My Little Stinker!

We had a brand new bottle of this stuff this morning. That was until Melody woke up with a fever, along with a runny nose, and complaining that her mouth hurt (which I took to mean her throat hurt). So, it looks like she has gotten her first cold. I knew it was bound to happen someday and I am so lucky that I got to have a cold free baby for 2 years. On the down side she screamed for about 20 minutes until I convinced her to take some medicine. About an hour later she had calmed down and was contently sitting on the couch watching Toy Story 2 drinking strawberry milk, and eating eggs. So I go in the kitchen to get a drink of water and when I return she has somehow taken the cap off the Motrin and then proceeded to drink half the bottle. Part of me is now saying she'll be fine and the other part is freaking out! So I grab her and take her upstairs and we wake up Derrick (who is still sleeping because he is working nights). I tell him what happened and he says to take her to the emergency room. I'm thinking that is a little drastic at this point and opt to call the poison control center first. So I call and the lady on the phone (Kathy) asks me some questions about her age and height and does some calculations and assures me that she will be fine. She said the worst thing that will happen is that she may vomit if she has not eaten for awhile. Kathy was really great at calming down a somewhat panicking mom by telling me that 95% of the calls they receive are for the exact same thing and that toddlers are just too smart for those child resistant (haha) caps. She was so sweet that she even offered to call back in an hour to see how Melody was doing. Luckily Melody never threw up, her fever broke, and she was her happy little self the rest of the day (I guess that is one benefit of her doping herself up). To be safe though we stayed home from church so we could keep a close eye on her. She is now safely tucked away in her bed after many hugs and kisses from mommy and daddy thanking the Lord for keeping her safe! Now if I could just get over feeling like a bad mom for leaving it out in the first place life would be great.

Birthday Pictures!

These were taken a few days after her birthday!

"I Eat Cake!" says Melody!

On her birthday we let Melody eat some more of her cake from her birthday party! She was so cute eating it...she wants to dive in so much, but she is way to "lady like" to take the plunge!

Derrick ate that big chunk not her! This was the biggest bite she took the whole time she was eating it and she only did because I grabbed a fork and took a big bite! She tries so hard to be like her Mommy sometimes!

She prefers the frosting more than the cake! Just like her Mommy! Yummy! Yummmmy!

Little Miss Dainty!

After seeing all these adorable pictures of yummy cake and frosting I'm sure you want to enjoy some of your own...so...go ahead and splurge! Melody gives you permission!

Flood!

The night before Melody's birthday Derrick was getting ready for work and then comes down stairs declaring to me that the toilet overflowed and the bathroom is now flooded. Perfect timing since he had to get out the door! ThingS like that always seem to happen to me! So I go upstairs and there is about two inches of water all over the floor...I guess this is one way to scrub the bathroom floor!

Birthday's Galore!

The last week in July and the first week in August were busy birthday weeks in our family. Within two weeks we celebrated five birthdays! It was crazy! It started with Derrick's dads on the 23rd when we went over for dinner and cake! Then came Philip's (Derrick's brother) surprise party and Bubba Gumps in Anaheim. Followed by Mallory's party at Friends 2 B Made. Then we kicked off August with Derrick's birthday on the 1st and Melody's on the 5th! We have been to so many parties lately if you say the word Melody gets soooooo excited!

To celebrate Derrick and Melody's birthday we went with the in-laws and my parents to Johns Incredible Pizza Co. We LOVE Johns and so this is where Derrick chose to go! Melody didn't care where we were she was just happy to be eating cake and getting presents!

The pizza place had a dessert bar so we didn't really need a cake, but I thought Melody should have one! Who says you can only have your own cake when you turn one? She loved eating the frosting off the most even though the cake was chocolate and she can't seem get enough chocolate!

Here is a few pictures of the them opening presents! I was helping Melody with hers and so I entrusted the picture taking to my mom. I now have learned not to do that because 1) she takes the picture only after the present is already opened instead of during and after, 2) she only takes pictures of one honorary guest, and 3) she only takes pictures of the first 3 or 4 presents. So what you see below are the only pictures I even have!

Melody and her cousin Ashden after she opened

her new Dr. Seuss book! She loves this book!

The only picture we have od Derrick opening a present!

