Our Sledding Sweety

Ignore my awful voice and listen closely for Alexis's laugh. She loves sledding!!

Get on your sleds!

There's pretty much only one good thing about winter after Christmas and that would be sledding! Have I mentioned that I love our little sledding hill by our house? It is the best. We invited some friends over for our annual sled fest and headed to the hill.









Even with some high flying jumps, there was only one injury caused by a stick going down the hill with one of the crazy sledding kids. Um, yeah, that was my kid. It involved just a minor scratch but some major time out. Crazy kid. Sorry Little Maddie!
















After awhile the kiddos moved on to building a snowman. With a little help from the guys, it ended up being, as Skylar said, " the biggest snowman in the whole.....neighborhood!" We then headed back to our house for some hot cocoa, munching, and playing games well into the night. What a great day!

Remembering birthdays!

When I was a kid I absolutely adored the song 'The Lusty Month of May' from Camelot. My birthday is in May so I thought it was awesome. Of course I didn't know what the actual words meant but I do now and I wonder if my parents ever blushed about me loving that song so much. In the song it says: 'that darling month when everyone throws self control away.' Well, that romance and loss of control in late April and May sure brighten up the gloomy month of January with all of the birthdays it produces!! So Happy Birthday all you January babes! I'm glad your parents caught the spirit of Spring!
Today is one of those January birthdays. Today is my angel sister, Mary Gwen's, birthday. Mary Gwen is the third oldest in my family. My mom carried her full term but she was stillborn upon delivery. Even though I came along 4 kids later, I've always had a special bond with Mary Gwen. I am told that I always talked about her when I was young and I insisted that my family celebrate her birthday every year with a party! I think we must have been pretty close up there in heaven and I've always felt such a great loss of not having her here with me in our earthly life. I have so many what-ifs in my mind if she had been there.
This last summer, one of my friends had a baby that only lived for 15 minutes. From the moment I met my friend, she had told me she wanted another baby and I felt so badly when that was taken away from her. My heart has ached so much for my friend as I've seen her struggle with the death of her sweet baby. Since then I have been thinking about Mary Gwen a lot more than I have in many years. I've also thought about my parents a lot and the fact that they had to deal with such a loss as a baby girl that they had wished for, planned for, and then never got to take home. My parents didn't even ever get to see her and I know this has always been difficult for them. I guess I've never really realized just how absolutely painful it must have been for them. It is totally different now to view that with my eyes as a mother and I'm thankful for this new insight and understanding.
I am so thankful for the plan of salvation and the knowledge I have of it. I know that I will get to see my amazing sister again. I know that we'll be able to celebrate that she got to come to Earth and perform the little mission that she was supposed to so she could quickly get back to our Heavenly Father. I'm so excited to get to know her again. For now, I've decided to remember to remember her more often, starting with the celebrating of her birthday just like I used to insist upon doing. The kids were totally on board with the excuse to go get some ice cream at Coldstone. Hooray for birthdays! Happy Birthday Mary Gwen!!

I have become comfortably numb

So I gave up and went into the podiatrist to get that shot of cortizone I so desperately needed. I forgot how much the initial shot kills since he injects it right into the nerve and it hits the bones and tendons all over. But it was totally worth it. My foot is numb-besides the injection site-and it's all good!

My, My, My, My Neuroma

The very first guy that I was ever "going with" was Ricky Evans. We "went together" the end of 6th grade through the beginning of 7th. He was in my ward and every Sunday, throughout all of Sacrament meeting, he'd just sit and stare at me, all googly eyed. He was enamored. I mean, come on, I was super hot back then. Ha ha. One day that little romantic said something to me that has stuck in my mind all of these years. He said, "Wow! You have really weird looking feet." My heart pretty much melted on the spot.

Okay, so I've always known, especially since then, that my feet were jacked. They are just not too pretty. They are wide and my toes are kind of squashy. I'll spare you a real picture but you can imagine the ugliness, right? I pretty much don't care. It's not like I try to hide them from anyone-my footwear of choice is a pair of flip flops. So what if my feet are ugly? At least they are comfy!

