Women's Conference

I had the opportunity to attend the Women's Broadcast last weekend with some friends of mine. It was very uplifting and comforting to be there and listen to the messages. One of the biggest things that struck me was a reminder of my calling as a mother, by Sis Thompson.
I didn't know much about her and found out that she had some goals that were not met. When she was a teenager she had some goals about motherhood. The only goal that she has been able to meet, was the goal of being an active member of the church. She hasn't married, thus she hasn't had any kids of her own either.
It made me realize that on those days that Savannah seems to be on my every nerve, and I get exasperated by her, I need to remind myself that this is what I wanted (to be a mother) when I was younger (which wasn't that long ago). I married later in life and I'm finding that I forget that all those years I was single, all I wanted was to be married and have babies. Well here I am, doing just that, so I must remember, this was and is a goal for me.
This week has actually been different for me. I have not let myself get frustrated with Savannah as I might've in the previous days, and find that I'm letting her be explorative and creative, and a tiny bit mischievous-even if it is a little bit at my cost! For example, she has watched me do dishes and has pushed over a little stool to the sink so that she can "help" me. Previously, I would keep her from doing so, cuz I know she'd make a bigger mess for me to clean up. These past few days, I've let her stand next to me playing with the dishes and the "baboos" (bubbles), enjoying the joy it gives her. Water gets all over her, me and the floor-oh well!!
What a huge blessing in our lives she is. She is learning so much each day, and it is marvelous to see the growth in her. I am constantly in amazement at her and in wonderment at how fast she's growing and missing those days when she was a baby in my arms.
What a wonderful opportunity it is for us mothers to spend time with our little ones, to teach them, care for them, and watch the fruits of our labors as they grow. I am so grateful for my husband, Jason, who works hard, and makes it possible for me to stay home with Savannah. He is so loving and patient with me. I love you Jason!!!
I love being a mother!!!! What a great calling we are given, to be mothers! I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for this opportunity. I know He lives and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. It brings me peace and happiness to know this.

What's with the Frogs theme you ask?

Since it's Jason's birthday on Monday, I figured I'd do a theme of Frogs, since he's taken to favor them, due to his name "PRINCE", and he LOVES the color GREEN too!! So it works out for both of his favorites, do use this theme for a while!!



HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU JASON! I LOVE YOU!!!

Labor Day camping pictures

So, as I've mentioned in my previous camping post, my family has a tradition of camping every Labor Day weekend at this one obscure place in the mountains between Roosevelt Lake, and Payson-we call it The Apple Orchard.
Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

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Jason's mom, Wendy, has a GMC Denali XL (Suburban) and we loaded it to the hilt! The 3rd row seats were taken out and we filled it clear full-up to the 2nd row seats!!
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When we got off the main road and more than halfway on the dirt road up the mountain, we let Savannah out for a bit. She liked roaming around the SUV more than the scenery!!

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Here are some cousins that found a foam camping pad and started playing on it and having a good ole time at it too! Savannah's with Jackson (one of my Great Nephew's) and he's only 9 days older than Vannah. The other kiddo, who you can't see her face, is Jackson's sister, Brooklyn.

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On Sunday morning, Jason found a tiny frog, and showed it to Savannah. We were expecting a reaction from her, and as you can see in the pic, she's not interested, nor scared by it!!

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Here's a really sweet photo of her with her Daddy! She just got done eating some Chocolate candies, Reese's cups, and Twixes. She was SSOOOO LOVING that!!!! Poor kid, I don't give her candies, if I can help it-so on the rare occasions she gets a hold of some......she devours it!

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This is what she did whenever she got a chance.....she'd go walking off, looking for adventure, or following her older cousins. She LOVED being around other kids the whole weekend!

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When Grandma Wendy got to our house, Savannah was really shy around her, but after spending a couple of days together, she got to where she was pretty comfortable with her and would let her hold her. It's too bad that Jason's parents live so far away, Savannah doesn't get much chance to be around them!

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This is one of my FAVORITIST (is that even a word??) pictures!!! Samantha (Sammy) is one of two cousins that are closest to Savannah's age. Sammy loves to pick up and carry babies, even if they are not so small! Looking at this pic, you can see that Vannah does not mind one bit, and would let Sammy carry her around-considering that she is miss independant and wants to walk/run on her own and not be carried much. I love Savannah's expression in this photo!!

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Her new favorite thing is ZIPPERS. If she sees one, she'll play with it for about 20-25 minutes-which is a long time for a 20 month's old attention span!!! She kept opening, getting inside the screen door, closing, and then opening, getting out, and closing the zipper on our tent. I got this cute pic of her in action!

I get J's lunch together in a zippered pail to take to him sometimes and if I leave it on the floor while I get my purse, glasses and keys in hand, Savannah will get into it and start taking things out and playing with the zipper on it! It gets exasperating because I am usually in a big hurry and putting the lunch back together slows me down!!!

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We left on Monday morning just before 10 am. It's about an hour and a half drive to get out of the mountains and back onto paved roads. The bumpiest part of the ride is closest to the campsite. She was SSOOOOO exhausted from the whole weekend and gettting up at the crack of dawn, that she somehow managed to fall asleep during the bumpiest part of the ride and slept most of the way out of the mountain!!! I was amazed when I looked over at her head bobbing up and down and saw she was sleeping. I got worried about all the bobbing possible straining her neck, and pulled her out and held her in my arms (my favorite part of motherhood-by the way!!!) while she slept.

We actually had a few family memberes who hesitated due to the weather, but it ended up only being a scare because after Friday night and Saturday morning of rain, there wasn't but a drizzle here and there for the rest of the weekend!!! Good thing too, cause it sure would've made for a miserable weekend!!

For most of the weekend, we just relaxed and visited with one another, and followed Savannah around while she ventured off exploring.

I can't say that the trip went uneventful.......

Jackson, a cousin Vannah's age, got burned from climbing up on the Quad before it cooled down. Poor guy, he cried until he fell asleep-but when he awoke, it seemed as if nothing had happened-thank goodness.

I got a sore throat and runny nose, (I think the rain from Friday night and Saturday morning is to blame) so I was a little miserable starting Sunday morning-which is partly why we left so early Monday morning. We might've stayed another hour or so longer.

On the way home, the Denali had a tire blowout on the Beeline HWY. The tire was shredded bad. On the first attempt at jacking the SUV up, it didn't get it up high enough to take the tire off. HWY patrol stopped, and advised to call Tow truck. Using ONstar, Wendy called, but then my Dad and Brother in law came to us and helped get the car jacked up high enough and we got the tire changed out. PHEW!!

MEMORIES MEMORIES MEMORIES!!!

New Favorite TV show

Savannah has discovered a new favorite TV Show.....She will sit down and watch it, and she has learned to say the name of the TV show--the only TV show name she's learned so far!!

Here she is intently watching it....and she dances to it and mimicks their actions, it's so cute to watch her.I told her to smile and she gives me this cheesy smile!!!

The show's about over and she can tell.....
She also does this look when something is wrong, for example, if an animal is being chased.....she shows empathy....
She gets upset when it's over.....and wants me to start the next one.......
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The show is none other than "Dora the Explorer". She gets SSSOOOO excited when it comes on, and when she sees products with pictures of Dora (at the stores) she gets excited and repeats, "Da Dora! Da Dora! Da Dora!!!""
We've NEVER seen her get so excited over a show, so quickly. She'd only seen it a few times over a period of 2-3 days....and she got hooked on it!

Now when we turn on the TV, she exlaims, "Da Dora?"