Hi my name is kem kem and I am an addict.

Its true... she is addicted to her plug and blanket.

It is her source of comfort and rest. She won't sleep without them and when in distress, she calls out to them in a drawn out desperate sounding cry, nay plea, for her things... "plu..." and "ble..."

She often will sign for them, tapping her flat hand on her lips and pretending to pull the covers up to her chin. It is unmistakable what she is asking for. 

Once she has them in her grasp she immediately shoves the plug in her mouth and puts the blanket to her nose. If you are privileged, while cuddling with her, she will rub said blanket on your cheek to show you how soft it is, almost to say "see, you would want it too if it was yours."

she is cute... and unfortunately, she knows it...

Things that make me squeal and stomp my feet really fast.

Yes, I admit that when I get excited, I do a little happy dance. My heart flutters to my throat, I squeal a little and I stomp my feet really fast. Then I compose myself so no one suspects a thing.

I can't be 100% sure, but I think NO ONE (not even my husband) has ever seen this happen. But it does... on a regular basis. 

What makes this happen?

• Thinking about the possibility of one day in the far distant future going to disney land or on another cruise.
• Moving to our new house in one week. (more on that one later)
• Realizing a date night will begin in mere hours.
• extra vitamin D 
• clean linens on my bed
• a sneak peek of spring in february
• receiving an expected parcel in the mail
• a good hair day
• booking a photo shoot
• seeing a good number on the scale
• anticipation of tasty food
• accompishing a long time goal (ex. finishing my website)
• my husband coming home after work
• a clean house
• really really loud rain

I am positive there are more, but I just needed a little happy list to hold me over for the week.

Life can be is good... I am trying hard to see that more often. 

If your happy and you know it...

Editors Note: I promised myself today that if I cleaned the kitchen that I could blog after the kids go to bed. And now here I am, 5 hours later in a mopey, sad mood. I always blog about how hard life is... I am beginning to think it is because the only time I have to blog is when I am in a bad mood. I promise there are good things about my life.. Really really good things. I just forget about all of that when it is hard. 

So, although I am in a bad mood and my husband thinks I am "PMSing" (I am most certainly, probably not) I will write something good. This way I don't disappoint the me from 5 hours ago who furiously scoured the dishes and swept the floor.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Valentines day 2012

My husband said something to me the other day that is probably the sweetest thing he has EVER said to me. It made my heart melt and I kissed him good. I don't want to forget it, hence I will blog about it. 

I asked him what he loves about me. (a question that is often posed) He thought about it for a second and responded "when I am away from you I miss you." (the answer that is often given.)

He then said something really sweet, and only overworked, stressed out "PMSing" housewives will understand the sweetness of... 

"I love coming home and seeing all the things you have done while I was gone."

(be patient its not over.) 

I then laughed quite sarcastically and said "even though the house is RARELY clean."

And here is the really good part... 

He responded, very sincerely, "yeah, even if the house is not clean, you have always done something... like made something crafty."

STOP... yes you heard it... my husband is AWESOME. 

I then kissed him. 

Best response he has ever given to the question "what do you love about me?" 

Good behavior date.

K man has had a little trouble with time outs at school so all week we have been promising him a date if he is good. He was able to cash in his good behavior today for a date with mom and dad while baby sister took a nap. We went to red robin and saw the Muppets new movie. I cannot believe how much he is growing and talking and playing and thinking. i love this kid.

Best two dollars ever spent.

$2 and worth every penny. If you ever get the chance to buy some water beads like they use in vases at weddings, buy them. They provide hours of entertainment for everyone. My children were distracted and i could have completed any number of tasks but instead i found myself sitting on the kitchen floor playing with water beads. It was fun. A work to clean up but also worth it.

I grabbed a few extra bags from the self bagging station at the grocery store today. (We use them for our recycle bin.) The Cashier lady RAN after me yelling "MAM!" and when she caught up to me, proceeded to tell me that I had to pay for those.

First of all... Really?

Secondly... how embarrassing.

This singular event sent me into a downward spiral of self pitty and rejection. Suddenly my entire day has been filled with guilt...

Who have I offended this past week?
Why did I eat so much during the super-bowl?
My house is a disaster.
I spend too much time on facebook.
I yell too much at my kids.
Money!
I am not as good as so and so.
My to do list is overwhelming.
Why can't I be better?
I talk to much about myself.
me... me.... me....
why? why? why?

Why do I do this? Why am I so hard on myself? Why do I feel this need to be accepted and good? Why can't I laugh at myself, learn from my mistakes and move on?

I am so jealous of people who don't care what other people think, who can roll with the punches and who are easy-going, happy-go-lucky people. Why can't I be more like that?