I wish she would have taken one of him

opening his Wii Rock Band! Stop on by our house

if you are ever in the mood for a good laugh!

We try, but we are not Rock Stars! HA! HA!

Melody loves to see how many different

ways she can put on her clothes!

The Princess now has her very own

Disney Princess back pack on wheels!

There are very few times when

you see her without it!

After we gorged ourselves on the buffet, sang happy bithday, and opened presents we headed on over to the games. Again, somehow I only ended up with a few pictures...maybe I need to hire someone to follow me around.

Here is Melody and I playing Deal or No Deal!

We won 100 tickets!

They have a little kids play area and Melody would spend

all day hereif we would let her (I admit sometimes I am tempted).

This is her going down the slide,

which is the only slide she will go down unaccompanied.

We had so much fun spending time together and celebrating the lives of my wonderful husband and beautiful little girl. It is so hard to believe that she is already two. Time goes by way, way, way, too fast. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for blessing my life with both of them. Everyday brings more joy to my life because of them!

Getting Dressed!

One day last week Melody decided she wanted to dress herself. I had just changed her diaper and had to go to the bathroom before I had a chance to get clothes for her. A few minutes later she ran in the bathroom and this is what she had on. It was so funny I grabbed the camera and now I'm sharing it. Hopefully it won't be too embarrassing for her when she is older!

Friends 2 B Made

For those of you who do not know this about me I am an only child but I never have really felt like one. On my moms side of the family I am the oldest of 22 grandchildren and we all lived close to each other growing up so it seemed like there was always another kid at my house. Well up until the last five years only 4 of us were girls. In 2003 one of my uncles remarried and his new wife had two girls and then two months before Melody was born they had a baby girl and one of my other aunts had a girl last June. Needless to say for all of those years there were so few girls, us girls had to stick together. My cousin Mallory turned 11 in June and her and I have pretty much been joined at the hip since she was born. She is more like my little sister than my cousin in so many ways. She has always wanted to be just like me and since she was a little girl has always loved coming to my house. When I got married and moved to Washington it was so hard on her...the poor thing cried herself to sleep for weeks and would call me almost everyday in tears because she missed me so much. Mallory came to Washington when Melody was born and now those two are inseparable as well. When Melody was really little she would not laugh for anyone besides Mallory. We would try and try and she wouldn't even chuckle (occasionally we would have success, but it was rare). As soon as she saw Mallory though she would light up and no matter what Mallory did Melody would almost fall over from laughing so much! It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. Anyway, Mallory had a little birthday party at this little store in Ontario Mills called Friends 2 B Made. It is owned by Build a Bear and is essentially the same thing but instead of making stuffed animals you make dolls. She really wanted to invite Melody...it was rather cute that the only person she really cared about being there was Melody. They changed the date twice just to make sure I was able to bring her. Melody's favorite things to play with are baby's/dolls so she was in seventh heaven at this store! Here are some pictures from the days happenings.

The finished product! Melody named her baby Megan after Mallory's baby sister! Melody loves Megan just as much as she loves Mallory! There are many mornings when the first thing she says to me is, "Go buh bye in car, see baby Megin an Maory." (I love the way she says Mallory's name!)

At first Melody wasn't too sure what was going on. I think she was a little overwhelmed by the whole thing so she just clung to Mallory. They do this little ceremony type thing with these little hearts where they repeat this little saying and then you make a wish, kiss your heart, and put it inside your doll. Melody was still unsure about all that was happening at this point so this is a picture of Mallory helping her kiss her doll's heart.

After they put the heart in their doll they step on this peddle to put the stuffing in the doll. It took Melody about five minutes of us encouraging her to step on the peddle before she would even get close to it. Then she still wouldn't step on it until I asked Mallory to step on it with her. So here is Melody finally stepping on the peddle to put the stuffing in her doll!

They played a little simon says game while they waited for all of the girls to stuff their dolls...Melody was trying so hard to play with them. It was so cute to watch because she was always one step behind, but she absolutely loved it!

Will she grow up to be a cosmetologist like her Grandma Palmer?

After she finished her own hair she moved on to her dolls hair! I don't have a picture of this but later she also did Megan's hair (her cousin, not the doll's again.)

Taking her baby for a joy ride! We had to pry that wagon out of her hands!

