Our Patriotic Patrick

Part 2 of Birthday pictures

Here are the pictures from my little party at my Moms house for my birthday, this is my blueberry cream pie and Ann Pitts adorable little cupcake cake.

His ooooooo face

Lighting the candle

blowing out the candle, blah blah blah

I think the question was, "Who wants cake" or "Who wants pie" Ignore my stupid expression

Once again ignore my stupid expression

Well its time for some pictures. I feel the need write some things about Elena now that she is almost 3 months old and she is starting to develop her little personality. She is a usually a very happy baby. She loves to smile and coo at anyone talking to her. She LOVES her big brother. She watches him as she lays on the couch and he plays in front of her. She smiles at him all the time. She doesnt like to nap by herself during the day. She needs to be held or be napping right next to me in bed. I have a cheat to fix that and I use her swing. Patrick wasnt a big fan of the swing so Im glad that she is putting it to good use. She loves her daddy and probably talks to him the most. She isnt very good at falling asleep by herself at night so she gets really fussy at bed time and it sometimes takes awhile to get her to sleep. She now only gets up one time at night and then she wakes up early in the morning and will go back to sleep until the afternoon. That makes my mornings pretty easy so that I can focus on Patrick and housework. She sleeps in her own bed maybe two nights out the week. I put her in her own bed but she wont stay there very long. I think it will help when we get a bigger place and she will have her own room. I dont sleep very well when she makes noises right next to my bed. At this point Patrick was already in his crib in his own room. Hopefully we will have a house by February so she will be out of our room.
Well here she is during her tummy time, she loves holding her head up and looking around.
We had a reading night the other night and I was able to read a few books to the kids before I lost Patricks attention and Elena got hungry.
Here is Patrick in his winter jammies for the first time this season. He thought it was really funny.
Here is Patrick in a box. He was really funny to watch.

A good picture of Patrick and Elena in their jammies, Jesus got this great picture.
Here are both Jesús and Patrick watching TV and solving a Rubix cube.
Jesús threw me a little surprise party for my Birthday. My Birthday was on the 16th and he was going to be leaving town. He felt pretty bad having to leave so he got the Buntings and Nichols and Randalls to surprise me a few days before my actual Birthday. I guess Dave thought it was a little boring.
Jesús got me my favorite pink champagne cake. It was really good.

My Mom got me a Marie Calendars pie for my actual birthday on Sunday and I got some presents like a gift card to Joanns to buy some fabric or whatever since my new hobby is sewing. I also got some flannel pajama pants that I love and I got a lot of cookie sheets from Jesus and my Mom so I will be returning the one my Mom got me because it is from Williams and Sonoma and I would love to shop in that store. I also got a great little cake that Ann Pitts made for me. It was so stinkin' cute. I didnt get a picture of it with my camera so I will have to get pictures from my moms camera.

My Mom went with us to the park on Monday. It was Elena's first trip to the park and she slept all the way there and all the way home. She wasnt a big fan of the sun in her eyes so she wouldnt lay on the blanket with me.
I need to be taking more pictures of Elena. I feel guilty because I was going through Patricks pictures and I have soooo many of him and I hardly have any of her. That will be my new goal. So hopefully my next post will have more of her. I did however get this cute video of Elena talking to her daddy.

Two year old madness

Woke up this morning to Patrick crying.
Went in to check on him.
He had pulled down his pants and taken his diaper off.
Told him "Patrick, dont take your diaper off".
Laid him down for his nap at 1:30.
Was making dinner for Relief Society when I heard him crying.
Went in to get him out of his crib and he had taken his diaper off.
I said "Patrick, I told you not to take your diaper off. Dont ever take your diaper off".
So I put him in the bath tub and went to feed Elena, listening closely to him.
I heard him say, "I want to get out of the tub".
So I went to get him a towel and get him out.
I walked into the bathroom and found he had pooped in the tub.
I said "Dont poop in the tub!"
I pulled him out, bleached the tub, put him back in and washed him off again.
Please tell me this wont last very long.

Our True Test

As I watched the news last night I was scared by what I saw. There are so many people protesting out side our beautiful temple. I always associated the temple with peace and reverence and it breaks my heart to see so many people treating it as just another building and thinking of it as a place of hate. I know that they have the right to speak up, but we have the right to vote how we feel. We voted not based on hate but based on our beliefs and that marriage is a sacred thing between man and woman.

We have the right to worship as we want and now I believe that our testimonies are being tested. I love the gospel. It has given me peace.

I stopped going to church after high school because I thought that was what was causing me to be unhappy. It took seeing the destruction of someone elses family by their own mistakes to get me quit my bad habits. The truth is, I had never tried to strengthen my own testimony. My Mom taught us as children that Faith is an action word. You cant just go to church and expect to know that the church is true. You have to act on all those answers that we give as primary children. We are told those things for a reason. Reading the scriptures has given me more clarity in our beliefs. Praying is the my private time speaking with Heavenly Father. I feel that my heart is more open and humble when I am praying.

We grew up without our father active in the church and now as a wife and mother and can only imagine how difficult that must have been for my Mom. She knew the church was true and even though Dad fell farther and farther away, she continued to be a shining example to us. I pray for my own family that we can stay true to what we believe, especially through these challenging times. I think how we react to current events will prove our feelings for the church.

To all the protesters, I dont hate you, I love you, but I cannot go against what I believe is true. There have been people who have given their lives because they would not deny their belief in Heavenly Father. Even though it is difficult for me to deny you the right to marriage, I love God more and what he has told me is the truth. I cannot let the gospel fit around mine or anyone elses lives. We must center our lives around the gospel and not change it to fit our wants.

Please understand where we stand. We cannot go against what we know is true. We have dedicated our lives to this gospel and we will sacrifice it all to prove our love to the Savior.

Was it worth it?

After all my hard work on Patricks costume, I'm not sure it was worth all the trouble. We went to our ward Halloween party last night and I think Patrick had a good time. He kept his costume on all night. I cant say the same for Elena. It was pretty humid so she was getting hot in her fluffy bunny costume. Jesus was pretty warm in his riding jacket and I was hot in my Indiana Jones jacket. I tried to be a motorcycle mama but I realized I dont have any clothes that look like a motorcycle rider. I should get something I guess. Well here are the pictures I got of the party.

Here are pictures of Patrick and Elena after the party, Patrick really wanted some candy before I could get a good picture of him. I had to put Elena's costume back on her and she was only happy for about a minute.

Here is the Jack-o-lantern that Jesus and Patrick carved the night before Halloween. Im pretty impressed with Patricks skills.

Then this morning Patrick woke up and grabbed his basket and said he needed to play in the rain and that he would be right back. I let him play for a few minutes, hopefully he doesnt catch pnuemonia.