Music Monday

I Wish It Would Rain, The Temptations

"I know to you it might sound strange, but I wish that it would rain." That line really spoke to me when I heard it on Pandora last week. Spring should be full of rain, and in Colorado that just doesn't happen. I know the song is a little melancholy, but I do love it! I love Motown music, The Temptations, and rain. Perfect combination!

Aly TV: Classic Literature

Aly's favorite book these days is the Dr. Suess classic The Foot Book.  She's loves to turn the pages and is even learning the "story".  You just might be able to tell what her favorite part is if you watch carefully.

5, 10, and 15 Year Plan

I saw this post on a new blog I'm getting wrapped up in and I had a lot of fun talking with Nick about our 5, 10, and 15 years plans that I decided to do a post on them. This is so fun to be as specific as you can because life is pretty predictable so I think our future will be pretty close to what I'll describe here soon (sarcasm is tricky to relate through writing, so FYI I was joking...haha). I'll try to stay brief, but frankly our life is so awesome I'm not sure if I can! And without further ado...

Five years from now...
I am going to be 30, Nick will be 34, Alexa will be 6 (that blows my mind), Grace will be 3.5, Isaac will be just a brand new baby, and Pip the fish will be such a joy to all, but especially to Isaac and Grace! We're going to be busy with Alexa in Kindergarten, playing soccer, doing gymnastics, and her and Gracie will be taking swimming lessons. Of course all of this will be taking place as Nick is finishing up his post-doc from Cornell University, which means we'll stay plenty busy exploring as much of the East Coast as we can take in! We'll be renting a lovely home in New York with a surprisingly big yard and I'll enjoy nothing more than doing all I can to make the cozy (a.k.a. small) home a piece of heaven.

Ten years from now...
I am going to be 35, Nick will be 39, Alexa will be 11, Grace will be 8.5, Isaac will be 5, Owen will be 2, and I'll be pregnant with little Natalie! Pip the fish, Toby the basset hound dog, and Horton the lizzard/frog/bunny/turtle/snake/hamster/etc. will keep all the kids wildly entertained! We're going to live in our dream home up in Pullman, WA where Nick will be a professor at Washington State. He will absolutely love his work and his family and his church calling on the stake council. I will stay plenty busy taking care of everyone and working with the young women in our ward. Alexa is going to be getting into hair, makeup, boys (which will give her dad minor heart attacks daily), yet she'll maintain her free-spirit and interest in soccer. She, along with Grace, will not necessarily enjoy piano lessons, but will go to them if they want to continue in their other interests. Grace is going to be just like her daddy and love school and think science and math are the bees-knees! Isaac will be almost starting kindergarten and be the dirtiest little boy with the cutest curly hair you've ever seen! Owen will idolize his brother and the three of us will be so busy making forts and looking at bugs and jumping in puddles we'll hardly have time for things like dishes and ironing (I can only hope). And of course, Natalie, our little birth-miracle, she'll be doted upon like nobody's business by myself, her proud daddy, and her older sisters. Life will be so sweet!


Fifteen years from now...
I am going to be 40, Nick will be 44, Alexa will be 16, Grace will be 13.5, Isaac will be 10, Owen will be 7, Natalie will be 5, and our surprise boy Gabriel will be just a couple months old (Nick doesn't like that name now, but I think I can talk him into it in 15 years)! Nick and I will will be planning on a lovely trip to Brazil for our 21st year anniversary that coming summer with his money from his Nobel Prize explaining solar magnetic polarity reversal (look it up)! We're going to love the rain and everything about our house in Pullman (which will still be getting improvements made by Nick's tinkering). One thing we won't love, well, Nick and I won't love, is that Alexa will be driving and dating and doing a lot of both. She will work hard in school and will love hanging out with her friends in our kick-trash-party basement, as will Grace! I can't tell you how much Gracie will remind me of Nick, and I'll just love it so much! Isaac will be into everything a 10-year old should be into, but especially scouting and baseball. Owen, like his brother, will love baseball but will also love his first-grade class and teacher and starting piano lessons. Natalie and I will be preparing for kindergarten by going to the library weekly (like we've done with all our kids for years) and also playing with Gabe like he's a little doll. Gabe is going to be a pretty mellow dude, and just enjoy life as it comes, but still love to get into everything and play with his mommy, daddy, and siblings. Of course Toby (the most patient dog in the world...he never dies, so no worries there), Tiny Tim (Pip died a couple years ago, so we will have had this new fish since then), and Horton are all enjoying their lives as part of our family as well.

