Missions :)

This has been a topic that I have thought of for some quite time.  When the prophet announced during General Conference that boys can now serve at the age of 18 & girls at the age of 19, it made me SO happy!  I knew while being out on my mission that there was a need for more sister missionaries.  Obviously since I served a mission myself, I support and feel so much good for those girls that make such a courageous desire to go and serve. I feel we, as women are able and have been stated by authorities, can open the doors of so many that would have remained Shut.  I feel the choice of serving a mission as a male, is that of one that is expected..some may have even felt pressure from friends and family, that serving is what you are Supposed to do.  However, when a girl makes the choice to serve, i feel it is possibly that of a "harder" decision b/c it isn't expected from others.  Some may feel there is the cloud of "but..will my husband be there when I return?"  Honestly, if you know you are suppose to GO..then NOTHING else matters.  If it's a part of the plan, then obviously your spouse will be there for you when you return.  There should be no question that b/c you would serve, your spouse will be scooped up by somebody else.  Missionaries, either sex-really do put their life on hold.  

I feel with this new age update, there will be an influx of sister missionaries.  In which I am so thrilled about.  There are many (not all) who serve for the right reasons.  I felt oftentimes, on my mission felt the constant need of having to "prove" myself or "explain" myself as to why I was there- I hope over time, that sister missionaries won't have to feel that way.  

It has brought me a lot of sadness to hear of so many girls, married some with kids, some not..who did not serve missions have to bring up All their reasons and excuses as to why they Did not go.  It makes me feel so bad for them.  I don't quite know why dwelling on the past, or feelings of justification has to be involved in their life.  You chose to not go, and that's it.  It's Okay.  Breathe. And Move on.  Please don't feel you have to "explain" yourself and all your lists of reasons as to why you did not go, as if people are judging you.  I have asked myself- why is it that girls seem to bring up this topic and have to go on and on about all the reasons why they didn't go, and they only things I can think of is 1- Guilt b/c they knew they lost a chance of a lifetime or 2- to make themselves feel better.  Either way, it's so sad I hope for girls to accept their lives as they are now and to look to the future with a brighness of hope.  There is always the chance of serving in your 50's and 60's.  Would it be the same as serving if you were young?  of course not.  But the Work is the Work, no matter what age. 

It brings me sadness to hear of girls who express that they truly did serve a mission, when they are referring to traveling world wide to various locations as a way of schooling.  It brings feelings of hurt b/c I feel a Mission is being "discounted" for its worth.  And I would full heartedly say- 

Nothing Can Nor Ever will Compare to that of Serving  A Mission.  

It brings me sadness to hear of girls say that now their is a new age update that they would have for sure gone at 19 b/c 21 is just "tooo old."  My opinion to that is- if you didn't go at 21, you probably wouldn't have gone at 19.  That statement is of course, situational.  But please don't beat yourself over not serving, ladies.  Feel good about yourself and the life you have now.  

How grateful I am for serving when I did and marrying when I did.  I feel my 5 years of single life was filled to every capacity.

"The decision to serve a mission will shape the spiritual destiny of the missionary, his or her spouse and their posterity for generations to Come."  

Russel M. Nelson

How grateful I am to have two young boys who I have the privelege of looking forward to hearing of their words out in the mission field~

 "Our heavenly father is getting ready to send his priesthood army to 

this earth and wants to send them to mothers who have been properly 

trained and taught in the gospel, what greater training can a young 

woman have than that of serving a mission." -gordon b hinckley

To those ladies who may not have had the chance to marry at this point and whose work & school may not seem a priority- re think the decision to Serve.  Prior to a few weeks of making my decision to serve, My mom & I were discussing at Lake Powell

"Missions are not for everybody, but only Good would come of It, 

what do you have to Lose?" 

Loves!

waiting to happen....

Well...i think it's time for this Mama to start thinking of the idea of becoming a Mama of 3 :)  Yes, this is our little way of saying "We're Trying!"  And we all know, that with us--it takes..well, very little time haha :)  But I'm keeping this one a Secret! Not the gender, as in...if you ask me, I'll probably lie to you and say I am not prego! (i'm just kidding)ha!  Anywho...Steve is DYING for a Girl.  IT is ALL he ever talks about..My gosh!  Jordynn this...and Jordynn that...Oh did I mention if it's a girl, her name will be Jordynn :) 

We want to do a P,B,& J theme:)  Get it...peyton, Bradyn...ok..you get it :) 

But I am happy to be a Mama of 3 boys.  Kind of how I always envisioned it to be.  But seriously....can we really see me WITHOUT a girl?!?! I mean...Come On.  LOL!

