My Mother Song . . .

I am working on a song. It is very raw, but I thought I would share a piece of it with you. The video is only part of the song, my camera was all full-up so it was cut short. There is more. . . .

Here are the lyrics to the song:

She is a Mother

There may not be an audience
Or someone looking in
To see the champion
Fighting hard to win

Surrounded by anger
A world fraught with sin
She stands courageous
She know she will win

Chorus:
There are no swords blazing
No soldiers here
A different kind of warrior
She is a Mother, she is a Mother

She will fight for what’s right
No matter what they say
She will stand for children
The ones she loves each day

With honor and glory
She holds up her head
With God as her compass
She will be lead, she will be lead

Chorus:

There are no swords blazing
No soldiers here
A different kind of warrior
She is a Mother, she is a Mother. . .

Mind you, I wrote this in 10 minutes or so, it is not perfect (never is) but I am working on it. ;-)

I was "tagged" ten random things about me . . .

If you go back through my archive, you will find a list of over 100 things about me. I will try and come up with 10 more. (Thanks Jayni) Hmmmmm ...

1. I love eating cookie dough. I prefer to eat the dough - more than I do the cookies! Always have.
2. I LOVE running. It has been a really rough winter here, and my running has been suffering for it. Without running - I feel less perky, less energy, less excited, and more fluffy! Bring on Spring!
3. I love discussing work with Charles. Most of the time he comes home with some good stories about the dumb things that people do and how long they go to jail for it. I enjoy learning about the Law, and the punishments associated with it.
4. I want six kids. It was orginally twelve (I have twelve small dimonds on my wedding ring to represent each child) that was obviously decided before we had one. Six - it is a good, solid number. ;-)
5. I consider myself a mother-advocate. I preach "motherhood" any chance I get. Sometimes I preach to the choir, but I still love to do it! It is in no way easy for me, but I just, "put on my big-girl panties" and do what needs to be done! NO whining! Sis. Beck is my new hero, with her awesome "Mothers Who Know" talk. Loved it - standing ovation from me.
6. I love the news. I love to read it, watch it, whatever. I love to know what is going on in the big, big world. It can be overwhelming at times, but most of the time it is fascinating.
7. I know who I am. A lot of people do not know this. It gives me great comfort and mostly, strength. I try to fill myself full of good things, so I will have a well of strength to dip into, if I am ever feeling less than great. ;-) It is so nice to know who you are - in uncertain times.
8. I feel pretty. I know my teeth are crooked, my hips are fluffy, and my hair needs to be highlighted - but I still feel pretty. I have always felt pretty (on the inside) enough so, that I believe I am pretty on the outside (hard to explain). I went through some very non-pretty times of youth, but I found my inner pretty-me. ;-) I am confident enough to answer the door in my jammies, and not care. I also know that most people are much more concerned with themsleves to really care about the way I look - something I did not comprehend as a youth. Do you feel pretty? You should . . . :-)
9. I love challenges. I never feel better then when I am out walking Sammi to school, and the snow is pelting me in the face, and I am pushing all three kids while slipping on the ice. It is in moments like that, I smile. I feel strong, and I feel powerful. I love those moments. I have had a lot of them this winter! ;-)
10. I am stubborn. It is funny to me, because I have a special blessing that talks about me having a "pliable heart". It is true my heart is pliable, but my mouth is not. ;-) I am well aware . . . and working on it.

There ya go! If you want to find my 100 list it is in my archive (somewhere).

Snow Day??

It snowed. They cancelled school and everything! The funny thing was - it snowed 2 inches! I thought it was SO funny. I will have to try and find pictures from our "snow days" in Alaska. There had to be 2 feet of snow to close school there! I will search for the picture. I saw that Spokane has been buried in snow this winter too. Weird weather! I was told that it hardly snows here. It has snowed a bunch of times this year! I can't wait until Spring!

