It's derby time again!

Today was Brigham's first pinewood derby with the Cub Scouts. This morning he was so hyper with excitement. Here he is with Daddy right before weigh in, putting graphite powder down in the whole in the wheels to lubricate things to help it go faster. It was fun watching those Tiger Cubs get so excited about this race!
And Brigham started his first derby race out with a bang!

First place!

I'm so glad that I got this picture because it was the only round that Levi won in the Wolves division. He was quite disappointed that there was no trophy this year and that his wheels were not working right. It is hard to convince a child that not everyone gets to win all the time.

After the Tigers, Wolves, Bears, and Webelos raced, all the first place winner got to race each other to see who wins in the overall division. Brigham was in second place until he put his weight on his car as he was standing up (after picking up his derby car from the track). After that, he couldn't beat anyone else. Later we saw a small chip near the wheel.

He got third place out off all the kids and I was pretty proud of him....until he told me that he wanted to throw away his derby car. In the boy's bedroom, they have a shelf where they put all their trophies for soccer and derbies. We always put the winning car up there also so I couldn't believe he would want to throw it away. He then told me that he was upset that his car "keeps breaking." I know I should give him a break but I have to admit that it disappointed me that he would be so ungrateful for all the time that he and Daddy had put into this car and to top it off that he won! I had to have a little talk with him and gratitude after that and how his actions are what made it "break." All is well now, though. One of those learning experiences, I guess.

Do you want to be a monkey or a tall daddy when you grow up?

Just a few fun pictures from yesterday. Yesterday was such a nice day outside so I told the boys when I picked them up from school that we were going to spend some time outside. They whined, I'm sure, because they wanted to play the Wii. Brigham informed me that if he had to stay outside then he wasn't going to play. He was stubborn about it for a while but before I knew it, I found this!

But before I found this, what I actually saw was Brigham on that wooden bench with Hyrum clinging to his back! My heart raced a little bit as I started to run to them. I heard, "Me turn" from Hyrum as Brigham was giving him instructions. I stayed calm though as I explained to Brigham that he was such a good brother to include Hyrum like that but that Hyrum wasn't strong enough and that he would end up letting go and would fall to the ground. I just pictured Hyrum going straight down and a few teeth missing! Hyrum actually took it really well and didn't pout.

This cut out paper person is from Head Start. I picked it up out of his cubby whole yesterday and saw that it said "A Tall Daddy" on the back. So Iasked his teacher about it. Mrs. Dayla said that they asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and he said "A Tall Daddy." Isn't that so cute!?! I got curious so I looked at a few of the other children's creations and they said things like "Policeman" and "Doctor." As you can imagine, I was soooooooo proud of Hyrum!

Divine Signatures

Have you ever had experiences in life where you have had things line out so perfectly that there was no other way it could have happened other than by the hand of God himself? As if the Lord whispered to you that all of this was done for only you? I just got off the phone with a friend, Tricia, who continues to teach me of my worth and after I relayed to her my experiences of late she brought me to the understanding of the Lord's divine signatures. She is reading a book by Gerald Lund called, "Divine Signatures: The Confirming Hand of the Lord." I was so touched by what she said that I looked it up online and I want to share a quote from the book:

"Sometimes, the Lord sends His blessings in such a highly unusual way, dramatic or precisely timed manner, that it might be likened to a divine signature. It is as though the Lord signs the blessing personally so that we will know with certainty that it comes from him. In doing so, God not only gives His blessing, but at the same He strengthens our faith and deepens our testimony of Him."

Let me share with you some of my experiences of late. It is no secret that moving out here to Oklahoma was a pivotal changing point in our families life. All the events that led up to the move and then after brought our little family to our knees. Quite bitterly I often stated to my husband that I was tired of people telling me that it would be to my benefit later. You know, I have never been that type of person to bear their testimony of how "grateful" they were for adversities in their lives. I have always been that, "No thank you" type of person and would just rather learn from other's mistakes. Well, as it turns out I am grateful for our last 2 years. One of the greatest blessings that came out of this whole ordeal is that David and I understand each other's roles so much better now. I have worked on and off since moving here because of the hard time it has been for David to find a job, and because of this our roles have reversed. I finally understand how hard it is to come home after working and not getting to unwind first. He finally understands of the importance of the many "breaks" that I needed in order to stay sane after being home all day with very active children. There are so many things that we have learned that it would make this post so incredibly long. I love my husband more now than I think I ever have. I know without any hesitation now that my husband would do ANYTHING for me.

