DRACULA: the ballet

John surprised me today with tickets to go see Dracula: The ballet....

It was really good!

I do love how Logan has such a cute little theater that is close and has some really good shows!

Ballerinas are awesome! I could never move the way they do!

We had fun and it was a great little date night!

Thanks, John!!

Motherhood..

I woke up today pretty tired from my long night of disturbed sleep.

I didn't want to roll out of bed, but knew it was about that time because Brielle was in her room talking, screaming, crying, and calling for anyone that would get her out of her prision  bed.

So I took a deep breath, stretched, and slowly got out of bed.

The second I opened her door I was greeted with that precious smile and the "Hi, Mama" that always melts my heart.

After I changed the poopy diaper and watched Brielle walk off to get some toys I had an overwhelming feeling of love wash over me.

I just felt so happy in that moment with my little life and my little family.

Sometimes I don't feel like I am doing enough as a mother.

I feel inadequate, and a bit puney (sp?).

I worry that I'm not teaching Brielle good things and that some days I'm just so tired all I do is let her eat junk food and watch Tangled 5 times in a row.

I feel like "maybe she's the only child I'll get because I'm not a good enough mom"

I worry that I am not taking advantage of the moments I can teach her about Christ, or the family, or the gospel in general.

I get bogged down comparing myself to other mother's who seem to have it down. Who can do all. Mothers who can keep a clean house, make crafts, dinner, and  keep up with snotty noses all day long.

I get anxious that Brielle will be a bully and never stop pulling other kids hair or pinching.

I don't know what is the best form of discipline sometimes and feel like I'm not being consistant enough.

I worry I'm not patient enough to have any more children that I so desperately want to have.

Etc, Etc, Etc...

These are all the thoughts, and worries I have from day to day.

I like to think I'm not the only one who does this from time to time.

We know motherhood/parenting is SUCH a huge responsibility and we only want what is best for our children.

I say to all you mother's out there who think this from time to time...

STOP.

STOP.

Stop.

(Including me)

I read some of these quotes and they made me feel so much better and gave me hope that I am not complelety messing up Brielle's life and that I'm ok:)

(This is a quote from the talk given by Jeffrey R. Holland-Because she is a Mother)

"You are magnificent. You are doing terrifically well. The very fact that you have been given such a responsibility is everlasting evidence of the trust your Father in Heaven has in you. He knows that your giving birth to a child does not immediately propel you into the circle of the omniscient."

This is one for me to remember on those days when I compare what I have to what everyone else does...

"You have nothing in this world more precious than your children. When you grow old, when your hair turns white and your body grows weary, when you are prone to sit in a rocker and meditate on the things of your life, nothing will be so important as the question of how your children have turned out. It will not be the money you have made. It will not be the cars you have owned. It will not be the large house in which you live. The searing question that will cross your mind again and again will be, How well have my children done?"-Pres. Hinckley

And the last one I loved for today is...

"Do not trade your birthright as a mother for some bauble of passing value. Let your first interest be in your home. The baby you hold in your arms will grow quickly as the sunrise and the sunset of the rushing days."-President Hinckley

So though I may just be speaking mainly to myself here, I think it's a good reminder to help us on those hard days. We are not perfect, but we can get a lot of help from our Heavenly Father who loves us and wants us to be happy and enjoy the life we have been given.

 

zoo pics!

The polar bear was her favorite! She stood like this forever.

The long awaited zoo pictures.

I realize I don't have any pics of the animals...

Oh well.

We went and it was fun:)

oh we are still here, don't worry.

Where have we been?!

I'll tell ya...

First we made awesome Batman shirts for the new movie

The Dark Knight Rises

(I would have put a picture right about here but my computer isn't wanting to do that for me)

Anyway,

We went to Salt Lake to watch the movie with some friends and left the child with my sister:)

It was my first time away from Brielle for a whole night and I think I did pretty good!

She did great! Slept all night, so my sister tells me.

The next weekend we went to the Mosman Family Reunion.

That was also a blast. It was so fun getting to know all the family that I hadn't met yet,

and just getting to know everyone better.

(There-John is wearing our homemade Batman shirts)

Then a few weeks ago my sister was taking the kids she babysits to the Hogel Zoo...

I spontaneously decided to go meet her there with Brielle.

I threw some treats in a bag and off we went!

We had so much fun looking at the animals and visiting with Rachel.

Brielle LOVED the polar bear.
She didn't want to leave.

(I took pics of that too but can't seem to find my camera at the moment)

Now we are just getting ready for John to start school again!

