November Visiting Teaching Message: General Conference Preserves

Well, here it is finally!  It has been an emotional roller coaster the last couple months.

Now, I know everyone has there own struggles, but I have definitely had my own.

I didn't post anything last month, because we were in the middle of a ward boundary change.  Yep, I have switched to a different ward.  I am now int 5th ward.  At first I was not okay with this.  I think I cried for a total of 2 weeks straight.  I felt like I had moved away from my home town, no lie!!  Or, maybe my heart had been ripped out!!  Seems kind of funny now!!  But, here is Novembers message!!  I hope everyone likes the idea!!  I had fun with this.  I love the quotes from conference and they truly helped me at this trying time in my life.  

This is what mine looked like after I printed them out on cute fall paper.

You will need a glass mason jar (I used a pint sized) Page 1 of quotes and Page 2 of quotes!!

You will also need a General Conference Preserves Label!!  

Cut the quotes out and fold them  up and place inside the jars with a treat and share with your sisters!! Hope you enjoy!!  Remember to become a follower of my blog and also of mishmashmom.

I have two extra sets of quotes printed out and labels if anyone is interested!!!

Visiting Teaching Message: The Divine Mission of Jesus Christ: Comforter

For my sisters this month, this is what I decided to do!!

I follow this blog.  She has the most amazing ideas every month.

What a great comfort would these fluffy socks be? 

Oh, and don't forget the hot Chocolate!!

You can Print the Message on cute fall paper!!

Check out Mish Mash Mom and Follow her Blog as Well as Mine.

Thanks!!!!

Have Fun and Enjoy!!!

"Baby B's" Bed

So, I had been looking for a bed for Bristol for quite some time and I did NOT want to spend a lot of money.   I knew I wanted a toddler bed, because she was going to roll out of a big bed.  So, I started looking on our local facebook sale page!!  Guess what?  I found one for a really good deal!!  It came with a mattress,  but i just turned around and sold it.

I knew I wanted to paint it a super cutsie color.  I had researched chalk paint recipes and painted a few other things before doing anything else. 

I started by sanding it all down the best I could. (That took forever,  because most of it I had to do by hand)
I then stained it a dark walnut color!! 

After I finished staining it, I almost (almost) wanted to leave it stained!!!  I looked

Like I had burned it with the torch!!  I was loving it!!  I think my husband was 

getting annoyed with me!!  In fact I know he was, because I would not

shut up about it!!

(Please do not look at my messy garage)

Doesn't it just look amazing!! It seriously would have looked great like this!!

I put my Vaseline where I wanted it and painted the color of turquoise I had

picked out!!

And, here she is!!!  The finished product!!  Oh, my gosh!!  She is super amazing!!

Long hours, hard work and a stuffy nose, but this is the end result!!

It's perfection!!

After putting it in her room, it looks much better than in that messy garage!! 

Now,  I am making some cute ruffly pillows to go on her bed!!

Some more decorations on the walls and we will be good to go!!

I love the antique look!!!  I just can't get over how well

it turned out!!  (I'm not trying to brag I promise)  After I painted it I covered it with Minwax

Furniture Wax. If you are a Local you can purchase it at Fishlake Lumber, right here

in Beaver, Utah!!  I get all my painting supplies from Lynn Anderson at Fishlake Lumber!!

There is nothing like Hometown Hospitality and Lynn and Angela are number one!

Anyway, back to the wax!!  I chose to put the wax on it, because it will protect it and it doesn't

give it a shiny layer!!  If I would have put polyurethane on it, it would have been shiny and 

taken away from the antique look of it.

 Chalk paint really does work and it is really easy to 

work with!!  

So, for all of you DIY peeps out there here is my Chalk paint recipe that I use!!

There are many different recipes out there that you can use!!  You may need to tweak it a little bit

depending on the paint you use, or maybe the look you want to get. You can find other recipes on my pinterest page or you can just click here for my favorite one. 

Patience are a virtue.......

Please be very patient with me.  I am in the process of re-doing my blog!!  Great things are coming, trust me!!  I have been working very hard on this to make it happen and it is almost here!!  It will be great fun for both you and I!!  Thats if I can get any followers.......so, if you like being crafty or like to repurpose or like re-doing old furniture stay tuned for what's to come!!  And please become a follower of my blog!!  Thank You and have a great day!!

The New Me

I hope this will help someone out there.....

Recently I was diagnosed with a seizure disorder!!  Wow, I know right!?!  I was so surprised and so grateful all at the same time.

It all started with a phantom smoke smell and migraine headaches.  Nothing helped.  I couldn't get any relief.  At this point, I was sent to a neurologist.  The neurologist then sent me for further testing.  An MRI and an EEG.  Now, let me just tell you....................me and tight places do not get along.  The MRI was one of the scariest things I have ever done.  I cried the entire time.  The only way I made it through the MRI is singing Primary songs to myself and praying to my Heavenly Father that I would be okay.  I still couldn't believe this was happening to me.  I had no idea what I was going to do.  Every bad thing that could possibly be going through my mind.................was going through my mind.

