Relief Society Broadcast

Saturday night Jason watched the girls so I could go to Granbury to watch the General Relief Society Broadcast. I can't thank him enough because it was the lift that I needed. Our Stake had a dinner before serving baked potatoes which I have been craving, Hooray. We started with a song. I have to say that a men's choir is my favorite to listen to, but listening to the sounds of the different women's voices in the room truly invited the Spirit. I couldn't help but think how wonderful it was to be a woman and have the blessings(and yes, sometimes trials) that come with that. I had to control the tears in the opening song(I was in for a long night of tears). The Stake President spoke shortly thanking the women for sacrificing much of this world to be mothers and serve others. We ate(I sat with Sadie), chatted, and giggled. Then we went into the chapel to watch the broadcast. I loved it. The music(did anyone else notice how much younger that choir sounded than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir?) was beautiful, and the speakers were inspired. I was so blessed to have Sadie sitting next to me because during Sister Beck's talk she shared an experience of her mother moving from her next door neighbor to somewhere across the country. She shared her anguish of 'losing' her mother. She said that she sat with her mother prior to her move and said, "Who will be my mom?" I like to believe that I have a reasonable amount of control of my tears in public, however I didn't have time to stop it. It came so quickly. I didn't have a tissue and was having a hard time keeping my sobs quiet. Sadie came quickly to my rescue(Thanks a million!!!!!). She, in her loving manner, wrapped her arms around me, handed me a tissue, and comforted me as I cried. Sister Beck's mother told her she will always have a mother if she turns to the Relief Society. There will always be someone to help her with children, talk with, cry with, and laugh with. I would not say that I am extremely close to members of my Relief Society but I will have to do a lot of relying in days to come. All of the talks were amazing, but that first talk of the evening touched me the way I needed it. Shortly after the meeting a sister in the Ward that we were just split from came to me and said with tears in her eyes, "I would like to be your Relief Society Mother." I take great comfort in knowing that there are beautiful daughters of God watching and caring for others. I know it is something that my Mother did constantly and I pray that I can follow her example.

Finally

This past Saturday our Stake FINALLY had the ground breaking for our new Stake Center. It has been a little over a year and a half since our building burned down. Needless to say, we are all extremely excited to see the work actually started. The ceremony started around 9:00 am and the weather was perfect for it. The choir sang, there were several speakers, and of course the traditional ground breaking performed by leaders of the church. It was really nice to see Sadie and Bryan and their kids there. Cailyn had a great time playing with them.

The leaders getting ready to start.

The Talbots

Aren't they precious? They were trying to catch a cricket.

Jessica examining her breakfast.

The choir

Daddy and Jessica.

Our dear friends the Hicks. We miss them terribly, they are not in our Branch, YET.

The Stake Presidency.

And it begins.

Last nerve is almost gone!

I am not sure what is going on. Is the weather about to change and my kids are in tune with that and I am not, or is it me and I am doing the latest thing and blaming someone else? Today is one of those days that if someone asked me why they should have kids I am not sure I could give them a good answer without a tinge of frustration in my voice. It seems that all day Jessica needs to be right next to me pulling on my clothes, and Cailyn NEEDS to play with whatever toy Jessica has in her hand. Then we get into a screaming match. All of this forces me into this rage of anger and loss of control. I literally had to shut myself into my room to escape the "Mad House".
OK here is your part. How do I get Jessica to stop screeching? I have tried ignoring the scream. I have tried to pat her lips immediately while calmly(and sometimes not) saying NO. Neither has worked. Of course we have a very possessive and bossy 3, almost 4, year old provoking her almost non-stop. HELP! I am losing control of my house to the point of insanity. Please tell me there is something to be done to render this craziness.

Shoes, hair, and re-arranging

These are today's hairdos. Cailyn's is just an outside braid with newly made bows. I am sorry the picture is so terrible. And please don't mind the messy house.

I have done a few dos in the past week that I have absolutely loved and Cailyn did too. However, for some reason I didn't take any pictures. I will show you the next time I try it.

Jessica's is called 4 piggies in a row. I love it.

It looks almost like a headband of bows on her head.

The other morning Jason came in to change and found an angel hidden among his shoes. What a special treat before work!

Yesterday I woke with the conviction to re-arrange my room. I have these plans to change our 3rd bedroom into Cailyn's room(instead of our computer room) when the baby is born. Well, as it sometimes happens when you are pregnant, it feels like it all needs to be done today. So, I have been cleaning and preparing to make these changes. We are having to move our computer into our room so I moved everything around(within reason, trust me I am being careful). I moved the bed and nightstand. I cleaned out our closet so I could put the dresser in there. That meant that I needed to move Jason's clothes into the other closet in our bedroom(the smaller one of course). That also meant that I needed to clean out that closet. Because I am in the nesting period, all of this was done before noon(even with 2 little girls "helping" me). I was so proud. I love to just walk in and see all the progress. Today I am not nearly as productive. In fact, as I was getting ready today(yeah it happened today), I was putting my make-up on using the mirror hanging on Jason's new closet. Then all of a sudden there was this huge bang. Cailyn and I jumped, confused because we couldn't see what had happened. I carefully opened the closet door and this is what I found:

I realize that it is probably my fault, because I was the one to move all of his clothes over there, but it does make me feel better knowing that it was Jason's clothes that broke the closet. Actually, I am blaming my cousin Brittnee for this one. This has apparently happened to her twice, and I have read about it just recently. She jinxed us! We still love you though.

