Eleven years already?

It is hard to believe 11 years ago today I became a mother. I remember being scared spitless. I remember crying in my hospital room (and I cried). I felt so alone, but I know I was excited and loved holding my new baby, but I had complete terror. I remember saying to myself, "now what?" I remember after my first night at home I couldn't believe how hard it was. I called my sister, Sandra, to ask "Is it normal for a baby to cry all night?" Of course, she told me "YES". After a while I was able to really bond with my baby and learned how to love her and take care of her. Now after 11 years I still don't have it figured out, but I feel good about what I have done. I can look back with no regrets, maybe a should've done something different, but I have no regrets. I definitely have a more pure love for all my children and grateful for chance I took to be a mother. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CLARISSA!!!

Tonight's the night

The count down has begun. Only 2 hours left for the big premier of Wizards movie. Here at our house we are way excited. Tonight we will be having a wizard party. We will start out by making some frozen pizza with A&W Rootbeer, then we are playing a board game, my husband will do 2 magic tricks and then we will start the show.

Of course, we will be popping popcorn and having a lot of chocolate. Looking forward to our Friday night party!!!

P.S. This is my 100th post. Hard to believe I actually made it this far. I will be putting together a SMALL giveaway soon. Little nervous about doing it since everyone else has cute giveaways. Stay tuned for that. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Back to School/LIFE

Hello!! I have been procrastinating any blogging because I am close to my 100th post and I am not ready to do a giveaway. This week I plan on putting something together and have a small giveaway.

Back to School...Wednesday!!

Here we go another year of school begins. Can't believe my oldest will be in the fifth grade, and my next daughter is in second. I feel like we had a really good summer. I think we did

some fun things. I hope my kids feel the same way. Back to school means....

Back to Life...

No more lazy days, no more staying up late, no more sleeping in (cry...cry...cry). The best part of back to life is

I am better at setting goals, having a routine. I am feeling excited about getting back to life and feeling good

about myself. I have let that go this summer. I am ready to feel good and get back to working on a monthly

project. Must say LIFE IS GOOD!! Don't get me wrong it can be hard and stressful and frustrating

but it can be a lot of fun. It's all about the attitude, Right?

Missouri continued...and Amazingly Blessed.

For some reason I haven't been motivated to do any blogging. My heart has been feeled with love and humility. My husband has been out of work for two months now. I can't even tell you how blessed we have been. With my husband working a graveyard job at a convenience store and unemployment money we have been able to pay for what we need. The people of my community have been amazing. Just in the past two to three weeks we have had so much food given to us.

A neighbor brought over food storage cans with a bag of ground beef, another family called for us to come get some beans from their garden. Few weeks later the same family with the garden gave us corn, eggs from their hens, cucumbers and summer squash. Yesterday we got food from the Relief Society and just today a lady brought us a grocery bag of venison. My parents also came to visit this weekend and brought a cooler of yummy beef with food given to us by my sister, Ann. It is so humbling to know that the Lord sends people to do His work. He can't give us what we need without others doing service. I hope to give back one day what I have received. Oh another day a family brought my little family lunch for the day. AMAZING!! We have also been blessed by family members giving us money to buy school clothes for my two girls. JUST OVER FLOWING WITH BLESSINGS!! So happy the Lord is on my side.

MISSOURI...

I wanted to post some pictures of the church history sites I went to see in Missouri. I just wanted them on here since this is like my scrapbook in a way.

This is the Liberty Jail...what an amazing place. The floor of the jail is the original from back in I believe 1838 (don't quote me on that one). The jail is inside a visitor's center. We sat in a room to listen to a narration and then brought into the room where the jail was placed. The minute those doors open I felt the spirit so strong. I knew right then that Joseph Smith was real and he really suffered here. By the end of the presentation I knew that just as Joseph Smith received peace, revelation and inspiration through his long trial, I can too. I felt a great love inside my heart. I knew that I can survive and also feel the Savior's love for me.

