3 Months Later

Really? Has it reaaaally been three months since my last blog post? That's embarrassing. Well, what can I say? I am a mother of a very active one year old who only takes two naps during the day and on those two 1 hour naps I have a zillion things to do. But for my 4 followers I will try and be better at posting. Forgive me?

Smoothie time

Today I wanted to post about something that seriously haunts me. To do lists. We all have them. Some are longer than others, some shorter. While many of you are probably excellent at getting your to do list done. I am not. My to do list goes unseen and unchecked for weeks at a time. Projects, grocery lists, meal plans, ideas, exercise routine and reading schedule all stack up until I throw it away and start over.

One of the hardest things for me to do on my list is meal planning. With David and Calvin's intolerance to wheat, gluten, rice and dairy I am very limited in my kitchen and have to be extremely creative. It has been an uphill battle these last two years trying to make the switch from our comfortable, delicious, gluteny food to the dense, dry and at times tasteless gluten free food.

I know there is great gluten free food out there but the fact of the mater is I can't, nor do I want to, spend a zillion dollars on 10 different flours to make one loaf of bread and I don't have the time to be in my kitchen all day and night.

I am trying my best, finding new recipes and praying God would some how make my boring chicken and veggies taste like chicken fried steak and macaroni and cheese. It hasn't happened yet but I wont give up:)



Would You Rather?

Have you ever played the game, Would You Rather?

Would you rather eat a rotten egg or smell like a rotten egg? Would you rather not be able to talk or not be able to stop talking? Would you rather have a nose like Pinocchio or a beard like Santa? I played this game over the summer at a family get together and it was pretty interesting to hear everyones respones and the things they would rather deal with.

I feel like this week I have been dealing with would you rather situations. Whenever I have gone through something hard in life I have had people on the other side tell me they wish they could switch places. Friends and family that would rather be in pain then watch me in pain. When I was 8 and 9 years old going through back surgery I remember my Dad and Mom saying this to me all the time.

I have never felt the feeling of wanting to ease peoples pains like I do now. I know its just a phase in life but I feel like there are so many people around me hurting whether it be physically or emotionally. All I want to do is take the pain from them, switch places for a while so they can catch their breath.

So at the end of today I felt the Lord ask me.

"Emily would you rather try and fix all these peoples hurts and pains by yourself or would you rather ask me take care of them?"

And to my knees in prayer I go.

Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Psalm 73:25-24 "Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."

Lamentations 3:22 "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

All our worries, all our cares, all our problems with illnesses, with relationships, with money, with future plans, He takes care of them all.

What a great God I serve.

3 things you may not know about me

1. I can't wash my face with the bathroom door open.
        Yes it is true. Why you might ask? Because of the boogieman of course! In almost every scary movie preview I have seen (yes I said preview because I never actually watch scary movies) the innocent girl is washing her face and when she looks up in the mirror the boogieman is right behind her ready to attack! So therefore I do not wash my face unless the door is closed and I know for a fact that it is boogieman free.
        Side note: where did we get the term "boogieman" I mean if I were to take his name literally I would automatically think of a man that either has a serious case of the boogers or is shaped like a big green booger. Either way I guess that would still be scary.

2. I am an ex-animal lover.
       It is true I use to be an animal lover but those days are since gone. Growing up I had a Dalmatian named Spotty, two hamsters that bread and made a third, 4 fish and a cat that I am pretty sure was a death eater. My favorite TV show was The Crocodile Hunter and unlike most kids that had posters of the latest boy band in their room I had a life size cut out of Steve Irwin. Spotty was my BFF, seriously the best dog a girl could of asked for. In the same year Steve Irwin and Spotty both died. I don't know if that was the cause of my gradual dislike for animals but walking in Pet Co yesterday sure didn't feel like it did when I was younger. I'm not gonna lie, I actually got the chills when I saw a snake.

My bedroom with Steve peeking out behind by closet door. 

