Mother's Day

It was my first Mother's Day. Hoorah! In the morning, Mr. Mitchell made breakfast and played with C.G. so that I could take a nap. At church I got a Symphony bar, and Mr. Mitchell took C.G. during Relief Society so that I could sit through the entire thing uninterrupted. It was delightful. That evening I was treated to dinner. The night before, Mr. Mitchell looked up a recipe and bought the ingredients for chicken cordon bleu, and on Sunday he made it for the first time ever. It was delicious! He cleaned up all of the mess, and then some, too! The only 'materialistic' thing he gave me that day was a card, and I appreciated it so much. What I really needed was 'a day off,' and he gave me just that. From my mother I received a cute little book, soap, and hand towel. From my dad I was given a beautiful garnet necklace made using a garnet he mined himself. I was spoiled and loved it. To all of you other mothers out there:

Anniversary #3!

Yesterday marked our three-year anniversary. It was a little different this year. I was able to get work off for the night, but Mr. Mitchell had to be in Idaho Falls all day for required classes so that he can be ready to go out on fires. Consequently, we split the event's celebrations into two different days.

Saturday we drove to Logan, UT to do sealings in the temple there while my sister's family played with C.G. We are going to try and do sealings on every anniversary because we want to help other couples and families have the blessing and joy of being families for eternity. Mr. Mitchell and I are not just together until 'death do us part.' We're together forever; it's a huge deal, and we want everyone to have it.

The temple was very busy with weddings. It was so fun to see all of the beautiful brides and the couples having their pictures taken. We found an opportunity to get our picture taken without someone else in it and we snatched it!

Beautiful day!

Afterwards we went to The Crepery because I had been craving it since I went there with my sister in February. Afterwards, we spent some time with the Smiths and then we had to head back so that I could be to work on time.

Yesterday, I got three balloons (one for each year, and in our wedding colors) and tied a candy bar to each one with a favorite memory (or perhaps a few!) from each year attached. I had them waiting in the bedroom with a bottle of sparking cider. Mr. Mitchell came home with a beautiful bouquet that looked almost like my wedding bouquet, and he even meant to do it! Super cool. We had a lovely evening together complete with dinner from Texas Roadhouse.

Partial aftermath of dinner and movie.

Balloons and bouquet.

We're looking forward to the rest of eternity!

April 2013

Here's the part where I put in all of the miscellaneous pictures and videos that I would like to share with friends and family.

First of all, I finally made the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Seriously amazing. I was truly proud of myself.

Perfection!

I had to snap the last gummy picture of my baby. His two bottom teeth burst on April 28 and April 30. I miss that adorable toothless smile, but he is stinkin' cute with his two new chompers.

Last toothless picture.

I'm not sure why this picture was taken, but I just love the face. We can pretty much always tell what he's thinking.

"You have crossed the boundary from entertaining to weird."

I don't have any C.G. videos the month that wouldn't bore anyone besides me. I could watch C.G. do nothing all day! However, he never does nothing all day. He is a big-time roller. We try to sit him up, but he doesn't want it. He'll flop right over and roll where he pleases. Sometimes he'll do a labored army crawl if whatever he's trying to get to is too close to roll to, but too far to just reach. Most of the time, though, he rolls and gets anywhere he wants that way. He makes lots of different noises, started reaching out to us when he wants to get picked up, and loves to eat. He loves pears, banana wild berry, banana, sweet potato, banana puffs, and milk. He hates peas. He'll tolerate pretty much anything in between. He loves strings and crinkly paper.

I do want to share a couple of thoughts I had this month along with a funny story:

1) I had to fill in for a housekeeper this month, and when I arrived at the condo to start cleaning, the family was still there working on getting out the door. They invited me in to start cleaning while they headed out, and I overheard this conversation between the mom and daughter. 

"Mom! Why can't I wear it?"

"Because we are classy people."

