Motherhood...

Motherhood is not like any other profession.  It's not like performing on stage where you get a huge applause.  I don't recall my children ever cheering when I came in to get them in the morning.  I've never gotten a standing ovation or encore after making a speech about keeping the house clean, I've never received a paycheck or bonus at the end of the year, I've never been given a tip after cooking and serving dinner, I don't get promotions based on my performance, or plaques with my name on it for multi-tasking day in and day out.

But, I do get sticky kisses, high fives, thank-you's in the form of smiles, looks, and hugs.  I get artists portraits drawn with crayons, markers, paint, and food drawn daily to hang on the fridge.  When my kids get hurt I am the first one on-call to kiss the boo boo, those I take care of are so comfortable around me they act themselves all the time with no reservations no matter the situation, and I am the first one to hear how their day has gone, what they learned that day, or new accomplishments.  I get to watch my kids grow up and be a part of their life.  My kids love playing with me and I love playing with them.  What a divine profession I get to be a part of.  I am so grateful I don't have to do this alone and that there is someone else on call 24/7 to talk to and get comfort, advice, support, and answers.  I just felt this and had to write it down.  I was in the middle of cooking dinner and the girls were playing in the living room so nicely.  I am so blessed!

The Perfect Day

Today was the perfect day.  All my friends are gone, just had a baby, with their husbands who are off for the break, etc.  So, today I spent the day with my girls.  Just us.  We made a fort in the basement, watched a Barbie movie together in the fort, rode scooters and played at the playground (which was covered in snow), played Uno, a matching game on the rug in the living room, took naps, I watched a movie, and then we danced until there we were tired and sweaty:-)  We jammed to "girls just wanna have fun" and other fun songs.  We even knocked on the neighbors door to make sure they weren't home so we could blast the music and sing into our microphones. We then played with playmobil toys in the fort, and are fixing dinner and waiting for daddy to come home and join us for meat pies from our neighbor, green smoothies, green beans, rice, and some sweet bread.  The ending to a perfect day.  I feel so blessed and I had so much fun just being with my girls and doing what they love to do.

I love Abby's laugh!

Christmas Morning

Sorry it's taken so long to post pictures.  My lens has been in the shop for over a month due to complications so I finally just broke out the point and shoot.  It's been fun to get video footage even though the quality isn't amazing.  I just loving capturing moments a still camera just can't.

 In Brian's family they have a tradition of lining up on the stairs youngest to oldest and then coming down to see the tree and what Santa brought.  

 Abby was so excited to ride the horse.  Madison asked Santa for this...

Aren't they so cute and cheesy?

Christmas Anesthesia Party

 So, here's the story.  My first Christmas party at medical school I went looking like it was winter (which it was) in a turtle neck sweater, black tights, black skirt, and a baby in tow.  I felt so motherly around all the evening gowns.  I swore to never feel that under dressed again!  So, when Brian told me about his black tie optional Christmas party I had to go and buy all new stuff.  I have owned only one dress in my life and just pierced my ears 6 months ago.  I needed lots of help, but was able to put this outfit together complete with heels (sorry you can't see them).  I felt perfectly dressed and very elegant in fact.  It was fun to get ready and spend the evening with Brian.  My friend lent me the coat and shoes:-)

 A slight disclaimer on the quality of the pictures.  I have my lens in at Canon and therefore and using my point and shoot where I say cheese and then 3 seconds later my flash goes off.  We were playing duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck...goose (that's how it goes in our house), and one always had to be sitting in this toy container from Ikea.  They were being so silly in it I had to take pictures.

Yah, two seconds earlier she was smiling nicely and then when the camera finally took a picture this is what I got:-)

 Brian was off Thursday and we took the girls sledding by our house.  It was so much fun.  Madison was born to play outside in the snow.  She could stay out for hours.  Abby loved it too, but wanted to be carried up the hill a few times:-)

 Madison ready to go and Abby having separation anxiety.

 This is how we solved the problem the second time around.  Abby is now smiling:-)

Finally...a picture with me and the girls.  I am always the one behind the camera.  It's fun to be with them and spend time doing things they love.

Abby loved it, but didn't ever want to go alone.

Madison couldn't get enough of sledding.

Christmas ornaments

 We made gingerbread cookies to hang on our tree since we own 4 ornaments.  The girls loved it and hung them up by the candy canes.  They have eaten one off every day:-)  I love how Abby is hugging the pam spray. 

 Eating it was their favorite part!

Here is our beautiful tree in all it's glory.  This was before we put all 24 cookies on the tree:-)

Visiting Santa

This was all the smile we could get out of Abby...you'll see in the video.  She was all about the candy cane afterwards though:-)

They love to dance and started to do this spontaneously.  I love these two girls.

