20 vs 30

This may be a bit self centered of a post but oh well, I am the one who always has to see the picture to make sure its "Katie approved" and take another if its not, so, are we surprised?







Today I'm 30, and I'm actually excited about that. I think it sounds romantic to say I'm 30 (Justin likes it too because he really thinks I'm a cougar now, he's 29). Maybe I feel a sense of maturity, that now I'm an adult, not only by being married and having kids, but in age I'll be accepted as an "adult"! People won't say "you're too young to have kids" and when that was said I would usually say "I'm _________(age)" or recently "I'm 30 in just a few months/weeks/days", trying to comfort them that its OK I have kids since I was __________ many.



So I thought about where my life has been since turning 20 and now today, so here is a recap.



20:



Enrolled at UVSC trying to pick a major



Dating Spencer, who I later married and divorced



Living with Sara, who I thought was a wonderful friend and when I later divorced Spencer, she thought it was horrible that I was dating Justin and told me that Spencer should move on since he deserves to be happy, we are no longer friends



Very involved with institute, being vice president of the institute and over the 11 different service committees



Working as a secretary at nights



maybe teaching dance



my days started at 9 most of the time and ended really late, like 1 0r 2 am

Only ate Chicken and never ate tomato's





30:


Married to the love of my life Justin who always kisses me good night and good morning


2 beautiful, sweet, crazy and happy children


finished my Bachelors at the University of Utah


Mainly a stay home mom but do have 2 part time jobs


starting to teach dance, again



enjoy more things beyond just dinner and a movie, we sight see, camp, spend weekends away, hike, read, decorate the home, and make memories with the kids

My days can start as early as 5:30 but mostly start at 7:30 and end around 11

eats all types of meat and enjoy the occasional tomato


I think the over all enjoyment is having a better handle on who I am, my boundries, what I expect from myself and others as well as looking forward to enjoying the choices I have made. I've said to friends that the 20's are about finding your way and making plans and choices, your 30's are about enjoying those choices. I know that our lives will change when it comes to finances, jobs, maybe where we live, but overall, this is the decade of watching my kids grow up, making long term plans and being better. A better wife, mother, family member, neighbor, friend, and ward member.

Dead Crab

A little while ago Justin thought it would be a great idea to buy Adlen some crabs, so they go to Wal-Mart get two crabs, a tank, filter, rocks and other accessories and food. Fine, I thought, but since then there has been an ugly, dirty tank on my kitchen counter and I have hated having them. But, like any mom, Adlen loves her crabs, so we've kept them.

Well sometime in this last week, one of them died. I noticed it yesterday, but since this was Justin's idea I left it for him to handle when he got home. Well that didn't happen, and not wanting to have a dead crab just sitting in our tank, I told Adlen what had happen.

"Adlen, one of your crabs died, he went back to Heavenly Father"

Adlen "What? Why you say that", with a confused look.

I again explained that when the crab died he went back to his Heavenly Father and we have to take him out of the tank and put him in a safe place, the trash. As I do this she tells me not to "dead him" and shes getting mad at me, telling me to put him back in the tank because he misses his daddy (I get a little sad at this conclusion she makes), I'm nervous thinking that she thinks I killed it, which isn't what you want your child thinking. In an effort to discourage this thought I ask her "do you want to look at him?" she says yes. So I show her his still little body and she gets even more sad and starts to cry, asking to call dad (who is at work) and tell him about her dead crab. So we do

"daddy, my crab is dead"

"oh, I'm sorry sweetie, it'll be ok"

"he went back to his Heavenly Father"

"yes he did, it's ok"

So we concluded the conversation and I finish the job of putting him in a safe place then she tells me "his daddy probably misses him" (the other crab is a little bigger then the one that died).

The idea that she decided that they were a family is so sweet, then to put together that if the family isn't together that that isn't right, made me actually feel a little bad about the passing of one of our crabs. My sweet little Adlen

I love...

