Easter Blessings

Sunday March 23
Easter was an interesting day for me. I woke up feeling grateful for the reason of Easter- celebrating that Jesus lives. But I was a little sad that we were celebrating without Robert. Easter came way too early this year I must say. Anyway I woke up and went and picked up Eben's brother since he was going back to AZ with Aunt Kathy and Janea and then said bye to them all. Then when Baily woke up and she saw the Easter basket that the Easter bunny brought she was all excited. It was sweet. After she got to go through her goodies I got us all ready and went to church at my Aunt Konny's ward. I used to go to this ward when I lived up there during my Senior year of high school. It was fun to see some familiar faces. I didn't think anyone would even recognize me but I felt so loved when so many came up to say hi and how they remembered me and such. Sacrament was nice and I fed Joaquin during Sunday School. Baily was super excited to go to "uhsawee" and she had a blast while she was there. Relief Society was my favorite. The lesson was partly on the succession of the Prophets and how their Counselors and Apostles are called and we talked about the Solemn Assembly which I knew nothing about so that was fun. There was awesome discussion and it was just a great lesson. After church I came home and started making a yummy Easter feast. I was worried that it was just gonna be me and my kids and that I would feel pretty lonely but that's not how it turned out at all. My Aunt Konny and Deb were there and my cousin Amy, her husband Darrin and their 4 girls all came and enjoyed dinner with me and they even got a ham and veggies for me to have at the dinner which was great. I was bummed that I hadn't found any eggs to hide for Baily but thankfully Amy and her girls took care of that. They brought tons of eggs, hid them theirselves and had a blast finding them and then eating all the candy inside. It was great. We also got to watch Beau and Eben's wedding video that Amy and Darrin put together and it was awesome! After they left I just relaxed with the kids and had a long overdo discussion with Robert about some issues that needed to be addressed. All in all it was a great Easter and I'm so grateful for the reason of Easter... that my Savior was resurrected and that He lives!!

366 Blessings:

#83- My Savior's Resurrection

Fun With the Girls

Saturday March 22
Saturday was lots of fun. Aunt Kathy and Janea decided to stay and wait to leave until Sunday morning which I was delighted about since Beau and Eben were off enjoying wedded bliss and I would have been bored all day without them. We had planned on finding a sitter for the kids and us girls going up and doing a session at Salt Lake Temple then going to lunch but I was worried about leaving Joaquin for that long since he only nurses and won't take a bottle and Janea was worried about leaving Kaden, her 1 yr old, since he's a busy boy. So we opted out of that and instead just hauled up the kids and went with Aunt Konny to lunch at Noodles & Company. It was dee-lish! I had pesto pasta and yum-o! After that we went to the huge distribution center they have there and did a little shopping and then Aunt Kathy stayed in the van with the kiddos while Janea and I ran into Deseret Book to "tell the Easter Bunny" what the kids wanted for Easter. After that we came back to the house and hung out for a while. Then me and my Aunties and Joaquin went and had a visit with my mom. I had a hard time leaving Baily behind but I knew it was for the best. She was having so much playing with Emery and would have been rotten if I took her and would have stressed me out which I did not want to be at my mom's visit. It was fun to talk with all us girls. And of course, once again, my mom just ate up Joaquin and enjoyed her time with him. And I know it's hard to believe that at such a young age you can tell he loves someone but I could. Joaquin absolutely adored my mom. He just smiled and cooed at and snuggled with her. I loved every minute of it. After we got home and chilled for a bit Aunt Kathy went and picked up some salads and different noodle dishes from Noodles and Rumbi Island Grill for dinner and brought them back to the house. Oh my goodness... I was in food heaven! We had the Asian Salad, the Hula Salad and Thai Noodles and all just split it. It was sooo good and a nice change of all the same foods I'm used to eating. After we ate Aunt Kathy generously offered to watch our kids while Janea and I went and did more shopping at Super Target. It was so nice to shop without stressing about Baily and having someone to shop with to share opinions and ideas with. Good times. By the time we got home it was kinda late. I hung out a little more with Janea and the kids and I went to go put my kids to sleep and ended up falling asleep myself. It was such a fun day and I was grateful to have that time to spend with some of my favorite girl family members all day!

366 Blessings:

#82- My cousin Janea

Beau and Eben got hitched!!

