I Love To See the Temple - Blogged by JME

Recently, my family was able to go through the BC Temple during the open house prior to it being dedicated (dedication date is Sunday, September 23, 2012).  It was so beautiful inside and out and N8 and I are excited to be able to go to that temple together after the dedication to serve others and feel the spirit. 

I love to see the temple.  I'm going there someday to feel the holy spirit to listen and to pray.  For the temple is a house of God a place of love and beauty.  I'll prepare myself while I am young.  This is my sacred duty.  I love to see the temple.  I'll go inside someday to covenant with my Father.  I'll promise to obey.  For the temple is a holy place where we are sealed together.  As a child of God I've learned this truth:  A family is forever. 

After walking through the temple, we enjoyed walking around the grounds.  It was covered in flowers, apple trees, and other trees and plants that beautified the area and made it very enjoyable and peaceful.

When we met my parents at the temple, my dad picked up June Bug and held on to her the whole time.  He sure loves that baby girl.  She slept in his arms so peacefully until we were finished.  She woke up while we were outside but stayed so good until she got hungry.  He continued to hold her and comfort her even though she was fussy.  She loved trying to reach up and grab at his mustache.  It looks like she is going to be Bapa's girl.

I'm so grateful that we have the Lord's temples here on the earth to bind us to our families for eternity.  I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who has made it possible for us to be reunited with our loved ones, that death is not the end, nor is it a final farewell.  I'm grateful to be sealed to my best friend and that our little June Bug will be ours forever. 

All in Cloth - Blogged by JME

Every time I tell anyone that I am using cloth diapers, they give me a look as if I had told them that I like putting frog legs on my pizza - like it is the most disgusting thing they've heard all day and how could I even joke about such a thing.  But the thing is . . . I'm not joking.  I really do use cloth diapers.  My sister-in-law, Pookie, used them with her kids and I saw how well they worked and how easy they are.  These aren't the kind of diapers our parents used, ladies and gentlemen.  These are the new, and improved, cloth diapers. 

We bought our diapers from Sunbaby.  It is a company in China.  I know a lot of people frown on buying things from China, in fact, N8 even questioned it and wondered if our child was going to get lead poisoning by using these diapers.  She hasn't yet, by the way. 

We have 24 diapers that we bought for $120.  Not bad when you do the math.  We figured that if we bought Pampers or Huggies, which are about $10/40 diapers, we would have spent $120 in the first 2 months of our babies life.  The thing of it is, these diapers will last June Bug from now until she is potty trained.  Pretty nice.  Another thing, and this is the tree-hugger in me, the disposable diapers we've used for our baby will probably still be around when she is 100 years old.  Pretty sad!!!

So, doing the cloth diapers is great on our budget and also works really well for preserving the world for my child to enjoy when she is older.  It's a win, win situation.  But wait . . . there is another positive to using these diapers.  We used disposable diapers on June Bug for the first little while of her life and she had an awful rash, so bad that she would bleed.  I took her to the doctor and he told me to rotate Bacitracin, Nystatin, Desitin mixed with mylanta, and Vaseline between each diaper change.  What a pain!  Plus, it didn't get better with disposables.  However, it is remarkably improved with the cloth.  It's still here, but almost gone.   

They are really easy to use.  Both N8 and I use them without problems.  Here is how they work:  First you have a shell made of strong absorbent material on the inside and PUL (polyurethane laminate) on the outside so that the diaper won't leak.  Notice the snaps.  These snaps are there to adjust the diaper so there is a snug fit around the waist and thighs.  It will also fold over and snap so that the diaper isn't too high. 

The diaper has a pocket on the inside to fit the inserts in.  There are different kinds of inserts.  We have microfiber ones that we ordered with the diapers through Sunbaby.  They also sell bamboo inserts for night time use, but Pookie had some hemp ones that she wasn't using anymore and gave them to us.  The hemp works really well. I'm not sure how well the bamboo works as I've never tried them.

 

 

The insert fits inside the diaper.  Once the diaper is soiled, the insert does not have to be taken out again.  I really don't handle the soiled diaper any more than someone would handle a soiled disposable diaper.  All I do when I change her is take the diaper off, throw it in a bag, and when I have enough dirty diapers I just toss them in the wash.  That's all.  I don't have to rinse it off first or anything.  The inserts come out of the shell in the wash.  Of course, when she is on solids, I may have to dump the contents of the diaper in the toilet when she is done doing her duty, and then again, it just goes in the laundry to be washed.  The hardest part is hanging them out to dry, but it takes five minutes and gives me some time to myself.  It's kind of nice. 

These are the snaps on the front.  The three buttons going up and down on the diaper are to adjust the height.  The second row adjusts the diaper around baby's thighs, and the top line is for adjusting the diaper around the waist. 

Another fun thing about these diapers, is all the cute designs/colors you can order.  She is always stylin' in her Sunbaby diapers. 

 

They do make her bum puffy and as a result she's inherited a bunch of new nicknames, such as Tweedle-Dee, Oompa Loompa, Stink, Donald Duck, and Daffy Duck. It's been a great experience using these diapers so far and nice to not have the added expense of buying the disposables especially since I'm not working full time anymore. 

 

 

Shinedown!!! -Blogged by N8

If you have ever read our blog in the past, you definitely know I have an obsession with Shinedown.  I have seen them in concert 5 times.  I've seen them in Denver, Salt Lake City, Casper (yes, Wyoming...) and even Frankfurt, Germany.