Group shot!

Melody had such a great time! I am so thankful Mallory and Megan are part of our lives. These three little girls will always have each other to play with and lean on. Mallory is such a sweet spirit with such a strong testimony of her Father in Heaven. I can think of no one better for Melody to aspire to be like. Already in her short 11 years of life she has faced some challenges where she had to make difficult choices and she always made the right ones. Mallory, Melody and I love you so very much and we are so proud of all you that you are! Thank you for sharing this special day with us and for all the love you give to us everyday! We love you!

Busy Bees!

Over the last few weeks we have been one extremely busy family. We have done so much I can't even remember every thing we have been doing. Things have finally calmed down though so I can get back to blogging. I am currently going through all of our pictures of the last few weeks hoping they will jog my memory a bit so I can get some posts written about all of our exciting adventures! So keep checking back over the next few days to see what the Lepley's have been up to. Although most of the posts will probably be for memories sake since my blog is the closest thing I have to a journal.

P.S. I will admit I probably would have had the time to post if it hadn't have been for a certain book release that had me wanting to do nothing besides read for a few days. We were so busy it took me as long to read "Breaking Dawn" as it did to read all three of the other books in the "Twilight"series. It was so good though...I'm glad I was reading it instead of blogging!

Happy Birthday Melody!

It's official! Melody is two! At this very minute two years ago we welcomed our beautiful baby girl into our lives and our hearts! We love her more and more everyday! Here is a glimpse of how she has grown!

Dance Festival

So we were getting ready to go to the dance festival Friday night and I ran upstairs to grab some diapers. When I came back down this is what I found...

She has never done that before. She doesn't really climb on anything except up on the couch or on a chair. Apparently she took the step stool I leave in the kitchen, pushed it up against the trash can, climbed on the stool then on the trash can and finally up onto the counter. I thought it was creative and showed just how smart she is. It was also very cute! So I snapped a picture!

Melody loved the dance festival! Most of the night she stood on my lap or one of my parents and danced the night away. Two of our cousins were in a basketball dance to the song "Get Your Head in the Game," from High School Musical. After it was over Melody kept asking for Austin. When the show was over she was so excited to see him. Here are some photos from the night.

Melody rockin' out!

Pointing excitedly! "Mommy look!"

Watching intently!

She was so interested in the dances that every time

I would try to take her picture she would turn her body

toward me but keep her eyes on the field!

Since the show started after she is normally in bed

we saw many of these throughout the night

Finally I was able to get her smiling! She's not looking at the camera but I was trying all night to catch her pure joy on camera . When is comes to taking pictures of our kids sometimes we just have to take what we can get! Despite my failed attempts to get the perfect picture of her we all had an enjoyable night and made many memories as a family!

Light Bulb!

Last night was a terribly long night. After spending what seemed like hours tossing and turning (really only 1.5 hours) thinking about my previously mentioned friend I got up and wrote her a text message. I was going to save it and send it today but I accidentally pushed send. Sorry Erika-it was soooo late. Then I went back to bed to try to get some sleep. All that came of the attempt was more tossing and turning. Somewhere around one in the morning a light bulb suddenly turned on and I figured out why moving away from her has been so unbelievably hard on me. I have never had a relationship like ours with another woman. My mom and I have never been very close because for various reasons I have had difficulty throughout my life both confiding in her and trusting her. I don't have a sister so I have never had a sisterly bond with anyone either. Of course I have Derrick and he is amazing, but it was great to have another woman to talk to, laugh with, cry with, and share my life with. I believe there are things we women share together that the men in our lives will never understand or fully appreciate...but Erika got all of me. There were things I could share with her I had never been able to share with anyone else. The best part was that sometimes I didn't even have to say it...she simply just knew! I need her like I have never needed another "sister" before. Selfishly deep down I wanted her to need me as much as I need her. What I realized sometime in the middle of the night is that she NEVER will. She has always been close to her mom and her sister so she has them to turn to. She recently had her gall bladder removed and I had tried to call three or fours time to arrange to go to Washington to help her after the surgery. I found out that she actually packed up her kids and went to Arizona to have the surgery so she could be with her mom and sister. As much as I would love to trade places with either one of them I am so so grateful they can be there for her and that she has them to lean on. How incredibly lucky she is to have them and they get the sweetest end of the deal because they have her. Although it hurts to know I will always need her more than she'll ever need me I now feel like this huge burden has been lifted off of my shoulders. I can now begin to heal my troubled heart! Erika-just remember I love you, miss you, and you are an irreplaceable source of all things good in my life!