Rice Crispy Disaster

I don't know why, but I don't have the ability to make Rice Crispy Treats. I have had some successes, but not nearly as many as my failures. Something must be wrong with that part of my "mommy brain". I know what most of you are thinking, "how can you mess up rice crispy treats?" But, it is a lot easier to mess up than you might think. Mine are either too gooey or too hard. However this time this is what happened.

First I used the microwave method to heat the mallows and butter, that didn't work. Next(with the remaining mallows in the bag I cooked them on the stove top. The result is what you see in the picture above. Jason, in his attempt to comfort, tells me they must have been bum marshmallows. Needless to say, we haven't enjoyed this tasty treat lately.

Strange Letter

I received a letter in the mail the other day that I thought was really strange. You guys tell me what you think. It was a hand written letter from a lady in Waco. She told me she read of my mother's passing in the newspaper and wanted to share her beliefs for comfort. She shared her testimony of life after death and the resurrection promised through Christ, and sent me a pamphlet about it from her church. I think the weirdest part is that I have no idea who this woman is and she just read my name in the obituary in the paper. She then must have searched for my address. Am I the only one who thinks this is weird? It would be different if I knew her or someone in my family knew her, but we don't. I think I am going to send her a Book of Mormon thanking her for her words of comfort. What do you think?

Blog Purpose

For several weeks now I have been pondering my purpose for my blog. There are many things I would like it to be or do.


#1 Keep everyone up to date on my family. Especially those that live far away.

#2 A documentation of my family. A family journal if you will.

#3 An outlet for me. Somewhere to write down my thoughts and struggles of everyday life.

#4 A way for people to get to know me(because "me" is always changing).



Last, but certainly not least.



#5 A place for others to hear my testimony.

There have been so many times when I write something or share an experience and I receive little to no feedback from my fellow bloggers. Most of the time it doesn't matter, but there are those days when I NEED to connect with others and I don't get to. Those days are hard for me. I guess one solution to feeling the need to connect would be to make a friend here and have play dates. I am just really uncomfortable introducing myself to new people. For those of you who know me it probably sounds weird, but I am pretty shy. OH to live closer to family!

Book of Mormon Stories

Last night our Branch had our Book of Mormon Stories activity. Each group/auxiliary performed a skit from the Book of Mormon. I know that technically this wasn't my first activity to put together for the Branch, but this was the first one I have attended. It sounds weird I know, but all of the other activities happened this past summer while I was in Waco. So, in my mind, if they didn't turn out it wasn't my fault, I wasn't even there. With that said, I was pretty nervous about this one. I was trying to keep the transitions as smooth as possible, but there were delays. I think that everyone had a good time, and I hope that they will have a greater appreciation for the Book of Mormon also.

The Branch Presidency started with the story of Nephi and the Brass Plates. President Darden was Laban and Jason was Nephi. There was Laman/Lemuel(Bro. Burgeson) and of course the Angel(Bro. Jones) stopping the beating on Nephi. It was perfect. They used a bag of skittles to try and buy the plates, a mask to sneak through the city, and a wooden sword to smite off Laban's head. It was complete with the theme song of "Indiana Jones" when the plates were obtained. They had everyone rolling by the end. Now everyone knows how silly Jason can be. There is no more hiding with him. Sorry Babe.

The Primary kids went next with the story of Ammon protecting King Lamoni's sheep. Cailyn got to be a sheep and was actually scared when they were scattered. She began to cry running to me. It was sweet. Especially the part when Ammon was cutting off the arms and Jessica decided to help protect her sister and took her fork to cut some arms off too. The Primary did a great job!

The Relief Society continued the story with the Conversion of King Lamoni(chosen for the specific purpose of saying that the King stinketh). They did a great job. They invited some of the kids up to help be servants. They even fell to the ground, with a fair amount of teasing about being dead. To which Lamoni responded, "Not yet!" Continued silliness was welcomed.

The Young Women(supposed to have been the youth, but our 3(yes only 3) young men couldn't make it) finished the night with the story of Abinadi and King Noah. They acted out the story while someone narrated. I think these can be the funniest because they have to come up with actions to portray what is going on. It was also a perfect performance.

Overall it was as good or better than I expected it to be. We had a wide variety of snacks, mostly healthy foods. But, we also had a cotton candy machine which was a big hit as soon as we figured out how to use it. Thank you, Donna for coming to our rescue.

Nephi going to get the Brass Plates

King Lamoni's sheep being scattered.

Jessica going to get the bad guys with her fork.

The servants of King Lamoni covering their noses because he is beginning to stink.

King Lamoni, his wife, and Ammon overcome with the Spirit of God.

King Noah is about to hear Abinadi's testimony.

