8 Things...

8 Things I passionate about
1. My husband
2. My kids of course
3. My testimony
4. My preschool
5. Reading
6. Being on time!
7. Trying to be organized
8. Spending time with family

8 past books I have read
1. Running with Angels - Pamela Hansen
2. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
3. Eve's Daughters - Lynn Austin
4. Hidden Places - Lynn Austin
5. Counting Stars - ?
6. A land to call home - Lauraine Snelling
7. Preach my gospel
8. Book of Mormon

8 things I say often
1. Are you kidding?
2. Oh no!
3. Nice!
4. How sad (mostly a parenting technique, and most times it blows up in my face)
5. Goodnight
6. Don't do that
7. No (I really wish I didn't say it quite as much, but it just comes out!)
8. What the!

8 things I look for in a friend
1. Good listener
2. Sincere
3. Understanding
4. Funny
5. Patient (I'm kind of a forgetful)
6. Someone who wants me as a friend too
7. Someone who makes me want to be better
8. Someone who is spontaneous

8 Random things about me
1. I'm a small town girl, would love to raise my kids in a small town (no American Fork isn't a small town)
2. I love to drink wild cherry pepsi
3. My favorite thing to do with my kids is go on picnics
4. I'm VERY afraid of spiders and snakes
5. I LOVE to cook, just wish I had a bigger kitchen!
6. I REALLY don't like taking medicine or vitamins
7. I have a really hard time making choices (like which place to eat, what to order, where to go on vacation, etc.)
8. I love movies

8 Things I want to do before I die
1. Go on a mission
2. Buy a house
3. Be a grandma
4. Be debt free
5. Go back to Hawaii
6. Get organized
7. Learn how to be a better wife and mom
8. Go to sleep at night and feel TOTALLY at peace, no worries to keep me up at night (is that possible?)

8 things I have learned this year
1. Not to judge...that's a big one
2. My kids are very different from each other, I have to remember that.
3. Living on a big lot, is a lot of HARD work
4. I need to be more patient with my kids
5. There's a lot to learn about this world and our language, that I took for granted. After helping my kids try to figure things out, I've learned that we really do and say some things that just don't make sense!
6. My husband is VERY amazing and patient
7. I love kids...they crack me up
8. I really do love life, my family and the gospel!

8 people I want to do the 8 things
1.Lisa
2. Marie
3. Kerri
4. Monica D
5. Lisa T.
6.Kellie
7. Monica C.
8. Natalie

Spring Break!

Well, this week was spring break for me and my kids...that means no school. We decided to head to Fillmore. We had a great time. We left on Tuesday and spent the day with my sister Colette. That was awesome to have some time with her since it doesn't happen too often. Then Tuesday I took the kids swimming and that was fun except that I forgot a diaper for Allee for after, and Morgan and Austin helped pack the bag and Morgan forgot to include his underwear and pants...those are essential!!! So it was an adventure for sure. We spent the next two days just hangin' with the fam. We went to my mom and dad's ward party and saw a lot of the old 4th warders, yeah! We also got to meet my new little nephew Tyler Jeff Christensen, he's so cute. Earlier in the day I had been very stressed out with my three kids, but holding that sweet little baby made be just a tiny bit baby hungry and that hasn't happened in a long time.

We got home yesterday and got situated in time to get some dinner and go to bed. Then this morning Shane worked so hard cutting down a yucky tree in our back yard. He and his dad finally got it down, but now they have to cut the tree apart. I was thinking it would take a couple hours...not a couple days (sorry Shane). Anyway, the cool part was that my mother-in-law came too and she helped me (actually she did most of the work) fix my flower bed outside my kitchen window and we planted some seeds. I'm so excited to have something growing there besides weeds. Thanks Sue!
Here's to another busy Saturday come and gone so soon!

Allee's Haircut

We decided to cut Allee's hair so that it will thicken up. It is really short, but SO cute. Check it out.

I've been tagged!

So I thought I had gotten by without getting in on the "Tag you're it" thing, but I was tagged so here goes. I will now share 7 things about myself that are not too well known.

• I took a hit for my High School football team. That's right, I took stats for football my senior year and my jobs was to right down what person got the tackle. I was watching a play and trying to see who was going to get the tackle...they got a little too close and I was a little too slow. Needless to say, I was part of the tackle and I have a scar on my foot to show it. Go Laina, go Laina, go go go Laina!!!
  
