I give in...

I decided to play the memory game! I know, I know...just play along, alright?! :)

"This will be fun to see what people put.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments."

Judging

For awhile now I have been often thinking about my propensity to judge others. I've been trying to make a conscious effort to stop any judgmental thoughts in their tracks instead of entertaining them and pathetically trying to make myself feel better by putting someone else down, even if only mentally. Then, I recently came across a scripture in the New Testament that really affected me:

"Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yes, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand."
-Romans 14:4

This verse really pointed out to me that when we judge another person in any way, we are essentially undermining Jesus Christ and His ability to save that person. Even if someone has truly been in the wrong in some way, He can "make [them] stand" through the power of His Atonement. I know that I would be a much happier and more loving person if I could just remember this and realize that most everyone is just doing the best they can. I'm thankful for my Savior and that he is able to make me stand, even when I fall on my face over and over again. I'm thankful for my faith in Him and the hope it gives me not only for myself but for mankind and the world we live in.

More Summer Fun

Here are some random pictures that I haven't had a chance to post from the last few weeks.

We bought an inflatable pool for our backyard and the girls had a blast playing in it. You can see the sad state of our backyard, too. We should be getting new sod put in pretty soon. I love Natalie's hair in this picture. I put sunblock on her head since her hair is pretty translucent and it made her hair stick straight up.


Joe has been reading to Elizabeth from Charlotte's Web for quite awhile now at bedtime when he gets a chance and they finally finished this past week. I was amazed when he started that Elizabeth could stay interested but she does pretty well. They have now started The BFG, which I have never read so I'm often cuddled up with them listening in.

I love this picture since it captures a brief millisecond of Natalie sitting with them, too.

Joe says that this picture captures our family's genetic inability to pose for pictures. I was trying to get Natalie to pose with her head resting on her hand and this is the result. :)

Here's a long awaited picture of Natalie in pigtails. They're tiny but they're there.

We made brownies the other night and this time they both got something to lick with very messy results.

This is them watching a movie from the tent set up in our living room. I love how much they look alike in this picture. You can also see Natalie's awesome tan line.

Speaking of tans, this picture, I think, speaks volumes:I thought Natalie was my fair child with skin like mine but after all our time in the sun I've realized that she's got a bit of Joe's skin, too. So, obviously, I am the pinky-white arm on the left, Elizabeth is in the middle and Natalie is on the right. Surprising, huh?

Speaking of surprises, (aren't these some amazing segues?) Natalie has all of the sudden decided she would like to go pee-pee in the potty. She has gone three times over the last few days and I've decided to give potty training at least a valiant effort. She seems much too young to me but I thought it would be good to strike while the iron is hot.

Joe actually left this morning for Utah for a business trip so I am on my own for awhile. I think I may try training her now so I can have something to focus on while he's gone. Maybe this is insanity. I don't know. Wish me luck! If I'm blogging a lot more lately, you'll know how I'm spending my evenings alone. Can you tell I'm begging for pity? :) Just kidding. We'll be fine, Joe. We love you!

Family Reunions

We got back yesterday from a family reunion swing. First, we drove to Bear Lake in Utah for Joe's extended family reunion and then to the Lake Tahoe area for my parents' reunion. We had a great time although we were very happy to be home after 10 days away. We all got lots of sun and swimming time and of course the best part was to be with family. It was fun to be back with Joe's family again after moving away from Utah and all of my siblings and their families made it to our reunion so that was really nice, too. I didn't get too many pictures but here are some:

Bear Lake

Three beach bums (Natalie is saying "hi" to Joelle)

I like these pictures

We had a sand castle contest with some pretty impressive results

Unfortunately, Joe's castle wasn't working out so they decided to bury him instead. Here he is as a muscular merman with our friend Simon from Tanzania who came with us to the reunion.
Covered in sand
Tahoe

Posing by the pool

Brave enough to go down the little waterslide by herself. She had a blast and it kept her busy for quite awhile.

Cute girl

Natalie enjoyed running around with a ball she found.

Me water-skiing! Don't be too impressed...it took me about 7 seven tries to finally get up. :)

Sadly, our camera ran out of battery right after I skied so we didn't get any shots of the girls and Joe. After I came in from skiing, Natalie said she wanted to get in the water. She was only wearing a swim diaper and a life vest since she had pooped on her swimsuit but she still loved the freezing cold Lake Tahoe water! She sat on a big yellow board the boat pulled while I held on behind her. She was so cute and kept clapping for herself. Afterwards, she kept saying "had fun, boat!" Of course this convinced Elizabeth that she wanted to go, too. After an initial bad reaction to the cold water, she had a good time on the board, too, with Daddy behind her and even wanted to go faster. After that Joe water-skied.

Here is Natalie and her cousin Josh waiting to take family pictures. My dad got some of our little family that I can hopefully post soon.

