Pictures!

Unfortunately, I seem to have the worst camera in the world and cannot wait to replace it, because along with just generally being a piece of trash, it also has broken and will no longer allow me to transfer pictures onto my computer. So now I have to go to a photo store and transfer my pictures from the memory card (which my computer won't do) onto a CD and then bring the CD home and then load it onto my computer. So that definitely accounts for my lack of showing pictures here! Anyways, I finally bit the bullet and downloaded a lot of pictures onto a CD and then loaded them onto here, so here are a few glimpses of the last few months:

Cora!

Bryant right before his 6th birthday party-and we went all out for it with a "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" theme

Cash, with his mouth covered in some sort of food, but still looking very adorable.

Here are the "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" cupcakes I made that looked so real that some of the kids were afraid to eat them!

Wasn't that fun?

New beginnings...

With each new day comes something new. I don't know how many people might know this, but I am kind of entrepreneurial. I ran my own business doing permits for new home construction for three years starting when Bryant was four months old (the recession ended that though!). It was a lot of fun, and Erick and I have thought of lots of different little ideas here and there, and a lot of them had a lot of promise, buuuuut, the timing is never right.

Enter Travis, Emma's fiance. With the dull economy and his very short stay in NC, the job hunting wasn't going so well; my entrepreneurial senses started to tingle. Erick and I talked and talked, and decided now might be a good time to start a little business. It didn't take too long for me to realize that the majority of the work of running the business would fall to me by virtue of the fact that Erick is a GM for a company that requires a lot of time. So, I have claimed this business as my new baby (not really), and Erick will have lots of input and share in all of the decisions, but I will be the backbone. We talked to Travis and Emma about it and they agreed to our ideas. I just finished the task of making a new email address and ordering 500 flyers. Next comes buying all the supplies and doing a little training, etc. It always feels kind of like you're jumping into the deep end of the pool, but it's also a little exciting. Hopefully this business will be a success, and by success I don't mean making me super rich, I just mean making me feel like the time I put into it is worthwhile.

So what is this new business? Just give me another few days, and I'll tell you ALL about it! Heck, hopefully you'll want to use it!

Marriage Advice for a sister who is about to be wedded (and anyone else who dares upon this post, but hey, I warned ya!).

My little sister Emma is getting married. So of course I need to give her tons of advice as to how she should live her life, and about every little thing she should do. What a great idea for a post! So here goes, Emma, though you left my house a mere 20 minutes ago, this post is dedicated to you and anyone else that happens to read this. Here is my advice for making a successful marriage, and if there is one thing I have, I'll be honest, it is a successful marriage. It's not something I regularly talk about or mention ("by the way...did you know how awesome my marriage is?"), because it's not something that comes into regular convo very often, but by golly, I'm trying to post something everyday so as I dive to the recesses of my mind to dig up topics, this is one that was bound to be touched upon.

What makes a successful marriage? Well, for starters, Erick and I were married about 7 and a half years ago, and we loved each other then and still do now, but more. In psychology it's well known that couples experience a lack in happiness during their years of active parenting, but we just think that's dumb. Our lives have only been enriched and fulfilled by having children. But, back to the marriage part. Why have Erick and I been able to increase in happiness and love over the years? Well, I could type page after page of specific traits and advice and on and on and on, but there is really only one thing you need....and no, it's not awesome friends, sisters, parents or anyone else to ask for advice (ha ha, yes, I can taste the irony).

Any two people that are humbly living the gospel are going to be just fine. If you are living the gospel to its fullest extent, and have a real relationship with God, you'll have the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and you will receive promptings, guidance, and all of the advice you could ever need. You'll learn lessons intended for you in everything that you do. You'll know when you need to say you're sorry, you'll know when you've gone too far. You'll know when you're partner just needs a night out, and you'll know when they need a night in. Over time you'll learn what makes them feel special and you'll be happy because they are happy. Yes, studying the scriptures and prayer will be you're greatest friends because they help make you sensitive to the promptings that lead you to serve your family and spouse, and the patience you need to do so.

