He is my sunshine

Yes.  I know.

Luke is a handsome dude.

What a joy to raise him.

Truly a joy.

A ray of sunshine.

From the time he was a small little baby

I would sing to him.

And the song that naturally came out of me was

"You are my sunshine"

I think he could sing it back to me

word for word 

by the time he was 18 months or so.

He is full of life 

and mischief

and energy

and love

and an extremely sweet spirit.

We waited for him for a very long time

and he was worth the wait.

Every day, every kiss, every hug,

every bit of naughtiness 

is a blessing that I cherish

Luke, I love you so much.

I can't believe you are 6 years old.

I can't imagine you have only been here 6 years.

I can't imagine my life before you.

You will always be my sunshine.
I will always love you.
No matter what.


I love you..
Mom

My prayer

My prayer goes something like this..

Please help me not fall off this roller coaster that is my life


Please help me not to have road rage today as I do my 40th errand of the day on the roads of Utah (or in other words, roads of Hell with drivers from Hell- I SWEAR, SATAN WAS TAILGATING ME TODAY!


Please help me to act excited when Luke asks me to read his same dinosaur book for the 19th time in a row


Please bless me to smile when all I want to do is cry


Please strengthen my back as I bend to pick up the nerf gun and bullets that I just picked up and put away 15 minutes ago


Please bless my husband with ALIVENESS so I don't have to be a single parent


Please magnify the strength of my Midol and Aleve as well as the healing properties of my Diet Coke


Please give me strength to deal with not only my hormonal imbalances, but Maddie's and Sadie's as well.


Please forgive me for wanting to crawl in bed, lock my door and watch reruns of "Real Housewives of New Jersey" for an entire day


Please instill in me some understanding as to why teenagers have to be so moody and sullen and help me to smile in the face of their "teen spirit"


Please bless me with some creativity and energy for the sake of my dinner preparations- I think my family is sick of waffles and eggs & bacon and quesadillas


Please help me to be the mother that my kids deserve and the wife that my husband dreams of (unless the wife of his dream looks like Rihanna or acts like Brittney Spears...)

AND..


Thank you for helping me survive the last couple of busy weeks.

AMEN.


We made it through...

• a trip to Neola without Todd
• a baptism (loved it!)
• several birthday parties for Luke 
• 2 menstrual cycles at the same time
• Maddie getting a speeding ticket (her 2nd) and losing her car privileges--indefinitely
• Maddie's senior pictures
• Tanner going to football, but still not feeling well enough to play
• Physical therapy conference in Layton (13 hours of pure lecture fun!!)
• Todd being hit by a stupid drunk person and thus sustaining several thousand dollars damage to his BMW, which I like to call his "mistress" (serves her right for being so sleek and sexy..)
• Luke and Sadie dentist appointment, where we were informed of Luke's first 2 cavities :(

and many more adventures!

We are blessed beyond measure that we are all alive and happy.  Todd got minor whiplash, but could have been much more hurt.  We are getting to spend more time with Maddie as we run her around to work and different activities.  I keep expecting my life to calm down a bit because I feel like it can't possibly get busier.

I go now to perfect my Relief Society Lesson and start my packing list for our Orlando trip that is in 4 days... But all that will have to wait as I have just been informed that I must go to the store for milk because it is Saturday night and that is when we always run out of milk.  And we always run out of milk on Saturday nights when Todd is not here to go get the milk for me.  And we always discover the absence of milk at about 9 o'clock at night on Saturday night.  (sigh)

Please help me to understand the importance of milk on the Sabbath day and not be bitter that I have to be the provider of that said milk...

AMEN and AMEN.

Oh yes, and thank you for Pinterest...

Lettuce Wraps

• Head of Butter lettuce
• Garlic-Soy Chicken (recipe below)
• Peanut sauce (recipe below)
• Assorted veggies diced

Garlic Soy Chicken
1 small onion, sliced (i don't like onion so I substitute dehydrated onion & onion salt/powder)
2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup vinegar
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Mix all ingredients and pour over chicken breasts in crock pot.  Cook on low heat 6-8 hours

Peanut Sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
3 tablespoons peanut butter
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
1 T chili paste with garlic (didn't have so I didn't use)
4 garlic cloves, minced

Can be used as a dipping sauce or poured over the contents of your wrap.

I sauteed diced carrots, zucchini and mushrooms in a saucepan and added to my chicken right before serving.

Makes me smile

Loads of smiles this weekend because:

1.  General Conference

Loved the wonderful, inspirational and uplifting messages

Loved President Monson's funny little shrugs and eyerolls

Loved the temple announcements

Love, love, love

2.  Had my whole family at the breakfast table on Sunday

for our BIG BREAKFAST FEAST

blueberry muffins

homemade hashbrowns from real potatoes

eggs & toast

fresh peach smoothie

cantaloupe (yes, we risked it and it was delicious!!)

3. Maddie got some pictures taken for her senior year.

We invited her BFF Kendal, to come along too.

We love her.

I love watching these two.

My friend Karman (see her photography blog here) was in charge of this photo session 

and was kind enough to let me tag along and snap some pics too.

She's awesome. I love her.

 This one is one of my favorites, even though her skirt is a little hiked up.. little hussy...

 He loves me.. he loves me not.. HE LOVES ME!

 Love these two.. makes me smile

4.  Bike bowling also makes me smile..

5.  I learned how to fishbone braid.

Love it.

 6.  Hats for bad hair days (or conference weekends)

7.  Hiking in the beautiful canyons.  Love the fresh mountain air & amazing colors!