Secrets...

Why are some things just not shared and you have to experience them in order to know about them?  Here’s a little list of things I wish weren’t so secretive in our existence:
1. The fact that miscarriages happen to most women at some point in their life. I think if we talked about it more then women would have a safe place to talk about it. They would know they are not alone and they would have friends to help them through the whole bloody(literally) process.
2. Contraceptives. Sure, I get it, we don’t talk about sex much period and it may be uncomfortable for some people to talk about it, but seriously, when I got married I had no clue about what was available for our family planning needs. It would have been nice to know about options. And seriously, talking about these things will not make kids run around and have more sex. The stats are pretty much the same as they have always been. It’s actually less than 50% of teens that are considered “sexually active.”
3.  Those stats would actually be nice to have known as a teen too. Because of our lovely media, most kids walk around thinking there is something wrong with them because they are virgins. Maybe they would stay that way longer had they known this but if information!
4. That you can use apple sauce instead of oil when baking. You’re welcome.
5. All the stuff that happens in the whole process of pregnancy and after having a baby. Let’s face it all the stuff about procreation needs to be talked about more. Who knew you would bleed for a week after having a baby? Who knew during that time you would have horrible cramps? Who knew that breastfeeding would also cause horrible cramping? Who also knew that breastfeeding is way hard and takes most moms and babies about six weeks to figure it out? Yeah, six long weeks of hurting and frustration.
Let’s not keep secrets, unless you are talking about my flaws. Then go ahead and keep those to yourself.

Optimism...

Focus on the positive, but remember there must be negatives for those positives to exist.

Three awesome things that happened today:
1. Family Home Evening. It may have been the first one we have had in a while but it was a good lesson on good choices and it could be the start of something beautiful.
2. Reub being around at night.
3. A bike ride with Ellis on his big wheel and Zarah and I on my bike and in the bike trailer.

One not so positive thing today:
Yelling and running out of patience with the kiddos at one point.

Somethings that need inventing.

Well beside the obvious, teleportation, I feel like there are a few things that need to be invented. Hello, it’s 2018, why don’t we have this yet?  Here are five top ones. If you make these, I’ll buy one and you should give me a little of the credit.

1. Flying cars. Come on...they were in Back to the Future 2. It’s time. Then driving to Wisconsin this summer wouldn’t be as dramatic, or would it?

2. Tires that don’t wear out. Changing tires every few years on the cars gets old and it bloody expensive. There has to be some miracle material that would save us from that heartache.

3. Bug resistant plants. Come on, with all the GMOs this has to be possible.

4. A hat cleaning machine. Seriously, you cannot trust a normal washer because the brim gets all skiwampus, so there should be this little device that fits one hat and that molds it the right way. Maybe I wouldn’t have to have 30+ hats then. Okay, I still don’t need that many!

5. Self-cleaning toilets. Heck, the whole bathroom could have this option and it would make my day. I cannot tell you how much I hate dirty toilets and just how much I truly hate cleaning them. It’s an on going battle inside my head about which one I hate most. Currently, it’s the cleaning part.

What are some inventions you would like to see? Comments are always welcomed here.

When the Fish Don’t Bite...

...then you bite the fish.

Good day. Went shopping for mama’s garden with her and had a Sweeto Burrito. Time with Mama and good food...great start to the day.

Then fishing with Papa and my boys after making our tackle box organized. Perfect end to the day surrounded by an amazing sunset.

And a new desk chair for my office? Spoiled. And ice cream? And Artic Circle cheese curds? (They are the closest to real Wisconsin curds, btw!

Summer looks good on me!

Thirty Days of Blogging and I have a Two-Year-Old. What?

We have had a wonderful week of summer so far! Five days of not having to be anywhere and just living in the moments. From an out door concert, to shopping as a family, to visiting with friends, to having a birthday party, we have lived in many fun moments in those five days.

Zarah turned two today. What? When did that happen? I blinked and poof...two years in on parenting two. How did we even exist before Zarah? She is just such an integral part of this clan, it just doesn’t seem like we were ever without her. Weird.

Here are a few things that you may not know about Zarah:

1. She has grown an inch and half since January.
2. She is currently wearing 24 month clothes.
3. She hates having her hair brushed or washed.
4. She is a fighter and if she wants something...watch out.
5. She loves playing ball. She throws, she kicks and she chases balls while giggling. She may be my athlete.
6. She’s so concerned about others. She always says, “K?” if we cough or sneeze.
7. She loves people. When we walk into church, she waves at all the other members of our congregation as if they are there to witness her parade into the room. Today she waved at all the elderly people at Sams Club as if they just needed her attention.
8. She is addicted to her binky.
9. She loves oranges.
10. She has stolen our hearts.

So, Hapoy Birthday little Miss Zarah Sue. I sure do love you!