3. I have been engaged twice but married once.
      Dave and I, at a ripe ol age of 18, got engaged and 21 days before the wedding cancelled it.  It's a great but very long story and I plan on sharing it soon. Lets just say God is good and by his grace we were able to get married.

Dave in China. Isn't he a cutie:)

My Creative Funk Broken!

I've been in a creative funk.

Funk-a dejected mood, to shrink from something in fear.

Not to be confused with funky-having a earthy blues based quality or character.

You would think Pinterest would of caused me to be all crafty and creative but at times it made me feel inadequate and incapable to think creatively on my own. Does that make sense? I would see all these pictures of people and their creative minds and instead of feeling motivated and encouraged I shrunk in my fear of not being that creative. wa wa wa (sob story, I know)

Anyways a few weeks ago I decided I needed to break my funk and start getting crafty by golly! Once I opened up the door to craftiness there was no stopping me. It all started with the idea to make an advent calender. My friend Jennifer and I got on pinterst, found our favorite idea and set out to make it our own. It took a couple weeks and a few times I wanted to quit thinking mine looked no where near the one on pinterest but I stayed with it and I love the outcome! It kind of looks like a 5th grader made it (a really talented 5th grader I might add) but I love it. What it represents means way more than what it looks like.

The second craft/project I started on was my side tables. I have been wanting side tables for soooo long but they are ridiculously high priced! So I was pinteresting different side table and one of the ideas was to use bar stools. All the sudden a light bulb went off in my mind and I looked out side to my patio where two old bar stools stood awaiting a trip to the trash. The only difference between my bar stool and the ones on pinterest were that mine had backs but that problem could easily be solved. I had such a huge adrenaline rush surge through my body as I went rummaging for a saw.

I thought about using David's axe but i didn't know how good my aim was.

Kitchen knife? No, not sturdy enough.

I could drill holes all along the sides and that would probably weaken it. No, too much, Emily.

Then my Dad's words came to my mind. "Right tool for the right job." Oh Dad you are so wise. Finally like a bright shiny present I saw it, Davids Swiss Army Knife. I opened it up and there lied the smallest most perfect saw! I cut off the tops, sanded down the rough parts, cleaned them up and wa la, side tables. They need some paint but I can't tell you how thrilled I am to finally have side tables!

Last but not least my wardrobe needed some help. I am a bargain hunter for clothes. It really doesn't sit well for me to spend copious amounts of money on clothes when I know a month from the purchase I will be sick of them. Consignments stores, TJ Max or switching wardrobes with a close friend for a month are all ways that I expand my closet without spending a lot of money. None of these are options for me as of right now so I needed to think out of the box. I went on pinterst and saw an idea of how to make a men's shirt into a dress. After that one idea another light bulb went off and David's closet turned into my very own shopping store.  Thankfully Dave is a great sharer because 5 items of his clothes now reside on my side of the closet!

Oh pinterest, thank you for reviving my creative side.

Coming to the End

It wasn't until I was out of high school that I started to like reading books. I've never been a sitting kind of person so plopping down on a nice comfy couch and getting sucked into a book never really interested me.

Now I love books, especially ones that have multiple volumes like the Harry Potter series. Its funny because as soon as I pick up book one of any series I want to know immediately what happens in book seven.  Frantically, I read through all the books and finally get to the last one in the series. As excited as I am to find out the ending I begin to read a little slower and start soaking in every word because on the last page it is over. Done. No more. The mystery and the anticipation all comes to an end and I have to find some other series to entertain my short attention spanned mind. 

For me this is what college has been. A long, exhaustive, at times exciting seven volume book. When I first started college I was a little overwhelmed with how daunting the task looked but none the less excited to see what would come of it. What degree would I choose, what school would I attend, would I really be that much smarter at the end? No

If you asked me a year ago I would of told you I had 10 classes,  4 semesters, 7 teachers and 45 weeks left of school. I was in a sense beginning book seven and was racing to the end. 

I am now 3 weeks away from finally graduating college. So what am I doing? You got it. I am slowing down. I am trying to enjoy these last few weeks of what has been a crazy journey of trying to graduate college. 

