The Gift of Joy

PLEASE go to this website and enjoy this amazing video. It's produced by The College of Fine Arts and Communications at BYU. The song, “Joy to Everyone This Christmas,” was written and produced by Stephen Jones, dean of the college, in collaboration with Emmy-award winning composer and producer Sam Cardon and vocalists Jenny Jordan Frogley and David Osmond. The music video features images from university photographer Mark Philbrick.

Spread the word of JOY this season!

To all Pet Owners

Unfortunately, the people who need to hear this aren't the ones reading my blog. Most people, I have to say are very responsible pet owners. But here's the rant anyway.

When you are doing a good deed and just want to be happily doing your VT duty, you don't want to be attacked by the pet of your good-deed-recipient. But that is what happened to me last night.

Please understand that your guests may be less fond of your pet than you are. Some may even be allergic or very afraid of pets. Pet owners, please be aware that your pet may lash out at one of your guests for some reason or another even if it has never happened before. They may have just worn the wrong perfume (eau-de-doggie).

There is a very easy solution. Put your pet away until you understand that your guest approves of having the pet around them. That puts the responsibility on your guest. But, if your pet does do something awful, mean, or... embarrassing. There is no excuse for you not apologizing for your pet. You would apologize for a child's misbehavior. Why then, would a pet's inappropriateness be any different?

I have a terrible bite on my leg and will possibly have to go to the doctor to have it checked out. It hurts and it's ugly. It may leave a scar. This is NOT OKAY!

Also, you can be held liable for your pet injuring someone. I don't think anybody wants these things to happen, but they do. Just do the right thing!

Busy Mom=Bad at Expressing Gratitude

Speaking of being a bad blogger... I have been remiss in expressing gratitude to all who helped me since Noah's birth. My Mom, Kim, and Jared's Mom came out and were wonderful. They cooked, cleaned, got up during the night, bought gifts, and, in general, made me feel pampered, easing the transition to having a new little one.

My children have the best grandparents, aunts, and uncles. We wish we were closer so our little ones could see them more often, but we are thankful for the visits and the generosity from so many family members. We especially look forward to visiting over Christmas.


This is Kim and my mom showing off their gourmet, restaurant-ready meals. All of the food was awesome! Not going to be losing the baby pounds any too soon.

I had a list going of people who bought gifts, food, etc. Regrettably, somehow, that list has been misplaced in all the hectic chaos of new baby and toddler demanding every ounce of energy and attention. There are so many people whom I'm afraid I haven't thanked properly. I just want to take this chance to say, "THANK YOU," from the bottom of my heart for everything. I've felt so much love and support, and my little boys and husband have also benefited from the kindnesses shown to us.

Here's to leaving the photography to the pros.

Who's that baby?

busy mom=bad blogger

Because sometimes I just have these kind of days...

I know much busier moms who also happen to be awesome bloggers as well. I think when other kids are napping their moms get updating their blogs. When my kids nap, I just want to crash as well. Sometimes I do and sometimes I have to catch up with more pressing things.



Grandma Bernotski was able to help so much when she was here. I couldn't have made it without her great help. She is wonderful and I don't know who misses her more, the kids or me.

Halloween was perfect. The YW were in charge of the ward trunk-or-treat and chili cookoff. I was in charge of doing the table decorations. We made fun pumpkins out of paper. They turned out cute. By the end of the night, people were wearing them as hats.



Luke loved dressing up as a Gorilla. Noah was a sleepy pumpkin (thanks Aunt Kimmy for the cute punkin' costume). He didn't stir the whole night. Jared's costume was thrown together, but I must say he was a really cute Ratatouille. All the kiddos in the ward kept saying "HI Ratatouille!" We had fun eating chili and other yummy things. I made some chili that I like and some focaccia. Yummo!

Grandma stayed home with Noah on candy duty while we took Luke around the neighborhood trick-or-treating. Luke didn't quite get the whole candy thing at first, but he quickly caught on that this Halloween thing is a GOOD deal!!


Luke is getting to be so big. He's almost 1 1/2 years old and we decided to "try out" nursery last week at church. He saw the kids and had to be where they were. He did great and he even gave us our first refrigerator masterpiece!



With Luke growing so does his "adventurous" spirit. He's getting more daring all the time climbing and getting into anything and everything. The morning of October 30th he fell down our garage steps and banged his little noggin. He got a fairly good shiner. About a week before that, he slipped in the bathtub and got a little cut above his eye. I was worried about the cut and took him to the doctor. He didn't need stitches, thank goodness. It's healed well.

Noah is also growing by leaps and bounds. Sometimes I look at this darling little guy and think that he looks bigger all the time. We get comments on his cute face and mounds of black hair everyday!

He passed his one month mark October 30th. To commemorate we decided to have his pictures taken. The options are few--oh so very few. So I made an appointment at our only choice here locally--WalMart. Ten o'clock was our appointment and at 11:20 we left very disappointed because nobody showed up to take the photos. We did a little photo shoot at home and got a couple of good shots. Happy ONE MONTH, Noah!

Luke and Noah

Well, I have to admit that having two little ones is hard. I've, thankfully, had help. My mom came a couple of days before Noah was born and stayed a two and a half weeks! Honestly, I don't know how I could have survived without her. She made everything so smooth. I was so lucky to have my mom here because at night I would get up to nurse the baby and then she would take over burping, changing and getting the little guy back to sleep. She cooked, cleaned, and took care of both of the kids. Where is she now?!?

My awesome sister, Kim, also flew out to be with us and the new baby. It was just wonderful to have them here and I'm so grateful. Jared's mom flew out to be here the same day as Kim and my mom flew home. She's going to be helping me out until November 2. We have such amazing family that blesses our lives immensely.

I've been doing very well with the recovery from the c-section. The hardest part is not being able to do the things I want and need to do. I admit to lifting Luke sometimes. It's just hard to have to ask someone to help with everything. It was my turn to teach the YW on the 12th, so when I showed up to church people were so surprised. I really feel blessed that I've been out of pain for the most part and been able to get around. When Luke was born, it was a much longer and painful recovery.

Luke has been doing so well adjusting to his new little brother. He has been getting lots of attention from the grandmas and auntie. He has been fun to watch around the baby. He puts his hands on Noah's head and rubs his hair mussing it all up. He will give the baby loves and kisses too. He seems very concerned when Noah cries and he's so cute standing on his tiptoes to peek into the bassinet at the baby. So, most of my fears have been put aside for the most part about Luke adjusting.