Have the Terrible Two's begun...

I am afraid the notorious "Terrible Two's" have begun here in our home. Up to this point our everyday temper tantrums have been pretty low key. Karlee has really been entertaining (to say the least) when she gets upset. She will just stand and scream, then she notices that no one is reacting to her screams, and she will come over and give you a hug, and say "I love you!" - as though she is saying 'I am sorry for losing my temper'. I haven't really posted much about her 'terrible two moments', thinking I will later.

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However today Karlee got destructive. She was in her nap today and wasn't really lovin the idea of having to sleep. But thats the norm for her afternoon naps. She will cry for a bit, then normally fall asleep for a good 1-2 hours. Today she wanted nothing to do with sleep - she did quiet down for about an hour, but started crying again. I was on the phone with Verizon (a whole other story) and so I just let her cry. When I got off the phone (2 minutes later) Karlee was in her bed, crying saying what I thought sounded like "fix it, fix it". I hadn't noticed what needed fixing. When I went to pick Karlee out of her bed, I saw pink vinyl, then looked up and noticed that the pink "K" had been torn off. Karlee was crying once again, as I told her that we couldn't fix the "K". She then just put her head on my shoulder and rubbed my back, as to say, "its okay". Oh well, as Rob put it best: She's 2 - what did you expect!

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So to note... this will be our first of many terrible two moments that will be blogged and shared.

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The before and after picture!

Thankful Thursday #3 - words of wisdom

I am thankful for words of wisdom.
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Last week, while my mom was out of town, I called and talked to my dad more often than I usually do. It was really nice. I think the world of my dad. I really do. In one of our phone conversations my dad told me of his experience that he had that day. He had gone downtown for a lunch with his friends and had locked his keys inside his truck. He said that this was the first time that he had done this. I thought how horrible that would be. He told me that he wasn't worried because he knew that he had a spare key at home. So he had his friend drive him home to get his spare and then back down to his truck, and then he was on his way. The words of wisdom were: Everyone should have an extra set of keys! I think he has probably 3 different sets. I told my dad that, had that happened to Rob or myself, we would be in BIG trouble. BIG trouble because we don't have an extra set of keys for either vehicle. Ya - so I told my dad that I would get a couple keys made. Well as life would have it - it just continued and I didn't get to the store to have the spare keys made. The reason for this story goes as follows:

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On Wednesday morning Rob, had planned on taking his truck to work, so that I could take our car for errands. He couldn't find his keys, and of all times, he was rushing out the door. So he had to take our car and I would look for the keys. Problem was that he had seen Karlee playing with them the other day. Great! They could be anywhere, is what I thought. The first thing that came to my mind was the words of wisdom of my dad - Everyone should have an extra set of keys! After a couple hours of cleaning and searching for the lost keys, I found them. They had fallen down between the couch and the cushions.

Lesson learned, here are the 3 set of keys that we now have in our home. There is now a feeling of peace that I will be able to experience in times of crisis, atleast if it involves missing keys. I am thankful for the words of wisdom that I always get from my dad. What a great teacher - I am always learning!

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Look: 3 sets of keys!

Happy Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday Dad!

My dad celebrated his birthday on Saturday. My mom has been in Alaska with my sister Kaye and her new baby, so we drove over to spend the day with my dad. We celebrated with an amazing grilled Alaskan Halibit lunch (which my dad made us), then ended it with some Dutch Apple pie and some Vanilla ice cream. It was so yummy! While we were there my dad got lots of phone calls with birthday wishes from family and even some of his students remembered his birthday and called to sing to him. We had a wonderful day visiting with my dad. We also played Qwirkle, such a fun game. On Sunday we went with my dad to his Stake Conference, he had been asked to speak, but they had so many speakers, that we were only able to hear him share his testimony. When we got home from church - I read his talk, and for the record, it was a GREAT talk. Too bad no one was able to hear all that he had prepared.

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We are really glad that we were able to go over and spend my dad's birthday with him. As Rob said, "Birthdays are to be Celebrated!" Karlee was so excited to be able to spend time with her Papa.

Playing Qwarkle -Such a fun game!

Karlee and Papa looking at scripture pictures.

Thankful Thursday #2 - my Karlee.

So today is my second post for my Thankful Thursdays . . .