 I am prepared with Decorating ideas both ways, naturally;) But we do feel..it's time.  In the dark hours of the night, I frequently ask Steve- "Do you think we can do...3?!"  And i really think we can...(breathe):) We have decided we really want to end it with 3 kiddos. Because of this choice, I want to celebrate this one a lot differently than with the others.  I have some ideas :) We have wanted to time this baby for when Steve is very close to being officially done with school. 

We will have had all 3 kids by the time we BOTH turn the age of 29 AND be done having kids within our FIRST 5 YEARS of Marriage.  CRAZY!!!!!  (yes, i know Mom & Dad I see your shaking heads.....and Nic lol)

Talk about young grandparents & early retirement ;)

Anywho, Wish Us Luck!  haha j/k...Yay, for October!

Loves!

My last post on my Heart

So today was my heart appointment day.  We discussed all the results from the two tests that I have done (doppler & TEE) We discussed my reaction to my Park City picture day..to getting a headache one night after my heart felt like it was pounding.  

He told me the tests do seem to have "alarming" results but b/c I just don't experience symptoms on a day to day basis, that it's NO need whatsoever to go ahead with the surgery.  He said fixing these heart defects on adults has been around for the past 3 years, and they really only like to see them on people who have had a stroke or is experiencing day to day symptoms.  Of the two experiences that I had told him about, he says the headache seems to be from me not eating often enough and the park city pictures episode, being from a bacteria that had entered my bloodstream (to explain the fever)  Both of which he does not think was heart related.  He told me go ahead on getting prego, my track record seems to be just fine.  And to make sure i take my baby aspirin while prego. And to see him again in 6 months! so yay!

I was interested in getting a 2nd opinon from another cardiologist....but....we've been on a transitional plan with Medicaid in preparation for Steve's work health ins to offer their open enrollment, and i guess b/c our income has increased drastically Medicaid sent us a letter saying it was time to say good bye :)  So....this is perfect news from my heart appt-b/c we are Uninsured for the next 2 months!  ha! So surgery wouldn't have been an option for us anyways.  And even once we are on Steve's work ins.  pretty sure woudn't want that to happen then as well.  So...I'd prefer to not go get a 2nd opinion b/c we have no insurance till Dec.  

So i'm just going to take on the faith that Dr. Carter is right, and that there is no need for this surgery at this time. :) This chapter in my life has come to a close...

Loves!

Enlightening :)

So I have began reading again, yes me! ha ha!  I think I enjoy reading alot more when it's regarding a situation that I need help with.  Lately I have been struggling with keeping my 3 yr old from not hitting my 1 yr old.  It's gotten worse recently.  Our 1 yr old will just be silently sitting on the floor and our 3 yr old will kick him in the face, run him over, smack him..etc.  And it's been SO frustrating b/c obviously we tell him not to and get SO mad at him..but it just happens over and over again.  I can't leave them in the same room together.  And the hardest part is once you have blown up, you then regret how badly you reacted and there come GUILT.  So..I went to Joyce and explained my sorrows and she recommended a book- it's called "Positive Timeout" by Jane Nelsen.  Some big highlights for me in this book:

-

- A child who feels better, does better
- You should never put a child in time out that is under the "age of reason" which is 2 1/2

- A misbehaving child is a discouraged child

- We must help our children feel they are significant and empowered and then there wouldn't be a need for them to misbehave

-Children misbehave when they feel insignificant

-Punitive time outs will only solve the problem at that moment, but will not have far reaching effects.  It also can be humiliating for the child. And only increases the misbehavior later on.

-when parents take the easy way out-going for short range solutions rather than long range teaching- they rob children the opportunity to learn the skills the children need to prosper in life. 

- Positive timeouts need to be done in order for longterm goals to be met, therefore the behavior will improve

- When your child has misbehaved it is best to approach them with a hug and kiss and to place them in their "Feel Good" place.  Which should consist of soft pillows, blankets, books, music..whatever.  And describe to them "you must not be feeling good about yourself right now, so you are to stay here untill you feel better and come out when you are feeling better." When they come out you are to ask "what" and "how" qts about the situation and to end it with a hug and kiss. Some may argue that this book is saying- you are rewarding the child for misbehaving by letting them have a "positive" time out, but that is not the case. It helps them to develop life skills as well as to self- soothe. 

-Getting upset, yelling, threatening will only satisfy the issue at that moment and in turn you are humilitating the child and they are continuing to feel insignificant. Where did the idea come that in order for our children to do better, we need to make them feel worse?
-Positive timeout also helps us as adults to take time out to regroup.  When we become so upset our "reptillian" brain is working and works the idea of fight or flight.  Instead if we regroup and collect our thoughts (while our child is having positive time out) a different part of our brain helps us to think more logically.

