Daddy's little helpers

Freshed Sqeezed Orange Juice!

When I was little, we had an orange tree in our backyard and my Dad would make freshed squeezed orange juice on Saturday mornings. Whenever I make it now, the smell reminds me of him! Now Julien and I make fresh squeezed orange juice whenever we have a lot of oranges. He loves it and gets so excited to make it. I cut the oranges and he does the rest (he won't let me do anything but cut them because he loves to do it)!

Cherish those you love

Last week, I was doing some blog hopping/stalking (whatever you want to call it). I think I was just bored. I went from blog to blog. I was lead to a particular blog which I don’t normally read. It was a friend of one of my best friend’s blog; an acquaintance of mine from church-back in high school. I began reading her blog and immediately was interested as I read that her older sister (only 30 years old) had passed away unexpectedly. She was a mother of 4 children, ages 1-8 and was happily married. She had a bunch of pictures of her sister and her family on her blog and I was overcome with emotions. Then I looked on her links and realized her sister (the one that passed away) had a blog too. The woman’s name was Ginger. I sat there for a couple of hours reading her whole blog and looking at all of the pictures. I became consumed by it. I cried and cried as I read her blog and looked at her beautiful, happy family. It was obvious she absolutely loved her husband and her children. It was also obvious that she was a sweet person and was a great wife/mom. All I could think about was WHY? I know there must be an important reason why a righteous mother would be taken from her kids. It reminded me once again how precious life is and how we should cherish every little moment we have with our loved ones, and also be the best we can be. I also thought it was so interesting how she had a blog, just like many of us. She was just like us, enjoying life, raising her kids, going to church, keeping a BLOG, and then out of nowhere, she is taken home to her Heavenly Father. Her heart stopped beating while she was asleep. The night before she went to sleep and passed away, she posted one last blog post, entitled “happiness,” and it had a picture of her oldest daughter swinging on a branch. Last night I read her sister’s blog and she talked about all the tender mercies that have taken place (another amazing post!) leading up to her death and she said that Ginger hadn’t blogged in 3 months and just a couple of weeks ago stayed up until 3 am catching up, and then did a post each day until she passed away. What a total prompting that she listened to. And now her family and many people were left with it and it has inspired so many people, including myself and I’ve never met her. How special for her kids to grow up and have their mother’s last year rolled up in a blog, expressing her love for them. For days I kept going back to her blog and reading more and more. I don’t know why I was led to that blog, (and I hope it wasn’t to prepare me for something tragic), but I am so grateful that it gave me an awakening to the important things in life. I have always been so happy to be a wife and a mother and have tried to cherish every day, but now I feel it even deeper and I feel like it has given me greater perspective than I had before.
If that wasn’t enough, a few days after being consumed by that, I came across another link to a family’s blog who had just lost their only daughter. She choked on an apple that her mother had cut up for her. She was almost 2. I stayed up late the other night and read that blog and sobbed and sobbed as I read the grief of her mother and father. Once again, I found myself in my boys’ rooms crying and kissing their cheeks as they slept. Life is not perfect and the most unexpected things can happen. We must be prepared. At this point, I don’t think I am prepared for something that tragic to happen to me, but I’m grateful that I have had this awakening and have recommitted myself to focus more on the eternal plan.
I could go on and on and on about these two stories that have touched me lately, but I won’t. I hope this is okay for me to give the links to their blogs, if anyone is interested. I just feel like if these stories have helped me in a good way, then they can help others too. It truly is so humbling to read these and you probably will cry. Ginger’s link is http://www.jasondgingerd.blogspot.com/
The other link to the parents of the little girl that passed away is http://www.jacksonparkcity.blogspot.com/
Again, I hope that’s okay if I gave those links out, but I know they will bless you if you read them.
One last note, to all mothers /wives or any blogger…on Ginger’s blog, she had a few of those “TAGGED” surveys. It was so neat to read those and get to know who she was a little better. But even cooler for her kids, who will get to read those silly little facts about their mom. I think from now on, I will do more of those!
Sorry to get so personal and sentimental, but if you read those blogs, you will probably get a better picture of why I’m so emotional about this. I’M SO GRATEFUL FOR THE GOSPEL and ETERNAL FAMILIES!!!!!!!!!!!

My new obsession

I've always been so interested in observing people and their different behaviors and personalities. But what I didn't realize was that there really are 4 main personality types. My neighbors and I were out late talking one night and they told me about this book. I got super interested in it and a couple of days later, my other neighbor gave me a copy. I read it so fast because I couldn't wait to get all that information in my head! It was so interesting! As I read the different personality types, certain people I knew would come to my mind and I would think, "Yep, 'so and so' is definitely a C personality!" Everyone is a mix of the 4 personalities (more or less), but most of us will identify more with one or two particular personalities. In this book, "Positive Personality Profiles," the author Robert A. Rohm says that the 4 personality types are

D personality

I personality

S personality

C personality

Each is unique and have different qualities to offer. We need all four of these personalities to make the world go round. I totally recommend this book to all teachers, parents, or anyone who wants to become a better communicator! Teachers can benefit from this book so much because they can teach each child according to his/her personality type. Parents can learn so much about their children by reading this book! Each child is different and has a different perspective based on their personality type. If we can understand and learn to recognize different personality types we will better understand those around us and how to treat them. Sometimes it's hard to get along with someone when they are so different from our self; and most of the time it's just because we don't understand them! It makes so much sense! How can we truly communicate if we don't understand the other person? If you've ever read the "Five Love Languages", this book is a little bit like that, when you apply it to marriage or raising children. But overall, it's just a fun book to read because all of the sudden you will start recognizing these traits in people! That's why it's my new obsession. Everyone I talk to now, I will analyze what they say and how they say it. Some people are such high personalities that you really don't have to analyze much, you just know they are a high "I," for example.

