100th...and what I've been doing!

Wow. My 100th post. I did my 100 things about me quite awhile ago...I should be good and post the link here - but I'm super tired and don't feel like figuring it out. Sorry. I do want to do something fun for my 100th post though so I'll do a quick update and then what I had originally planned...lost track of how close I was!

So, here's what I've been doing in a nutshell:

- getting used to Zane being in school - including making lunches, homework and school assemblies

- finished reading the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer in 5 days - lots of reading not so much housework and cooking going on in those days

- trying to catch up from the 5 day hibernation

- arguing with Zane over Star Wars

- laughing at my kids funnies

- teaching piano 3 days a week

- being SOOOO tired! Don't remember it being this bad with the other 2

- trying to take it easier with this pregnancy than the other two so I can make it to 38 weeks

- counting days till my ultrasound on Friday!

- packed for an overnighter to Barnwell

- went to Barnwell Thursday night with Cliff and the boys and came home on Friday night

- enjoyed seeing all the family - especially uncle Don and aunt Kathy and their kids home visiting from Australia - the whole point to our whirlwind trip. We haven't seen them in 5 years!

- eating yummy yummy food all weekend that I didn't have to cook

- enjoying Alisha and her friend Jackie for some of the weekend.

- laughing like crazy when Zane asked Auntie to "drop out" of a star wars level so he could finish by himself. the look on her face was priceless

- forgetting that we had school fundraising to do that has to be handed in tomorrow. Yuck. I'd gladly get rid of this part of school.

- craving Skittles, Starbursts, and Winegums. Yum yum yummy

- not liking chocolate this pregnancy

- starting to get heartburn after eating....anything

- starting to outgrow things and not wanting to spend money on clothes I'm only going to wear for a couple more months

- did I mention that I am tired ALL the time?

And that's about it. At least it's all that I can remember. I'm sure there are lots of things that I have forgotten and if I remember I'll include them in another post!

Now for my 100....things that I want to do in my life!

1. learn to play the violin

2. get my nursing degree and work on maternity

3. teach my children piano

4. get back into my skinny jeans after having this baby

5. be a better friend

6. be a better wife

7. be a better mom

8. flip houses - and get to the point where I just have to supervise and not get dirty!

9. stop eating when I'm full

10. learn to enjoy exercise

11. understand my scriptures more

12. feel the spirit more in my life

13. see my sons serve honorable missions

14. see all my children get married in the temple to wonderful spouses

15. plant a garden

16. do WAY more quilting!

17. visit Hawaii

18. NOT swim with sharks - Leslie is convinced she's going to get me to do this. I'll stay on the beach thanks

19. Get a better camera and learn how to use it

20. Stay caught up on my pictures in albums

21. Have a music room in my house

22. Have all my music organized!

23. Save for a grand piano - probably not until after my kids are long gone!

24. Go back to Huntington California with Cliff and stay in the huge hotel across from the beach...

25. Get a professional massage

26. Go on a temple tour with Cliff

27. attend General Conference live once

28. go to Australia

29. sky dive - only if I'm strapped to someone a lot bigger than me who will throw us out of the plane

30. make it through a summer with the same pair of sunglasses

31. start donating blood again

32. travel to Italy

33. try golf...

34. start running again

35. be a better housekeeper

36. become less selfish

37. curb my sugar addiction

38. catch up on my sleep - I can hope!

39. not care so much about what other people think

40. get out of debt

41. keep old friends and make new ones

42. be a good visiting teacher

43. be better prepared for an emergency

44. learn how to read a map...I'm hopeless!

45. take ballroom dancing classes

46. learn to rock climb

47. sing in a choir again...it's been a very very very long time

48. enlarge my shoe selection

49. shop for the same size of pants year after year after year

50. bear my testimony more - especially for my children

51. appreciate the little things in my life

52. live where winter doesn't stay for 6 months of the year - I'll even take the chinooks!

53. teach my children to be independent

54. sleep through the night again

55. teach my kids healthy habits - eating and exercise

56. find the balance between school and extra curricular with my kids

57. cook manicottie

58. cook a turkey

59. host Christmas at my house one year

60. build wonderful memories for my family

61. develop a better memory

62. Get better at recording things in case 61 doesn't pan out!

63. change myself for the better

64. grow a flower garden

65. have a raspberry patch

66. have a strawberry patch

67. own a vehicle that doesn't run on gas

68. be better at budgeting and saving

69. have a date night every week...not every month

70. keep my children safe

71. live closer to our families

72. get better at piano

73. worry less

74. laugh more

75. do a zip line tour in Hawaii or some cool place like that

76. serve a mission with Cliff

77. have lots of yummy smelling candles in my house

78. appreciate Christmas more for what the season is supposed to be

79. learn more about my kids

80. maybe try to have a dog...maybe

81. have the ultimate basement/backyard for our kids and their friends

82. learn to walk in high heels better

83. have more than jeans and t-shirts in my wardrobe

84. continue to make a menu

85. attend the temple more regularly

86. voice my opinion more

87. pass on my love of reading to my kids

88. play more with my kids

89. appreciate my hubby more

90. learn how to can fruit and maybe jam

91. be more girlie

92. forgive quicker

93. grumble less

94. find beauty in more things

95. recycle more

96. read more

97. have a toy free room

98. have an empty closet - just because

99. make me more a priority

100. ENJOY all my moments - good and bad

wow. That was harder I think than 100 things about me. Hope you enjoyed it!

