Attitude is EVERYTHING

I really like what the speakers in my moms ward talked about today, it really made me think. Two out of the three speakers spoke on our attitudes and how they make a big impact on people even when we think they don't. Someones negative attitude can make you feel, sad, unwanted, angry, frustrated, like you are a failure, and many other things. I realized today that we as a society we tend to focus more on the negative things than the positive, like lately my kids faults have been pointed out to me constantly, anything they do wrong is a big deal, but when they do something right no attention is paid to it. I have struggled with this because I feel that I as a mother am failing my children because now all I see are the things they aren't doing and wondering Is is my fault?Am I doing something wrong? Am I not doing enough? Am I being to strict or not strict enough? In turn I am pointing out all of my own faults, and without realizing it and my attitude changes from confidence to failure, all this because of one persons attitude.

Attitude really is everything, because I could hold on to all my frustrations and my bad attitude and pass it on to someone else or I can learn from it let go, and begin to work on being confident again, and I could make someones day by just making a polite comment. People need gratification, I'm not saying we need every one's undivided attention, but it is nice to be noticed and to have someone compliment you on something good. There are days when I have felt like I have no friends, or If I skipped church would anyone even notice I wasn't there? I have felt like my kids are an inconvenience to others, really just plain depressed, but then I poor my heart out to my Father in Heaven, and the next time I feel that way, someone notices and asks me how I am, or they tell me what good job my kids are doing, and in that my attitude suddenly changes from sullen to happy and loved. I am going to try really hard to not focus on the negative, to look beyond it, cause really every one's days are numbered and I don't want to spend them focused on everything I am doing wrong instead of what I am doing right.

Beach Front Property!

A week or so ago, Kaleb helped Uncle E build a sand box. Grandma had all the stuff, a neighbor provided the sand for FREE can't beat that!! The kids were super excited about it, Ryne stood by with the buckets and shovels in hand, Tinkerbell rested in the shade with Kulo, Ellie was watching from her swing and Kaleb was guarding the sand until it was ready to be put in the box! Kaleb was so excited when it was done, he ran in to tell grandma he was "goin to the beach!". We filled up a pool with water, now all we need are a couple of Palm tress and we have ourselves some beach front property! The kids have been having a blast and surprisingly Ellie isn't eating the sand, I think she learned her lesson from the last time!i

Trinkets, Treasures and Adventures!

I have been going through my moms closet and basement for things that I know I left here. I have been finding all sorts of fun little treasures, like a mirror that I use to have in my room when I was younger, a little gold shelf that I will paint and put it in my bathroom, a wooden basket, a lamp that will be perfect for my sewing table, a phone table I had back on my college days, some old suit cases, I still have a lot of boxes to go through, I know I will be finding lots more treasures that I can use in my own home, after they undergo a make over! I have to go get some paint and stuff, I already have so many ideas in my head, so we shall see how everything turns out!

A couple of weeks ago my mom took me to America's best to get me some new glasses (since my old prescription was over 6 yrs old) and I haven't gotten any cause I couldn't really afford it and I didn't hardly wear them anyway. Well we went in armed with my prescription, I picked out 2 cute frames and I finally got to get them on Thursday and I love them so much!!! I have been wearing them more than my contacts(that should tell you something right there I HATE wearing glasses). It's been a nice break for my eyes. Saturday another Anita Stanfield book my mom got me came and I started it Sunday afternoon and finished it by 11:30 p.m. it was super good. I also found out that I get my reading skills from my dad he got a book on Fathers day and finished it within a few hrs, my mom was amazed I just laughed at the realization that I am like him in so many ways!

Saturday my dad and brother took Ryne and Kaleb into town to see a model airplane show, they said the kids were over it after the first 10 minutes!! But they did have tons of fun anyway. My mom and I took Ellie and went into town to get a few things to finish up some projects, we also hit a couple of yard sales, we got the kids a little easel with a chalk board on one side and a white board on the other for $3, a big wheel for $3 and a regular bike for Ryne for $5, the kids have been really enjoying it. Especially Ryne cause I am teaching her how to ride her bike without training wheels, it's a little slow going but it's going! Ok so I think I have caught ya up on everything so far, stay tuned for my projects and more adventures with the kids.

