SUMMER!

Scripture time!  Hudson isn't concentrating very well... :)

Hudson loves the bath...he also loves to put anything he can in his mouth...

Including the drain for the tub.  To bad he hit the water first and didn't know what to do!  The poor kid was so surprised as to what in the world that water was!

Hudson fell asleep on the way home from our walk....so cute!

   Wahooo am I glad that it is finally summer time!  Rexburg has actually had a great winter, so the warm weather came much faster than it usually does.  Hudson just loves that it is warmer because that means that he gets to be outside!!  He loves it.  We go on walks all the time (sometimes multiple times a day) and we just started going on bike rides with him...HE LOVES IT!  It is so fun to see him so happy.  He is starting to giggle at lots of things, instead of just when you tickle him, which is so great.  He also is so close to crawling, he has taken a few wobbly crawls, but he doesn't do it regularly yet.  Though he did master a new trick last week, he can now push himself off of his belly and sit up, ALL BY HIMSELF!  My little man just got a top tooth last week as well.  He is working on the other front, top tooth, and it is a pretty miserable deal for all of us.  I hate seeing him in pain.  He also has allergies like crazy!  Joe has bad allergies, so I really shouldn't be surprised that Hudson does as well.  I just have never had to deal with them, so it is hard to see my baby with them.  His poor little nose just runs all the time, and his little cough is so cute, sad, but cute!
     Life is just wonderful for our little family.  Joe and I are still working hard at building our business with Melaleuca, and we are seeing some great results!  We are gearing up to move to St. Louis as well.  I am actually really excited.  I called my Aunt Colleen to see if we can stop in Loveland and visit for a bit on our epic drive across the country.  I haven't been to Loveland since I was about 12 years old, and I have always missed it, so I am excited to get to go and visit!  We are also super excited to be near Joe's family and all of those other fun things!  I am also WAY WAY excited to finally be able to start my own studio out there!  I am taking a vocal pedagogy class and the things I am learning about the human voice are amazing and I feel a lot more confident teaching voice lessons.
   School is going well for both of us.  BYU-I just released a new "flexibility" for the bachelors degree, so I am hoping that through one of those programs I can be graduate a lot sooner than I thought!  It seems like the elusiveness of graduation keeps moving farther and farther away.  Please keep me in your prayers that the flexibility program works out for me so that I can graduate soon!
    Well, I actually updated the blog within a good amount of time so I don't have a ginormous post like I normally do!  I'm sure everybody who is reading this is like "THANK GOODNESS!"
    As a parting thought though...  I shared this in testimony meeting today, so for any of you in my ward...sorry you have to hear this again.
      I have the great opportunity to be in Women's Choir this semester, and on Friday we had a concert.  We had a song that speaks about the Master's touch, and how he chisels us and shapes us into who he wants us to be, and who we need to be.  I hadn't really thought about the message of this song, and as I was singing on Friday night the message hit me.  I started to plead as I sang for the Master to touch me.  I feel like I have been in such a rut lately, and I do need the Masters touch in my life.  I sang with all of my heart as I begged my Father in Heaven to touch me, to sculpt me, and to polish me. There is a specific part of the song that cries "spare not the stroke" and as I sang that I really understood the message.  Trials are hard, bad things come, but they are what shape us.  To spare not the stroke is hard.  It means that Heavenly Father will let bad things happen to us...and that is good.  Because it allows us to become who we need to be.  I sang that with my heart open, and tears on my face (small ones, so nobody would see me cry onstage) to spare not the stroke, so that I may be polished.  I needed to be going through the rough patch that I have been in so that I can be shaped.  So that I could have the reminder to return to God and to obey the good of his gospel.  Joy comes from obeying the good, and from the knowledge that He is true.  I needed that concert Friday night, even though I was not excited about going.  I needed it so that I could remember who I was.   I know, without at doubt, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only true Gospel, and the only true way to eternal happiness.  My life has been blessed by my Master's touch and I ask to let his music live in me, that I may sing of his goodness.

Long Overdue!

