Wow. This is a great book. I loved it. If you have just a bit of time each night, you’ll finish this book in a week, yet you won’t be able to stop thinking about it. It’s all about forgiveness, giving a greater insight into the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It really touched my heart. I mean, its pretty much an eye-opening lesson but written through a captivating story, where if you are like me you want the characters to get to that happy ending and you love watching the them discover the steps they need to take, all the while it’s teaching me to do the same thing. Thanks Steph for loaning me such a good book! It’s a must read for all, and definitely a reread throughout my life! I am thankful for the greater understanding I now have of the Savior’s sacrifice and how the Atonement should work in my life. Sometimes I need a read just like this, it makes me look at everything in a new and BETTER light. He truly does give us peace and only through Him can we be forgiven.

Well, I am happy to be back in the saddle, hunting deals! Today I got all this for $10.75 and that’s because $4.69 of it was tax, so really I go it all for $6.06!! Awesome!  I mean diapers, 2 Neutragena sunscreens, 4 body washes, hair products, paper towels, and candy (that we don’t need and will no doubt become gifts) all for just six bucks, woohoo! Thanks to CVS and RiteAid deals, Southernsavers.com, and COUPONING!

I talked with a great friend/hot momma the other night after Bunco and she is couponing her way to Italy! I love it! Since there are less people in her home, she has kept the same food budget but started couponing and ALL the savings go towards a a trip to Italy in 2012! How great is that?! I decided we are couponing to keep our school debt to a minimum… then we will be couponing to PAY OFF the school debt and maybe one day we too will coupon our way to Europe!

I love saving money and hear about others saving money and helping others save money…

PROJECT ONE: TEMPLE

Thus far successfully completed, thanks to my mother and sister and in-laws for babysitting so I could could go and GO WITH MY HUSBAND !!

PROJECT  ONE: ENSIGN

This one is fun because I seem to breeze through the stories and articles and love every bit of it! I love the new layout and new “sections.” However, May became a bit of a challenge because I didn’t get it before I left on vacation and it is the general conference talks (its usually the issue I didn’t get all the way through in previous years), thus I gave myself a new project one, to read ONE talk a day (I’ve been pretty good at doing so).  I’ve really enjoyed reading one talk a day to really think more about what was said at conference, and to read what I didn’t hear while taking care of the kids!

I also have a goal to do my VISITING TEACHING every month this year…

PROJECT ONE: VISITING TEACHING

Sadly I totally missed May, I was out of town/country for 25 days, but still I could have emailed or sent a card… sorry girls, I’m recommitting myself!

After Stake Conference today, I’ve decided to add another project…

PROJECT ONE: SCRIPTURE STUDY

I want to study my scriptures ONCE a day, not just read or breeze through a section, but read, ponder and study. (I’m pretty sure this goal goes back on my new year’s resolutions quite frequently, so thus I resolving once again to do better!)

Now most of my projects appear to be working on improving my spirituality. I guess it’s a big focus for me this year?! However there are a few other projects on the list.

PROJECT ONE: ADVENTURE

I want to have an adventure with the chicklets ONCE a week, sometimes ONCE a DAY if things seem too boring around the house. Thanks to a great price on a family zoo pass, the FREE play areas in the mall, storytime at the library, playdates with friends, my mom helping us get a family pass to the ADVENTURE SCIENCE CENTER, and our inflatable pool…I’ve been doing pretty good with this one!

PROJECT ONE: CRAFT

I also set a goal to craft ONCE a week. This one hasn’t been so good, but I’ve been squeezing in a few projects and I got a list running in my head that I just need to start…

and my other NEW goal to add to the list–

PROJECT ONE: EXERCISE

For a little bit I was trying to do something everyday, but that petered out rather quickly. SO HERE I AM, ready to jump back on the wagon. I’m gonna do it. 20 minutes a day… I can find that kinda time right?

Well, here’s to goals and projects…

Hope this week goes well!

and can I just brag for a minute… he is 2/3 the way done, making pretty much all A’s, class president, often group leader on projects, working on this website, executive secretary at church, a huge help at home for me, a great Dad to his kids, and a wonderful participant in MANY a family outing… I love him. I am SO PROUD!

We are enjoying our time with family right now. Luke really likes his cousins, before we left to visit them yesterday, he said, “we go play cousins. they have lots of cars. play Rusty and Lucy (their dog is Rusty, the other cousins’ dog is Lucy). grandpa come. and grandma come. and you come. and me come. and Natalie come.” “And Daddy?” I asked. “And Daddy come. and me come.” He doesn’t want to leave anyone out.

Natalie has a tendency too climb all over me. If she is sitting on the floor playing and she sees me, she starts grunting and whining, and leapfrogs forward to get me, and cries if she can’t quite reach me.

Everything goes directly to her mouth. She loves to eat. She tries everything. Paper is especially delicious.

Luke loves to play cars. It’s cute to hear him while he is pushing the cars across the floor. “going to walgreens. see ya.” “we’re back. you comin’?” “let’s go to the playground. I shoot bas-kick-a-ball (I think that’s how it comes out).”