Personalized Hooded Towel

Remember the hooded towel I did for Kaleb's birthday? Well Marryne has been dying for me to make her one, she really wanted a pink towel with the superman symbol well instead of that I did these personalized ones for the girls. My mom and I were at Wal-mart yesterday and I found this 6 piece yellow towel set on clearance for $8, I figured that was a good deal, especially since I usually make one hooded towel for that much! Anyway, I was trying to think of a way to tell them apart so with some 1/4 grosgrain ribbon I made the first letter of the girls names I thought they turned out good and Ryne was thrilled.

M for MARRYNE!

E for ELEANOR aka ELLIE!I have a tutorial I am dying to post but it will have to wait till after Father's Day cause I don't want to give it away, it turned out great and my kids can't wait for daddy to see it! Stay tuned for that.

Girls Day Out

On Thursday Kaleb stayed home with Uncle E and Grandma J so that the girls could have a day out and it was so much fun! The first thing we did was go get our hair done you can check it out on my hair blog here. After that we dropped Ellie off at home she was in dire need of a nap! After dropping Ellie off we headed into town(Pocatello) to have lunch and shop. We had lunch at Red Lobster, I found out that Ryne LOVES popcorn shrimp (so much that she cried when she ate all of them!). Grandma go the kids each a movie (which I used to bribe Ryne into being good when she got a little antsy), I got a couple pairs of pants, a new camera (YEAH!!!!I still need to get a memory card for it), some stuff to do a few crafts, and many other things.

As we were out and about I realized how much I miss being with my mom, not necessarily buying things just hanging out with her. I love how we can put our minds together when it comes to crafting or sewing, I love how we can bounce ideas off each other, and man do I miss that when I am in Az. But I also realize that as much as I miss my parents when I am not with them, my place is with my hubby and kids in our home, but these little visits are so nice and best of all I know I am welcome any time.

Gardening

Wednesday was a a busy day, went spent most of the day weeding out Grandma's garden. Then once that was all done Ryne and Kaleb got to plant some flowers in a planter box that Grandma said could be all theirs. They were so thrilled, it was neat to see to see my mom teaching my kids how to plant flowers, just as she had taught me when I was younger. I think that is were I got my love for gardening, my mom loved to garden and so did my grandmother I'm sure that's were my mom got the love for it as well. It has been so nice up here to be able to go out and work in the garden to plant beautiful flowers, I am working on my own garden in Arizona but just isn't the same.
After we were done gardening we had dinner and gave Kaleb a hair cut before bath time. After bath time the kids climbed willingly into bed, they went to sleep without so much as a "But I'm not tired" it was wonderful.


Before
After, we didn't take that much off but it looks so much better!

Mountain Man Rendezvous

On Saturday we went to the Mountain Man Rendezvous the kids had fun for about the first 10 mins, after that they were tired, hungry, hot and they wanted to go home to Grandma's house. We left Ellie home with Grandma she seemed to have had her fill of fun from the Fire Station the day before. Ryne and Kaleb loved watching the hatchet throwing contest, after that we went to see them shoot there black powder rifles, and pistols. We walked around to the different tents they had, they were sellin all sorts of stuff, Ryne got a pretty purple ring, Kaleb got a 2 sided whistle, Ellie got a little wooden hand drum, I got some awesome scissors, and we got Dane some dice "cause ya know mom, daddy collects them!", Uncle E bought Tyne and Kaleb little wood rubber band guns, and they all got a rock candy sucker. We walked around till they pulled out the big guns, and I do mean big guns, they had 4 canons there, 2 shot bowling balls, the other 2 were smaller but still cool to watch! Ok so enough chit chat here are the pictures.


