Weird Dream

This is not going to make much sense and it's really not that entertaining, so I won't be offended if you don't read. ;)

I have weird dreams. Often. And they aren't always so weird, they just don't make sense. Like the time I was pregnant with Rori and dreamt I could look into my stomach to see my baby, kind of like I had x-ray vision. What did I see? Twins, but one was a tiny little fetus and the other was almost full term. Oh yeah, and the bigger one was dressed in overalls. It was a boy... remarkably like my sister's little boy, wearing the same outfit I gave her for her baby shower. lol Okay... that one was more than just "not making sense", it was weird. lol

So, last night I had another weird, dream.

I was going to go to the temple so I had my bag all ready. Except instead of my normal temple bag, I had a suitcase on wheels, a small one, like a carry-on. And Ryan was going to work at the same time, so the girls were coming with me. ??? We were all going to go down and catch the bus together. Again... ??? So, we're walking along, me with my suitcase rolling behind me, and we're on the freeway. Walking in the fast lane. We see up ahead there is a suitcase laying on the ground. Uh oh, there's been an accident. So, we carefully change lanes to walk around it and watching so not to be hit by cars, and we see various items scattered all over the lane. (Things that came out of the suitcase that was laying on the ground.) And people were picking up the items. We would have helped, but we were going to miss our bus. And sure enough, here it was! So, we crossed back across the fast lane and across the traffic coming in the other direction, to wait at the side of the freeway for the bus to stop. It was a school bus.

So, we're getting on the bus. Ryan just uses his bus pass. (Which is funny because he doesn't have one, he has never ridden the bus here. lol) And I'm digging in my wallet to pay for me and the girls. The girls get on and sit down as I'm asking how much to pay. The driver asks where we're going. I start to say, "The temple," but realize that doesn't mean anything to her, so I say, "Oh, just down I-5... to exit 292". She looks at me like I'm a complete idiot. Apparently, this bus doesn't go there. So I have to call my girls off the bus and then I woke up.

Weird. Pointless. But just an illustration of what kind of dreams I have.

Rori Cuteness

Rori's at that really cute stage, which is good for her because she's also at that really "terrible" stage and the cuteness is what helps keep her alive. ;)

Some Rori cuteness:

•When Cadi and I are reading, we often just put on Rori's shows for her so she isn't bored. She will almost always climb into Cadi's lap and sit with her while she watches her show and Cadi listens to me read.

•This morning while Cadi was taking a shower, Rori just parked herself at the bathroom door with her blanket wrapped over her, head against the door, waiting... just waiting for Sister to come out.

•She has these little cards with pictures of Jesus and pictures of Temples that she takes to church to look at during Sacrament Meeting. The other day, she was looking at them at home, then would pick up a handful, hold them out to me and say, "Pick a card, any card."

•She is super sensitive about leaving someone behind. For instance, when we're at church and Ryan takes the girls to the car to wait for me, she cries and cries for me because she thinks they're leaving me. Or like yesterday when she and I had to run to Cadi's school to pay for their class photo (I had totally forgotten to send Cadi with the money), she kept crying, "Cadia! Cadia!" as we left because she knew Cadi was somewhere in that school and we were leaving her there.

See, she really can be sweet. Sometimes. ;)

Happy President's Day; it's not raining, let's go on a hike!

We love living here, have I mentioned that before? lol So this morning when it looked like a nice day, Blue and I decided we should take advantage of the holiday and good weather to take the kiddos out for a hike. To make it even more fun, we called a friend to invite her family along. Turns out she had been abandoned by her family as they were playing on Mt. Hood, so it worked out really nice. With her youngest in tow, we all headed into the gorge for a chilly but very enjoyable hike.

We went to my favorite hiking place: Horse Tail Falls. The first little bit is all uphill and makes you wonder why you ever thought this was a good idea to begin with, but eventually it evens out a bit and the rest is quite enjoyable. I love all the moss. Here, in the dead of winter, we were surrounded by green. It was really pretty. I love how alive the Northwest is, year round. :)

We hiked past PonyTail Falls and Oneida Falls before deciding it was time to turn around and head back. We ended up hiking for about 2.5 miles. Rori did really well and hiked almost the entire first half by herself. In fact, she actually hiked most of it, only allowing Daddy to carry her a couple of times. Big girl! :)

Here are some pics, scroll over the image for an option to pause the slideshow...
 

