What to make?

Megan's Baby Shower is Saturday.

EEK!

I would love a little help in deciding what to make.

It is an Open House from 3-5 p.m.

I will have a watermelon fruit basket (asst. melons and grapes).My mom is making cream cheese cupcakes and an appetizer of which she hasn't quite decided on yet.

My sister is bringing caramel bars.

So, what appetizer should I make? These recipes are all courtesy of Picky Palate.

#1. Tomato Bruschetta. Yum

#2. BBQ Ranch Chicken and Cheddar Pizza Roll em'Ups

#3. Mozzarella Balls

So, with that out of the way, who would like to win a stay in this hotel?

Yeah, so would I! Someone get on top of this giveaway.

Broken Legends

I am currently on Wikipedia (the greatest of all inventions, if you ask me) to do a little research.

Did you know that it is wise to avoid faeries? Now, I have been heavily encouraging faerie expoloration this week. Am I dooming my children to a wooden figurine state?

I sure hope not.

P.S. Isn't it sad when you discover that something you love so much is considered so horrific by 95% of the world's entire population of all time??

I totally do NOT cry at movies. Not that I have anything against people who do...I just don't.

But, I have to be honest. There are a few movies that I know I am going to cry before it even starts.

This is one of those: "Why?" You might ask. Is it the desperate need I have to fix Lane and Kelly's relationship? The fact that it is based on a true story (these are usually the movies you'll find me sniffing in)?

Or is it because he is pierced by a humongo bull horn?

NO. It is because I can't ride.

Seriously, wouldn't I make a great cow girl???

CowGirl Up.

(BTW, I did watch this two nights ago and sobbed my little heart out. Dan blames yesterday's terrible tantrum on the movie. He has mandated that I choose between forever swearing off silly cowboy movies that I cry at or being happy all the rest of our days. The choice is easy, don't you think?)

Like Child, Like Mother

In the words of Grayson, "Today I am having a bad attitude."

Yes, I am.

I am embarrassed to say but I actually had a temper tantrum in the middle of the grocery store today. I did the shopping and went to the pharmacy (Dan was working) to see what time it was. Dan informs me it is 11:03. That means I have 15 minutes to get to Grayson's school to pick him and his two little buddies up!!! School is exactly 15 minutes away. I still hadn't purchased the groceries yet. So, what did I do? I yelled a nice little cuss word that I shan't share here and stormed away. Dan asked something about coming back to pay for the food but I was so beligerent I really don't know what was said. I shouted back that if I came back all the food would be spoiled and left.

Yup.

I returned 1/2 hour later and apologized to the great pharmacy staff who probably now believe I am possessed and the worst wife in the world. Which, today, just might be the case!! Good thing this only happens once a month!!!

Frog on a Log

Yesterday I picked up some little men from school.

One had a piece of candy and the other did not.

The candyless one confessed he had his frog on the log.

"Frog on the Log?" I ask (Doesn't that sound like a good thing, BTW?)

"Yes, Mom. I talked today."

The other little man expounded that it was more than talking. It was funny noises, too.

Ahhhhh. It all makes sense now. My son is just like me. I think we will have a long 12 years of this.

Giveaway!

So, I was reading my cousin's blog last night and it made me cry.

She was describing how her young daughter is all ready noticing weight issues. She just turned seven a few months ago!

I haven't been able to stop thining about this. Honestly, the number one thing I talk about is my weight. I call myself "fat, old woman" all the time. The thing is that I am not fat. So why do I call myself it? Even if I was overweight, would that justify me ridiculing myself over it? NO!!

Why do we as women have a difficult time just being happy with who we are and what we have been given? The Lord gave us all different body shapes knowing that there is beauty in large and small, tall and short. Why don't we see that??

Well, I have a few friends who are always appear to feel good about the way they look. Good for you ladies, I wish I could be more like that! I am going to work extra hard at that since I have a daughter who will start noticing how I talk about myself soon....

I want to be a part of the solution rather than continue the problem. I figure I can do this by stopping my obsessively negative comments about myself first. In addition, I want to lift others!!! This brings me to my giveaway. There is this book that I read that has helped me more than any other. It is full of love and understanding. I want to give some lucky woman this book!!

Comment below for the chance to win "Modesty, Makeovers, and the Pursuit of Physical Beauty...What Mothers and Daughters Need to Know." by Jeffrey R. Holland and Susan W. Tanner.

Perspective

I am full of gratitude today.

We have so much to be happy about.

Three beautiful children.

A great house.

The best family and friends.

The love of the Lord and His infinite Atonement.

I love the Sabbath for bringing it all into perspective!

Today we ate outside

Today we were best friends.

Today we were monkeys.

Today we were mermaids.
Today we were scientists.
Today we heard the leaves whisper to us. Today we saw fairies kissing the water.

Today was magical.

Wow!

Has it seriously almost been a month since I've posted? I suppose it has! And today I should focus my energy on Aiden since he is ONE today! (Sigh. Tear.)
I want to do a quick update, however.

Okay, maybe it won't be quick.

On Tuesday night I went to see Julie & Julia with a bunch of bloggin' buddies. On the surface it was a cute show that I thoroughly enjoyed. There was more to it, however, than that. I related to the movie on a deeper level. It was a reflection of things I have been feeling and experiencing over the past year in my life. I found it interesting that there were so many parallels of my life to the movie. First, the movie takes place over 365 days. My little journey has been about a year as well. Julie turned 30 in the movie, as did I last week. And on both these birthday anniversaries, we (Julie and I) felt satisfied with our journeys. Third, blogging was a part of it all.

I found myself wondering at the existence of my life about a year ago. I was a new stay-at-home mother who just gave birth to my last child. I realized that with Aiden's birth went a part of life that I had always anticipated: pregnancy. But with that went infancy as well. I noticed time was moving too quickly and I was not jumping quickly enough.

I had to do something.

It was about this time I decided to take blogging more seriously. I am glad I did. It has been such an sensory experience. I am more alive now as I look for things in life to write about. I notice the scent of the flowers as I walk by them at night. I appreciate the rain on my face and attempt to find words to describe it. I revel in the feelings when my children and I play.

I never find myself writing these things in my blog, however. But I do them. And I am becoming a better person for noticing the world around me.

My relationship with Dan, though always wonderful, has even improved. I love him so much and am finding myself more open to showing him that. I try new parenting techniques I read about on other blogs and have seen success. I am slowly becoming the mother I would like to be, the mother I KNOW I can be.

But there were times that I wasn't so "enlightened." It took awhile for me to put blogging into perspective. Though many do not know this, I plan to begin a new blog soon. I would worry so much about how I could make this blog better. If I couldn't get readership here, how could I get it elsewhere? There were a few posts I did that I thought were funny and learned the hard way that they were not funny to all. I had my own private "meltdowns" as Julie did in the movie.

All in all...I have learned that I love to blog for the fun of it. So what if neither of my blogs go anywhere? I do it for the love of it. I do it because it has reawakened my vocabulary, my love of writing, my love of life.

So, taking a month off has been a product of this journey. I have had a wonderful month filled with birthday parties (5 of them!), play groups, first days at school, a growing business, and many more exciting things. The best part was that I thought of you all during these times! I might not have posted, but you were with me!

Thank you for accompanying me in my self-aware walk through blogosphere!

Love to all,
Amber