This guy was making a knife, Ryne and Kaleb both got to turn that little drum thing and circulate air to make the fire hotter, they thought that was the coolest thing ever especially Kaleb ( Kaleb wouldn't hold still long enough for me to take a picture).Ryne and Kaleb watchin the hatchet throwing contest...The wined up and the pitch........... it was a bulls eye just so ya know!! This guy was really good, and he said it was his first time throwing!
Uncle E and the kids walkin by the shootin range.One handed pistol shootRifle shoot, Ryne really liked that a girl was shooting "girls are good at shooting guns too hu momma!?" Why yes yes they are!!Last but not least the big guns, This canon shot 8lb-16lb bowling balls over 200 yards it was insane to watch!!I wasn't listening when they talked about this one but I thought it was cool. Ryne got to help aim one of the smaller canons. I think the kids favorite part was when they said "fire in the hole" and the shot the canons.After the Rendezvous my dad and I took Kaleb with us to run some errands, while Ethan took Ryne home to Grandmas. While we were having lunch Kaleb would launch his chicken nuggets into his ketchup sayin "fire in the hole!!!" it was very entertaining, needless to say the kids were exhausted by bed time, and that my friends means the day was a success!

Pocatello Fire Department

My dad. brother and I packed up the kids and went into Pocatello to the Fire Station open house.The kids got to use the fire hose, sit in the fire truck and ambulance, they got to get dressed in their own fire suits and they got to rescue a teddy bear from a burning building(it was just a room filled with smoke from a smoke machine)!! They had so much fun, until it started to rain like crazy!After the fire house we went to McDonald's and let the kids play for awhile, tomorrow we are going to the Mountain Man Rendezvous the kids are looking forward to it, it should be fun. Here are some pics of the kids...Junior Pocatello Firefighters.

When on of the firefighters asked Kaleb what his name was he said " Kaleb, the superman boy!", here he is in the fire truck, he was lookin everywhere for the keys!Sittin pretty the the fire engine!Ryne and Kaleb in the ambulance, hopefully they will never have to actually ride in one for real!Ryne just had to talk to Sparky the Fire House dog!!

Ellie said hi too! She wasn't too sure about Sparky at first, but then before I knew it she was chasing him down and waving!

Can't wait for tomorrow's adventure!!

Caught up

Last week was a busy one with last minute appointments, meetings and packing, now it's time to get everyone caught up! We left for Mesquite on Saturday morning, I was up and ready to go by 4 we were planning on leaving by 5 but somebody(my hubby) wouldn't get up, so needless to say we didn't get out of there till 6, but we made good time and got to Mesquite about an hr after my mom did. The kids were so happy to see grandma and be out of the car! Ellie decided she was going to break out in head to toe hives we still haven't figured out what caused it, but today has been the first day she hasn't had them. My mom watched the kids for Dane and I so we could go out one last time until Aug, we found a theatre and went and saw Iron Man 2 I loved it, there were some parts that were a little boring but it was really good. After the movie we went for ice cream, then back to the hotel were Ellie was miserable and screaming, after everyone else got back to sleep I spent an hr rocking her to sleep! Luckily we weren't in a huge hurry the next morning, we got up packed up the cars had a good breakfast, had a tearful goodbye to daddy and then off we went to Idaho. Ryne kept saying that she was sick and that we needed to go back to Arizona, poor girl really misses her daddy, Kaleb didn't even notice daddy wasn't with us until we were in Salt Lake! We stopped at a couple of Wal-marts that were on the way to let the kids walk around and they happened to be having some really good sidewalk sales!! We were struggling to find places to put things in the already packed to the brim car but we managed!! We made it to Idaho about 9 p.m. and of course the kids had late naps so they were wired, we didn't go to bed till after 11. The kids were up bright and early, they couldn't wait to go run and play, they ran all day non-stop Kaleb put him self to bed last night he was that tired!! I helped weed some of my moms garden boxes, Ryne helped dig up weeds, and Kaleb dug for gold! We brought Tinkerbell with us and she is in heaven, she has re-united with Kulo her sister and they have just been having a blast running and playing with each other.
Today we took it easy, Grandma had to work, and it's been raining so we have spent most of our day in doors, but the kids are so happy to be here, yesterday when I asked if they were excited to be here they both said "YES, and we want to stay here forever!" then Kaleb added "but you can go mommy!" NICE I feel so loved :)