Ode to Living by a High School and Middle School

Oh how I love the trash in my yard,
Chip bags and soda cans, whatever you discard.

Come and sit on my seawall, please don't think twice,
and screaming when my baby is sleeping is incredibly fun and nice.

If there is no room on the seawall, I have a seat for you.
It's on the bumper of my SUV- I promise I wont ask you to move.

It's really great at 7 and 2 when I have somewhere to be,
please ignore all of the no parking signs, and plant your car behind me.

I really love it when you hang in my yard, and closely examine my stuff,
Please look inside for anything you want, I'm sure I have enough.

I think the mail man may have delivered your mail to my place,
so check the mail box for stuff that's yours, it's really taking up space.

Don't hesitate to turn up your music for everyone to hear.
I don't own a tv,or radio- nothing fancy here.

By the way, I waited ALL summer to hear who you're in love with,
the idea that I don't care, would certainly be a myth.

And thanks for digging up my flowers I have planted in the bed,
I was going for the pretty look, but you're right, dirt works instead.

Underaged smoking and toking is legal at my place,
but if the cops come by you should put it away.. you know, just in case.

It's a blessing to watch you bully, and all the kids you taunt,
to see the outcome of undisciplined kids that get anything they want.

The best part about living in a house by the school,
the drama keeps life interesting, and the trash really is a jewel.

Haha

Yummies!

I let Alyssa feed herself today. But don't worry, I made sure to apologize to the high chair first. She had peas and spaghetti, then some canned fruit. She loved it!

Seven

Us when we were dating

Today I have been married for 7 years to the most amazing guy in the world. Every day he makes me smile, he makes me laugh, and sometimes he makes me poke my eyes out, (inside joke). I can't even begin to imagine my life without him. He never ceases to amaze me. Always willing to help someone out, and does it with a smile on his face. And speaking of his face, not only is it incredibly handsome, but it is also very kind. You can look in his eyes and see that he is very kind, and genuine, and trustworthy. I had no idea how much God would bless me when I was praying for a husband. I love you babe, my best friend, my husband!

Taking a Fall for a Good Cause

Anyone who doesn't know my daughter, has no idea how incredible intelligent she is. As you can see in the pictures, I have a huge layout for her, so I can get my work done, and she can be entertained. Well, she has figured out a couple ways to get me to gear my eye towards her instead.

Step 1. Things in the mouth.
As you can see, I have a cushy little rug for her to play on since we have all tile floors. I also put down a play mat from ikea that has a ton of cool bugs and stuff on it- that she refuses to look at. But lets focus our attention on the speckled rug. She has figured out how to pull all of the little speckle peices out and put them in her mouth, thus me having to get up, and take it out of her mouth- giving her a good reason to cry and therefore, me having to pick her up to calm her down.

This is when I thought I was being the smart one, and replacing this rug with her room rug... or was I being smart?

Step 2. Taking the plunge.
She has gotten very good at standing up- and even better as using this to her advantage. She will stand up- exhibit A. Then she will look back to see if there is anything behind her, look at me to make sure I'm not looking, then fall down and cry- exhibit B. Thus leads to me picking her up, to comfort her.
Exhibit A

Exhibit B


Step 3. "Sleeping"
Next thing she tries is pretend sleeping. She has started this since I started putting her in time out. She will lay there very still, and very quiet. Then I go to pick her up to put her in bed, or in her swing, and she usually will "wake up" and be so happy and wide awake. So, I go to put her down, and she starts to scream. Other times, she will stay "alseep" and I put her down and that is when she decides to "wake up" and sometimes she will play in her swing with the little toys, and other times she just cries. I seem to have outsmarted her on this one, so she will lay there silently as long as she can, then just start crying so I will.... drum roll please....... Pick her up.


Finally she does give in, and decides that maybe a nap is the best option... or is it? The world may never know!

Some More of my Favorite Things

Ok, so I'm not a big fan of raindrops on roses, or whiskers on kittens, but I left off some of my favorite things yesterday, and I sort of felt bad about it... so here is list #2 of my favorite things.
1. My whole Family... my parents and my brother have seen me through a lot, and I will always love them.
Forgive me please, I can't find a picture of all of them right now.

2. Writing... I love to write. It has always been theripudic for me. I am actually in the process of writing a childrens book, but I put it down a while ago, with many revisions that needed to be made, and haven't picked it back up again. I think it would be so cool to be the author of childrens books. Those are my favorite kind anyways- I don't really get into novels. I also write poetry and lyrics. Writing has always been a passion of mine, and can't believe that I left it off.


3. My Kitties.... Boog and Taco. The wierdest cats that you will ever meet. Boog is big and a little dumb, and taco is really needy, but I love them both.
Boog

Taco
4. My friends... I don't really have pictures, because I would be uploading like crazy, but I cherish my friends so much. There is nothing like having a good friend to lean on when you need it.
So thats all for now. I may still be uploading this list- once I think of more.

