COVID-19 Day 16 Project Tuesday

Do you ever have those days where you wake up in a panic and feel like you have so many things to accomplish that there is no way you will get them all done.  That was me today!  My anxiety was at an ALL time high.  It was as if my brain woke up and said your missionary will be home in 22 days and you still have at least 23 days worth of things to achieve.  

One of the things on the list was pictures with writing on them to go in the front of his e-mail book. JD put these together. I LOVE how they turned out.

JD also printed out most the e-mails. We were able to get all the photos printed and I am feeling a little bit more calm about everything tonight.

How in the world did I ever let this drawer get this chaotic?????

I asked myself that question this morning. When no answer came, I immediately emptied it onto the counter and cleaned it out.

Funny how a clean drawer can make me feel so much more in control of life.

Rachel Hollis is a favorite of mine. She posted this free bunny printout.

Ashlynn thought it was pretty cute. 

We simply could not stand to not go see baby Luke again today.

I feel like we were all a little bit more stingy today than we were yesterday.

We all wanted to hold him, all the time!

Riley got off work at five so we were able to visit with him. 

I LOVE watching Ashlynn with the baby. 

She watches him in total amazement. 

This week I started the #Next90daychallenge.

The theme this week is perspective. Today I missed the mark and let fear control my actions, most of the day. The only time I was calm was when I was visiting baby Luke. Funny how babies can do that. Right before we came home my emotions were almost back in check, then Idaho had an earthquake. It was a pretty big one, 6.5. That made my perspective all messy again on the way home.  My anxiety was causing discontent throughout our home.  As I was searching for a piece of paper to write Brittons birthday stuff on, I  felt thankful to read these thoughts and questions from the challenge. They helped put my brain back in the space it needed to be.

Control your perspective.

You will decide what this season will mean.

How will you lead in this season?

Is life happening to you or for you?  (The hard things make us warriors)

COVID-19 Day 15 Baby Luke

Today was the first day of spring break. It was a perfect day!  We were able to go and see precious little Luke today. Oh my goodness. He could not be more perfect. 

Holding him for long was tough because everyone wanted a turn. 

I don't think it would have mattered how long your turn was. It wouldn't have felt long enough. 

He is seriously the sweetest little baby!

 I was very happy that my dad came down to say hi. 

I love this picture with him. I really hit the jackpot when I got this man as my dad!

Today would have been my parent's 47th wedding anniversary.
 Life took my mom way too soon! We all miss her dearly, especially my dad.
The other day I was in Seagull Book and I almost bought a sign that said, 

Sometimes, I just look up... and SMILE and say, "I know that was you."

Consistently, little blessings, tender mercies and MIRACLES show up in my family, in my siblings' families, and in my childrens' lives. At my mom's funeral Alyssa sang the song, "When I grow up I want to be a mother." That is all my mother ever wanted to be, in life and in death. Her joy is her family.  I believe her joy is still in her family and I feel blessed for the numerous ways she still takes care of, and watches over us every single day! I know my mother is watching over us and taking part in our lives down here. I feel her leading and guiding me at times and I have a testimony that the relationships we have with our loved ones continue to flourish beyond the grave, and throughout eternity. 

As we placed Luke into Ashlynn's arms she started to cry. 

She is going to be such a first class aunt.

It was hard to get the baby out of Brittons arms:).

Yesterday was Riley and Madeline's one month anniversary. 

They are adorable together. We are so thankful they have one another. Madeline is amazing and we feel extremely blessed to have her in our family now. 

Madeline's sister, Emily, has been serving a mission in Peru. Due to the virus, Peru has not been letting the missionaries out. It has presented a few stressful weeks for Madeline and her family. We all shouted for joy when we were told Emily was safe and on a plane headed to Miami. 

I was looking at baby Luke and thinking

it seems like only yesterday that I gave birth to the same person who delivered this baby. 

Seriously, it passed by in a blink!

Could these three be any more adorable?

I realize these pictures make it look like we are not following 

the rules of social distancing, pretend you don't notice if it bothers you. 

Baby Luke, in your mothers words, 

"YOU ARE PERFECT"

Thank you for coming and blessing all of our lives!!!!

We LOVE you to bits and bits!

COVID-19 Day 14 Promoted to Nana Jo / Thankful for technology.

Words cannot do justice in expressing the feelings I have had today. 

Witnessing your daughter become a mother is a tender mercies from heaven. 

I was nervous when Alyssa went to the hospital to be started. 

They were starting her 9 days early, and it scared me. She has had such a tough pregnancy and I felt fear for all the things that could go wrong. Alyssa is tough as nails and a total rockstar. She did not want any part of my fear. She is stubborn when she knows something is right.  Alyssa has always been strong enough to do whatever she sets out to do. I love that about her. 

Man, I love that Heavenly Father let me be her mom!

Her labor went perfectly! 

 Alyssa and Jake called to update us throughout the night. About 35 minutes before he was born she called to say it was time to push. Immediately I had an impression to pray for her, come to find out her father-in-law had the same impression. 

I love the All In podcast. One of them explained how a mother was praying for her children and the spirit said to her something like, "when you pray for your children I have an obligation to intervene in their behalf , in some way." I believe that and have witnessed it to be true multiple times throughout my life. 

One of the highlights of the day was watching everyone meet baby Luke. 

How is it possible for ALL of us to love him so much already?

Alyssa and Jake were extremely thoughtful and called to talk throughout the day. They will be very tired parents tonight. 

