live in the moment. He really needed this, and even though Noah had a blast today being surrounded by "superheroes", he only has one in real life...his daddy. 

Until next time!