So it's winter now and the flip flops are stored away. Sad. I miss them. I especially miss them when my neuroma acts up. You see, I have a Morton's Neuroma on my left foot. It's basically a tumor, but not a tumor. That's how my podiatrist explains it. It's a swollen, inflamed nerve between my third and fourth toe. Oh and it hurts-like crazy! Make that super crazy! I've had it about a year and there are a few things I can do to treat it but nothing works that great. I can soak it in hot water and then shock it in ice water. So pleasant! I can get a shot of cortizone in it every now and then, which actually is heavenly. If I get super desperate, I could get surgery. But the best thing I can do for it is to wear "roomy shoes" so it's not compressed. Though no podiatrist would ever say that flip flops were what is recommended, I know how it feels to wear shoes versus flip flops. It feels ten times better with all that wiggle room. But it's winter and flip flops just don't work in the snow. Oh, how I miss the flip flops.

Anyway, of course it's the new year and of course I made the goal to start working out more. I haven't been too great at it since the neuroma started up and while I'm not really gaining weight, I am definitely not losing any of that Alexis baby weight (still-sigh!) I so desperately need to. I'm pretty much sick of that whole thing. Anyway, when I work out on my elliptical, which I usually love, it hurts like heck. I can usually make it about 15 minutes and then I'm in so much pain I have to stop. I've even tried working out barefoot a few times with the whole flip flop thing in mind and that's not much better. Yesterday I made it a whopping 4 minutes. Impressive, eh?

Well, I think it may be time to put my New Year's goal aside for a bit until I can find some sort of exercise that does not include any weight bearing on my left foot. After that super intense 4 minute work out yesterday, I have not been able to walk today. I've just been hobbling around, trying not to look like a fool. Luckily I didn't see too many people today and I was able to fake that I could walk for a minute when I did. Really, isn't walking over rated anyway? That boyfriend of mine was right. My feet are crazy weird.

We could be heroes....

I'm pretty sure that a lot of people have had Haiti on their mind. The situation there is just so tragic and so sad. I've read a few articles about all of the adoptions that are being expedited so that those sweet little children there can be placed in homes sooner. What a testament that good things do come out of tragic things.
I've had adoption on my mind lately. I have a few friends this last year that have had some struggles with adopting. I won't tell your stories because they are not mine to tell. I just wanted to let you know how amazing you are. Those children that are finally in your wonderful homes are so very lucky and so blessed to have such a loving place to be. You are some of my biggest heroes.
Some of my other heroes are those who gave up their child to give them a better life in an adopted family. That is truly the most selfless thing someone could do. Those people remind me of our Heavenly Father because in a way, they are following His greatest example of sacrifice. I wish more would follow that loving example.
When I was growing up I was blessed to live a house away from one of my dear friends whose family had adopted two little boys through the foster care program. They also fostered many other children throughout the years, many with physical disabilities, and all with emotional difficulties. That family was such an amazing example to me. I loved that they had such huge hearts filled with love for those children that just needed some. I still think about some of those sweet children and hope their lives turned out okay.
I really think that foster care and adoption is something that the Lord has put into place so that the right babies get to the right homes, even though they have to go about it in a round about way. There are experiences and lessons that are all a part of the plan that need to be taught to the biological parents, adoptive families, adopted children, and all those around them. It is really such a wonderful thing.
Anyway, I'm not about to announce that we're adopting or anything. I would love to and looking at those sweet faces coming out of Haiti makes me want to even more. But for now, our family is where it is supposed to be and I think convincing my hubby otherwise would take some major work. I know because I even asked him today and he looked at me like I was crazy! I just wanted to express my thoughts on the subject. Adoption is awesome!!

True Blue

I have the most exciting new calling. I am the Activity Days leader for the 8 year olds! I haven't ever felt that I had a calling that just fit me right and I finally feel I do. I love it! I am so excited for all of the fun things I am going to get to do with the most amazing group of girls. My favorite part of this calling is that I get to do it with my Skylar and with her friends that I already know and love with all of my heart. We are going to have a blast!!
So as I was going through my pictures, I realized that I hadn't kept a promise I made to one of my very special girls. So, sweet Malia, I'm keeping my promise. Here's a picture of you showing off your true blue for your daddy to see. I put it on Facebook too so he'll see it for sure. He loves you so very much and is so proud of your decision to be baptized and come to Activity Days to work to be the best you can be. I am so very lucky to be your leader!!
Here's the rest of the girls, all true blue too!