Be grateful, be humble, be prayerful.....

My three purposes...... they make me happy, happy, happy!!

Today was an eye opening day. I was brought face to face with something I wasn't expecting. I saw a person who is suffering from an illness that has no cure. This person is wonderful and doesn't ask for help. This person is giving up SSSOOOO much to live with this disease. It makes you humble. I instantly started thinking of my life and all the blessings that I have and how grateful I am to be healthy and living. How grateful I am that my husband and kids are well and that my family is doing well. I realized how many times a day I say "whoa is me" and how selfish I am. I think about me way too much and I need to put my focus on others. I was reading somewhere just recently about the Savior and what he did while he was here. It said something along the lines that He did not come here to be served, He came to do service. What an amazing thing!! In an article in the April 2010 "Ensign" magazine (you can find the article at http://www.lds.org/ ) entitled "Becoming a Quality Person" there is an awesome line that says,"Fill your life with service, education, personality development, love for all, and other such meaningful traits. Live with purpose each day." That's awesome! To live each day with a purpose. It could be teaching your children the gospel as a stay-at-home mama, doing service for someone who can't help themselves, helping your husband or wife become the people they want to be, or simply helping a neighbor by carrying in their groceries. The Lord knows each of us and what we are capable of. Live life with purpose. I will work on it too!!! This life is just a speck in the eternal aspects of things. All we are expected to do is live it with righteousness and follow the commandments!

Have a beautiful day!! Do something good to make yourself a more quality person!!

My Family!

This is a picture of my side of the family. I have three brothers...yeah! Living with three brothers made me tough at least. All my nieces and nephews are there. My brothers are the two tall bald ones and the one kneeling with the dogs. The man in the pink shirt is a friend of our family. The girl with dark hair on the left is my brothers, the one with the hat, girlfriend. The girl in the pink shirt is my little brothers wife. The beauty down on the end in the black shirt is MaDukes. And the two dogs are my brothers...kids? That's what he says anyways. That's my family. I'll have to get a picture of Adams side of the family and post it too.

I love family. Even when it's hard, they are family. There is great comfort in that. None of my family members are members of the church like I am and that's OK. They support me now and that's all I need. Someday maybe I'll get them whipped into shape!!! Just kidding! The Lord leads and guides people in their own time. The time He had planned for me was perfect. It will be 10 years this August since I joined the church. I was ready for it. I didn't go looking for it. It found me. My husband introduced me to the church. I just felt it. You know what I mean? When every fiber of your being knows it's right even when your brain is trying to fight it. I'm still working on my testimony. All I know is that the church is true. Other religions have amazing truths to them as well, but we have the entire gospel in our grasps. It's amazing!! I was reading through my scriptures looking at the things I highlighted and it reassures me constantly that what I'm doing is right. I read about baptisms for the dead, Christ teaching in the Spirit World, and all the things that need to transpire before Christ comes again. It's happening and some don't see it. The Lord knows us each and knows the desires in our hearts. Keep your head up and your heart open! Amazing things will happen!

That's enough rambling!!! Thank you for stopping by and checking things out in my average ordinary life!!!!! Hope you are having a great day!!!!!

Making pinecone birdfeeders?!

These pictures crack me up!!! The boys are supposed to be making birdfeeders! I handed them the plastic knives to put the peanut butter onto the pinecones and this is what happened! I made the feeders and they ate the peanut butter! This is M showing just how much fun the activity was! YUMMO!!!!



This is a picture of little A loving the peanut butter! If you look closely, you can see bird seed on the knife! He grabbed by knife by mistake! Hey, whatever makes them happy.....right?

This is the finished product. At first there were no birds! After a day or two the birdfeeders were empty and our yard was full of birds!

It was a very fun and messy project. Also it is as cheap as can be. Just pinecones(I took them from my neighbors yard!), peanut butter and bird seed!! Wah lah! I hung them by string and they stayed put! We had a crazy storm the next day and they blew back and forth but never came off!!

Hope your day is as pretty as ours here in western PA!!! Have a great one!

Homeschooling excitement!

I have been really buckling down and getting ready for the venture of homeschooling and I'm excitedly terrified...if that makes sense! What curriculum to use? Am I doing the right thing? Will M do well? Will little A let me help M when he needs it? All these crazy questions are running through my head CONSTANTLY!!! Then I start doubting myself. Then I become almost sad!!! Then I realize WHY I wanted to do this in the first place. I want my children to be incredibly intelligent. I want them to have one on one time and learn things they couldn't at school because of time constraints. I know that what I have taught M and little A are already sticking! Besides all these things, I know that it is right for US. It is what I've prayed about and felt is the best for us. I didn't always think I would homeschool. But the closer it got to M going to Kindergarten, the more I didn't feel right putting him in school. I pushed the feelings aside and thought that going to school was the best for M and the bad feelings got stronger! So here I go, diving head first into a venture that will change the lives of me and my boys forever! Pray for me!! I need it so very much!! Thanks for listening to my ramblings!!!

Family is Happiness!

Yesterday in our Relief Society meeting we discussed "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." It got me thinking about how truly blessed I am to have my family. I have a great husband and two amazing children. I have a wonderful extended family and I feel extremely happy. I love knowing that we are an eternal family. I love knowing that if we live correctly we will be together again. If you want to learn more about the church, visit the church's website at http://www.lds.org/. That's the church's official website. Look for yourself at the beauty of the Lord's restored church. Thanks for reading!!!

Yeah Yankees!!

Big B's team won their third straight game!! It was cool! Even though it did rain a bit on us, it didn't stop them from winning! Big B played short stop and catcher. Catcher is his favorite. I'm proud of him and am happy that he's my nephew. I love him, even though he told me not to cheer for him because it would be embarassing! :) I cheered anyways and he didn't know any difference!! Love ya Big B!

Little A's 2nd Birthday Party!

These are some pics from little A's birthday party at the request of MaDukes!! We had fun at little A's party. He was really sick though! We didn't even know if we could have the party and we had postponed it already before because of the move. But we made it!



Below is a pic of him opening his presents with the help of all of his cousins!! He didn't know really what to do which suprised me but it didn't take him long to get into the swing of things!!!


The next pic is of Big A whackin' the pinata! I didn't get a lot of pics of her so I definitely wanted to show her some how!! WOW what a hit! Do u like the garbage piled up in the corner? The party was about a week after we moved in. What was I thinkin'? Also we were very safe with the kids too. That's a copper pipe with electrical tape around it that she's using to hit the pinata. Awesome, huh?

The next pic is of the kids with MaDukes eating pizza. That's why little B's face had sauce on it in the other pic I posted before! I like big B's face! It's cool!

Well it was a fun party and I love doing them for my kiddos and everyone else's too.

I can't wait for Big B's party! He has a luau every year and it's a blast. I'll definitely post pics of that in July.

Have a great day! Remember to enjoy your kids while they are little! Help them become everything that the Lord wants them to be. They are amazing and fascinating to watch!

Well we have to get ready for Big B's game. It's not raining which is awesome so we're going to cheer him on! GO YANKEES!