I think reflecting upon the Savior and his teachings throughout the day helps keep me calm and ready to handle the challenges that do inherently come with the joys of motherhood and being a wife. And there will be many, many challenges. The cool thing is; we were meant to have challenges. If you remember back to Mosiah 3:19 and scan down a little it says that we should become like a child: "submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him..." That strikes me as an amazing concept "...the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him..." To me that says that we QUALIFY for the challenges we receive (note: by disobediance, selfishness, etc. you can of course inflict trials upon yourself, and you will, but I'm not talking about that.) and that the Lord thinks we are READY for our challenges. That says to me that we can always be made STRONGER through our challenges, and this is the truth. So certainly don't ask for trials, because they'll come, but don't feel sorry for yourself, and don't complain about them either, because if you handle them with grace, humbleness and the other things the scripture talks about, you'll be blessed and made stronger.

Okay, now, I will indulge you in just a handful of specific things Erick and I have done that I think really have helped our marriage succeed.

1. We never say no. Whatever the other person wants, no matter what it is, we always say yes. I want a new dress? Sure. Erick wants a ANOTHER truck? You bet! What the heck, right? Erick might have had to wait for five years, and we have a rule that we pay in cash, but yes, he got his THIRD truck two week ago. I made my SIXTH trip to Harris Teeter in one week, but it's what I felt like I needed to do (and it's not that often that I do that), and Erick doesn't question it. We just let eachother do our thing and don't judge. We trust each other to want and buy things that we need and not go crazy and it's worked.

2. We don't make fun of one another/joke about one another/humiliate one another EVER.

3. We don't tell each other what to do unless we feel specifically prompted to do so. Seriously, who likes to be told what to do? Um, nobody. Don't do it. I've found that Erick in particular does not like to be told what to do, and God is pretty good at teaching him a hard lesson when necessary. I leave it between them. And, Erick thank goodness leaves it to me and my relationship with God when I need correction. There have been a few RARE occasions when one of us or the other has had to straighten the other out, but it has only been after sincere thought and prayer into the matter, and especially out of LOVE. If your spouse is struggling they need your unconditional love and your listening ear, and your patience.

4. Keep it in the triangle. If you and your spouse have an argument keep it between you, your spouse, and God. Sometimes it might feel really good to vent to a friend, or parent, but they are not there when you kiss and make up, and might have lingering resentment towards your spouse when you don't. There may be times when you do need external advice or help, but those times that you need to go outside of your marriage for help will not be very often. We've asked our parents for advice sometimes before making big financial decisions or things like that, but not when we're in the middle of a big argument!

In conclusion...boy Maurine, you sure think you're so perfect don't you? Sounds like it anyway. Well, I've been on both sides of this advice. There have been times when I've followed it and been blessed beyond measure and other times when I haven't and have suffered consequences, but it doesn't change the fact that these little tidbits will get you through the thick and thin.

Also, you may be thinking, what the heck are you talking about? Who the heck is Mosiah and what is the "gospel"? If you are thinking this and want to know what I'm talking about and about my church, just ask/message/email/whatever, and I'll be happy to answer your questions.

One Time...

So I found a website that has writing prompts for bloggers since I am still experiencing a little bit of writer's block, but I hated all of the prompts and came up with one of my own. This is called "One Time..." This is a list of things I have done (or not done) one time (and only once). Enjoy.

One Time
-I sprained my ankle
-I was awake for 36 hours straight
-In highschool I had a math teacher miss eight weeks of school for maternity leave who then came back and promptly gave us a test and I wrote on the first page how I felt I had learned nothing in the class and if I failed it was all her fault. Very nice right? I did fail the test.
-I came in first place in the two mile race in a track meet.
-I won a hula-hoop contest (in the third grade).
-I went on four dates in one weekend
-I fainted 3 times in one night
-I wrecked two cars in two days
-My brothers convinced me to watch an R rated movie by telling me it was pg 13
-My husband and brother tried to get me to play paintball when I was seven months pregnant
-Cora told me Erick was going to shoot a bunny and make "bunny chicken" followed by a "yummmmmm"
-I puked on a plane

-yeah, pretty boring I know. There are actually a few pretty darn good ones, but honestly, they're a little on the private side/ don't know what people would think/ so I'll just keep them to myself! Anyone who wants to be a little braver, go ahead and try!

