Hannah will you protect me?

So most of you know that I play on a soccer team. It's a women's league team in Spanish Fork. Anyways, the last few weeks there is one girl in particular that has been quite rude to me. I have no idea why! She yells at me alot and tells me that I am "useless" and such. Anyway, this post is not about me. Its about Hannah. Last night BJ told the girls that someone was mean to me and had them tell me that they love me when I got home from my game. It was sweet.
Well, this morning I was helping Hannah with some homework (name the days of the week, name the seasons, what are the magic words? - please and thank you). After we were done with homework I was talking to her and this was our conversation:

MOM: "Hannah, do you remember when mommy was sad yesterday because someone was mean to me?"

Hannah: "Yes."

Mom: "Well, lets try really hard to be nice today so we don't make someone sad like that."

Hannah: "Mom, was it a mommy that was mean to you?"

Mom: "Yes."

Hannah: "Do you want me to talk to her?"

Mom: "Sure."

Hannah: "OK mom, you stay with daddy and Brooklyn and I will talk to her."

Mom: "OK. But what are you going to say to her?"

Hannah: "Please and Thank you!"

I laughed (it still makes me laugh just typing it) and gave her a big hug. I thought to myself, wow, those words are alot nicer then the ones I was thinking of saying!

I LOVE YOU HANNAH!

Primary Program Done!!! Phew

I am so relieved that our Primary Program is done. I love the programs, but they are a lot of work. I was so proud of the kids in our ward and how well they did today. They new all the words to the songs and many of the children had their parts memorized. I was very impressed. Only a couple of unexpected things during it, but thats to be expected with 50+ children for 45 minutes...

CrockPot Dinners!

I have recently been experimenting with different crockpot dinners. And, I'm in love! Lately, between BJ's calling, my calling, school, and extra-curricular activities it seems like my life is going at a rather fast pace. I really don't mind cooking, but the planning is what is hard for me. And if I haven't planned anything and 4:00 rolls around then I feel doomed and we either eat out or eat junk. I am desperately trying to improve this, and have fallen in love with crockpot meals.
Tonight, I am trying stuffed pork chops. It was super easy to prepare and smells really good! (I haven't eaten it yet.) If it tastes good, then I will post the recipe for anyone interested in trying it.

Ok, so I made the dinner and it was pretty good. I think I will have to make it again though, because A, I didn't have one of the ingredients and I think it would give it good flavor it I had it. and B, it cooked a little too long in my opinon. BJ said it was fine, but the outside of the pork was a bit tough. But here's the recipe to anyone interested.

STUFFING
Fine dry bread crumbs 7/8 cup
Finely chopped celery 1 tbsp
Finely chopped onion 1/4 cup
Poultry seasoning 1/4 tsp
Parsley flakes 1/4 tsp
Salt 1/4 tsp
Pepper 1/16 tsp

Hot water 2/3 cup
Chicken bouillon powder 1/2 tsp

Thick lean pork chops, slit horizontally to make pockets (you or the butcher can do this)

Mix the first 7 ingredients in bowl.

Stir hot water and bouillon powder together in small cup. Pour over stuffing mixture. Toss, adding more water if needed to moisten.

Stuff pockets in pork chops. Arrange in slow cooker. Cover. Cook on Low 8-10 hours or on High 4-5 hours. Serves 6.

Let me know what you think?

A lesson my daughter taught me...

Yesterday evening I was feeling rather frustrated about how quickly my house has been messy. I determined that this is happening because we are running out of room in this house. I was venting these frustrations to BJ. I was telling him that I hate not having room to put things, I hate how inconvenient it is to have to go into the attic to get stuff or put things away, I hate that our bedroom is so small that I can't fit any of my things in there and have to use another room.... and so on. We were talking and brainstorming and both feeling rather frustrated. I was frustrated about not having things the way I want or not having things convenient. And I'm pretty sure what BJ was hearing was, "I don't like this house! I want to move! I want a bigger house! I want nicer things..." Well, we decided to continue our conversation later as we were just sitting down to dinner. BJ asked Brooklyn to say the prayer on our food. And this is what she said:
"Dear Heavenly Father,
We are grateful for our home. We are grateful that we have a house and that it keeps us warm. We are grateful that we have beds and that they keep us warm. We are grateful that we have nice clothes and nice toys and lots of friends around us. We are grateful that we are a family and that we have each other. We are grateful that we have food and that we aren't hungry. In the name ..... "
Well, she sure taught me an important lesson! And helped me regain a proper perspective on what is truely important and what really matters. Thank you Brooklyn for the pureness of your heart and for being a good example to me. I love you so much and will try to be a good example to you!

First Day of School!

Hannah, on her first day of preschool. She is so excited that she is big like her big sister. She takes her backpack (or what she says, packpack) with her everyday. Even though there is never anything in it.

Brooklyn on her first day of school. First grade!!. Yes, I cried. :) I just love her to pieces and can't believe she is getting this old.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!!....(two months ago - yikes)

Ok, so this blog post is quite past due. I've decided that I am not a reader nor a writer. It is just so hard for me to get myself to sit down and do either of those things. I will however, make myself do it today. I just can't let more time go by without a little tribute to my sweet girl who turned 6 yrs old over the summer.

Brooklyn has brought so much joy into our lives, as well as left me puzzled from time to time. But, I suppose most children are that way. She is very unique from other normal children. I don't say that to be insulting, it's actually something I love about her. I guess I should correct myself and say that she is normal in everyway, except one! Her cleanliness. Most of our close friends and neighbors are probably aware of her compulsive need to have things clean and in order.

If I were to ask Brooklyn to make her bed I have to make sure that it is followed by "just do the best that YOU can!". And I usually have to repeat that about a thousand times. If not she would want to make her bed to such perfection that the stripped pattern on her bed spread would have to be perfectly straight with her bed. Each layer of bedding could not have any wrinkles on it. Her pillows would be set up just right (facing a certain direction, certain ones go on the right and other pillows on the left, each animal in a specific spot). So much so, that if I were to move anything out of its spot she would notice immediately as she came into her room. (I know this, because I've tested it. I switched only two pillows once on her bed and as soon as she came home from school the very first thing she said when she came into her room was "MOM!, who came in my room and moved my pillows!"

Just about everytime she goes to a friends house she will insist on cleaning their room. Toys need to get put away and beds made. I once overheard her say to a friend that was here playing, "I know! I have a great idea! Let's clean the playroom". The friend was not as enthused as she was to clean, but kindly watched.

It is not unusual for me to find her cleaning the bathrooms, doing the dishes or even vaccuuming out the cars (she asked to do that just yesterday).

Now most parents would think that is just "fabulous" and "amazing" and "how do I get my children to do that". But you see, I am just like Brooklyn!! I am very OCD with how things are done. Not necessarly getting them done (kids has cured that) but still how they are done. So you see this presents a little problem. I find myself having to walk away when Brooklyn is cleaning the bathroom because I know it is not getting done just the way I want it to. And no amount of training her on cleaing the bathroom will cure my OCD. If I am to feel it is clean, then I simply need to do it myself. I DO NOT do this however! I would go crazy!! I just tell myself over and over that it is ok how it is.

Anyways, I could ramble forever about these things. Brooklyn, is also super compassionate and very close to the spirit. She is a wonderful big sister and a huge help to her parents.

For her birthday this year we rented a 200 ft slip n slide a Peteetneet School in Payson. We invited all her friends and cousins (about 16 kids) and played in the sun and water for 2 hours. We loved it. It was probably one of the most fun and easy birthday parties I've ever done!