comparing baby pics

Its that time again. We have welcomed a new member to the family and we are thrilled! However I feel like as the mother of these children, I am losing out. Yet again, another child that does not look much like me. However, as Rylee has gotten older she looks more like her mommy so maybe Jaxson will do the same. Its probably a good thing that my husband is so attractive because that means that since our kids look so much like him, they will be attractive too! If you are wondering why I havent posted any pictures of myself as a baby to compare its because my mother has somehow "lost" my baby pictures. She says "lost" and I say "never taken" but either way the earliest pictures she has of me are from when I am like 4-5 months old. I know, kinda sad. LOL! So here are newborn pics of Justin, Rylee, and Jaxson. The pics are mixed up. At first I didnt think that Jaxson and Rylee looked too much alike however after loading the pics side by side, I would say they could be twins!
 

Mothers day!

So today was mothers day. I must say, I am so grateful to be a mother. I am also grateful that I had a wonderful mother who taught me how to be a wonderful mother, even if sometimes I only qualify under the decent category. This Mothers Day, Rylee and Justin took me to the Salon to get my hair cut and colored. This may seem like an insignificant gift to some but to me it meant everything! I am sure that I am not the only person with this issue, but I have always been one to care what other people think about me and one to care about how I look. If I feel pretty, I have more confidence which makes me a happier person. When I am pregnant, I have a hard time feeling pretty. I think pregnancy is a beautiful thing, however I do not feel like it makes me look beautiful. I have been wanting to get my hair done for a while but have a hard time dropping that much money on myself to do it. However my dear husband who knows me all to well, decided that I did not have an choice in the matter and forced me to do it. Thank you Justin and Rylee, I LOVE IT! I already feel so much better about myself. Its amazing what a new cut and color can do for you! Also, my dear sweet husband took Rylee during Relief Society so that I could actually pay attention! Again, another small and seemingly insignificant gift that meant so much to me! It has been a long time since I have been able to hear a lesson from start to finish and until today I didnt even realize how much I missed it! I was able to come home from church and take a nap and after that we went over to Josh and Jamie's for a big taco dinner. After dinner we played a game with them and came home. AND MY FAVORITE gift of the day was when Justin willingly changed a poopy diaper! Oh the little things that make this day so special! Here is the picture that I had Justin take of me and Rylee for mothers day, I definitely dont take enough pictures of me and her together. I just LOVE being this little girls mommy! So blessed!

The Update

So clearly I am a little behind on this thing so I will briefly cover the things that have happened in the last 5 months. In December we celebrated Rylee's first Christmas which was awesome. She had no idea what was going on but it was certainly fun for me to decorate and try to make it as special as possible! In January we found out that we would be expecting our 2nd child! My due date is September 12th and we couldnt be more excited/scared/happy/nervous and pretty much all of the above! Its amazing how after one pregnancy you forget how much you hated being pregnant so easily that you decide to do it again. However this pregnancy has been pretty easy. I only got a little nauseous during the first trimester and have been fine ever since. I also have not gotten as big wit this pregnancy so I feel a little better about myself. While I am grateful that my body has excepted this pregnancy and that I have the ability to become pregnant, lets face it, there really isnt anything "fun" about being pregnant. Also in December/January Rylee started walking. She would walk short distances in December and by January she was a professional! In February we celebrated Rylee's first birthday which was great. She actually got 3 different birthday parties, one in Oakland at the park, one with her grandma and grandpa Schmidt, and one with the Harris side of the family! Lucky girl! In March we headed home from Oakland (FINALLY) but our home stay was short lived and within a week and a half we were on the road again to Dallas. Dallas has been awesome.
We love it here in Dallas and could honestly see ourselves moving here someday....maybe. But that is a big maybe and its WAY down the road. Dallas has been so much fun. We go play sand volley ball every Monday and Friday with the rest of the crew and we pretty much hang out/go out together all the time! The the VERY end of April they finally opened the pool and we pretty much spend time out there every day. Thankfully Rylee has great skin for the sun, she has no problem with burning and has basically the kind of dark complexion that will one day make the other girls jealous! Rylee has adapted well to all of the changes and I am pretty sure she was as grateful as I was to leave Oakland! When we got to Dallas I decided to give potty training a try and Rylee has done amazing with it! I cant say that I am technically potty training her but I do stick her on the toilet a few times a day and she always goes for me. As a matter of fact, she has gotten to the point where every time I put her on there she goes immediately and we go about our business. Now she just needs a mom who will dedicate a few day to making this potty training thing official. I think she is ready, but I am not sure if I am ready for it! Also while here in Dallas we have been able to spend time with my cousin Keith and his wife Laura. They have a 4 yr old daughter and a son that is Rylee's age. The kids play really well together and it has been nice having family here! While here in Dallas we have also learned that we will be having a baby boy! This is such exciting news to me. I will admit, I was kind of hoping for another girl for Rylee to play with (and because I already have so many girl things) but when I found out it was a boy I was thrilled! I feel like I am living the worlds dream of having one of each, however the typical world would probably stop having kids after having one of each but not this crazy mommy! I am sure there will be plenty more after this one even though I dislike pregnancy so much! I think thats all the important stuff that has happened and if I did leave out something important, then I will just blame it on this pregnancy brain stuff and will post about it later. We are heading back home to Missouri and should be there for about 1 1/2 months before we leave again. While I am sad to be leaving Dallas, I cant hardly wait to get back to our HOME!!!! I will have an appreciation for the things that I typically complain about, like laundry and cleaning just because I will be cleaning MY HOUSE and washing clothes in MY washer and dryer (for free) and I will be sleeping in MY very comfortable bed! Let's not forget the best part, we will be home so that Rylee can see her grandparents and they can see her! I hate taking her away from them and them away from her. Cant wait!

