October Birthdays

October's are always my favorite. The air is getting colder, the leaves are changing colors, I can wear my scarves, and my favorite time of the year is right around the corner. In our family we have so many things to celebrate in October. It's my mom's birthday, my birthday, and Madelyn's birthday.

To start off the celebrations my mom and I celebrated together on her birthday. In our family we have the tradition of choosing the meal and desert for our birthday. I choose to have one of my favorite deserts, pumpkin pie and homemade whipped cream. There is nothing better to me than my mom's yummy pie! I could seriously eat a whole pie by myself (and I may have done it before). Everyone insisted that I put 26 candles on it. I was a little afraid of how many were on there.

Then on my actual birthday Landon first surprised me with a beautiful boquet of flowers. Then he surprised me and took me on a date. We went out to eat and then went to see a movie. We have really bad luck at being right on time for a movie and it being sold out so we wanted to make sure that we were able to get tickets. We got there about 30 min early and bought our tickets to Pan. We choose to see it in 3D so they gave us our glasses. While we waited we played the arcade games. I love to spend time with Landon and it really turned out to be a great birthday with him.

Madelyn's 2nd birthday was so much fun. We rented out the Clubhouse room at our complex so that we would have enough room for both of our families and our friends to come. I decided to make Maddy a teepee for her birthday. It was so worth all the miscalcuations that I made and had to fix to see her play in it. It is such a fun addition to her room. I also made her birthday shirt that she wore. It summed up her personality perfectly. It said "sweet & sassy".

Maddy loved her birthday and was showing off so much. She was dancing and playing and in the best mood. I loved simply celebrating her with all the people that love her so much.

Her favorite presents included her "Ana" (she can't say Elsa so she calls her Ana) pajamas, her Frozen "ride" from Aunt Missy, and her baby and her baby's bottle from Grandma Young. She is so animated and loves to take care of her baby.

I'm always sad when October is over but I guess we are all just another year older and wiser.

Fall Family Photos 2015

My heart is so full after this weekend. I was able to listen to LDS General Conference with my family and feel of my Heavenly Fathers love for me as a daughter, a wife, and a mother. You can listen to the conference here.

On of my favorite quotes comes from President Uchtdorf's talk during the General Women's meeting.
"God didn't design us to be sad. He created us to have joy!"

 My joy is my family. Rebekah was able to take some quick family pictures for us on Saturday afternoon. I can't wait to print some out to hang in our home and remind us how special it is for us to be a family.

I am grateful to be a mother and that I am able to see Maddy grow in mind and body everyday.

Weekly Review: Sept 27- Oct 3 2015

Here is what happened this week in pictures and videos.

I was able to attend the Women's General meeting of the LDS General Conference with my mom, sister and grandmother. We had a great time learning and receiving council from our leaders. You can listen to it here. 

 

Maddy has been being so cute while playing with her dolls and giving them their bottle and bathing them in bowls. She decided that she needed to bathe herself in the bowl. It was so fun and cute to watch.

 

With all the rain on Friday I decided to wear my rain boots. Maddy loves to put our shoes on and my rain boots were no exception. They were as long as her legs and she couldn't walk with them on. 

Maddy loves to play. Here is a video of her playing with Rebekah.

If It Is To Be...

2 years ago seems like a whole lifetime. I've made countless decisions since that day. I decided to cut my hair, a couple times. I decided to go to church, and sometimes not to go to church. I decided to move, 4 times, with my family. I helped Landon make big decisions with work and school. I decided to hang out with friends, spend time with family, play with Maddy and eat a lot of ice cream. We make so many decisions everyday and what do they matter?

2 years ago my dad, who is so smart and loving, gave a devotional address at BYU-Idaho. I was able to be there and listen to his wise counsel.

I decided (see lots of decisions) to watch his talk again today and it got me. It got me good. I couldn't stop thinking about all the decisions I have been making. Some good and some not as good. What do they matter? What does it matter if I decide to decline that phone call from a friend. What does it matter if I put off the dishes to watch some television? What does it matter if I don't plan dinner? Do those thing really all matter?

I think that they do.

Life is made up of all the little decisions that we make on a daily basis. Decisions like making dinner, calling your mom, opening the door for someone, and being honest.

President Thomas S. Monson said,

"You may ask, “Are decisions really that important?” I say to you, decisions determine destiny. You can’t make eternal decisions without eternal consequences. May I provide a simple formula by which you can measure the choices which confront you. It’s easy to remember: “You can’t be right by doing wrong; you can’t be wrong by doing right.” Your personal conscience always warns you as a friend before it punishes you as a judge."

As I look at my life, at where I am, where I have come from I can see that I am the sum of all my decisions. But does that mean that I am destined to be on this path that I have created? No, we are not stuck where we are because the decisions that we make today will determine where we will go tomorrow.

"The choices you make each day from small and simple to large and complicated will have lasting, even eternal consequences. The path our life takes is not determined by great and grand decisions but rather by the little day-to-day choices we make." Alan K. Young

Making decisions can be hard. Someitme we take time, effort and advice as we make big decisions. Other times we don't think very far into the future as we make decisions. I know that I am going to be making decisions based on where I want to be in the future rather than where I am here in the present.

What do you do to help you make decisions that will positively effect your life?

I'm grateful for the decisions that brought me this life, my family and my friends. I hope to continue to make decisions that bring happiness and joy to those around me.

To watch the full address click here.