Boom. That was it. No wordy explanation, no 'because I said so,' no bashing people who do wear that. Why don't more mothers try to teach their daughters to be classy in their words, dress, and actions? It thrilled my heart to hear a mother trying to teach her daughter to be a lady. Please don't read this as an appreciation of snobbery, because it was not that at all. It was simply good taste.

2) While sitting at the table with my mom and dad enjoying the perfect chocolate chip cookies my mom told me that I'm like Mary Poppins. Jokingly I said, "Why? Because I'm 'practically perfect in every way?'" To my surprise she said 'yes.' I almost never feel that I'm good enough at anything, and I was so tickled to hear my mom say that. My dad piped in by saying that there's no such thing as a perfect parent, but that I'm pretty close. That almost made me cry. Granted, I haven't had to do too much parenting, but I seem to be doing a good job so far. My favorite thing about that conversation was the wrap-up from my dad, "You never know whether or not you were a successful parent until you see your children as parents." I am so pleased that I have helped my parents feel successful because they have been terrific parents and deserve to feel that way.

3) I work nights, and one night Mr. Mitchell had to work a night shift at Home Depot, and my mom had to go do Relief Society visits. That left my dad as the babysitter. He was sitting downstairs with the baby who was very upset, and my dad couldn't seem to figure out why. Then I hear this conversation:

M: Are you okay down there?

D: Well, I'm not the one crying!

M: Ok. Just wanted to see if you needed help before I left.

A few seconds of silence...

D: MARLEAH!! MARLEAH!! Are you still there?

No answer...

After my shift I found out that C.G. had a very poopy diaper, and my dad does not do poopy diapers. Unfortunately, my mom had slipped away by the time he realized that was the problem. He didn't know where the wipes were, and didn't want to interrupt me, so he used tissues to wipe the baby's bum. Then he fed the baby 30 something banana puffs (instead of the sweet potatoes waiting upstairs) and put him in bed after 9pm (instead of 7:30pm). I heard this story and had a good chuckle over it. C.G. and my dad were both alive and well, and that's what counts.

C.G. and ISR

If you don't know what ISR is, you need to look into it by clicking here.

I totally trust Mr. Mitchell to teach our kids how to swim, but he wasn't feeling really confident about teaching C.G. survival skills in case he fell in the water. We got signed up with Dotty Jones (She was fantastic! You can find her in the link above.) for lessons three times a week to teach him how to rollover onto his back and float in case he ever falls into water.

Concentrating on swimming.

 

Floating!

 Dotty had C.G floating by the end of his first lesson. By the end of the week she could tip him into the water face first and he would rollover and float. It's a relief to know he has developed that skill. (If you take it upon yourself to teach your baby to float, NEVER assist them by supporting their head. If they land in the water without you they'll keep throwing their head back into the water trying to find your hand.)

When we told Dotty that we were moving to Pocatello for work she asked us to put on our suits and join in for the last few lessons so that we can help C.G. retain the skills he's learned.

Teaching Daddy how to do it.

Practicing.

Floating with Daddy.

We don't have a pool to go to right now so we practice in the bath tub.

Ducky towel after floating in the tub.

C.G. was able to rollover and float wearing a full outfit under a snow suit by the time we left Boise. Had we been able to continue the lessons (nobody in Pocatello does ISR) C.G. would now be learning how to hang onto a wall to keep his head out of the water. I very strongly recommend ISR lessons for any children not old enough for swim lessons, and especially infants. This program has literally saved lives.

Zoo Boise

So, I tried doing the blog monthly so that people don't have my stuff popping up in their faces all of the time. It hasn't worked for me. By the time the end of the month comes around it's a daunting task to try and put together all of the pictures, stories, events, memories, etc. that I gathered from the month. I've decided I'm going to have to break the blog down by event with perhaps a monthly wrap-up to include things that aren't necessarily covered by a single event (e.g. my little boy's awesomeness). Sorry if it becomes obnoxious! Without further ado I present ... ZOO BOISE!

