For someone who likes to talk as much as me and tell stories about everything and nothing all at once, I really am a crappy blogger. I guess all of my other vises have been trumped by laziness and the sheer convenience of speaking my mind via Facebook.
So I guess I'm long over-do for an update and some pictures of our latest addition to the family :)
Dallyn was born in October after about 10 hours of active labor (and 2 days of not so active labor preceding that). He was a whopping 8lbs 5 oz, and I say it that way because he was our biggest baby yet. Oh, and did I mention he was born at home in the water and that I 'caught' him myself under the watchful eye and EXTREMELY helpful hand of our midwife Rebecca Williams. Yep that's right, if you haven't kept up on prior blogs we are 'those' kind of people ;)
Since then we have had the joys of celebrating the holiday season starting with the older boys all being train characters from Thomas and Friends for Halloween. Then we were able to have my mom, dad, sister Jessica and her husband Ben, sister Danielle and her husband Joey, and brother Erik and his girlfriend Ashley come out for Thanksgiving. It was such a wonderful visit with them and was culminated by being able to have Dallyn blessed with my brother and brother-in-laws in the circle with Adam. (my eyes are tearing up as I type this)
As the year wound down we celebrated our first Christmas at home since our kids were born. It was so much fun to have our little family dinner for Christmas Eve and see the excitement in their eyes as we put the kids to bed knowing that Santa was coming that night. When they woke up Christmas morning Adam and I were already up and working in the kitchen to get food ready for Christmas dinner at Amanda and Austin's house, they didn't even come to get us, they just went straight for the tree and started opening presents! I got at least one good photo of them pre-wrapping paper disaster zone that I will post shortly (have to find the cable to upload them to the computer :)
I think one of the reason's I felt such a need to post today is because my little Preston turned 4 years old. I love that kid so much! He makes me smile everyday and I thank our Heavenly Father for blessing us with such choice spirits in the children we have. After 5 1/2 years of marriage, 2 apartments, 1 condo, and 1 house, 6 cars, and 4 kids later I feel like the luckiest woman in the world! Here's to 2010, maybe I'll be a better blogger this year, but don't bet on it!!!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Monday, July 20, 2009
Politics... what an evil word!
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship.
The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.
Alexander Tytler
I have always been very passionate about politics... but with limited time and resources I've never been able to become very active in soliciting politicians for causes to which I prescribe myself to, and when I have I've been utterly ignored. I have become increasing upset in the last few years about the direction that our 'conservative' Republican controlled government was sending us down and have become utterly outraged by the fiscal misappropriations that have become a daily ritual to the Democrats currently in control of our government.
As my resources and time are still greatly limited as to how much I can do to help the cause of freedom from government tyranny and the disrespect for the average American that has become so flagrant in Washington except to complain about it on my blog. So here I am, for all 5 of you who will possibly read this, pleading to the world to stop the insanity.
The scary part about what is going on these days is that we are clearly approaching the end of the democratic cycle as described in my quote above and I can only pray that there are enough honest people out there who believe in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence enough to stand up for what our Founding Fathers intended this great nation to be. A home of a capitalist run economy, self-responsible citizens, and equal RIGHTS (as defined by our constitution, not all those made up ones like marriage and healthcare) to be had by all no matter their station.
I want my kids to grow up in that America.
The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.
Alexander Tytler
I have always been very passionate about politics... but with limited time and resources I've never been able to become very active in soliciting politicians for causes to which I prescribe myself to, and when I have I've been utterly ignored. I have become increasing upset in the last few years about the direction that our 'conservative' Republican controlled government was sending us down and have become utterly outraged by the fiscal misappropriations that have become a daily ritual to the Democrats currently in control of our government.
As my resources and time are still greatly limited as to how much I can do to help the cause of freedom from government tyranny and the disrespect for the average American that has become so flagrant in Washington except to complain about it on my blog. So here I am, for all 5 of you who will possibly read this, pleading to the world to stop the insanity.
The scary part about what is going on these days is that we are clearly approaching the end of the democratic cycle as described in my quote above and I can only pray that there are enough honest people out there who believe in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence enough to stand up for what our Founding Fathers intended this great nation to be. A home of a capitalist run economy, self-responsible citizens, and equal RIGHTS (as defined by our constitution, not all those made up ones like marriage and healthcare) to be had by all no matter their station.
