Trials of our Faith

It seems that every blog I check lately has some kind of tragedy on it.

A mother loses her 1 year old.

A friend loses her 30 year old sister, leaving behind a husband and 4 small children.

A coworker is diagnosed with cancer.

Most recently...



A mesa couple is terribly injured in a plane crash. I heard about this on the news here in Tucson, and then saw it on my friend Sarah's blog. The wife in the crash was actually Sarah's friend growing up. Onlookers who witnessed said the couple ran from the plane on fire. The wife has burns covering 80% of her body, which the husband has burns covering 30% of his body.

Prayers are desperately needed.

Money is desperately needed (recovery will be well in to the millions). If you click on the link with the story here you will be able to see how you can help.

What is so cool is this: Jared and I are going to the temple on Saturday, and have been planning on it for quite some time. Apparently, at 4:45, this couple's family and friends are gathering at the temple to release red balloons filled with helium into the air, with well-wishes written on them. I guess it was a tradition of the family's.

Sarah - this is for you. Jared, Sariah, and I will go to the temple at 4:45 and release a balloon for you and your family. Please let me know what you would like written on it.

Join us if you would like. I am sure the family would love the support, faith, and prayers.

We've added to the family!

No...I'm not pregnant. =)

I have started watching my niece and nephew 3 days a week. They are so much fun!

Sariah loves having the entertainment, is learning to share, is learning not to take someone else's sippy cup...or binkie...or poopy diaper (yeah, that's another story).

Parker is learning that 2 babies are more complicated than 1, dogs are fun, and it's alright to eat lunch naked.

Emmerson is learning that it's ok to have someone else hold her, rock her, and feed her.

They are doing GREAT!

At one point...I had them all asleep...

Parker on "Aunt Amber's GIANT bed for Parker"


Emmerson was cozy in her portable crib.


Sariah was safe in her crib...with her blankie...and her pacifier...and her giraffe...


Yes...even the dog was asleep!


It was nice to have a little peace and quiet to regroup and get ready for the afternoon. Life sure changes when you have more than 1 child in your care, but it changes in all wonderful ways. Thanks, Kendall, for trusting me with your babies!

Keeping Mommy Company

I don't hesitate to jump in the shower while Sariah is awake. She is SO GOOD at playing and entertaining herself, that I don't worry. I arrange the house so the only places she has to go are my room, the family room, and the hall. She will periodically come and check on me by pulling back the shower curtain to make sure I'm still in there.

Thursday, she decided I needed some company in the shower, so she started bringing me toys...one by one...and putting them in the shower with me.

This is what I ended up with after my 7 1/2 minute shower:



I had a balloon, elephant, tractor, linkydoos, a sippy cup, and a ball. What a thoughtful girl!

Our little stripper

I walked in to Sariah's room to get her from her nap.

Lo and behold, she had taken off her pants...

And her DIAPER...

She LOVED it! She was giggling and squealing all over the place. She was so proud of herself!

Later that day, I allowed her to run around in the sprinklers in her diaper.

We came in the kitchen, dried off, put a shirt on, and this is what I found her doing...




This little girl figures out something new every day!

But It Has PeePee On It!

I know, I know...I'm a little slow in posting this.

A couple weeks ago, my brother and his wife trusted us enough to leave their 2 children with us while they escaped to Las Vegas for a weekend getaway for their anniversary. We had SO MUCH FUN! Their kids are well-behaved, eat all their food (as Carter proudly told his mom), play well, and are so enjoyable.

The first adventure is with Carter. Well...most of the adventures were with Carter.

Funniest adventure.

Carter found this little screw that he just fell in love with. It's a funny-looking screw, so I can understand its attraction. Apparently, he even felt it was necessary to take it with him to the bathroom so "the babies didn't get it." As he was peeing, he dropped it in the toilet. When I heard his high-pitched girly shriek, I immediately knew what happened. In to the bathroom I went to investigate! I laughed and explained to him that he would have to reach in and get it. The look of horror on his face as he exclaimed, "But it has PEEPEE on it!!!" After I composed myself from laughing so hard, I went and got him a kitchen spoon (that was thoroughly disinfected after it was used) to scoop out the screw.

Here's the screw with peepee on it. I know, it looks like a little piece of poop, but it's not!


Carter trying to fish out the screw.



And finally, the screw was recovered!


Later that night as his reward for being so brave about getting the screw, he got to squirt whipped cream in his mouth.

New Side Bar

And on the right side of the blog, we have a new sidebar! My weight loss tracker.

Yup.

I went to go see my Ob/Gyn two weeks ago and noticed the word "obese" on the top of her chart.

Ouch. I'm officially in that all-too-often-mentioned category.

One of my favorite shows is "The Biggest Loser" because it's very inspiring. On last season's, there was a couple with young children. When the mom was asked why she wanted to be on the show, her response was:

"I need to lose weight before my kids realize I'm fat."

I love it! So I'm taking on the challenge. I've had several attempts to lose weight in the past...I'm not sure why they didn't work. Maybe I wasn't ready? Maybe I was cheating too much?

No more excuses. I'm FINALLY going to do it. Watch me!

Tonight, I re-joined Weight Watchers, renewed my membership to Curves and I'm off and running (well...how about we start with walking??).

I'm going to update my blog every Monday with my weight loss. That's when I will be attending my Weight Watchers meetings...after FHE.

Stay tuned!!