Things I really love right now:
-My Contigo water bottle with a straw. (Gotten as a gift after Caleb was born.) I prefer to drink my water through a straw and this water bottle is so nice and makes me happy (and helps me drink more water.)
-My new can opener. After months of using a barely functional hand-can opener that you had to muscle your way through to open anything David surprised me with a hands-free battery operated opener. I've opened three cans today and my love for this opener grows each time.
-Regency Romance Novels. I go through phases with books, sometimes getting into science fiction, sometimes contemporary novels, once I really got into anything that had to do with the French Revolution, etc... Right now I just really really enjoy these Regency romance novels. Sarah M. Eden is my favorite Author right now and all her books are just sooo good!
--My scripture study. A while ago I bought a Book of Mormon Study Guide from the Red Headed Hostess and I truly love it. It has a small section for each verse, with probing questions like "draw what was happening" or "write about a doctrine or principle" or "record a phrase or lesson that stands out to you". It's really made me slow down and dig deeper into my Book of Mormon study. Instead of just reading it, and maybe writing down a verse that stands out - I'm thinking about each and every verse and what I can learn from it. I'm getting more involved in the story. I'm drawing stick figures and writing down take-away lessons and I'm really enjoying it like I've never enjoyed my scripture study before. Another thing that has helped with that study journal is that I also have the Book of Mormon Student Manual: Religion 121-122 and as I read the Book of Mormon, I've been able to read quotes that expand and illustrate the things contained in the verses. It helps me to think about what I'm reading and then I'm able to write down the things that are important to me into my study-journal.
After the last conference, listening to Elder Nelson's talk about our Savior, I decided to buy another little journal and take his challenge to use the topical guide as a curriculum and read and mark every verse about Jesus Christ and record my thoughts and testimony. It's been a beautiful experience and I'm not even through the first section "Jesus Christ: Summary". I also pulled out my "Family Inspiration Journal" that I started in college before I was even married where I've recorded important inspiration that I've received about how I want to teach and love my family and quotes that have inspired and uplifted me regarding the importance of family. I've been making an effort to be writing in that more often as well. I do don't all of those study things every day, but I'll pick one area to focus on for the morning, then when I'm done- I stack everything up in a big pile and stick it under the desk in my bedroom. Then, the next morning, I pull it all out again.
I write about this because I want to share my testimony that when you are making the effort to study the words of our Savior, when you're reading your scriptures and recording the things that you've learned - you truly do feel strengthened and uplifted. My testimony has grown and I feel more confident in my every-day happenings. When I'm faced with uncertainty, I can draw upon the things that I'm reading and learning and it fills me with strength. I've never really felt like I was "feasting" on the words of Christ. But now, I'm feeling like I have a taste of what that is like. I enjoy the time I have in the scriptures and often wish I could keep reading and studying for much longer than I am able to. (Sometimes I wake up before the kids are up to read, but most mornings I sit on my floor to study with Caleb laying out by me and Lydia and Austin playing with toys, Caleb, or each other nearby.) I hope that they know that their mama loved the scriptures, and that those scriptures helped her to be a better mother every day.
--The Thanksgiving Meadows Babysitting Co-op. It's a babysitting swap where you earn popsicle sticks by babysitting other people's kids and then you can use those same sticks to "pay" others to babysit your kids. It's been such a lifesaver for errand running, visiting teaching, doctors appointments, etc... All those small little things that are difficult to take kids to but are during the day when David is at work. I love it! (We also do a Babysitting Swap for date-nights with two other couples where we watch all the kids on one night and we get two dates out of it. It's been the best thing for our date-nights, ever!)
--I've been working on a paint-by-numbers painting over the past six months and although I can only work on it a little here and there, I've really really been enjoying it.
-Watching Hallmark movies with David. The cheesy plotlines, the use of the same actors over and over, and even the terrible typography for the title at the beginning of the show that makes it seem like it was made in the late 80s. I'm glad that David likes to watch them as much as I do.
-I got to go to the temple one evening last month while David stayed home with all three kids and it was wonderful. I basically cried the entire time I was there because of how grateful I was to be in the temple that night. I'm so grateful to be able to live so close to a temple and to go and feel of the Lord's love for me there. Someday I hope to be a temple worker, but as for now, I want to try to go to the temple even more often.