So, at the end of last year we had 2 very dear friends, Travis and Sari Payne, of ours from college give us a wonderful gift. They gave us money for Christmas. They were prompted to give us money for reasons they couldn't explain other than that they recently had went through unemployment and bad job situations and was recently blessed with a wonderful new job. We got their card and money and I knew for the first time that things were going to turn around. For some that may not seem like anything special but you have to understand my lack of faith of the Lord helping us anymore. But for some reason, I knew right then that all was going to be well. It has been about 2 months since then and very slowly that something finally started to show its face. David has been offered a job, is in the process of another job prospect and has been given the opportunity of yet another one.

This leads to our children. We have been blessed that our children have never had to go to day care (well, besides staying with Grandma and Grandpa and Mom and Dad at their day care) and it is very important to us that they never go to day care; that they are always with family. So, when taking one of these jobs we have the choice of me staying home or them going to day care. A lot of women of the Church would just know their role and take this as an opportunity to be at home with their children once again. But take into consideration what these last 2 years have been for me. My depression was so horrible that one of the only things that snapped me out of it was my need to go to work to provide for my family. I was forced to put that smile on my face and go on with life. It really turned out to be a saving part of my life. Now, if you could only get a real glimpse of that then you would understand of the fear that I had of being home again. Sure, I did it for years and it was wonderful but have I changed so much that I wonder if I can do that again. Plus, I know that so many will be worried about me and will fear this decision.

So today at church, as I am secretly scared of letting my boss down and telling those close to me that I might be a stay at home mom again, this beautiful lady stands up to speak to us in Sacrament meeting. Sister Mechele Wall begins to tell us of the importance of being a mother who is there for her children. From here on everything falls into perfect place as she retells a story of a woman who had a career and then gave it all up to be home. She tells of this woman who followed what the Lord prompted her to do only to find that it wasn't all sunshine and lollipops! Her kids still struggled. She struggled. But they did it together. The most important part was that in the end, those children that were going the wrong direction before, were not only going in the right path but that they had this strong love for their mother. Something that was not there before. I desperately needed to hear that all would not be perfect. I think we set ourselves up sometimes when we do all that is asked of us to do in the church only to still have disappointments in life.

After her talk I went outside in this dreary weather and just let the Lord speak to me. I have always loved the wind. At that moment I payed real close attention to the wind that was literally circling around me and at that moment I knew it was the Lord telling me that he was all around me. As tears streamed down my face, I knew the Lord was in this decision. David took me home so I could sort through some things. Soon after that he called me from church and told me that he had asked for Sister Wall's notes from her talk. She then wanted to meet me. Before I knew it, she and her husband were walking through my front door to council me. Oh how I love the tender mercies of the Lord!

Brother Wall is a high councilman...but not our high councilman. For some reason ours could not come so he did today. Brother Wall was suppose to bring a returned missionary. For some reason that didn't happen and he decided to bring a missionary instead; his wife. You see, for some time now she has believed that her "mission" is to make sure that she gets her children converted into the church. And as she spoke with me, I soon learned of her hesitation of using the story that so touched my heart. But she kept going back to that story as she was preparing her talk for those of us in the Grove Branch. She knew now that the story was for me.

Later as I expressed these things to Tricia she told me that this was the Lord's divine signature for me right now. He placed everyone of these things for this exact moment. This teaching moment for me. He loves me. I know He does.

Snowfest 2011 is over

So sad, but we only have a few dirty snow piles left. Yesterday it was 79 degrees in Tulsa and just a week ago it was -20 degrees! Absolutely insane! So in the midst of all of this our water froze...that was fun. Not fun at all! Because it happened during my busy Valentine's weekend at the flower shop and I would have loved to have been able to unwind in a nice hot shower. To make it worse, it was a certain time of the month.....

So, you would think that I would just hate snow right now, huh? Nope, still in love with it! So I thought I would share a few fun pictures.

This one was taken from the last big snowstorm. David and the missionaries went out to dig people out of their houses. This is the front of David's truck driving through Grandma and Grandpa's driveway....INSANE! Jay got it worse than Grove did. Unfortunately, a few very sad things happened because of these past snow/ice storms. The worst being a couple of children that drowned in a pond. I really have such a wonderful job but sometimes delivering to funerals like these can be a little tough on your heart. It is not the children that make me sad. I just can't get the pictures out of my head of the loved ones left behind.

Here and there along the Grand Lake you will see sights like this. The snow is pretty much melted on the ground but some of the ice is still on the lake. It is so beautiful.....well, except for the collapsed boat docks! I don't even want to know how many chicken houses went down!
As I was delivering in Jay, over the holiday, I found these last two pictures. Love em!

This one is outside of V&V Drug Store.

This one is outside of the Jay Floral. Talk about some competition!

Cute Kids

Ok, I am suppose to be working on a paper and I am but I had to stop for a second to blog this before I forget.