Time in Oakland

So as your know, we are currently living in Oakland. Oakland has been interesting to say the least! In the short time we have been here, we have had some crazy and some great experiences. This has definitely been the hardest place for me to live thus far. Oakland really isn't that friendly of a place and somewhat scary at times. Here is a short recap of our experiences so far. On black Friday there was man shot in the Walmart parking lot that I was shopping at (I actually saw his body laying on the ground), a random lady walked up to us and gave us a $100 bill for Christmas, and I left my purse on the floor of McDonald's (which had the $100 from the lady). However, even though there have been some crazy things, I am still very thankful to be here. Minus the shooting, the other two events that happened were good. The lady that gave us the money taught me and awesome lesson (see previous post) and the fact that my purse was in tact and everything was still there after carelessly leaving on the floor of McDonald's has restored my trust in humanity. It has also given me the assurance that not EVERYONE in Oakland is bad and scary.

I have decided that I need to have a better attitude about this place. So here are so positives of being here. #1 its warm! I hate the cold weather and this job is basically going to insure that we completely miss the Missouri winter. Who can complain about that? #2 My husband is working and making money to provide for our family (this should probably be #1). I am so grateful that he is such a hard worker and even though I dont get to see him near as much as I would like because he works long hours, I am so grateful that he has a job and that it pays well enough for me to be a stay at home mom to raise Rylee. #3 I am SO grateful that we are able to travel with Justin. I cant imagine what life would be like if he had to leave us for months at a time to work so the fact that we are able to travel with him is a blessing. #4 I am consider the other wives that we travel with to be my good friends. I enjoy their company and their children! I love watching the kids play while us women get our girl talk time. #5 there are some great places to shop here. Never thought I would say this, but I am OBSESSED with the $1 store. Who would have thought???? But there are tons of shopping places which keep me entertained during the day (however thats not always a good thing). #6 there are parks and walking trails that I actually feel safe going to around here! #7 there is a gym for me to work out! I dont have an excuse to not work out anymore so guess what...I am doing it! #8 We have a temple that is less then a 20 minute drive (its only like 10 miles away but takes longer to get there). #9 Did I mention the weather? :) Seriously I LOVE the weather. I hate the snow and cold and I am not sad to not have it! #10 No matter where I go, I still have the most important things to me. I have my family, the Gospel, and facebook...(ha ha). But in all honesty, I am grateful for facebook and my blog because I can use it to keep in touch with my family back at home. I am able to post pictures of Rylee and tell about all of our exciting adventures.
I will post some pictures of our time here so far!

Why don't I do this more often???

Tonight really got me thinking...how come I dont work out more often? Why is it so hard for me to get dressed and just do it? I was thinking about all of the benefits to working out, and guess what, there are tons! So I decided to write them down that way when a day comes that I dont feel like doing it, I can read this and hopefully it will inspire me. So here is my future motivation...hopefully!

