Blessings never cease

Our baby had to be put to sleep on Saturday. It was gut wrenching. It was one of the most difficult moments of my life, if not the most. Smoochie was a few days short of being 15 years old. I got her from my parents the day I got back from my first Youth Conference. I was a freshman in High School. She brought much joy into my life, and into the lives of those around me. I remember the first time I was away from her. I had just moved to Indiana, and I would be away from her for about 5 months, until Ben and I would get married. I cried most nights because I missed her so much. I was so happy when we brought her back to Indiana with us after our honeymoon.

She helped me get through a lot of hard times in my life. She was there, comforting me, when I had such a hard time getting pregnant. She wanted to play when I was sad and she loved to cuddle in bed with Ben. She loved to play catch! Her favorite treats were fruit; she loved mango, and bananas and she would beg to no end for some apple. She would also bark and bark and bark at you if you were having popcorn. She loved popcorn! Her loss for me has been pretty close to unbearable. I have cried to the point where my head is pounding and my eyes are swollen. This is a pain and emptiness I would not wish on my worst enemy.

Smoochie was very sick, with an infection in her uterus, a severe heart murmur and some trouble with breathing. She had a very long, and good life. I am blessed to have had her in my life, to have shared her with my husband Ben, and to have her be such a big part in the lives of my children. I love her forever, and forever she will be my Baby Bear.

As I searched the scriptures for comfort the night she passed on, I came across some verses in D&C section 77. It talked about the eternal felicity of animals after they've gone. I was so humbled at the fact that Heavenly Father helped me find specific comfort. In a world where there are bigger problems and more awful trials, He cared enough to lead me to read something that was specific to my pain. He knows and loves me; He listens to and answers my prayers. I will see my Smoochie Bear again. And I will continue to rejoice at the love and the blessings that are poured into my life by a Father whose love and care for me is Everlasting, despite the pain or trial I may experience. We are never alone.

ZOORIFFIC!

We went to the zoo this weekend. We LOVE our zoo! It's one of the best we've been to. We are enjoying our yearly membership. So this weekend we decided on a whim to go to the zoo for a couple of hours. It was crazy hot, but we had a great time. The boys each got a fun little monkey at the end of the trip. They both love monkeys!

This is one of my most favorite things about Florida. The beautiful Palm trees ! Every time I look at them it feels so surreal that we're here.

Ben was hurrying to the car-it was so hot and we were ready to cool down!

The zoo also has botanical gardens inside. The greenery in this zoo is just amazing! They have so many trees and flowers, and lots of pretty things to smell and look at! So I took pictures of some pretty flowers to use as desktops.

BAMBOO!

They were gorgeous to look at and smelled good too!

This was one of my favorite pictures of the trip.

Here is the dock at one end of the zoo.

And the view off to one side of the dock.

Here the boys are listening to some live music. It was Earth Day at the zoo, so they had live music and some booths around the zoo from different organizations promoting "Green" living and things of the sort.

They're so cool. :-P

We got to pet goats,

and even brush their fur. The boys REALLY enjoyed this!

Because of the Earth Day celebrations, they also had this fun inflatable slide. This thing was huge! Ben had fun, but he said it was scary.

Ezra loved it. He tumbled at the very end of his sliding down and planted himself face first at the bottom.

Ben, the Daddy, went on it with the boys and he loved it, too. I had a turn myself, with Ezra (Ben didn't want to go on it again) and I squealed on the way down! That slide was way tall and waaay steep! But it was a blast!

There was a booth with Magnolia Tree Saplings. The boys got to plant one each and take it home.

They had a good time doing this. Ben did a great job putting dirt in his pot, but Ezra seemed to think it was yucky. They get into the dirt when you don't want them to, but when you want them to, they don't want to. Boys! Gotta love'em!

This is the best picture we got of the carousel ride. Ezra is looking away and I'm trying to peer over the moving alligator Benny was on. That carousel was PACKED!

Isn't this flower beautiful? It looks much bigger than it really was.

And this picture looks 10 times better than I thought it would.

Flamingos! They were fun to watch.

We had a great time at the zoo. They boys quickly asked when we were coming back. We'll be back very soon.

High Adventure

The 4th year High Adventure for my Stake was this past weekend. You know I took my camera! But if you know me well, you know I forgot to use it.

It's quite frustrating, really. I want to take pictures, but I'd rather be hands free and enjoy myself. I need to do better about it. I'm working on it!

So this weekend I relied on my dear friend Kacey, who went on the camping trip, too. I told her she'd have to send me her pictures since I had a picture FAIL!

Here is a group picture, with our fun Fabulous Flying Monkey t-shirts. I'm so excited for the actual week of camp! Can't wait!!

Whistle While You Work...

