You give a little love and it all comes back to you! (La la la lalalalaaaa!)

First of all, I just want to say thank you so much to all of you wonderful people! It looks like I have more friends than I thought I did and I am so grateful to all of you for your kindness! It been a hard few weeks but things are getting better. Life is going to be a continual struggle for my friend from last post but I have found forgiveness can come and I will be there to help them. :) I just want to say that while satan is real and is after everything we have, the Savior is also real and He will help us. I am so blessed to have the people in my life that I have. I love and admire all of you. Thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers!

On a happier note, I have to share how much more adorable my little boy is becoming every day. The other week at church we were walking the halls (because he refuses to sit still - thank heavens for nursery!:) and he wanted to go into the family history library (He saw the computers - boys and electronics - what can you do?). I grabbed his hand to steer him the other way and he promptly dropped to his knees (which he has started doing, which drives me nuts). I let go, intending to pick him up, but he did the funniest thing - he started crawling into the room backwards. "You can't see me, mom. I'm not doing something wrong - I can't see where I'm going, so you can't either!" It may have been one of those "you need to be there" moments, but I thought it was funny!

He has also started climbing on things. Yesterday I was checking my email on the computer which is against the wall in the living room. I heard him crying so I turned around to see what was wrong. He had climbed onto our wooden truck (which serves as our coffee table) and from that he climbed into his activity center and he couldn't get out. I couldn't help laughing as I got him out. It was so funny. So then, he decided it was funny so he started giggling nonstop while doing it over and over again. It was so funny and cute. I refused to get him out again (I had told him I wouldn't if he did it again.) so he figured out how to do it himself. My little baby boy is no longer a little baby. He's growing and learning so fast! Crazy!

In other news we're excited for our ward Halloween party tonight. We are going as John, Michael, and Wendy from Peter Pan. No one is going to know who we are and Landon will be wearing pink footy pajamas but the costumes were cheap to put together and we're not going trick or treating anyways. :) Joel volunteered us to make chili for the chili cook-off (Apparently there weren't a lot of people signing up). The only chili I've ever made comes from a can and I cook in the microwave. But I found a recipe for white chili that doesn't look too hard and is a little different so we will see how that works out. I'll let you know. Have a Happy Halloween!

Inside my heart is breaking, my makeup may be flaking, but my smile still stays on.

I am heartbroken. That's the most all encompassing way to say it. Without going into too much detail I just want to say that I don't have many friends. I'm not the kind of person that makes friends easily so when I do make them and we become more than acquaintances I become very close to that person. So I have very few close friends. This is important because it makes my heartbreak all the worse. My best friend lied to me. To my face. More than once. Not a little no consequence wanny lie - a big deal breaker lie. And I don't know what to think or how to feel. I love this person and I thought that I knew them. (I know that's not correct grammar but I want to protect identities so they will go by plural pronouns.) I feel betrayed, disgusted, and hurt. I want to slam the door in this person's face and never talk to them again. But I don't really. Because I love them. I need them in my life because everyone needs friends, right? Especially someone who doesn't make them very easily. So I have to get over how I feel because I want to help this person. How do you help someone you thought you knew but now you are not so sure any more? I know they need help and don't want to lose my friendship, either. So that makes things a little easier. I have to forgive them and move on. I think it's going to take time. And I know it's going to take a lot of trust and faith in the Savior. He can heal this person and he can heal me. I just need to be patient.
I know this doesn't really concern anyone else but me but I needed to sent this off into the void. So there you go dear void.