-Okay, so my van (a 2014 Chrysler Town and Country) is SO awesome. It's hands-down the newest, nicest, fanciest car I've ever owned. My one requirement when shopping for a new van was having a back-up-camera because we live on a street with SO many little kids. But it's got some other cool features. I just realized that you can download your music CD's to the van's hard drive and then select favorites from each CD. Austin would always request specific songs from different CDs, and now I have them all downloaded into one playlist and it's awesome. I also like that my phone is connected to my van and when someone calls me I can answer from my steering wheel and talk through the dashboard. You've got to admit that's cool. (I'm sure soon, that will be totally standard in every car - but for now it's pretty cool.)
--This is the prettiest illustration of a mermaid that I've ever seen. If I ever have to do a mermaid costume or anything, I'd want it to be like this.
--Let's talk about Chick-fil-A's Frosted Strawberry Lemonade. I'm not one to spend a lot of money on fast food, especially for myself, but this cross between a lemonade and a milkshake is just soooo good. It's a limited time thing, which is good, because I've already had about five this summer. David's taken to asking how much I like something in relation to how much I like this drink. "If I were to come home would you like that more or less than a frosted strawberry lemonady" Ha.
--Listening to books on Overdrive. Both me and Lydia have really been enjoying this. Overdrive is an online library where you can download books and audiobooks to your phone. I used to watch tv shows while folding the laundry and such, but I've started listening to Audio-books on my phone because I feel like it doesn't make me so unapproachable to my kids but I'm still able to be entertained while doing something fairly monotonous. At night after we put Lydia and Austin to bed, we've been letting Lydia listen to the Boxcar Children books for 15-20 minutes and she's really been loving it, too.
-I love my laundry room. I love the window I can look out of, I love the counter that I can fold clothes on, I love the L-A-U-N-D-R-Y letters above the washer/dryer. I have a method called "don't start another load until the clothes have been folded directly out of the dryer" and it works for me. No baskets of clean clothes hanging around. It will be hard to ever move because I love this laundry room so much.
-Great Value Tropical Trail Mix. It's got dried fruit & nuts, including cashews. We've been eating a lot of this lately.
-I had a realllllly bad experience with a wedding announcement client back in September and I honestly considered shutting Red Ladder down and calling it a good run. I just recognized that there were times that I was putting too much stress on myself and my kids were suffering for it. (Seriously, it was an awful experience where I basically worked through the night for a week to get a rush order finished for a couple who originally said that they just wanted something simple, but then were easily the pickiest and most demanding couple I've ever worked with - only to have them be dissatisfied with the final product and ask for their money back, after I'd already delivered the announcements to them. I lost money on the order, not to mention the countless hours I'd put in, and it almost caused me to stop doing what I love to do.) However, after several months I've finally started to do a few announcements here and there again. I've made some new rules for myself (like NO rush orders) and I'm feeling really good about things again. I just recently did these announcements for a family friend (Mikelle Oliver) and I love the way that they turned out. Plus those envelopes, guys. I swoon every time I see them. (There are florals on the front, too.) They were originally going to be black and white (due to cost), and last minute I decided to print them in color anyway and for days I'd be doing something completely unrelated and I'd stop and say to David, "Remember those envelopes? They were so gorgeous!" I really love having something in my life that is so creatively fulfilling, and even though I've taken a huge step back to make room for my bigger priorities in life (aka- my family), I'm glad that this can still be part of my life.
This was originally going to be a short-and-sweet post of a few things that I was liking right now, but it ended up getting a little longer than I had planned. In fact it took a full morning to finish it all up. Luckily, the kids were pretty happy to play with each other and let me blog - but at one point I looked up from my spot on the couch and saw this: an empty entertainment center and toy corner. The result is that my kitchen looks like this right now. #bloggingisworththemess At least they are having a good time while I get to blog, right?
I'd be remiss if I didn't include these three (and their dad) in my things I love post. Because, although I'm not always the most patient, or the most perfect, I love them so incredibly much.
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