Simple Reminders

I woke up this morning in a fairly grumpy mood. Matt hurt his back the other day and just wasn't feeling good. We both agreed that maybe if he stayed home and took it easy, it might help him feel a bit better in time, to go to work tomorrow. Sundays are usually crazy and stressful. For some reason it seems to be the toughest day of the week. With Matt down for the count, I wasn't to excited to fly solo. Getting everyone ready and taking them all to church. Matt and I were recently called to team teach Mattix's class. (5-6 yr. olds) I made the mistake of procrastinating my lesson and was kind of dreading teaching. Well with all this negativity floating around in my head, for some reason I just felt like staying home and being lazy. I even found myself asking why do I have to have a Sunday calling? 

The boys were excited to go, which made going easier. Plus I didn't want to let my class down. We pulled into the parking lot and I knew we were a little early for primary. (We had already missed sacrament.) I sat in the car and said a prayer to change my mood. We sat down in sharing time and one of the cute little girls in my class sat down right next to me. With a big smile she hugged me and told me I looked pretty today. She was so happy to see me. She reached into her "purse," and pulled out a page of stickers. She picked out her favorite and put it on my shirt. She patted it and told me, "I am so happy you came to church today. I really wanted to give you a sticker." 

Something as simple as a little sticker and a sweet smiling face brought it all back to perspective. I know I am needed. I have a very important calling. Some may say it's "just Primary." But really it's a BIG calling. Christ taught how important it is to teach the children and show them love. How easy it is to think, oh I'm just a Primary teacher? But really, when you are there and fulfilling your calling, you are helping to build tiny testimonies and one day those tiny testimonies will be missionaries, moms, dads, Relief Society Presidents, or even just a Primary Teacher. How important is it for me to be an example and show my class I love them by loving my calling? 

Lay up your Treasures.

As we were reading in the Book Of Mormon the other night, in  Helaman chapter 8, one of the verses kind of sparked a little discussion among the boys and I. It said, "Lay up your treasures in heaven." (That's not an exact quote of the scripture reference. But that phrase stuck out.) Being boys the word TREASURE really excited them. Mason said, "mom what kind of treasure are they talking about?" I think they were all thinking pirates, gold and X marks the spot. I tried to explain to them that treasure isn't always buried chests of silver and gold. But this treasure that they are talking about, is our "heavenly treasures" the things that we can take with us when we pass away. Like our memories, our knowledge, our testimony and our family. I think they kind of understood a little of what I was saying. Maybe they were a little disappointed that the story wasn't going to be about pirate adventures. But it gave me something to think about and ponder on my own.  

I have been sitting on this post for a few days and I thought this was a good time to post this. Everyone is posting about what they are thankful for. This being the season of Thanksgiving. So I thought I would share some of  my most precious Treasures instead. (And sneak in a few of our Family Pics. that we had taken by Captured by AmyLee.)

 I am thankful for big messes. Especially those created by the cutest Master of Disaster I know. 

 Tender Hearts and endless love for each other. My boys sure do love each other. We definitely have built in best friends around here.  

 Our good health and endless amounts of energy. Someone always has enough to go around. If only they could share it with me. But they keep me active and on my toes. 

 My heart has a very special place for this guy. I sure love him. He is my best friend, my biggest support, and the one I want to spend eternity with. He's my favorite everything. And he's pretty dang handsome if I do say so myself. :) 

 The cutest and greatest boys I could ever of asked for. My heart bursts with love for these boys. 

 Chaos... Come what may and love it and learn something along the way. 

 Temple blessings.  I treasure my knowledge of the blessings of the temple and the symbol that Families can be together forever. 

Last but not least I am thankful for my responsibilities to teach my family and learn for myself the important things of life such as gratitude. My life is full of many blessings and I could go on and on and list all my blessings I am blessed with everyday. I am so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know my Heavenly Father loves me. I am so thankful for all my treasures in my life. 

My Baby is 1!

Nov. 1, 2012

Nov. 3 2013

Happy birthday little man! 

I've said it before and I will say it again...

We LOVE this little guy!

Halloween 2013

Every year I think, "this year I will make our Halloween costumes." Than every year I run out of time and ambition and end up buying or throwing something together. This year the boys all wanted to be Ninja Turtles. Me being the pinning fool that I am, I thought I could easily make their costumes this year, especially if I start early and plan ahead. This decision came after seeing how much I'd have to pay to buy their costumes X's that by 4. I got to work and started studying the NT's and all the ideas online and I made my own version. I was so excited to see them all put together and done. I hope the boys will look back and remember how cool they were and not remember that their mom made them wear a turkey roasting pan. 

So without further explanation, here they are. My 3 (I'm missing Carter. I didn't get a picture of him. But he was the purple one.) Ninja Turtles and their pet baby turtle. 

Pumpkin Guts and Scary faces

This year was the first year the boys were willing to touch the pumpkin guts and help out. It was actually fun carving pumpkins and not just work for Matt and I. Nana and Papa rolled up their sleeves and were put to work too. We all had a good time. 

I do have to say I think they turned out awesome! 

Carter led the way and when the boys saw him having fun scooping out the slimy guts, they all kind of followed after and grabbed a spoon and got to work. 

The boys kept daring each other to taste the guts. They were all carrying on and we all looked over as Maxton was quietly snacking on his pumpkins goo. The boys got a kick out of it and to be honest they all tasted it. 

From top to bottom, Left to right.

Mason (Nana and I helped Mason with his), Manning (I created that masterpiece), Mattix (Daddy helped him make a Pikachu), Maxton (I made that one too.) and last but not least, Carter (Papa and Carter created that big guy) 

Watch Out!

He's got a sword and knows how to use it. It's the cutest thing to watch. 

Being the youngest of 4 boys you can imagine the things this boy picks up just by watching. Sword fighting being one of them and he loves it! 

He even makes sound effects. It's so awesome. 

Daddy made swords out of some packaging foam that came in a recent package for all the boys and of course Maxton had to have one too. 

Welcome to the family!

I will be the first to admit, that I am not a pet person. We've tried a couple times to have a dog and I found it to be very overwelming. I am by far NOT a rodent person or anything that crawls with claws like lizards or snakes. I've told the boys if it poops or requires food it ain't happening. I don't need another thing in the house that requires poop to be cleaned up and me to worry about and try to remember to feed another mouth, seriously I give myself a high five when I can keep up with the four little people I already call my pets. 

But Matt and I recently reached a compromise and we are happy to announce that we are officially pet owners! It didn't come without a price. The boys had to earn them. I made two jars and filled one up with goldfish crackers. The other was empty. The boys had to fill the empty jar with the fish. They could earn the fish many ways, by being nice to each other, doing special jobs, being polite, or any other reason we felt they earned a fish or two. It took them almost 2 1/2 weeks to fill the jar. Than a couple Saturdays ago we headed to the pet store and picked out our new family members. 

Welcome to the Harris family Shadow, lightning, Marshall, and Shoee. It has been so fun having them. The boys are still in the honeymoon stage and are still fighting over who's turn it is to feed them. I'm sure that won't last. They are cute and I swear they love us. They come up to the glass and get excited to see us. Even Maxton loves to watch them.