A 24/7 Job Forever.

We have been outside almost every day the last 2 weeks...life is much more fun when we can go outside to play!

...so this is what we've been up to lately...writing with chalk on the sidewalk...

we've been having picnics outside...

...Blowing bubbles...

taking pictures...

Since I got my Nikon I don't use my little point and shoot that much, so I let the kiddos take it around to take pictures one day...

They both had sooo much fun! and I had fun watching them take pictures...

Here's photography by Braden...a picture of his shoes...:)

One day we went out and they just kicked the ball around...I must say that Braden was a natural...I may have a soccer player in my hands??? may be? he may just be the next Pele? Maradona? hmm...

This last Saturday, our stake had a Women's Conference. It was amazing! Words cannot describe how inspired and uplifted I felt in the two classes I went to. I went to "Be Your Best Self" class about women's health and a "Raising LDS Children in the Latter Days" class. Both were amazing and I learned so much!

From the health class I basically learned that turning 30 is indeed as SCARY as I'm thinking it's going to be and that getting old is just plain a tragedy!!!:) and if I don't die of breast cancer I will most likely die of heart disease! and if it's not heart disease I will probably get osteoporosis! Crazy! I also learned that sugar is bad bad bad for you! The average American consumes 135 pounds of sugar a year!!!!! What? If that is not crazy, then I don't know what is!!!!!!!

No. But in all seriousness I was enlightened by EVERYTHING that was said in that class...sometimes we don't think we have power over our health but we do...and so much of it is in our diet. We have power to live healthier lives...we just need to make the choice...I feel so inspired to eat better. More protein, more whole grains...less carbs...less sugar...drink more water...

The parenting class was equally as enlightening...and in the words of President Faust:

"There is no greater good in all the world than motherhood. The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation."

And yes, it is a 24/7 job FOREVER...it will never end...we don't retire from parenting...and even though there are times when I just want to pull my hair out when I'm at home with my kids all day, every day, day after day...not everything is perfect...my house is often a mess, there are dishes in the sink...etc, etc, etc...this is where and what I need to be.

I watched Elder Uchtdorf's talk the other night, that he gave to the Young Women. If you are in need of some MAJOR inspiration today you can READ it HERE, it's called "Your Happily Ever After"

The talk made me think of my Brielle because she loves princesses so much...

"Happily ever after" is not something found only in fairly tales. you can have it! It is available for you! But you must follow your Heavenly Father's map."

...and that map for me right now at this point of my life is this 24/7 job.

I'm employed by my children.

"...be strong and of good courage. You are truly royal spirit daughters of Almighty God. You are princesses destined to become queens. Your own wondrous story has already begun. Your "once upon a time" is now."

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

...and can someone please tell me...

How and when did this happen?:

How can they change so much?

Seriously...when...where was I? Was I really here witnessing this change?

Now, I understand why they say to SOAK up every second of this time...because this is what happens my friends...they grow...WAY. TOO. FAST.

It may seem slow day in and day out but it really is happening in the blink of an eye...

I don't want to miss it...

Easter.

I think besides Christmas and Thankgiving, Easter is my next favorite holiday...wait. 4th of July is up there too...but Easter is special because we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The whole week before Easter Sunday we had "A week long of Easter". I didn't come with it myself but I found it on HERE. I didn't do most of the activities, we did just one but it was nice to have the scriptures and the pictures all outlined for you of the week before Christ died. The kids really got into it and it was so good for Scott and I as well.

It made Easter so much more meaningful for our family.

Our good friends Justin & Stacey with their cute boys Jack and Anderson came to spend the weekend with us. Stacey entered in to win tickets to go to the White House Easter Egg Roll and she WON! So they had tickets to go to that on Monday but came the Friday before to spend the weekend with us.

We had a weekend full of FUN! We ALWAYS have such a great time when we get together with them! and I think our kids had the most fun playing and running around and being mischivous together! It makes me happy to know that they are such good little friends.

