Troy on Sunday

He held this position for several minutes. Pretty impressive. He must have thighs of steel.

Hard to Really Appreciate What You Have

I don't know if you know this, but I have always felt that Ben and I getting together was completely inspired. I have no idea how it happened, but it did. Being so young and not having dated that much, I could not have appreciated all that Ben really is.

I get a little reminder of this every time we move into a new ward. I get a million comments about how helpful he is, how he volunteers for everything, how he loves to take care of Troy while I am doing my calling. I still get comments from the men in our last ward complaining that they don't have him anymore. Yesterday he went to the church at 8 to set up chairs. He was the only one there for the whole church to be set up. He is every Elder Quorum President's dream.

On Saturdays, he lets me sleep and gets Troy up and all ready for the day. He can't wait to see us when he gets home from work every day. Lately, he has been listening to all of the conference talks on his new ipod that he got from his brother. It has been the biggest blessing. He comes home with new goals for us. I Love it. If you asked me how I was doing today I would respond like Ben usually does, "I have never been better."

Turkey and Workouts

Quick Note: My blog is currently not private and it will be again soon, so if anyone would like me to add them (Anyone is welcome) that is not already added, will you please e-mail me at charly_0717@yahoo.com or just put your e-mail on the comments.

Troy is trying new foods everyday. His latest loves are ground beef, tuna (to my dismay :), and turkey. When Ben feeds Troy he likes to shove in the food as fast as possible. I think it's because that is how Ben eats. So, I don't know if Troy caught on to that, or if he just inherited the trait. But his hand never stops moving. Even if he didn't pick something up, he tries to put "it" in his mouth. He shovels everything in front of him into his mouth. So I can't put too much in front of him at once. The turkey is hard for him to pick up, so he misses a lot, and it gets all over him. But it's cute to watch him feed himself.


Notice it's all over his hands. He ends up sucking on his whole fist and wrist to get to all of it.

On another note. I have somewhat solved a dilemma of mine. My workouts. They had ceased to exist once Troy could move around, because I couldn't just keep him in one place while I ran on the treadmill. He would try and come to me (obviously dangerous) and our pack-n-play is only for sleeping in his mind. I even tried holding him while I road on the bike. That was probably the biggest ab workout I've ever had. But I found this website, sparkpeople.com, and workouts on BYU TV that are perfect for me! The sparkpeople videos are free and you can get them on Youtube or their website. I also tried a long yoga video yesterday. I am extremely sore today, but that's what I wanted, I guess. Ha. Youtube finally comes in handy for me :)

January Skiing

Quick Note: My blog is currently not private and it will be again soon, so if anyone would like me to add them (Anyone is welcome) that is not already added, will you please e-mail me at charly_0717@yahoo.com or just put your e-mail on the comments.

Ben and I went skiing last week and it was a BLAST. However, Ben felt it was time for me to learn moguls. My thighs were burning, literally on fire. Ben is sickly good at skiing and loves the moguls. He goes so fast and straight down, hitting two every second. Then I would trail behind, hitting a couple every minute or so. He was very patient and gave me lots of encouragement. I got better throughout the day. At least to where I kind of enjoyed them. We went to the Canyons. I had never been there before. That resort is absolutely ginormous.

Ben and I always take lots of pictures when snow skiing... not sure why. But here are some..

I am WAY to bundled for how cold it is. I had like four layers, two gloves and hand warmers. But, I was never cold :)

My awesome skier of a husband.

Where else do you find mountains like these? We had such a fun time. Troy had a blast too, with Grandma (my mom.) He never cried until we got home. It's like he didn't realize that we left until we came back.

Oh and here is a trick of Ben's...

Enough About Me, World

Last night I went to Enrichment and we had two seminars on coupons and Dave Ramsey. I am going to try learning about both because I was shown how they will help me learn to save money and plan better for the future.

The reason I wanted to blog about this was because I liked the ending message. The only reason to spend time on saving money is to have more time to spend on the Lord's work. Sure missions were always in the picture for Ben and I, but I never thought about how much they would cost. I also liked that the underlying message was to follow the Lord's teachings on money. It was a message that I had not thought of before: 1. Be honest with the Lord. (Pay tithes) 2. Be honest with yourself (what do you need to help build up the kingdom of God, including your family) and 3. Be honest with your fellowmen (pay debts, don't try to get others to lose money so that you can gain, etc.) How often do I think of others when thinking about money. Maybe around Christmas or birthdays.