Friday March 21
So the big day finally came. And what a day it was. It started super early with me waking up and having a final chat with my brother as a single man. He was quite the nervous boy I must say. He could barely put his toothepaste on his toothbrush he was so shaky...lol. And before I knew it he was off. As I looked at my kids sleeping so peacefully I could feel the pain in the gut of my stomach knowing what was to come when I had to wake them... or her I should say. My gut instinct was right. Baily was HORRIBLE. I really could use a book on how to handle a daughter who's terrible two with a vengeance. She did not get enough sleep at all and she was rotten. It as a huge battle to get her dress on and she was crying the whole way up to the temple. Eben's sister agreed to watch my kids while I was in the temple at the sealing but when we got there we couldn't find her and were pretty lost. So thankfully Janea agreed to watch them for me but I was having a hard time deciding to go in to the actual sealing because I felt so bad for Janea caring for my naughty little girl. But I knew I couldn't miss the sealing so I went. And it was also fa-reezing outside and I was dumb and forgot to bring my stoller so the long walk from where we parked to the temple wore us all out. But oh... how sweet and healing the spirit of the temple is. I prayed my heart out while in there that my kids would be behaved and Janea would be ok with them and I felt a peace that it would be fine. This was the first time I had been in the Salt Lake temple besides to do baptisms a long time ago. It's beautiful- stunning. I got to sit in on Beau's side during the sealing so that was very special to me. The sealing was beautiful and the man who sealed them gave them wonderful advice and council. And kinda cool- he had served a mission in Sweden just like Eben. He said when he heard that she had served there his love for her grew even more. There were quite a few people there and the spirit was so strong. I definitely felt my Grandma & Grandpa Willis's presence there. Eben looked gorgeous and Beau was glowing. It was a moment I'll never forget. And it was great to have the reminder of the blessings and covenants as I thought about my eternal marriage. After the sealing we had to go out to the freezing cold. I was happy to hear that my kids were well behaved and everything went fine. However, when I showed up Baily decided to not be happy at all. It totally stressed me out. My cousin Amy bought all the little girls (8 of them!) matching dresses and accessories and they were so cute. That was so sweet and generous of her. They tried to get a picture of Beau and Eben with all the matching girls and Baily was not having it. I even had to stand behind Eben's dress to hold Baily's hand for a picture but it was not good. It was freezing and she would not cooperate with the pictures and I just felt so stressed. After we finished with the pictures we trekked our way up to the van (I rode with Aunt Kathy and Janea) and on the drive back to Orem I lost it. I couldn't hold back the tears. I was stressed about Baily and missing my mom and wanting her to be part of all this... I was just a mess. But after long hard prayer and the comfort of being with my Aunt and cousin, I was doing ok. We stopped by the house for a quick change of clothes and then we went and met my Aunt Konny and Deb at The Training Table for lunch. Baily was doing better by then. She absolutely adored Emery and Kaden (Janea's kids) and they played so cute together. This is them at the parking lot of the restaurant. Anyway, lunch was good. After we were filled we went back to my Aunt's house and got it all gussied up for the open house later that day. Baily had started acting up again and I just couldn't handle it and didn't know what to do. Right then my mom called and I just lost it. It was special though because she got to give me mother advice and really be there for me when I needed her most. I was grateful for that moment. The open house was set up in Aunt Konny's backyard. Eben's family made soup, rolls and punch and some delicious cookies. There was also candy and nuts. It had warmed up a lot by then and the open house was great. There was lots of friends and family there. Baily took a nap during it which was wonderful. After most everyone left and it was just family Beau and Eben opened up their gifts. While they were openining my mom called so it was good that she got to talk to them on their wedding day. Eben's new step-dad decorated their car so cute... with tin cans and everything. It was so sweet. Beau and Eben were glowing and I can't tell you how perfect they are for each other. I'm just so happy for them as I'm sure everyone is. After everyone left and everything got cleaned up Aunt Kathy and her crew and us just chilled and watched movies. I think Beau and Eben finally got on the road towards Eden where they honeymooned at like 9 that night. Crazy kids. It was a little rough at times but it was a truly glorious day and one I will never forget! Congrats Beau and Eben Holwick!!

366 Blessings:

#81- Beau and Eben's Sealing

Showers of Excitement!

