Swelling with Pride!!

Last Friday I went to Court's swim meet. I can't even explain to you the amount of pride I had. My eyes filled up with tears when she touched the wall. Of course I didn't let her see me cry (I would have embarrassed her). My baby is growing up. Unlike the little girl that would have ran into my arms and jumped up and down with me. She walked over to her friends and asked how she did. When did her friends approval become more important than mine.

In this months General Conferences, Elder M. Russell Ballard touches on relationships between mothers and daughters. He states "Young women, your mothers adore you. They see in you the promise of future generations. Everything you accomplish, every challenge you overcome brings them pure joy. And likewise your worries and heartaches are their worries and heartaches."

After watching this talk I got to thinking about the example I set for her. I couldn't help but wonder if I set the kind of example that I want her to emulate. Court puts in a lot of hard work. She up at 5:00 am for seminary and doesn't come home until 5:30. She does all her homework, spends time with the sister and brothers and goes to church every Wednesday night. I'm not saying she's a good girl because of me. What I'm saying is she makes me want to work harder because if she turned out this way with all the mistakes I've made, just think about the kind of women she could be if I got a few more things right.

Help for Steven!!!

I'm so frustrated with my dog. I found Steven on our front door about 6 months ago and 5 out of the 6 months Steven has worn an E-collar. Steven has a sore on his front leg. It started out as a minor wound but Steven licked it so much it's now a hole.

Well, because he wouldn't leave his sore alone he had to wear a cone. After 8 broken cones (I should have bought stock in Petco) we invested in a neck brace. It only took us an hour to realize that wasn't going to work. So at last he is stuck with both.

We have taken Steven to the Vet five times. That's at least one visit a month. We have tried staples, shots, medicine and now cauterizing. The only thing left to do is take off the leg. Which the Vet has said isn't a problem (I don't think the Vet understood I was joking).

I'm writing this blog to vent my frustration. I'm tired of getting hit by the cone and I am tired of him running into the kids. I'm so angry at my Vet bill. I really don't like the smell. But I think the most frustrating part is I feel so bad for Steven. What must he think. He comes into a new home and we put all these torture devices on him. If anyone has any other ideas I would love to hear them.

Temple Trip

This last Saturday John and I finally made it back to the Temple. Not without a few hiccups. We were all scheduled to leave at 7:30 am (of course I choose the time). All week I was trying to get John prepared to wake up. I kept reminding him over and over again about how important this trip was and how we really needed to leave at 7:00 (I always tell John 30 minutes early so we can be on time).

Friday night I had decided to take all Elijah's stuff over to John's parents house. I thought one less thing to worry about in the morning. As we were driving over there John noticed my gas light was on. I told him on our way back home we would stop for gas (I had planed this too). Than he asked me about my oil and tires..... All time stopped. I had forgotten to change my oil and tires. I couldn't believe it! All week I had planned for this trip and my tires were bald and oil was 500 miles over. Of course John was not happy.

With the help of Wal-Mart and some very understanding friends we left for the temple around 9:00. The whole two hours there John had never talked about my neglect, however I knew it was on his mind. As we started walking up to the temple everything from that morning just washed away. John was no longer upset. Our friends, we went with, were joking. It felt wonderful. That wonderful feeling carried with us through the temple. It was such a joy to be at the Temple. On the way home I told the girls sitting in the temple was like buying a new car. I hope and pray one day my girls knew this feeling.

After nearly losing an eye they're done!

Well it's 10:45 pm, and the house is quiet. Why is a mom the first to wake up and the last to go to sleep? It seems like this is the only time I have to myself. I just finished my glass blocks for Christmas. As I was drilling the hole out of the back, for the lights, a piece of glass flew in my eye. Of course John told me not to drill the hole. To make a long story short, I panicked and level headed John came to the rescue. I rinsed out my eye and everything was fine. However, the whole experience got me to thinking about something John said yesterday "Women think with their emotions and Guys think with their heads." Boy oh boy, I hate that he's right about this.