Gus's trip to SLC

As a Stoddard Family Tradition Grandma and Grandpa take the grand kids to Salt Lake City for their 8th birthday. Gus had a blast with Grandma and her auntie Steph (Grandpa had a last minute Bishop thing).
They were able to stay in a hotel


Eat a delicous burger



visit Temple Square


and explore the Aquarium

Gus had a blast!!
thanks Grandma and Grandpa Stoddard

Dancing fools

both Handsome and Gus are dancing this year. they dance at their first game. they did great. i love to see their improvement since last year. they complain at times, but they are so great and love it

Happy birthday love

my love spent his birthday at work and then taking a test. this has not been a good year for birthday relaxation. it's okay he was still spoiled with a BSU hoodie that he loves!! he opted out of a birthday cake this year so we had brownies a la mode! it was a pretty good day all and all.

Secret Santa

For the 6th year running we spent our Saturday baking, dipping, frosting, wrapping, sneaking, knocking, running, hiding. So much fun we were quite impressed with our little helpers this year they did almost all of the delivering on their own. so much fun!!

Black Friday

Gus and I 4:30am! good times

Happy birthday to me!

work, parent teacher conference.... oh wait i was suppose to celebrate. Maybe next year, i did get spoiled amist the endless workday. Chocolate, laptop case, and FLOWERS!!

angel baby's birthday!!

thinking of my angel baby today!! love you baby Quincey!!

happy birthday shout out

today is my beautiful friend's birthday, all day long i kept thinking there is something i need to do today but it didn't come to me till it was too late....

 this is just a few reasons why i love ya

you let me call you by your first initial

  you are an amazing listener

you are super funny

you are very smart *don't feel dumb

you have a go getting, not afraid of a challenge attitude

you have a pretty sleek fashion

you showed me how cool it is to be a blogger

you are dependable

you cherish those close to you

 you always find the positive in every situation
you are willing to go the extra mile for a friend

even though we are far apart and we don't see each other often you remain an amazing friend 

bathroom troubles

This afternoon at 3:15 trying, with all my might, to keep 20 kindergartners actively engaged in the learning several of them decided they needed to use the rest room (side note these are 5 year olds who have only been in school for about 10 days) well they all start to shout out that they need to go to the bathroom, some of them with lovely descriptors that I'm not going to share but the best and worst was one little boy who I'm sure didn't even thing anything of it shouts out "Yeah, I have to take a *@%#!" WOW! that was unexpected needless to say he and I had a little talk. Luckily, I don't think anyone really "heard" what he said! I love my job!!

birthday give away

One of my dear friends is having an AWESOME BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY!! 

check it out

Positively Peaches

 enter

Good Luck!!

oh yeah i have a blog

Thursday after school Gus says to me, "Mom we need to go to the grocery store!"

Why

Mom we just do.

Well I'm not going to go unless you tell me why you think we need to go.

Mom it was a really rough day and I need some Chocolate!

How quickly they learn 
So I let her have a few pieces from my mama stash

crazy busy

up at 7 off to swim meet,

back by 12:30 off to a birthday party,

back by 3:30 off to arts in the park
then to soft ball!


silly pictures! enjoy them anyhow

Fourth of July

poor poor Gus today everything bad that could happen to her today pretty much did
she fell down twice, got attacked by a cat, lit her hair on fire with a sparklers, and singed her shirt getting the sparkler out of her hair, and if that's not bad enough she dropped the camera on her face, and hit her head on the wall as she was climbing into bed.


On a happier note MsTay love the fireworks

what i've become

i've become one of those bloggers that neglects her blog, there are people out there i'm letting down! i'm sure you'll forgive me, i mean there are not cries coming to me to update, to fill you in on the wonderful hilarious world i live in. summer is coming soon, i make no promises but i shall try to be better! till then peace!!

modern medicine

two weeks ago today we were at the hospital awaiting the arrival of our precious little angel MsTay. Labor was progressing well enough, we got to the pushing part of the process and after 2 hours of nothing happening it was time to make a decision. to keep pushing and getting no where or to go in to surgery. the dr stepped out of the room, the love of my life and i said a prayer and decided if nothing happened in the next 15 minutes we would go to surgery, so we ended up in surgery, i wish i could say that it was a blur but it wasn't it was scary and nerve racking, i was exhausted and scared. but we made it through and it's a good thing we did what we did or we would not have made it. little MsTay was trying to come in to the world face first not just posterior but literally, she was looking where she was going and was stuck on her way out.

