Phone Pictures

Little Claire entered an art book (it ended up going into Literature because it was a book) into Reflections, and she was really proud that she got the Award of Merit! Lilly left it to the very last minute, and didn't even start hers until the deadline was due so I told her she couldn't enter it. I felt terrible, but she needed to learn she can't wait until the last minute to enter things like this. It was fun for Claire, so hopefully both girls will do it next year - and not wait until last minute!

My sweet Granny's birthday. She is having such a hard time not being in her home. Her spirits are low, and she can be a little grumpy, but she was darling on her birthday. She was so happy to see us, and get some flowers. She means so much to me and I am grateful for the enormous role she has played in my life. 

I was super thrilled when I pulled up to get Claire from her friends house, and she looked like this. Fresh, thick paint. And it was everywhere. I was thrilled when she got in the new car like that and the paint got on the seats and on the seat belts!

The girls have had such a hard time being separated from some of their favorite little friends. I miss them too. Thank goodness for technology! I think they were on face time for like 30 minutes. They loved it!

Oh Maddy! This dog is SO loved. It's because she is always doing cute things...like this. She always likes to look down on us when we go down the stairs. Then she runs down after us. And, there is the lovely banister. It's almost done! It feels like it has taken us 6 months. Actually, I don't think I am far off on that assumption!

One of my favorite things is to tag along on the girls field trips. We walked to Dan's and they got a tour of the store, got lots of samples of things, and then got to scan something at the end. They loved it!

My thoughts

I have felt so out of control lately, and I feel like I just need to sit down and write down my feelings and document a little bit of life! All is well, and life is good...just so busy. I don't do well with chaos or lack of organization and order. So, because of my busy schedule these days, all I feel is chaos. I feel like my life has changed a lot over the last few months with taking my job and being thrown into a new calling at church. Not only that, Anton is so busy and stressed with work and all his traveling and the girls schedules are picking up. I sometimes need to remind myself how blessed I am, and how sweet my life is, even though it may be a little busy. I have healthy children who are happy and sweet. I have a husband who works so hard for us. He treats us amazing & I never ever doubt that he adores us. I live in a beautiful home and have cars that function.

Since taking my job, my little "bubble" that I've lived in for so long has been burst. There are legitimately sad and hard things in so may peoples lives...and they live in my little community! My eyes have been opened to how others live, and I can't help but look at my life and realize how lucky I am. I feel so blessed. I love my job, and I am grateful that I have it. It gives me a little life outside of cooking, cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping! But, with that being said, if I don't have everything else in order....I can feel really down about my job. My cleaning gets pushed off, my laundry gets piled up, and then I start to feel overwhelmed. So, it is a fine balance. And, I think I need to keep everything in perspective. It isn't permanent, and I need to remember that if I stayed home every single day I would probably go crazy!

So, things are a little busy. Then I get called as Primary President. Holy smokes. I was silly in thinking it wouldn't be much different than when I was in the primary presidency. I was wrong. I came back from a Stake Meeting the other night, and finally just cried. I cried all the way home, and cried when I got home. Poor Anton thought he had done something. He was relieved when I told him I was just feeling overwhelmed with everything we have going on. I wanted and thought my calling would be to show up on Sunday and love those children. That's easy! All the other stuff, and the meetings, and the planning and the getting everything organized for the new year, and not having any sort of training or support from the previous president kind of threw me over the edge. But, thankfully I have the worlds best counselors. I really do. I would be SO overwhelmed and lost without them and their constant willingness to help me. And, sweet Anton has been so encouraging and patient as well.

I complain sometimes about how busy things are. But, when I really get thinking about all that we have, I feel grateful. I truly feel like we have been blessed in so many ways. Unfortunately, we have had a significant family relationship go sour. We have been sad and angry over it. We have mostly been sad for our girls. But, I know my prayers have been answered in a way. So many people have stepped in and have filled that void for our girls. They shower them with love, bring little treats and trinkets over and want to see them in costumes or at their games. We never asked for that! I can't begin to express how grateful I am for these people - and it isn't just one person, its several. Tender mercy indeed.

Life isn't perfect. We don't have the perfect life. I struggle with not being the perfect Mom and wife and not having the perfectly clean house. But, I am slowly learning that in the end, all will be OK. This time of chaos and stress will go. I just need to be patient and constantly remind myself that even though I may get down or stressed, we are so lucky. We have so much. We have each other. We have wonderful friends, and incredible family. And for that, I am truly very very humbled and grateful!

Halloween 2016

Oh, Halloween, I love you but you are so dang busy! I think we were buying our Pumpkins like two days before Halloween...and we bought them at Trader Joe's (major fail right there). We didn't even make it to the Pumpkin Patch this year! Life is crazy. More on that later. 

Lilly wanted to be a zombie bride, and the costumes were just horrible. So, I convinced her to find something else. She liked the Southern Belle costume and the pirate costume. It went on sale one day, so when she came home from school I let her know she was going to be a Pirate! Once it came in the mail and she saw it in person, she was in love with it! It was honestly the cutest costume. We've never had that many compliments...we even had a couple people take pictures of it! Claire can't wait to wear it! Claire knew right away that she wanted to be an Indian. She wanted to be Pocahontas, but that costume wasn't her favorite, so we found another one that she loved. She looked adorable! I am just happy that they loved their costumes & had a blast on Halloween!