I didn't graduate in four years like most of the gosh darn world. No, it took me more like 7 years from the day I decided to go to the day I will walk across that stage. 

After changing my major something like 6 times I finally picked Kinesiology only to take 3 history classes my last semester and wish I would of chosen that major. 

I ended up at California Baptist University. Not the best university to go to if you plan on taking a while to graduate I might add. 

Am I any smarter?...hmmm well I would have to say yes, at least for my sanity I would like to think so. There are many things that I have learned over the last seven years but sadly I still cant spell spaghetti right without auto correct. 

All in all its been a great ride. I will finish college even though I got married on my second year, went through chemo on year three, and had a baby on year four. 

It's bittersweet ending a huge chapter of your life. 

Sophomore year

Recovering From the Flu

Calvin is recovering from the tummy flu. The last 6 days have been spent nursing him back to good health.

I made him a comfy spot on the floor where we sang songs and read some books. 

We spent a lot of time cuddling. No complaints here:)

He got some new PJ's from Gaga. He enjoyed them for a bit until he puked on them:(

 We tried to play as much as we could to get his mind off his tummy. I found out I am a human jungle gym. 

 Thankful to say he's doing better today:) Happy to be bouncing in his jumper again.

By the end of it I made my self 3 dozen mini peanut butter cup cookies. 

Frady Cat

We all are afraid of one thing or another. Sadly, I am afraid of one thing AND another.

 I am the biggest chicken known to man kind. Some might of even called me a sissy la la. You would think that growing up with three older brothers I would of been fearless, but I wasn't. As they were climbing trees to tie ropes from the top of the tree to a latter on the ground I was playing with my safe Polly pockets and as they were riding around on the motor cycle in our back yard I stuck to my Rollerblades with knee pads, wrist pads, and a helmet.

I never attempted anything that could potentially lead to a broken bone or injury. I was the one that weighed out all the possible outcomes of any daring event and decided it was too risky. Maybe my fear or caution has saved me from more emergency room visits than I already have had but who knows maybe my fear has made me miss out on some really fun times. I know everyone has at least one thing they are afraid of but I feel like I have so much more. Here is a list of the top ten. (I know it's sad that I have a top ten list hu?)

10. Open Water (including lakes and pools)
9. Scary Knives
8. Guns (I would call this more of a high respect than a fear)
7. Bees (I run like a maniac when a bee comes by me)
6. Lions (I blame this fear on my evil cat Libby)
5. Being underneath tables or beds (I'm afraid they'll fall on me)
4. Pool Vacuums and pool drains (My Mom use to tell me that I could get my hair stuck in them)
3. Spiders (egh I just got the heebie jeebies thinking about them)
2. Scary Movies (That's a no brainer)
1. The Dark (I know this is lame but sadly it is true)

Now is that pathetic or what? If the power ever went out on a pool party at a circus that had lions, a knife thrower, a police officer with a gun, a scary movie playing the background and a earthquake happened so I had to get under a table I am pretty sure I would die from a heart attack.

With all this to say I don't want Calvin to be afraid like me. I hate being afraid of all these things and really wish I could be a little braver. So the other day when Calvin developed his fear of the vacuum I knew what I had to do.

When Calvin took his nap I lined up all his friends on and around the vacuum so that when he woke up he would see

1. How friendly the vacuum was
2. That his friends loved the vacuum
3. That there was absolutely nothing to be afraid of even though the name of the vacuum is Dirt Devil.

My master plan

So when Calvin woke up and we went to go play you could imagine he was a little surprised to see all his pals hanging out with Mr. Dirt Devil (we now pronounce it De-vel) At first he was frightened but I started pretending like I was tickling the vacuum and then Calvin and then the vacuum and then back to Calvin and pretty soon we wanted to tickle the vacuum too. By then end of the day Calvin was having fun with Mr. De-vel and I felt accomplished.

Warming up to each other

De-Vel and Calvin = BFF's

Now turning the vacuum on is a whole other story but we are working on it;)