These two pictures are of Far West. I was amazed by this place. I guess I didn't know my history very well. But Far West was a big city back in the pionner days. There were 5000 people living there with markets, 2 hotels and homes. The saints were also commanded to build a temple there. I believe they were only able to get the corner stones built before they were forced from their homes by the angry mobs. The four corner stones are still there. I felt a lot of love for the pioneers at this spot.

Haun's Mill had a interesting feeling there. It is hard to explain. Those of you who know what happened here might would be able to understand. I was glad I went to see this spot where many pioneer lives were taken from this earth because of angry mobs.

I loved Adam-Ondi-Ahman, this is a huge area of beautiful land. Right in this grove of trees is where I pick to live when the Savior comes again. An amazing feeling here. BEAUTIFUL!! I loved my experiences looking at the church history sites.

Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations; And that the gathering together upon the land of Zion, and upon her stakes may be for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth. D&C 115:5-6

Missouri and Dopp Family Reunion

This year the Dopp reunion was to be held in Missouri. My little family had decided to not go because of my husband being laid off. We were ok with this, but my sister-in-law Diane, called to see if she could take my girls with her to the reunion along with two cousins. I wasn't sure about this idea so we came up with the plan that I would ride with her and we could take my van. So she offered to pay for gas during our trip and off we went. Isn't that so amazing. She is such a wonderful person. Everyone needs a person like Diane in your life. July 18, 2009 me, my children, sister-in-law Diane, and two nieces left Utah for a long trip to Missouri. The first day we drove 17 hours to Lincoln, Nebraska. Here is a rest area we stopped at along our way.

Here is Diane!!

After arriving in Nebraska we stopped to eat. I asked a lady in Wendy's how far it was to Lincoln, Nebraska, we were told 4 1/2 hours. I wanted to die right then, but we kept going and were able to crash at my friend Amy's house. She is an amazing person too. Amy and I have been friends for probably six years. We were neighbors in Arizona and now far apart. I'm an idiot because I didn't take any pictures of being at her house. I would love to have a picture of their family. THey were so kind to let us show up at 12:30 a.m. and let us crash and feed us the next day. Thanks!!

Finally we made it to Gallatan, Missouri after 21 hours in the van with five kids. These kids were so good. Not one fight the entire time and nobody cried or whined. It was completely a miracle. Here are some pictures of the Dopp family reunion:

After ten days we made it home in one piece. It was a fun trip to go on. I will post another time of some other great things I was able to do while in Missouri. THANKS DIANE!! Because of you my kids were able to go and have fun with cousins they hadn't seen for a year.

A big Thanks to Vickie for putting the reunion together!!! Thanks to Jason for putting up with all of us!!

Good bye Bock...

Wanted to pay a tribute to our beagle, Bock. He passed away almost two weeks ago. He is truly missed by our family. I must admit that I truly miss this dog. I had fallen in love with him and wish we could have him back. Bock was such a fun, loving dog. He loved to tease us by steeling my girls stuffed animals then taking them outside. He loved it when we would chase him. Sometimes he was even sneaky about it. He loved chasing our cat. He loved carrying anything around. He was such a good dog...I know that we will have another chance to have him part of our family again. WE LOVE YOU BOCK!! Don't forget about us. We will always miss you.

Dopptastic Night of Music!!

I have the honor to teach my kids piano. We do our best to have weekly lessons and practice everyday. I must say we do pretty well. Recently my girls prepared for a piano recital. They were asked to memorize two songs and perform at the "Dopptastic Night of Music". We all dressed up ready for the big night. We decided we wanted to walk to the recital so the girls and I walked around the loop of our driveway and went to the recital. My little boy wanted to drive. My husband drove him around the loop letting John think we were driving to the recital and he was not happy when he returned back to the drive way. He sat inside the van for quite a while before he would come out."Smiles" was up first...she played her first song.Clissy was next to play her song.Then of course, "Indy", had to take a turn. He can actually tell you what a quarter, half and whole note are. He likes to have is turn too.

After our recital we walked back home for a treat. It was a fun filled night of Dopptastic music. One night we will do again. If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. D&C 136:28

I know what I want to say...

