More Personal

I realized I only blog the surface of what is really going on in our lives. I don't know why but I feel like sharing more personal things is too much for you guys to read about. However, there are things I really want to remember and seeing as this is my journal I should start to share more.

When Levi is upset and I can't calm him down by my usual method (I bounce him on those exercise balls.... we have a giant one at home that isn't very portable), I have found that singing to him quiets him quickly. The general vision I see in my head is of a mother rocking her child to sleep singing to him quietly and the whole world is at peace. That is not what happens here. Let me paint a scene for you as an example. We are driving in the car and he is so tired he can't put himself to sleep peacefully so he is screaming. I try and see if he will calm down quickly and doze off, when he doesn't I start singing primary songs. I don't sing them quietly, OH NO.... I almost shout them to him, while still carrying a tune, and I have to sing them very fast. Then he quiets right down and drifts off. Once he has calmed down enough I can get quieter and slower. I think I am having to match his intensity of crying with my singing in order to get his attention. Ha ha. I laugh because Rick was with me the other day when this happened and I felt silly singing that loud and fast in front of him, but he was in awe when he saw how well it worked!

Another thing to mention if you didn't know was that we have moved. I will be honest... I DID NOT want to move. However, now that we are here I can see how wonderful of a change this is for us. We loved the apartment we had before. It was beautiful and easy to clean. We LOVED the ward and had some really good friends in our neighborhood we were sad to be leaving. Here our apartment is not easy to clean because it has been neglected for so long. I am not sure if you know this about me but I am obsessed with cleaning and having a spotless house. The last few days I have been spending time bleaching walls to get the smell out and scraping faucets to get grim off that has been there for what I assume to be at least a few years. I shall show you an example of a before and after picture. Look closely and you will see what I am talking about.

BEFORE

AFTER

The shower is the worst. If I can get it clean of rust and build up then I will begin to feel much better about the place. The GREAT thing about this apartment is that we can put furniture wherever we want. I can decorate how I want. I can hang more pictures than in our previous place. Our previous place was partly furnished and the room was limiting as far as how to arrange furniture. The previous place already had certain color schemes going on and not a lot of wall space for pictures. ANYWAY.... I'm happy to be here. We are saving money for a house so I just have to be here for 1-2 years. Hopefully closer to one year!

Rick got a new job as an Accountant for SkinCare Rx. He is doing an amazing job and is gaining a TON of experience which will make him more marketable in the future. This company is growing a ton and we are hoping for a couple raises in the future.

Being a mother couldn't be greater! I absolutely love my son. I say this to people so some of you may be sick of hearing it but here it is anyway so that you understand how adorable he is... You have to look away from him every now and then or you will die from a smiling overdose. He does this thing where he will be playing in his little seat thing and I will look over at him. He will make eye contact then just start grinning and we will stare at each other and grin for upwards of a minute straight. He doesn't break eye contact and he doesn't stop smiling at me. I have to look away or my cheeks start to hurt.

He is beginning to sleep better now. He is very consistently sleeping at least 7 hours every night. Sometimes more. I'm very happy to be Levi's mother. He is just an angel.

One more thing. Yesterday we had our Internet set up at our new place. I've been trying to share the gospel more and follow the example of my mission president's wife, Sister Lindley. She is a powerhouse of testimony and enthusiasm for missionary work. She has been home from their mission for about a month now and I am sure she has given away at least 30 pamphlets to different people at the dentist, on the road, at the car wash, etc since being home. Anyway, back to my story. So the guy that came to set up our Internet was in my home playing with wires and such and I thought it was a good opportunity to talk to him and find out his story. He was a sweet man. He grew up in North Salt Lake and when he was a senior in high school his parents moved to West Jordan. He had a really hard time leaving his home and moving and kind of went off the deep end. He since has been married, moved back to where he grew up, and had two kids. He said he takes his girls to sacrament every other week, but doesn't believe that drinking makes him a bad person and just doesn't agree with some of the teaching of the church but still believes it is true. This always makes it hard for me to know what to say. I want to shout out, "STOP MAKING EXCUSES AND JUST DO WHAT YOU KNOW IS RIGHT." Long story short.... I should have been more bold and invited him to read a pamphlet the church puts out on the Word of Wisdom and invited him to pray and find out for himself if it is true. Instead I just bore a weak testimony on getting answers direct from God and not thinking you know it all by yourself. I know I just met the man for a few minutes, but I can honestly say I felt his sincerity in wanting to be a good person. So... here's to you, Internet Man... I'm praying you find what you are looking for and that you get your answer direct from God because then you can't go wrong!

That's enough for today. If you made it this far in reading this post I admire you and realize you as an amazing friend! LOL