Favorite Quotes

I was going through some papers the other day, and I came across this:

I got this quote from someone when I was in college, and I had it hanging on my bulletin board all through my college years. When I saw it again, I remembered why it's one of my favorite quotes. I like that there is nobody--of the billions of people in the entire world--that is exactly the same, and those things that are different about each of us can be used to enrich our lives and the lives of others, even to make the world a better place. Since I quit working a few months ago to become a full-time stay-at-home mom, I think I sometimes don't feel like I'm making a difference in the world. Deep down I know that my influence is more important and my impact is longer lasting in my new job than my former, but you sure don't get frequent accolades or reassurance of a job well done. This quote was a huge reminder to me that it is my "unique strengths" that qualify me for this job...and that nobody else has exactly the same "insight" and "passion" to be a mother to my children. I'm sure I have long since been replaced at my former job, but I still have lots of work to do here at home.

I have always admired people who are very involved in community programs and volunteer in so many capacities. Someday, when my children are a little more independent, I have aspirations to expand my influence beyond the walls of my home. I will find my mission "to make the world a better place" and get involved in causes that I care about. For now, I am content to be at home and care for my babies (and type all of this one-handed because Levi wants to be held!).

What is your favorite quote?

Levi's One Month Old!

Levi is already a month old. I took him in to get his pictures taken last week. and literally the day before his appointment all of the hair on the top of his head fell out, he got a serious case of dandruff, and he broke out with baby acne all over his face. Oh well, the pictures turned out really cute. I'll share them after we get them back. But he's doing great. He's growing bigger and starting to be more active and alert. He's happy most of the time. We are still trying to coax that first real smile out of him. We are all loving having him as a part of our family. Here's a bunch of pictures for our far-away family.

Thanks for the cute blanket, Larissa!

Madera Canyon

We went on a family outing to Madera Canyon this week. Madera Canyon is a great hiking and picnic area that's not too far from our new house. It was so pretty up there. We saw a couple of deer and all kinds of cool bugs. We saw plants and trees that weren't covered in thorns and even some mushrooms and other assorted fungi. There is a little creek that is dry most of the year, but it was running from the Monsoon rains when we were there. We picked Madison up from school in the 98 degree heat and headed up to the canyon, where it was in the 70's. It was so nice to be outside and not feel like we were cooking! The kids loved to run around out there. They have been too cooped up all summer in this crazy AZ!

Our whole family...even Levi is hiding somewhere in there. He did great for his first outing in the baby carrier.

Dad helped Madison and Wyatt cross the stream, and we didn't even have any wet-shoe mishaps!

Our cute Madison!

This was Madison's first time holding Levi while standing up. No problem, right? I stayed close!

I can ride my bike with no training wheels, no training wheels...

Another thing to add to my "She's growing up too fast" list...the training wheels came off last night! We dug out the knee and elbow pads, then Darin chased her around trying to stay close enough to catch her if she was going down. The first stop surprised her. She put on the brakes and the bike immediately tipped over. She was able to catch herself though, and then she figured out how to brake and then put her foot down. She cruised around for a little while with no major mishaps. A little more practice, and that will be one more step of growing up that we can officially check off!

Invasion!

We are being invaded by these nasty things! If any of you have called me in the last couple of days, you've probably heard all about them, because Wyatt tells anyone who will listen about the "catepittars." The pediatrician and the AC service guy were especially impressed. We first saw them on the way to church on Sunday. They were all over the road by the church. Then by that night, they had found our cul-de-sac. They are coming out of the desert by our house by the hundreds. There were about 30 on our driveway yesterday, and 10 crawling up our mailbox, and one had crawled up the house almost to the roof. They are everywhere in the rocks, and we watched one devour a leaf of a weed in our backyard in about 3 seconds. I ran over one when I backed out of the garage, and its guts shot about two feet. Our driveway is covered in slime, either from them being squished, or from the green substance they emit (I'm not sure which end it comes from) when they are threatened.

My fearless hunter. Stepping on them would be too easy. Wyatt is using a metal bat to squish them.

Madison took over the bat. Wyatt now has a plastic sand toy that he covers them with and says, "Now you can't see your friends!"

First Day of First Grade

Here she is! My big girl, on her first day of first grade. We do uniforms at our school, so it kind of takes the fun out of school clothes shopping, but at least she got some pink converse shoes with little hearts all over them to jazz up her outfit a little. We added a pink glitter headband to maximize the pink factor, and a girly brown and turquoise butterfly backpack, and all in all, the uniform isn't too bad! She had a great first day, and the first thing she asked is if she gets to go back tomorrow.

Back to School...Let's Party!

Madison was so excited to start first grade...seemed like a great reason to celebrate! Sunday night, Darin taught the kids how to play Uno in honor of starting 1st grade. Then we attempted to document the day on video, but our video camera wasn't cooperating. We had big slices of yummy Jello Poke Cake that Madison helped make. Then we topped off the evening with a back to school blessing from Dad.

Monday afternoon was "Meet and Greet" at the school where we got to go and meet Madison's teacher and see the classroom. Her teacher is Ms. Kastigar. From the few minutes I spent with her, I was really impressed. This will be her third year teaching, and she seems so excited. The classroom is set up really nice. The kids have their own desks, different from the kindergarten tables. Madison sits next to a girl that was on her soccer team last year. She says, "That's good I get to sit by Ashley so she can keep me safe and I can keep her safe." I'm not exactly sure what they have to keep each other safe from, but I am glad she knows someone in her class. There are also two kids that used to be in our ward and two kids that were in her class last year. I kept waiting for her to express some sort of apprehension about school, but she never did. She just wants to go! It's funny what being in a classroom environment does to kids. We walked in and she started pointing to posters that were hanging around the room and telling me all kinds of things--like counting to 100 by 10's--that I have been trying to practice with her all summer. She hasn't really been interested at home, but as soon as we step in the classroom, she is ready to learn!