Some things I love about Adlen are

Every night after she takes her clothes off to get in the tub she'll pick them up and put them in the laundry basket

At night she will pray for random things that she for some reason loves (Baily, the neighbors dog or the tunnels at her new friends house, she's been there once)

If I leave crumbs on the counter she'll say "whats with this mess" or "why you make a mess"

At night she'll say "good night, I love you"

In the morning she will say sorry for some thing she did the day before "mom, I'm sorry I got mad and not make a good choice"

She's pretty good at saying please and thank you

She tells me that I'm her favorite girl and that daddy is her favorite guy, and Tysen she calls him her "little guy"

When we listen to a song like "Oh love" by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood she wants Justin and I to sing the different parts, out loud, not pretending. She says its mommy and daddy's song

She likes to sing Andrea Bocelli and Britney Spears, and anything in between

If she spills her cereal or a drink she asks for a towel and freaks out untill its cleaned up

When she puts movies in they have to be facing the right way, same with books on her dresser

These are just a few things that I find cute and sweet

Our not so little guy

Well, Tysen is now walking! Our little guy was holding furniture forever it seemed, then would take a step or two, then did 3or 4 a time while we were in Hawaii and now, he can walk around our entire house! I have to say I'm excited about this, it makes it easier for him to keep up with his big sister and, he's not as interested in putting everything he sees on he floor, in his mouth. I love that he is growing up and am excited to see more of his personality!

I don't...

I don't cook, Justin does so for lunch my kids usually get things from cans, spaghettio's, mac and cheese, I just recently made grilled cheese sandwiches and burned them, I can't even do cookies from a package right
I don't read in my spare time (even in Hawaii when I had time to sit around, I didn't read, although I enjoy it)
I don't sweep, I vacuum my kitchen and bathrooms
I don't dust, usually every 3 months or so I will
I don't take my kids to do fun things during the day, we only have one car and its not worth waking them up so we can take Justin to work. But since he gets home at 3:30 we usually have time for something fun
I don't regulate how much TV they watch
I don't have "reading time", if we get reading done sometime during the day, I'm happy
I don't make my bed every morning
I don't shower everyday
I don't get my kids dressed everyday and sometimes its not until 3 on other days

The other day I was chatting with some other moms and thought to myself "oh I'm not the only one" so I thought I'd write about all the things I don't do, to give hope to others!

Hawaii

Ok, I have to admit it was hard getting into the Christmas spirit this year with our trip to Hawaii the day after. Our weeks before were really busy with Tysens 1st birthday, getting things ready, cleaning the house, oh yeah and Christmas. I think our tree was up for only a week. But we couldn't wait to get to Hawaii, we weren't bringing our kids, thanks to my brave family members, my brother Mark and his wife Jess, who have 3 kids of their own. They made many sacrifices so that we could go, they missed a family trip to Utah and on my sister laws very significant birthday, 30, plans I'm sure weren't as grand seeing how they had our kids that day. My kids are also 3 and 1, which isn't the easiest age, maybe when my kids are 7 and 9, can dress themselves, speak clearly, and go to the bathroom by themselves it wouldn't be as tough! But Justin and I had a great time doing all the honeymoon things you can do, we went snorkeling, swimming in lava tubes (which was a bit creepy, under ground and dark, and in water), slept in, got ready without having to worry about getting kids dressed, stayed out late, saw volcanoes, waterfalls, and sat by the pool or the beach, and of course, didn't share our bed with Adlen the entire week (which, you know what that means, Justins favorite part of the trip, but hey, it was a free activity)!

Santa Came Early...

I had to write a special letter to Santa to see if he could come early to our home since we'll be out of town...and he did!

Our kids are at such a fun age to enjoy a Holiday like Christmas. Justin is really cute that he likes to play Christmas music and eat cinnamon rolls while we open gifts, usually we have to wait upstairs while he gets it all ready. However, because Tysen is pulling ornaments off of trees' we put our tree in our loft where we don't usually spend much time. I think it worked out great. Because of Justin loosing his job we were blessed by the generosity of others who made this a wonderful day!