10 Happy Things

Being a mom is all about simple joys that may seem insignificant to others, but really make life worth living for me.  The life I live is in no way glamorous or pampered, but I love it!  I receive so much joy and fulfillment from each day.  Some of the things that have brought me the most happiness lately are:

1)  Cuddling my sweet Aliyah.  She is in a very snuggly phase and I love it.  Each morning when she wakes up, she is all smiles and as soon as I pick her up she wraps her tiny little arms around my neck.  I look forward to it so much every day.

2)  Watching Kaleb dance.  He seriously knows how to shake his little hips and puts his whole body into his "moves."  He knows it will get a good laugh out of Jonny and I, so he does it often and I love it!

3)  The interactions between Kaleb and Aliyah are so fun.  Aliyah laughs so hard at Kaleb when he is being silly.  She watches his every move, just waiting for him to give her his attention.  As soon as he turns to her she lights up and get so excited.  I'm looking forward to the next few months as she gets a little more mobile and they can play even more together.

4)  Nights preceeding mornings when Jonny doesn't have work.  This is generally Friday and Saturday nights, and occasionally a week night.  I am required to stay up until midnight for my job and Jonny works at 4:00 in the morning, so we are on such opposite schedules!  I love it when he can stay up with me and we have a chance to watch a movie or even just talk and have time together without the kids.  Jonny is such an amazing guy and just so much fun to be with.  I really lucked out when he asked me to be his forever!

5)  A prepared meal...especially one that will last for 2 - 3 meals.  I have struggled so much to get in to a good schedule and system for cooking.  I've found some great, healthy recipes recently and I'm getting better at having meals and stuff for meals ready to go.  I love the feeling of making good, healthy food and not having to wonder...what are we going to do for dinner tonight?!

6)  Dressing the kids in super cozy clothes.  The weather has turned nastily cold out of the blue here in Rexburg (which is not an abnormal occurrence) so we've been pulling out the sweats and the fleece.  Today we bought Kaleb 2 sweat outfits and he tried one on this evening.  He looked so snuggly I just wanted to hold him!

7)  Having Kaleb tell me he loves me.  He's been able to say "I love you" for quite a while now, but he would only say it when we would ask him to.  Within the last couple weeks he started saying it just because.  Sometimes I'll look over and smile at him and he'll smile back and say, "I yuv you Mommy."  Oh it just melts my heart!

8)  Getting contracts!  Ok, so I really shouldn't bring work into this, because it isn't exactly a source of great joy in my life...but it really does make my day when I get contracts in.  I have 34 left for winter semester, so thats (hopefully) 34 more little snippits of happiness coming my way!  (The sooner the better)

9)  My time.  So even though I've grumbled quite a bit about staying up until midnight to lock up, it really has become a pretty wonderful blessing for me.  I've set it aside as my time to read and study the scriptures and write in my journal and write love notes to Kaleb and Aliyah in their journals.  I just have to bear my testimony that there is a reason we are counseled to have time for scripture and prayer each day.  I have received so many tender mercies during this time, and I have felt my heart changing.  I really needed this at this time in my life.  The gospel is true and is so incredible!

10)  Hmmm...to finish it off.  I know I've already mentioned a lot of things about Jonny and the kids, but so much of my happiness...the deep, pure, peaceful, life is amazing happiness...comes from knowing that we are a family and we have each other every day and it will never end.  This extends to our parents and siblings as well.  I love being so close to both families and being so blessed by their love and how fabulous it is to have regular interaction with them.  Life is really so sweet right now!  Even though work is frustrating, I am trying to focus on not wishing this stage in life away.  Thank you to all those who contribute to my joy.  I hope you know how amazing you are!

It's been a couple months since I posted last, and I feel like there is so much to catch up on.  I will attempt to be brief :) We finished up the Spring semester feeling pretty good about how everything went.  We both learned a lot from the 3 months of school, work, and adjusting to being a family of 4.  The stress of my job nearly became too much so many times, I'm not sure how I stuck with it but here we are getting ready to start another semester and we're still here!  I want to post a few pictures from the semester and then do a quick recap of our 7 week "break" and then just jot down a few fun things about the kids (for my memory's sake).

Beginning July 24th and going until September 7th we have the glorious (in most ways) 7 week break.  Jonny doesn't have any classes, and I only have 15 residents.  It has still been a pretty stressful, busy time but it has been awesome to have more time together and to take a couple vacations.  The first weekend in August we had the annual Parkinson family reunion which included a trip to Yellowstone and lots of delicious food and great company :)  Then from the 10th to the 14th of August we had a little vacation in Utah.  We went down for my wonderful friend Kenzi's wedding and had the privilege of spending a few days with Carly, Derek, and Paisley.  We also had an evening and morning with Grandma and Grandpa Hatch which was awesome.

