A Few Life Changes

So, for those of you that don't know me terribly well, I'll give you the run-down. I have to be going a million miles an hour or I get idle and bored. That's simply how it is. The only time that I can actually justify relaxing is when I'm pregnant, other than that I have to be constantly on the go. I don't feel badly about it because my kids and my husband have learned to tolerate it and even try to keep up with me. So in the spirit of moving fast I have decided to make a few life changes.

I've been thinking about changing my college major for a long time. I love children and I love being around them and the fact that I would have time off in the summer and on the holidays would be nice. However, the more education classes thst I take the more I have realized that I don't agree with the policies that are in place and I don't know if I could handle the politics that are involved in teaching in a small community. So I have decided to change my major to psychology and I plan on getting my master's degree in early childhood mental health. After the work that I have done in the daycares that I have worked in I have learned that early intervention is key to a child's success in life and I want to be able to be an important part of that intervention.

The next change that I want to make is really getting more in tune with myself on a spiritiual level. Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is not an easy task, but has always been worth it for me. I hope to be able to devote myself more fully to serving in the church and learning what I can about what I believe. I know what I believe, but there are still somethings that I don't fully understand. I know that somethings aren't meant to be learned in this life, but I hope that I can learn as much as is requisite for me so that I can be a better example to my children. I also want to be able to become more devoted to my scripture study and prayers everyday. I know that in making this committment, Satan may try to deter my success because he doesn't want me to be happy, but I hope to be able to overcome the obstacles that come my way and move forward in faith. I also know that by recommitting myself spiritually, I will become a better wife and mother.

Finally, I have decided that I want to run across America, hypothetically speaking. From Los Angeles, California to New York, New York it is 2444.44 miles. I hope that before the first of this year I will be able to complete that mileage. It's not going to be easy. I used to be a runner and I enjoyed it because it was a stress relief, but I hope to be able to post my stats every week so that you can all know where in America I'm at. I also want to get prepared for the 5K that I'm putting on this June for my cousin's daughter who just recieved a liver transplant and is still going through chemotherapy and radiation. I'm giving myself until January to finish so hopefully in the next, 10 months I'll be able to accomplish what I set out to do.

So, here are just a few things I'm working on this year and throughout my life. I'm excited to get started and to get to work on what I want to do. Maybe I'll even go out for a run when Jame gets home tonight. Untill then, I'll keep everyone updated on my status.

What I Wore Wednesday

So, in an attempt to polish myself and be more professional for my new business, I have decided to follow the example of many of my fellow blogging women and try to get out of the rut of wearing sweatpants or my pajamas all day, every day. So Welcome to What I Wore Wednesday, say that 3 times fast :) Anyway, the purpose of these posts is to show you that I actually do attempt to get dressed in the morning and look cute even if I do spend some days at home all day with the kids and even though I have 3 kids including a newborn that only likes to sleep for 5 hours at a time at night at the most. I have every intention of completing these assignments and hopefully by requiring myself to post pictures of what I wore, I'll be more motivated to loose the rest of my baby weight. So, here's to the beginning of What I Wore Wednesday, may I find the strength and energy to get out of my pajamas everyday :)

I Have A Messy House :)

So, this weekend has just flown by. We went to Billings on Friday and ended up staying the night, just for fun, and then we got home about noon on Saturday. From home we dropped off all of our stuff and then the kids and I went to my aunt and uncle's house to visit my cousin, his wife and their kids. After that, the kids and I went and ran some errands that we need to get done and came home. By the time we got home, I looked at our house in all of it's dissary and threw my hands up in the air. There is stuff EVERYWHERE. I am not a messy person and that kind of environment makes me anxious. Howevere, it was now approaching 7:00 at night and kids needed baths and parents needed showers, so the mess was going to have to remain. And remain it has. This morning I was up at 7:15 with every intention to get some things put away, just so that I felt a little better, but Addy decided that she needed to have mommmy RIGHT THERE all morning long, so nothing got done and we barely all got dressed. We made it to church, 10 minutes late and we went and sat in the 2nd row. Little did I know that Breckin had packed the loud, talking "Ebil Doctor Powkchop" with us. He went off right in the middle of the sacrament prayer and so he was quickly taken away and put out of reach. This created a ruckus that EVERYONE could here because of our proximity to the podeum. Thankfully, Bishop George grabbed Breckin and put him in his lap and settled him down. The rest of sacrament meeting was reasonably cheerful. Afterwards, Breckin's Primary teacher asked me to come to opening exercises with him so that he would feel a little more comfortable. I did and he behaved as he usually does when he has to sit for too long. His class was the last class dismissed, they are also the youngest. Who's idea was that? Anyway, after church we got home, and the house was still a mess. I decided that since I hadn't had time to get lunch in the crockpot before we left, heck, I barely got my shirt on, that we would have waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. Everyone seemed happy about that. After lunch, Addy was still feeling pretty clingy so, I decided we needed to cuddle up and have a nap and relax, so we did. It is now 7:14 on Sunday evening and I have just completed two quizzes and I am now thinking of all of the things that I HAVE to get done this week. Guess what, my house is still a mess! I don't know how long it will stay that way, if only there were more hours in the day. So Lynette-don't come over unannounced anytime soon because I would be so ashamed for you to see my house in the condition that it is in, I know how you think of me as some kind of super cleaner, that's my mom, I just inherited a few of her tendencies. I have finally come to terms with my messy house, I don't like it, but I feel that it can stay that way, at least for tonight, we'll see what happens tomorrow :)