Madison's Preschool Christmas Party

Abby was so excited to go to Madison's preschool party and even got to participate in the music presentation to the parents.  She loves to do whatever Madison does.  Madison is loving preschool and loves her teacher Miss Annie.  She has many friends and loves the crafts.  Abby already tells me that when she is four she is going to preschool...Madison's was so excited to see Abby and showed her off to all her friends and made sure Abby had a place to sit right by her.

Making Ginger Bread Houses...

 She really enjoyed the candy unlike Madison who was so intent on decorating that she didn't eat or ask for a single piece until she was all finished! 

 Abby's tilt and half smile.  Madison taught it to her:-)

Madison and Brian worked on one and Abby and I worked on another one.  Madison was the expert and kept telling Brian how to do it:-)  This brought back a memory of making ginger bread houses with my grandma Nichols.  She was a widower and lived in this apt. that had a huge rock out front that came with a story.  I'll save that for another post.  Anyway, she had gotten all sorts of cool candy, stuff I didn't even know existed like rock candy.  It was so cool to have candy that looked like rocks to decorate our houses with.  She won me over then.  What a great grandma to do that for us grandchildren and make it so much fun.  I remember she had a cup that had writing on it, but it was upside down, so in order to read it you had to flip it upside down.  I did this and it was full of hot chocolate which I spilled all over the table.  The saying was "If anything can go wrong it will."  My grandma had such a sense of humor and just laughed as she cleaned it up and explained it to me.  She didn't make me feel dumb or bad about it.  Thanks Grandma N.

The finished Products.  They had so much fun and we had lots of leftover Halloween candy for the project!  Guess whose is whose.

Cannon and Lilley

 I got to take pictures of my niece and nephew and gorgeous sister in law (Sister really).  It was so fun and they were such troopers!  It was cold, but they stuck it out after some gum, skittles, and warming up their noses in the car:-)

 I meant Lillian for the first time this trip and fell in love with her.  She is always smiling and makes everyone happy around her.  

 Emily, you are so beautiful!

I love Canon's eyes.  This was a candid after we were all done.  He is adorable!!!!

Annual Evans Turkey Bowl

Every year the uncles and nephews play a turkey bowl before Thanksgiving dinner.  No one was hurt this year.  At least not too bad.  A few of the older ones had a hard time walking after for a couple of days.

 Brian and brother Rick...Rick was always smiling!

 Brian with his brother Mark...talking strategy?

 It was a cold day

 This was after a bobble...Sorry Nathan, he's just getting you back after you intercepted a pass to Brian:-)

 Mark ready to take Brian down...I think he does:-)

 Chest bump with Adam after a scored goal!

The whole crazy group who played football in the snow on Thanksgiving morning.

It was like coming home...

I felt like I was coming home as I walked into Bally Gym.  The bikes, treadmills, and elypticals all feel so familiar.  I just love the feel of dumbbells in my hands and the familiarity of the bench.  It's not anything fancy, but it takes me back to High School Basketball and lifting everyday for seventh period.  I love the look of dumbbells all lined up against the mirrors.  I love to feel the burn as I try and do the 14th and 15th rep.  I love feeling sore and hungry all the time from working out.  The freedom to go whenever I want and not having to rely on Brian being home is like being back in college.  I feel so empowered and free.  It's not something I have felt since having kids:-)  I love the smell of a gym and seeing a bunch of people trying to be healthier.  I love to sweat and when I'm done with a hard workout feeling it in my lungs when I breathe for hours following.

I have to thank Brian who found this gym for me a few days before the promotion was ending of $30/mo. including childcare.  I was feeling...well, lets just say my eating disorder was bearing it's ugly head and Brian did something about it for me which meant so much.  I am so grateful to Brian for researching this for me and providing me this great freedom and life saver.  I can go and sit in a hot tub while someone watching my kids, or just ride a bike and watch TV or listen to music.  There is so much power in that I feel like a new woman and just had to share!!!!

Funny Abby/ Madison Teaches me...

Abby was looking for her pink shorts (even though it feels like winter here) and when I found them for her she said, "That's what I was finding for."

When I woke up a few mornings ago there was frost on the ground so I pointed it out to the girls and Abby kept saying, "There is frosting on the ground" and then she would look up and say, "the trees are broken" meaning the leaves are falling off the trees.  I love what she says!

Sunday morning:

After the whole Halloween on Sunday fiasco and Madison in tears when I told her "we don't trick-or-treat on Sunday because it's the Sabbath day and we keep the Sabbath Day holy."  To that she replied, "I don't want to keep the Sabbath Day Holy."  I was feeling a bit deflated and sad that she didn't want to keep the Sabbath Day holy.  Had I taught her right?