Perspective

There is a quote in a book I recently read that really helped me to keep things in perspective today. It says, "Can you see the power emotion has to distort our outlook? Makes you wonder, did you have a bad day, or did you make it a bad day?"

With that in mind, here is a run down of my day beginning Wednesday night.

1. Derrick gets home from work and informs me that tomorrow on his day off he has to go in for a meeting. Under normal circumstances this would be no problem but I have my post-op appointment from having my wisdom teeth out the week before and it will cost $75 if we cancel.

2. I go to get my cell phone that has been charging all day to call my mom and ask if she can watch Melody in the morning. It still has a low battery. Huh? Maybe something is wrong with the outlet so we plug it in somewhere else.

3. This morning I grab my cell phone to head out the door...it beeps low battery at me!

4. The dentist wants me to schedule a cleaning for today. Derrick assured me he would be home by 10 so I make it for 11:45.

5. It is 11:20 and Derrick is not home!

6. I frantically try to figure out what to do with Melody. Thankfully there is a family from church who have a little girl the same age as Melody so I call them up. I was in such a hurry I didn't even have time to think about the idea that I had only left her one other time with anyone but family and that was in Washington where she had Sarah and Zephrah (my best friends girls) with her. Thank you Viki for being willing to help!

7. The dentist informs me that I have about $250 in dental work that needs to be done. Where are we going to find that money?

8. Derrick finally gets home and we decide to go bowling. We have been bowling several times as a family and Melody usually really enjoys herself, but today she looked like this the whole time..

She cried the whole hour we were there unless she was drinking Mommy's smoothie. She had one of her own that was the same as mine, however anything but Mommy's was unacceptable! At least she shared some of it with me!

9. My cell phone still won't charge. Even the people at Verizon can't figure out what is wrong so we end up buying new cell phones. We go at around 7pm and Melody is usually in bed around 7:30 so she was tired and cranky which did not make the phone buying experience very enjoyable for Mommy and Daddy. She had a blast playing with all the phones though!

All day I couldn't stop thinking about the quote from the book. It really helped me keep things in perspective so that what chould have potentially been a "no good, very bad day" was simply a day met with and few bumps along the way! So maybe it is possible that we don't have bad days we make some days bad by the emotional reactions we have to things that occur throughout our day! I guess that is something we can all ponder! Hope your day was much better than mine!

Just Venting

For those of you reading this you should be aware that this post is really just me venting about things I've been feeling for a very long time. I've tried numerous times to talk to Derrick about it but it is one of those things that a guy just can't understand (at least my husband can't and he has tried...I can't really ask for more than that). I know that writing things down can be extremely therapeutic so I'm hoping that getting it all out and written down is going to help.

When we lived in Washington we were quite sociable people. We were never lacking in things to do or people to do things with. Gig Harbor truly become home to us and so many of our friends were like our family. There was one family in particular who we became especially close to. They were our family in every sense of the word. We did practically everything with them and were so close we knew basically everything there was to know about each other and told each other practically everything. Her and I would talk literally every single day and sometimes multiple times a day. We knew all the daily goings on in each others houses and I loved it. I always knew there was some one there no matter what...if I needed someone to celebrate with, cry with, hang out with, escape with, sew with, etc. she was always there. She was so so so much more than a friend...she was/is my sister. He was the best friend Derrick has ever had. He and Derrick thought up some of the most hair-brained schemes together which gave all of us something to laugh about for hours on end. More than that though Derrick had someone he could confide in and trust to give him sound advice to some of life's most meaningful and difficult questions. They have two girls who we all loved as if they were our own. They also just had a baby boy a few months ago who I have not seen yet but am dying to hold and love. The whole family was just as excited as we were when we found out I was finally pregnant and when baby Melody (that what the girls have always called her) was born.