We went to Zoo Boise for me. I'm not dumb enough to think that Caleb will retain any memories from things like this, but I will. I'll remember how big his eyes got when animals caught his attention, I'll remember snuggling him by the lions, and I'll love looking back on those things even though he won't remember them. Plus, as a bonus for this particular mommy-memory making situation, I just flat-out enjoy zoos; Mr. Mitchell and I hadn't been to one since we were dating, so it was time.

Bald Eagle

Giraffe skull.

C.G.'s 2nd favorite part of the zoo.

Smiley boy!

He really wanted that bottle!

It was nap time at the zoo.

Snuggling my baby at the zoo.

Keeping an eye on the monkeys.

Wallaby! 

Kookaburra - he never laughed.

Wild goose on her egg in the middle of the zoo.

He didn't want his head in there.

C.G.'s favorite was definitely the monkeys. They were the first things we saw and went back to them a couple of times just to watch C.G. watch them.

Here are the silly monkeys that C.G. liked the most because they were so loud.


Here's a video showing C.G. studying the monkeys.


For the life of me I cannot recall this little creature's name, but he was one of Mr. Mitchell's favorites because he was so nimble for his size. I thought he was a pretty cute little guy.


My favorites were the red panda and meerkats. The meerkats really enjoyed showing off for us that day.


We had a wonderful day at Zoo Boise.

Kids These Days

My sister has home-schooled her students for many years. Once her children started reaching middle school age they started looking at online schools that encourage project learning. They settled on Williamsburg Academy. My 13-year-old niece is currently working on a project with her classmates that they hope can affect the world. They want to encourage everyone to stand up for what they believe is right even if it means standing on your own. They hope to reach as many people in the world as possible in 24 hours. Give these amazing kids a hand as they tackle this ambitious project showing what young kids can do!

Not all kids are punks! Click here to check it out!

Happy Sundays

Now that I'm working Tuesdays - Saturdays I have gained extra appreciation for the Sabbath Day - the day of rest. The past two have been especially nice:

Easter! We had a fun Easter weekend with two of my brothers and their families. On Saturday we dyed eggs and had an Easter egg hunt. Each grandchild got a dozen eggs, including C.G, who napped through the entire thing. Consequently, we all helped dye C.G.'s eggs (not that he could have done anything if he had been awake). It was fun.

C.G. is represented by the monitor hanging off of the pink basket.

Even if pictures of myself are less than ideal, I usually put them on here anyway because, hey, it's life and it's real; however, this time, the only picture captured of me was sooooo horrible I left it out. Imagine Mrs. Wishy - Washy in a baseball hat and you've got me.

On Sunday we had a very pleasant day at church and a lovely Easter dinner. C.G. also got to finally play with his eggs. I wish I had captured his face when he first saw the basket. His eyes were huge and his mouth was gaping, and he could hardly wait to get his chubby little hands on the thing.

The following Sunday was General Conference for the LDS church. There were many wonderful things said, including appropriate responses to a lot of things for which our church is currently under attack, but that's not really the most memorable thing for me.

Something that was said Saturday morning has really struck a chord with me since I heard it: "There are few things more powerful than a righteous mother's prayers." Wow. That was huge to me. I have such a huge responsibility in being a mother, and Heavenly Father has trusted me to raise one of his amazing children. I have a lot of work to do as a woman, a mom, and a disciple of the Lord, and hopefully it will all culminate in me being a righteous mother who can pray powerful prayers for her children.

The second thing that has been on my mind since conference was the talk given by Elder L. Whitney Clayton called Marriage: Watch and Learn. I loved it - the entire thing. Mr. Mitchell and I are going to read it together and make a few goals as a couple based on this talk. I think everyone should read it. Seriously.

*I think I should get a round of applause for typing this thing one-handed while comforting my little fuss bucket of a boy this afternoon. (Teething?)