whoah, nellie!
i just did something today that i haven’t done in about 12 years. i done got me a fitness club membership at the local spot down the street!! craziness, i know! i’ve always said i wasn’t a clubby kind of person for a few reasons. #1. i don’t like the feeling of other people sizing me up when i’m trying to get in shape. #2. i love to be outside in the fresh air just taking in my surroundings.

well, i was planning on using the st. george marathon as a reason to get out and get in shape. BUT…my name didn’t get drawn in the lottery this year. first time that’s ever happened and a big bummer. and with jeff leaving for work so much earlier now, i didn’t want to be out running in the dark. so i needed to find another way to get my lazy tush in gear.

i’ve been toying with the idea of getting a membership for quite some time now, but never acted on it. enter a wonderful neighbor three doors down who has a membership, who gets up at 5ish to go before hubby goes to work, who totally wants a partner to motivate her, and who finally gave me the push i needed to jump in.

so…guess who’s getting up tomorrow at 5 am?

yes, i’m going to admit it. i realized it for the first time yesterday while shopping at wal-mart. i’m totally one of those people.
i find myself, as i’m walking around the store, grabbing random things off the shelves and handing them to ella to pacify her screaming. sad but true, she just screams. wherever we are…church, shopping, playground, pool. when she isn’t perfectly satisfied, she screams and screams. and then dallin chimes in and starts yelling, "ella, be quiet!" it really is a circus. really.
people stare and offer their sympathy smiles. when i know they must be thinking one of two things, "what are you doing to that poor child?" or "it stinks to be you, lady. glad she’s not with me."
and so, as my defense, i grab things. hand them to her. here play with this. just be quiet for two seconds while mommy tries to get us some toilet paper.
then when she is bored with that thing, i grab something else and discard the other in a place where it clearly does not belong. if i were civilized i would take it back to where i got it. but then that’s more time i’m losing against her ticking scream clock.
and then when i get finally get to the front counter in a sweat, i inevitably have something in my cart that i hand to the clerk and say, "oh, i’m sorry, i decided not to get this."
i didn’t see the pattern of all this until yesterday. i am guilty. i am a sloppy shopper.
and then to top it off, i don’t return the carts back where they go either. 🙂

Stay on the high road, Ella. Please know that it will lead you where you truly want to be.

Often I think of the future, with all of the wonderful
experiences that lie ahead and with all of the terrible temptations that you will
face. I wonder what will happen to you in the next 10, 20, even 30 years. Where
will you be? What will you be doing? How will you respond to the challenges you
will face?

Your choices will be everything. Small or large, these
choices will define you.

I offer you my humble advice as I sit here reflecting on my
own choices up to this point. And I hope and pray that you will value this
advice more than that of the world.

Surround yourself with good friends. They can make you or
break you. Always be kind to everyone around you. But choose those who will
encourage you, lift you, and stand with you in doing what is right.

Right now, I am bombarded with messages from every direction
that in order to be beautiful, you have to change everything—make your waist
smaller, make your boobs bigger, doctor your body to be something it’s not.

I can only imagine what messages you will be facing even
when you start elementary school. The world will be brutal. I know the pressure
will be real. I have faced it. And many times I have found myself worrying that
the world is staring at me. Those are the times when I feel the worst. When I
let other’s opinions make me self-conscious, I give them my power. I give away
my happiness. And I give away the love that Heavenly Father has given me
knowing that I am His daughter. When I give up these things, I am lost. I need
that love. You need that love. Please don’t give it up for a cheap and fleeting
imitation.

If I can tell you something that I have learned it is this
wise counsel: “Your appeal to others
will come of your personality, which is the sum of your individual
characteristics. Be happy. Wear a smile. Have fun. But draw some rigid parameters, a line in the sand, as it were, beyond which you will not go.”

Simple as that. You will find that the people you want to
be drawn to you will love to be around you because of your happiness, kindness,
and integrity not because of your bra size. Please believe me when I say this is true and not just some fancy
sermon about being a sweet spirit.

You are beautiful and you will be even more beautiful when
you are involved in life, not only involved in yourself.

I hope that my example to you will never contradict this. I
hope that you will look to me as a source of strength when you feel beaten
down. I hope you will always look to the Savior—He will be your greatest
friend.

Love, Mom 

that ella is more like amy than we thought.  i’ve always said ella’s features and happiness remind me of amy (jeff’s sister), but her latest stunt brings it all together.

i went into ella’s room this morning and was greeted at the door with a gust of foul odor. assuming she had a dirty diaper, i went over to her crib to pick her up and rid the room of stench.

well, you just might guess what i saw. ella had decided to decorate her bedding in pink and brown. quite the little fashionista. she had poop smeared from here to there. not just in her underwear. i couldn’t help but think that if she and amy were born at the same time, they would have been great buddies. 😉

i usually like to include photos with my posts, but today, as a gift to everyone, i will refrain. (although i actually did consider it. hah. hah.)