Currently

Reading: Lots and lots of textbook material, yuck, but I do try to fit in the first Hunger Games book so that it's not all work and no play.

Looking forward to: SPRING, it's a getting a little ridiculous with the cold now. I mean really, -17 degrees, there is no reason for that.

Stressing about: Just getting all the classwork done that I have to. It's the good kind of stress, keeps me motivated :)

Craving: Chocolate covered peanuts

Wanting: A clean house again, it was mostly clean yesterday, but somehow it's become a mess again.

Proud of myself for: Gettting a paper written today and getting a headstart on some coursework.

Wearing: Jeans and a Wyoming Cowboys long sleeve shirt. It's my standard weekday uniform, it's comfy and easy to get into in the morning.

Avoiding: Reading some of the textbooks that I need to.

Sick of: The cold! I need to move to a warmer climate :)

Learning: How to make a rag quilt, thanks for taking the time to teach me Tina!

Suffering from: I'm very healthy thanks to the superior immune system that I acquired by working at a daycare. I haven't gotten sick yet this winter (knock on wood and cross my fingers).

Struggling with: Entertaining a my children through the winter days, thank goodness for the Rec Center and the Library

Overcoming: My slight sugar additction. They say the more you live with someone the more you become like them, well I have become more like Jame and I have been craving sugar lately, but I'm going on a month long strike from it, hopefully it all works out and there aren't any fatalities in the process.

Hoping to: Get a nice, big tax return

Excited for: A secret that I can't share with you yet :)No, I'm not pregnant, jeez guys I just had a baby six weeks ago!

Relieved by: Taking the time to relax in the tub

Splurging on: A new crib for Addy and maybe a rocking chair for her too, the kid is spoiled and I'd rather rock her in a chair than stand up with her at 11:00 at night at rock her.

What are you up to currently?

I hope to be able to post at least twice a week, I think that I'm doing pretty good so far considering all of the classwork I have to do too. Thanks for reading :)

Love Day!!!

So, I decided that our family should make this Valentine's Day about the kids and showing them extra love and attention. It's been a little difficult to spread the love around evenly with a new baby and a lack of sleep and patience, so we've set this Valentine's Day aside to make sure that Ashlyn and Breckin have a great day and that they know how much they are loved and how important they are to our family. We're going to start the day off with a little surprise. The kids are going to have two trails of Hershey's kisses leading from each of their rooms to the kitchen where they will find their Valentine's Day surprises, a stuffed kitty and giraffe and some Krabby Patty candies that they love. Then we will have heart shaped pancakes and eggs. The rest of the day will be spent playing games and having fun with the kids. No cleaning or working about chores for me tomorrow :) For dinner we are going to have crab and shrimp because the kids and Jame love crab and shrimp. We'll also have some spaghetti squash with roasted zuchinni and grape tomatoes and some of those special Red Lobster biscuits. We're going to end the day with these cool chocolate chip cookie sandwiches that I found that have marshmallow creme instead of ice cream in the middle, and some fruit dipped in chocolate. The kids have already made a dent in the strawberries that I bought so might have to get more of those. It ought to be a fun day enjoying and loving our family! On Tuesday, Jame has the day off, so Cedar was gracious enough to watch our kids for us while we go get ourselves pampered at a spa. This will be our first time ever getting professional massages, hopefully we don't get too addicted :) Then we were planning to take a little shopping trip to find a small gift for one another. It should be another good day :) I'll post pictures of our adventures later.
Here are some fun love quotes that I found:

"When you are in Love you can't fall asleep because reality is better than your dreams." -Dr Seuss

"To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world."
-Heather Cortez

"Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile."

