It's a hard knock life for us!

Sleeping in until 8 a.m., waking up to your mom making you breakfast, watching cartoons, playing outside all day long and my skin was ever so tan (surprising, right?). Riding my bike and scooter around the neighborhood, playing with all my neighborhood friends. Slip n' slides, trampolines, sprinklers. Childhood was the best. Literally, the best. We had no responsibilities, no cares, and yet we still took it for granted. Life wasn't fair when we didn't get the toy that we wanted, or heaven forbid we had to pick up our room. We felt like our parents were the equivalent of Stalin when we had to practice piano for 30 minutes every day. Sometimes I feel like those were the most carefree times of my life, yet when I was living in them I felt like I couldn't wait to grow up so I didn't have to clean my room anymore (Boy was I wrong. Now I'm cleaning a whole house and doing chores for 3 people! Geez!).
A lot of times I see young kids and think "I wish I could go back to that point in time!" and other times I see cute old couples just walking around the park and I think "I can't wait until we get there! Retired, grandchildren, the good life!" I feel like no matter what point we are at in life we will always be wishing for a different time in our lives. Whether it is older, younger, skinnier (when we thought we were fat. YA RIGHT!), richer, funner. The conclusion that I have come to: enjoy every second of your life. We will be wishing for all these times again at some point in our lives. I keep thinking "Oh it will be so fun when Maddox can walk!" But when he get's to that point I will be wishing I had my sweet little snuggly baby that wanted to be held all day and dance around the house all evening!
This whole blog post brings to mind one of my favorite talks called "Of Regrets and Resolutions" by Dieter F Uchtdorf. I'm just pulling out a few of my favorite parts, but if you are ambitious enough to read the whole talk, you can find it here.

"None of us will be on earth very long. We have a number of precious years which, in the eternal perspective, barely amount to the blink of an eye.

When we are young, it seems that we will live forever. We think there is a limitless supply of sunrises waiting just beyond the horizon, and the future looks to us like an unbroken road stretching endlessly before us.

However, the older we get, the more we tend to look back and marvel at how short that road really is. We wonder how the years could have passed so quickly. And we begin to think about the choices we made and the things we have done. In the process, we remember many sweet moments that give warmth to our souls and joy to our hearts. But we also remember the regrets—the things we wish we could go back and change.

So often we get caught up in the illusion that there is something just beyond our reach that would bring us happiness: a better family situation, a better financial situation, or the end of a challenging trial.

'It’s not a race; it’s a journey. Enjoy the moment.'"

So here's my resolution: Enjoy all the little things in life. I am making a goal to stop and smell the roses, enjoy more time with my family, appreciate my body now (I know I will want it back later), and ultimately realize that every day is one of the best days of my life! 

                 Enjoying my sweet baby at 6 am :) Love his smiles! He brings so much joy into our lives! 

Teenagers scare the living crud out of me...

It's true. Teenagers are mean little creatures. I'm glad I never was one. No, but really. What is it about high school that makes people mean, cruel and dramatic? I graduated early because I was done with drama and mean girls. Now I realize, I wasn't the only one that felt that way. And I'm still not the only one. I hear about these poor girls in high school still that come home from school in tears because of mean people. I read about it on Facebook and hear it through the grape vine. It's so sad. A lot of times it's people who they thought were their friends and the next day they are suddenly no longer friends. What is it that drives us to be so mean to each other in high school? Was it maybe just the high school that I went to?