I always get the message from the world, what about you? Just the other day, Oprah was telling me, what about you as a woman? Why should the women sacrifice her life for the family? A book author was saying, nobody wants to be the wife anymore. What would you have me do women of the world?

I am sacrificing a job, a set of skills I suppose, a way to feel of worth to others in the world. But I would sacrifice that a million times before sacrificing my precious time as a mother. How many precious years do I get to have and take care of children? After this life there will be need for only two things. A mother and a father. The Lord will not ask, where is the nurse, business associate, or lawyer. He will ask, Are you worthy to be a mother or a father. For only those most obedient and faithful will get to claim that title in the highest degree of glory.

Goals to Routines

In 2010 I have made some goals that I hope will become routine.

-Prayers Am & PM, and a few more throughout the day when needed
-Read Scriptures Am, Never Miss
-Do Daily chores from weekly chore chart
-Pay any bills and always on time
-Have at least 4 : workout days, fruits/veggies, glasses of water (inspired by Melissa's mom, Jill)
(it should probably be more, so I might adjust)
-Stretch 6 days a week
-Read and sing to Troy
-Master Troy's bedtime routine
-Never miss FHE
-Weekly service 1. for someone in the family 2. for someone not in the family =report at FHE
-Make weekly goals
-Read 1 book each month = this month is The Miracle of Forgiveness by President Kimball
-Monthly Temple visit
-Monthly date
-Monthly active activity (this month was snow skiing, exhausting)
-Always get VT done each month
-Magnify my calling
-"Come Unto Christ" is our theme for this year.

Getting Ready is a Process

This is Troy when he woke up yesterday...

This is Troy's face every time we come get him. He is a bit surprised that daddy is getting him. He came home for a minute because he forgot his keys or something.


Troy loves his bath after the faucet is turned off and he can play with his toys in the tub. He sits up so well in the tub now, but he also tries to stand up. He just wants to stand up all the time. He usually leans on something, but he let go for the first time yesterday and just stood there for a second. This has resulted in a lot of bonks on the head, but he doesn't mind.

He hates getting dressed. He also hates getting his diaper changed. Pretty much anything where he has to lay on his back, he dislikes with a great passion. He just constantly tries to roll over. Distracting him with toys and loud noises worked for a while, but I'm going to have to get more creative.

Here is a break in between the diaper and clothes. Standing of course.


Here he is, finally ready. Troy inherited some of Ben's curl, so I have started to put some product in his hair to get rid of the fuzz. I really just need to cut it.


This is a sad attempt to get Troy and I in the same picture, smiling. This is the closest I got :)

Needless to say, right after this picture was taken, he puked all of his breakfast onto his clothes for the first time in months. I caught most of it on a towel, but I still had to change him. Again. And he hated it. Again.

I love the little guy :)

New Years in Vegas

The past few years we have spent New Years in Vegas. This year was the best I think. We started out the car trip playing 20 questions. Ben is extremely competitive in this game. Troy did pretty well in the car, thanks to Sterling and Brittany entertaining him the whole time with crackers and pop rocks. (They were eating the pop rocks, not Troy :) He started to get mad toward the end, but it was because it took us 7 HOURS to get there. The snow combined with the wind made it almost impossible to see. A speeding truck cut us off and fish tailed almost 90 degrees right in front of us. I and everyone else was panicking, except for Ben. He was still explaining why the item Sterling picked was not a thing while he was trying to stay clear of the truck. Haha.

So the car ride there wasn't the "best" I was talking about. We had so much fun with Dad and Beverly. We went shopping, played basketball, ate A LOT of good food, and even went to David Copperfield. Sweet Beverly got us tickets and we LOVED it. I honestly have no idea how he makes a car appear out of nowhere. He even made me disappear. Ben was an observer on stage and he doesn't know how it happened. I still don't understand how he pulled it off, but I did get a signed autograph! After the show it was time for the fireworks outside on the strip and they were way better than the last few years. I'm not a huge fan of the strip for obvious reasons, but it is fun to go through the hotels and shopping areas. They had the most beautiful Christmas decorations.

The best of all was how much fun we had together. What a wonderful family I married into. We all went to church on Sunday and I just enjoyed having all of us there. The whole trip was great and can't wait to do it again. Well, the driving I can wait on, but you get the idea.