The neurologist had told my husband and I that it could be 1 of 2 things; a seizure disorder or a mass!!  Lets just say, until March 17th came along I was a complete mess.  I could hardly function as it was, but now wondering what was going on in my head was even worse.

During this entire time my husband and I were planning on going through the Manti Temple on March 1st 2014.  We Decided to go ahead with our plans and we were sealed together for all time and eternity on March 1, 2014.

 It was a very special
day and I am so happy
we decided to go through with it.  That day we entered the Temple brought such a feeling of peace and serenity, that for that one day I was able to forget about my head and the pain I was in and the horrible smell of smoke that I had been smelling for the past few days.  My Heavenly Father has truly blessed me in so many ways.

So, it is a seizure disorder and we are still trying to figure out a medication that will work for me.  So, far we haven't had any luck.  I am on medication number four.  I know I can take this.  I have taken it in the past for something else, but didn't know you couldn't get pregnant while taking it.  Little piece of information I think I needed to know at the time.  It causes birth defects.

The first medication we tried caused horrible sores in my mouth and a rash covering my entire body.  Medication number 2 didn't work.  I still smelled the smoke.  After a while of smelling the smoke it gets so bad that all I want to do is sleep.  I even put vick's vapor rub in my nose to help with the smell.  Medication number 3 caused acne.  Yep, 31 years old and my face was covered with those annoying little white bumps we call zits.  Not just a little here and there, but my entire face and down my neck onto my chest.

So, now we are on medication number 4.  I have to titrate up on to a high dose and as soon as my doctor gets back to me I will let you know how it is working!!!

Living with a seizure disorder has been quite a challenge for me.  Not only has it been hard to do my day to day activities (mommy, wife, etc) the headaches and smelling of smoke are agonizing.  I have a hard time concentrating and sometimes I even forget what I am doing in the same moment I am doing it.  My head feels like it is going to explode at any given moment.  Its seems just when we find a medicine that is working something else goes wrong and I have to quit taking it.  (My doctor did mention a nerve block, which I am going to try the next appointment I go to)

Now I know that we all have our own challenges and our own weakness's and sometimes we are so hard on ourselves that we feel that we can't share those challenges and weakness's with others.  It has taken me many, many years to finally come to the realization that this is very true and if I do share these, I may help myself (most importantly) and maybe somebody else, too.  I strive everyday to be so perfect in every way that I honestly think I make my self sick.  I constantly compare myself to everyone else, when in fact I am my own SELF and in my Heavenly Father's eyes I am loved.  I need to learn to turn to him instead of stressing so much.  I know there is something for me to learn from all of this and hopefully soon I will find out!!  Maybe, I need to S-L-O-W down a bit!!!  I don't know.  I do know that I need to turn to my Heavenly Father more and ask him for help.  Because I know he will help me.

So, to all the mommies out there with a seizure disorder or with any kind of disorder (some of us have more than just one, I will get to that later) we can do this together!!  Until we meet again!!

My Pride & Joy

My favorite part of every day is waiting for this little

girl to wake up every morning with her "Ma Ma" "Ma Ma"

chatter.

Her personality is so cute and she is so energetic.  I find myself just staring at her, thinking 

to myself, what would I do without her?  She has filled our lives with so much happiness and 

fun. She turned 18 months in December and it took this mom until February to even think 

about putting her in nursery.  Ryan and I teach primary every Sunday and we enjoyed taking 

her with us and the children enjoyed playing with her, also.  Which is why I started to think 

about putting her in nursery, not only for me, but for her too.  She needed that interaction 

with other children and she needed to be able to trust other adults, also.

So anyway, this past Sunday at church Ryan went to drop her off at nursery, which the past

few Sunday's it has been a chore in itself trying to get her to go inside, but this time 

she waved bye to her dad and walked in.  It made me feel a little sad, but also a little proud 

that we had achieved that milestone.  

I just realized while writing and going through my photos, that I need to take more photos

of Hayden.  I have so many pictures on my phone and camera and I would say 70% of

them are of Bristol!!  

I did find this photo of Hayden with Ryan and the Space derby a couple of weeks ago.

Hayden did great.  His little rocket was fast.  He came in first a few times and had a few 

second place finishes.  He was the life of the party.  They counted down each race that they 

did and we could definitely here Hayden.  He was the loudest boy there. I can't believe how 

big he is getting.  He has grown so much and I feel like I missed it somewhere.

He is my rock.  He helps me with so many things.  I hope he realizes how much he means

to me and how much I can depend on him.  He will always be my first born and always be my

baby.  

There is no greater joy in this world than the joy of being a mother and I really hope

I get the chance to have a bigger family.  My pride & joy is my family.  

Finally finished!!

I finally finished my Family chore chart that I have been working on.  I think it turned out nice.  Now, if my littles will only use it!!