-Franklin P. Jones

New Addition-Addalyn Grayce Kelley

Hi all! Sorry that it's taken me so long, life has been pretty busy and exciting. We're LOVING it! Jame is enjoying his new job a Cody Labs and they have been really great to our family. I began a new semester of school three days after I gave birth to our new, sweet baby girl: Addalyn Grayce Kelley. Here is the labor story for those of you that enjoy that sort of thing :) I began having consistent contractions at about 6:00 on January 7th and Jame had taken the kids to play at Mugga's house because he knew that I wasn't feeling very well and he wanted be to be able to relax a little bit. My contractions came about every 10 minutes until about 8:00. That's when I called Jame to come back home and keep me company for a little while. He came, without the kids, at about 8:30. At that point my contractions were about every 5 minutes. I wasn't particularly worried, so we hung out at home for a little while. Finally, at around 9:00 I told Jame that we should probably go drop the kids' overnight bag off at the HawkInn and head to Powell. We stayed at the HawkInn until about 9:30, and I enjoyed making Tev nervous. I think that he didn't know whether to feel sorry for me because I was in pain or nervous because I was so quiet about my pain and perhaps I might just deliver right there on the kitchen floor :) We headed to Powell at about 10 and they made me walk around for about an hour. Dr. Bohlman was on call that weekend (even if he hadn't been, I would have called him to come in) and he got the the hospital at around 12:30. Addalyn was born at 12:52 am on January 8th, 2011. It took me a little longer to push her out than it did the other two, but I still didn't push for more than 20 minutes. I remember asking Jame on the way to the hospital why all of our babies had to make their appearance in the middle of the night? Addy is now 3 weeks old and she fits right into our family. There is no mistaking who she belongs to :) Anyway, since I'm now busy with school, 2 children and a newborn I will try to be more diligent in my posts, but I make no promises. My final thought would be how much things have changed since 3 months ago. We have been so blessed and things just continue to look bright. I feel so fortunate to have the life that I do.

Update on The Miracles of the Past Week

Well, it's been a little over a week since the kids and I got back to Cody. I'll admit that the first few days were very hard for me. I really missed my mommy :( and I guess my daddy too. Anyway, when we got home we went straight back to co-existing with Jame's parents. Fortunately, we don't have to much longer. Don't get me wrong we love each other, we just love each other more in seperate dwellings. Last Monday, Jame and I looked at a little house up the Southfork that he had looked at previously and had kind of liked. However, when he took me up there, i found that it was uninhabitable. The set up of the place was weird and the bedrooms were small, it just wasn't a right fit and it didn't feel right. On top of that, as soon as I walked into the man's greenhouse I was greeted by an Oleander tree. The kids know from their experience in California to stay away from them, but I didn't want to take any chances of them not listening and having to go to the doctor. So, we decided not to take that place. The next week I spent calling places and organizing visits to different places. Finally, we have found the perfect place for our family. It reminds me a lot of our apartment that we loved in Laramie. It has 3 bedrooms and a lot of extra space. Most importantly, it's the right price. So that is one miracle that we have recieved. The next came in the form of Jame's job. He LOVES it!!! He really sees a future there and most importantly he's not stressed out and he's happy. He likes the work environment and his co-workers. There is a young couple in our ward that lives below us in this new apartment, and the husband works as a chemist out at Cody Labs. He informed Jame that they are going to begin hiring more chemists in the next few months and that he should put himself in for consideration because he has had many science and chemistry courses. The job in itself is a miracle, but the potential for growth there is an even greater blessing. Finally, the kids and I went to the doctor this week and everyone is healthy. I was a little concerned about the baby because when I was in California I had contracted a urinary tract infection, but all signs of infection are gone and I have a clean bill of health. We are so very grateful for all that we have been given and all of those who have helped and supported us. It means so much to us to say that we have passsed through this trial and are now ready to move on. We have found that as we remain faithful we are given the strength that we need, and although sometimes it is hard to remain faithful, the end result is more than worth it.
Here are a few thoughts on gratitude from those more inspired than myself:
"Gracias, danke, merci whatever language is spoken, 'thank you' frequently expressed will cheer your spirit, broaden your friendships, and lift your lives to a higher pathway as you journey toward perfection. There is a simplicity even a sincerity when 'thank you' is spoken."
--Thomas S. Monson
"This is a wonderful time to be living here on earth. Our opportunities are limitless. While there are some things wrong in the world today, there are many things right, such as teachers who teach, ministers who minister, marriages that make it, parents who sacrifice, and friends who help. "We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues."
--Thomas S. Monson
"The Lord compensates the faithful for every loss. That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in His own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude."
--Joseph B. Wirthlin