...we started our weekend heading to D.C. to see the cherry blossoms.

Cherry Blossom Festival weekend is one, if not, THE busiest time of the year here in D.C. It was INSANE! Sometimes you forget that there are 6 billion inhabitants who live on this planet...thank goodness they were not all there but it sure felt like it!!! :) We fought the crowds though and had SUCH a fun time walking around admiring these beautiful trees.

It was definitely worth it!

The Jefferson Memorial.

Justin and Scott.

Beautiful.

After a few technical difficulties...(Braden and I getting lost and not being to find anyone for almost 30 minutes...) I finally made it to the steps of the Jefferson Memorial and met up with these guys for lunch.

...and as always Stacey makes me laugh...we both had some good fun people watching and saw some really interesting people walking around, it really is inevitable to not notice certain people...

So here, we are just having some fun posing for pictures like we saw a girl do earlier that day:

ha ha!!!!...we are such geeks!

Oh my heck! I can't even believe I'm posting these picture of myself on here! ha ha!!!

I think we were having way too much fun!!!:)...

But then came the metro...

...NOT FUN! soooooooooo many people! We had a few more technical difficulties...

But we finally got to our next destination:

The Arligton Cemetery.

By now the kiddos were about ready to call it a day...

...you can tell by these pictures...

they were getting tired...

But I think they still had a little bit of juice left...so we decided to keep going...

...and in almost every picture at the Arlington Cemetery you will notice this little boy holding sticks...

They would NOT look at the camera! Brielle decided to pretend she was a statue...

The beautiful view of the city from Arlington House.

Brielle and Braden having fun playing with rocks.

After a long day of walking and fun we got home, got everyone fed and Scott and Justin headed to the Priesthood session of General Conference. Stace and I put the kids to bed and attempted to watch the Saturday morning session of Conference..."attempted" is the key word...we were exhausted!:)

On Easter Sunday, we watched the Sunday morning session of General Conference and felt so uplifted. There are no words to describe how much I LOVE General Conference...it is always just what I need! Elder Uchtdorf's Sunday morning talk was AMAZING! and the prophet's talk was just very emotional for me for some reason...very inspiring, uplifting and plain amazing.

After the first session, Stacey had brought some Easter eggs and we had a little Easter Egg Hunt for the kiddos...

They had so much fun.

These three definitely have their little personalities!:)

Brielle was trying to give Jack a hug, and he let her for one second and then came that face...simply HILARIOUS! Every time I look at that picture, it makes me laugh out loud...:)

...and then Brielle had to show off her sass...

...then came the candy eating...

...and how could I forget this little boy! Anderson. He is THE best baby! I just wanted to squeeze him and hold him the whole time he was here. I just wanted to keep him...but I don't think they thought that was such a good idea...:)

Braden got a Buzz Bubble Blower Gun in his Easter basket, I think that's what is called...

It was a hit.

Braden and Jack.

And then came this:

Oh my...these two decided to climb a tree and be funny!

...and since Brielle and Braden saw their daddy climbing the tree, they wanted to climb it too...

We watched the afternoon session of Conference and had our Easter dinner.

I made this:

{photo courtesy of The Pioneer Woman}

Best roast I have EVER made! By far...

Monday, came around all too quickly and it came time to say goodbye!

But as ALWAYS, we had such a wonderful time spending time as friends...and among the craziness of kiddos and D.C. metro, traffic and people...we managed to eat lots of yummy food, talk, laugh and create memories.

Thanks for coming Heaton's!

Twenty-Nine & Fun Visitors.

The last day of March, my sweet husband turned 29 years old. He finally caught up to me! The last year in your twenties definitely deserves a celebration...and we celebrated.

For two whole days, we celebrated Scott's 29th birthday!

{This little girl LOVES her daddy, she forgets she also has a mom when Scott is around.}

Scott took the 30th off from school, since he had required class the next day, on his birthday.

