Loving Husband, Happy baby, What a Great Week!

Jared didn't arrive home until approximately 3:30 am on Thursday night/Friday morning. the problem was with the POS system- kind of dependent on that one. This is his new record of hours worked in a row- 8 am to 3:30 am works out to about 19 hours. Not sure that I ever hit that number. I think my highest number was 16 or 17...and that may have been when Jared and I were engaged and running the Free Days in 2006. What business owners won't do for their business. I actually think it is good practice to have incidents like this happen every once in a while, because then you get to see what you are willing to do. Plus, you can feel good about taking the following days off- if all other business is going well. It was possible for him this time.
Taking the day off doesn't necessarily mean one sits home. Jared had previously made plans to help out his inactive Home Teaching family, Lindsey and Mike Riches, with the missionaries on Friday. Tired as he was, he still got up and put in some hard labor by digging out a hill in the Riches' backyard. So loving! He even was able to talk about religion a bit with Mike.
Mike had a really cool experience just recently. He had been bed ridden with a back pain for weeks. He had tried chiropractors, and physical therapist for 3 weeks- felt good, but still couldn't move. Then he had his brother and father come over and give him a blessing. The next day he was up and walking! Jared says, "So faith isn't the problem." From the conversation, Jared gathers that it is more Lindsay than it is Mike that keeps them away.
These situations always make me consider our reasons for serving others. My worry is always that they might think that we are only serving them to get them to come to church. Yes, we do want to be able to share the gospel with them and help them to see what they are missing. This doesn't mean this is the only reason we serve. Active or inactive, I know Jared really enjoys being with the Riches. He loves their sense of humor, they are genuine and sincere, kind, fun, and most of all conservative. (Jared's bit of humor, as politics has been highly discussed topic recently with elections being this year) As they were helping them out on Friday I thought about whether we would focus this attention to them if they were active members of the ward. My answer was YES. Yes, we do try to serve anyone and everyone that needs help. Yes, we do build a unity within the ward that encourages us to reach out just like we would for a family member. The great thing about the church is this Home Teaching program which helps us to learn the needs of the members. We watch over one another so when situations such as these arise, we are there to help. Much like when I was told I would be induced on December 28th. Our house was a horrendous mess and we had many people come over and assist us in pulling it together- they did this with a few minutes/hours notice.
Speaking of ward family, ours just got a new bishopric. Del Stapley, a much loved bishop of a bunch of years, just moved into the Stake Presidency. His two counselors, Darren Wilcox and Gus Zanini, became bishop and first counselor, respectively. The addition was John Lundstrom, former Sunday school teacher. He has been a great Sunday school teacher. I always think to myself, this guy must love his calling by how well his lessons come out. I don't know that I will ever have that ability. Jared says that he would love to teach it. He used to teach Gospel Doctrine in the Flagstaff Singles ward and he loved it.
I love my calling! I spent a couple of hours last night preparing for today- making sign ups and trying to streamline anything to do with my calling. I really want to meet the needs of our sisters and do what I have been asked. A lingering thought I always have is "how can we best support the home through what we do in enrichment?" Even though I am always considering this, I don't know that all of our activities fulfill a supportive roll. In fact, I think that sometimes they can be a detraction because we are taking sisters out of the home. I try to be prayerful about how to better support our number one priority- the family, but I could do much better at this. In fact, that will be my goal for the week- to concentrate on how I can be more prayerful about my calling and better serve the sisters in the ward through enrichment. I could do better to find ways of supporting the older sisters in the ward, as I have been so focused on those I know better- young mothers. We need more activities for those without children.
Now some bits on Corban. This boy is so smiley and happy most of the time. Every time I try to catch it on camera, his smile goes away as he focuses on the red dot. Really nothing is as good as actually being in the moment anyway! We had some friends over last night and that was his huge blue eyes that are always open wide, he is irresistible! It is hard to believe something so cute and innocent will be the death of me in a few years. Nothing is more heat warming than seeing him light up when he sees me. He does this every morning as he is coming out of sleep, or when he is hungry and I come into view, or when I have left him to play alone and he gets bored so I start talking to him. It makes it hard not to want to go and pick him right up and love on him! That is why I think I need to have another one right now- before I know any better. I don't think I am a great mom or anything. In fact, most of the time I think quite the contrary. I am not great at spending time reading to him or having entertaining play. (I actually stopped at this point to read him some stories because he was no longer enjoying the play gym) He does enjoy the stories. He will sit quietly and help what they kept commenting: he is so happy! He does have a beautiful smile. Combine that with me hold the book and talk back every once in a while.