- Lots of time we become upset at our kids- when what they are doing in our minds is "misbehaving" but really it can be a developmentally need to explore, etc.

-Instead of always telling our children what they Can't do, tell them what they Can do. 

-when children trust the adults in their lives, they have less desire to misbehave

love this quote- "Discipline that teaches children helps them learn for the future. Punishment makes children pay for the past"

I just loved it.  And completley agree with it's points.  And will put this advice to work, and hope the physical harm to 1yr old, Bradyn may come to an end :)

Loves!

Guess who is 1!

Our little spunky baby is One!!! He is such a joy!  He had his check up today.  He's right on track with everything!  We can't wait for him to begin walking.  Peyton walked at 18 months, i got a feeling it will be much earlier with Bradyn.  

Here are his Stats:

WEIGHT- 20 LBS 8 ounces ~ 36 %

LENGTH-30.25 IN ~ 66 %

HEAD- 18.25 IN ~ 58 %
he's always been in the 90 % for length..seems he's dropped..

loves!

Family Pictures

Here are our Family Pictures!!!! Gotta say, we are one HOT family!!!! :)   The Pics were worth every little bit of stress and worry :)  LOVE LOVE THEM!!!

Enjoy!!!!

I don't even know how to describe it.....

So Yesterday night we took Family Pictures up in Park City with Kara Simmons :)  It went very well.  We are excited to see pics.  And when I say excited- you know, i mean THRILLED! But...this story has to do with that day.  

So earlier on that day I felt a little light headed and nauseaous..felt like I was coming down with something.  Throughout the day I had felt stressed about pictures.  Wondering if the boys were going to be okay.  making sure they had a good nap..If they were going to turn out...you know me, I have to have the PERFECT pictures lol.  And of course not only did Peyton's stitches happen the week prior and also 2 days before pics Peyton winds up with a rash on his chin.  So I was already a little frazzled.  So we begin our trek up to Park City and it begins pouring rain.  Then again, stress levels rose.  BUT right as we began pictures it totally stopped raining and the perfect looking sky popped out.  The boys were quite difficult to maintain happy...we had brought balloons as a prop for pics..they all popped but one.  So anyways, the session is over and we get in our car to leave  and got down to Salt Lake to drop off my sister and just as we did my entire body began shaking uncontrollably and my lips began chattering and I just began freezing.  I had no idea what was happening to me..but I was aware of what was going on.  Steve said I was incoherent and very out of it.  He debated taking me into some place, but did not. I just could not get warm- b/c the heat was on it caused the kids to freak out b/c they were getting sooo hot.  

So we get home and I get out of the car to get Bradyn and couldn't even lift him, that's how weak I was.  I literally crawled up the stairs (3 flights) and turned my bath tub on full hot and got in it.  Steve said it was scalding water..and i just lied in it for 2 hours.  He then covered me up with 5 blankets and fed me a gogurt.  My teeth were still chattering.  I couldn't talk or move.  He took my temp and it was 104.  

Now on to the best part- he came over to my side of the bed.  And as the oil dropped on my head, gave me a blessing and within 10 min of the  blessing he took my temp...it dropped a lot.  10 min later took it again..it had dropped.  All of a sudden I felt my body go very warm and I began to sweat a lot..like drops of sweat were falling off my face.  I seriously felt like it was THE END that I literally was going to die...I kept thinking to myself...."was this the last time I got to see my boys..." "but I'm suppose to go up to Logan this weekend with friends...." And all of a sudden my fever broke, I literally could feel what it was like..I then fell asleep and woke up this morning as if I was ready to run a marathon  .  Perfectly 100% normal.  

Now, there have been MANY times on my mission where I witnessed true healing of sickness, but never before had something like this ever happened to me.  There was an instance on my mission when one of my legs had a bad pain that lingered forever and upon being given a blessing I stood up and never felt it again..

I honestly don't even know how to describe it...but I was healed...

What I have learned is that: Brooke gets stressed very easily these days..and I literally think my body was on overload and I just couldn't take it anymore.  On my wedding day, I felt the same sort of nausea and light headed ness...I just can't get myself SO stressed!  I have taken stress management classes in college..i wish I had notes I could look back on.  I just need to relax and not get so stressed.  Hence why the "planner" Brooke has been on vaca mode for a little bit of time.  

Only question I have is- did this attack have anything to do with my heart??

Loves