From May: Surprise Tooth Pull, Outdoor Beauty, Gardening Hardening, Photoshoots

 Surprise Tooth Pull

It was supposed to just be a routine cleaning at the dentist, but those loose teeth changed everything.  Poor little Amara didn't want them to even wiggle or bump her loose teeth, but the dentist knew best.  He said since she didn't seem to pull her teeth out soon enough, the adult teeth weren't coming in straight.

The hygienist called me back to be with Amara because she was teary-eyed and not speaking to her.  To say the least, Amara was upset.  When I reached her side she had a huge frown on her face, tears welled up in her eyes and shaking her head over and over saying, "no' without saying a word.  The hygienist told me the news and I could feel Amara's anxiety.  I promised her I would hold her hand through it all and tried to assure her that it wouldn't be as bad as she was expecting.  She would be all numbed up and wouldn't even feel them pop the teeth out.  I really tried to be reassuring, but she didn't really calm down.

When it came time for the dentist, he administered the shots and she screamed and yelped with each one.  By this time, she stopped trying to hold back her anger and tears.  Her entire body was tense and as the dentist used his tool to pop the teeth out, the teeth literally jumped out of her mouth.  She squealed as the pops happened, which only took 30 seconds to pop all 4 out.  When it was all over she was incredibly relieved and admitted that the teeth being pulled really didn't hurt at all.  She was all smiles when the hygienist handed her a necklace with a charm that was a tooth-shaped container that held all 4 of her teeth.  They stuffed her mouth full of gauze and it was all over.

Outdoor Beauty

I can usually tell when the sunset is going to be impressive.  I look for clouds in the sky that will reflect all the beautiful colors.  This one was made better by getting to experience it with the ones I love.

Gardening Hardening

We always have a TON of work to do in May, and gardening is always on that list.  The girls (and I) are learning to be great gardeners, which I believe will be a very useful skill when they grow up.

We've been raising our own plants from seed for the past few years as a part of the science studies the kids do for home school.  This year, we were hardening off our plants with intentions to plant right around Memorial Day.

Photoshoots

One last springtime activity we took part in was photographing some of our friends and their puppies, and our home teacher and his family before his mission.  I won't post all the pics here, but I will say that everyone loved their photos and it gave me an opportunity to practice photography.  I'm trying to get experience before my cousin's wedding in September that he asked me to photograph.  

We've taken puppy photos and photos for one of the children in this family, and apparently they were pleased because they asked us to take photos again and to take pics of all their kids and their cousins.  These families are such good people and we had a great time hanging out at this photoshoot.

They not only had puppies, but kittens too!

This next family was a blast to photograph.  The 3 boys are mission-bound.  The one throwing the kick in the photo below was our home teacher and his mom is my visiting teacher.  I volunteered Steve and I to take their family photos before the boys left on their missions, and they were kind enough to accept.

Our hometeacher is really awesome and he brought a sword to take pictures with.  Amara and he posed for some remarkable pics.

The serious sword pics turned out really cool.

And, the mission photos were nice too.

We really had too much fun photographing all our friends and their animals and I hope we have many more opportunities to do this together.  I'm learning a lot!

My Magical Mother's Day

Breakfast in bed made by my daughters included eggs, toast, sliced bananas, and side of ketchup!

Growing up I envisioned myself being a hard-working career woman who maybe got married and maybe had a family, eventually.  I thought I'd be graduated from college with a master's degree and have a nice home paid off before I ever met a guy that would be interested in me.  Then we might consider having kids, or not. 

In a very popular song from the Disney movie Frozen there is a line that says, "People don't really change."  HA!  Isn't that a load of steaming garbage being sung by little voices everywhere.  I'll be the first to tell you, people change.  They are dynamic!  They are changing all the time!  And such was the case with my plans for my future.  I got older, and wiser, and the closer I drew to God, the more my plans changed.  Getting married and starting a family wasn't some foreign afterthought.

Amara bought me that cute plate that says "love," and both she and Lily made me the paper flower.  

Not long later, I was married, and two years after that, I had my first baby!  Life changed completely!  Being a mother was way more humbling than I ever expected.  I learned that first year of my baby's life that being a mother was exactly what I always wanted to do, but never knew it.

"I love you so much as a mom,

you are the best, you are the bomb.

You are super, kind, and true,

So a very happy mother's day to you!"

I feel like mother's day isn't so much a celebration for me being a great mom as much as it is of gratitude to God for the chance I have to be a mother.  Motherhood has deepened my love.  It has deepened my understanding of God and myself.  My flaws are accentuated through motherhood, my need for repentance (change) is constant and it's not always roses.  That being said, I cannot speak of motherhood without acknowledging the blessing it is in my life to have extremely close relationships with 2 of God's finest daughters.  It is humbling to raise these two beautiful spirits because I know how Heavenly Father feels about them and what he expects me to teach them.  I truly feel blessed~

This past Mother's Day was special because my girls made me cards and breakfast in bed, and secretly bought me sweet gifts with their own money.  It was also special because I got to spend the whole day with my own mother.  It was fun to celebrate my mom.  I love her and I'm so thankful for our relationship!  

I made my mom and kids a hotdog omelet, sliced banana bread, and strawberries.

We had a special dinner prepared by Steve!  It was an exhausting effort for him, but he put out an amazing spread!

Mom used her natural talent of decorating to set the table.

We had a veggie tray, Mongolian beef and rice, seafood-lobster bisque, and shrimp cocktail.

He was exhausted pulling this together!  This is a pic of him right after he said, "Let's pray."

I think his exhaustion was not just because it was hard work to get the meal together.  In fact, I know he was exhausted because he had gorged himself on a giant piece of 7 layer chocolate fudge cake a la mode the night before and made himself sick the next day.  We did have a nice date that night, though.

The dessert was at Swain's Brother's Restaurant in Vernal.  Steve only ordered dessert, he knew he'd need his entire stomach to finish this monstrous dessert.  He actually never even finished it. 

To finish the evening off, my brother and his family from Hawaii Skyped us!  We got to visit for a good hour before it was time for him to get his Mother's Day meal moving.

Malia, JJ, and Joe!

This is what you get when you ask your brother to smile for a picture.

My nieces and nephews had so many new cool tricks to show me!

Maizie doing a handstand and Malia watching.

Malia can do a backbend!

This was JJ shortly after attempting something called a "air flip."  He did a front flip and landed flat on his back.  It was the first time he ever tried doing one.

Maizie had some funny faces for us too!

My kids made these cute worksheets for me in Primary.

This one is Amara's.

This one was Lily's.

Amara also drew me a portrait of myself.  It was a very beautiful rendering.  I feel so special and so blessed!