We had a busy few days leading up to the actual day. We had the ward party, their halloween festivities at school on Friday, my parents party on Sunday then Halloween on Monday. By the time it was over, I was glad to put the costumes away. The girls met up with their friends and went trick or treating. I went with them, and Anton stayed home to hand out candy. The girls went longer and farther than they had in years past, so when I said it was time to head home, they were happy to do so! Claire was freezing by the end of the night. They got lots of candy....I think we will still have some come Valentines Day!

It was a fun and busy holiday, but all that matters is that the girls had fun! I love seeing their excitement! Such little loves. 

This year, the girls really wanted to help with the pumpkins. And, they did a great job! Next year, we aren't doing templates though...they take way too long! Anton says we need to "use our imagination" next year. Sounds good to me.

Party at Nana's. Lilly has such a cute relationship with these two...especially Jack. I hope they always stay "best buds"!

Happy Halloween!

Epcot

If you ask Lilly what her favorite park was, she would tell you Epcot! I went to Epcot with low expectations because I was afraid the girls wouldn't love it, but they did! Anton and I loved it too. Again, I can't believe what Disney does. The little villages were so amazing! Every time I saw a new one I couldn't get over how darling it was. 

When we were buying our tickets on Monday, the guy at the booth told me that most likely we wouldn't get onto the new Frozen ride because of how busy it has been. So, when we got to Epcot I opened the app, and saw that the standby line wasn't too long so we headed straight there. The line ended up being about 40-45 minutes long, which was the longest we waited our whole trip, but once we got on the ride, it was SO worth it. I got a little emotional because of how magical it was to see this ride through the eyes of my girls. They are such sweet and innocent little girls, and I was reminded of that on that ride. Sounds ridiculous, I know...but it's true! I also found the worst ride in the world. I honestly had to keep telling myself, "Liz, don't panic. This is just a ride". I got so sick and so claustrophobic. And surprise....it was Lilly's very favorite ride! 

We loved wandering around and seeing all the different food, and different shops for each country. I of course had to spend time in England. From there we wandered over and got lunch at Morocco and an overpriced french Ice Cream Cone (but, it was worth the price...so yum!)! It was such a great day, and a perfect ending to our trip!

We got fast passes for this ride where you get to design your car while your waiting in line, and then when you get to the front of the line you get in a car and race around a track really fast. I snapped this picture because of how different the girls cars were that they got to design. Anton and I couldn't stop laughing at Claire's truck - Manly and Tough. Oh dear. And Lilly's, Pink and Sporty! Claire was super mad when we finally made it on the ride, and her truck wasn't waiting for her. She literally was so mad and even after the ride, she said that it was so dumb. So funny!

Magic Kingdom

I can't believe the lack of pictures I took at Magic Kingdom. I guess that means we were having too much fun to stop for pictures! We really did have a great day. The girls and I went right when it opened, and then when Anton was done with meetings he met up with us. The day started off with the park being really quiet, and we were walking on certain rides and then as the day went on the crowds got larger and larger. But, we were able to get on every ride (sometimes more than once) except for one. Our cute babysitter who has watched the girls for years moved to Orlando to work at DisneyWorld, and we met up with her to give her a quick hug and hello....and I can't believe I didn't get a picture! I love this picture of my little loves. 

The girls loved the big Disney bus that would pick us up every morning!

No one does Teacups better than Dad! He made himself sick, in hopes of making the girls sick...always a good idea. 

Orlando Day 1 & 2

Anton had a conference in Orlando, so we decided to make a family trip out of it! We were super excited to go somewhere we hadn't taken the girls before, and were looking forward to having a little time away. The girls were really excited...not just for Disney World, but for everything! 

I always have a blast with my little family, and love the time spent and the memories made on family vacations. With that being said, I can say I prefer DisneyLand over DisneyWorld. It wasn't all I hoped for, but I am still glad we went. We made memories I will never forget, and for that, all the chaos and money spent was well worth it! The first few days we stayed at a really nice hotel that had a great swimming pool for the kids, and free shuttle to the parks. Then we moved hotels to a less nice hotel, but we actually preferred because of its location. Funny how that plays such a big role in making or breaking a vacation! 

We got to Orlando on late Saturday night, so the trip didn't really begin until Sunday. Sunday was a pretty mellow day and we let the girls swim for a while, and then later that afternoon and evening we went to Downtown Disney and it was INSANE. I was shocked at how busy it was. But, we came to realize that there are a ton of hotels around, but not a lot of restaurants and things except for in Downtown Disney. So, that explained a lot of the crowds. Still, it was a fun night! The next morning, while Anton went to meetings, the girls and I went to the Animal Kingdom. Disney always makes things so amazing. The girls absolutely loved Animal Kingdom. They loved taking pictures of all the animals, and there was a really fun ride that Lilly loved. There were only a couple or three rides, one of which Claire couldn't go on which was a disappointment, but it was a fun day. And, Claire got to see a Cheetah on our Safari which was the most exciting thing for her...I loved seeing her so excited!!