Motherly Advice {Being a Holy Woman}

A couple of weeks ago I read the most eye opening little book. Now if you aren't religious don't go running when I say the title is How to be a Holy Woman. This book fell on my head (literally) around Christmas time when I was looking for gifts for a few of the special women in my life. My mother in law passed it on to me after she finished with it. Basically it was about asking yourself what holiness means and how to help yourself to become a holier person.

What did I take from it? What are my priorities? Do i focus on them? How can I use my time for better rather than for useless things. 

I realized if I am going to be better I need to be present in my daughters lives, I stay home with them but it is so easy for me to stick them in front of the tv and focus on the home, work, and working out. While those things are great too they are not what is most important. I need to take time to focus on my childrens needs. 

I also need to work on supporting my husband. I have talked about this a lot. Lately I have felt very upset with how severely under paid he is. I tell him constantly to ask for a raise, his job doesn't appreciate how hard he works, and that they'll never let him move up where he is at. (Even though it's all true) I need to stop. I need to let him know he is a hard worker, that I appreciate how hard he works for our family and that if he is happy with what he does, then I am as well. 

Being a wife and mother is not always easy. I tend to feel like I'm always trying to "keep up". This is the last thing I am going to be working on. If I want to be holier or just better in general, I need to quit comparing myself to others and measure myself only against my past self. Have I improved from where I was a year ago? I'm not sure. But i plan to track my progress this way from now on.

Now on to my advice to you. What do you think a holy woman would do? Are you doing those things? Are you truly striving everyday to be better? If not, then make your own list. Put what you feel is most important at the top and start there. Everytime you feel that slight question in your mind whether what you are doing is right or not ask yourself will this make be a better person, is this what a holy woman would do? If not, change your course of action. I promise it helps. So far it has helped me to be calmer, to enjoy my children more and to see how simple life can be and still feel fulfilling. 

Sickness Has Taken Over

I shouldn't complain because the stomac flu is way way kinder than a lot of other things that people are going through. But I'm going to share anyways.

I have the most dramatic 2 year old ever! She totally gets it from her dad ;) Saturday she would hold her stomach, make groaning noises, throw her head back and then puke. It was awesome! then Sunday she pretended like she was a baby to be held all day and would pay her head and say ouch. Monday she wouldn't wake up. Seriously. I tried so many times to get her to get dressed so we could go to the doctors, luckily I already had an appointment for Em to get her shots. Dr. Polson knew something was wrong when she had to be carried in and never opened her eyes except to ask for a sucker. Poor thing had a super horrible ear infection.

Let me explain how sweet this babe is when she is sick. 

- she says thank you much to everything! I give her a kiss and she looks me in the eyes and says "thank you much" which just melts my heart because I say "thank you sooo much" when she does something extra great.

- she says I love you too even in her sleep. This stubborn girl refuses to say I love you and only because she is stubborn. But now she is sick and will say I lu too. And I LOVE it. 

So far little Em has escaped getting the stomach flu. But she had her shots and those are never fun. (I hate shots!) but Kaden and I probably would have traded in shots for the stomach big we caught. 

Wash your hands people! I swear this was all passed on to ifrom some toys Leighton played with at the local book store. Hopefully everyone feels great tomorrow and Leighton stays sweet. 

*we did wake up feeling way way better on Thursday and my spit fire child is back to normal. 