The Power Struggle

Every day Bryant's job is to empty the dishwasher. I have attempted to have him do other things, but it's kind of the only job he's good at doing, so that's his job for now. He's shown some promise in the table-clearing department, and with a little improvement maybe we could add that to his chore repertoire, but for now, he empties the dishwasher and has since last summer. He generally accepts this and does not usually complain a lot when the time comes to empty it.

Most nights I have to tell him that it has to be done before dinner and when it gets pretty close to dinner time he'll go ahead and empty it. On Mondays when the kids skype with their grandma, he knows it has to be emptied before he talks to her, and this has been a rule for many months. Yesterday for some reason he just refused to do it. I reminded him that he would not get to skype with his grandma and he still didn't do it. He was in desperate need of a hair cut and I had previously arranged with Erick to take him to get one after work, so Erick took him for the hair cut, and then went ahead and took him to McDonalds before coming home so I couldn't use dinner time to get him to do it. We then had family home evening and we actually had a lesson about gardening and helped the children identify what is a weed and what is a plant, and we all picked weeds which Bryant enjoyed and had no problem with. But as soon as I mentioned the dishwasher Bryant collapsed to the ground and said he was too tired and felt sick. I then told him he could not go to bed until it was done. Well, to some kids would be pretty excited about staying up for any reason, but not Bryant. On school nights he likes to go to bed on time by 8:00pm at the latest because he's always up by 6:00 (not that he has to be mind you), and he's genuinely tired. He said that he HAD to go to bed and that he was so tired, and on and on, but I stood my ground. By 8:15 he still wasn't emptying the dishwasher so I then told him that if he did not empty it by 8:30 then I would not allow him to go to school the next day until it was emptied. He was very upset by this, and started yelling and getting upset (I by the way, did not yell or become upset at all, at this point it was just a chess game, I knew I could get him to do it, I just had to figure out how). Then, he poked Cora in the arm with a pencil and I told him he would just have to do it in the morning and sent him to bed.

Later that night, Erick started emptying the dishwasher so we could clean the kitchen and go to bed. I told him not to, and explained that Bryant was going to in the morning. We cleaned up the rest of the kitchen and went to bed. I really want Bryant to know that we were serious about him completing his family responsibilities, and that he wasn't going to go to bed and have his chores magically done for him. So we went to bed and this morning at 6:00am Bryant got up on his OWN, went down stairs and emptied the dishwasher without any prompting from us. I was proud of the little guy. I'm also glad that he fully expected that dishwasher to be waiting for him and that he knew I was serious about not sending him to school.

The thing I want our children to feel is that they are NEEDED. I think one of the reasons Bryant does not complain much about doing his chore is that I have shown him on other days when he didn't do it, that I then have to do his chores for him, and that it makes more work for me to do. But if he does it, he's helping his mother and family, and I think he likes to know that he is really doing something to help, not just doing something that I could do better and faster. There are days when I let him off the hook and will do it for him, and days when he has been sick and I let him out of it, but yesterday was not one of those days. He needed to fulfill his responsibility for our family and I'm glad I made him do it!

An update about myself:

Well, today the creative juices are running very low, so I thought I would share some information about myself for my daily post. I hope this dry spell doesn't last for long because I really want to post every day for thirty days anyways, here you go:

Things I'm excited about (I think I'm stealing this concept from another blog, I just can't remember who's, so sorry):
-this is really nerdy, but one of my favorite things each month is my trip to Sam's Club. I don't know why, but I just LOVE buying things in bulk. I don't know, but I can't deny that I get giddy every time I go. I actually still haven't come down from the high of buying a pack of 400 generic claritin for only $12 last month. Erick teases me about it, but then again, yesterday he was going on and on about installing some inconsequential thingy on his landcruiser and I told him we're all really just the same. We all get excited about dumb little things, they just aren't necessarily the same dumb little things.