Sammi and Daniel were throwing snow at the window and William was pretty entertained by it



Then his hand was getting cold . . . he was all done

His four top teeth are all coming in at the same time - it has been pretty painful for him :(

William is exploring what it feels like to stick your fingers in the VCR - all of my children seem to love it.
Here he is after our walk home from the school we all have to bundle up to get warm!
Here is William acting like a dog - he is waiting for Daniel to drop him some scraps

Cheese boy!

Steadfast and Immovable

picture by Judy Cooley "Shield of Faith"

This is the picture I created for my YW folder. I came across the picture of the girl dressed in armor and I thought it was pretty interesting. Many things crossed my mind as I looked at it. The thing that stuck out the most was that now is not a time that we can sit back and hide behind our shields, or shun the fight. We need to use our shields for protection, but now, we must pick up our swords and fight! Of course, I do not mean literally, but we must fight to defend our faith, and protect our families, and spread the gospel of truth. It is a time of missionary work, a time of courage, and strength to resist evil. It is a time to stand steadfast and immovable!!

More to come . . .

lots of love!
Mari

A little something . . .

Here are some pictures of Daniel and William kicking back watching "Cars". It was William's first time - he seemed to like it, for a little while. I just thought it was so cute how the brothers were snuggling together having a brother moment. Things like that make me so happy. ;-) Daniel is so good with Will. I try to tell Daniel often what a good brother he is, and that William loves him so much and thinks he is so great. I am sure it is hard to be the middle child, knowing that, I try to take moments to tell Daniel how great he is. Daniel has a special personality, very serious about certain things, yet a total joker - kind of like his dad. ;-)

William is standing and moving around all over the place. It is a fun time with him. I love him so much, I am so glad we decided to add him to our family! He is so fun and lovable! (at least I think so!) he adds an element of joy to our family that we would have never known without him! He will be 9 months in a few days! Wow!

The cookies are Daddy's (Charles) favorite oatmeal cinnamon. I adjusted the recipe a bit and created a lovely cookie. They always turn out so good! They were not my favorite, but over time I have grown to really like them too! Yum! I made some today for his Home Teaching and my Visiting Teaching families. ;-)

It was below 0 for the walk to school today - COLD! I wrapped the kids up so all you could see were their little eyes. Sammi sat on top of the stroller all wrapped up - it was pretty funny! Hopefully it will warm up soon!

Hope you are all well and happy!

Lots of love,
Mari

Willy Wonka

This was Sammi's idea. . . .

She calls him Willy Wonka all the time. ;-)

If you want to view paradise. . .

On Friday night we got the Willy Wonka movie - the old one from when I was a kid. The kids have seen the Johnny Depp version, and they love it. We thought they would enjoy seeing the new "old" one. We were right! They LOVED it and wanted to watch it over and over again. So, Saturday morning we thought we would do something special and take them to a special candy store, that we have never been to. We went to the store and right as you walk in - it is magic! It was so funny because they had a big screen TV playing the old Willy Wonka movie - as if we had planned it! It was perfect! The kids were in kid-heaven. We let them pick out one special candy and they both picked huge lolli-pops. I should have taken a picture! Next time . . . I am sure we will go there again!

Will Turner

After a nap, I found William standing and losing his pants! His little chubby thighs were hanging out - it was pretty cute. ;-)

You can see his 3 bottom teeth . . .

He is getting all 4 on the top - YIKES!

I was taking pictures and he biffed his mouth on the crib . . . so sad! There was blood and everything!

Days Full of Fun!

The pictures below go along with the post about loving green. I thought I would post some pictures of warm days gone by. It made me feel excited for times to come! I cannot wait to go outside with a T-shirt! I am so excited to go for long walks and bike rides. It will be great!

Most of the pictures are from Spokane - my favorite place on the earth. I knew when I was there that it was special. Even giving birth seemed better just because we were there. You could run on the South Hill forever and it was so beautiful. The trees were amazing and huge. I miss them so much! It was just so great! I knew I wanted to stay there, for me it was magic. We had to leave for a job. One day we will go back and buy an old magical brick home on the South Hill. One of them by Manito Park - that would be my dream . . . someday. ;-) The longer I am away from it, the more I want to return. Spokane was my home. Spokane was MAGIC!!!!