Stuart

Tonight I am missing Stuart. My pet tortoise passed away on February 20. She had been in my family for 16 years. I can still remember picking her out at Smitty's pet store and being so excited to bring her home. My dad and I were getting baptized that weekend and he let me count out his change jar. $100 in quarters later she was mine. She was perfect. A tiny little sulcata that could fit in the palm of my hand. I dreamed of her being large enough to ride and knew one day my children would be able to. Stuart would rome my room, the backyard, and even the house sometimes. She had such a personality for a tortoise, almost like a more self maintained and less cuddly dog. She had quite a few adventures in her time. She first moved into the back yard under our lemon trees in Lake Elsinore when she was 5 years old. Then after quite the growth spurt and moving to Logandale we let her take over the entire backyard. After our first year or two in Logandale she ran away. I think she was gone for about 3 months when finally one day our neighbor came strolling down the street with Stuart in a stroller. She had made her way out the back gate and across the alfalfa fields to the Staheli home. She managed to find a play house where she was used as a stool by the neighbor kids who thought she was a giant moving rock. I was so happy to have her return. I couldn't imagine her being gone forever back then. And i still can't now. 

It breaks my heart that my kids wont know her and that she wasn't able to out live me. I wish there was more i could have done for her, or that i would have known how sick she was. My heart breaks every time Leighton has asked for turtle this week. The day that Stuart passed away Leighton walked in my parents backyard and headed straight for Stuarts hole saying she was going to look for the turtle. I took her to see Stuart for the last time and she didn't want to leave her side. I loved how my mom said it today after she was buried. Rest in peace gentle giant.

Five Years

Kaden and I celebrated our fifth anniversary on Valentines day. In some ways i can not believe it has already been so long and in others i can't believe it has only been 5 years. In 5 years we have lived in two states, moved 4 times, bought a home, bought a car, attended school, finished school, had several different jobs, visited San Francisco 4 times, Disneyland 7 times, Mexico, Seattle and Nashville once, had three pregnancies and two beautiful daughters. We are so much more in love today than we were the day we said yes to spending eternity together. It is almost silly to think i knew what love was when i was only 19. We were obviously smitten by one another and couldn't stand the thought of not being together forever, but we have truly grown so much over the past few years. We are best friends, we are lovers and we are parents. Kaden works so hard to provide for our little family and make sure we are happy. I hope my loving husband knows how absolutely sure i am that i made the best decision 5 years ago when i committed to an eternity with him by my side. 

She is Blessed

Emersyn Hope Leavitt

was given a name and a blessing on February 9.

Kaden blessed our sweet girl in our ward surrounded by family and few close friends. 

The things that were said were so perfect for our dear Emersyn. She smiled through out her entire blessing and had every man surrounding her smiling back. Our little girl is still so fresh from heaven i can't help but feel a little closer to the Lord every time i hold her. Her blessing said a lot about her testimony and her helping her families testimonies to grow.

Emersyn is 3 Months Old

Happy very late 3 months to Miss Emersyn! 

Seriously she is almost 4 months old now, but these pictures were taken the day she turned 3 months

This dark haired blue eyed girl has two hobbies... blowing bubbles and eating.

Her days consist of sleeping, smiling and being picked on by Leighton.

She is currently working on sitting up and pushing herself up.

Em still loves being swaddled and rocked to sleep.

She is the biggest mommas girl and I am just fine with that.

Emersyn loves cuddles, kisses, and of course Tiffany. 

Those two have really good staring contests. 

She is so strong and has the sweetest spirit. 

 My only wish right now is that she could stay this little forever. 

Her thigh rolls melt my hear and morning smiles make early days so worth while.

Disneyland

I am sure i have at least 5 other posts with the same title, but we went to Disneyland. Kaden started planning this trip months ago, after we decided to move and after he heard about Superbowl weekend being empty. Our move has now been postponed a few months but we still knew we were in desperate need of a fun little family trip and to do something to celebrate our 5th anniversary.

 A few of Leighton's favorites

Melt my heart! Leighton held my hand while we rode the carousel.

This girl just chilled the entire time.

It really was a magical weekend. Leighton was in heaven with all of the music, characters, rides and parades. The first morning we walked into the park for breakfast and Leighton literally danced her way down main street. There is something special about little girls in princess outfits at the happiest place on earth. My family and Uncle Jimi's family were able to come to Disneyland with us and help make the trip that much more fun. We can't wait until both girls are able to enjoy the park together.