He wanted to go to eat Mexican, his favorite food in the world (besides mine, of course):) The east doesn't quite have the array of choices that the west has when it comes to Mexican restaurants...but we finally found one called Uncle Julio's and it is really good...not quite Puerto Vallarta from Idaho Falls but close enough.

The food was delicious and we were so full afterward.

I told the waitress he had a birthday the following day and this is what she brought...sopapillas!
It was delicious!

I LOVE it when Scott hangs out with us...he's been studying non-stop for the last almost 3 weeks!

We love spending time as a family! There's nothing like being together.

After, Uncle Julio's, I told Scott that the kids and I had a special place to take him.

This cool place called Gravelly Point Park is a little park right behind the Reagan Airport in D.C. and you can see the planes take off right above your head.

It was so fun to watch the planes takes off...it literally felt like there was one taking off every minute!

Brielle and Braden were so happy to spend time with their daddy. I told them that it was their daddy's birthday and that they needed to make him feel special...and I think they did!

We had a such an enjoyable time, except for the fact that when we told Brielle that Scott was turning 29, she was very concerned. She asked:

"Is daddy old? Is he going to die?"

We had to clarify that 29 years old is NOT old and no he's not going to die!:)

On the 31st, Scott had to go to school pretty much all day, but when he came home I made this dish, which he requested, Beef Stew with Mushrooms. (A recipe from The Pioneer Woman...can you tell that I'm obssessed with this Pioneer Woman? She has inspired me so much, especially when it comes to cooking.)

{photo courtesy of The Pioneer Woman's website}

After enjoying the beef stew, we sang happy birthday one more time...

I love Scott's expression...he's such a goof!

And you can tell...he definitely got PLENTY of help from Brielle and Braden blowing off the candles.

They were soooooo helpful...:)

My husband is now twenty-nine years old!

I will forever be grateful that this man was born into this earth. He is truly, in every sense, the love of my life! We fit so well together and when I think about how the Lord brought our lives together, I can't help but be forever grateful to have such a wonderful guy!

Late on Scott's birthday, one of my best friends Ashley Anderson came to stay with us for a couple of days. We played Ticket to Ride (Scottie's request) and had such a great time visiting with her.

She came to D.C. with her boyfriend, Othello to visit his family who lives in Alexandria. Ashley was kind enough to make time to come see us while she was here!

{We had so much fun together, I always laugh hysterically when Ashley is around. She knows just what to say to make me laugh!}

Ashley and I met at BYU-Idaho, when it was Ricks College in 1999. We've known each other for over 10 years! We've kept in touch through the years and her family, the Anderson's are like family to me! They are such a wonderful family!

On Thursday, we headed to D.C. to the Library of Congress. It was crowded, but still had a fun time. We had lunch there and walked around. The Library of Congress is one of my favorite buildings in D.C. I love taking people there...

My kids absolutely LOVED Ashley and she was AMAZING with them! She was so loving and patient...I was so impressed! She is definitely going to be a wonderful mother!

Ashley has a master's degree in social work...and she is currently working at an elementary school in Washington state as a counselor. I'm so proud of her and all of her accomplishments. It's crazy to think that she was 17 and I was 18 when we met! We are both adults now!:)

After the Library of Congress, we headed to the National Museum of Natural History. We met up with Othello (Ashley's boyfriend.) We walked around for a while, until my kiddos were ready to call it a day!

I picked up Scott from school and we came home and had dinner and visited for a while. It was so nice to meet Othello. He is such a sharp guy! He is a reporter for a news station in Spokane. We had a very enjoyable conversation with him and Ashley.

I DID NOT want to say goodbye to Ashley! I literally felt so empty inside when I had to say goodbye. Two days was definitely not long enough! You know how with some people you just feel at home? That's how I feel when I'm around Ashley. I was reminded of why we are best friends and over 10 years later, we are still friends...and it always feels the same, like back when we were both teenagers.

I've been blessed with good friends.