Moving away from them was so much harder for me than moving away from my entire family and all of my friends when I got married and moved to Washington. My heart aches everyday for all of them. I get so terribly lonely sometimes I'm ready to pack up and move back to Gig Harbor. I know that really isn't possible at this point though and so I cry and feel sorry for myself because I have no one here to call and say "hey you want to hang out?" I've tried to hold on to our relationship but sometimes I can't help but wonder if it is all in vain. They seem to be doing so well and have made other friends to fill the void in their lives when we left. Maybe they have moved on and it's time I/we did too. Maybe then it wouldn't hurt so much not to talk to her everyday. Or maybe I need to step up my devotion and start calling her everyday to check in like we both did when we still lived there. Maybe I'm over analyzing everything and need to just stop getting so worked up. Maybe I'm having crazy emotions right now and shouldn't be writing any of this. Maybe I need to get a life. Maybe keeping up long distance friendships as intense as ours was is jut not possible. Maybe I need to get out there and find some new friends to call up so I'm not so miserably lonely sometimes. Although I really don't think that would help erase the ache in my heart. I think I really just need to find a better way to deal with missing them all so much so I stop crying about it so darn much. I just don't know how to do that. I also think that I need to step it up a little and be a better friend/sister. I just don't know how to do that without feeling like I am imposing or pestering them.

I guess what this is all really about is that I love them, I miss them, and they are irreplaceable! I'm just having one of those extreme emotional days that all of us women have from time to time. Me more often then others it seems. Surprisingly this little exercise actually worked. I feel so much better now! Much better than I feel after I finish talking to Derrick about all this stuff. If the person who this is about reads this(which you probably will) just remember I love you and miss you terribly! Don't be surprised however if I start calling more often! You just might get sick of me yet!

Piled High!

I actually wrote this post a couple of days ago but didn't get the picture uploaded till today. It wouldn't have had the same effect/meaning without the picture so I waited to post it.

For those of you who do not know this about me I HATE (I know that is a strong word but it is true) the heat. If the temperature gets above 75-80 I sweat. I can just be sitting there doing nothing and I will be sweating. The point is that lately the heat has been unbearable for me so I haven't ventured outside unless I absolutely had to. For some reason whenever we use the dryer our whole house heats up like 10 degrees. As a result it has been about three weeks since I did laundry (unless we really needed something washed). So I spent two whole days with the air conditioner on and turned way down washing clothes. It was either do laundry, buy new clothes (not an option with our budget), or wear the same thing for the third time without washing it. Don't worry if something smelled we chose not to wear it a second time. If this post does nothing else it should at least help everyone feel better about one thing....you don't have as much laundry to fold as I do today! Anyway, after washing all of the clothes this is what my couch looked like.

That is so embarrassing I can almost not believe I am even posting it! Oh well, I'm sure all of our couches have looked this way at least once, right? I bet everyone can guess what I will be doing ALL day tomorrow. Anyone, want to come over and help? Unfortunately since the post was actually written a couple of days ago all those clothes have already been folded and put away. So you are all off the hook. Until next time at least!

Cranky Mom Day

Today was what one might call a 'cranky" mom day. It was one of those days where you have a lot to get done and your kids are being less than cooperative and you are on edge so you tend to snap at them. Melody wasn't even doing anything all that terrible and I feel like all I did today was snap at her. To be honest I think most of it was probably her just trying to get me to pay a little bit more attention to her. It all started with the ants. It is summer in very hot Southern California and so no matter what you do you are going to end up getting some ants in your house. Well Melody hates bugs! Every time she sees one she cowers away from it and says as quietly as possible "scared, bug," then comes looking for mommy to come take care of the bug. Needless to say I was coming to rescue her from the ants all day! We've tried to tell her a million times that the ants won't hurt her and to just leave them alone but it doesn't make any difference. Later in the day she climbed on the coffee table which she knows she is not supposed to do and has only ever done one other time. Then she decided she wanted to give mommy a fashion show with all the clothes I had just finished folding and were sitting on the couch. Then at dinner she dumped salt all over the table. Then in the bathtub she kept leaning over the edge while I was rinsing her hair getting water all over the floor. In retrospect all of these tiny little things are nothing compared to what I know toddlers are capable of, but I still found myself snapping at her. It seemed to be my gut reaction to everything all day and after I would do it I would feel so bad especially since 90% of the time Melody would start crying. I am usually much more patient than I was today and I really can't figure out why I was so cranky. By the end of the day I was feeling terrible. She is so innocent and certainly did not deserve to be at the receiving end of my own crankiness. As I was reading her bedtime story to her I broke down and cried and told her how sorry I was for how cranky I had been today and that I loved her very much and promised that tomorrow would be a better day. I wasn't really sure if she would comprehend everything but apparently she did. She looked up at me and took her sweet little hand to my face, wiped my tears away, said, "it ok mommy,' and then gave me a kiss! Sometimes that little girl amazes me so much I can hardly believe I am her mother! Do I still feel bad for having a cranky mom day? A little, but mostly I am so thankful for Melody and what a perfect example she is to me of what forgiveness is all about! It should really be that simple to forgive others, but as adults we tend to harbor our hurt feelings and carry them around with us creating heavy burdens. We would be so much happier if we could just learn to let go and truly forgive.

