arpon winner is.....

ANDREA MOORE! I would say for this cute girl to e mail me but since you live a rock throw away I will be hand delivering this baby! Thanks for everyone who participated!

Apron Giveaway!!!!

I made this for YOU, yes YOU and I am OPTIMISTIC that you will win it. You should be optimistic too. Since this blog is dedicated to turning myself into an optimistic wife and mother to two I made something for YOU. . . (scroll down on how to win) so fun, this apron has three pockets on the front to keep all your goodies...

1.I am doing a monthly give away, become a follower of my blog and you will instantly be entered into each drawing for one opportunity to win each give away every month!!! already a follower? You are already entered.

2.Leave a comment for an entry to win.

3.Place a post on your blog about my give away with the link and you will be rewarded 5 entries

4. Add my button to your blog for 5 entries.

This give away will end Friday night at 9pm!

one more suprise......

If you want a chance to win another one of my aprons go to jenny and my cooking blog by clicking HERE!

Help me sew....

Like I mentioned in my last post about my sister.....she will most likely be having a micro preemie here in the next couple weeks. As soon as I found out about this and she was admitted into the hospital I instantly felt a huge desire to serve her. I had a rush of ideas come to my mind and I became really excited to help.....

One thing I felt I was prompted to do was make a quilt for her new baby. I was not able to find time during the week until Thursday night and I was going to see her Friday. Thursday night I went and purchased some fabric and came home and got started after putting the kids to bed...Mr. husband put on a movie and I worked away. I did not think I would finish it but felt prompted to be OPTIMISTIC and trust in HIM. I started working on it and finished it so quickly I could not believe it. I really felt like I was helped all along the way. This project of service taught me that if He prompts you to do something He will give you the ability to accomplish whatever it is He desires for you to do, I learned I just need to be willing and be an instrument in His hands. It was not me making this quilt I felt, It was Him giving me the talent and desire to serve one of His children. I just wanted to document it because It was a learning experience for me and gave me a greater desire to serve more:)

p.s. join me here monday for another apron give away:)

Let's shop.....

(Elizabeth checking Reeds diaper for poop....they really do watch and learn from us)

My sweet sister is in the hospital, 26 weeks pregnant and her cervix is thinning..... her dr. thinks she will deliver before she hits 28 weeks. I wanted to help by getting her some preemie clothes since her little guy is obviously going to be tiny. There is a lot of stress and concerns that are in the air right now and they won't know much until the baby is born and they will go from there. My sister is hanging in there and staying positive and being such a good mom to this baby already by obeying her doctors every command.....

So I really wanted to get her some preemie clothes but the store I wanted to go to is about 25 minutes away. I didn't want to take both my kids and deal with all the driving and shopping in the mall and any tantrums that would take place.... I debated about staying home or going. I thought it was going to be so much work to do this errand and I figured I could go some other time.....

We went today, Elizabeth, Reed and I and guess what....we had a wonderful time. The kids were good, Reed fell asleep and Elizabeth and I had lunch just the two of us. I found great deals like church shirts for reed for $4. And I enjoyed my kids and being out of the house. I wonder how many things I miss out on just by thinking the worst will happen. I need to quit that and just go for it like today because we really had a beautiful time!

My kids.....

I always knew this was when I would be my happiest. Growing up this is what I would picture as perfection, my husband and my little children running around. Although it is filled with its hard times, in my eyes there is nothing more wonderful then these days as a mother and I will take all the hard times to enjoy the perfect times. . . .

Elizabeth is almost 2 1/2 years. She loves when she gets to play mom and loves pushing her baby brother in her doll stroller around the backyard. She loves anything princess and snow white and Ariel are her favorites and then comes Tinkerbell. Everything pink she assumes is hers, when she wears a dress she says ,"princess Aurora" (sleeping beauty) and has me call her momma all the time now unless she is in the bath and then its Ariel. She is learning so fast and knows her alphabet uppercase and is starting to learn her lowercase. She has a love for rice crispy treats and mac and cheese. Her favorite veggie is green beans and fruit is watermelon. She sings her own made up songs several times a day and is awesome at praying, even blesses the food and each person in our family and my brother, his g.f and my dad too. Elizabeth is silly and she and her baby brother sometimes just sit and laugh together....makes my heart melt. She is our princess.

Reed is 10 months. Nothing but smiles, this child is wild. Gets into everything, crawls just laughing to himself like,"this mom of mine has no idea what I have planned for her when I'm walking." I'm scared.... this is going to be an adventure raising this child. We are considering taking out an accident policy on AFLAC to cover the stitches and broken bones I just know are in the future. He climbs on things his sister would never even think of climbing. He never sits still. When I feed him food he sits still until I bring the spoon to his mouth and then times it perfectly to hit it out of my hand and watch the mess go everywhere. He is a joy and has control over my heart. My son loves carrots and bananas the most and hates texture of any kind when it comes to food. This little guy crawls so fast and gets into absolutely everything he can. He loves his sissy and smiles just to see her. He once grabbed her hair as she was walking past his high chair and slammed her head into the table. He didn't know what he did but he is just full of energy. He loves to suck on my chin and lick Mr husbands chin when he has facial hair. His eyes are as blue as blue can be. He fills our home with baby loving goodness.