He'll be quite busy working and going to school full time so I'm preparing myself to be busy..

I've set up play groups and am planning a trip to St. George and have decided to be motivated and clean out all my junk drawers and junk closets throughout the house;)

John is busy currently writing a fun little story that is quite whimsicle and clever...

I'd share it, but alas, it is not complete:)

He is so good at writing.

He needs to be published.

Anyway-those are the going-ons in our lives.

We should be back more often with updates!

a lot of updates...or just a lot of rambling.

I'm not really sure what I wanna write about today but I do want to write a little something since it's been a while.

I guess I'll start with what's been going on lately in our world.

Brielley- She has been seriously repeating EVERYTHING these days. I am very impressed with how much she can say at only (almost) 15 months. She is awesome! She says, dadda, mama, stretch, duck, doggie, Audrey, (attempts saying Lily), happy (which started this morning on the way to church), lunch, snack, watch, show, bite, work, more, stairs---and many other little words a long the way. And the cool thing is she is really speaking very clearly. It's not hard for me to understand what she wants most of the time...except all the words that begin with "B" are all "baba"...so sometimes that gets tricky.

She loves playing with little kids and is IN LOVE with babies. She loves the pool and any form of water. When she swims she just goes face forward into the water, not minding it in her face or in her ears. That makes me sooo happy! She is so active and crazy that I literally am worn out completely by 7:00 every night. I try to keep up with her but it's really hard somedays. She's so much fun!

John- He is out of school for the summer and focusing strickly on work. He applied for an advancement where he would be a supervisor and focus more on other things rather than taking calls all day. It excites him that he would have a change and feel a little more challenged with day to day things. We are crossing our fingers that this works out because we could really use that in our lives right now! We'll probably find out in the next couple of weeks. He is also being a super awesome husband and helping me so much when he's home. He has also been trying to get back into a work out routine, which can prove difficult when life gets so busy, but he's doing great and is happy....well I shouldn't speak for him, but I think he's doing great;)

Me-Well like I said, I'm just trying to keep up with Brielle these days. She is quite a firecracker. I have also started participating in a play group with some girls from the ward once a week and it has been so wonderful to get out and talk with other mom's and girls my age that are all in kind of the same phase of life. Unfortunately, a lot of close friends of mine are moving on with school and work so I am going to have to start really branching out. I also have recently redecorated a little (with the immense help of my father-in-law's wife, Jackie). We had a BLAST going shopping for fun little things to freshen up and change the house around a bit. I am really grateful for the thought and time she put into making it a fun day and enjoyed the time we spent together.  On a blah note-I haven't been feeling the best these days-and NO I'm not pregnant...unfortunately....

I've been to the Dr. and have a couple of things we are going to try but I basically get sick to my stomach all the time and it's just something that's been really hard for me to deal with lately. I really do take my health for granted and have realized how much I need to be thankful for feeling well every day. I miss that! Hopefully with some of the things we have to try I will start feeling better and will be able to get my life back to normal....

I almost forgot the most exciting news of all!

John, and some others pitched in and got me a BIKE for my birthday!!!

I am so excited about this. I haven't had a bike in years and have been wanting one basically since John and I started dating. He really spoiled me this year. I'll have to think of something really awesome come September, for his bday.  I'll post pics of the house and my bike later!

Anyway that is the overload of updating for y'all.

Until next time,

Happy Sunday!

Family!

I have a big family.

There are 8 kids and 4 of us are married.

All of those that are married have kids...

Every time I've visited since I've been married we've had some new additions.

We took a leap and had some family pics taken...

Let me tell ya, it wasn't easy...

But here are a few.

I think they turned out cute!

LOVE my family!

My cute loves!

The whole clan

Youngest sister Carly and Niece Madison

2nd oldest brother, Dave and his family. Their baby was only 5 days old here.

Silly faces! Mom and Dad didn't get the memo

We may not all be smiling but we are all looking!

Squeeze!

3rd brother Justin's family! So darling!

Oldest brother, Josh's family. Love his boys so much.

Sisters!!!!! So love these girlies!

My baby sisters.

All the girls, except baby Ryden on the left.

Grandma Tommie and baby Tommie. Love Grandma in this picture.

Brothers.

Well, my baby brother got home from his mission a few weeks ago.

He served in the Provo, Utah mission and loved it from what I've heard!

We get to visit my family in Texas to see him and it has been a blast thus far,what with them having internet, T.V., a pool, a lake, lots of yummy food and sunshine, and plenty of babysitters!