I want my kids to grow up in that America.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
New Blog
I have a new blog for the natural childbirth fanatic side of me! Seriously though I put together a blog to promote my classes and share information on natural childbirth. If you know anyone who might be interested in learning more about what I do you can send them either one of my links:
http://www.bradleybirth.com/ndweb.asp?ID=C549
http://alyssasnaturalchildbirthclass.blogspot.com/
http://www.bradleybirth.com/ndweb.asp?ID=C549
http://alyssasnaturalchildbirthclass.blogspot.com/
Another LDS woman's perspective on natural childbirth
Here is an exert from a birth story from one of my students. She gave me permission to share it and I felt that this was such a beautiful message to all of my LDS friends that I had to post it. A quick background: Laurisa and Darin had 2 babies prior to this birth, both born with an epidural. While pregnant with her third she began looking into natural childbirth and found Dr. Bradley's book and next thing we new she was in my class.
"I have learned so much about my body and about God and His plan from this experience.
God did not create women to bear children and not be able to handle childbirth! No- He made us powerful. Our bodies are amazing. Yeah, childbirth hurts, but it is something we as women get to experience. After the pain is over, our bodies are created to heal perfectly. The recovery is not meant to take weeks!
God knew what He was doing when He created the plan. I honestly believe that there is a lot more for us to learn through childbirth than we ever pick up on when we are medicated. There is power in sacrificing everything you can possibly sacrifice to bring another spirit here on earth. It is essential for us to learn these lessons that can only come from that kind of sacrifice.
I feel sad that we as a society are robbing ourselves of so much by medicating our births and intervening so much of the time. As if our bodies don’t know how to do it naturally. Growing up in our society, I of course always wondered why in the world anyone would not get an epidural. I thought it would make the birth experience miserable. I had no idea how empowering and spiritual natural childbirth was. This experience has changed me in so many ways.
I feel so close to my Heavenly Father, as I had to rely on Him through so much of the birth. I know that He was with me during this whole experience. I had been praying every day for a great birth experience, and He has blessed me with just that. He blessed me with strength, wisdom, safety and peace."
Thank you Laurisa, I couldn't have said it better myself! What can we learn from this? Be proactive in your decisions about the birth of your baby and never forget the power and strength our Heavenly Father has bestowed upon us as women. I will hopefully be participating in a panel discussion on LDS women and natural childbirth to explore why so many people are afraid of or against it. If you have any stories or ideas about this please share them with me. Thanks.
"I have learned so much about my body and about God and His plan from this experience.
God did not create women to bear children and not be able to handle childbirth! No- He made us powerful. Our bodies are amazing. Yeah, childbirth hurts, but it is something we as women get to experience. After the pain is over, our bodies are created to heal perfectly. The recovery is not meant to take weeks!
God knew what He was doing when He created the plan. I honestly believe that there is a lot more for us to learn through childbirth than we ever pick up on when we are medicated. There is power in sacrificing everything you can possibly sacrifice to bring another spirit here on earth. It is essential for us to learn these lessons that can only come from that kind of sacrifice.
I feel sad that we as a society are robbing ourselves of so much by medicating our births and intervening so much of the time. As if our bodies don’t know how to do it naturally. Growing up in our society, I of course always wondered why in the world anyone would not get an epidural. I thought it would make the birth experience miserable. I had no idea how empowering and spiritual natural childbirth was. This experience has changed me in so many ways.
I feel so close to my Heavenly Father, as I had to rely on Him through so much of the birth. I know that He was with me during this whole experience. I had been praying every day for a great birth experience, and He has blessed me with just that. He blessed me with strength, wisdom, safety and peace."
Thank you Laurisa, I couldn't have said it better myself! What can we learn from this? Be proactive in your decisions about the birth of your baby and never forget the power and strength our Heavenly Father has bestowed upon us as women. I will hopefully be participating in a panel discussion on LDS women and natural childbirth to explore why so many people are afraid of or against it. If you have any stories or ideas about this please share them with me. Thanks.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Preggo?
So those of you who read this and are not on Facebook and I haven't talked to you in the last 3 weeks.... I am pregnant! We are due November 1st, and best of all it is just one baby. So to all you people who said I would have triplets next, I say to you "HA HA HA HA HA!"
We are really excited and according to Adam this is our last pregnancy. On most days when the morning sickness starts when I wake up and ends when I fall asleep I am more then happy to agree... but we'll see! None the less this is a special time for our family and I can't wait to share all the fun times that will be involved!