This is so fun to think about, but as I was writing I thought of about a billion variations to this game plan that I would be just as excited about (a couple include adopting internationally and doing a foster-to-adopt program out of birth-order). Whatever happens, I am so happy to have Nick, Alexa, Ray, Melissa, and the rest of our family along for the ride from here on out. Isn't my life going to continue to be incredible??  

 
Our wonderful family of three!

Music Monday

Blessings by Laura Story

I really liked this song when I heard it on Pandora. I am so grateful for my blessings that have come by tears, sleepless nights, and especially rain drops. I just love rain! Happy Monday!

Fill in the Blank Friday

I'm having bloggers writing block, so my solution is to play a fun mindless game via blogging (and then shower, because, well, it's time). Now I just want to go a clean and decorate the house! But not go to Ikea...I think it's evil that they trap you in and make you spend 20 minutes to find a parking space. Evil I tell you!

1. My favorite room in my home is  __the living room     because ___our home is not that big and that's where most of the action happens.    

2. My current decor style is ___traditional meets poor graduate student income      but I wish it were more ___contemporary. I like the warm tones in my home, but I'd like to incorporate more accent pieces in the decor and furniture instead of on the walls. It also seems like a lot of flexibility/opportunity is given to that style whereas traditional has been set for years.___

3. I wish I could redecorate the ___"master bedroom"___ in my house to make it more decorated and cohesive. Seriously there is one big picture on the main wall, or marriage certificate on another, and a picture from our wedding on another. None of the frames match and really it's just so boring and does not reflect us at all!___

4. My dream house absolutely has to have ___a huge library with 3 walls of built-in bookshelves, preferably chalk-full of the best books of all time! This room would have glass french doors opening to it the 4th wall would be a huge window with a large sit-in window seat smothered with pillows! There would also be the most comfortable reading chairs ever created in it, not too comfortable you'd fall asleep, but so amazing that you don't even realize you've been reading for days! Yeah, I haven't thought about this at all...___

 Bigger window, books along third wall, and comfier reading chair. Perfect, no? (source)

5. One house item I am willing to splurge on is a ___reading chair. See above dream room as to why.___

6. A decor trend that I just don't "get" is ___modern. There is nothing cozy about it and I just think a home ought to be comfortable, not streamlined for the sake of being different or hip. It just isn't homey to me.___

7. ___Splashes of red___ is a little touch that makes my house feel like home. (Red just makes me happy.)

The Parent of All Virtues

A lot of familiar feelings have been creeping into my life recently that I have forgotten to have since about a year ago. One of which is this longing for something I desperately want and feel like I can do nothing about, which is kinda annoying. It's really not the feeling that's annoying, it's feeling that feeling that's annoying, like I'm taking steps backwards in my personal progression. (Clear as mud, right?) Shouldn't I be beyond getting frustrated over my reproductive capabilities?

I guess I naively thought that since these feelings took a sabbatical during my new-mommy-honeymoon-stage that they would stay away for good. I don't know why I was surprised when they came back, but I was. After my initial shock wore off I thought "well, what are you going to do about it?"

A couple Sundays ago I gave a comment in church that was a revelation from God that answered my own question. Be Grateful. Life can be so full if one is only grateful for what they have and then recognize that everything they are grateful for comes from God. I love this quote on gratitude:

We can lift ourselves and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues. Someone has said that “gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”

Publicly I would like to say that I am so grateful for my life! For my husband, daughter, family, and friends. Whether we have 1 kid or 100 kids or anything in between I have such a full and happy life and so much gratitude for my Father in Heaven who has entrusted me with all these blessings.

I look forward to all the blessings and miracles (big and little) that will come into our life!

Music Monday

I'm Going Down, Sera Hill

This version is from the show The Voice and I just loved this rendition so much! The closest version of the full song I could find on YouTube is below. Enjoy that soul, baby!

I'm Going Down, Rolls Royce