Sawyer

 Sawyer has been in such a cute stage lately. I'm dying over it. I mean, he is 3, so he still has tantrums and throws toys and gets mad at everyone. He has gone through this long spitting stage that's been driving Daniel crazy. He spits in people's faces and over things all the time. But despite that, he is such a little cutie.

A few weeks ago, I decided is was time to march into potty training. He's almost 4 years old, and even though he never asked to go in the toilet, I felt like he was way past ready. We got started, and the first few days to a week were rough. We had many accidents and he ran out of pants and underwear frequently. There were a few days when he had to just go around naked on the bottom because we had no clean clothes for him. And a couple of times he wore Jack's underwear. There were 2 days in particular when he had poop accidents repeatedly, and I was very frustrated. Poor kid. I got after him a few times during those days, and he said to me, "you're mean, mommy!" Fortunately, it was short-lived. He got the hang of it after that first week, and it's been smooth sailing since then. He was pretty fast with learning! And even now, he wipes himself and never asks for help. He still announces to me that he has to go, which I think is funny. And I just say, "Okay! Go ahead and go potty!" And he just goes on his own. He also has this fascination with flushing and making sure to wash his hands afterwards, which I find cute, and hope that he just gets into the habit as a really young kid and it sticks. The other kids took a while to get the flushing and washing thing down, and one of them is still in the process of learning it. 😂 Overall, he's done really well. And he's pretty much all trained. He hasn't had any accidents to my knowledge the last couple of weeks. 

Here are some cute Sawyer-isms from recent weeks: 

• One day, he wanted to come into our room and be with us in the morning after getting out of bed, and also wanting his Valentine's candy, which he had to eat downstairs. I told him to go eat downstairs, and to take his toys with him out of my room. As he was walking out, he said, "But I love you guys!" He wanted to come back up and be with us. 🥰
• I sang in church with a group one Sunday a few weeks ago. After I came down from the stand, he came up to me and said, "Mom, you make me so proud for you!"
• Taylor was at our house one day playing, and I overheard him say, " Taaaaaylor... you're so CUUTE."
• When I came back from Texas, I gave the kids the gifts I had brought them. I got both the boys little longhorn stuffed animals. The day I gave them Sawyer just couldn't stop talking about it. "Mommy, thank you for my Texas cow!!" "My Texas cow is so cute!" "Mommy, I love my Texas cow." He has been so cute about it. He's been carrying it around and loving it and playing with it and taking it places. He called it Denny Roads at first. I wonder if that name will stick, haha. 😂
• I was sitting in Sunday school a couple Sundays ago, when both Kimberly Davis and Sarah Frei (who were both in primary at the time) texted me basically the same thing: "Jovani: Sawyer, what makes you happy? Sawyer: My mommy's love 😭" (Sarah said that Sawyer said, "My mommy loves me.") And my heart just exploded. What a sweet, tender-hearted little boy! I didn't even think he was aware of my love for him, really. But he's obviously been feeling it and thinking about it. And it makes him happy. 🥰😭 I resolved, sitting there in Sunday school, to be an even better mom to my kids. I want all of them to KNOW I love them, and to be able to FEEL it, too. And I hope that it's the kind of love that helps them and changes them. 

Brooke laid down on the ground one evening, just wanting to rest, I guess, and Sawyer wanted to do the same, just like his big sister. 😆🥰

Service and Spiritual Thoughts

 We made heart sugar cookies for our neighbors for Valentine's Day. Well, technically we've done our Valentine's deliveries in batches. The first one was like the day after Valentine's Day. And the girls did another set of deliveries while I was in Texas. That day, when I was home, Gramma oversaw their cookie efforts. I got a text from a girl in our ward, Kourtney, who is in Brooke's young women's class, that I shared with the girls, to help them understand how even small acts of service can help people. This is what she wrote: "This is Kourtney I just wanted to let you know that those cookies were so good and that I really appreciate you doing that for us and I really needed it I had a really bad day at school so thank you for bringing a little bit more of hope in my day 😁"

Also while on my trip, Schpuck texted and asked us for some insights for a talk she was writing. I loved all the things that were shared and wanted to save them:

Schpuck: I'm speaking on Sunday, so help me out. How do you think adversity has helped you become a better disciple?

Julie: Adversity had helped me to see so much more clearly why God's plan is better.  When we follow His plan, bad things still happen, but life is definitely easier and better as a whole when we keep the commandments.  It's very clear which choice brings freedom and more happiness & which always, eventually, if not immediately, causes misery & bondage of some sort

DeAnna: it has helped me have more empathy and compassion for others and it's helped me have greater trust in Christ. 

Sarah: it gives you perspective -- eternal perspective and also gives you a view of Christ's love for you, how strong and all encompassing it is, no matter what you are going through. 

Julie: And because there will always be hard things in life either way, if you follow God's plan you'll will have less suffering than if you follow Satan because Satan's choices always bring misery.  The bad things that happen if you follow Christ are natural struggles, rather than those of your own making.  If that makes sense

Me: it forces me to rely on God and Christ's power more. It forces me to trust that He has a greater plan for me. It helps me to remember that my goal is to become more like Him.

Mom: Oh, my darling girls. These are all beautiful,  faithful & true comments. How deeply grateful I am that you have such strong faith. It's all I've ever wanted for my children. Adversity is a natural part of the plan. God does not personalize our trials he allows his plan to work. Some people sin, some die, illness, accidents, carelessness, problem,etc. There is a purpose to trials. It's to prove us. Will we choose God & Jesus Christ or will we choose the world. (Because we get mad at God & blame him for everything when things don't go our way.) Choosing the world is everything that is not Choosing to follow God's plan. You will have faith. But where will you put that faith.  2 choices.  God & Jesus Christ or the teaching of the world  (satan). Those are the only 2 choices. & the cunning thing is that if you choose the world you don't even realize that you're choosing Satan. Trials give us experience. How else can we get strong? How else can we grow & learn? For me, trials turn me towards God. I run to Him, I  plead with Him & I receive guidance & direction from Him. I am comforted. My trials have bound me to God. The gospel anchors me & my faith sustains me.

