"I'm six!"

Rori had her 6th birthday one month ago and still, every time she sees anyone, even if she's already seen them since her birthday and told them, the first thing she says is, "I'm six!"

This is apparently VERY exciting news!

We had fun celebrating her birthday with her.  She wanted a My Little Pony party...

She had a lot of fun with her friends!

Have a great year, Rori!

Canada Bound

Acadia is taking her first-ever road trip without a "parent-like adult".  She and my cousin are driving up to Canada, even as we speak!  They are huge fans of the ABC show, Once Upon a Time and found out that the show is filmed near Vancouver, BC.  Since that is only a 5-6 hour drive from here, they quickly devised a plan to go see some filming and hopefully meet some of their favorite actors.

To prepare, they got together a week ago and had a Once Upon a Time marathon.  They watched all 22 (hour long) episodes in 26 hours!  They also made a sign...

... and a t-shirt (I don't have a photo of it though).

They are both very excited!  And I am excited for them!  I hope they have a super fun time and get to meet the actors!  I especially hope they have a safe trip and return home in one piece!

More Change

Recently, I was asked to switch roles at church.  I had been teaching the adult Sunday School class, and was really enjoying it.  I loved studying for the lessons and being the Gospel Doctrine teacher had quickly become my favorite calling at church!  I knew that since I was enjoying it so much, it was bound to end soon.  But I was really hoping that end wouldn't come until the end of the year.

Well, no such luck.  And at first, I was a little sad.  But then I found out where I'd be serving instead and I got very excited.  I've been called back into the Young Women organization, working with the 12-18 year old girls.  I'm now the YW secretary, which, in my opinion, is the best YW calling!  I get to work with all of the girls, no matter which class they are in.  And I get to be involved without having to do much of the planning or preparations.  I just have to try to keep everyone organized, but I've done it before and I'm pretty sure I can do it again. :)

I'm especially excited to serve in the YW at this time, because now my daughter is one of the young women!  I know it will be a special time, being able to share these experiences with her.

Hopefully, she feels the same. ;)

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." ~ Walt Disney

It's no secret that our family has always loved Disney.  Both of our girls have Disney names (Acadia's middle name is Belle, named after Beauty and the Beast.  And though Rori is named Aurora for her great-great-grandmother, we loved that it is also the name of Sleeping Beauty.) and both have lived up to those names as little princesses.  Cadi has outgrown the princess stage, of course, but shares many of Belle's traits: her love of reading, courage, and loyalty.  Right now, Rori IS very much a princess. ;)

In the past, we've had our love of Disney in the background and only enjoyed it's full emergence as we planned for an upcoming Disney vacation.  Then, once the trip passed, it quietly slipped back into the background as normal everyday life went on.

But last year, that changed.  Once again, Disney was in our home full-force as we planned another dream Disney vacation.  But this time, with the school year following immediately after, and the thoughts of "how will I spend my time while the girls are both in school" playing in my head, a ball was set into motion.

I love planning Disney trips.  No, let me rephrase that... I LOVE planning Disney trips!!!  Every time I have planned one for our family, I have felt like the trip began months before we went.  It was fun and exciting!  It extended the experience of being there because in my head I was there everyday, for months prior, as I planned and researched it.  As I talked with friends about our upcoming trips, they would say things like, "When we go to Disney, I am talking to YOU!"  And I would say, "I would LOVE to help you plan your trip!  Just promise to tell me all about it when you're back!"  Occasionally someone would say, "You should do this for a living."  And I would think, "If only I were so lucky!  But I'm sure I'd have to live in Orlando to get a job like that..."  Now I laugh at how naive I was.

Finally, one day, shortly before our vacation last year, a friend told me that a mutual acquaintance of ours is a Disney Vacation Planner and that I should talk to her about it.  WHAT?!?!  A Disney Vacation Planner here, in the Pacific Northwest?  Is that possible???  Well, yes, it is!  And why shouldn't it be?  With internet access and phone lines, you can do anything from home that you can do in an office, so why not live more than 3,000 miles away from the destination in question!