To those who are still reading this post, here are a few of the traits that describe each personality type. But I definitely recommend reading this book to fully understand yourself and others! (I forgot to mention, that he separates the personalities by "people oriented" and "task oriented" as well as, "outgoing" and "reserved").

D Personalities:

they are task oriented and more outgoing. They are great leaders (or can make great criminals if not controlled), love control, love to have choices, and challenge! Their minds are always going. They can be unemotional. Strong willed; can have hot tempers! They tend to act and then think later. They are decisive decision makers. They are the movers and the shakers of this world! They often ask "What (needs to be done)?"

I Personalities:

they are people oriented and more outgoing. Life is a party. Their world revolves around people and impressing them. They love recognition. They are carefree and compassionate. They are very talkative and love to hear themselves talk, but not the best listeners. They tend to be loud. They can make great speakers and be very inspiring. They say, "the more the merrier!" They have a hard time staying home and not socializing. They are the personality who will first ask, "Who (will be there)?"

S Personality:

they are people oriented but more reserved. They are steady and stable, love routine and their safe places" Require a lot of security. They hate conflict. Supportive, loyal, sweet. Submissive, shy, sentimental. Have a hard time saying no (suckers). Find places they are most comfortable and like to stay there. Laid back, flexible. Love to serve. Don't feel the need to always go somewhere or have lots of friends; they would rather have a few good friends than "surface" friends. Love appreciation. They ask, "How (should that be done)?"

C Personality:

they are task oriented, but more reserved. They are the personality that will feel this book is unnecessary to read. They are cautious, careful and calculating. They do their homework on everything and usually have the answers. They are usually right and love to know they are right. They like to know what's going on and keep things under control. They are very consist ant and usually make great parents because of that trait. Tend to be very sensitive. Not risk takers. They will give great work and take their tasks very seriously. Have outstanding minds. Can be vengeful! Love quality answers! They ask, "Why, (are we doing this)?"

Like, I said, those were just a few traits. The book talks about the strengths and weaknesses of each personality, and what kind of careers they are best at, and so forth. So I hope I convinced at least one person to read this book! It's fabulous and has already helped me better understand myself, my husband, and my oldest son Julien!

Thanks for listening to my book report!

Supplemental Income

The other night Rich and I were watching a movie together when all of the sudden he said, "Oh! I forgot to tell you, I know a way we can earn an extra $400 a month!" I asked what it was and he said, "We can donate blood!" Maybe I was just really tired, but I started laughing! I asked him where he heard about that and he said, "well, the other day, I saw my friend...and he looked kind of tired....." That's when I started laughing REALLY hard! So did he. But he explained to me that his friend and his wife donate their blood twice a week and get paid $200 a month each. I don't know why it sounded so funny, but now I'm actually considering it. I hate needles and the sight of blood makes me feel faint. But 200 bucks....hum, tempting. PLUS, it saves lives! It's really not a bad idea, the more I think about it!

Thanks Grandpa!

First off, yes, my husband is home and we are so happy! It's the best feeling in the world to be together as a family again! The real meaning of this post is that Julien got his first fishing pole. He has been talking about going fishing for a long time now, so my dad got him a fishing pole and a tackle box for his birthday! Thank you so much, Dad! We all went fishing last night and had so much fun despite the fact that we didn't catch anything.

To REPLAY this slide show, "X" out.

The birthday buds...

Julien and his cousin Jordan were born 2 days apart. Each year, so far, we have managed to have a family party together to celebrate both of their birthdays. I was going through some old pictures, and it's amazing to see how much they have grown. I wish I had a picture of them together as babies, but I didn't have a digital camera then (and my scanner isn't working). So here are pictures of all their birthday parties together over the past 4 years! Cherish EVERY moment with your kids because it goes by too fast!!!

1 year old (Party at Grandma Good's house)!

2 years old (a little play day/party at Aunt Kari's)!
3 years old (Pool Party)!

Now 4 years old! (Party at our house)!"We're 4!"

1,2,3 & already FOUR!

Julien on his 1st birthday...

...2nd birthday.......3rd birthday... ...is my baby already 4?!! ...4th birthday... The highlight of Julien's birthday (for him this year), was the birthday hats. He has been talking about birthday hats for about a year now. Whenever anyone would ask him what he wanted for his birthday, the only thing he would say was, "I want cupcakes and birthday hats for all my kids." He got his wish! How simple...this may be the last year that his wishes are so inexpensive! We love Julien so much. We are so grateful that he has been with us for 4 happy years now! It's so unbelievable how fast time goes by! I could go on and on about my love for Julien, but I already did that in my journal, so I'll spare you all. Happy 4th birthday, my baby, (okay...sniff, sniff...my BIG boy)!