While we were eating dinner and taking family pictures, this was going on right behind the place we stayed in. It's a Kenny Loggins concert on the driving range! Unfortunately, (or fortunately) the refreshment tent was blocking the stage. I've given you a sampling of what we heard that night on my playlist. You're welcome. :)

After the concert, we found out that his entourage was staying in the unit next to us so we peeked over the fence to get a good look at Mr. Danger Zone himself. Here's Joe with Natalie (not looking too impressed) and Kenny Loggins in the black shirt:

We had so much fun spending time with family. We can't wait for our next chance to see you all!

It's a Miracle!

We're on vacation right now at a family reunion but I thought I'd post quickly about a tremendous blessing in our family....we sold our house! We had to sign the paperwork while on vacation and it closed a couple of days ago. It feels as though a burden has been lifted from our shoulders. Of course, we still lost on the house but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Unfortunately, the time period that we owned our home was basically the worst time in the history of the United States (you may think this is a gross exaggeration but not according to a news report I watched recently). We are incredibly grateful to have sold our home at all. We were praying hard and know that this is truly a small miracle for our family. Whew... (big sigh of relief)

Fourth of July

We had a fun 4th of July yesterday. The day started with a little parade in our area that was only a few blocks from our house. It was fun for the kids, mostly because they got almost as much candy as they would on Halloween. These are some of the highlights:

Walking to the parade

Seeing KJ! He is now running for mayor of Sacramento. Unfortunately, the camera was turned off when I tried to take a picture of him waving at us. So, all I got was his back. It's him--I promise. Joe and I wanted to yell, "We always picked you on NBA Jam!" but alas, we didn't. :) Click here if you have no idea who this is and actually care to know.

Enjoying candy and waving.
The library had this cute float entitled, "Curious George for President".

This band was fun to listen to while the man with the umbrella did a little jig. He was nice enough to pose for me.

We love parades!

This one was taken at home later. Natalie loved the necklaces she got but did NOT want me to take a picture. The sound byte to go along with this picture is her yelling "No!" Isn't she cute when she's mad?

That night, we went with my brother and his family to watch fireworks on a local high school football field. We had a good view and the kids had fun running around and staying up late. These pictures are all blurry due to the lack of light but I think they look kind of cool.

Lighting sparklers and looking like they've been caught.

Holding their glow sticks

I like this picture of our newest niece Lily.
Playing with sparklers!

It was a fun, tiring night. It was worth it, though, to snuggle up with the girls and watch them in awe of the fireworks while trying to explain the purpose of the holiday with Elizabeth tuning me out :). Hope everyone had a Happy Fourth of July! I'm so thankful to be an American and to have the freedoms that I do because of the sacrifices of so many.

Normal life again

I realized the other day that it's been much too long since I have posted any new pictures of the kids. So, here they are sharing a chair while Elizabeth plays a Curious George computer game. She finally figured out the mouse and this was the first game she was able to play all by herself.

I was just grateful not to be sitting on the chair with them both on one knee, trying to click for Elizabeth while keeping Natalie from wreaking havoc on the computer. Seriously though, I have been noticing lately how much better they have been playing together and it's so fun for me to watch. Plus it means I have more free time on my hands which I hope to not waste entirely on the computer and reading. It's hard being in a new place and not really in much of a routine yet. It makes me unmotivated and lazy. I hope to soon start jogging regularly and venturing out of the house more. Wish me luck.

Now for some updates on the girls:

Elizabeth is doing well. She is finally starting to say prayers all by herself and they are so sweet. She of course says thank you for the things she can see in her room but then also adds some amazing statements, too, like "thank you for the love in my heart." Natalie started attending the nursery at church a few weeks ago and since Elizabeth is still in there they have been together. The teachers in there always tell us what a great job she does taking care of her sister (she might be a little extreme about it since in her own words she told me: "When someone takes a toy from Natalie, I take it and give it back"). She has of course still been cracking us up with the funny things she says. One of her new favorite phrases is "getting into mischief" and she likes to both say this about herself and accuse Natalie of it. One day I was in another room and I asked her what she and Natalie were doing and she said "Just dinkin' around" (a Joe-ism). She is so much fun to have around.

Natalie is fighting hard not to be my little baby although I still think of her that way. She must be able to do everything that Elizabeth does and all by herself or there will be consequences to the eardrums of anyone within a 5 block radius. She will use the sweetest little voice one minute and the shrillest scream the next. Still, she is so sweet and it's hard not to want to squish her face most of the time. She enjoys playing the "Which hand is it in?" game with nothing in her hands. She holds out her fists and we pick a hand and then she opens them both and laughs. She loves bananas and, like her cousin TJ before her, eats them like a vacuum, sometimes until she gags. She is putting together two word statements all the time and even beyond. The other day we were watching "It's a Big, Big World" and those monkeys came on and she said "Two monkeys!" I still don't know if that was a fluke or not. She is such a sweetheart.