Mulling over....

Recent happenings in my extended family have left me pondering relationships and forgiveness. I won't go into details because certain events have already caused a lot of pain and hurt for some and I don't wish to spread that to anyone else. Mostly I am disappointed and sad for members of my family. The one's who have been hurt and also the ones who caused the hurt. It is a situation that has existed for a very long time - too long - and is repeated in various circumstances and periods of time. It has caused me to think and compare families - ones I was born into, ones I've married into, and ones that I am privileged to spend a lot of time with. Not one of these families is perfect. They all have problems and dare I say dysfunctions. Some more than others. Yet some have a love and respect for each other that is second to none, where others are complicated and have hurtful histories. And this is where it gets complicated for me. I am a natural peace maker. I believe that it is one of my talents and gifts. I don't like confrontation. My first instinct is to soothe and try to make peace - whether I am involved directly or someone has come to me. When recent events came to light my first instinct was to make it "better" somehow. But that's not my role or my responsibility. Our Saviour came to this world and suffered and died and was resurrected so that we might be forgiven and in turn learn to forgive others. And you can't give that forgiveness until you are willing to forgive. Harboring hurt does not encourage forgiveness, and without forgiveness you can't heal. I have thought how the Saviour taught us to forgive the same injury over and over and over again - how He shows us the same loving forgiveness for our own insults and mistakes - and I have prayed a lot in my heart. I have prayed to forgive and forget and that the more injured ones will also be able to forgive and to heal.
I have also pondered the state of families in the eternities when their existence here in time has not been one of a cohesive family unit. Will it be easier to forgive when we have been reminded of the big picture? Or will our families remain in the same state they are in now? Some strong and thriving, some broken and floundering. It makes me so grateful for the powerful bonds of love I have with my siblings and my parents. And of the same bonds Cliff has with his family and that we as our own family unit share with each other's families. We never question their love for us, their concern for us or their support of us. And we hope that they feel the same from us. I pray as I watch Zane and Rhett (and soon baby #3)playing and fighting and growing together that they will always have the relationship they have today - that it will grow and mature with them so when they reach adulthood and start their own families they will know that they can count on one another for strength and support. And that they will know of our love and support for them.
Families are continually changing - wouldn't it be nice if we could guarantee it was always things that would bring us closer together and closer to our goal of an eternal family? But then guarantees don't fit in with the plan I chose so very long ago. Free agency, free choice, whatever you want to title it as was given as a gift and we choose what we do with it. We can choose to forgive or we can choose to let wounds fester. Personally, I'm choosing to forgive.

"Firsts of Kindergarten...."

We had TWO first days at kindergarten this week...Wednesday I went with Zane to meet his teacher. It was good except for when Mrs. Cocks wanted the kids to line up without their parents and Zane didn't want to leave me. I've worried about this for the past 2 days. Today all of my fears were put to rest. Cliff took Zane to school and came back with the report that all was well. And he was. He got to be the special helper all day long, play in the gym, played outside in the rain at recess and got a special treat from the office for being the special helper. They call it the Razzle Dazzle Kid and he was floating on cloud nine when I picked him up. He chose a spider man coloring book with stickers and couldn't wait to get home and get started on the stickers. I was so relieved that everything went well. I was really anxious that he would have problems with his shoes or coat or something like that. He goes to all day kindergarten so has 2 recesses and a lunch that he has to change from inside to outside shoes and get his coat on and off and zipped and all that stuff. These are skills that he CAN do, but doesn't particularly LIKE to do. And of course it's the first time that he's been gone all day in someone else's care that I don't know well, with kids I've never met and doing things that I don't know about ALL DAY LONG. Preschool didn't phase me. How much can they really do in 2 hours? But all day? It was hard to let him go and I hope I didn't pass any of my anxieties onto him. But we survived and we'll continue to do the same Monday, Wednesday and every other Friday! Rhett was so excited to see Zane when he got home. He couldn't wait for him to get his coat and shoes off and get a hug. Of course they were fighting about 2 minutes later, but for a split second they were thrilled to see each other.

Grammie S and Auntie Kizzy have come to stay with us for a whole week! They got here just before bedtime on Friday and we've been having lots of fun hanging out and playing and reading and all that good stuff. We wanted to go to the corn maze in Lacombe yesterday but it rained off and on all day and we decided it wouldn't be fun in drizzle and cold with kids in tow. Hopefully we'll find the time to go before they leave us Friday morning!

Tomorrow Zane is off to school, I have a doc appointment and we have some shopping we want to do. I also start my first full week of piano lessons as well. I'm teaching 11 students this year! That's almost triple of what I've ever taught before and I'm a little nervous about being able to do it all. But I've got them all lined up for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 4 until 6 so I think it'll work out pretty good....

And congrats to Whit and Brad! We hear that Finn is just cuter than cute!