Happy Birthday Elsie!!

Happy Birthday Baby!
Birthday pancakes covered in strawberry jam!
What more could a one year old want???

Well, maybe she could want a tray full of black beans and rice!
(Isn't she a cute little monkey?)

And maybe some birthday cake! :)
She loved shoving the entire piece up on her face.
She just kept on pushing and
kept on chewing until it was all finished!
That's my girl!!!

What a fun time of year! Two birthdays in one week! We had so much fun celebrating Elsie's FIRST birthday. Her Grandma and Papa Moon were able to come up last weekend and have a combined birthday party for Elsie and Hazel Friday. We had a lot of fun!

I love my sweet baby! She has such a happy personality! Almost always content and smiles at anyone who happens to catch her eye. I am so thankful to have her as a part of our family! She seems like so much more of a baby than her sisters did at this age. (I think it's just the perspective of having older children.) She loves to talk, talk, talk. While my parents were here this weekend, Elsie would just sit on Grandma or Grandpa's lap and just jabber away. The great thing about the way she talks is that she makes it into a real conversation. You can tell when she's asking a question, telling you something exciting, or even sassing! :) She's adorable! I love being her mommy!

Happy Birthday Hazel!!!

I cannot believe that my little girl is FIVE! What a joy!

Hazel's birthday is always very sweet to me. It is the day that I was given one of the greatest gifts God bestows upon his daughters. My sweet Hazel made me a mother. I love being her mother.

Hazel has one of the most loving and tender people I have ever known. She is so kind. She is definitely a verbal little girl. At nearly every meal she tells me, "This is SO good, Mom!" "Thank you for making me dinner." "Can we have this again tomorrow?"

She loves to sing and makes up songs often. She LOVES music and has since she was just a little baby. When we would ride in the car (which she hated as an infant) she would cry until we would start singing "Popcorn Popping"! She also knew a lot of songs as a one-year-old. Her favorite was "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. She also liked "Be Good Johnny" and "Barbara Ann". :)

For her birthday this year she woke up to a PINK Hello Kitty shirt, PINK nail polish, and PINK flowers for her hair (per her request). She was SO happy! She went to school and then we had a little birthday get-together with a couple of friends at the park. (Thank you, Stef, for the cupcakes!!) Another birthday request she had made was for a pinata - made by yours truly! :) True to form, it was a bit wonky, but the kids thought it was fabulous and the girls loved coloring it. I wish I'd gotten pictures of her little party, but Nels ended up having to work late and didn't make it as my photographer or to dinner at the Olive Garden (again, Hazel's request). :( Poor Daddy!



I'm so thankful for my Hazel. She is such a good big sister and friend. She has grown so much this past year that I can't even believe how fast time passes. I love you, Hazel! I'm so happy to be your mother!

(For future reference, Yes, this cake does have 6 candles. One for Elsie, five for Hazel.)

Sisters

What sweet girls! They love each other SO much and are the very best of friends. I don't know what I'd do without them - or what they'd do without each other! :) They are so wonderful!

My Girls

Tomorrow is Elsie's first birthday (!) and today I was looking through my pictures, wondering how similar each of my girls looked at this sweet, sweet age. What I found is - no, they do NOT look alike, but they are SO CUTE!!! Can you even believe how adorable they are??? Are they not the cutest children you have ever seen?? (Of course with the exception of your own! :)

I am totally in love with my babies! :)

Hazel
What a beautiful little baby! I had given her some
(red) medicine for an ear infection or something and
thought she looked so pretty with her bright red lips! :)

Lilie
Can you believe how much hair this child had!?
She had already had SEVERAL hair cuts at this point!
How many one year olds have a cute little bob?

Elsie

What a sweet happy little girl! I tried for quite
a long time to get a picture of her similar to the
ones I had of the other girls.
It took a long time because she kept smiling! :)
People stop almost everywhere we go to sit and
talk to her as she smiles at them and says, "Hi!"

and ME!
Aren't I cute? :) Elsie has got my face shape and
my (lack of) hair. And I've realize that they all
have my nose! :) How cute!
I would post a baby picture of Nels on here, but
I haven't gotten copies from Nels' momma yet.
(Last time we were there, their computer was out of commission.)

