Mizzzz Attitude

She thought she'd sneak out the front door,
waddle down our street,
and try to find someone to tackle.
With her popsicle in-tow, of course.

Need I say more?

Hottie Boom Bottie!

I started plotting my garden.
I hired a gardener to pick-axe his way through the "soil"
filled with rocks, chunks of cement, and hard-packed mud.
He brought his little chanchita to do the dirty work.
Don't you want a team like this doing YOUR yardwork?

HOPE

blog, Blog, BLog, BLOg, BLOG!

All I want to do is BLOG!
Write,
Post pictures...since like JULY,
Read comments on all my new posts,
and then pat myself on the back for making someone laugh
...or cry...
whatever your cup
:)

All of my new pictures are stuck on the external hard drive that my computer no longer reads.
Ah!

So just for kicks:
Remember when I was ready for 20 more kids as soon as Porter was born?
And remember when we found out we were expecting her when he was 12months old?
And remember when my boobs were JAI-GANtanormous!?!
Yeah.
Presh.
(A few nights away from delivering little princess)


And remember when Luke was chasing illegals down on the border the night my labor began?
And remember when I nearly delivered Afton in my shower at home?
And in my neighbor's car trying to get to the hospital?
And in the elevator trying to get up to the Delivery room?
And when the tech had to tell me to keep my pants on because all I wanted to do was push as soon as i entered the hospital?
(that poor guy would have been so scarred for life!)
And remember when Luke was escorted by border patrol sirens to the hospital, making it just in time(with twigs and dirt all over him) to give me his hand for the 3 pushes it took to for my water bag to shoot all over the doctor (nearly knocking her glasses off), and Afton to be born?
Yeah.
Precious.


And then remember when she was born?
About 6 weeks after that?
How I realized, I don't, in fact, want 20 of these?
And now, how she's 16months old and I'm still exhausted from her babyhood?
Poor Porter, this might be the only sibling he gets!

:)
Just kidding...
but it's going to be another 17 years.

If You Had to Choose One...

Which would it be?
Exhibit A:

Or
Exhibit B:

???
'Cause I personally like the naked baby wanting me to pick her chubby bum up and squish her!

Just Because

It's been a month since I last posted
and
I paid for the internet today ($7) so I could blog.
Yes, WAY overdue, I know.
Well, my computer has decided not to detect the external hard-drive with all of my pictures!
{Argh!}
So I thought I'd post an oldie that was on the computer's hard-drive.

"One of these things is not like the other...
One of these things just doesn't belong..."

(Thanks, Sesame Street!)

*Me at 8 months with Porter

I Wish I Could Sew Like This....

(this one's for Shauna)
Teachers Pet Cardi, Simple Tee and Poppy Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

But SRSLY, while I'm here....for three years... with no t.v., no shopping, and none of my usual American "comforts," I'm working on changing myself. Doing more reading, crafting, spending better time with my kiddos, cooking, creating, gardening, and even composting!

So far so good. I have the compost started...the garden mapped out and weeded. Now I just have to get past the whole "feeling inferior to anyone crafty" thing.

We all have our strengths...I just wish I could be AWESOME at smth specific...not a "jack of all, master of NONE." Does anyone else feel that way? I want to do it all! Be great at it all and have time for it all! But let's be realistic. Can't someone just assign me some things? You know, like the Chinese government does, hobbies or studies that I should learn and refine. That'd take care of my crafts/hobbies ADD!

Okay, now it's Porter's time. If anyone has any suggestions about how they pick 'n choose, and decide on how to divide their time between what's important, and what's not-so-important, please share!

Heaven

So I've been saying "Heaven" a lot lately because of Bodensee.

Porter asked me about Heaven so I explained,
"That's where Jesus lives, and that's where we once lived.
Because of Jesus, we get to go back to Heaven!
Do you want to go back to Heaven and live with Jesus?"

To which he replied,
"YEAH! But not today."

(I love him.)

You are what my soul has been yearning for, Bodensee!

...or "Lake Constance" for all you country bumpkin.
Lovely piece of Heaven on Earth!
A lake situated in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland at the foot of the Alps!
*Even on a not-so-clear-weekend, we got some pretty decent shots...just look hard in the backgrounds for the Alps. They're there.

They make me smile...
almost as much as this place does.
:)

Speechless.

Afton looks like one of those ocean buoys here.

Please! Do NOT bother me. I'm sunbathing in Heaven...
while Afton eats my shoe

Coolest fountain-that-you-can-play-in

My big German piece o' man

Don't say anything...
('cause I love him and think he's cute. Even if he is riding a sealunicorn with shorts entirely too short!)

Afton rides rabbits

Fun
(for lack of anything else for a caption)

Best food we've had since arriving in Deutschland!
(Oh Thai, how I love thee!)
And the owners had a "thing" for Afton, which I did not mind because I actually had time to taste my food!

Fat, sticky, and happy after boating, Thai, and Italian ice cream.
Mmmmm

Day 2:
Island of Mainau...
on the lake.

(while) Porter rides ponies.
For 1 Euro he rode a pony at the island petting zoo.

Baroque Castle.
That's all I know.
I just wanted to get back on the water.

Breathless.

(Shhhhhh......enjoy the moment)

Auf vidersen, Bodensee!!! Until next time!

