Inspired Words Weekend

This weekend is General Conference, which I love. So for 4 hours today I watched, listened and snoozed during wonderful words of council and encouragement from various leaders in our church. All from the comfort of my bed! The kids came in and out, Erick ran errands and entertained kids, and napped, and I snuggled with my puppy.

The inspired words continue tomorrow in two, two-hour blocks. You can watch or listen here.  When conference is over, you can even go to that link and read the talks or listen again.

There are many worldly issues of concern on my mind lately, and I feel uplifted and reminded of why I love this church and all it stands for. I am thankful for my little family, and the gift they are to me. I am thankful for a loving Savior who has given us all an example to follow.

With a full heart I am off to enjoy the nature of the earth... Thats poetic code for pulling weeds!! :) I am determined to make the yard here look better than it was when we moved in. I don't think the owners care much for yard work. I think they bought this place as an investment for rental income. Thats ok, I love it!

Abbey Snuggles

 

This is Abbey Snuggles. She has grown a lot since these pictures were taken. She was about 2-3lbs when we got her at barely 6 weeks old, and now she is 12 weeks and 6lbs. She was gifted to us from a friend who owns both parents so we can keep tabs on her parents and their health and vice versa. She also gets to play with her brothers once in a while. She was the only girl in a litter of 7!

Her mom is a Labrador Chihuahua Mix?? I know, weird. And her dad is a super cute Shih tzu Poodle mix. We were hoping she would look like her dad. She has some curly hair. But her body and ears are all Retriever to me. We have no clue how much bigger she is going to get, not much I think. 

She is super sweet and Jed is in love with her. I have had many moments of second guessing this decision, but when it comes to Jed (well any of the kids!) I am sold. He has been a huge help taking care of her and Ella does well too. Luke is not interested in her very much because she nips a little. 

She makes Daisy crazy, but Daisy is actually more active with the puppy around (getting up to avoid being climbed on, sat on, sniffed or hair tugged). I took them both for a 15 minute walk this morning. It was perfect for them. They are actually pretty close in speed. Abbey has super short legs since shes so small, and Daisy is like, 100 years old. So they both were done after the 15 minutes. :)

Also, puppies are more work than when we had Daisy- no kids, 11 years younger, yah. Im tired.

Springtime

Spring has sprung in Utah! It's so enjoyable here at our new place. Daffodils in bloom, incredible sunshine, and kids outside with neighborhood friends.

I have been working on our front yard. The owners didn't really invest much time in it so there is some clean-up to be done. We might even attempt a vegetable garden this summer.

Happy Spring!

Bits of the House.

 Above: Unfinished storage space. This was a huge selling point for us, so we can get the rest of our belongings from Indiana now! Yay.

Below: Blurry kids in the family room, loving the space to run! This is where we will put our couch and tv.

 Above: Kitchen. Look, now no one will bump into me while I load the dishwasher! Amazing. Door leads to backyard. I will have to get some pics of the backyard. Its awesome!

Below: Eating area

 Above: Living room. We have zero furniture for this room. I might put a desk in there for my computer, or just shop around for some new things!! 

Below: Kitchen leading to family room. The carpet is a pretty chocolate color. Off of this family room is a 4th bedroom, laundry, and unfinished bath. The owners will finish the bathroom if we want, if we sign on for a second year.

 Above: Master bedroom. This bedroom is bigger than our current bedroom and laid out nicely. Has a nice big garden tub and walk in closet. 

Below: Some of the front yard-and Luke. Lots of landscaping already, so it will be nice to see it all come in this spring. I think we have tulips coming up already.

so, there are some bits of the new place! We officially can move in on Friday, and will do some Friday and some Saturday. We are stoked about this new change. Neighbors have already come around and introduced themselves, and the weather all week is going to be in the 60's. Perfect time to move. 

Happy Spring!

Yo.

Erick says he's sad that my blog is dead. Maybe if I put reminders on my phone I would blog more??

So little time these days. Lots of excitement around our place. We are house hunting for a bigger home to rent. We may have found one. Nothing set in stone yet. BUT if it all works out we will have more room to invite people over and most importantly, finish our move from Indiana!! We will have the space to bring the stuff we have in storage out here. Finally!!

And the cutest thing-our friends dogs had puppies! We have our eye on the cute little girl Jed is holding! That's also not set in stone but I just can't help myself sometimes.

Political Ranting.

Im thinking about gun control laws and the government today. (Thats your warning to stop reading if you don't care to read more. ;)

I heard the audio this afternoon for a recent 911 call that has been in the news of a woman at home with her young children. She took them and hid while an intruder entered her home. She was on her cell phone with her husband and she ended up having to defend her family. The audio is chilling. I can't even imagine her feelings as she faced this intruder with her children by her side. Thank goodness they were safe.

Bad guys don't follow laws. They dont. They never have and never will. It sucks that this world is such a scary place but it is. If given the opportunity to defend the lives of my children (or anyone else's for that matter) I would do whatever I had to to protect them.

My perspective is that as much as I wish preventative measures would work against evil I dont think it would the majority of the time. Defense is survival.

I want to post all this on Facebook, but I battle the idea of creating enemies. So I came here where I am pretty sure those who read my blog, agree with me. :) (Meaning only 4 people read my blog...and I love all 4 of you!)

Holiday Updates

We had a great Thanksgiving! Mostly because Erick had a few days off work and it was so nice to relax and not have to do any hard work. Last Wednesday night we took the kids to the movie Wreck-It Ralph. It was pretty cute. It was all about video games, which is a big deal at our house, so it was right up our alley. This game has been a family favorite for weeks now. We all like playing. I may have blogged about Halo before. I started playing in order to find a way to connect with Jed's interests. It has actually been a great way for he and I to spend time together and gives us something to talk about as well. He's a tender kid, and his skills for this type of game are kinda nuts for his age. So we have been playing a lot of Halo in our free time.

Last Thursday we went to the inlaws for Thanksgiving. We had a nice meal and a good time. It was nice to only have to cook a couple of things, and then let someone else worry about hosting and cleaning. Here is a super simple recipe that is sure to crowd please:

Pumpkin Spice Muffins:
15oz can of pumpkin puree
1 box of Duncan Hines Spice Cake mix

Mix together and scoop into muffin pans. Bake at 350* for about 15-20 minutes.

Can you believe that? Super simple! 2 ingredients! Here is what I do to make them extra special: Mix in just a handful of the mini chocolate chips into the batter. Later, sprinkle powdered sugar over the tops after they have cooled a little. I found the recipe on Pinterest, and have seen it on several blogs. Super easy! I have made them 3 times, and never have leftovers!!

Late Thursday night Erick went to some Black Friday early shopping, and then I went out after him with a friend. We have actually got most of our holiday shopping complete!

Today has been a day of clean-up triage. Tons of laundry, lots of vacuuming and straightening. But we are back in a groove so that is always important after these long stretches of family time. The kids are still home this week, so if we survive one more week all will be good. :)

We might put up our Christmas Tree tonight, which would be fun. I am a little pouty because its the 2nd year we have not had our treasured belongings from Indiana. Hopefully this is the last year we have to worry about that and we can get a rental truck loaded and out here with our stuff before too much longer. sigh....

Looking forward to a great holiday season!