Reconnecting!

After I graduated from High School I was one of those people who ties to "hang on" to everything. My first year of college I 'hung out" at my old high school a lot and helped on with some school plays and choir events. Eventually though I started to make some big mistakes and realized that it was time to let go of the past and begin to live in the present. In doing so I completely cut myself off from everything High School related. Years later I realized that there were friends I was so sad to have left behind. I'm happy to say that tonight I had the opportunity to reconnect with some of those people I lost touch with so many years ago. I believe that sometimes we are meant to be in a certain place at a certain time because if we hadn't have moved where and when we did none of it would have been possible. At church a few weeks ago I noticed someone who I went to church with during High School and we got to talking and it turned out that her daughter whom I went to High School with is getting married. When she told Lisa she saw me Lisa was so excited she asked her mom to get my address. Next thing I know I get an invitation to her bridal shower. I was thrilled that she would remember me and think to invite me. So I went to the shower tonight I had such a great time. There were so many people there I knew way back when. We were able to catch up, share pictures of all of kids, and plan a time for all us to get together. I have been given a second chance...hopefully I'll be much better at staying connected this time around!

Extraordinary People

Meet Noah: Noah is my first cousin once removed (translation-my cousins son) and he was born with cerebral palsy. There are many links to cerebral palsy but doctors are not sure what actually caused Noah's. As an infant Noah experienced many seizures caused from his condition that only made matters worse. Despite his situation he is a remarkable seven year old boy! Imagine for a moment that mentally you were exactly who you are at this very minute but you had no physical control over your body. Terrifying isn't it? Well that is how Noah lives every minute of every day. Cognitively, mentally, and emotionally he is seven years old but he is trapped inside a body that will not move when he wants it to. Yet, he smiles and laughs and enjoys life! He is truly and inspiration to me! If he has nothing to complain I certainly shouldn't?

Now meet Lori: Lori is Noah's mom. When she was pregnant with Noah she was diagnosed with cancer. Doctors told her that because the cancer had progressed so far her best option was to terminate her pregnancy and undergo treatment. She refused...of course. I would have done the same thing. Anyway, they did what they could for her but her cancer continued to progress rapidly. Then when she was about six months pregnant she went into labor and Noah entered the world. As Noah was wheeled to the NICU she was taken to surgery. Then came radiation and chemo therapy. How she ever got through those first few months I have no idea. It would have been so difficult for me to be separated from my newborn baby. Melody is almost two and it is still hard for me to be away from her. I would have fallen apart if I were Lori. The strength and perseverance she has is amazing to me! Eventually Noah was pronounced a healthy baby and went home. As time went by they began to notice that Noah was not developing his muscles and coordination as he should. He would not reach for things and could not hold on to objects. Then the seizures began and he was eventually diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Among other courses of treatment he had to have hyperbaric chamber sessions. Due to his age someone had to be in the tank with hm but Lori was not allowed to because of her radiation. That would have broke my heart! As a mother you instinctively want to go through everything with your children and when they are sick you do not want to leave their side but through it all Lori was so courageous and determined to overcome every challenge set before her. Eventually Lori went into remission but unfortunately every treatment given to Noah had little to no effect. Noah is now seven years old, he still wears a diaper and probably will for the rest of his life, he will never walk, he can not feed himself, and has numerous other physical limitations. Yet both Noah and Lori always have a smile on their faces! When you see either of them you can't help but smile too!