Creativity

This last Saturday I had that opportunity to attend the General Relief Society Meeting. What a fabulous, uplifting meeting! How grateful I am for inspired leaders and dear sisters that help me to see . . . just to see more clearly. I loved each of the talks given. Sister Beck (at least what I remembered most) encouraged us each to extend ourselves, S T R E T C H to be even better. I loved it! But the talk I appreciated most was President Uchtdorf's talk on creativity and compassion. I LOVED it. I need to read it again and have time to think more about it.

As I talked to my wonderful cousin, Amber, today, she pointed out something to me that was like a light bulb going on in my little brain. I love her for the different perspective that she gives me! :) For the past while now I have felt, I don't know, just not all the way complete. I don't know how else to describe it. - - - I LOVE being a mother, I LOVE being a wife and when I look realistically at the past 2 years, we've actually been doing fine. -- There's just been this tension --- and mostly just inside ME. I have wonderful, happy days with my children and my dear husband. Wonderful friendships and family that fill my life. My home is not usually a disaster per se. In the back of my mind - I've just felt a little off -- a little -- cramped. ((shrug))

Well, as I was talking about (hmmm...what WERE we talking about specifically??? I don't remember!) whatever, she brought up Elder Uchtdorf's talk. Basically saying, "Rachel, he tells us right there that creating is an essential part of who we are." I have been SO BUSY with life that over the past 2 years, I have hardly had an ounce of time to just freely create some of the things that I love - to express myself. I haven't had time to sew or crochet or recover my chair (for which I have all the fabic, I just haven't had time!) or make curatins for Elsie's room or CREATE the laundry room that I can envision. I think I've just been putting my own expression on the backburner.

Part of his talk:

The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.

Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.

Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty—and I am not talking about the process of cleaning the rooms of your teenage children.

You might say, “I’m not the creative type. When I sing, I’m always half a tone above or below the note. I cannot draw a line without a ruler. And the only practical use for my homemade bread is as a paperweight or as a doorstop.”

If that is how you feel, think again, and remember that you are spirit daughters of the most creative Being in the universe. Isn’t it remarkable to think that your very spirits are fashioned by an endlessly creative and eternally compassionate God? Think about it—your spirit body is a masterpiece, created with a beauty, function, and capacity beyond imagination.

But to what end were we created? We were created with the express purpose and potential of experiencing a fulness of joy. Our birthright—and the purpose of our great voyage on this earth—is to seek and experience eternal happiness. One of the ways we find this is by creating things.

If you are a mother, you participate with God in His work of creation—not only by providing physical bodies for your children but also by teaching and nurturing them. If you are not a mother now, the creative talents you develop will prepare you for that day, in this life or the next.

You may think you don’t have talents, but that is a false assumption, for we all have talents and gifts, every one of us. The bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper and do not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter.

What you create doesn’t have to be perfect. So what if the eggs are greasy or the toast is burned? Don’t let fear of failure discourage you. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you—whether that voice comes from the outside or the inside.

If you still feel incapable of creating, start small. Try to see how many smiles you can create, write a letter of appreciation, learn a new skill, identify a space and beautify it.

Nearly a century and a half ago, President Brigham Young spoke to the Saints of his day. “There is a great work for the Saints to do,” he said. “Progress, and improve upon and make beautiful everything around you. Cultivate the earth, and cultivate your minds. Build cities, adorn your habitations, make gardens, orchards, and vineyards, and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure, and that angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful locations. In the mean time continually seek to adorn your minds with all the graces of the Spirit of Christ.”

The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create. That is your opportunity in this life and your destiny in the life to come. Sisters, trust and rely on the Spirit. As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you.

The other day I had a chance to sing -- really sing. I miss it. I miss it a lot! I miss making things. -- Making things beautiful. For the past couple of months I've felt the overwhelming need to get organized, to get on a schedule. - I think this is the MAIN reason (other than my compulsive need for order): if I don't organize my time and my home, I don't have any extra time - or brain power. I NEED extra time. I need to RELEASE my creative yearnings!!! :)