• I had my third child without an epidural, my sister-in-law and I took a hypnobirthing class and I went for it. The whole story is WAY to long to share, but I have given birth naturally!!!! What a rush.
• When I was dating my husband, I came to visit him for a weekend in Salt Lake and on the way, I caused a huge traffic accident and it basically shut down the freeway for a few hours...I was shaking in my boots after that one. SO scary. Thankfully that was a long time ago and I'm a much better driver now.
• I can't watch movies at night...I always fall asleep. My husband can attest to this as can anyone who ever had me sleep over at their house growing up. I was always the first one asleep and I was always afraid of what would happen to me (you know all the silly things we did the the kid who was asleep like tickling their nose after you put shaving cream on their hand). That was always me. I guess that's what I get for always going to bed early.
• I HATE seafood!!! Need I say more?
• I love to play games, but I really stink at them. I think people ask us to play with them so that they can be guaranteed to win. I am NOT a strategist.
• My joy in life is having the 3 craziest, cutest, naughties, adorable children in the world!

So there you have it, hope you learned a little more about my random life.

Blessings

This past week a friend of mine lost her little girl. When she was born, she had some complications. So she has been in and out of the hospital all of her life, (she would have been two in July). I attended the funeral on Saturday and I just have to say, my heart was breaking for my friend and her husband, but at the same time, I learned so much. The talks were about eternal life and eternal families and at the end of one of the talks a question was asked straight out. The gist of it was this..."so what do we do with the knowledge we have of eternal families and eternal life? It comes down to this DO you truly believe in eternal life, and in the plan of salvation?" I swear he was asking me, it was as if I was the only person there. I've heard the talks all my life about eternal life and I've read the scriptures, but this was an experience like no other. The spirit was so strong and I am so glad that I know we can be together as families for eternity. What a blessing the gospel is! And what a blessing it has been for me to follow my friends' blog and be inspired by her strength and testimony. It makes me want to be more patient and positive in my own life. Thanks Marcae!!!

Things I'm thankful for!

So, I have decided to mention the things I am thankful for. I'm thinking that I must complain a lot because my kids will look at me sometimes and say, "what's wrong?" that must be a sign right? Anyway, I am turning over a new leaf so to speak and I am going to try and stay more positive.

• Today I am thankful for a house to live in. I complain A LOT to my husband, but we really do have a great place to live.
• I am also thankful for my kids...they are so funny sometimes. Allee will say things like "we are not going in the car, right mommy." Like she's trying to talk me out of it. Morgan is my cuddle bug as always. Austin, well what can I say, I think he is the smartest 6 year old alive!!! He's always just a few steps ahead of me.
• I am so thankful that I have running hot water. Some of you might not know that right as we were leaving for Mexico, our hot water heater went out (that's right, in the middle of the night). Anyway, when we came home, it still took a couple days before we got the new one installed. It is NO fun boiling water to do the dishes and everything else you use hot water for. I am so thankful to have it working again!!!
• I'm thankful for my husband who loves me!!! I can't tell you the many amazing things he does to help me, there are too many. He's AMAZING!
• I'm thankful I have a sister who lives close to me, she is awesome!!! Love you Jody!

There are a lot more things I am thankful for, but just a few to list for now.

Face your Fears Friday

Our trip to Mexico was so fun. We had a few hiccups along the way, like our water heater went out as we were leaving. It was leaking carbon monoxide into the air so the gas was shut off to it and my mom took the kids to Fillmore with her for the week...Thanks MOM!!!
Once we got there, it was amazing! The picture I posted a while back about where we were staying was right on. That's exactly what is was like. We had a private beach right by our room. The only complaint I have is the humidity there...WEW!

Well, "Face your Fears Friday" is what we called our tour we took on Friday. We were to climb Coba which is the tallest ruin in Mexico. It was TALL, especially with the wind blowing. It wasn't as bad climbing up as it was climbing down. After we got passed that, we went to spend the day in an existing Mayan village. We went kayaking in snake infested waters...no kidding (poisonous snakes). Then we hiked through the jungle. We went swimming in an underground cave pool...it was amazing! Then we repelled and rode a zip-line. So scary, but SO Fun!!! To top it all of, we ate lunch with the natives. I was a little nervous about that, but it was safe and very tasty. I faced my fears!!!

Shane and I didn't get to hang out to much because he had to work, but we did go to a place called Xcaret, which is like the Polonesian Cultural Center. That was very fun too. We got to snorkel and see lots of exotic animals, and again...tasty food.

We are happy to be home, but we did have a great time!!!