Sweet 16

My beautiful sister turned 16! Can you believe it? She turned 16 back in February but I've been such a slacker that I'm just now getting to it. However, she deserves a post. So here are 16 sweet things about KeLei:

1. She's super funny - the girl has a sense of humor that just won't quit.
2. She's drop dead gorgeous - long legs, red hair, blue eyes, super skinny... it just makes me sick.
3. She's the best Aunt ever. She absolutely adores her niece and nephew and showed them off at her sweet 16 party (and didn't even mind that they were being party poopers with their crying).
4. She plays the violin.
5. She's very artistic and can draw, play an instrument, do artsy stuff like that with just a little bit of effort. I'm secretly jealous of her.
6. She has an amazing testimony in Christ.
7. She rock climbs.
8. She loves cats.
9. She has a very sweet heart for animals in general.
10. She loves to be in the middle - of anything.
11. She loves shopping.
12. She LOVES jewelry
13. She is incredibly strong-willed.
14. She loves her family, if you ask her where in the world she wants to be it's always at home with her family.
15. She spreads happiness wherever she goes.
16. She is truly the best sister a girl could ask for - Happy Birthday Keys!

It's All Worth It

Remember how one of my New Year goals was to grow spiritually and instill a love for Christ in my children? I got to thinking about that yesterday as Carlin made a hasty retreat out of Sacrament meeting carrying our crying, screaming, kicking son and I rocked Lillian in her car seat hoping she would sleep just a little bit longer.

Church is 3 hours. Three! Three hours in which I spend half my time pacing the halls with one child or the other. If I'm not pacing the halls I'm in the mother's room nursing. Our meetings don't even start until 11am and yet we are lucky to make it on time. Even with preparation the night before, (laying out clothes, packing the diaper bag) something is bound to happen Sunday morning that puts us behind schedule. To top it all off the 11am time period puts us right smack dab in the middle of lunch and nap times... Sometimes it seems so much easier to just stay home with the kids and tell Carlin to take notes for me.

Our daily family prayers and scripture studies should really be referred to as our daily wrestling match with Samuel. Seriously, I sometimes think thumping our son with the Bible would be just as effective as us reading it. Praying is often a shouting match against the crying. As for personal scripture study, I seem to fall asleep more often than not (and that's doing it during the day, i.e. naptimes). As for personal prayer, well, these days I'm praying ALL the time (mainly for patience).

I try my best at other things, like reading the Ensign and holding weekly Family Home Evenings, but I'm sometimes so exhausted it's hard for me to recognize the Spirit. And so that brings me to my pondering yesterday in Sacrament meeting when I found myself asking "is it really worth it all?" That's when an incident popped in my head from a few days ago. Samuel had pulled out my pots and pans and was "cooking." He dished his food into his little bowl and grabbed his spoon. As I watched he then folded his little arms, closed his eyes, and started babbling to his Heavenly Father. With what was an obvious "amen", he then proceeded to eat his food.

It was a quiet confirmation to me that yes, it really is all worth it.

Filler Post

So, I should be posting pictures and updating you on events like Lillian's blessing. But instead I wanted to do something a little more fun. Got this from Whitney's blog - thanks Whit.


1. What is your first name? Aubrey
2. What is your favorite food? Italian
3. What high school did you go to? Stillwater High
4. What is your favorite color? Fuchsia
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Richard Armitage
6. What is your favorite drink? Fruit smoothies
7. What is your dream vacation? Europe
8. What is your favorite dessert? Cookies
9. What did you want to be when you grew up? An astronaut
10. What do you love most in life? Carlin
11. What is one word that describes you? Motivated
12. What is your hope? Happiness

My Picture:


If you want to do it too:

1. Type your answers to each of the questions below into flickr search
2. Use only the first page of results and pick one image
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the image into here to create a mosaic of the picture answers

Good luck! Have a fabulous day!

For the Grandparents!

And other family and whoever else finds my kid just so darn cute.

This is Samuel laughing uncontrollably:


This is Samuel playing in the box:

Pictures Galore

Sorry for the lack of posts. I seem to be spending all my downtime sleeping or taking the blessed shower. I can't imagine why...

Here are some pictures to hold ya over until I feel up to writing:















Samuel plays in his box-fort. Seriously, I don't even know why we as parents bother buying them toys when they are so content with a box.



Samuel is still getting used to Lillian, I think he has finally accepted that she is a part of the house and not going away anytime soon. However, I'm not sure he has accepted her as part of the family quite yet. He does hold her sometimes which is super cute but I have yet to capture it on camera, when I do there will be more pictures.

Lillian Emma

Born January 6, 2010
7lbs 3 oz
More, cuter pictures to come.

A New Year

I'll admit, with the arrival of baby #2 only days away I've been a little scatter-brained. (However, the reason why I haven't posted like I said I was going to is because I got sick. It should really be illegal to get sick when you're this far along in your pregnancy). Not only have I been scatterbrained but I have been overwhelmed and anxious about the arrival of our baby girl. So, when I suddenly realized 2010 was upon us and my c-section only days away, I was a little shell-shocked.

I am waiting for baby girl to get here so I can move onto the next stage. Maybe that is why I was sitting there yesterday ringing in the New Year with Carlin when I realized I hadn't set any resolutions for 2010. Now I'll admit I usually don't have a list of goals to obtain during the year, but I have focuses and usually one or two things that I've decided I will work harder on. But not this year. This year I just feel like I'm holding my breath until the baby gets here, then I can think about life after that.

Well, a series of introspective speculations led me to the conclusion that I need to focus on myself this year. Now this may sound completely self-centered, but if there is something I've realized since becoming a mother, it's how important it is to make sure you have a strong foundation in yourself. Remember the Young Women values? Divine Nature and Individual Worth - how come it seems we forget those as mothers? So, that's what I've decided to work on, starting with my spiritual growth. My goals or focuses for the year are as follows:

1. Spiritually - I will work on my relationship with my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ, making sure my testimony is firmly rooted in truth and sharing my love for the Savior with my children.
2. Mentally - I will keep my mind alert and challenge myself to grow through reading uplifting material, engaging in classes and trying new things.
3. Physically - I will take care of my body through exercise and nutrition so that I may keep up with my children and enjoy life to its fullest.

I think those are pretty good goals, and I have every intention to document my progress through this blog so as to hold myself accountable. Happy New Year everyone.