-I am excited about every single tiny thing Cash does. I am not kidding you, every movement of his body is the most adorable thing I have ever seen. You might think that each kid you have becomes less exciting, but we have found that with Cash we know how fleeting his little babyhood is, so every time he laughs with that two-toothed grin or crawls with his very authoritative crawl, or even when he cries that baby cry, Erick and I just look at each other and say how unbelievably adorable it is, and we talk about it all the time. I guess the only thing I'm looking forward to about Cash growing up is not changing his diapers. Other than that, I'm going to miss everything.

-I am excited about doing Cora's first real friend birthday party. For some reason four years old seems like the right age to do a birthday party that doesn't just involve family. They really understand what's going on and they are EXCITED, and that's putting it mildly. Cora talks about her birthday every single day, and it is still two months away. She has already planned it from the decor to the food. The food is of top priority because Cora is a total foodie, and she has let me know that it will include pizza, muffins, hot dogs, cake, pie, ice cream, and that's just the beginning. It will be a princess/spiderman theme so that boys and girls can both feel included. Don't ask me how I can pull that one off, but there's plenty of time to lower her expectations, or maybe I'll just go crazy and do it all. She also regularly threatens to not share her birthday cake if someone is not pleasing her. I can't tell you how many times I have had to reassure Bryant that yes, he will get some of Cora's birthday cake no matter what she says.

-I am excited about not going shopping for the next two weeks. My fridge, pantry, and freezer are so stocked that I cannot go shopping. It would be wrong. I am not letting myself look at any couponing websites AT ALL for two weeks (okay, I do have to go to Walgreens once because I will have some register rewards expire next week, but that's it I swear!). I am sitting here on a Monday morning, when usually I would be out shopping at two or three stores, and it feels so relaxing. I like it. I might take a break more often. Also, after I had to spend $60 on medicine for Cash taking a week off will help my budget even out a little.

-I am excited about stake conference. We have an AWESOME new stake president and I am so excited for the Saturday night session. I love going and hearing all of the speakers and then going out with everyone to dinner afterwards. I didn't get to last time because Cash was so little and likely sick, but I've already got the babysitter lined up and it's gonna be a great night for spiritual learning and catching up with friends!

-this list could go on, but I have to go be a mom.

Quick Mother's Day Post

Hi there, and Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mom's! I just wanted to maintain my goal of writing a post every day for thirty days, so today I am going to share the following:

Bryant is at his Grandma and Grandpa's for the weekend but will be back in the late afternoon; he gave me a letter and a gift (which I will wait to open when he gets home), but he wanted me to read the letter and this is what it said:

Dear Mom,
Thank you for my zhu zhu pets. I love you. You are the best mom ever. You're special to me. You are nice. You are sweet. Thank you for my food.

Love, Bryant.

He told me that he did a practice letter and then wrote this one with his very best handwriting, and I'm impressed that he even used the correct grammer for "you're". I'm also telling myself that Bryant wrote this letter from his heart with no help from his teacher...and knowing his teacher he probably did. It pretty much melted my heart and makes me so happy. He also gave me a beautiful picture of flowers that he made with construction paper. These will be treasured items.

Then, Cora asked me if it was really Mother's day. I told her yes it was. She then asked me if I was really REALLY sure it was Mother's day, and I said that it was. She then said "Okay" in her perkiest little voice, and ran upstairs and returned with a home made card that apparently Uncle Travis and Aunt Emma helped her make yesterday while I was at the funeral. It said "you're the best mom ever" and then "Cash gots the pink eye and mom is at the funeral." I asked Erick where that came from and he said that Travis asked Cora what she wanted to say and that was a direct quote. And it's true, Cash has the pink eye and mom was at the funeral. It's interesting to get a little peek into a little girl's mind! It was pretty funny. Anyways, hopefully everyone will be extra nice to their moms today! I've already got a beef stew in the crockpot and rolls are defrosting for a nice mother's day dinner for my mom.