We are really excited and according to Adam this is our last pregnancy. On most days when the morning sickness starts when I wake up and ends when I fall asleep I am more then happy to agree... but we'll see! None the less this is a special time for our family and I can't wait to share all the fun times that will be involved!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
I need help
So I keep reading all these other people's blogs with these cute layouts and backgrounds, and I can't figure out how to make mine cute. I did it once, and was really proud of myself, but then I somehow erased what I did and have never been able to recreate it... ugh!
So my lame technologically challenged brain is now pleading for some direction. If anyone can tell me what to do or refer me to a website that breaks it down in lay-man's terms it would be much appreciated!
So my lame technologically challenged brain is now pleading for some direction. If anyone can tell me what to do or refer me to a website that breaks it down in lay-man's terms it would be much appreciated!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Another trip to California
I am lazy and haven't uploaded photos yet (mostly because I can't turn on the camera to upload the pictures until I find the battery charger). So this will be a post without visual aids!
Either way we had a WONDERFUL vacation!
First was a trip to the Sacramento Temple to be there for my brother Erik as he took out his endowments. It was such a neat experience because I got to be there with my mommy and all but one of my siblings (Jessica was babysitting with my dad.. thanks guys!)
The next event came in the form of a second trip to the Sacramento Temple for Jessica and Ben's marriage/sealing. It was a great ceremony and Jessica was absolutely GORGEOUS!!! Ben didn't look too shabby either. After pictures we went to dinner with all the Lowers and Taylors, I've never seen my kids slurp noodles as fast as they did that night! The next day was the reception. It was beautiful and I can't wait to see all the pictures.
Finally when Sunday rolled around (after 8 days of being away from home) the kids began to melt down. Preston cried all through Sacrament meeting and all the way home. He kept saying "I want to go back to Utah, I want to see my neighbor kids, I don't like California anymore." That night we all met at my parents for dinner and for the opportunity to give my dad a blessing as he was preparing for surgery this week. It was all so moving and wonderful and I know that the Lord was with him through his procedure because he is doing alright and is on the road to recovery as we speak.
So our return trip home on Monday was mostly un-eventful. We did the usual McDonalds stops on the way so the kids would have a safe place to stretch their legs and play. Adam drove most of the way because I'm suddenly experiencing symptoms similar to car sickness and couldn't handle driving for very long.
The next morning Adam was gone before I got up on his way to Washington for the week. So back to normal life (if you could call it that). I start teaching again on the 20th and am really excited for that.
We have been so blessed and enjoyed all of our time with our family and are sad we didn't get to see any one else (who wasn't at the reception) while we were out there, I'll explain why in a future post, in the meantime, I hope that this 'car sickness' subsides soon.
Either way we had a WONDERFUL vacation!
First was a trip to the Sacramento Temple to be there for my brother Erik as he took out his endowments. It was such a neat experience because I got to be there with my mommy and all but one of my siblings (Jessica was babysitting with my dad.. thanks guys!)
The next event came in the form of a second trip to the Sacramento Temple for Jessica and Ben's marriage/sealing. It was a great ceremony and Jessica was absolutely GORGEOUS!!! Ben didn't look too shabby either. After pictures we went to dinner with all the Lowers and Taylors, I've never seen my kids slurp noodles as fast as they did that night! The next day was the reception. It was beautiful and I can't wait to see all the pictures.
Finally when Sunday rolled around (after 8 days of being away from home) the kids began to melt down. Preston cried all through Sacrament meeting and all the way home. He kept saying "I want to go back to Utah, I want to see my neighbor kids, I don't like California anymore." That night we all met at my parents for dinner and for the opportunity to give my dad a blessing as he was preparing for surgery this week. It was all so moving and wonderful and I know that the Lord was with him through his procedure because he is doing alright and is on the road to recovery as we speak.
So our return trip home on Monday was mostly un-eventful. We did the usual McDonalds stops on the way so the kids would have a safe place to stretch their legs and play. Adam drove most of the way because I'm suddenly experiencing symptoms similar to car sickness and couldn't handle driving for very long.
The next morning Adam was gone before I got up on his way to Washington for the week. So back to normal life (if you could call it that). I start teaching again on the 20th and am really excited for that.
We have been so blessed and enjoyed all of our time with our family and are sad we didn't get to see any one else (who wasn't at the reception) while we were out there, I'll explain why in a future post, in the meantime, I hope that this 'car sickness' subsides soon.
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Preston, Landen and Jordan
