quick update

i am pretty much excited for the next five months! lots of events will be happening and i get so giddy thinking about all the fun our family will be experiencing! 

dean turns 2 on September 20th. he is such a sweetest brother and loves his sister so much. they are getting along so much better. he is very protective of her and gets worried when she tries to stand. ha ha

he is very active and loves the outdoors. he doesn't like much toys. he is more into books, puzzles, flash cards, Lego's, blocks and his peg set. he is speaking so much more now, which is helping with me being less flustered of what he wants. he knows his alphabet and can pick out the letters and say them. counts to 10 and we are working on our colors and shapes. he surprises me on how much he knows. he is very observant and is very helpful. he doesn't like messes and if he spills something he will get a towel and wipe it up. ha he loves to help vacuum also. he loves his bath time with his sister. 

on October 26 Chris graduates with his masters of biological studies (i think) and will be a CRNA! he takes his oral boards September 13 and then from there he will study for his national boards. i am loving that in 2 short months he will be done with school and we will hopefully be getting a paycheck! i am so proud of all he does and sacrifices for our family and am so blessed heavenly father led him into my life. i am so happy and grateful everyday he chose me to be his wife. 

so then we have the moving out, then Halloween and then....

My baby turns one! Marni is the sweetest thing ever! seriously every where we go people comment on how happy she is. she lights up there day as she smiles and giggles at them. she is perfect in public! she started crawling at 7 1/2 months and is starting to attempt walking (which i think she would if dean wouldn't try and knock her down haha). she is much more vocal than dean ever was at this age. i am told its cause she is a girl? she waves bye bye and says mama when she is crying. she is in love with her dad and won't stop giggling when he is around. i seriously love having her in our family and am blessed i get to be her mom. 

so then there is thanksgiving, Chris's birthday, hopefully we have moved in somewhere and found a job. we have Christmas and new years....then my precious baby boy should arrive on January 4th!! I can't wait to meet this precious babe. 

i love my children so much and am so thankful to my heavenly father daily that i am able to be there mama.

it's in the details

i am almost done with nie nies book. I have two chapters left. i bawled today. i bawled because i have taken so much for granted. what this remarkable woman has accomplished is amazing. her inspiration as a mother empowers me. i want to be better, less negative, more cheerful and kiss and love my kids. i want to be the best mother i can and know how for them. 
on Today, today i heard about a mom loosing her legs from protecting her kids from a tornado. debris fell on them and she had to amputate them. loved her courageous story. i hope to do anything for my children if they EVER  needed me and this story reaffirmed the power we have as mothers. 
my kids napped for 3 hrs today. it was fabulous, but as i read nie nies book i wanted them to wake up. to hold them so close. to hear them laugh and giggle and coo. dean doesn't talk much and what does come out of his mouth is this awful fake cry that if i did it for you you would laugh out loud. i imitate him  for some of my friends and over the phone is even better. anyway i go crazy when he does it. but today, after reading i longed for it. i wanted the mess of toys and the food splattered all over the table. dean has been learning to eat with utensils and is doing fairly well. i wanted little marn to look up with her sweet eyes at me and say please pick me up again. or dean coming in the kitchen to tell me "no" and push me away from washing dishes so he could have a hug. i once again am grateful for nie nies inspiration to strive to be a better mother and look at the details. i want to remember every little thing about my babies. they grow up too fast. i have to admit i have had thoughts of terrible things happening to me after reading what has happened to nie. i pray everyday for the life i have and wouldn't change a thing about it. i just know that heavenly father knows what i am capable of and i have to have faith. 

xo

loving life...and taking it day by day.

i had a page written of all i wanted to say then i deleted it. why? simple i have no reason to complain, to defend how i feel or who i am, to justify myself to the world. i read nie nies book. and it has changed my perspective on being a mother and loving every bit of it. i love my life and everything about it. people go through trials of every kind and i am so grateful she shared her trail with me. i am grateful to my friend for suggesting the book. i am grateful to my kids for napping for two hours a day so i could read. i am excited for what lies ahead in my life. i am so grateful to be a mom of my two adorable kids. it is hard but oh so worth it. i make sacrifices everyday for my kids and my husband. i am learning to selfless and less selfish. no i can't run everyday like i want, or wash and style my hair like i used to. or go and shop at the mall. but the life i have now...being a mother of two and hopefully more soon, and having my husband who is in grad school and is never home. and living away from all my family and friends and doing it all on my own with little help. is worth what i am striving to become. i wouldn't be the person i am today if it weren't for the trials i have been given in life. and i know that heavenly father knows me and knows i am capable of whatever he puts in my path. i love him.i love the gospel and i love my life. thank you nie nie for helping me see that.

xo

grandma corbin

Leora. (Lee-Oar-Uh).

She grew up on a farm. She was 1 of 12 kids. She told stories of milking cows and getting up early to do chores. There was a sad bully-type story of being kicked so hard in the shin by her elementary school peers this one time, that she still had a scar. There's pictures of her hair done up in a bandana - big curls, big smile. She went to college and worked this one time in Minnesota and sent home the money to buy her parents a car while supporting herself on basically nothing. She talked about bread and milk sometimes and how it tasted good.

I remember lots of plastic toys at their house, and baseball always on TV. I think it was she who liked baseball. I remember going there sundays at least twice a month. It was always filled with smells of egg, onion or grease. Big fluffy yummy scones covered in honey and powdered sugar, greasy oh so good potatoes or the smell of carmelized onions. Pink puffy divinity (that batch that didn't turn out right she said, but tasted so good), perfect fudge, lots of cookies. Quilts. Not the fancy kind you see these days. The quick patchwork kind, sewed of mismatched patches of fabric, sewn up with the remainder of time she had to do it. These were always given away to someone who needed them. There was always someone who needed them.

She had 9 kids. Lots of stories. Long beautiful life. She took a large responsibility of putting bread on the table and making sure they didn't go without. "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." A life overflowing with service and love, heaping amounts of self-sacrifice, and a strong but quiet religious devotion. Millions of tales of advice and encouragement. Then came secrets about all her jobs, all the things she did that you'd never expect because of the way things turned out. Things like loving chemistry. Things like marrying later in life. Things that were still very much consistent with who I imagined her to be, but things you don't hear about when you are little. Things that I learned about and then became so much more grateful for my grandma, and so much more respectful. My love and pride increased and I felt blessed that I had been lucky enough to call her my grandma.

Leora. However it may have looked to anyone who saw it, she had an extremely successful life in terms of what she was given and what she did with it. And, in the end, that is all that truly matters.

written by my sweet sister Kara.

this post is a bunch of random pictures...

Marni's blessing dress...

we blessed marni louise on February 5 2012. she was exactly 3 months. chris gave such an amazing blessing. we didn't do anything after. i felt kinda sad. but there is just no room and i guess it was super bowl sunday. people had plans. her dress is special. my sister audrie was blessed in it. the dress should bring good luck then, from one special baby to the next. i am grateful we were able to borrow it. my mom sewed it 25 years ago. i love that marni was able to wear such a special dress. i love the vintage look of the dress. the bonnet is so adorable. just see for yourself... she is quite beautiful....thanks cute audrie!

my picture taking buddy....

dean loves to take pictures. he laughs hysterically when the camera flashes. it's adorable.

Marni Girl

we love this little smiley girl!





xoxo