To make a long story not quite as long, I talked to this mutual acquaintance and she was so very helpful!  Our family went on our wonderful Disney vacation and came home to the rush of a new school year.  And as soon as the dust settled, I started making contacts.  It took a couple of months, but eventually, I was officially an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner myself!  I had completed the Disney College of Knowledge and signed on as an affiliate for an Earmarked travel agency that Disney works with, and now I work part time as a Disney Vacation Planner, from my home!

The best part is that I love it!  I love it so much!  I get to help people plan their dream vacations and since I love the planning almost as much as the actual trip, it's almost like being there every time!  Right now I'm very part time.  I don't receive leads from the agency I'm with, so the only clients I have are people I know or people that have been referred to me by people I know.  And for now, that is okay!  I would like this to grow, and that is my long term goal, but it is something I truly am doing just for fun right now.  :)

I recently started a FaceBook page for my business, so please make sure to visit it!  By liking it and sharing it with friends, you'll be helping my dream grow.  And if you are ever interested in planning a Disney trip (I can help with ALL Disney destinations.), I hope you will let me help you!  It is a FREE service for you!  (My commissions are paid by Disney, not the client.)  Referrals are awesome as well, so please feel free to pass along my information to anyone interested in Disney travel.

Along with this new part of my life, comes new opportunities.  Because of my new goals and the advantages I have, I am planning even more trips for myself and my family.  I realize that I am so very fortunate!  I am blessed that my husband has a job that provides for our family so I can stay home and choose to do a "fun" job instead of having to go out of the home to get a steady, less-fun job.  I am so grateful for the hard work he does and the support and encouragement he gives me!    

Two more quotes from Walt Disney:

"If you can dream it, you can to it."

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."

"The hair is the richest ornament of women." ~ Martin Luther

When Acadia was little, I tried to play with her hair but she was just not interested.  Add to that, the fact that I didn't really know how to "do" hair anyway, and it's easy to see why I just didn't get into it much until recently.

For the last couple of years, I have been braiding Rori's hair.  Her hair is long and thick and beautiful... and gets tangled very easily!  So, braiding it, or putting it up into pony tails at least, helped keep it out of her way and tangle-free.  As her first year of school came upon us, I also happened to learn about a few hair blogs*, YouTube channels*, and FaceBook pages* that all shared tons of ideas on cute, fun, and often easy ways to do little girls' hair.  We tried a few... and were hooked!  Well, I was hooked... she was tolerant. ;)

I didn't think much of it, just had fun doing her hair every morning and sending her on her way.  Sometimes I would hear the kids at the bus stop say, "Woah, Rori, your hair is cool!"... and I have to admit, that felt kinda awesome. :)

After some time, however, I started hearing comments from adults.  Teachers, friends' moms, people at church, etc. who all exclaimed how much they love seeing Rori's hair whenever they see her.  To the point that sometimes teachers would seek her out to see what her hairdo was like that day!  I had no idea it was getting that much attention!  I was not just being introduced as Rori's mom, but as Rori's mom-who-does-her-hair-every-day-in-the-most-incredible-ways!  And even though it was a little embarrassing at first to realize how much people were noticing, that still felt pretty awesome, too. ;)

Now, we do not do an elaborate hairstyle every single day.  But we do try new hairstyles frequently and often do fancy styles for holidays and special events.  I've shared several photos here and will probably share many more.

I don't spend nearly as much time on this as I do on Family History or Disney, but it has (unintentionally) become something that does now define me, to many people.  And I don't mind, because I do enjoy it so much!  I don't claim to be very original, we copy almost all of the styles we do, and I doubt I'll ever become one of the bloggers, YouTubers, or FaceBookers giving tutorials or anything like that.  But I do like sharing the photos, knowing that lots of people are enjoying them.  :)

*These are some of my favorites. :)

"I am yours and you are mine now, through all eternity!"*

For a long time, I've wanted to get involved with my family history.  But I always seemed to have other responsibilities that were a higher priority to me at the time.  I recognized that it wasn't the right time for me yet, but that as soon as I saw the "right time" come along, I should not hesitate.  So with my youngest beginning school, that was one of the first things I focused on.

But how to begin?  I knew little about doing family history work.  I enlisted the help of my good friend who eat, breathes, and sleeps genealogy, and she was eager to help me get started.  For many weeks, she came to my home each Monday morning and guided me as I began my journey.  I am so grateful for her help and patience!  