I have felt impressed to study my scriptures in the morning and not at night and so I started Saturday morning.  Madison had come in on Saturday and saw me studying my scriptures.  I didn't think much of it and just put my scriptures away once the kids woke up and played for 20 minutes before coming in my room.  But on Sunday morning I heard Madison wake up, crawl out of bed without waking Abby, and sneak into my room.  As she came into my room I noticed she had her Book of Mormon.  She didn't say a word as she climbed up on Brian's side of the bed, opened her scripture case and pulled out her scriptures and started to read them with me.  Of course she can't read, but it touched my heart so deeply.  I was reassured that she did want to be good and is such a spiritual giant.  I pulled her over to me and we read scriptures together in Alma 45.  She hasn't done it since, but it was a great experience for me.   My girls really are watching me and observing what I do and how I live.  I feel so blessed to have Abby and Madison for daughters.  I know they are spiritual giants and have so much to teach me.

G. Photoshoot

Gibson shoot...more here.

Pumpkin Carving

 Madison spent a lot of time convincing Abby how fun it would be to be a ladybug.  This way Madison could wear the 3T costume of Curious George again this year even though it is a bit too small and Abby would fit it perfectly:-)  Abby was so happy to be a ladybug and Madison loved being Curious George with Brian as the Man in the Yellow Hat.  I went as a domino.  Sorry, no pictures of me, I am the camera woman:-)

 Abby loved carving pumpkins this year.  It was really her first time and she loved it.  She told daddy that she wanted teeth like "this".  Brian said she when he looked at what she meant by this he saw Abby with her eyes shut tight and the biggest smile plastered on her face showing all her teeth.  She got a pumpkin with teeth!

Madison had a blast and has been talking about carving her pumpkin for a while.  She even remembered her train from 2 years ago.   I had a photoshoot and wasn't able to carve pumpkins with the fam this year.  

Brian said that Madison told him how to carve all the pumpkins.  Mine is the one with heart eyes...well, one heart eye, a squirrel ate the eye on the right.  Then Madison went on to tell Brian how to do all the others.  Can you tell which one is Abby's?  It has all the teeth.

Downtown Trick-or-treat

 Abby carried her dog the entire time and loved getting candy at every stop! It was so fun to see downtown and we saw so many friends.  What a fun holiday!

 Got to love her face!  

 Smile Curious George.

 Running to the next store to trick-or-treat.

I loved this door downtown.  It's such a fun place and I loved seeing in tons of different shops I have never been in before.  There were restaurants, granola type stores, jewelry stores, yarn and homemade stores, florists, etc.

Happy Halloween!

 Madison had a party at her preschool and chose to wear the ragady anne costume for that party and then...

 wear her curious george outfit to go trick or treating downtown.  Abby was just being silly and wanted to go and get candy 'now' instead of taking pictures.

The excitement was so fun.  Madison knew what to expect this year and had told Abby time and time again what it means to trick or treat and how people give you candy.

This is what I live for...

Today was one of those days where I thought multiple times, "this is what I live for."  It was Madison waking up happy and laughing with Abby in the bedroom for 20 minutes before coming to get me.  It was eating dinner together as a family (minus the melt down or two), it was seeing Abby gets so excited to see her daddy today after he has been gone for two days, it was Abby running full speed and slamming into Brian's legs to give him a hug and holding nothing back.  It was when I looked around church today and realized how many friends I have here after living here less than four months, it was having someone come out and help me carry in my stuff since Brian was at work, it was listening to Brian run up the stairs to scare the girls and hearing the screeching screams of delight coming from their bedroom.  It was watching Abby curl up in her daddy's arms to be held, it was Madison's sweet looks of love, It was in the meaningful questioned asked me today of "how are you doing?", it's knowing Heavenly Father is watching and listening,  it was the walk with a friend to talk about anything, and last of all to have Brian home after a long 30 hour shift and knowing he would much rather be here with his family than at the hospital with his co-workers.

My New Business Card!

I just designed my first real business card and am about to send it to the printers.

"And she SCORES!!!!!!!"

I was so proud of her for playing.  She even practiced some and was all about playing when she knew the treat was soon at hand:-)  We sort of payed $45 for sitting on the sidelines freezing and cool treats...expensive treats I know.  I'm just glad she is playing now.  It's been hard and scary for her, but she is doing it!

This is the all too well known way children play soccer. They run around in clusters wherever the ball is:-)

 This is when she kicked it!!!

This is when she scored!!!!!!!!!