We spent last weekend at Disneyland with them and they are extremely remarkable! Nothing can get them down. Sure they have their moments. Sometimes Noah gets so frustrated because he can not do something he really wants to and sometimes Lori cries because her little boy is suffering so much and there is little she can do to ease his pain or because she is overwhelmed by how demanding caring for him can be. Despite it all though they both understand that it is all a test and that they can overcome whatever comes their way. I think about the trials I face in my life and they are nothing compared to what they have been through!

Noah and Lori are both extraordinary individuals and I feel so blessed that they are a part of my life. They are such an inspiration to me. Whenever I feel discouraged I think about them and remember that I to can overcome anything. However, there is one other extraordinary person in my life I would like to mention...her name is Melody! Watching her with Noah would have melted any one's heart, but it especially melted mine! She was so loving and gentle. She would hold his hand, want to sit on his lap, and give him kisses. When he was sad, she was sad. When he was happy, she was happy. His eyes would light up every time he saw her! If only I were half as good a person as she is. Noah, Lori, and Melody have all inspired me to diligently strive to be a better wife, mother, friend, and person in general. How blessed I am to have such EXTRAORDINARY people in my life!

A Walk Through the Flowers

About a month ago Melody and I went to get the mail. She loves flowers so I thought she might enjoy to walk through the rose garden on our way to the mail box. What I didn't plan on was that she would stop and smell every single flower she saw. After a while mommy was getting slightly frustrated by this and so I was trying to hurry her along. She was not having it though and just continued to smell the flowers. Finally, I conceded defeat and sat on the bench and just watched her. As a was looking at her sweet little face leaning over to smell every flower she passed a powerful thought occurred to me. I was suddenly reminded that this would probably be one of those moments I would never forget and here I was trying to rush it. So I picked her up, ran back into the house, grabbed the camera, and returned to the rose garden to enjoy what I believe are two of God's greatest creations (children and flowers). For the next twenty minutes together we marveled at all the beautiful colors and fragrances. Every flower was just as fascinating to her as the previous one. Her excitement was infatuating and the joy which shone in her eyes brought joy to my heart. All thoughts of hurrying to get the mail were now forgotten. I now take more time to appreciate the little things and we always walk through the rose garden on our way to get the mail! We may not get as much done anymore but it doesn't matter. Life is too short and children grow up way to fast as it is...so why rush it? It amazes me how much we learn from our kids...this was just one of many lessons Melody has taught me and she isn't even two!

Dinner Laughs

Now that Melody is talking I can share all of the funny things she says! I'm actually really excited about that because kids say some very funny things! Tonight at dinner was one of those times! Here's the story...

We are sitting around the dinner table enjoying our food and Derrick has to get something from the fridge. So he gets up and Melody says, 'Daey (translated to Daddy) eat!'

Derrick, "I'll be right back to eat."

Melody, "I eat too!" Then with a big grin on her face she takes a bite of her chicken and says, "ummmmmm...ummmm!"

This was proceeded by lots of giggles from Mommy and Daddy. I guess she really enjoyed her dinner and was very happy when her Daddy returned to the table to finish his! The whole thing reminded me so much of those old Campbells soup commercials!

Wonderful Husband!

I am so lucky to be married to such a kind and thoughtful man! I woke up this morning to a very big surprise! You see to save us time and money we take a few nights a month to prepare a whole months worth of dinners and then we freeze them. Then all I have to do is defrost them and cook them every night. Well on Saturday night it was really late and we had about four more meals to go and so we decided to just finish up after Melody went to bed last night. Since it was Sunday when we finished I decided I would clean up the kitchen today. Now you have to understand that in the approximately 6 hours it takes to prepare all of the meals Your kitchen becomes a disaster. Derrick is working nights this week so to help shift his sleep schedule he has been staying up as late as he possibly can. So this morning when I come down the stairs and walk into the kitchen I can't believe my eyes! There is no longer anything on the table or counters! My sweet, sweet, husband completely cleaned the kitchen. He put everything away and did the dishes! Then upon closer examination I realized he also organized the pantry! WOW! How lucky am I? On Wednesday the 4th we celebrated our 4th anniversary and while we have had our share of ups and downs they have truly been the best 4 years of my life! My Father in Heaven has richly blessed me with someone who will always love and support me! I love him so much more today than I did the day I married him. Together we have grown together and I know there is nothing we can not accomplish together. There is no trial or challenge too hard for us to overcome (with the Lord's help of course).