Obviously there are deeper seeded problems here than the grocery store clerk chasing me down for stealing brown paper bags, but really! Why do I get so bent out of shape for such little things?

baby pepper

My red pepper had a baby inside of it. Jared thinks its a tumor. Either way i feel a little guilty eating the poor thing, but we did anyway.

did you say break dance or rain dance?

Our valley has been flooding. Luckily we have not seen the effects of that, just lots of really good puddles.

K man used to love the puddles, but he is now hesitant to get his pants wet.

Kem on the other hand had a ball. She walked all over the place saying "pubble" very excitedly and would jump in any amount of water she saw.

Then we hit the jackpot...

Finally convinced k man to live a little...

Then we went inside for hot chocolate and some much needed TLC.

check up...

Like I said when I set my goals. Some will never be touched, but if I set 50 goals, maybe one will get accomplished. 

I just wanted to do a little check in to see how I am doing and if nothing else, remind myself what I set out to accomplish...

1. Read the scriptures everyday - Check. 

2. Say Personal Prayers everyday - not quite as big of a check, but doing really good.

3. Have family scripture and prayer EVERY night - this one is easy because it is part of our bedtime routine but still want to make sure to do it. 

4. Family Home Evening every monday - 2 out of 4. Not bad. 

5. Loose 30 lbs. and all that this entails - HAHA.. I mean working on it. 

6. Work out 30 min 3 X a week. - ummm not quite, I think I may have worked out 3 times since the beginning, but you must know that is pretty good. 

7. Save LOTS of money - working on it, but not seeing too much progress. 

8. Average one to two photo shoots each week - not starting this one till later in the year... it is cold outside. 

9. pay a full tithe - just keep trucking a long.

10. be a better more compassionate, loving, playful mother. - working on it... nothing to exciting to report. Just trying everyday.

11. be a better, more compassionate, loving playful wife. - same story as above.

12. be a better, cleaner, neater, more determined house wife - we are moving in 20 days... that makes this one very difficult. But still trying and doing ok. 

13. get more willpower - this may take more than one year. HAHA. 

14. memorize all 13 articles of faith - k man and I were working on number 4 just yesterday.

15. potty train kem - she sits on it for longer than two seconds. I think that is an improvement.

16. get Jared a career - working on it.

17. work on personal progress - not really. maybe I should focus on this one. 

18. find my personal progress book - check

19. finish website - check... and SOOOO PROUD for finishing it. YES!!!!

20. finish business cards _ at the printer as we speak. Check. 

21. finish CD packaging. (labels, package, how to print cards, about your CD cards) - working working working. 

22. NO EATING OUT spontaneously. (this is our family resolution) CHECK!!!

23. start and finish mending pile. HAHA. 

24. finish photographing dad's slides not yet. will come soon enough.

25. use Facebook less - actually check. I am surprised that I have been pretty good at this one. 

26. blog once each week - ummm no.

27. Go to bed at 10 and read with hubby read with hubby check... bed at 10 not so much. 

28. get up early and work out... then read scriptures - NOPE!!! Big fat FAIL!

29. get k man to stop sucking his thumb - he is doing ok... but he stil does it when he is tired or in bed.

30. get in the habit of flossing my teeth every day - not every day, but I have flossed more lately than ever.

31. take vitamins everyday - working on it... it is hard to remember.

32. consciously drink more water everyday - not so good.

33. buy and eat more whole foods - doing pretty good. I am trying really really hard.

34. eat smaller portions - trying. 

35. photograph 8 weddings - have a consultation next tuesday for #1. So excited.

36. finish editing karly's pictures. - :( need to do this.

37. advertise for senior portraits - thinking of ideas. Need to work on this.

38. sign Kroten up for baseball - hmm... was just thinking about this the other day. Need to do it.

39. yell less - doing ok on this one. I think. 

40. stop leaving clothes on the floor - doing better. still needs work. 

41. finish all started projects - nope.

42. Do visit teaching - nope.

43. read the ensign each month - our subscription ran out so nope.

44. run a 5k - haha. 

45. Load dishes in dish washer when done eating - working on it... we will get there. 

46. stop biting my nails - ongoing project, but doing ok. 

47. live on our budget - ugh this one gives me heart burn. We can do it. 

48. take more pictures of my own children - trying.

49. plan and carry out a menu each week - failed this last week but did pretty good the other weeks. 

50. love myself more for who I am NOW!! - a work in progress for sure.

Actually I am feeling pretty good about all that I have accomplished already. I got my website done, and my business cards should come in the mail soon and we have not eaten out AT ALL so far. Feeling pretty good. 

One month down... 11 to go.