Quarterly Report

Remember my New Year goals? Well, I'm proud to inform you I've since run a marathon, completed my Masters degree and read the entire Bible (yes, even all the begats). Just kidding - April Fools.

In all reality, this first quarter of the year has been mainly survival mode. With a newborn and a 1.5 year old, life has been lived day-to-day. I'm happy to report that each day gets better and our family is definitely getting it's "groove" back. Samuel regularly showers Lillian with kisses, Lillian regularly smiles and coos at me, and Carlin and I have plenty of hugs and kisses to share with everyone.

Spiritually, I have started reading the corresponding lessons for Relief Society each week and find that I am getting more out of Church this way.

For my intellectual growth I read "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. It was a Christmas gift from Carlin's brother and sister-in-law and I loved it. Seriously one of the best books I've read in a while. I loved reading an honest, unbiased look at the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It sends a strong message of how important it is to educate people, especially the women of these nations. I am all for education - especially of women and think all women, no matter their nationality, should improve their minds through study and education. I've also started to experiment in the kitchen which leads me to my last goal... physical development.

For this last goal I've studied the Word of Wisdom (a law of health that the LDS church follows). As I've studied I've realized there is more to it than just "don't drink or smoke." It says to "eat meat sparingly" and to not do more than you are capable. With this in mind I have tried to cut meat out of our daily diet, finding "vegetarian" meals to supplement. Beans have just as much protein as meat and are over all a little healthier for you. I've slowly been introducing non-meat meals to our menu and we have been eating lots of vegetables, fruits, and beans. Overall, I'm feeling much healthier and have watched the scale drop a few more pounds. I've also started taking a Yoga class which I find both invigorating and relaxing as it gets me out of the house and strengthens my body. Keeping in mind that I shouldn't push myself too hard, I am easing my way back into exercising. Two c-sections in a year and a half really does a number to your body!

Thanks for reading this post if you've made it this far. I'll report more as the year goes on.

Friends

Samuel has two of the bestest friends. Lydia and Zacharie moved here last August and it's been nothing but good times since. They dance, play, and laugh together. We are sad because Zacharie and his family are moving back to France in May, but until then we are enjoying our time together and capturing precious moments on film. (Merci Marie for taking pictures, I always seem to be found without my camera).

My First Flower!

You (the reader): "Ummm, Aubrey, what's up with the weeds?"

Me: "They aren't weeds! They are the first flowers my son has ever picked for me. Aren't they just wonderful?!"

My Beautiful Girl

Yes, yes I know. It's been forever since I have even mentioned Lillian. And she only has one post dedicated solely to her. Please, let me remedy that. Lillian is growing so fast! She can hold her head up and sit with some assistance. She has the cutest little cheeks that you really do just want to pinch. She is fairly easy, hardly ever crying and just sitting back and enjoying life. She adores her brother, and will spend many minutes just watching him and smiling and cooing at him.

Speaking of her smiles - they are absolutely beautiful. Her smile starts in her lips and ends in the twinkle of her eyes. And it's so easy to get her to smile. Things that make her smile: Mommy, Daddy, brother, and her mobile.




One thing I am loving about having a little girl. All the fun stuff we can dress her up in:



And a couple more pictures, including the promised photo of Samuel holding Lillian.


We love having our beautiful girl as part of our family.

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!