My cuties

My friend Crystal needed some subjects for her photo class (about a month ago?), and I graciously offered my kids up. Recently I got the proofs and they turned out SO great! She NEEDS to be a professional! Her demeanor with the kids was so great, and she got some really awesome action shots. My kids warmed right up to her and were literally eating out of her hands! Never underestimate the power of the fruit snack :)
I loved all of them. Truly. Their personalities came alive with these!
I didn't even post half of them; Blogger is being dumb again, so these will have to do. I thought is was hilarious that it took all of 5 minutes for Curly to find a water source to jump into! He was dirty the whole photo shoot, but that's what made it so fun! :)

52 weeks project- Week 2

I'm grateful for Anya

Today we had an amazing lesson in Relief Society, about the nature of God. (and I know these last two posts have been religiously heavy. It's just been on my mind.) The main focus was about His love for us as His children. The teacher was talking about all the little things in nature that Heavenly Father has given to us for our benefit and delight, like flowers, mountains, trees, etc., and she played a song for us called "My Heavenly Father Loves Me". It's a simple children's song, though profound in it's message. Here are the lyrics:

Whenever I hear the song of a bird
Or look at the blue, blue sky,
Whenever I feel the rain on my face
Or the wind as it rushes by,
Whenever I touch a velvet rose
Or walk by our lilac tree,
I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heavenly Father created for me.

He gave me my eyes that I might see
The color of butterfly wings.
He gave me my ears that I might hear
The magical sound of things.
He gave me my life, my mind, my heart:
I thank him reverently
For all his creations, of which I’m a part.
Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me.

The version she played was a beautiful piano version, and it was a time of reflection during the meeting (of course everyone was emotional!). During this time, thoughts of baby Anya came into my mind. And I felt so grateful that I am given this time with her! She may not be born yet. I do not know what the future holds for her. But I felt so much reassurance and love and protection in that tiny moment. I had such a quick glimpse of what an amazing spirit she is. And I know she's going to be such a powerful presence in our family.

I am grateful for her. I am grateful that I can carry her in my body, and give her what I can. Even among the aches and pains and worry and stress and everything else. I am grateful she is mine. And she always will be.

During the course of this pregnancy, I've had a roller coaster of emotions. For the most part, I can get through the day just fine and not worry too much. But there are some days when everything seems unbearable and way too scary for me to handle and foreign and terrifying. I'm really not one to freak out about stuff, so this experience has been completely out of my comfort zone.

I can't 'fix' it. I can't arm myself with knowledge because there are too many unknowns at every point. It's not in my nature to cry on someone's shoulder about it. I really just can't 'do' anything except wait. "I hate wait" (name that movie)

But today, I am so grateful for this little baby. I am grateful for every roll and kick and movement. I am grateful to know that Heavenly Father is in charge, and He's already promised me a few things. I am grateful that she seems strong physically, regardless of what the ultrasounds show. I am grateful that she is mine and Bryan's. I am grateful that she is in our family. I am grateful that soon she will be with us, and hopefully prove every specialist wrong. I am grateful that she is stubborn (one of the very DOMINANT traits of a McBride Scottish Lass!) in her own way, though I may not be grateful for that in the coming years. :) I am grateful for precious, precious life.

52 weeks project- Week 1

I'm sure you've seen this go around blog-ville a few times; Counting your blessings for each week of the year. Basically, the point is to realize how blessed you are, even when you feel like you're not. So I'm excited to participate this year!
It's pretty simple; for each week of the year, you write about one thing you are grateful for. Hence, 52 'gratefuls', 52, weeks project. And for week one:


Tithing

I am glad that we are commanded to live the law of tithing. This consists of giving ten percent of your income to the church (our family gives to the LDS church, which we are members), which in turn uses it for church growth and maintenance. Namely, Temple construction, church building maintenance, the Missionary fund, etc.

I am also grateful for the blessings that come with paying a faithful tithe. It is not always easy, and I am by no means a perfect tithe-payer, but we have been pulled out of the fire so many times, because Heavenly Father is a loving Father and He knows what we need versus what we want. It's impossible to not see the correlation between paying our tithing and seeing countless blessings in our lives.

I have always had a testimony (belief) in tithing, and some years are harder than others, but 2009 has given me more than a few opportunities to test my faith.

I don't have an amazing story to tell you, but I do recall a conversation I had with a sister in law a while ago. The subject of tithing came up in conversation, and the well-known bible scripture in Malachi was mentioned:

..."Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:10)

She mentioned a day trip she and her family took to Thanksgiving Point in Utah. There are beautiful gardens and waterfalls there, among other cool, family oriented things to do. She talked about a specific water feature, where there is a plaque of that scripture next to a large waterfall. She said she always thought that the 'pouring of blessings' was maybe a trickle from a pitcher in her mind. But she saw in front of her a waterfall of blessings! What a stunning visual representation of what Heavenly Father is capable of!

So I'm grateful for tithing. And I'm also grateful that Heavenly Father is always willing to bless us, in so many ways.

49 days

And I am freaking out. Probably more than I should! There is still so much to be done before bebecita comes! :)

Overwhelmed

So much has happened in the last three months. SO MUCH! So if I backtrack and catalog EVERYTHING that I want to, I will be so completely overwhelmed. At this time in my life, less stress is definitely best! I have enough to deal with on a daily basis, and isn't this my blog anyway???
Continuing on... this blog has become really boring since I've been exhausted and no fun to be around. So here's a list of the really fun things that happened in the tail end of 2009

• Halloween- So much fun! We were once again a Pirate family since I am preggo and too cheap too lazy too thrifty to go out and look for another 'theme' for a family of four. (We're milking the theme idea for as long as we can. I think it's adorable, and the boys still go along with it!) Einstein really got into it this year, and Curly just ate everything in sight. We were at our ward's trunk or treat for about an hour, then on actual Halloween we went to Maga & Paga McBride's neighborhood and trick or treated with Nate & Lisa and their two kiddos. It was a lot of fun!
• Disneyland- We decided to take advantage of our season passes and go for possibly the last time before we have addition #3. Wow, what a fun day! We left at about 11am, Bryan ditched a school day (completely impromptu) and we stayed until about 5ish. Perfect. The boys LOVED the teacups! We kind of did an 'all about the kids' day since once again, I couldn't ride any cool rides. We spent an exorbitant amount of money on food in the park (I'm never doing that again!), being that our stay was longer than I had been planning for. Even so, we got our traditional Disneyland churro. And the boys even got to share one. YUM!
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas
• New Year's