In June it was announced that they will be headlining the Rockstar Energy Drink UPROAR Festival.  And guess what...  It's coming through here!  Not only that, I was able to go through VIP Nation and get VIP tickets that get me BACKSTAGE PASSES!  I'm so excited to hang out with my favorite band.  I even get to have my picture taken with them. 

So, to get me psyched for their show, I'm posting their music video for their song "Unity" of of their latest album "Amaryllis" that came out earlier this year.  I love the message in this song and can't wait to see them perform it live.  Give it a look and hopefully I might see you at the show!

A Special Weekend -- Blogged by JME

This weekend was very special for my family and I.  Our sweet nephew, Bug, was baptized into the Church and our little June Bug was blessed the very next day.  It was wonderful to see these sacred ordinances performed for some very important people in our lives and it was so special to have Bug and our little bird share this weekend with each other. 

My dad was the one who baptized Bug.  I remember when he was just a brand new baby.  He was born about four months after N8 and I were married.  He was just 4 lbs 12 oz and was the smallest little baby we'd ever seen.  It brought tears to my eyes to see how grown up he is now and watch him take this important step in his life to follow Christ. 

It was a rainy night, and after the baptism we stepped outside to see this beautiful rainbow in the sky.  It was amazing!  During the baptism, we sang a song called, "When I am Baptized," so it was significant to see this rainbow as we left the church building. 

I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain,

And ponder on the beauty of the earth made clean again.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.

I want to be the best I can and live with God again. 

 

I know when I am baptized my sins are washed away

And I can be forgiven and improve myself each day.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.

I want to be the best I can and live with God again. 

Sunday morning we were able to bless our sweet angel.  She was so good through the whole thing.  Her daddy gave her the most beautiful blessing, blessing her that her body would continue to be healthy and strong.  He also blessed her to remember who she was named after and to have her heart turned to those gone before her.  The spirit was so strong there and my love for my husband and my sweet baby girl swelled inside my heart.  I love my little family!!!

This is my beautiful sister, Lee Lee.  She is the mother of Bug.  It was so fun to share this weekend with her and see both of our children have these spiritual experiences and take these steps in the gospel. 

Lee Lee and I sat by each other and harmonized during our sacrament meeting.  We had not done that together in years.  It is one of my sister's favorite things to do with me.  She wanted to take this picture of us pretending to sing so she could remember how good we sound together.  Maybe we can do this again in a couple years. 

We had so much support from our friends and family.  Some came from quite a distance.  Here we are with a couple of the friends we had that came to support us.  The couple next to N8 are very special to us.  He was N8's best man at our wedding and also served with N8 in Rio.  The couple that I'm standing by are our very good friends from our old ward before we moved.  She and I served in the primary together.  I was the second counselor in the primary presidency and she was the primary chorister.  She is like a Disney princess and has the most sparkling personality.  We never could open the windows or doors in the summer when she was singing with the kids for fear that birds and squirrels would come in.  N8 also served with her husband in the Elder's Quorum. 

Me and my sweet pea.  I'm so proud of my baby girl today.  What a precious little sister!

These are some incredibly special ladies in my life.  I worked with them at the clinic, one in pediatrics and the other in family practice, and have had some neat experiences with both of them.  They are very dear to me and have supported me through so much in my life.  I have learned from their examples and look up to them.  They help me strive to be a better person.  I have another friend that was at the blessing earlier that I've worked with in podiatry that had to leave early, but I feel the same way about her.  It has been such a blessing to make these lasting relationships with these beautiful women and I'm grateful that they are in my life. 

Little June Bug met her Uncle, FireRyan, for the first time today.  She was really happy letting him hold her.  He knew just how to bounce her and got her to sleep.  It's those skiing knees. 

This is Joe Bob Smelly Pants.  He is our adopted son, and although we've tried to get him to come live with us, for some reason he won't.  Maybe because we've told him he has to sleep under the kitchen sink.  That has been a running joke between us and his parents for a couple years.  He is the cutest kid and will talk your ear off.  I mentioned once that I wanted to bring him home because of how cute he was and it's turned into something fun we play at every time we are with his family.  It looks like he is bored to tears. 

 This is Joe Bob's brother.  He is such a cutie too.  He was bored to tears as well, but at least I got a smile out of him.  He is N8's shadow.  He loves talking to N8 about his military stories and is N8's little buddy. 

BJ, Pooh Bear, and Jocy are the toe-head trio.  Look how big they are getting.  It is incredible.  BJ was only three when we got married.  She is becoming such a beautiful young woman, as are the other two. 

Aaaaawwwwwwhhhhhh . . . . Sisterly love!

 N8's uncle came quite a ways to be at the blessing and stand in the circle.  It was so special to us to have him there.  He's been an amazing father figure to N8 throughout his life and we love him a lot.  Next to him is Joe Bob's mom, and next to her is Grandma Reindeer.  She is June Bug's great-great aunt and adopted great-grandma.  Joe Bob's mom was such an incredible help to me getting things set up for the brunch. 

This is a very close friend of mine.  She was my mutual leader and walking partner and sounding board.  She has been very much involved in my life and it was so nice to have her there. 

We were able to get a picture of most of N8's family that came to the blessing.  Thanks for the support you guys!

All tuckered out.  What a big day!