Since time goes by so quickly and I don't have the greatest memory, I want to write a few things about my sweet kids.  I will start with Aliyah.  My fabulous little 4 1/2 month old is so fun and just continues to bring joy to my life.  As you can see from the pictures above, she was chunking up quite nicely for the first couple months, but right around 3 months she started to slim down and get extremely fussy.  All she did for about 3 weeks was scream.  When we took her in for her 4 month well check we found out she had lost weight since her 2 month appointment and after a long conversation with the doctor we determined that I must not provide enough just nursing.  So Aliyah is now getting formula in addition to nursing and we have our happy healthy baby back!  She rolled over both back-to-front and front-to-back tonight for the first time.  She is growing so fast and she just continues to be more and more fun.  Kaleb adores her still and we all enjoy our time together so much.

Now for my spunky little two-year-old.  Life is so fun knowing what is on Kaleb's mind.  He is so silly and loves to share is silly ideas and thoughts with us.  Some of his favorite things right now are plums, trampolines, baseball, making Aliyah laugh, playing outside, and doing his ABC and Number puzzles.  He is learning the alphabet and counting and colors so well.  He loves to be helpful and most of the time he is very obedient and so sweet :)  We recently moved him out of his crib and for now he is sleeping on a mattress on the floor.  He will be getting a bunk bed next week, and we are hoping that will help his sleep a little bit better.  The last few weeks have been characterized by very little sleep since he ends up in our bed every night, sometimes after only an hour or so in his own bed.  It is fun to have him growing up and learning so much.  There are a couple conversations I just have to put in writing so that I don't forget them:

Mom:  I like to call Aliyah "Aloowa"
Kaleb:  I like to call her "Mohawk"

(After Aliyah sneezed twice)
Kaleb:  Aliyah did 2 burps!
Mom:  No, those are called sneezes
Kaleb:  No, those are called "bless-you's"

Oh I love that boy :)

A Birthday and A Blessing

Its been a while since I posted, so I am going to start at the most recent events and go back from there.  Yesterday we blessed our sweet baby girl!  It was a fabulous day.  Having so many family members gathered together to celebrate with us was wonderful.  Sacrament meeting was a very special experience.  Aliyah was perfectly content through it all, and I was grateful to not have the stress of a fussy baby.  As all the men walked toward the front to take part in the blessing, I was so touched by what that represented.  We have strong Priesthood holders throughout our immediate and extended family and it was so neat to think of that power supporting and blessing the network of our families.  The image of so many (it was a big circle) great men holding up this tiny baby girl and demonstrating their love for her and the gospel really had a strong effect on me.  Following the blessing, many wonderful testimonies were born, including my Grandpa Hatch's.  He bore his testimony at Kaleb's blessing and I was grateful to be able to hear from him again.  He is a good man who has lived a good life.  If it weren't for his dedication to the gospel through many trials, when it would have been much easier to cut himself off from the church, its very possible I would not be where I am today.  I love him and my Grandma and I am grateful for both of them. 

After sacrament meeting we gathered at my parents' house and had delicious Chinese Sundays and an incredible array of desserts.  Somehow I ended up doing hardly anything to prepare for and provide the meal, and although it was awesome to not have that stress, I felt really bad that the stress landed on others!  It was a really fun gathering, and I really appreciated everyone that came to support us.  Aliyah is such a special little girl, and it was neat to have a day just for her.  There is something about her little spirit that is so good for me.  She calms and soothes my heart and nerves.  I truly feel that Heavenly Father knew I needed her at this time.  I call her my "Happy Pill" because she just adds so much joy to my life. 

On Saturday, June 4th, we had the awesome opportunity to go to West Yellowstone and watch Sarah perform in the Playmill production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  The play was so awesome!  We laughed so hard throughout the entire show, and the vocal talent was so great.  Sarah did a fantastic job as Dan and an Egyptian.  I am so impressed with her perseverence and confidence in achieving her dream of being a "Playmill Player."  It was such a fun day to be together as a family.  I have missed my sisters so much and I really needed the uplifting sister time.

On Friday, May 27th, we celebrated Kaleb's birthday!  He turned 2 that day and I just have to say he is the cutest little boy in the world.  He is so delightful and brings so much fun and energy to our home.  For Kaleb's birthday we gathered in the Birch Upper Lounge and just had cake and opened presents.  It was really simple, but I think everyone had fun.  I know Kaleb did!  He got completely spoiled.  Grammy and Grandpa gave him a tricycle and Coach and Nonna gave him a basketball hoop.  Grandma and Ron gave him an awesome bubble set, Shariane and Juj and the kids gave him a really cool set of cars and a track for them.  Sam and Emi gave him his own dish set, with a plate, bowl, cup, spoon, and fork.  We gave him sunglasses, a Dodgers hat, an ABC foam puzzle, a children's Book of Mormon, some clothes, and I think that's all.  He was so delighted with everything and has had so much fun ever since.

 There is so much more I could post right now, but I'll leave it at this for now.  We are loving life as a family of 4 and we're looking forward to a fun summer! (That is if the weather ever allows us to have a summer)