Abinadi telling the priests of King Noah not to touch him becuase he hasn't finished his mission.

Our captive audience.

Our food table being enjoyed and emptied.

A father in the audience trying to distract his little girl while she is acting. He was successful.

Thank you to all that came, helped set up, and take down. We appreciate all of you.

I hope that the future activities will be just as fun, and better attended. As usual we had the same "Core" families come. Hopefully we can expand that to some of the newer members.

Next, Halloween. Another activity that I will not attend. We will be in Cleveland, Ohio, visiting Brandon and Rachel. HOORAY!

Emotional Times

So I realize that me being pregnant is making my emotions stronger. In some cases that is a really good thing,but that means in other cases it is a REALLY BAD thing too. I have had a couple of really hard days. As I am getting more and more excited about this baby, I am coming to the realization that I won't have my mother here for all of it. I know that I have had a baby before and my body knows what to do. I know that I have a fantabulous husband who is a HUGE help to me ALL the time. I know that I have other loved ones who are willing to help. BUT, there are times in every one's life when they just want their Mom. This is one of them. I want to talk to her about the difficulties of the pregnancy while taking care of other children, because she has been there and can empathize with me. I want to hear her voice and feel the love in her words. I need to hear her tell me that I can do it and feel reassured just because it came from her.
I can already hear the advice from loved ones telling me that she is near and she is giving me reassurance in any way she can. I can hear them saying that time will heal my pain and that she is happy where she is and with what she is doing. I can hear them tell me I will see her again. These are all things that I know, however there are times when I just ache for her presence here. I think there will ALWAYS be times when I want to talk to her.

Wee-hoo!

Garden update!

After all summer of neglect(well, by me--Jason has paid more attention than I have) our garden is still producing something. I can't believe it. We have our Mutant Marigolds back(of course), but we also have some new flowers. AND, can you see our green pepper? It is beautiful!

We also have a carrot growing pretty strong, I just couldn't get any other pictures to turn out today.

Our house plants are still thriving, so thank you for all the prayers.

Swinging beauties

Since we've been having cooler weather(It has been absolutely beautiful--not hitting 90 for at least a week), the girls and I decided we needed to be outside. We went to the park across town. I thought that I would pack a lunch and make it an all morning outing. It was so much fun.

Cailyn would swing all day if I let her, so we started there.

They didn't grow tired of the swings even after about 45 minutes. But, other kids arrived and I thought that they might like to swing so we, reluctantly, found something else to do. We walked around and looked at rocks mostly, trying to keep Jess from eating them.

Sometimes Cailyn looks so big to me-----then she reminds me how little she still is.

"Look Mommy, someone wrote on the wall."

Signs of a fun day at the park!

Cailyn did some sliding, but mostly just looked around. When the other kids left the swings we headed back over there. Their attention span was not nearly as long this time, so we set up our picnic. We found the best ant-free section of shaded grass and laid down our blanket. We enjoyed our lunch, followed by some bubble chasing and finally the girls showed me they were ready to leave.

We came home just in time to lay down for naps(actually Jess fell asleep on the way home). Cailyn refused to nap and is now making poor choices. I guess that is just part of a long day of playing hard, but this morning was worth it.

You're What?

So, I'm not really sure how it happened, but we went to the doctor today and they found something growing inside me. At first we thought there was something in the water, but the doctor suggested it may have been other activities. I'm still leaning toward the water theory, but either way...

WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!

We knew we were pretty far along in our pregnancy, but we had no idea we could be 16 weeks along. We were both surprised. We have been told that the due date for Holloway baby #3 is February 28, 2009.

I have had many mixed emotions about this baby,but after seeing him/her move today and seeing the heart beat, I am feeling more excited. The nurses and doctor were all so happy for us. I guess they had a pretty hard day, because several of them said that we made their day. The head nurse, Lori, is usually pretty good about guessing the gender, but she wasn't sure enough to say what she thought. So, that means you have to wait a month to find out.

Lori asked me how far along I thought I was. I told her," I would guess I am in the 2nd trimester just by the way I am feeling." She giggled saying, "Listen to you, you sound like an old pro."

For those of you wondering, Yes, we have known for a while, but we like to get out of the danger zone (make you think of Top Gun, anyone?) before we like to tell anyone. I would venture to say that we are past that point. I am happy we are too, because the 1st trimester is a booger to me. I am exausted all the time, I can't eat anything(much less cook anything), and most of the time I am throwing up. I went through part of this at Mom and Dad's house while we were recieving food from the Relief Society. You can imagine how that went. I knew that we had moved onto the 2nd trimester when pizza didn't make me gag anymore(that seems to be the worst for me at the beginning). That actually was the first sign for me. We were at Lita and Papa's house(Jason's parents) when Papa made pizza and I couldn't eat it without feeling sick. I was so upset, but that tipped me off. So, no offense Papa, it was the baby not me. Now comes the hard part, trying to not eat EVERYTHING that sounds good to me so I don't gain a ton.

I will be posting regularly with check-ups, so keep watching. I also have a baby tracker so you know how much longer it will be.