Sam and Landon

My new favorite quote from Aaron age 5

"Mom you can't feel the baby inside you, you can only feel the Holy Ghost inside you!"

"Now Entering Correctional Facility"

Note to self:

When exiting a freeway 45 minutes away from the actual exit one should take to get home the fastest way because one cannot see the road due to: brain hurting/rain/wind/flashing lights from construction work, do not take an exit where you have no idea where it will lead you. Very shortly you will see a sign stating "Now Entering Correctional Facility" You will then laugh really hard, take a very deep breath, make a very sharp U-Turn, and get back on the road you just left.

"A young male version..."

On Sunday we were sitting outside eating our dinner when a little baby which looked something like this:came out with his mom to play. My friend Jacob Moss then said "Look it's like a young male version of Nicole Pace." So if any of you were wondering what I would look like if I was a different gender here is your answer.

Out Of My Control

Sometimes things in our life happens which are out of our control. I was thinking a lot about this yesterday evening. At times I feel those things which are out of my control seem to take control of my life, and dictate what I can and cannot do. It's kind of like the so called cake I made on Sunday. For about 5 years I have wanted to make a Baked Alaskan (no it's not salmon like many people have thought it's actually an amazing cake). However; we didn't have the right size of pan, the directions became confusing, our freezer definitely didn't have enough room to put a cookie sheet in it (luckily Derek saved the day on that one), the meringue didn't cover all the ice cream which made the ice cream melt in the oven, and as I took it out of the oven the pan slipped and landed on the floor (for some miracle it didn't face plant and Derek was able to slide it back onto the cookie sheet saving the cake, ice cream and meringue). As I took a bite it became very apparent that it did not taste the same as I remembered it, when Michele and I made it years ago. Don't get me wrong it tasted good, but nothing extraordinarily amazing about it. It tasted just like cake and ice cream...nothing special.

So now you ask how does this cake story have anything to do with things that are out of my control in my life? Those things which I could not change about the cake, like when it landed on the floor, made for such a more entertaining evening, and it made me want to get a much better Baked Alaskan recipe for next time (in fact your all invited for our "Alaskan" party this summer, laugh all you want but it will be marvelous). Today I can't really change that all my brain wants to do is sleep for days, or that my hands won't stop shaking. But today I have a firm knowledge that one day I will have a perfect body and those things which are out of my control will be so worth it in the end. In fact it has already taught me so much more than I could have ever imagined.

"The thorns that prick, that stick in the flesh, that hurt, often change lives...This change comes about through a refining process which often seems cruel and hard. In this way the soul can become like soft clay in the hands of the Master in building lives of faith, usefulness, beauty, and strength."

"I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there."

James E. Faust, “Refined in Our Trials,” Ensign, Feb 2006, 2–7