Easter Fun!

Easter, 2012, has turned out to be the best yet! We have reflected on years past and miss family and friends we've spent Easters past with, but we really enjoyed being together just our little family. We had a fun time at our friends Easter Egg hunt yesterday. They had the perfect yard for not only the egg hunt, but trampoline jumping, hammock swinging, dirt digging, and chit chatting. The girls had a great time and we enjoyed visiting with many good friends.

While Ella was ambitious and skowered the yard and woods for eggs, Amelia could have cared less. She ran straight to the playground and wanted to go down the slide.

Amelia enjoyed watermelon while sitting on their front porch swing... felt like a summer day

The girls crashed after a quick dip in the bath, and then it was off to get ready for the Easter Bunny. He brought the girls coloring books, a movie, book, and bubbles this year! Grandma C also sent a fun movie and coloring book, and the girls enjoyed coloring all morning until church.

Oh, and the candy. Of course there was candy. And then there was the face below when I wouldn't open the next candy wrapper after a couple of servings! This face was accompanied by a very loud, very piercing scream! Ooooh she's a stinker with so much personality!

After church we tried to take a few photos. Tried being the key word there.

The photo below was an accident, but I think it says a lot. Who's in charge?

That would be Miss Ella Celeste!

Amelia wasn't much for posing for the camera, but she loved running through the grass in her new Easter dress.

And if the girls wouldn't stand still for a photo, at least Shaun and I could.

The loves of my life

Stinker 1 and Stinker 2

O' how I love and adore them!

One word... PRECIOUS!

Ella looked absolutely beautiful in her Easter dress

She even is kind of understanding the meaning of Easter. It's sweet to see her learning and understanding so much.

My beautiful girl, even if she never smiles for the camera.

My little cowgirls!

We had a wonderful weekend visiting my mom's family down in South West Virginia. We stayed with my Aunt Liz and Uncle Dick who have the most beautiful home they just finished building with the most significant view.

This is the view they get from pretty much every room in the house. O' how I love Virginia! It really does take my breath away. My mom's sister, Mary, and her husband own much of the surrounding land. My uncle Harold was in the top 10 sellers of Angus Beef in Virginia last year. They have quite a history. We really enjoyed visiting Mary, Liz, and uncles Leroy and Ed. My cousin, Amy, came up with her two munchkins. Ella played so well with Gavin and Amelia almost managed to not clobber little Lyla. It was so nice for the girls to spend time with their cousins.




Uncle Ed let us go riding on his horse, Patch. Ella was a natural cowgirl as was Amelia. They weren't afraid at all.

Ella and Gavin had so much fun together. What great memories we made!

Ella and Patches got along great!

Beautiful Amy with her daddy on the property my mom grew up on.

Mary has been cancer treatments but she looks absolutely AMAZING! We were so happy to see her and see her in such good spirits. She's the sweetest lady you'll ever meet.

Family. Three generations. Mom and her brother with their kids (Amy and I) and our girls.

So precious!

Amy and I huggin' on uncle Leroy! He looks so much like Grandpa did.

Two little kids enjoying a view before jumping back into mischief!

My mom with two of her three sisters.

We went to visit Mary's farm and see her son's horses too. You couldn't ride those but the girls enjoyed trying to feed them.

Ella loved the horses

Papa enjoyed spending time with us.

Visiting the cows in the barn... STINKY!

Amelia liked the view from her dad's shoulders. Those big bulls were a little scary for her.

She still loved it though. Little miss Cyclone had a great weekend and enjoyed getting into everything.

Amelia's favorite past time all weekend was opening and closing the porch door and making loads of messes in Aunt Liz's beautiful home. She's caught in the act here.

The house my mom grew up in on Walker's Creek. What memories of coming here for family reunions and sitting on the front porch listening to Grandpa play the guitar while grandma would dance flat foot... something my mom enjoys doing still. Family is so wonderful! Thanks for a great weekend!

The day has come!

Okay, for all of you who have followed this blog, the day has finally come! Shaun can now officially start with USIS. The big "C" has come in! We are just waiting to hear about an orientation date. Maybe I won't gripe as much now;) Thank you all for your prayers and words of encouragement over the course of the last 20 months. We are excited for things to come and feel things can only look up!

