Mmmmm...

What's my favorite part of Thanksgiving? The leftover turkey sandwiches with chocolate milk. It's heavenly.

Alma 7:23-25

23 And now I would that ye should be humble, and submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive. 24 And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works. 25 And may the Lord bless you.....

I learned way back in seminary that if you want to strengthen your testimony you need to share it with others. Mine is hiding from me. Somewhere deep inside, trying to find its way out. I don't need to strengthen my testimony, I need to find it again. I've been ready to give up, give up on everything these past few months. I just haven't cared anymore. It seems like regardless of how hard I try to live my life the way I've always been taught, the way the Lord wants me to live, the consequences of other peoples choices land on me. I've been weakened through trials that are seeming to last forever and Satan is taking full advantage of it. I'm being tempted with things that have seemed completely asinine to me in the past, but now are looking like the way to go. I'm struggling to do the things I'm supposed to do, the things that have always come easy to me, I simply haven't cared about them. I've been blocking things out, bottling up emotions, and I've been angry. I've lost any patience I thought I had, and I've been stubborn. I've questioned the very basics of my testimony. Do I believe in the gospel? Do I know the Book of Mormon is true? Do I believe that Joseph Smith was a true prophet? Do I believe that President Hinkley guides our church today and is a living prophet? Do I know that the Savior lives? Yes. I do. The Lord loves me. He knows my potential, far greater than I do. He knows me and He knows when I can take on more when I'm ready to say I've had enough. My Heavenly Father wants me to grow and learn. He has a work here for me to do. I need to trust in Him. Rely on Him. Show my gratitude and love for Him. I know I'm not alone. When I feel I have no one who understands, He will always be there. The Savior knows everything I feel because He's felt it. He suffered for me. He died for me. He did it so I could return to live with my Father in Heaven and have MY eternal family. So I could be with my husband and sweet baby for eternity. I need to be humble, teachable, patient. I need to rely on the Lord to help me get my life back. I need to follow His teachings and commandments to receive the blessings He has promised.

A Brief Preview

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Look Who's Two!

From this

To this

In two short little years.

As you can tell from the pictures, we had an Elmo party for Alyssa. She sings "Wa wa wa, Emmo's Word." Funny little girl. Being that we had TWO parties for her, I was lucky enough to make TWO Elmo cakes. She enjoyed the step by step process of each one. I'm surprised they made it to the parties. I must have known the little sweetie was going to be sick on her actual birthday. We had planned one of her parties for the night before. She got to stand on great-grandma's table to open her presents and blow out her candles. Of course with standing on the tables comes jumping off the tables on to G-ma Sue.
We had so much fun celebrating with our sweet girl. Lots of thinking over the last couple weeks. So grateful for her. So blessed to have her in our lives. I love you Alyssa Joy.

In a Nutshell...

So this week has been madness. Complete madness, I tell you! So, as I'm eating my dinner of cinnamon toast and chocolate milk at 11:00 at night (that weight loss thing is going SO well for me) I'll give you a brief over view of my life over the last week. Wednesday was Alyssa's birthday AND our anniversary. (Fun eh? She was the BEST anniversary present EVER!) Unfortunately for all parties involved, the little sweetheart had an icky right eye and had to go to the doc. Being the mean mommy that I am, I had them do her 2-yr check up while we were at it. That's right, I allowed them to give her a shot on her birthday. Hopefully she won't be too scarred for life. So, eye infection for Alyssa. Yesterday the eye infection decided to jump on over to her left eye. Well, we already have the drops, might as well treat them both right? And today, of course, she was pulling on her ear and screaming. Ear infection. Why not? So $60 and 2 doctor visits in 3 days later, here we are. I have much more to tell and pictures to post, but they will have to wait as I have a sick little monkey who wants me to "rock-ee" and give her lots of kisses and cuddles. Later!

Halloween Shtuff

Mommy Witch and Baby Witch.

(PS, didn't make her hat, just the dresses. I'm not THAT skilled)

Can you even stand how cute these boys are!?! More cousins of Alyssa's, of course. We have Camden as Captain Hook, Kai as Peter Pan, and "little" Kohler as the Crocodile. For Kohler's costume, my mother-in-law gutted a stuffed crocodile, added a zipper and did something fabulous with his mouth so Kohler could peek out. How CUTE is that!?!

Cute Karlita as none other than Princess Leia. Very fitting seeing that her pops is a HUGE Star Wars fan.
Flintstones, meet the Flintstones! Doesn't she make a FABULOUS Pebbles? And Bri made these costumes! Aren't we all just little Martha's in the fam this year...

Evan as Buzz. I LOVE his little face above. It cracks me up!

And the three little girlies. Alyssa was being a wee bit stubborn and wouldn't sit down. At least we got one picture of them without her throwing a fit!

Priceless

You may look here and here for some blissful wedding goodness. My sissy is beautiful. Her new hubby is awesome. Their wedding was spectacular. And these fine ladies captured it all. Thanks girlies!