Counting My Blessings

May 24 Blessings
1. This little beauty came within 10 miles of our house before turning north and dissipating:

Considering it had already traveled 20 miles in an easterly course before turning and was an EF4 (that's pretty destructive, the highest being an EF5), we were feeling pretty blessed.
2. Another tornado also threatened south of us, heading toward all of my campus friends, once again it dissipated before reaching Norman.
3. A tornado came within a mile of my parent's home, they're safe.
4. Another tornado hit a couple of friends-of-the-family's houses, all survived, and amazingly enough my best friend's house made it out with barely a scratch (can't say the same for my other friend, whose roof was completely lifted and then thrown back into the house).
5. The most destructive tornado came within a few miles of my in-laws house. Their property came out of it without a scratch. Their friend's property was completely destroyed, but they amazingly survived.

It was an extremely emotionally-exhaustive day for me, but I rejoiced at finding everyone safe and sound and listening to all of the survivor stories on the news. Enough can not be said about the weathermen in this state who literally saved the lives of hundreds.

May 25, 2011
6. My beautiful baby boy turned 3.

(I keep telling him to quit growing up, but he doesn't listen). We had a train cake:

7. At the "train" park (the park is built next to the railroad tracks) and the train actually came through while we were there for his party!
8. Miss Lily-pad helped with the cake and her smile just lights up my whole world:


May 27, 2011
9. Carlin and I celebrated 5 years of marriage. He bought me a gorgeous necklace and I planned a surprise getaway to Dallas, where we spent three days doing nothing, sleeping-in, and eating. (We also went to a Dallas Symphony Orchestra concert which was AMAZING!).

10. My last blessing (at least for this post): My family. Living close enough that I was able to drop the kids off at the grandparent's to make my weekend happen and having them be a part of my kids lives and birthday parties. And my wonderful husband and gorgeous kids who sing at the top of their lungs and make me laugh every day.

Holiness in Motherhood

I went to Time Out for Women (a conference specifically geared toward LDS women) this past weekend. It was wonderful. I enjoyed the presentations, felt uplifted, and enjoyed a much needed time away from the kids.

Three of the most influential women in my life. SIL-Samantha, Mom, and MIL-Val

One presentation specifically was about finding holiness in motherhood. It seemed an oxymoron, but I enjoyed the presentation. However, when recapping the conference to Carlin I sort of skipped an explanation on that particular topic, it just didn't stick out to me at the time.

Mondays are always my hard days. I have loads of laundry, the kitchen is always a disaster zone, and today has been particularly bad with me fighting off yet another pink-eye infection. You can imagine why I was close to tears when I came out of the laundry room to find this scene:



After a talk about how it made mommy sad and what could we do to make mommy happy, the kids and I started cleaning. Suddenly the thought "holiness in motherhood" entered my mind. How was I supposed to find holiness in a situation such as this?


Reflecting back on the conference I again looked at my children and saw that they were happily cleaning with their wash cloths. Suddenly a quiet peace fell upon me and in that small moment I found holiness. I can't really describe it much better than that, so just take my word on it.

The Crime

Samuel decided to redecorate the house today.

With red crayon.

Walls. Floors. We keep finding it all over the house.

The red crayon is missing.

It seems he had an accomplice.

Judging by the red flakes coming out of Lillian's mouth, I am assuming she destroyed all evidence.


The suspects gave no comment.

P.S. Don't ask why they are wearing Christmas and Halloween pj's... I mean really, it was the least of my worries at the time.

A Beautiful Thing

I got this little beauty for my birthday (which was over a month ago...):


Carlin and I have been stuffing our mouths since. I've made white bread, cinnamon swirl bread, sour cream coffee cake, banana bread, and just last night Carlin used it for cinnamon rolls. Yummm. It is so much fun and I can't wait to try out more complicated recipes like French Baguettes.

Of course, this isn't really helping with my goal to get us back on our diet, but I think we will live.