Luke likes to tease me and call me “mamie,” just so I will chase him and tell him not to call me that.

While Luke doesn’t like when Natalie has mommy’s attention, he sure does love his sister. He likes to take her on walks by pushing her in the stroller. He likes to make her laugh, or least smile, and he gets upset/confused when she doesn’t laugh at he is doing. He likes to feed her. He makes sure she doesn’t play with the wrong toys… “No Nat, you can’t have that. You’re too little. It’s a big toy, you’re too little.” (then he proceeds to play with it, after all he is big!) He often helps throw her diapers away, or get her pacifier for her. I think he likes being a big brother, as long as mommy still holds him too!

Luke hates swings. Verified at the park 2 days ago. Natalie loves them.

They both LOVE being buckled up in the car… NOT!

Natalie still has those long bangs in front (just enough to hold a bow) so I can’t seem to part with them…will she look back at her baby pictures and say, “Mom, why didn’t you just trim those?!”

Natalie naps twice a day. Luke maybe once, every few days.

Luke is all about sharing. When he gets into something he is not supposed to, he looks up with those big bright eyes and asks, “Want some?” If I have a treat/cookie/something yummy, he asks, “Whatcha eating Mommy? What do you got? I want some.”

Tantrums come quite often, but if I stick to it, eventually Luke realizes he has to obey Mommy. And he is much quicker at forgetting about the incident than me. I love that. He can be happy two seconds after crying those big crocodile tears.

I love his chubby feet. I love Natalie’s long slender ones.

I don’t love how she smacks me in the face quite often when I’m holding her, but I know she is just trying to see what’s going on all around her and she forgets my head might be in the way.

I love the smile on Natalie’s face when I come to get her from her nap.

I laugh when I call Natalie a nickname like Lil’ Li-li and Luke says, “No Mommy, not Li-li, NATALIE.” But he doesn’t seem to mind if I call him Nug, Nugget, and Buddy.

“Just a minute” …a horrible phrase to a two year old. “Not just a minute Mommy, now. NOW. please?!”

I can’t help but smile when he says thank you all on his own accord. Or “you’re the best.” I got that one today while sharing my sandwich with him at lunch. “you’re the best Mommy.”

“You’re the best too, Luke.” and Nat, you’re the best too. I wouldn’t leave you out for anything!

Friday we went to the zoo with Marissa, Christina and Wes. Luke loved having so many people to carry him, lift him up and run around the playground with him! Thanks Christina for running him up and down the nets, he loved it. He was quite a trooper, especially since he should have taken a nap before we went, but I didn’t lay him down. (He slept for almost 3 hours when we got back though!)

Of course, Christina and Wes had to monkey around a bit. Marissa and Christina haven’t been to the zoo since they were little, so the playground had definitely shrunk …right Christina?! Someone wrote that message on the rock, so I had to put Luke beside it and take a picture… it was NOT us though, that’s disgusting!

After that long nap, we headed to La Vergne just in time to miss all the mulching, sorry Dad! Grandma, Marissa, Luke and I went to the Smyrna park to get corndogs and check out all the fun activities before the fireworks. There were lots to do, but not much for little tikes… he did love the bounce slide though! and he got a free “risbee” …Luke can’t quite say the “f” sound yet. So he played with his “risbee” with Boppa and we popped pop-its until the “sireworks” started …which he most definitely loved! We actually couldn’t see much of the show from the house because of the trees, so we went in after about 20 minutes and watched a movie.

Saturday we went to the Smyrna pool, where he dug in the sand volleyball court and found a ping pong ball, a dime and a penny! He enjoyed dumping water out of the kiddy pool. When he took him over to the big pool he happily sat on the top step for forever! Finally he got brave and started “jumping” off the step (with someone holding his hands) and kicking in the water. He was too cute. He wore his sunglasses the whole time!

Saturday night, the neighbors had fish fry/BBQ that we went to for a bit. Then we headed back to the house to watch more “sireworks”. (It’s all he could talk about and still talks about!) Several neighbors all around us shot off lots of great fireworks, so we had quite a good show. About 9:00 it started to rain, and then the power went out. So I figured Luke should go to bed, and Mom, Dad, Marissa and I had a wind your flashlight party on the patio while listening to Dad’s choice on Pandora. I gave up around 10:30 or so though and headed to bed!

Sunday we went to church in Smyrna. Nathan, Karie, Aden and Alex came too. Luke was so irreverent because he was so excited to see his cousins. As you can see we played all afternoon at Boppa and Grandma’s, eating delicious pork roast, cupcakes and homemade ice cream …it wore Boppa and Luke out! Can you tell he is a grandpa’s boy?! We stayed Sunday night, and Luke was able to play with Uncle Dustin all morning today… he loves Dustin and his “cycle” (pronounced “kykle”). So he was tuckered out and slept for almost 3 hours when we got home. Of course when he woke up he asked, “go to Boppa’s house?” He definitely had a good time!