What I have learned...
High school means absolutely nothing. The only part of high school that truly matters is your diploma (it's important in life, trust me). Nothing else will truly matter after you graduate though. Yes, the memories are fun. But you move on in life. For most people you move to a new place, make new adult friends (who are not dramatic and mean), and you live life. You find people that really matter to you, you truly fall in love with someone (i'm not just talking about 'puppy love'. Trust me, the real thing is a million times better), and your life starts coming into perspective. You appreciate your parents more, you love your family more openly and make higher efforts to spend time with them and tell them how much you love them, and you grow in your faith and religion.
One lesson that has never failed though (and remember, this is from my own experience)...is mean girls don't get far. From what i've seen, a lot of the girls that were 'all that' in high school haven't had even a fraction of the amazing experiences that i've had. There are some that are pregnant with a 60 year old mans child, others who still live with their parents, have no job, and are 21 years old, some ran off to Vegas on the night of graduation and got married and never even had a chance to get out and see the world and have awesome experiences.
I'm not trying to offend anybody. I know some people really do grow up, and it's awesome! The point that I am trying to make here though, is for the girls that are dealing with this right now. Know that it isn't the end of the world. Really it's just a small fraction of life that may seem miserable, but once you move to the next phase of life you realize that life is awesome and you shrug off the mean people from high school and move on to life. Plus...added bonus it's always fun to see them pop up on facebook a few years after high school and realize they aren't really "all that".

Fail...

I was doing SO good on writing in my blog every day...until the 4th. It's the 21st now...so it has officially been 17 days. It's ok...you can't get back on the wagon if you haven't fallen off? Or is it the other way around? PS...i'm referring to my blog, not alcoholism. It has been a crazy 2 weeks. We went to Provo 4th of July weekend to see my momma and daddy. Then my mom came up to Idaho to spend a few days with us. We had SO much fun with her and really enjoyed her staying up here. Not gonna lie...I teared up a little bit when she left. But, we are heading to Nevada in 4 days to spend a week with my family again and to welcome home my awesome cousin (and great friend) Ben from his mission. We're also excited to see all our nieces and nephew and celebrate our favorite nephew Tyson's bday :) The only sad thing is we will be missing our brother and his cute wife, Nate and M.C.! So the summer is getting fun (as it comes to an end) and we are enjoying life!

Baby you're a firrrrreeworkkkk!

Come on show us what you're worth...make 'em go "Ah, Ah, Ah" as you shoot across the sky sky skyyyy. (This song is SO overplayed on 4th of July, I can't even tell you how many times I have heard it today!) 

We had an amazing 4th of July! We went to the parade this morning...pretty lame for a small town parade. And me and Josh can talk because we both are from towns smaller than Rexburg. The parade consisted of a mini demolition derby (probably the coolest part), potatoes, tractor's, farmer Frank's horses, and practically one float (shown below). A picture of the temple and a family in white (sorry it's  a blurry photo). Not sure how that went over with the non-members in Rexburg...all 3 of them. 

After the parade Josh had to go to work for a while, so me and Maddox stayed home and got cute for the day, then cleaned up the house. After Josh got home from work we packed up and went to the St. Anthony sand dunes to light off our fireworks. We had bought these fireworks last year at the smoke shop on our way home from our honeymoon in Las Vegas, but then we never lit them off and have hauled them around with us for the past year...totally worth it though! We let the indian guy at the shop show us what was good to buy and we just went along with it. Who knew that he got us aerial fireworks! Heck freakin ya! Those suckers shot high into the air and gave us a dang good show. It's a good thing we decided to do them at the sand dunes and not behind the senior center like we originally planned. Nothing like having to evacuate the senior center at 9pm.... three hours after bedtime because some young punks lit off fireworks that landed on the roof. 

Maddox had a blast watching the fireworks and we had a ton of fun out at the sand dunes, we are thinking this is going to be our 4th of July family tradition while we live here in the burg. 

God decided to put on his own firework show while we were at the dunes. Dark storm clouds started rolling in and there was an amazing lightning show happening behind our fireworks, I tried to get cool pictures of it but who knew how hard it is to take pictures while you have a baby squirming and going crazy in your arms! Love that boy! After we did the big fireworks we came home and put the boy to bed then went out in our parking lot and played with some more sparklers! We had such an awesome day! My favorite year so far!

The one float in the parade!

He got set down while mom and dad walked around trying to find a good place to set up camp!

 Daddy and Maddox

 Family pics!

 Just chillin and having fun!

 Momma and Maddox

 Not only has he discovered one hand...but TWO! Can life get any better? 