Its 5:52pm....

We are on our way home with our family of four from the Gila Valley Temple open house. Mr. Husband taking care of us as usual in the drivers seat, Elizabeth in the seat behind him, Reed next to her and then there's me by the window. The sun is on its way to setting, shining into the car, giving the most beautiful rays right onto our faces. Bringing beauty and light all around us. The spirit is here. . . . "I need thee every hour" from the album nearer is playing. How true the verse is, Oh how I know I need my Savior every hour, every second is more like it. My thoughts turn towards the four of us in the Celestral room....the peace,the beauty, the love. The promise I have to have this family of mine for the eternities. It would not be heaven without them. I'm writing this draft on a receipt....Life......it's real, it's short, it's purpose is to prove our love and obedience to our Father in Heaven. To serve. To follow Him and stand for His truth at all times. To learn, even to fall and to turn to Him for the strength to get up again. To raise these babies of mine and teach them of Him and let them feel of His love and others who I may come in contact with. (note to self) Remember this Karla the next time you worry about the small very unimportant things.Life is short, eternity is not, stay focused and live your life pleasing to Him. Remember this sweet spirit in the car with your family and do all in your power to keep this this spirit of Him near for there is nothing more beautiful.

We missed you today ...

mr. husband, sometimes i wish you didn't have to work. days like today we would have had fun. You could have been included while we went grocery shopping at our favorite market. Im sure you would have stopped by the salt water taffy stand and picked youself a few to eat...
I know if you were as well behaved as Elizabeth you would have pleasantly suggested we get some candy from this same market. You would have enjoyed going right next door to our favorite bakery where they have the most delicious breads and baked goods. Would you have picked shortbread cookies with spinkles like I did? Or a happy face cookie like your daughter?
At home I know you would have enjoyed eating lunch outside with your girls...and watching your daughter play in the yard and pick flowers for her momma...

I know we would have shared some kisses under the sun.....or helped me tend the garden and sit and eat peas right from the vine.....You would have enjoyed spending quality time with your son reading books like I did I'm sure.


And I know you would have let your daughter paint your toes this morning as she did mine. . . are they beautiful or what?......

And I know you would have had fun helping me cook this for dinner (for the recipe click HERE)

But then again I am optimistic that is why everything seems so perfect in the evening because that is when we are all together and we appreciate that time all the more.

Todays talk. . . .

This week consisted of. . . Baby Reed having croup, teething and an ear infection, me having a sprint triatholon and giving a talk in church today. So to fill you in on it all I am posting the talk I gave today in church......My talk was on my role as a daughter of God being a mother, enjoy and happy mothers day to everyone too!

