Little by Little

Here's just a few things we've been up to. I have a couple more to put on but I'm saving them for another day. (the twins, my birthday and layne b'day) I know some of these are way past but I'm trying to catch up so be patiant with me!!

The Great Get Away!!

Here's just a few of the pictures we took while on our cruise. We had such a great time. It had been such a busy end of 08' and Layne and I spent so much time being in different places it was good to finally spend time together! We went snorkeling, saw the Mayan ruins at Tulum, climbed "Dunn's river falls"
(see what that's like on "you tube"),and enjoyed a beautiful beach. On the ship we saw a great ice skating show, bruised ourselves good on the waverider, ate, ate, ate, and then ate (so much for the weight lose before going!!) I climbed to the top of the rock wall, and we played some basketball with the group. It was a busy time but we still had time to just relax and we both really enjoyed that.
The weather was not the best but we ignored that and had a blast anyway. We saw beautiful sunsets and got lots of pictures. We're ready to go again anytime!
Oh and the yogurt ice cream cones everyday were great too!

Love being GRANDMA and GRANDPA

This has been such a great year for being a Grandma. I've been able to spend some time with everyone either at there house or ours. I can't even begin to say how proud I am of each one of them. When I watch them or even see pictures of them it makes me smile inside and out. It's amazing to think we have 13 grandchildren!!! I absolutely love-loved christmas this year. It was so amazing to have everyone there and to see the kids leading the christmas songs was so fun for me. Thanks you all for making the effort to be there. It was truely one of my most memorable in a long time. I always enjoy hearing what they are all doing and it's so great to get a call from them telling me what's going on. Thanks to the parents for raising such great kids. We love them and love hearing GRAAAAMA or GRAAAAMPA!!!

Baby Ellie has Arrived!!

Elliette Ann Cowley- Wow, just writting that name seems amazing, can it really be. That's what I thought when I got the message a few weeks earlier than I was expecting. Ellie just couldn't wait any longer to get here, I'm just glad she waited until Layne and I got home from our cruise!! Thanks Ellie.
It was great to spend some time with Jason, Brittney, Bridger and of course Ellie. Thanks for letting me come and be with you guys for a few days, it was great. She is so beautiful and such a good baby too. Brit, you did a great job and Jas well I'm sure it was an eye opener to parenthood, Welcome to the ranks of Daddy!!! We are proud of you. You two have a special little girl, it's going to be so much fun watching her grow. Bridger is such a good big brother too, and a good snuggle partner!!

TIFF AND ROD-HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Just wanted to wish you a Happy Anniversary. So proud of all you have accomplished in 9 years. Just look at your beautiful family!!! Have a great day (I know you have a lot of busy stuff going on) I'm thinking about you. Love ya, Mom

A Weekend in the Mountains

O.K. Here I am. There is sooo much since the last time I was here (on the blog) and there are many pictures I could put on so I thought I would start with the most recent. Just last weekend Layne and I went to Marysvale to go up to the cabin for maybe the last time this season (depending on the weather) we knew the next few weekends would be busy and then it may be to snowed in to get up there. Jason has asked about seeing the cabin so we invited him and Brittany to come up (Bridger too). We had a fun time despite the fact that it was sooo cold. We had planned to spend the night up in the cabin Saturday but the storm was coming in and some of the workers were staying up there so we just went up and back on Saturday. By the time we were driving down(on 4 wheelers) it was sooo cold and snowy that Jason had to stop 3 times to get the ice off his eyelashes and Layne could hardly see!! We stayed the night there at Laynes' mom and dads (they're always so great). It was an experiance and fun to spend some time with Jas, Brittany and Bridger. On Sunday Layne went back to St. George and I went up to Loni's to await the babies. (We're still waiting)

I hope (notice I said hope) to do better with this blog so don't give up on me.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY (oh, is that past!!!)