Some of My Favorite Things

So I have been kinda down lately... stress from my job, and struggling with that, and having the baby at home with me has been pretty difficult, and a couple deaths, including my grandma. Then I find this blog that I posted the other day, and I literally cannot get it off my mind... so I have been trying to perk myself up, so I decided to let you know some of my favorite things in my life.

1. Jesus... He died for me, a humiliating death at that, and then He rose from the grave and saves everyone who choose Him. That's pretty cool. And He continues to help me everyday of my life. Even when I don't deserve His love.


2. My Husband.. This goes without saying that he is the perfect guy for me. I love him, and would do anything for him, and I know that he would do anything for me. He is by far my best friend ever, and no one in this world knows just how silly we are. I love him.


3.My Daughter... Obviously. Shes so cute, and loving. She has a 1 in a million personality. You gotta love her past her drama...lol.


Now that we got the obvious out of the way....

4. Laughing... They say it's the best excersise, I don't know about that, but I love anything that can make me laugh.
5. Plumeria... my all time favorite flower, and you want to know how many I have?, 0! One day when we buy a house, I am going to plant a tree, so I can look at (and smell) Plumeria all the time.


6. All things Hawaii.. this and plumeria go hand in hand. I love Hawaii, because it is so full of culture. The people there- even though they hate tourists- are so loving, and deeply in love with their family and their beliefs. One day I plan on having a vacation home there, so I can go back whenever I want.


7. The Waltons... don't ask me why, it's just one of my obsessions


8. Japanese People... One of my goals in life is to go to Tokyo- but before I do, I want to be fluent in Japanese


9.Photography... I believe that just about everything is art, and I wish that people viewed the world as everything being something to cherish.


10. Marilyn Monroe... not that I would have desired her life, but she was classically beautiful, and thats how I look at her

My heart has been wrenched!

I was on Facebook the other day, and you know sometimes you go to someones page, and then you see someone that you know so you go to their page, and it goes on and on until your in someones page that you have never met before? Well I had that experience. I saw on someone's page- Praying for the Sullenger Family with this picture of the cutest little girl. I knew I may regret it but I opened it anyways, and this was the first picture that I saw.


http://patrickandashley.blogspot.com/

My heart dropped, and I immediately started crying, and I had no idea what this blog would say, but I knew in my heart, that it would change me- and it did. I read on through the past week of trauma that this family has been through. This little girl- 18 months old fell into a canal in Rigby ID, and suffered from brain damage. They would give updates at least once a day, with such hope, then on July 15 she went to be with the Lord.

I cannot even begin to imagine how they feel. Their baby, who was once full of energy and life, was gone, and now when they wake up in the morning it is silent. When they go to bed- silence. When they have to make a phone call, or watch what they want on tv- nothing. My heart aches for them in no way that I would have ever imagined for a family.

I don't know why either. I have heard of plenty of kids that have died. I have had family that have gone, but my heart just aches, day in and day out. I think maybe because to me she looks a little bit like Alyssa in some of her other pics. I don't know. But when I say it changed me- it did.

Everytime I look at my precious little girl, I think of this mother (Ashley) and I think about what she is doing at this very moment. Is she breaking down, is she looking at pictures, is she sorting through Preslee's things to give away, or to store? Is she sitting in Preslee's room holding her toys? Is she trying to move on by continuing to work, and be with family, and laugh and joke around. I don't know why I think about it so much, but I can't stop. What would I do in that situation. I don't even want to imagine. If you have a minute you should read their blog- http://patrickandashley.blogspot.com/. Her testimony of God through all of this is absolutely amazing. I feel like through this, she is stronger, and encouraging me, even though my daughter is alive and well.

But sometimes you go through situations in life, and you don't know how you make it through, but you do. Everytime I hold my baby now, I cherish her. I thank God that I have another day to hold her. The other day, she woke up at 4 am, and even though I was annoyed, this other mother ran through my mind, and I had to remind myself, that she would do anything to be in my shoes at this very moment. I need to always remember that, and I hope and pray that I will never forget how I have felt in this last week.

I told you so...

Ok, so I told you that I was going to be a bad blogger. Just- things happen, and they are just a part of life. They might make you happy or sad or mad, or whatever, but you don't think about telling the world. Usually I put updates on Facebook, and forget about Blogger. So- updates-:

Ayssa is CRAWLING!!!!!! YAY!!!!!
She looks like she's dancing when she does it. It's so funny and cute. It's really hard to describe, but it almost looks like she is floating, and doesn't know what to do with her arms and legs. We have a video on Chris's phone, and if our lives ever slow down, I will try to get it posted up on here. I can't really think of any other updates for right now, but I will let you know. Things have been pretty stressful with my job. Everybody thinks because I work from home, that I just sit here all day, and relax... well, thats not the case at all. I'm not going to go into too many details, but lets just say that I am getting the raw end of the deal a lot of times. And Alyssa doesnt want me to work when she is here. Oh well, things are going to get better soon, I just know it. :)