After Denver

 We took the girls ice skating one night, and then I took Brooke to get a temple recommend interview with the Bishop. 

Daniel, Dad Holbrook and I went with Brooke on her very first trip to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. It was so special to be in the temple with my little girl and to help her through that first experience. It's a pretty awesome part of her growing up. 

The girls had a piano recital at the end of January, and they both did so well. I was very proud of them. 

I took my kids to the zoo on the last day of January with Sammy and her kids. They were having a discount that day, and it was a much needed break from normal school. The kids loved walking around and looking at the animals. They were all kind of sad that the elephants weren't there, because of winter. But they loved seeing the lions and gorillas, and the seals and polar bear were so fun to watch. 

For girls club, the girls have been working on putting together some quilts for this charity organization that donates the quilts to refugees and others in need. I think it's been a great experience for them, not only for the sewing skills they're learning and building, but also for the service they are doing. The other moms in the group went to the charity location and picked up quilt packets. People donate fabric to them and they put together cut squares and backing fabric, and we just have to put the quilts together. I've been involved with helping the girls do that, so I have gone to a bunch of the girls club meetings lately. 

Camille came on an errands date with me one Saturday because she needed new shoes. We had fun trying on a bunch of different fun shoes before walking out with our selections. I walked out with new shoes as well. Haha! 

Daniel and the girls put on a fancy dinner date at home one Saturday night. They planned and carried everything out. I was banned from downstairs for about an hour before the date. Daniel and the girls made Hawaiian haystacks for dinner and put Sawyer to bed before I came down. Daniel and I dressed up, and the girls acted as our servers at a fancy restaurant. It was adorable. 

Brooke has had a semi-regular babysitting job with the Smiths babysitting Wade. She loves it and has also loved making a bit of money. 

I started potty training Sawyer the first week of February. It was past time and also seemed the best week for it, before other things happened. That first week was shaky... he had many potty accidents the first day or 2, and once he started getting better there, he started having many poop accidents every day. There were a handful of days when we ran out of clean underwear and pants, and so he had to go naked on the bottom. He really hated that. He's not the kind of kid that likes to run around naked, and he always complained about not having underwear or pants. I think that more than anything helped him progress. He stopped having accidents after about a week, and he's been good ever since. He even goes so far as to flush and wash his hands afterwards. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

The week after I was sustained in church,  I had meetings with Hannah Kimball and the stake RS president. They helped answer my questions and get a sense for what I was doing, which I was very grateful for. 

Girls Club did a fun Valentine's party the week before Valentine's Day. We went to the church building, where the kids ate festive food and made Valentine's cards to take to the senior center and played bingo and exchanged their own valentines. It was very cute and fun, and I am so grateful to the other moms who put it on.

The next week for girls club, on Valentine's Day, they delivered the cards to the people at the nursing home. I wasn't able to accompany them that day, but I think it was a really valuable experience for them, and they came back having said it was cool and that they really liked the people that they were visiting. Also, sister Norris took them out for ice cream afterwards. 

Daniel took me out on a date to recreate our engagement date on the anniversary that we got engaged. Brooke and Camille were in on the surprise, and Brooke babysat. We went to simply Thai for dinner, ice skating in Salt Lake city and then for a walk around Memory Grove. It was such a sweet date, and fun to reminisce.

Brooke has been doing a lot of babysitting for us lately, now that she is old enough. And we wanted to thank and reward her for that. So we planned a movie night for her. She invited a few of her friends to come over to watch "Adventures in Babysitting" and have movie snacks. She loved it and had a great time. 

I took the kids to the butterfly museum on Valentine'sDay. It had been a long while since we had been to anything Thanksgiving Point. And we had fun! Afterwards, I picked Daniel up for our Valentine's Day date, a lunch date. 

That night, we had a tea party for our family Valentine's dinner. The girls helped me make some of the food and put the whole thing together. 

Scott and Melanie moved to Utah a few weeks ago. And then mom decided to come for a spontaneous visit after Valentine's Day. We got together with them and Melanie's family for Scott's birthday. We ate and played games together at Denise's house, and it was fun! I even got to meet and snuggle my new nephew, Alden. 🥰

Baby shower for Hailey Shoemaker, and dinner with the family at our house. 

I had a doctors appointment to see to the issue about my abdomen hurting in the middle of the night. Shortly thereafter, and after some labs came back normal, I had an ultrasound, which showed that I have a small gallstone. I'm grumpy about it. But at least it's not cancer. 😆🥴 And it doesn't affect my every day life. Just hurts/ uncomfortable at night. 

We had dinner with the Christensens one Sunday. And after we put kids to bed, we went back to hang out in the hot tub. 

Daniel redid our main floor bathroom (after we had a flooding issue that damaged parts of the walls several months ago), and it looks so amazing! 

Mom and I went to a library event with the author of the Emma M Lion books, which we love. It was very fun and the author is delightful. 

Whew! It was a packed month! So many great and fun things happening! And I didn't even talk about school stuff! 

Daniel's List

Recently, Daniel started sending me reasons he loves me. Every day, he sends me one new reason. It's very cute. Here's his list: 

1. You are dedicated to teaching our children in all aspects of their lives
2. You study the gospel
3. You silly dance
4. You like to read 
5. You like being a mom
   

He adds more to our little frame in our bathroom, but I haven't been good about writing those down. 😆