I am feeling very uplifted right now. 1) My husband got a call today for a job interview scheduled for next Friday. 2) I am reading a good book and tonight I read a statement that has really empowered me as a stay-at-home mom. I really wanted to type out this statement so I would have it on record. Here it is:

Stay-at-Home Moms are not SAHMs because they're lucky, stupid, lazy, weak, scared, useless, spoiled, frightened, or any other condescending description. SAHMs are SAHMs because they realize the blessing of the opportunity to make a profound difference in their own lives, their families, their community, and ultimately the world as they coordinate the lives of their family members so that no one feels neglected, unimportant, or unloved because of the limited commitment of their parents.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger, In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms, pg 64.

Isn't this amazing? I just love it. I said to myself, "YEAH!!" I love my job. If I didn't stay home I would miss out on so much and I wouldn't be raising my children. I'm really glad for that chance. I'm sure their life will ultimately be my fault, because I blamed my parents once too, but at least I have the chance to mess up their life. LOL!!!

If I didn't stay home would I enjoy the little moments as much? Who knows. Like the day I went to check on my son and found him like this as he put himself to sleep.

Then went back a few minutes later and found this. Our cat loves this spot.

If I didn't stay home I wouldn't be able to go help at the school and be at all the activities during the day. I am grateful for the choice I made to stay home. I also have a love and compassion for the mothers that choose to work out side the home. They have to make a big sacrifice too. They give up a lot as well. I don't know how you guys do it. I'm amazed at all you accomplish. You are good examples too.

I hope I have made nobody feel guilty, but at this point in my life I am grateful for who I am and what I am doing. I am glad to be able to stay home during the summer times and just play with the kids or not play too.

Being a mom is good!

Picture tag

I think most of you visit my sister Sandra's blog. If you haven't seen it you should check it out. She is a lot of fun to visit. She also is full of creative ideas. Anyway, I was tagged by Sandra @ In This Small House to show my tenth picture in my files.How funny this would be the picture. This is a picture of my Mother and Father-in-law. They are good people. It is nice that I can now say that. I actually enjoy being around them now and look forward to their visits. They have done a lot for my little family this past year. They gave us a drier last Fall when I was having to hang my clothes out on the clothes line, they have come to visit us quite a few times, they have paid for gas when we couldn't afford to go visit, they also bought our van when we were needing to buy a new one. It is nice to know that they actually care for us and are willing to help when we are in need. They truly have good hearts. I have waited 13 years to say that. Thanks Paul and LeeAnn for being patient with me.

I'm Proud to be an American!!

I love the fourth of July. I would say that it is my favorite holiday. I learned today that it is also my good friend Amys favorite holiday too. Anyway, just wanted to say "I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN". Even though I an not happy of how our country is being led right now, I am still grateful to live here and celebrate our birthday. Here is how we joined in showing our patriotism. I don't have a lot of decorations but It is still fun to put them up.

Don't laugh at my S. My husband laughed at me because I hung it upside down. He changed it around for me. My husband actually painted these for me a few years ago.

I made these firecrackers about eight years ago when we still had "homemaking".

Don't mind my little pot with dead flowers. They gave up the fight to live.

Here is my silly welcome sign. Thank goodness for velcro. I change the ribbons for each holiday. I have had a lot of fun doing this.

I hope this a wonderful weekend for everyone. I told my family that nobody will be watching the fireworks in the van. EVERYONE is sitting out on the grass to watch. I don't care if anyone hides under a blanket, but EVERYONE IS GOING TO STAY ON THE GRASS. How's that for using my authority. We'll see if it actually works. I LOVE...LOVE...LOVE the fireworks and I remember being terrified of them. I actually remember as a child walking back to the car with my mother at the USU stadium. Anyway, have a great weekend!!

Life is good!!

It Was Time to Spice it up

Hello!! This weekend I was needing a change for decorating. I have a jar on my entertainment center that has been the same for five months and I wanted it to change. I knew I wanted to place something summery inside. This idea came to my mind. I think it is fun.

I wanted sand in the bottom of the jar, but I couldn't find a little bag of sand. I was able to find two bags of sea shells at the dollar store. I found my shovels out in my shed. This was a cheap way to change my jar. I have enjoyed this change.

Have a wonderful day!!