A few months later (by this time, we were not meeting weekly anymore, as she had gotten me started and I was doing okay on my own), the youth at church had an activity where parents were invited.  At this activity, the youth (and parents) were taught how to use the new.familysearch.org site to find individuals on their family tree who were ready to have ordinances performed for them in the temple.  With a simple click, Acadia was able to reserve names to take with her during their next temple trip.  I was impressed!  Though I had been searching for family members with my friend, I hadn't gotten to the point of taking them to the temple.  This took my interest and joy of family history to a completely new level!

The following week, Ryan and I both attended with Acadia as she performed baptisms for our ancestors.  It was amazing!  Immediately, Acadia turned those names over to us, it was now our turn to continue the work.  It was exciting and almost intoxicating!  I loved being a part of it!  And I was hooked.  A hopeless addict.  :)

I spend, on average, one or two days a week working on our family history.  I love to find stories about my ancestors and share them with my family members.  I have continued to send Cadi to the temple with family names, as recently as last night!  And I have shared names with my siblings so they can help in the work - and the joy. :)  

Working on my family history has also increased my temple attendance.  I am eager to get this work done.  I look for reasons to go, always searching my calendar for another day I can squeeze a trip in.  I love it!  

It is not always easy.  I am stuck on a few names, information has been lost that I cannot seem to find... yet.  I keep looking and I won't stop.  I am learning more about who I am as I learn more about my ancestors.  I have so much more work to do, I don't know if it ever truly ends.  But I am enjoying it so much, I can't hardly call it work.  It is a joy and one of my favorite hobbies now, definitely a big part of who I am today.

*Words taken from the children's song, Family History - I am Doing It.  The words and music to this song can be found here.

Allow me to Reintroduce myself...

I think it is interesting that sometimes we go months, or even years, without feeling like anything changes.  Maybe we're stuck in a rut, or maybe our responsibilities just don't change and so neither do we, or maybe we just don't try new things.  And then there are times when we look around and realize that almost everything has changed.  Lately, I've felt more like the latter.

There are certain things that will never change for me.  My top priorities of faith and family, for sure.  That will never change, though they tend to grow stronger and deeper as I continue to work, serve, love, and live.  I believe I will always love Lord of the Rings... passionately.  And I also believe I will always love the Patriots... also, passionately. lol  But some of the things I do/think about in my free time (The fact that I even get free time now, is a huge change! lol), have changed a lot!

A few years ago, I was known for my stamping.  Loved it!  Did it daily.  I haven't touched a rubber stamp in years.  I also used to scrapbook.  I still do, but now it is digitally, and typically only for vacations and special events, not every photo, the way I used to.  When I was younger, my whole life seemed to be about whales and dolphins.  I still love them, but I rarely think about them throughout my day.  More recently, I loved candles.  Again, I still like candles, but I don't burn them much anymore, and when I do, it is usually a jar candle, not decorative ones.  At one time, those things were part of what defined me.  I don't think any of them are anymore.

Nowadays, aside from faith and family, my thoughts and time are usually spend on one of three things...

1. Family History
2. Rori's Hair
3. Disney

(And not necessarily in that order! lol)

I've posted about these things before, but not nearly as much as I've thought about them. lol  I think that I hesitated in posting much about them because they were not how I used to be defined.  But in the last year, these three things have quickly become things that do define me now.  I think a lot of that is because both of my girls are in school now and I do get a lot more time to spend on things that interest me; my job of being a stay-at-home mom is not as busy as it was when I actually had a young child "stay at home" during the day.  As Rori's first school year approached, I did put a lot of thought on how I would spend that time; I didn't want to be idle, I didn't want to spend it on things that don't matter.  I considered a few things, but these are the ones that stuck and have seemed to have taken off, as if they were always meant to be part of who I am.

I don't know if in five years these three things will still be so important in my life.  I hope they are, especially Family History and Disney.  I realize that as Rori grows older, she may become less and less interested in the idea of me playing with her hair every morning. ;)  But for now, they are.  And so...

I want to introduce you to the me I am now by introducing you to these three things in more detail.  This post would be too long if I tried to do it now, so I am planning to follow up this post with posts about each of these topics, explaining why I love it, how I got involved with it, and how it's playing a role in my life now.

Links: Family History, Rori's Hair, Disney