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As I think of what I want to post about today, what comes to mind to me is obvious . . . I am thankful for my Karlee. She makes me smile everyday - I am so lucky to be a mom to such a beautiful child. Karlee has such a special spirit. She is growing up, and it is so fun to watch her discover life and the world around her. In a couple of weeks she will turn 2 years old. Karlee has a tender heart, she gives the best hugs. She teaches me so much. One thing that I am trying to do, is to see life as Karlee is seeing it. What a special and amazing way to look at life. It makes the simplest things in life so exciting. I just LOVE LOVE her.

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I am humbled that my Heavenly Father has allowed me to raise such an amazing child. Karlee is Beautiful. I am truly thankful and feel so blessed to be Karlee's mother.

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Coloring: one of Karlee's favorite things to do these days.

Mama, Can I have some cereal?

This happened this week, and I thought it deserved its own post. It was just before bed, Karlee was over playing with her toys, and I was just picking up our mess after our day at home. When Karlee came up to me and said: "cereal" indicating that she wanted some cereal. I thought, well okay since she really didn't eat much at dinner. She must have been hungry so I went to the kitchen and got her a couple shredded wheat squares. She took the cereal in her little hands and then went over to toys. This is what I saw: She had her princess toys sitting at their dinner table and she had placed the cereal on the table for her toys to enjoy. Isn't that just the cutest thing ever.

Thankful Thursday - my wonderful husband, Rob!

'Thankful Thursdays' - I have a good friend (Ashley) that had this on her blog awhile back and thought what a good idea. I thought she was so inspired to express her gratitude on a weekly basis, so I am going to implement this to our blog this year. I am getting a slow start to getting going this new year.

This week I read a thought from a friend that she had posted on her facebook page, and loved what it said. The thought is:

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Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect.

It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.

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I am Thankful for my wonderful husband, Rob! He truly is an amazing person. He truly lives this thought in his life. Not to say that he is always happy with how life is, but he has the ability to 'look beyond the imperfections' to the challenges of life and he makes things work. I am so thankful for the smile that he always has on his face. How he can make our little Karlee's face light up with so much joy. Rob has a gift of being able to walk into a room, and lighting it up. I Love Rob so much, and am so grateful that we are a Forever Family!

Resolutions for 2010

I have debated whether I wanted to post my new year resolutions partly because resolutions tend to be a private matter to me. So I have decided to list a few of them. Another reason I have decided to post some of my resolutions is so that there will be a little more accountability on my part. If that doesn't make sense to you as the reader, then oh well, it makes sense to me. I sat down shortly after the first of the year and starting writing my goals out, I know I know, I should probably have done this before the year started so that I could get a running start. Well I didn't! oh well! Better late than never, and January isn't over yet - so technically its still the first of the year. (rationalization I know, ha ha) I enjoy making goals/resolutions. I think that by doing so I am able to measure how well I am doing as a person, friend, mother, etc.

Some of my New Year Resolutions are:

• Read Book of Mormon
• Get Organized
• Simplify - Simplify
• Attend the Temple Monthly
• Have a Date Night with Rob
• Exercise - run road races (I know too generalized)
• Be a better friend. - be more aware
• Writing in my journal more regularly
• Have quality time with Karlee
• Study the Scriptures more
• Read Ensign Monthly
• Slow Down - Take Time

Okay so there you have it. Some of my New Years Resolutions and I know that I will definately add more to my list of resolutions. I hope that I will be able to look back to this post at the end of the year and feel good about the work that I have done with these goals.

Bringing in the New Year

Bringing in the New Year was a fun night as expected. We brought the new year in at my sisters home (monica-thanks for having us all there). We had our Worthen family holiday gift exchange. We had a good night, full of games, and lots of yummy-yummy food. We missed Kaye and Jared who live up in Alaska and recently had their little baby boy join their family on December 29th. I am natorious for not being able to stay up to ring in the new year, but his year I actually stayed up to ring in the new year. Horray for me! Karlee had so much fun with all her big cousins. But didnt make it to the new year. Thank goodness, she would have been lots of fun to deal with the next day.

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What the new year means to me: It is a new start, and a chance to drop old habits, and work on new goals. 2009 was an interesting year, not really sure what to think about it. However I have faith and believe that 2010 can and will be a much better year for our little family. Some of the things we are looking forward to this year are: Finding Full-Time Employment, Karlee turning 2 years old, Heather turning the big 35 (not really sure I am looking forward to this), our 10th Wedding Anniversary, and many many more wonderful things.