We are not a huge football family. Thank goodness, my husband isn't into the whole watching sports thing. He loves to play backyard football or play basketball with friends any day but I am so grateful that he doesn't really follow or watch college football or whatever else can take up so much time. He does however take time to watch the Super Bowl every year. I don't know if it is because of his brothers or the funny commercials that come on but there is always one Sunday out of the year that our TV is on watching football.

So I am back in the bedroom writing my paper and I start to hear America the Beautiful. I thought I would come out for this and to my surprise there was this girl on TV singing that I had no clue as to who she was. I figured they would have someone famous. Levi bursts my bubble when he says, "I know what this is (meaning the song). It's Glee!" I had to make myself not laugh! David then says, "That is America's marketing at its best!" Ok, is it more sad that my child doesn't know the name of America the Beautiful or that we are all so influenced by the TV that you could actually think a song is named after a very popular TV show? But then I quickly felt better as I asked him where he got this idea and he said it was at the bottom of the screen earlier. I then put it together and felt a little better as a parent as I remembered that we have never watched Glee and their is no way he would know what that was or who that lady was who sang America the Beautiful.....oh, wait.....that just proves how very behind the times I am as to who is cool.....obviously not me!

Then Hyrum said the cutest thing. The cameras were showing different football players and you know how they have the black face paint under their eyes? Hyrum says, "Bwoos!" It took me a little bit but I finally figured out he was saying "Bruise." What a cutie!

Ok, back to my paper....

Painting snow

Today was another day without work and school and for the most part was uneventful until later this afternoon. We took water bottles, put dye in them and went outside to paint some snow!

But do you think they painted just the snow? Of course not! Brigham immediately attacked Levi, got in trouble, then proceeded to squirt himself. He got in trouble again only to start squirting it straight up in the air so it would hit the top of his head. At this point Daddy took away his squirt bottle which led to immediate tears! After that he finally decided to do it right.

And a certain boy found some yellow snow....

....sure hope that is MOUNTAIN Dew....

....WAIT! THAT BETTER NOT BE MOUNTAIN DEW IN HYRUM'S HANDS!

When the weather can't decide...

Saturday was an absolute beautiful day. We played at the park and worked on vehicles and just tried to soak up as much of the sun as possible as we knew of our upcoming winter storm. Everyone around here has been talking about this storm for a good week now. It is amazing to me that we can know so much in advance of what to expect weather wise. Because of really bad past ice storms (I've had family members who didn't have power and water for days), every one kinda freaks out around here when these storms come along. Though, if I had lived through it, I probably would also. Anyways, Wal-Mart was a mad house yesterday. I wish I had my camera on me because the lines were insane! Everyone takes stocking up on water and supplies very seriously. If it wasn't for meeting Tricia there, I would have never went into that packed store! I kept Sofie entertained but I have to admit it was probably for more selfish reasons as she distracted me from freaking out about all the people around me.

Sun will make you do crazy things! On Friday at work, another really nice day outside, we had another business owner come in and buy balloons to put outside to attract customers. Very smart idea in my eyes. Driving around later that day, I wanted to go shopping too and obviously it worked on Dad and Mom! Congrats on the new car!

Hyrum and I making food for the birds earlier today.
So late last night David and I started to hear the pounding of thunder and the following tings of ice hitting the side of the house. Immediately, I was all grins from ear to ear. I LOVE THIS WEATHER!!! I am not a night owl. In fact, I start to get nauseous if I stay up past midnight but I must have been super excited because I wanted to say up and watch movies. I didn't want to miss out on any of the stuff that was falling because I didn't go to bed until just before 4! I guess I didn't think it was going to ice/snow all night but it did and all day today also! I don't know how much we actually got but it was definitely over a foot.

Our house has a very steep odd ramp outside one of the doors, that would never help any elderly person get up to our house but it makes for great play! Whether running little cars down it or making a pathway for a sled, it has kept my boys busy a many a hours!
And it keeps a certain missionary entertained also!

While Elder Grigg was busy playing with the boys (I give him a hard time about being the "fun missionary" while Elder Calkins is the responsible one. I actually think it is a great companionship, though. It reminds me of my marriage. David is always ready to do spur of the moment fun stuff while I'm the one thinking about what actually needs to be done.) Elder Calkins was trying to dig out my husband's truck....yep, my responsible husband was going to go and drive to pick up the missionaries this morning in this crazy weather...yeah, he only made it to the ditch across the street!

The missionaries ended up walking over here and after a few hours of defrosting, that is when we actually first went out and enjoyed the snow. Some people drove by and offered to help. I love the friendliness of small towns....even if it means getting them stuck also!

Eventually they made it out and David got much closer to our property and now we are all enjoying warm moments together.