Two weeks from the day we are doing well enough, i'm still very tired and a little sore, but most of the bumps and bruises are healed up.

i've been surprised at how many people have asked me if i'm having more babies after this, i honestly can't answer. though grateful for the blessing of MsTay, i'm definitely not baby hungry at this time.

modern medicine-miracle #6

moms

Moms-#5

food storage

it's not the end of the world, but food storage has definitely come in hand the last few weeks. the plan was to go grocery shopping on the 19th, which didn't happen because we went to the hospital to have a baby that day instead. and we haven't been able to get to the grocery store for a big shopping trip yet, it just takes too much energy. so anyhow we've been using our food storage to get by while i get well. grateful that our cupboards are full.

food storage-miracle # 4

unexpected

have you ever had one of those days where you are just feeling low, today's miracle was inspired by those days

that random text message with words of encouragement

the phone call just to see how things are going

the unanticipated visitor

This miracle maybe one of the least recognized by the giver, just the little thought to check up on a friend that means so much to the receiver.

miracle #3-the unexpected

redos

this morning at the designated time the family was called to the table for prayers and scripture study. Handsome was having a bad moment and didn't want to sit next to Dad, Gus was refusing to move to a different seat and Dad was getting a little fed up. well almost at the moment of ultimate frustration Dad decided to walk away from the situation which made Gus upset so she decided she too was leaving, which made Handsome cry because it was time for prayers and now everyone was mad. meanwhile i sat on the couch feeding MsTay and trying to calm the mass of confusion....

...3 minutes later....

the whole family is at the table with scriptures opened, arms folded for prayers, no crying

miracle #2-redos

belly buttons

i'm sure that this miracle would have never crossed my mind if i hadn't just brought home a new baby. this morning MsTay's umbilical cord fell off. i cleaned her little belly button and pondered what a blessing belly buttons are. we all have one and it serves as a reminder to us of so much. it reminds us of our need for our mother and how we depend on her. it reminds us of sacrifice, and of love!

Belly buttons are amazing things. amazing in that 10 days ago it was though her belly button that MsTay relied for life. amazing that so quickly her body could change the way it received everything it needed to be sustained. amazing that her body knew just how to close the gap. i love how belly buttons twirl closed.

Belly buttons miracle # 1

March the Month of Miracles

i seem to do better with blogging if i give myself a challenge so here goes. My challenge for the month of march is to post a miracle everyday. i was think it maybe a hard to think of something everyday but the more time i ponder that thought i don't think it will be that bad.

the first one's real winner!!

rag doll

Gus's hair in rags!! I am missing the after picture because, when we took them out and looked in the mirror she started to cry, and screamed "I LOOK LIKE A POODLE!!" everyone at school told her she looked "sooooo CUTE" so she's already requesting rags again.

don't mess with Handsome

yesterday at school, Handsome's teacher gave him the task of helping one of his classmates to the big bathroom down the hall. so he took him down to the bathroom and was waiting patiently while the other little boy used the facilities.

well while he was waiting some "big boys" fifth graders came into the bathroom and started messing with Handsome. Well supposedly he didn't like what they were saying so he KICKED them in the shins!!

not that i should be a proud mama about this, but well i kinda am.

when asked to comment handsome said, "I don't want to talk about it, they were just not being very nice"

prayer

this evening for dinner we were going to have taco salad, well the presidents don't really care for taco salad, so being the nice mom that i am, i gave them the option of nachos, as is to be expected Gus was having an attitude moment, so when i asked her if she would like the cheese melted, first she ignored me, then finally rolled her eyes and said "sure"

a little fact about me that i've learned in the last few years is that i'm a yes or no person, "sure" just doesn't cut it, I like a YES, or a NO. so i asked her "yes or no?" again she said "sure", i asked again "yes or no", she again said "sure"

now i know full well that i needed to be the bigger person here and move on so i did and asked little miss attitude to give the blessing on the food.

her prayer
"Dear Heavenly Father, please help my mom to know the meaning of the word "sure" and please bless the food..."