Leavin' on a jet plane...

...in June, to this fine place. Without kids. Can you say hip-hip-hooray?! Can you say stoked?! Can you say I am SO there?! I am all of the above! Justin and I were going to skip taking a trip for our 10th Anniversary this year even though we've been wanting to for years. After Justin's lay-off, we decided to get Kung-Fu serious about not acquiring any new debt for any reason. Since January we have not charged a single thing and it's felt AWESOME. We decided while it would be really nice, we could just take a trip another year together.

After Adam & Amanda got engaged, they announced they would be getting married in Arizona on June 5th. In the Young Family, family is first. We support our peeps! So Justin and I made being there top priority. It is worth a little sacrifice to let our family know we love them. After talking about it, we decided it wouldn't be feasible to fly the whole family out without acquiring debt. So Lauryn was going to come with us and we were going to leave Maryn and Brynna in Georgia. Then my sweet, wonderful Mom agreed to fly out and watch all three girls for us!

Justin and I are actually going to get a real getaway together! Did I mention, without kids. Yes that's right, NO KIDS! We decided to seize the opportunity and stay out there an extra couple days after the wedding on Marriott points to celebrate our anniversary and go to the Grand Canyon together. I have always wanted to go and without the kids I can actually enjoy myself without the fear of someone running off a cliff! I am so excited! I can hardly wait! Want to know the even cooler part, Justin and I already bought our plane tickets and for both of them total it was less than $250 for a non-stop, Delta flight! Hot diggety dog! I love it when things come together!

My Epiphany

Toys are my nemesis bent on destroying me. Will they never go away? Will they ever actually be picked up and STAY picked up?! Sigh. If Erma Bombeck were still alive I'm sure she would tell me to savor and love each little mess because all too soon the day will come when there are no messes left to pick up. Sorry Erma, I just don't have it in me. I want the toys gone. Now.

Okay, okay. Just read my favorite Erma quote... and I've been put in my place. I have to say I'll take the messes if it means I get to be a mother. To see my children play, imagine and develop their minds. I wouldn't give back hearing them talk in British accents to each other like proper ladies over a tea party. Or searching for a hair tie or bow, which are supposed to be properly stowed in color coordinated containers in the hairbucket, but instead have become a collar for one of the five million stuffed animals in this house (each of which has a name and is seriously loved). I wouldn't give up every sash, ribbon, shoelace or rope tied up and leashed on or around stuffed animals necks or hooked to baskets in a crude pulley system to get stuff from the downstairs to the upstairs, if it meant I couldn't have my children. I wouldn't give up the explosion of dress up clothes or the books or the stickers stuck to walls and tables or the drawings or trinkets. No, I'll keep them all and feel so lucky to be a mom...but I think I still would like a housekeeper!

Sunday Series

I'm not gonna lie, it's been one of those days! Not a bad day, just tiring. The kids have been kind of squirrelly and mentally exhausting. So since they are now ready for bed, I'm going to try to convince them to sleep and then just sit down and chill with Justin. I mean, after all Sunday is a day of rest. So I'm gonna take a minute and do just that! Hope all of you had a wonderful Sunday though!

The Chicks Have Hatched!

I've launched a new blog with the help of my friends! It was just conceived last night and launched this morning! But here's to hoping it's a success at getting up and going! Let the saving begin!

PB&J...The Better Way!

Most people I know would agree with me on the fact that there is something very comforting about a good, ol' PB&J sandwich with a big glass of milk. When I married Justin, the PB&J I grew up on was taken to another level. He introduced me to his Mom's Homemade Strawberry Freezer Jam and after that I was ruined. I could never ever go back to store bought jam. It just didn't come anywhere near the homemade stuff on the deliciousness scale. Honestly, I don't think I've bought store bought jam in the last nine years. Tonight, I think I've been ruined even further! I was feeding Lauryn her dinner, when I heard a soft knock on the door. It was my sweet friend Melysa and she had come bearing gifts! She had brought some of her yummy, homemade, strawberry jam and home-ground, honey-roasted peanut butter! I wanted to tackle her in a hug I was so excited, but restrained myself to an enthusiastic high five! I was SOOOO excited! It was even still a little warm from the grinder... I just had to wipe my face, the very memory of it is causing me to drool! I don't even think she was out of the driveway before I had a slice of my friend Laura's freshly-ground, whole-wheat bread sliced off and slathered in the good stuff. People, if you've never eaten freshly ground HONEY-ROASTED peanut butter, you haven't lived! I now can officially die a very happy girl! Thank you so much Melysa!!!

Easter 2009

We had such a fun Easter this year! Justin had to be in Virginia on Easter Sunday, so the Easter Bunny came to fill baskets and hide eggs on Thursday. He started bringing Rice Krispie bunnies when Maryn was just a baby and it seems the tradition has stuck! He also surprised Maryn and Brynna with matching Webkinz frogs in their Easter baskets! They were so excited and promptly named them Peppy and Hopper! Sunday morning the girls woke up with fingernails and toes painted and got their hair all curled and pretty and put on the new Easter dresses that Nana and Papa sent for them! They looked so beautiful! Unfortunately though, Justin had the camera with him, so no pics of them all dolled up yet! (Mom, I promise I will get some though! Thank you SO much!) After church, we headed over to Grammy and Gramps for a delicious Easter feast that Grammy made in her gorgeous new kitchen and a fun egg hunt out in the yard! I was reminded again and again this Easter season of what a blessing our families are in our lives. I am so grateful for each and every one of them!

This is a video of Maryn reading the book Lauryn got in her Easter basket. I do of course realize that only grandparents think this kind of thing is adorable. But since the grandparents read this blog too, I had to put it up for them!

Sunday Series: My Savior

The very thought of my Savior, humbles me beyond words. I have nothing to add, but my simple testimony that I know He lives. I know that He paid the price for my sins. I know that He has felt every hurt and disappointment and loneliness that we will ever experience. Both in the Garden of Gethsemane and as He hung at Golgotha. He bore them all willingly... because He loves us. I am thankful for His life's example that laid the path that I should follow. I am filled with unspeakable gratitude for that empty tomb and the miracle of the Resurrection. For the knowledge that because of that, I will be able to see Him again one day. To look into His face. To feel the nailprints in His hands. And to fall at His feet and through my tears let him know all the feelings of my heart, that words never could express.

"He Is Not Here"

by Walter Rane