The one in which I attempt to catch up

So I'm pretty much the crappiest blogger ever. It seems to be like a lot of things in my life - I start out pretty excited but then it kind of falls flat after a while. Oh well, here's to new beginnings! :D
It's weird for me that it's fall and school has started. I stay inside most of the time so it surprises me when I step outside and it's a bit nippy. I also find it weird that this is the time of year that lots of people's lives are changing - they are going to school, or their kids are going to school. My life isn't changing so much. Joel is going to school again (his last semester! yahoo!) but he's gone the same hours everyday as he was during the summer so that change hasn't really brought about much change for me. Which is ok. My life just seems a never ending parade of unchange. But I think that's ok. I enjoy it most days. And I think once the changes start I will want them to stop.
And, there has been a bit of a change - one of my really good friends has me watch her three month old baby girl during the day while she teaches school. It's a lot easier than I thought it would be. I was really worried because I have a hard enough time taking care of Landon most days, but I guess it's easier when I don't have to watch both of them 24-7 and I'm not the one waking up with her in the middle of the night. Plus, she pretty much sleeps all day which requires minimal effort on my part. :D I suppose it will take a bit more effort as she gets older and more mobile but I'm glad that I have the time to adjust to it. Plus, she's super adorable which makes everything easier, right?
In some unusual news, I have now made cookies from scratch two weeks in a row. I never cook. I just am not that fond of it and Joel is so much better at it but for some reason I just had the desire to make cookies. I was surprised at how easy the first batch was - I always think it's going to be some big ordeal but Joel gave me a Kitchen-Aid stand up mixer that makes things so nice! The second batch I knew would be harder because they are my favoritest cookies and I have made them before - Nieman Marcus cookies. Everyone should make them and eat them because they are delicious! Not that I would know this time, though. For some reason I only get the desire to bake when I'm on a diet. So I didn't get any, but Joel said they were really good. :)
Speaking of diets -this is the happiest news of the day - My BMI is finally in the "normal" range instead of the "overweight" range that it has been in for the past 15 years. And, that makes 40 lbs lost since the beginning of the year! Yippee! I still have 20 more lbs to go to get it in the "healthiest" range but I will take the progress I've got!
And there you have today's novel. I hope to be able to refigure the picture thing so you can see my cute little boy and have a more interesting post next time. The end :D

Summer, this one's for you

So a few days ago my uber talented sister-in-law, Summer, posted in her blog that she was going to give away her awesomely possumly guitar. I really want it. She is the coolest artist and I really love her style. She decorated the guitar and that's why I want it. I didn't tell her that because someone else had already posted that they wanted it and i figured it was first come first served. Today, her blog says she is giving it way through a contest. So, Summer, here is my entry:

My limerick: (Of sorts)

There once was a girl from afar
Who wanted Summer's guitar.
I know I can't play,
I want it anyway.
And that is my poem, har har.

My Haiku:

I want your guitar
I am your sister-in-law
You should give me it

Summer, this isn't a fake blog, but I'm posting this in my blog so technically this could be construed to be about the following: I am also offering to make you a really yummy potatoey dinner that you would really think is neat and will watch Big fish, Fargo, or, if you really want, 12 Monkeys with you whenever you want. That is all.

(I will understand if you do not choose me because I am sure I do not even come close to the creativity of your friends but I had to try. Love ya!:)

Ain't no sunshine when he's gone.

I've been meaning to blog about our fun trip to Bear Lake a few weeks ago but I wanted to wait for pictures (we forgot our camera so we gratefully relied on other people to take pictures-they did and the pics are cute). Then we got the pictures but I couldn't figure out how to get them from email to here so I needed to wait for Joel's help but we were busy preparing for the trip we are on now so that blog will have to wait. Which brings us to the blog I am now writing (rather, you are now reading).
Every fourth of July Joel's mom's side of the family gathers in Alabama at her parents house for a family reunion. We went two years ago and it was really fun. We decided it would be fun to go again this year. Then we thought about the prospect of a 4 hour plane ride (Or 20 hour car ride) with a wiggly toddler and the fact that our time would probably all be spent trying to keep him out of the lake. We decided that Joel would go and have a fun little road trip with some friends tagging along and I would go up and spend the week with my parents. It seemed like a great plan to me - I would much rather watch Landon in a more enclosed environment than chase him away from a lake all day. And this made it so Joel wouldn't have to worry about him and could focus on his family and having fun. The problem with this theory is that I am now in Blackfoot, Id watching Landon by myself and missing my husband so much I want to cry. As much as I love my adorable little boy it's hard to be the sole caretaker. (It's what I do at home but I get some relief when Joel gets off from work.) My mom helps when she gets home from work but it's just not the same. Plus I don't know how to be myself anymore without Joel. I have increased respect for single moms and military wives. I have no idea how they do it. I guess I just need to learn to be stronger. And more self sufficient in my marriage. When I got married I was my own person but then I think I went the other way and became a different person with Joel and now that he's not here, (I know, I know, he's only been gone 3 days thus far - I'm such a pansy!) it's hard to figure out who I am without him. So confusing and now I'm just babbling. The point is I Love Joel and miss him and I want this week to be over. And there you have it. The End.

Like father, like son...

Joel has taken to putting Landon's pants on his (Landon's) head because they fit so well with the size his head is and because he (Joel) thinks it's funny. The other day I turned to look at Landon and he had grabbed Joel's shorts and was trying to put them on his head. What a silly!

Life in plastic - it's fantastic!

When we went to Idaho over Memorial Day weekend it rained. But we wanted to go out on my mom's outdoor swing and read. So Joel, the genius that he is, ripped holes in some plastic bags so we wouldn't get soggy bums by sitting on the wet seat. What a great guy!