What a Headache

I read an interesting quote while searching sources for homework and it's so true. It said something along the lines of - Life is 10% life actually kicking you in the rear, but the other 90% of it is how you handle it. This is so true and as I sat in deep thought Mosiah 4:30 came to mind, "But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe teh commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lices, ye must perish. An now, O man, remember, and perish not." This scripture couldn't be more powerful and come at a more appropriate time.

Nikholi is beginning to be our little sponge; soaking up all the dirty things throughout the family and house (and expelling it in other ways, but that's another story). Roger and I were lying in bed watching TV with Kami when Nikholi came in and called me a F***ing Retard. I was beyond appauled and in absolute shock. I couldn't believe my baby boy would every say such a thing. Roger and I looked at each other, not recalling ever calling eachother that nasty thing, and wondered where in the Heck could he have picked it up from. I immediately placed the blame on Roger's family, because there have been instances that one of the kids' will swear and it's encouraged by the parents or not dealt with. Only then, did I begin to notice the language spoken throughout the house; the F-Bombs, the D word, no abbrieviations of BS, and the sad thing is, it all came so naturally in our moments of anger.

Throughout this past week I've attempted to potty train Nikholi, and boy - I'll tell you what, it hasn't been easy. I think it's acutally one of the harder things I've had to accomplish in my life. Roger has been in training, so the house, the kids, and everything else has been left up to me (leaving me with no breaks!)Last thursday, Roger came home from his training and I asked for him to watch the kids while I completed my homework that was due for that night. Less than an hour later, Nikholi had pooped smeared on the carpet in his bedroom, on the bathtub, on the walls, on the toliet; it was everywhere. Roger immediately started screaming - so I told Roger to take a walk outside until he could cool down. I put Nikholi in the bath and cleaned the pooped that had been spread everywhere. I took away Nikholi's train tracks and that was that.

Majority of Sunday I just sat in the recliner and cried. An enlightenment had hit me - smackdab in the face! There was no structure or rules set for the disipline we set out with. I hurt for Nikholi, being at the forefront of my learning experience as a parent. Though now, I am starting to implement simple rules through out the house so that obedience is easier to come by, and the kids will know what we are expecting; there will be no guessing games. When I was younger, I honestly felt like I was walking on eggshells, not knowing when I was going to get punished and for what; and I don't want that to happen to Nikholi or Kami.

Hopefully this week will be easier. Nikholi only had one accident yesterday (Hooray)!Here's to: Positive Thoughts!

What You Missed!

It's far from easy keeping up with a blogspot, much less two kids.. I know I want more (not right now of course), but at the same time I think I'm nuts, and Roger hasn't really been rejecting the idea either.
I ment to post another blog immediately after the last one I posted on July 10th with picutres with our trip to the zoo. Nearly a month later and here I am 2 o'clock in the morning, taking a break from my homework - I figured I would finally update my blog.
If you didn't know already: after seeing how horrible and unkept my hair looked from not touching it after nine months of pregnancy, I decided to go for a new cut and color. The Galleria did a wonderful job, they truly made me feel like a queen. This is the best picture I have of the cut and color. This will also be the start of pictures from our trip to DC and the Zoo.
Here I am breastfeeding Kami on the Metro. I never realized how convient breastfeeding actually was, I'm so glad I didn't have to go through the hassle of making a bottle of formula for this trip. And the best thing about it - no one could tell I was feeding her. ;)

Flamingo's!!! I used to always hate seeing the hideous flamingo statues standing on one leg in people's yard, but I never truly was able to see what a beautiful bird they are. This picture really took me by surprise.

I had to take a picture with the gorilla's!! Especially since Roger believes in interesting scientific theory of evolution.. I figured I'd humor him. What do you think? Do Kami and I look like Gorilla's? :)


You're probably going to get a good laugh out of this... but here it goes: I had an interesting enlightenment while on this trip to DC. I finally discovered two SEPERATE buildings; the White House and the Capitol. I always grew up thinking that the White House was the Capitol and the pictures I saw of the Capitol were taken from one side, and pictures of the White House were taken from the other. When we arrived in DC after visiting the National Zoo, we went to the White House. Insisting I knew where I was, I would have been L-O-S-T without Roger explaining to me that the White House isn't the Capitol. So here is a beautiful picture of the White House.. and YES I've seen the two different buildings, in two different directions; so now I know they are no longer one.

Here us my fasination with WILD animals. ;)

I love the color orange, its so bright and it looks great on my boys.

I also LOVE this picture of Roger and I; waiting for the Metro, on our way home after a LONG day. You can tell I'm beat, look how red my cheeks are. We must have walked over 10 miles (no exaggeration here folks!)

The next day, July 6th at 11:00am we had Kambrya Star Marini's blessing. She was given a name in the church and the blessing of good health, strength of a leader, and most important a temple marriage. My heart just absolutely melted when I heard this. I hope that one day she will be able to experience this and know that temple marriage is the one thing that will bind her to her husband for all eternity. I took this for granted when I was younger and never understood the true importance until I decided to go down a different path.

I'll try to make another post with in the next couple days, to really update ya'll on the really crazy things happening here. But for now I'm going to bed. TTFN (Ta Ta For Now!)

Catching Up; Happy Fourth of July

It's going to take me a while to catch everyone up on everything they've missed in our extrodinary life! So I'll start with the Fourth of July... BTW: Happy belated Fourth of July to everyone. Roger and I's friend, from Ohio, came over to visit and spent the weekend with us. So on Friday we went over to the Potomic River so that he could, from a distance, see the plantation George Washington lived in while he was President (which is over in Mt. Vernon, VA). Then we went to the Fort Washington National Park. A park that has been defening he Nation's Capitol for over 180 years. "Fort Washington was completed in 1824 and armed with large seacoast cannons in 1842. When wood sailing ships mounted smoothbore cannons on their sides, Fort Washington could prevent any enemy from reaching the District of Columbia. During the Civil War, Fort Foote and Battery Rogers were constructed up river and 68 forts were built around the Capital to protect against land attack" (nps.gov, 2008). That was our history lessson for the historic day of July Fourth. And Yes, we went into this black hole you see below; kids and all. After our mini adventure, we had a BBQ at Roger's brothers house, across the street from our house, and I made enchillada's (everyone's favorite). After an exhasting day we all still managed to walk to the top of our local hill to watch a spectacular firework display. Happy Fourth of July Everyone!