 What a blessing Facetime is. Today would have been pure torture without it.

Luke was born at 4:42 A.M.

6lb 13oz

19.5 inches

I cannot wait to hold this adorable little guy!

When you have teenagers, phones and apps seem to be a curse you can't break. 

When those teenagers become adults those apps and phones become a true gift.

I am thankful for instagram. It is how I keep up with what is going on in this boys life:).

I LOVE IT!  

 We have decided that for home church we need to get in our Sunday attire. 

Britton and Ashlynn gave excellent youth talks. It was a fabulous meeting.

The kids were a little upset that Sacrament was only a half hour but they will survive...LOL

Dinner was Butter Chicken over rice and naan bread. 

This is the recipe we used for the bread. (we skipped the 2 hr refrigeration part) 

It was delicious! 

Life is good

Families are forever

I read this quote the other day, I loved it!

Dear Lord,

Thank you for a house and life FULL of people that I love.

Amen

COVID-19 Day 13 She's having a baby

Alyssa and Jake are at the hospital tonight having a baby.  These two are going to be adorable parents. Alyssa has been extremely sick her entire pregnancy, and Jake has taken exceptionally good care of her. It has been a long road and these two are ready to have little Luke here. 

I have loved watching Alyssa get excited about all the little moments that pregnancy brings. The baby kicking, ultrasounds, and the baby moving when it hears his daddy's voice. 

Alyssa will call and go on and on about a single magical moment. 

I can't wait for the both of them to experience seeing

 their baby and hearing him cry for the first time.

It is an unexplainable joy!

I never imagined that when my daughter was having a baby, I would be sitting home making a blog post. Tomorrow is a day of fasting and prayer for the world, as we all face COVID-19. We added to our fast that all would be well with Alyssa and her baby. 

I cannot remember getting old enough for JD and me to become grandparents. You know in the movie Annie when she sings, "I think I'm gonna like it here." Then the song changes to, "I know I'm gonna like it here."  That's how I feel about becoming a grandma!

 I just want to go on record as saying these two women 

are going to be simply AMAZING at taking on the role of NANA!

Tonight when I got onto facebook I noticed

 Britton had posted this. It made me smile! 

We are all so excited for this little guy to arrive.

It is going to be a VERY long night waiting to hear the news!

We all have our phones on FULL volume.

The dollar store had the cutest fairy garden kits. 

Ashlynn loved putting it together today. 

 Can't wait to see if the seeds we planted in it will grow.

Guess who we got flight plans for today? 

I can't wait to hug this boy!

Miracles are taking place with missionaries all around the world as the church works tirelessly to get them all back home. As we spoke to Daxon today, it was good to see he remains in happy spirits.

 We all love making preparations for him to come home. 

Life is good. Tomorrow I will become a grandma:).
YAHOO!

COVID-19 Day 12 Cover your Assets

 The other day I wanted to find a game that our family could enjoy playing together.  We hang out together much more than usual these days. It is a forced arrangement that we enjoy MOST of the time.  This game appeared to be fitting with the world events we are all in. We all loved it! Take notice of who won:).  

Ashlynn made this activity for herself to do. Oh, the creative ways we use our minds when we are home day after day.  The kids did a marvelous job finishing up all of their homework before spring break next week. Britton and Ashlynn have impressed me with their willingness to do homework without being told. It may take them all day, but that is the benefit of not having a mom who cares about schedules.

I am DETERMINED to make next week incredible. I am making a plan that fits in with social distancing and quarantine. I am just not sure what it is yet. I will know by Monday.

When I was growing up my mom ALWAYS had these Mrs. Fields cookies in the cookie jar. Friends would come over often simply to snatch cookies from the cookie jar.  Today we decided to make her famous cookies and take them to the families we minister to and to the missionaries. Turns out, the missionaries are NOT allowed to take food from anyone due to the virus. It would be really hard to be a missionary right now. We all need to pray for our missionaries. 

This made me smile today!

JD and I found a new walk to go on today. 

We begged the kids to come with us. As soon as they said no, 

we smiled and chose not to fight that battle.  

Covid-19 Day 11 Adapt and Overcome!

 The morning began with job charts and a plan. We woke up 

to snow on the ground and children who had zero motivation. As soon as I started to push, the  meltdowns began. The environment in the home began to resembled a prison, the parents were trying to escape.  It didn't take too long to acknowledge that a new strategy for the day was needed.

 We tossed the charts for the day, and we all did whatever we wanted. 

JD and I did escape for a short time to purchase seeds to plant our garden.
Thankfully, JD had already spent hours preparing the garden to be planted.
We only had to do the enjoyable part.

Ashlynn was in heaven when we gave her the sticks to paint. 

She joyfully planted the entire row of radishes.

 Britton pretended to not enjoy the planting, but I know he did. We are all happier when we are able to go outdoors. I am the most excited about the rhubarb plant we purchased. My grandma Nelson used to make the BEST rhubarb pie. We will need to try and bake one this year.

Today as I was texting with some of JD's sisters. They sent pictures of them dying their daughters' hair. Ashlynn has been wanting me to dye her hair for a long time. Quarantine seems like the perfect time to try new things. Since it is National Purple Day, that seemed like the best color choice. An added bonus--now her hair smells like grape bubblegum.

As we tossed the original plan and let the day play out however it chose to,  

it turned out to be a magnificent day!

I listened to this podcast today. 

I love the Hollis couple. Podcast 89 is excellent. Choose joy, 

even during COVID-19!