Why I Love My "Job"

...because it's really not a job at all.

This is how we get ready in the mornings.
AKA: they let me get ready

Birkenkopf...

Where Stuttgart's rubble from WWII was placed. And now it stands as a mountainish hill. Grass and trees cover the entire thing until you get to the top.
And here it is:

I DON'T GET how I am always captured imagining myself floating weightless with little seahorses...how does that happen?!

It was sobering trying to imagine the history of each piece and where and how it was destroyed.
I can only imagine what the WWII /Holocaust sites will be like!

Some of my favorites.
Up close.

Hohenzollern Castle

Outside:

"Hohenzollern Castle is the ancestral seat of the Prussian Kings and German Emperors as well as the Swabian branch of the Princes of Hohenzollern. It ranks among Europe’s most famous and popular castles. The stunning panorama of the picturesque landscape has already been admired by Emperor William II. (1859-1941) who visited the castle several times and is said to have uttered 'the view from up here is truly worth a voyage'."

Inside:

You ready to come visit?

Bummed

So, as some of you may remember, or not,

I made a lameshmame attempt to post something "happy" every Sunday.
Lasted one week.
So here goes my newest Sunday post.

I felt like I should invite this awesome girl (who's my age) and her little boy,
to church with us.
(I know he looks a lot like her, but this is not her little boy. Unfortunate;y I didn't get a picture the day they came.)

I met her while staying at our hotel and felt from the first minute we met, that something was so special about her. She is from Ghana and has had a difficult life but she still has a light in her eyes that says she hasn't given up.

So you know when you keep getting "those thoughts" ?
The ones that pop in your head randomly...while you're making the bed, or singing a song, or even reading one of those celebrity gosspy mags that you shoudn't be reading. Doing everything that would normally not lead to such thoughts.
THAT'S when you think "hmmm, maybe I should listen."

All week, after the idea to invite her popped in my head, other things kept popping into my head like D&C18:16 which reads:
"And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!"

And then President Eyering's talk when I was making the bed:
"It’s easy to say, 'The time isn’t right.' But there is danger in procrastination. Years ago I worked for a man in California. He hired me, he was kind to me, he seemed to regard me highly. I may have been the only Latter-day Saint he ever knew well. I don’t know all the reasons I found to wait for a better moment to talk with him about the gospel. I just remember my feeling of sorrow when I learned, after he had retired and I lived far away, that he and his wife had been killed in a late night drive to their home in Carmel, California. He loved his wife. He loved his children. He had loved his parents. He loved his grandchildren, and he will love their children and will want to be with them forever.
Now, I don’t know how the crowds will be handled in the world to come. But I suppose that I will meet him, that he will look into my eyes, and that I will see in them the question: “Hal, you knew. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Among other things.
So I prayed for courage because, as most of you know, this sort of thing is SO outside of my comfort zone :)
Nah, say what?!?
I know, I hide it well. thx.

Anywho, so I invited her and she seemed genuinely excited. She had no pre-conceived notions as she had never heard about our church. So that was nice!
Sunday morning rolled around and they were 20mn late.
That was fine.
But then she said her husband was waiting for us.
We had to go meet him and tell him exactly where we were going.
He ended up following us to church...
fiasco in itself because he took the lead.
And then he started throwing his arms at me where I should park, and when I went to our church lot instead, he started whistling at me.
Like I was a dog.
I felt so much for Salo-Mey (pronounced "Sarah-May")and Benjamin.
I saw her spirits sink, as did mine.
When we piled out of my car, he yelled at her to come over to him.
Then she came back and she went into church with us.
With 15mn of Sacrament Meeting remaining.
Then, she did everything but run out after the meeting.

I wanted to cry.
But didn't...not much anyway.
I have faith.
I KNOW the Lord will prepare them to receive the Gospel.
But it's on His time.
And not mine!
That is why I was bummed.

I had the whole thing planned out.
She would feel the Spirit the first time visiting, the congregation would sound like the Mormon Tab when singing, and she would have the desire to come back, and her husband would let her. Then she would be baptized and have a burning testimony of the Lord's love for her and her family, and joy in knowing Heavenly Father's plan for her.
(sigh)
I just have to know that everything happened the way it did today, because it was in His plan.
I may not understand it or want it that way, but I have to have faith.

Keep her in your prayers.

Stage 3: 14 Beds in 41 Days...

and hopefully NOT counting anymore.
Oh, the places we have been!
We were SO blessed to be able to see most of our family on our way out of the states.
(Sorry Florida, your turn is next)
Luke was able to get a month of vacation time so we tried to make the most of it.
The final leg of our journey was spent in Missouri enjoying family, old friends, and the outdoors.
Here are a few of the bajillion pics we snapped.

Camping "down home" in the mud and the rain at Duncan's Bridge, Mo.

My studly man chopped this tree down with his bare hands...oh yeah, and with the help of his little friend named "axe."

4 Generations!
In front of the house that's been in the family sine the 1800s.

They were trying to recruit Porter. He said he'd have to "sink aboud it"

Dear, old friends

Swimming, Missouri style.
Indoors.

Biking part of the MKT trail in Rolla, Mo.
(When we were growing up, we were lucky enough to have Twin Lakes, the MKT , and a river run right behind our 3 acres backyard.
So fun!)

Thank you, Dad, for sponsoring this fun day!