Thursday March 20

Thursday was a fun day. I spent the morning cleaning and grooming my children so I wouldn't have to rush and try to get it done early the next morning and with a lot more people needed bathroom time. Then in the afternoon my children, Beau and I got to have a visit with my mom. Beau was super tired (stayed up too late with his fiance) and kept dozing off but that's ok. And Baily was still a little rotten but she actually talked to my mom and let her talk to her that time which was progress. I just loved visiting with her and spending time with her. Every minute is precious when I get to visit her. I love her so much! After the visit we went back to my Aunt Konny's and when we got there my Aunt Kathy (Konny's twin) and her daughter, my cousin, Janea and her 3 little ones were there up from Arizona. I was so excited to see them. I'm named after my Aunt Kathy (Sarah Kathleen) and she's always been one of my favorite Aunts (the other one being Aunt Konny) and has been a big part of my life growing up. She's awesome. And Janea has always been of my favorite cousins and someone I've always looked up to as an example of compassion, patience and just living a Christ-like life. It had been over 2 years since I saw Janea and long time since I saw my Aunt Kathy so I was stoked to be able to spend a couple days with them. All the time I got to spend with my family was just heaven to me. I love my family! After all the his and hellos we got ready and went to the restaurant Chuck-A-Rama for Eben's improptu last minute planned bridal shower I put together. There was a pretty good turnout and it was lots of fun. The best part was when Eben opened up the gift my mom made from her. My mom is one of the most creative people I know. She crocheted her a lingerie set of matching bra and panties and made some hilarious "pills" for overcoming wedding night anxiety and other things. There was also some "diamond" earrings since she knew Beau wouldn't be able to afford to get her nice jewely during their early married years. So funny. It was fun chatting it up with all my family and getting to know a little of Eben's side of the family as well. I took Joaquin with me but Beau watched Baily for me which was great and made it so much more enjoyable for me. He watched Janea's 3 kids as well... good practice for him. After we finished eating Janea and I and our 2 youngest made a quick trip to Wal-Mart and then back to Aunt Konny's. After some visiting and what not it was time to hit the sack and prepare for the big day on Friday- Beau and Eben's wedding day!

366 Blessings:

#80- My Aunt Kathy

Oh man...

Wednesday March 19
So Wednesday was a rough day for me. I was excited when Eben asked me to come along to her bridal photo shoot. Unfortunately that meant dragging my kids along since I had no baby sitter and no husband there to help out. I really wanted this to be special for Eben and to be able to help out but I think I was more of a hinderance than a help. Baily was super naughty and it was driving me insane. While we were at this castle place doing the pitures I was holding Joaquin and for some reason his diaper decided it didn't want to work at that moment so he peed all over me. So I headed back down to the car to change him and let Baily run around on the stony steps. Yeah... worst mom of the year award goes to- me! I was frustrated by this point by not being able to help Eben like I wanted to and in the process of changing Joaquin I hear Baily start crying... again. I got so mad and yelled at her that she was fine and to stop crying. By this point I was tearing up myself since I was so flustered. Well once Joaquin was finally changed and I got myself dried off from the lovely urine I look up and realize Baily was crying because she fell and did a face plant on the stony castly steps. I felt like the biggest jerk- especially when I ran to her side and saw her poor little nose all scraped up and bloody. By that time I was in meltdown mode. My emotions ran over me and I was mad at myself for being a crappy mom, mad at Robert's work for not paying him enough and giving him good vacation time so that he couldn't be there to help me... you name it I was mad- overwhelmed. After a prayer, a plea, for help and after Baily had calmed down and I begged for her forgiveness and told her how sorry I was things got better. I got to finish watching a little bit of the end of the photo shoot and wow does my cousin Michelle (the photographer- this is her website... http://edreamphotography.com/index.php check it out- she's amazing!) do great work. The photos turned out absolutely beautiful and Eben looked stunning. When we went to this grove to have more pictures taken there were 4 deer in the grove. It was so cool. They were so close. Michelle even got one in the background of one of Eben's shots and the picture is so awesome. After that whole tiring event (sorry I didn't help out much Eben but I'm so grateful I got to be a part of that), we went back to my Aunt's house, ate lunch and me and the kiddos and Eben all snoozed. Later that evening (I don't remember what happened in between), we had planned a little party- a pie party and we were gonna watch Waitress. I got this idea from one of my favorite blogs. After we ate dinner (I made soup) we popped in the movie. None of us had ever seen it but had all heard good things about it so we were excited. However we ended up turning it off once we realized it was about an adulterous love story and it felt uncomfortable watching it. We ended up watching Enchanted instead and I just have to tell you that I LOVE that movie. It's so cute and so good and has great values in it. That's my kind of movie. We still had our pie regardless of the Waitress flop so that was good. And that's for that day.

366 Blessings:

#79- Disney movies