O.K. so I know I'm late. What else is new! First thank you, each of you for your blogs, gifts and cards. There is not much more a Mother loves than to know she is appreciated and loved. Again, I thank each of you.
Mothers Day (as most any day for me..) is such a day of reflection of the heart. So I thought I would write (this way you get it without the messy tears) a few of those down and maybe some things I've learned along the way. So please hang on as I put down my thoughts.
First, I remember how scary it was to become a mother. I spent so many nights awake wondering if I could do this great challange of mothering in the way the Lord would be pleased.
Lesson #1. You will never please everyone, and shouldn't even try. The way you "Mother" will be different for everyone. You are different and each child is different and needs to be treated as an individual. At the end of each day as long as you know what you did and how you did was o.k. with your father in heaven then what anyone else thinks doesn't matter.
There are so many stages of being a mom. I alway thought of it as going through the changes of becoming a butterfly. O.K. let me explain. You go along feeling everything is just fine and then all of a sudden you are in situations you never ever thought of!!! This seems to happen over and over again as kids grow up and life changes. At times you feel alone, lost, abandoned, cramped and all sorts of ugly feelings and you wonder why this was such a sought after calling (kind of like the catapiller in the cacoon.) And then all of the sudden the light comes on, you realize you have grown and learned and become something better. You can now spread your wings and fly for awhile. That is until the cacoon thing happens again, but soon you come to realize there are blessings in trial. ( I hope that made sence. I could explain further but that would bore you.)
Lesson #2. Blessings are not always just the good stuff. Blessings are what help us to reach our potential as daughters of God, (and that's usually the hard stuff!)
(I would never have come to have had the sweetest most memerable expericance in my life without the heartache,tears, fears and contant need for prayer both in my heart and on my knees. If life does not cause us to come to the lord then life has not fulfilled its purpose.)
Free agency, Ya know, the thing we fought so hard for. ( What were we thinking!!! J.K.) It's an o.k. thing until your kids start using it!! One of the hardest things I think is finding out your children have a mind of there own and now take what you have to say as mearly a suggestion. (But I'm the MOM, there suppost to listen and Do every thing I say, right!!,) Letting go and realizing you brought to earth not just a cute little baby but a real live person, an individual with the same right you have to eventually make choices of there own, even if you don't agree with them.
Lesson #3. Love, Love, Love.
I remember at times feelings of being such a failure. That in all I had done and given it just wasn't enough and then to go back and think of my mistakes as a mother, Whew, I was just sure anything my kids did wrong was my fault. What a heavy burden. DON'T DO THAT!!! Remember even the great prophets and even current great leaders of the church who lost there children to the world. Remember in the heaven before we came even in the very presents of our loving father in heaven, 1/3 of our brothers and sisters left and choose that other than what they had been taught. It's called Free Agency. We all have it. If nothing else choose to love. With my own kids I know the greatest thing I could have them do is to love each other. Hence I so understand the lords commandment, "Love one Another as I have loved you" PLEASE.
Lesson #4. (I'm almost done. Well, I could go on and on but I'll quit here soon!)Listen to the promptings of your own heart. (After all you are the Mother!)
You will find many people will tell you how to raise your kids, when to let them go, what you should be doing. Sometimes there can be a conflict within yourself of what you feel you should do and what you are being told by others. It's great to seek councel and advice but in the end only you have the stewardship of being the MOM so use that stewardship to make your decessions. There are kids right now who I truely feel I would have lost completly if I would have listened to the outside. I had to listen to what my heart was saying. You know your children better than anyone else. Love them, Love them, Love them- even when it hurts!!! This truely is one eternal round. The Lord wants each of us back home. He will give all of us the needed experiances to get there and sometimes to let our children go and watch as they experiance life can be the most heart wrentching thing but I truely believe If they have been taught, it will all come back. In this life or the next. Remember It doesn't all have to be perfect when we leave this life, we just have to be working on it..
I Love you Mothers so much (Corina, Tiffany, Loni and Jillian) I respect the difficulties of Motherhood and take Joy in the fact that I know it is the Greatest experiance you will ever know. You are all doing wonderful and I want you to know we are so proud of you. We have the very best of Grandchildren.
One more thing!!!!
For Mothers day, since none of you were here.
I thought we'd celebrate together this year.
So can you all be here on Thursday, the 29th of May.
I'd like to make it a special day.
For the five of us (that's 2 more than a trio),
I thought we'd have lunch at Cafe' Rio.
Then to relax and soak our feet ,
a Pedicure it thought would be neat.
Please let ne know if this works for you.
If it will be o.k., I've got some scheduleing to do.
Get back to me soon as you can.
I'll let each of you know just what will be the plan.
Hope you all had a great mothers day,
Love, Mom (nants)