We feel really spoiled and that we are truly on a vacation.

When I first saw Jake I immediately could tell he was different. He looked like a man!

He acts older, and more mature. It's fun to see him come back as such a great guy.

He leaves for BYU-Idaho in the fall and I think he's excited.

I hope so, I loved that school...still do!

Anyway, all of my four brothers have served missions now.

Josh-Zurich, Switzerland

Dave-St. Petersburg, Russia

Justin- Ilagan, Phillipines

Jake-Provo, Utah

I am so proud of all of them.

They are my heroes and I love them all so much.

I just wanted to take a sec and brag about them.

So much to blog about!

Well, not having the internet...SUCKS!

To put it bluntly...

It's probably a good thing, though, cause if I did I would be on it all the time.

But, it's not fun when I actually have things I need to do on it and can't.

Thankfully I have a very generous mother-in-law, who lets me break into her house and chill for a few hours while she is at work.

Anyway, here is my random post about what's been going on at the Mosman's!

First, I had a goal last week...or maybe it was two weeks ago now...to keep every room in my house clean...well...at least presentable every day... I think I did an ok job.

I'll prove it...just don't judge me on all my second hand DI-wanna be decorating.

This is the shelving above my washer and dryer. It was a disaster so I decided to organize it and it looks SO MUCH BETTER!

I even made my bed everyday..ask John...that's rare. Becoming less rare though. Go me!

Sorry this stupid pic isn't turning...my bathroom got scrubbed...twice. In one week I'd say that's great! Unless that's gross. Sorry.

Yet again, can't turn this one either....the hallway...

Living room

Toys crammed into the corner don't count because I have no where else to put them!

Yes, the wooden spoon is to keep Brielle out. She's figured it out by now. Grr...

See I did it?!

So that was exciting to me. I know some of you are super-mom's out there and can keep it all up to snuff...but sometimes dishes just aren't my priority. Yikes!

Anyway. The weather has been so nice lately.

I am so happy. We have gone outside basically all day everyday for the last little while.

The last thing I wanted to say was that a while back we had a Relief Society workshop thing and I heard a quote that I just love and have been totally living by these past few weeks...

"You don't find a happy life, you make one"

So everyone...go make a happy life!

That's all I have to say!

Mwah!

ONE!

Well, since I don't have internet at my house sometimes it's hard for me to get pics up for my blog...

So this post doesn't have any pics, but we did take a lot.

Brielle turned ONE on March 26th!

I can't believe it's gone by so fast.

I know that's cliche...everyone says that. But, it's true.

Anyway...we had a good little time celebrating her birthday.

On Sunday we celebrated with the family and had cake and ice cream.

Brielle got into the cake but wouldn't eat any of it.

Kind of unexpected because she LOVES chocolate and anything sweet.

Then on Monday...her actual birthday...we blew up lots of balloons and had her open her presents from mom and dad. She loved it all. It was a lot of fun.

John even surprised us and stayed home from work to celebrate with us!

It was pretty awesome.

Then later that night we had some of her little friends over (and our friends) and had cupcakes.

Brielle LOVED the cupcake:)

It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed just spending the day with her and spoiling her rotten  sweet:)

I'm so grateful for Brielle.

She's a darling little girl and so sweet to her mommy and daddy.

We have a lot of fun with her and are thankful everyday for such a healthy, happy baby!

Happy Birthday, baby girlie !

There is sunshine in my soul today!

*sigh*

Don't you LOVE the warm weather?!

The sunshine is like my best friend.

I just want to stay outside every day it's sunny out

ALL DAY!

Here a few pics of our trip to St. George

and I mean a few..I always forget to take pics when we are on trips...

and also some from a few walks and times we played outside this week:)

On the drive to St. George

Playin at Grandpa's! (I can't get that paci out of her mouth very often...it's cute though;))

Getting some Aggie Ice Cream with daddy on campus! YUM!

Walkin with dad

My two favorite people! They are so cute!

She just wanted to know what we were doing. Haha. Love her.


Ahhh I just want the warm weather to last but I know it's not going to long. I just looked at the forecast. Oh well.
Oh...exciting news!
We are going to visit my family in Texas in May!
SOOO excited!
My baby brother is coming home from his mission in Provo.
I know..go ahead and laugh.
It's funny:)
It will be the first time we have all been together since he left.
And, he will have two nieces and a nephew he has never met.
Brielle being one of them.
He has a lot of catching up to do:)
Love you, Jake!