 Josh playing with sparklers

 Bottle rockets racing and bouncing across the sand. They looked really cool, Maddox just kept bumping the camera and bluring the pictures. He was just so excited about fireworks!

 And nothing like a creepy smiley face amongst the smoke. Happy birthday 'Murica!

 Playing with sparklers in the parking lot

 I know we think we're cool but in reality we're lame. Let us pretend were cool. We're getting to the old geezer stage where we feel cool when we feel cool listening to Mumford and Sons with our windows rolled down as we cruise through town...and then our baby starts screaming at the stop light and the college students stare at us like the lame people we are.

Happy Birthday America!

What is a girl to do?

It is HOT. I shouldn't really complain to my Nevada friends because for the past week it has been averaging 117 in Logandale, and it's only 82 here :) Either way though, it is HOT! And I am feeling bored. Josh works almost every day (Which is awesome, we really appreciate him working so hard for our family) but it leaves me and Maddox to decide what to do for the day. It is way to hot outside to go walking in the park before 8pm and we get bored just sitting in the house all day. The only things I can think of to keep me sane and cool is to blog :) If anyone has better ideas, please throw them out...but until then the blog will be getting more attention.

Last weekend we decided to take a be-lated anniversary trip to Yellowstone. It was a blast. We spent all day Friday driving up to West Yellowstone, through Yellowstone, and then out through Jackson Hole. We saw lots of elk and deer, one coyote, and a few HUGE bison! We stopped and saw lots of gorgeous geysers, paint pots, and of course the famous Old Faithful! Maddox was such a good boy all day long and we had so much fun spending the day together as a family :) Here are pics!

 Dad feeding Maddox to the bears

 The loves of my life :)

 "It really stinks here mom...that wasn't me was it?"

 I just loved the contrast of this :)

 That is one hot lake...

 Maddox loves his daddy so much!

 Old Faithful!

 Me and Maddox!

Cars for the blind

Has anyone heard that commercial on the radio (or even on TV) that says "Donate your cars to the blind and make a difference!" That's right! You can actually donate your CAR, whether it's worth a little or a lot, to BLIND people. Don't get me wrong, I am in no way making fun of the blind or disabled. But can someone tell me why we are donating cars to people that can't drive? Who honestly walks into the American Foundation for the Blind board meeting room and says "HEY! I couldn't sleep last night and you know what I thought up? Let's have people donate cars to people that can't see well enough to drive!".... "Brilliant Frank, just brilliant!"
This is a real thing. Click here and fill out the form to donate your car to this cause!

Mom of the year...

Are there days you just wonder if you're doing anything right for your family?
Today was just one of those days. It started off with everyone being tired and grumpy (I say everyone because that included me) and not only do you not have the energy to clean up the house, but you also have a fussy baby (he got shots 2 days ago and they're still wearing him down) that won't let you put him down for even a second. So you're husband comes home from work and you feel guilty because not only is the house not clean but you haven't even thought about what you're cooking for dinner. When you go to look for something for dinner there is no food in the house (You don't even have Top Ramen). Then you decide to go to Idaho Falls (30 Minutes away) for a big shopping trip at Winco. You don't really have a shopping list made up so you're dragging you're husband and baby all over the store trying to go through a shopping list you made in your head 5 minutes ago. As you're checking out at the grocery store you're poor baby is screaming his head off because it's getting past his bedtime. You're trying your hardest to unload all the groceries, pay the cashier, and bag your groceries while everyone is glaring at you because you're letting this poor little baby scream his head off and you're not even attempting to do anything, you're just trying to get out of the store and away from all the judgmental looks. When you get home you're trying to take care of your tired baby and you see your poor husband just grabbing a quick snack because he knows you won't be getting around to cooking anything. He helps you with the baby and then goes to bed without even a "goodnight". Finally at 11:30 when your baby is asleep, you sit on the couch in the living room looking at the mess and debating whether you should clean and risk waking the baby up, or go to sleep and wake up to a messy house on Sunday morning. You feel guilty about everything that happened today and try to decide what you could have done to make the day better for everyone. Now don't you just feel like the mom of the year? Ya, right!