Time has flown and our little guys are big enough to help around the house. House work never ends and if Mommy can get help, she's gonna take it! The boys love being helpers and are really good about cleaning up. That convinced me that it was time for them to have a chore chart. We planned this about a month or two in advance. I searched for the materials I wanted and worked on a Family Home Evening lesson that would tie everything in, a chore chart, responsibilities, working, and an allowance with money jars.

Here is Ezra posing with his new money jars. Boy, was he excited to get to drop coins in his jars! We decided that we would start them off with a couple of dollar bills. We showed Ezra some dollar bills and asked him what they was. We expected him to say "money" but instead he very quickly and clearly said "Cash!" We thought it was so funny! Who knows where he got that from!

Here is Ben with his money jars. He was so excited to get to separate the money and distribute it. He put a lot of his money into his Mission fund, because he can't wait to be 19 and go on a mission. He said he wants to go to Mexico on his mission.

I explained that the boys would have daily responsibilities that they needed to get gone. Once they did those, any other jobs they did would make them eligible to receive payment in form of money. I used clip-art to show what the jobs are, since they can't read yet. I also used some already made chore charts I got from Target dollar section to place the clip-art on. we put them on on a wall in our dining room, where they will see it multiple times a day, and be reminded that they too have to help.

On the back of each jar I used stick on letters to write their name so that we never confused which one belongs to whom.

The different jars are labeled "Mission" so they can save up for their missions; "Tithing" so they can put away the 10% of what they earn to pay in tithing; and "Savings" where we encourage them to save their money, and/or save up for something they really want.

I keep them together in the little "box" that the jars originally came from. My goal is to cover it in paper or mod podge it or maybe even just paint it. But I haven't gotten there yet.

Here are the charts I made with so much love. I didn't have a laminator so I used clear packing tape to laminate each square of clip-art.

It was a great FHE night. So far they've done pretty well. I hope this will allow them to be more responsible than I was while I was growing up. They had a blast with talking about all the different jobs they now had and with counting their money.

General Conference Weekend

This year's General Conference was fantastic! If you missed it, you can watch or listen here.

We set up a small folding table in the middle of the living room and prepared some fun snacks and lunch along with coloring and activity pages that were themed for Conference. The boys had a great time!

One of my favorite and uplifting talks of this years co

nference was Quentin L. Cook's. It was titled "LDS Women Are Incredible!" and one of the most amazing quotes (for me) was:

Our women are not incredible because they have managed to avoid the difficulties of life—quite the opposite. They are incredible because of the way they face the trials of life. Despite the challenges and tests life has to offer—from marriage or lack of marriage, children’s choices, poor health, lack of opportunities, and many other problems—they remain remarkably strong and immovable and true to the faith. Our sisters throughout the Church consistently “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.”

What a strengthening weekend it was! Here are

some pictures. Not many, I know, because we were too busy watching!

Orlando Temple

A few months ago we went to the Orlando Temple. We didnt go inside, but instead we hung out at the grounds and enjoyed soaking up the sun andtaking pictures. This was the first time the boys were at any temple, so it was neat to talk to them about it. Here are some pics.

Where are the Wintertime Blues?

Usually by this time in the year I'm just deeply yearning (imagine me stretching and reaching far out into the distance with a real look of yearning in my face-almost to the point of desperation) for the Spring to arrive, with its beautiful buds, warm bright sunshine and the sound of birds chirping the day away. I even wish for the Summer to hurry and skip over Spring. The Wintertime Blues are very well known to me. I try to pretend they haven't arrived, when in fact they've already moved in and unpacked the suitcases.

This year, however, is different. Very. I guess those Blues didn't get the address change and couldn't make it this year. Living in Florida has been phenomenal! I know its Winter; I get it. When we moved here people told us that we would love this season's Winter and that next year we would be more acclimated and freeze our little (or big) tushies off just like the rest of the Floridians.

Not so!

I am already freezing my little (big, really) tushie off! I'm a wimp, I guess. But this 50's weather is COLD! And then I laugh about it when I talk with family elsewhere in the country. They are in ranges of the teens to the 40s. Disclaimer: I'm not complaining!! I've got it good, and I know it!

So on a day where the temperature is 54degrees, I will wear my sweater, my scarf and my coat. And I feel kinda silly, because back in IN or NJ I would be celebrating that I only have to wear a jacket. But here, I can get away with it because lots of people do that. I like to be warm. I love to be warm.

The sky is still blue and the sun shines through, even if it is really cold out. Not so many gray, dark, cloudy, ugly days here. There aren't mountains of dirty snow that won't melt away, either. The trees aren't pretty (yet), but everything else makes up for it. I've been feeling pretty good! I'm still excited for the Spring, but I'm not desperately reaching for it.

Goodbye Wintertime Blues.

Hello Florida! I am falling for you, fast!