Two for the Road

Has anyone ever seen/heard of the movie

Two For the Road?

Well, it's an Audrey Hepburn movie that I LOVE so much.

It is basically about a married couple that kind of loses touch with eachother and gets into just "being married" and not being in love.

Anyway, there is a scene where they are at a restaurant and Audrey's character says to her husband

"What kind of people just sit in a restaurant and don't say one word to each other?"

to which her husband replies

"Married people."

Well...John and I went out to eat tonight and I thought about that part and it's kind of true.

Sometimes John and I will be on a date and I find that we are just silently eating our meal.

I remember when we were dating and couldn't get enough words IN.

Now, silence isn't a bad thing at all but it's really nice to reconnect and just talk again.

Anyway, I guess my thought tonight is that I don't want to turn into that.

(Honestly, I talk WAY too much for the two of us for that to ever happen)

So...let's all talk to our spouses and have happy conversations;)

Haha...wow I shouldn't try and be deep and thoughtful...sorry for the random nonsense post!

St. Georgiana

High School Musical

Who says we have to let it go?

It's the best time we've ever known...

Step in to future

But hold onto

High School Musical!!!

GUESS WHAT?

John and I were at the EXACT pool that High School Musical 2 was filmed at!

You know when Troy gets all his friends jobs for the summer at a sweet resort and they are all mad at him because...well no one is really sure why...because he is following his dreams? Because he is changing?

Well..anyway..John and I were there today! Turns out Craig (my father-in-law) is a member of the club where they filmed the movie. I took pics on my phone..but I don't know how to get them on here.

So, I have no proof but we were there and it was awesome.

They wouldn't let us jump off the rocks on the side of the pool though like Troy and Gabriella.

Bummer..

They even had to put signs up saying not to jump off the rocks and such.

I guess there were people that tried to be High School Musical-esk.

Needless to say it pretty much made my day and I wanted to share a bit of my joy with you.

In other news...Brielley cakes is a walking machine.

She has gotten used to Grandpa's house and is loving her new surroundings.

She has also been able to play outside a lot while we are here in St. George which is a nice change for her.

I only have 10 more days before my Miss Rae is one and I am having very mixed emotions about it.

It's so fun to watch her grow and learn but I do sometimes miss the teeny baby that she was.

We are excited to spoil her with presents and lots of loves and kisses.

Oh, and John would probably love to post all about March Madness...

I don't really follow most of it but I do know that there have been some surprising upsets...

Did I use the right basketball lingo?

Was that even correct information?

Haha- oh March Madness.

Well..tomorrow we are off to shop and explore some more and maybe even have a DATE NIGHT!!

In the meantime...have a superb night, everyone!

I know I will:)

Lately

Well...it's been a while since I updated this thing. I haven't had access to the internet for a while so here's just a  quick update on my thoughts, what we've been doing, and all that stuff:)

First off, for a while now I've been trying to be balanced with things in my life and I've tried to make sure I spend time doing good, uplifting things. One thing that I've been really trying to do is spend some good quality time with Brielle. I am with her every day and we play a lot but there were days when I was feeling like I just didn't spend enough QUALITY time with her.

So, I decided to make sure to put everything away...phone, movies, internet...etc...and just PLAY.

Remember when you were a kid and just played! With your imagination? No phones, or movies?

Well, for at least 20 mins each day we make sure to just play. This has been the best BEST part of my day everytime I just put the world on silent and just be. We have so much fun! Sometimes all we do is walk around holding hands for hours..but I can honestly say it's been awesome.

So my challenge to y'all with kiddos is...BE WITH YOUR KIDS!

I know the world can be distracting and there is obviously things we have to do but take some time and just be with your kids. Get to know them..I know Brielle is only little but I feel like we are so bonded already and she's honestly one of my favorite friends. I love her so much.

Next, John. He's just awesome and I just wanted to throw a shout out to his awesomeness.

He works so hard for us and I am so lucky to have an awesome guy.

LOVE HIM!

Also... last but not least this last weekend we went to Salt Lake and just spent some time at the Gateway Mall with my sister, Rachel, and walked around and shopped. Then we went to dinner with John's cousins at BUCCA DI BEPPO. If you haven't ever been...GO! So yum!

Oh...and the weather has been SOOO awesome lately that we have gone on like a million walks....

My neighbor and I are great friends and we like to go together. She's in the last pic.:)

Phew...

Updated.

We are going to St. George for John's spring break this week and are REALLY excited!

Can't wait!