I love this quote!

In Sunday School yesterday, our instructor shared this quote with us and I just LOVE it!

“Please remember this one thing. If our lives and our faith are centered upon Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, nothing can ever go permanently wrong. On the other hand, if our lives are not centered on the Savior and his teachings, no other success can ever be permanently right.” President Howard W. Hunter

I think this might be my favorite quote. I love how it doesn't say that nothing will ever go wrong, just that nothing can ever go permanently wrong, as long as our faith is centered on the Savior.

I absolutely believe that this is true! I know that challenges happen, trials come, and bad times fall at our feet sometimes, but I also know that faith is the answer to all of it. Faith in a loving Heavenly Father and in the Plan of Salvation, faith in the Atonement and repentence, faith in the Holy Ghost and it's direction and comfort. If you hold onto that faith, then nothing can ever go permanently wrong.

Everything will work out. I believe that when we're trying to do what's right, when hard or bad things happen, if we remain faithful, they will work out for our good. They can become blessings for us. It doesn't make sense on paper maybe, but it works. It just does.

I think a lot of people give up. It's hard work to be faithful. It's hard to "endure" hardships. But taking the easy road isn't the answer. And no matter how much better/easier life may seem, "if our lives are not centered on the Savior and his teachings, no other success can ever be permanently right."

I've always been the type to wait to eat my dessert until after I finish my meal. If I have the choice, I'd like to hear the bad news before the good news. When I was little, I'd do my chores first thing in the morning so I could play the rest of the day. To me, it makes sense to endure the less pleasant stuff first, to get it out of the way, in order to benefit from the great blessings that will last for much longer. When I face hard times, I remind myself that this life is so short and eternity is so long. I'd rather go through challenges and struggle a little now, than to take the easy road during this short time period and have to endure the consequences for eternity.
Basically, it's better to do the tough stuff for a short time and have the good stuff for the rest of forever, than the other way around. Call me crazy, but that just makes sense to me.

Called to serve!

Tonight we got an exciting phone call from my family. My little brother, Andrew had submitted his papers to serve a two year mission for our church and was anxiously watching the mail all week to receive his call. It finally came and tonight our family gathered for him to open it. They called those of us who live out of town so we were all on speaker and "together" for the big reveal.
*Drum roll, please*

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Elder Andrew James Robarts has been called to serve a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the

CANADA WINNIPEG MISSION!!!

The Canada Winnipeg mission covers the Saskatchewan and Manitoba provinces. He is to report to the MTC on Wednesday, April 22. So it looks like we'll be making a trip down to Cali for a farewell sometime mid-April. :)

Yay!!! We are so excited for Andrew! It's going to be nice and COLD, but it will be a fantastic experience!

Fun with Letters

Rori has been recognizing letters for awhile now. She can point out "O", "H", "E", and "B" consistently. Ryan bought her some flash cards yesterday and she's been having fun playing with them, looking at the pics and saying the letters. We've had fun playing with them with her. Cadi's been using the cards to spell words or names.
Today we had some bread with our dinner and Cadi ate hers in a way that made it into a shape. First a "P", then a "D", then an "O"... you get the idea.

Lots o' learnin' goin' on. lol

Nothing says "Happy Valentine's Day" like IHOP and a touch of the flu.

The flu is an exaggeration, but still.

Since Ryan and I went out Friday night, we chose to spend last night with the girls. We let Cadi choose where we should go for dinner and she chose IHOP. It was great because that was one place not packed on Valentine's Day; there was no wait, we got right in. lol Even though it was dinnertime, we all ordered breakfasts. (I love their nut and grain pancakes!) And they were all really good. :)

I had been feeling really tired all day and at dinner it totally caught up to me. I didn't feel totally sick, but I didn't feel well. :S When we got home, we played games until it was bedtime. I was still not feeling well, so Ryan ran to the store to get me GingerAle. Sweet boy. :)

Thankfully, we HAD gone out Friday night because if I had been sick on our Valentine's date, that would have really put a damper on the night! lol I still feel bad that I wasn't enjoying last night as much as I would have liked to, but my family's awesome and they took care of me. And today I'm feeling much better. :)