Reasons I love to work out:
1. It's healthy, plain and simple.
2. Once I start doing it, I actually enjoy it
3. I feel good after I do it. Not only do I feel a sense of pride, I also feel a sense of accomplishment.
4. It gives me bragging rights, I feel like a "cooler" person when I can say "yeah, I work out" (I know that one is kinda silly but hey, this is for me...right??) :)
5. It gives me a chance to burn off some stress. Even though my life isn't full of stress, I am still human and trust me, I am a much happier person when I am not stressed out.
6. It's one thing that I can do that I do just for me. It's not a mommy thing, or a wife thing, its a me thing.
7. My body looks a lot better which means I have more confidence in the way I look.
8. Because I have more confidence, I am more likely to get dressed up and put on makeup and try to look nice for my husband.
9. I have more energy
10. When I am actually working out, I don't get down on myself because I am not, not working out...if that makes sense! When I am not working out I get a lower self esteem because I know it's something that I should be doing and it is a heavy weight on my shoulders.
11. I tend to pay better attention to what and how much I am eating because I know whatever I eat, I have to burn off in the gym. Its takes me about an hour to burn about 400 calories. It takes me about 30 seconds to eat 400 calories, I definitely pay more attention!
12. My husband finds me more attractive. I know my husband will love me no matter what but he isn't blind. I want him to love me AND be attracted to me.
13. Let's face, I married a skinny guy who happens to be a bottomless pit. However, he is skinny none the less. I DO NOT want to be that fat girl with the skinny husband.
14. I married into a skinny family. No matter what I do I will always be bigger than my inlaws, I am just built bigger. However, I have control over how much bigger I will be!
15. I love compliments. I love people to tell me I am pretty or that I look great or whatever. I especially love it when people notice a change in me and it motivates me when someone notices that I have lost weight.
16. I am less lazy and more productive
17. I am just a happier person all around. When I am happy, my family is happy. This stems from the confidence thing and it affects every aspect of my life. If I set goals with my workouts it motivates me to set goals with other things in my life. It seems like when I start getting into a habit of working out, I also get into a habit of reading my scriptures and saying my prayers. I know that sounds weird but for me, the two things are connected somehow.

I know there are many many more benefits to it. I hope that this post will help me when I start slacking again. I know that time will come when I get tired of it, or burnt out but hopefully this will help me remember why I really do love doing it!

Christmas Ornaments

Rylee's First Christmas

Justin's Ornament

Family Ornament

Family

Another Family

The ornament I made for Justin

All of the ornaments (minus one)

The year before last, I went to a Christmas party and they made these ornaments. They are cheap, simple, and fun to make! Today I invited the kids over to make them with me and we had tons of fun! I didn't pictures of the ones that the kids made, but I did take pictures of the ones that I made (and the ONE that I convinced Justin to make.) Here is how you make them:
You buy clear small plastic cups (I bought the Great Value Brand 5 oz. cups). You color them with permanent markers however you want. Then you put them on a cookie sheet (I put a piece of foil down just to protect my cookie sheet) and put them in the oven at 300 degrees. They are only in the oven for about 1 1/2 minutes or less. Watch them because they melt fast and if they melt too much then they curl up. Let them cool for a few minutes and then take a hot glue gun and melt a hole in the top and stick a ribbon through. Simple as that and this is the final result...so fun!

The only words that come to mind are Thank You!

So today I had probably one of the most humbling experiences ever. I can hardly come up with the words to explain what this means to me, but I will try. This is definitely an experience I hope I will NEVER forget.

Tonight Justin, Rylee, and I took a trip to Walmart. This was just a normal food trip to the store. We were walking up and down each isle trying to remember what was on my list (I have a bad tendency to make a list and then forget it when we leave). Walking down one of the isles we passed a lady. I politely gave her a little smile as we passed her and apparently Justin did the same. Neither of us thought anything about it until we started down the next isle and I get a gentle tap on my shoulder. I noticed it was the lady from the isle before my first thought was "oh crap, did we do something to offend her?" So she proceeds to say this "I do not have any grandchildren near and I couldn't help but notice your beautiful daughter and I want you to have this. Please make sure to get her something nice with it." I was totally confused and looked at Justin and he had the same confused look on his face. I said to her "Thank you but I can't"....she cut me off and said "yes you can" as she slipped the $100 bill in my hand. I looked at her with tears rolling down my face and said "Thank you so much, can I at least give you a hug?" She said of course and we hugged. She walked away and I was just standing there frozen with tears running down my face. How could a woman who doesn't even know us be so kind towards us?

My Thoughts: This woman has taught me such a valuable lesson, whether its money or whatever, we should always be willing to help our neighbors. This woman didnt know me, she didn't know Justin, she has no clue if we will actually use that money to buy Rylee something nice but that didn't stop her from giving it to us. I will never get the chance to repay her or send her a thank your note, I probably wont ever see this woman again, but she has inspired me. The thoughts keep storming through my head "why us?" There were so many other people there with children, why did she pick us? Then it hit me, she was prompted by the spirit to be give us that money and she followed those promptings. Maybe its not for the money aspect of it (although that helps) but maybe it was to soften my heart. Now I feel it is my responsibility to pass on that random act of kindness. Her generosity towards me and my family makes me want to share that same generosity with someone else. Just think, if I pass on this act of kindness to someone, then they pass it on to someone else and so forth, how many lives will be affected by this one woman? The $100 is awesome, but the lesson she taught me of kindness and the pure love of Christ is way more valuable and for that I am forever grateful to this woman...whoever she is!