He has started to sit in his swing slightly shifted onto his side or skeewampus . It is adorable. In this picture you can see that he has his feet hanging off. Before he fell asleep he was was putting his feet up on the supports and kind of pushing off.
Today in sacrament meeting he was getting tired. With his Binky in his mouth he was kind of whining/moaning out load. It was the cutest sound! I just want to bottle up all these moments so I can pull them out when I need a smile.

This was Corban waking up from a nap this afternoon. He was being so cute and smiley until I pulled out the camera and wanted to capture it on film. I did get one smile out of him. He was doing adorable things with his feet- holding them with his hands, putting them together, straightening them up in the air, and so on.
We finally got our new couch and ottoman. I am very pleased with how they turned out. We ordered them from a place that knocks off the expensive brand. This particular couch would have cost upwards of $2500 out of Restoration Hardware, where we spent $860 or something like that. Plus, we got to choose any upholstering we desired. We used a micro-suede that is supposedly good with children's messes. Our ottoman, leather with storage, was about $450- not really sure what retail would charge, but I would imagine something like $800-900.

The kitchen is starting to come together. I got this great idea from a house I was recently visiting- the Zanini's. They had a pot rack over their sink instead of a valence. I loved it! She had a few decorative pots, a red strainer, and a few other things hanging from it. Loved the idea, so I am trying it out. I had a drapery rod that I won't be using over any of my windows now that we have done the remodel. So I had Jared put it over the window. (I must add this in right here- I find that my one set back in decorating and finishing the house is my lack of confidence in doing the odd jobs, such as screwing things into the walls. I always wait for Jared to do this, knowing he can do it and do it well) I am still working with what to hang from it, as my pots aren't too pretty. I guess I will have to go shopping. I still need hardware for our cabinets, but I am waiting for the right ones to catch my eye. They aren't cheap, so I better really like them!

I decided to throw in these shots of the house decor. The pictures have been waiting to be hung forever! Both Jared and I were resisting the project for fear of putting them in the wrong place. I have so many black frames with pictures in it, we could only fit a few. I guess I will find a way to have another photo wall in my house...probably up in my scrapbook area.
the other picture is just to prove how I have not yet child-proofed my house. I realize this every time I have other people over. Their children are all over the place and the mothers are frantically following- don't touch! Not really sure how I am going to handle the situation because I can't see myself ridding my shelves of my great finds years prior to children. Frustration may fix that idealogical thinking. We will wait to see what happens. I should probably discuss this with Heather, as she seems to be able to keep her house nicely decorated with more than just children's toys. Probably requires some attentive parenting...hummm.
I had a bad moment yesterday when Jared decided to sleep instead of help me clean the house for the expected guests at 6 pm. This came after we both spent some time in the temple- separately. We took Corban and I went in a did initiatories first while Jared played with Corban outside and then Jared went in and did some while I took Corban and did some grocery shopping for dinner that night. I spent an hour and a half resenting the situation and thinking what a bad husband he was, how he must of not got anything from going to the temple, and how I was going to continue to be mad at him when he woke up. I must say I got a lot done in that frustration. When he did finally awake he was VERY helpful. He was his sweet self, putting his arms gently around me, asking "What can I do to make it better?" Of course this was where my punishment to him came in, "Nothing." And so went the punishment for about an hour. We both continued to work to straighten up the house and had it accomplished in time to start dinner and having some snacks ready for company. I really should not think it is funny that I act so immature sometimes, but I guess it is better to laugh than beat myself up. If there was one thing that I thought was something that needed to change in my example for my children it would be just that: act more mature and in control of myself when I am upset. I will add that to my prayer list.
We ended up having a fabulous evening getting to know the Martins, a new family in the ward with a 6 month old baby boy (add that to the list of people who had a boy in the last year...army of Helaman), and also getting to spend time with the Allens. After the Martins left, we pulled out Wii Fit, my birthday present from Jared. We showed Jen and Brent all of our favorites, and then they had to take Issac home for bed. This was roughly 10:30pm. Once they left, Jared played some Guitar Hero (Allen's let him borrow it), while I did work for my calling.
All in all it was a great week! I am in love with my husband again, and my baby keeps me finding purpose in my life. I am so blessed!