20 pounds and counting, plus other updates

Today's weigh in has me down 20 pounds from my start weight two days after Christmas! I'm so excited that I'm gaining control of at least one aspect of my life. The other aspects... not so much. No new news in other events. The girls continue to grow cuter and smarter every day. I continue to grow more and more fatigued with the whirlwind of mess that Amelia leaves in her wake. She's BUSY and into EVERYTHING! If she can reach it, rest assured she will get into it. If she can't reach it, she will find a way. She's started climbing a lot, has a constant runny nose, is getting new teeth like crazy, and is perfectly happy (unless she doesn't get her way). Ella is growing more and more mature every day. She loves writing, coloring, and telling me all of the things she can do by herself because, in her words, "I'm four now mommy. I don't need your help." She loves pre-school and her pre-school teachers, her friend's at Miss Jen's, and enjoys many afternoons with Papa. In fact, he took her to her second movie in the theatre since we took her to see Tangled over a year ago. He said she did great!

Shaun's gotten a promotion with the Landscaping Company and they really like him there. They know he is planning to move on once his *C-word comes in. Oh if only... 19 months later and no updates. We have had several people tell us once it does they have positions open for him, especially with his degree in Business already. Some days are harder than others. I know it's hard on Shaun. Yesterday was extremely hard. He's gone so long with his current job and yet brings home so little. I feel like a single parent sometimes even though I know he tries to help when he can. I feel so dependent upon my parents for help and yet I HATE being dependent on anyone. I seriously don't know what I'd do without them though. But really I want our own little family to grow stronger and to do that, we really and truly need our own space. It's just not an option with our current income. Some days, yesterday included, I feel like such a huge failure. It's so hard to swallow my pride and accept help. It's so hard to know I have a good education, have made good choices, and still ended up in my parents basement as a 32 year-old. I feel like somewhere along the line I really screwed up. That's just some days though. Other days I keep things in perspective and remember that this experience will be for our good. I know that it's only a matter of time before those blessings do come to our family, and in the mean time I need to leave it in the Lord's hands. A quote I love and just put up on a plaque on my wall states, "Worry ends when Faith in God begins." That's exactly what I need to remember on those days when I start crying myself a river so deep I could swim in it. I know the Lord loves us. He has not forgotten us. He judges us from a different perspective than the rest of the world, and it's His opinion that matters. We recently started having a more formal family home evening now that Ella is getting older and can understand so much and it's been wonderful to see her learn and sing the church songs. She gets excited about it. And I've decided to start listening to conference talks on my I-phone. I can listen in the car driving to my schools or in the mornings if I have a free moment (which is rare). The past few days I've been able to get a talk in each day and it helps. So we are trying. We are not where I thought we'd be, nor close to where I want to be, but we are striving and learning, and in many ways, we are truly blessed. I'm grateful for all the Lord does for us. I hope I can remember to give my worries over to the Lord. It is a daily act of will to do so, but it's really the only way I know to get through this very long wait for us to move forward financially and otherwise.

So there you have it, the March update. I will try to be better about taking photos of the girls so you can see how super cute they are!

Holla Holla, someone's 30!

This past week we celebrated Shaun's birthday. The girls helped me pick out an ice cream cake and we had yummy not so good for you Chinese Food!

Ella especially loved singing "Happy Birthday" to her daddy first thing in the morning, and then again before eating cake.

We were also happy this week to attend the temple and celebrate Valentine's with home made chocolate covered strawberries. The girls enjoyed dipping the strawberries in the chocolate.

The girls are lots of fun these days! Never a dull moment in our household.

2 more lbs down!

Slow and steady, but in an effort to keep myself honest, I'm two more pounds down for a total of 17 pounds. Only 23 to go! So exciting! My jeans fit much better, but I go to the gym and still feel like a blob compared to some of these other women. Oh well, only comparing myself to me, no one else. Easier said than done, but nevertheless that is always the goal.

Our Little Miss turns FOUR!!!!

We enjoyed celebrating Ella's fourth Birthday this weekend with a Repunzel themed party at home

Ella had a wonderful time with her friends. She loved her cake and having so much attention all day long.

Ella with her sweet friends.

Ella's plethora of gifts.

Make a wish!

Cute friends having a good time. We colored, made Pascal crafts, pinned the frying pan on Flynn Rider, and decorated sun shaped cookies. Then we enjoyed the yummy cake and gift opening!

Ella's cute friend, Peter, came to visit too.

Poor Flynn.

The very awesome cake made by a friend from church!

Little sister enjoyed the festivities until nap time kicked in.

Fun times had by all!

Peter's little brother, Ben, was too irresistible not to smooch.