All growing up my parents would ask me, ”Karla when you grow up how many kids do you want to have?” my reply was always the same, I would reply,” as many as I can get.” Just the other day when we were over at my dads house I had Elizabeth who was throwing a temper tantrum and reed at the same time spitting his baby food right at my implying he was finished. I looked over to my dad who had a big smile across his face as he said,” do you still want as many as you can get?”
This brings me to my talk today which is my role as a daughter of God being a mother.
Growing up I had this vision in my head that motherhood would be nothing but pure bliss. This vision included me with my children playing outside, the kids being sweet and well mannered and my of course having myself ready for the day and a home made dinner cooking inside. In this same vision my house was spotless, my sink empty and of course no laundry.
Two kids and a reality check later I find motherhood to be a very different reality. It is still blissful in moments but this is real life motherhood and it teaches me so much more then I could have ever imagined in some daydream years ago. My mothering experience has moments where I want to throw in the towel, but endure to the end and find strength I never knew I had. This motherhood story I’m living faces 6ft tall piles of laundry that give me the sense of accomplishment when finished. And this mothering experience challenged me last week with a sick baby that had me up all night, leaving me feeling tired, un showered and overwhelmed at times but led me to turn to my Father in Heaven for help, comfort, and guidance and in return I was able to grow closer to my Father in Heaven as I trusted and turned to Him.
During this past week as we were trying to get by with our Reed being sick, if you were to have stopped by you would have seen a messy house, a sink full of dishes and empty in and out burger wrappers on the table. One may have thought I was a bit of a lazy mother of that I wasn’t doing a great job of mothering as both my kids were crying in harmony. You would have not known that all my energy was being put towards what was most important and that was bringing comfort day and night to my sick baby and other things were put on hold this week.
Although I am not perfect at this, I find it so important not to judge mother to mother for we don’t know each others circumstances but we need to be loving, encourage and support on another. It is important we try our best day to be the best mothers we can be but knowing our best differs from others best.
Elder M. Russell Ballard said in his talk “ There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities and certainly different children. What matters most is that a mother loves her children deeply and in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else.” He also says that s mothers…”There are moments of great joy and incredible fulfillment but there are also moments of a sense of inadequacy and frustration. Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times but amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction” (close quote).
I for one have had my fair share of days where I feel a little inadequate as a mother. Days where I felt I had not taken enough time for my children during the day. I have also come to realize that as these moments of inadequacy come I have two options. I can be depressed about it or I can do something about it. I try to stop what I’m doing and put everything on hold while I sit and play with my kids, turn on some music and dance with them or just sit and cuddle a while. I try to take care of my children’s needs before any household obligations for I know they are at the age they need so much love and attention. Elder M Russell Ballard said,” I am impressed by countless mothers who have learned how important it is to focus on the things that can only be done in a particular season of life. It is crucial to focus on our children for the short time we have them with us and to seek with the help of the Lord to teach them all we can before they leave our homes. We need to remember that full time commitment of motherhood and of putting children first can be difficult. In this same talk Elder Ballard also guides us as he says,” Don’t overscheduled yourself or your children. If we are not careful, we will find every minute jammed with activities. Families need unstructured time when relationships can deepen and real parenting can take place. Take time to listen to laugh and to play together.” (close quote). It is also needed to be said that we sisters need some time to ourselves to charge the batteries as I like to say and as M Russell Ballard says,” sisters, find some time for yourself to cultivate your gifts and interests. Pick one or two things that you would like to learn or do that will enrich your life and make time for them. Water can not be drawn from an empty well and if you are not setting aside a little time for what replenishes you, you will have less and less to give to others, even your children.” close quote just yesterday I finished a mini triathlon along with my sister in law. I took time each day to prepare for this by getting out and exercising. As I went about doing this I often turned to my Father in Heaven to direct me and help me find this time for myself as well as keep this time to myself within healthy limits for my family. Through Him I found a good balance. Each day as I would exercise I would find myself in a better mood, a more patient mother and a sense of accomplishment as well. Yesterday I swam the ½ mile swim and biked the 13 mile course and then ran 3 miles to the finish line where my children and husband saw me accomplishing a goal. My children, although very younger need to see examples of goals been met in life and hard work being essential to achieve these goals and who better to be an example of this then their mother. I have learned that moderation is key in so many things in life and that brings us to the next topic and which elder Ballard councils us to not allow ourselves to be caught up in the time wasting, mind numbing things like television, soap operas or surfing the internet.
This I have found to be true in my life. At nap time I like to pick up the house, get some sewing done or get dinner started. I could easily just sit and watch a show and relax a while and I have done just that some days. The days where I sit and watch TV or sit on the computer usually leave me with a feeling of being tired, lazy or sometimes even depressed a little. I have found If I work hard throughout the day and give it my all I feel so much more accomplished and it leaves more things getting done each day in return giving us more precious time as a family each night and on the weekends.
Another way to fulfill our roles as mothers the best we can is to pray, study and teach the gospel Pray deeply about your children and about your role as a mother. And for those who are not mothers I would like to say how essential you are to our creators plan as well. Sheri Dew said in a 2001 talk,” every one of us has an overarching obligation to model righteous womanhood because our youth may not see it anywhere else. Every sister in relief society which is the most significant community of women on this side of the veil is responsible to help our young women make a joyful transition into Relief Society. We are all mothers in Israel and our calling is to love and help lead the rising generation through dangerous streets of mortality.
Let me tell a quick story of my life. All growing up we had our aunt Katie, my dads sister who was unable to have children of her own. She was always there for every major event in our lives and we were always very close to her. 3 years ago when my sweet mother passed away from cancer Katie flew in for the funeral and was there for us. Although she is not my mother, she makes me feel the deep love and concern my mother had for me. My aunt Katie has the divine mothering ability instilled in her and shares this with me. I am so grateful for those women here on earth who do not have children but still fill this world with their beautiful mothering qualities.
I want to say in closing that I know times can be hard as mothers and I hope wee can all take time out to appreciate the sweet moments and draw from these moments when times are not so sweet. I hope we can remember this life is meant to test and try us but we have father in Heaven who is there when the weight gets to be too much, and I pray we turn to him always. I hope we as sisters can grow closer to one another while many of us are on similar paths of motherhood and that wee can draw strength from one another and encourage and support each other. I know I can gain knowledge from the sisters without children as well and I thank the sweet sisters who love and help me mother my children like my daughters sweet nursery teacher who keeps such a sweet spirit in her nursery classroom. I am grateful for an all knowing Father in Heaven who has a plan for me and for my family although it may not always be easy He is always near, loving me, and wanting me to succeed. I am thankful I was blessed with my mother on this earth and for her example to me for the 21 years of my life she was alive. I am so thankful for this church that helps me become the best mother I can be and better understand the mother my Father in heaven wants me to be. I am blessed with a husband who supports me in being a righteous mother and am amazed at when I follow the spirit I know I am on the path of motherhood that will best benefit me and my children. I have a testimony that our happiness is ours and no one can take that away from us, but we need to choose to be happy mothers and do all in our power each day to be this source of light, joy, and peace to our children by applying ourselves and striving to do all we can to have the spirit and to be the closest we can to our Father in Heaven. And above all I try to remind myself daily to have fun, cherish and find joy in my sweet children and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

I am optimistic that. . .

I will WIN this fun give away on this dear friends blog. . . GO HERE and be optimistic you will win too!