Blogging and Some Much Needed Catch Up

Well I did it! I created a blog! I always told myself it was something I would never do. That was until my dearest friend in all the world (you know who you are) started one. I have had so much fun reading it and she has enjoyed keeping it up so much that I figured I'd give it a try. As all of you are well aware I am not very good at keeping in touch with people. Ok..I'll admit it I'm terrible. I do have good intentions though. I think about e-mailing or calling all the time. I just never quite get around to doing it. So the main purpose for this blog is an attempt on my part to stay in touch with all of you better. With that said here is a quick snap shot of my life over the last two years....

On August 5 2006 we were blessed with a beautiful baby girl! She weighed 6lbs 8oz and was 19.5 inches long. We named her Melody Ann! No other name would be sufficient for someone who loves music as much as I do!

Then in September someone at work thought he was being funny and he went up behind Derrick and kicked the back of his knee, thus dislocating his knee cap. After being on limited duty for a month we were informed they would be discharging him. This was very unexpected and left us in a great financial bind. After much prayer we decided to move back to California and live with my parents until we figured out what do do next. If we had it all to do over again we would have figured out a way to stay in Washington. It was truly our home and we miss it and all of our friends everyday!

When we first moved the plan was for Derrick to go to school and me to get a job. Things do not always work out as planned though. It was nearly impossible for me to work since I was now not only taking care of my husband and I baby I also became responsible for my mom, dad, and a 3600 square foot house! The whole situation with my parents was extremely frustrating and stressful. It was almost like my mom just checked out and expected me to do everything. It was so overwhelming that over time I sunk into a deep depression. At some point we began to realize that things were not going to work out the way we wanted them to and so we went to our knees again. Soon after Derrick got a job working for a pest control company. While he did like his job we knew we needed to find something that would pay more and soon. We didn't have wait long because a few months later he was practically handed a great opportunity to be a hydrogen plant operator for Air Products and Chemicals. They are a world wide company with a great reputation in the chemical engineering field as well has other avenues of business. It was an opportunity we could not pass up! His salary doubled overnight ! Yeah! Now we would be able to move out in a few months!

Just before he started his new job we celebrated Melody's first birthday! This picture was actually a few weeks after her birthday but you get the idea. At her one year check up she weighed 18lbs 3 oz and was 28 1/2 inches long. She started walking the day before her birthday and has been on the move (keeping mommy on her toes) ever since!

November 2007 became quite the crazy month for us. While on vacation in Washington vi siting everyone we left behind (sniff, sniff) I got really sick. When we got home and I wasn't getting any better I finally went to the doctor. That visit did not end well because I was told I needed to have my gall bladder out. Come to find out that a dysfunctional gall bladder can be a complication of pregnacy and childbirth and I had actually been having attacks since Melody was born. They just weren't as severe as the one I had in Washington so I didn't really pay any attention. I just thought I had heartburn! Its a good thing Melody is soooooo cute and lovable! Then the day after Thanksgiving I ended up in the emergency room with Melody. It was the first time she had ever really been sick (she had the stomach flu once but that's it) so it was a little freaked out because she had a fever of 105 and a rash all over her body. It turned out to be a viral infection and she was better in a couple of days. Thank goodness! As if that wasn't enough for our little family for one month Derrick falls down the stairs and breaks his toe! We were so grateful at this point for Derrick's new job because with out that health insurance I don't know what we would have done. So then just after New Years I had my surgery and was told I couldn't pick Melody up for a month! Yeah right! She was 17 months old. That wasn't going to go over very well, especially since she is a total mommy's girl! I made it two weeks and then it just broke my heart to hear her crying for mommy!

Once we got medical bills out of the way we saved everything we possibly could for the next couple of months and then took the plunge and moved into our own place. We've been here for almost two months now and are loving it! Life is so much more peaceful and I am smiling everyday again now. Derrick's job is going fantastic, he actually likes going to work, and Melody is happier than ever! Life is great for us right now! Slowly California is becoming more like home to us but I think our hearts will always be in Washington!