What will you fill your inner vessel with?

I had the opportunity to go the Stake Relief Society Spring Fling today. I almost didn't go. I had plenty of excuses not to, but I decided I had many more reasons why I should. I came away feeling at peace and ready to be a better wife, mother and daughter of God. I have a greater appreciation for the Savior and what he did for me. The highlight for me was the key note speaker. I forget his name but his message was inspiring. I have some great new ideas on how to better raise my children to know that they have a Heavenly Father that loves them and that they can return to live with Him someday. We don't have to be perfect. That is an eternal goal. But we can try to live a good life and do the best we can. My goal is to keep the Spirit that I felt today in my home so my family can feel the love and peace the gospel brings everyday.

Thirteen Things That Happened This Week 1. I went grocery shopping for the first time in three weeks. 2. I planted petunias in my pot and along the fence. 3. We got half of our garden planted. 4. I got my first tick of the season. 5. I talked to my friend who is serving in Iraq. 6. We invited some friends over for a bbq and had a great time. 7. Jody brought pizza home for dinner. 8. Olivia decided it was okay to take showers. 9. The whipporwils started singing at night. 10. I found out Julie had her baby and everything was okay. 11. I finished sewing Olivia's skirt. 12. FIL says Paxton started saying 'water'. 13. The kids woke up at 6:30am everyday. Links to other Thursday Thirteens!1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Ouch!

Jody was napping on the couch Monday evening. Olivia jumped on him and knocked him on the head. When he got home from work on Tuesday I realized he had a shiner. Apparently Olivia knocked him in the eye. He said he could feel it swelling shut that night. Poor guy! I bet he got some slack about that at work. Jody got beat up by a girl!

Wordless Wednesday

The Illusion

I hate what the media is doing to our world. Our wants, needs and desires are all based on illusions that are made up for us. How skinny we are, the right clothes, the perfect hair do...none of it really matters. It's all based on perceptions. A perception that is constantly changing. How did we get roped into it? Is it part of the mob mentality that causes groups to act out in a crazed fashion because everyone is doing it and we're caught up in the moment? We are smart. We are intelligent. We are wise. But we allow it to be put in our head that with the right purse and sunglasses we are somehow a better person. How dare someone tell me I am not beautiful! This is the way my Heavenly Father made me. How dare the world tell my little girl that she isn't perfect just the way she is! She is a beauiful creation of our Father in Heaven. I want her to grow up to be a strong person. A person unaffected by the illusion that the world wants her to buy into.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about Sarah 1. John Grisham is my favorite author. 2. I went to a Gifted and Talented school from 5th-8th grade until my family moved. 3. We have four pigs, one of which I hope to one day eat. 4. Jody bought a tiller from a man at work today. 5. We are putting in our garden this weekend! 6. My grandma owns a nursery, but I did not inherit a green thumb. 7. I'm afraid of the dark. 8. I have 2 brothers and 4 sisters ranging in age from 2 to 30 years old. 9. I once found a tyrantula on my stove-top. 10. I am left-handed. 11. One of our family traditions is to have snow-crab for Christmas dinner. 12. I don't have a favorite color- never have. 13. I'm supposed to be listing items for eBay right now. Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Wordless Wednesday

Country girl

You know you have a country girl when you tell her to sit down and finish eating and she says, "I don't want anymore. Feed the rest to the pigs". I hope that isn't an indication of my cooking skills.

I resign myself...

I resign myself to the fact that:
*I will never get caught up on laundry
*It is impossible to keep my house clean with little kids at home
*My husband is not, or ever will be, a hopeless romantic
*I may never find the lost tv remote
*My house will never be big enough
*As hard as I try, I can't protect my kids from the world

Easter Sunday

The Easter Cantata was beautiful minus the 18 month old sitting next to me making a horrible screeching sound. Half way through the performance I began to question why I even tried to go. We ended up listening to the second half in the lobby. It was beautiful music none the less.

I realized before we left for the performance that in my lack of Easter enthusiasm I didn't purchase any plastic eggs to hide for the kids. It took three stores to find some. When we got home I had to do some last minute finishing touches on Olivia's dress. I got the kids to bed and switched to Easter bunny mode.

We somehow managed to sleep in this morning. I looked up at the clock and saw that it was 7:40. We have to leave the house be 8:35 to get to church on time. I jumped into the shower before the kids got up. Olivia, Paxton and Jody all found their baskets (Jody with a little prodding) and the kids found all their eggs. We got ready for church in record time and managed to get there in time for the sacrament hymn.

I must brag and say how cute Olivia was in her dress. She calls it her ballerina dress and had to hop and dance everywhere she went. We took some pictures outside when we got home from church. Please excuse my hair. I didn't have time to fix it pretty.

Olivia in her dress:

















The kids and me:




















Our happy family:

I've had a hard time getting into Easter this year. It seems like none of the celebrations actually have to do with the atonement and resurrection of our Savior. We went the store to pick up a few little things for the kid's Easter baskets, and there wasn't a single on the Easter aisle that had to do with Jesus. It makes me sad. I think we are jipping ourselves and our children by not really teaching them what this holiday is about. Tonight we are going to listen to an Easter Cantata at church. I can't wait to go and celebrate the most important event in history and feel the love and peace that knowledge brings.

A hard working man

Jody has the next 5 days off work. Anyone that knows Jody knows that just because he isn't at work doesn't mean he isn't finding a way to make some money. Yesterday he hauled off a load of scrapmetal that's been sitting on our trailer for a month. He invited Paxton and me to go because he thought Paxton might like to see the tractors.

We took the load to Tenenbaum's in NLR. We had to take FILs truck to pull the heavy load. I think it's the first time Paxton rode in the pick-up on the road and he enjoyed the great view.

If you can ignore the smell, Tenebaum's is a facinating place to go. They have a giant machine that basically eats metal and grinds it up into little pieces. It's fun watching the machine that Jody's dubbed "The Claw" grab the metal off the trailer and put it on the conveyor belt to be eaten.

The first time we went to Tenebaum's we didn't know what to expect. Hard hats are required so we had to use some that they had. Now that Jody is a "professional" scrapmetal hauler, he has his own hard hat that for some unknown reason he painted purple. I guess it's his own little fashion statement to the metal hauling world.

Frustrated

Olivia's Easter dress is kicking my butt. Maybe I bit off more then I can chew. I have almost everything done but the zipper. I sewed it in last night only to have to remove it because it looked bad. I sewed ip back in today and was moving forward until I realized I put it on wrong. I'm so frustrated! I could use some patience vibes right about now.

How did I get so behind?

I haven't balanced the checkbook in over two months. Why? I don't want to know the balance, I'm tired of the mundane, I'm lazy. My goal today is to get it done. It's not going to be fun. It's not going to be easy. But somebody has to do it. Hopefully I'll be shocked and amazed at how much money we really have. I won't hold my breath though.

Spring Break

My mom and two little sisters came for spring break. My other little sister and her baby were supposed to come too, but they were sick. It was so nice to spend time with my family. I've been feeling a little down lately and their visit was just what I needed. We didn't do anything too exciting - a little shopping, yardsales, scrapbooking, vegging - but we had a blast anyway. My friend said something that is so true. It's always wonderful when your mom comes to visit because she does things the way you do, since she is the one who taught you how to do them. She cooks the way you do, cleans the way you do, relaxes the way you do. So when mom comes to visit, it's like having a teammate on your side. Olivia loves having my sisters here as well because she has constant playmates. I was sad to see them leave today. We're all going to be a little more bored and lonely tomorrow.