Motherhood....

The other day I was crying because Motherhood has officially gotten hard. (And I know, it only gets harder, but bear with me, I'm new at this!) My sweet little boy who used to only want to be with Mommy and give hugs and kisses is now a punk. He loves to scream, his favorite word is "NO!" Everything is "Mine!" and he is just plain ol' stubborn (but that's might just be a Ricks' trait, haha). The other day I was visiting teaching, and the girl I teach was telling me about her "Monster Nephew" and compared him to Grayson. I was Mortified and embarrassed and felt like a complete failure. Being a stay at home Mom or SAHM (thanks for the acronym, Em) can feel pretty dissatisfying, stressful, and miserable sometimes.

(For the record, I truly do love being a SAHM, but for this blog, the focus won't be about that!)

Well, I laughed because about a day after I finally laid out all my frustrations to my hubby, a close friend wrote a blog about basically the same thing. And then today, another close friend wrote THE SAME EXACT thing. All of our kids are about the same age, so obviously it's not our parenting that is the problem... it's just a horrifically common stage that all kids go through, even if we feel it's all our fault.

To my friends (you know who you are), I just wanted to say, that something which gives me peace and perspective about our situation is to not only read the scriptures every day, but to read talks and articles from church leaders about the importance of family. It doesn't make the day easier (well, sometimes it does) but it helps remind me that it's all worth it.

I was reading this month's issue of the Ensign (that would be a magazine published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and two quotes stood out to me, since I've been thinking about this topic all day...

"Not only has the Savior suffered, but so have most of the prophets and other great men and women recorded in the scriptures. The point is this: if you are having a bad day, you've got a lot of good company- very, very good company." -Jeffrey R. Holland (Lessons from Liberty Prison)

And...

"Don't feel guilty or dwell on thoughts of failure. Don't compare yourself to others. Do the best you can, and the Lord will provide the rest. Have faith and confidence in Him, and you will see miracles happen in your life and the lives of your loved ones." -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (The Influence of Righteous Women, Sept. 09)

I know that we are all doing the best that we can... so Keep the faith and we've been promised miracles! Even though, right now a miracle might be just making it through the day!

3 YEARS OF WEDDED BLISS! :D

It seems to be the tradition to write a little blog about your spouse for Anniversaries so I thought I would jump on the band wagon and do the same since we just celebrated our anniversary two days ago.

I know, I am a procrastinator.

So, Barry is a stud muffin. That's really the best way to describe him. He is amazing, and hilarious, and extremely geeky. He is the perfect person for me... to sum it up, my mom at least once a month asks me "Where did he come from?!" whenever I tell her another amazing, wonderful and thoughtful thing that he has done for me.

STORY:
Last Christmas, I decided very last minute that I wanted to be in our church's Christmas party Talent Show. About two days before the party, we were driving with my mom who happened to be listening to "High School Musical" and her CD just happened to come with the karaoke version. Since Barry and I both work with the youth of our church we thought a Disney Hit would be perfect. That night we rented the movie and memorized the choreography to "What I've been Looking For", and the next night we put the song on repeat and sang along over and over, belting at the top of our lungs in the middle of the night, while painting our new house. And then in front of all our peers, friends, and adults... we busted out High School Musical. (I wanted to post the video but that might have to come later.)

That's my husband in a nutshell. He would do anything for me (and has), he has the courage to sing cheesy Disney songs with me in public, he treats me better than a princess, he ignores the giant pregnant belly (and the giant un-pregnant belly after the baby's born), he is willing to go to work and school full-time just to take care of us. He has a gorgeous singing voice, since we've been married we've had the chance to work on four musicals together, AND... he does the dishes.

Like I said... A stud muffin.

Random pics

A happy family picture at Grayson's Birthday




Grayson loving his new bug pajamas




Riding his new Spiderman Scooter


Just being cute at Barry's office BBQ

The big 1+1!!!

My Baby is Two!!!! HOLY COW, TIME GOES BY WAY TOO FAST!!! This Friday, we had a small get together with Grandma and Grandpa Kramer, Uncle Christopher, and our good friends the Folsoms. The kids played in the sprinkler while the parents all got to eat dinner in quiet, then we opened presents, and ended the night with cake and icecream.

(You know you are a parent when the party ends by 8:30 because you're exhausted!)

So here is Grayson out in the sprinkler with his friends and Bubba (Uncle Chris)... but none of them are in the picture. Sorry.

This is the bug cake, and Grayson holding up a bug he "caught" from the cake.

Grayson is pointing at one of the bugs on his card, and looking at the Leapster his Great Grandma bought him.

So Grayson is two and I can hardly believe it. We've been having so much fun now that he is getting older. He loves dancing... and I mean LOVES it! This morning, while we were all getting ready for church, Barry put in "Mozart" and Grayson started jamming out. I guess he can find a dancing beat in any type of music! He is so smart, is starting to say a bunch more words, and his most recent fascination is bugs. He's kind of obsessed with them, as you can tell from his birthday pictures. We had a bug party, He can find the bug in any story we read, and he LOVES real bugs... (Mommy, not so much.) The other day he saw a beetle on our floor so he picked it up and turned on the music and danced with it. It must of been quite an exciting dance because the bug didn't come out alive... but even though I have to stiffle my groans and screeches anytime he shows me some new bug he picked up, I love how curious he is about them. I love everything about him!

But we will see if I am still gushing about my child when he becomes a BIG brother!

But for now.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAYSON!!!