Well here it is...finally...another blog update!  Wahoo!  Sorry it has been so long, the Winter semester was pretty rough on me and it took a little while for me to get back on track with things!
Life is wonderful and we just couldn't happen.  Hudson is growing so big!  I can't even believe that my little man is almost 8 months!  He is working hard at learning how to crawl.  He gets pushes his little bum up in the air, but then just gets stuck!  It is so cute to watch!  We had a rough time two weeks ago with a bronchial infection, but Hudson is doing much better now!
     So much has happened since my last post but I will try to touch on the highlights!  Last semester ended in the beginning of April, I got all A's in my classes!  Wahoo!  I was really proud of myself for achieving that because being in school and being a mom was a lot harder than I ever thought it would be! I took some very interesting classes and I LOVED going to class each day.
    The next big news is that Joe and I partnered up with Melaleuca to become marketing executives!  Joe had been looking into it for about a year and a half, and at the end of March he came and asked me if I would be willing to start the business.  I told him we could try it, and it really took off after that!  In April there was a special incentive that if you could become a 'Director' by the end of the month you would make $1,000!  Joe and I worked hard through the month of April and we became Directors!  Wahoo!  That was when we started really looking at this as something bigger than just "lets try it out." We are really excited to see where this can lead us in our lives!
   The next great news is that Joe's big sister Katie got married!  We got to go down to Logan for the wedding, and it was absolutely beautiful!  Katie's new husband, Jason, is a really great guy and I cannot wait to get to know him some more!  I loved getting to spend the weekend with Joe's family and I was once again reminded as to how blessed I am to have married into such a wonderful family!  I love Joe's parents and all of his sister's so much, and I am so grateful for how well that have accepted me into their family!  It was so beautiful to watch another couple get sealed in the Temple.  I haven't been to a Sealing since my bestie, Amber, got married.  I feel very blessed to have been in the room and be a part of such a beautiful thing.  It was really great for me to remember the feelings I felt on the day I was married and to really feel the blessing of eternal families.  I know that my own family is an eternal family and I am so happy that I get to be with Joe and Hudson for eternity!  I don't know how I could survive without my husband and my sweet baby!
    Alright....here it is...the big, big news...WE ARE MOVING TO ST. LOUIS!  Wahoo!  We will be moving at the end of this semester and I am just so excited!  Like I said earlier, Melaleuca is looking to be a great opportunity for us, and so Joe wants to go home to give it a try.  Don't worry, we will still be finishing school!  I will finish up online and hopefully be done by the end of next summer (2013) and Joe will be going to a Radiology school in St. Louis.  His sister Katie actually went to the same school to get a degree to be an ultrasound tech.  We are so excited to be going somewhere new, and I cannot wait to be in the big city!  I am terrified because I am such a small town girl, but it is exciting to live somewhere that has more people than the entire state of Idaho!  I really am going to miss the ward that we are in right now.  This is by far the best ward that Joe and I have been in together, and it will be sad to say goodbye to so many friends.  I am heartbroken that I won't get to be near my family for the next few years, but also very excited to live near Joe's family.  Joe's parents and two of his sisters live in St. Louis so it will be fun being near so much family!   This is such an exciting new change and I cannot wait to be there!
    Anyways...I think this post is long enough, I just get typing and I can't stop!  Life is so wonderful right now and I really cannot believe how many tender mercies Heavenly Father has blessed us with.  I really feel like I have been put through the refiner's fire the last few months, but I know that I have learned so much and I am a much better person because of it.  I see that hand of God every day, in so many ways, especially when I look at my precious little man.  It really helps me to know that if Heavenly Father could create such a beautiful little boy, he must love me so much to trust me with such a precious little Spirit.  I am so grateful for the Gospel and the knowledge that I am a daughter of God, and that I will never be without my Savior,
Jesus Christ to help me.

now...for some pictures!  and cute videos (if they will load...)

Hudson LOVES bathtime in the sink!

I always put Hudson to bed in his own crib at night, but somehow, this is where he ends up in the morning!  I love to cuddle with him though!

Isn't this the cutest little snow outfit?

Hudson really wanted to play in the cooler...

...and the laundry basket!

What a Week!

Like you can tell from my title...WHAT A WEEK!  This week has been such a great week for our family!  Here is the rundown...Last Monday we got...wait for it...A PIANO!!!  Wahoo!  It is absolutely beautiful! It is a White Wurlitzer and it plays so well!  You can definitely tell that it is older, but it just has such a beautiful antique look to it.  I have been playing it nonstop!  I am so excited for this because it was becoming so difficult to bring Hudson on campus with me to practice, especially because it was getting so cold and I hated bringing him out in the cold for the walk from the car to campus.  It is also really great because I can start teaching some piano lessons now!  WAHOO!  On Wednesday we got...A NEW CAR!  This is super exciting because it was getting increasingly difficult to put Hudson into our tiny little 2 door Ford because that little guy is starting to get heavy!  Things fell into place kind of funny but that is ok.  The car we got is a 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe!  It is Silver and just beautiful!  I really like it because it is a total sporty mom car.  It is in pristine condition and it is big enough to last us for a few kids until we will need something bigger.  On Friday Joe and I got to go on a date and we went out to eat at the little BRC's custard place that is just kind of hidden out by the movie theatre.  They have some really yummy food!  The next night (Saturday) we spent the day cleaning and re-organizing Hudson's room and our bedroom.  We were really productive all day long which was just great!  Saturday night we went to the Barbershop Festival on campus.  It was sooo great!  They sang some amazing songs and I was so proud of my friends who were part of the quartets that performed.  Watching the choirs sing really made me miss choir, but I get to do something better than choir, I get to be a mommy!  Here is a link to one of the songs that the featured Barbershop Quartet, Crossroads, sang (this is the international barbershop competition, they won that year, with this song!)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7mGjSZpdpk seriously...watch this, it is beautiful!
How is that for a week huh?  I absolutely just love my life!
    Hudson is starting to teeth a little bit more, I was really hoping he would teeth quickly but I think we are in for the long haul for the next few months.  They started to come up a few weeks ago, but then they went back down, and now they are coming up again!  AH!  He also made a big accomplishment and started Rice Cereal this last week!  Hopefully the computer will let me post the pictures and video because it is too cute!  He is starting to get the hang of it now, and he isn't getting nearly as messy.  We learned the hard way yesterday that it is a bad idea to skip the bedtime routine the night before, because he was a total fusspot yesterday!  I can't believe how big he is getting and so fast!  And the poor baby is getting his 4 month shots today, I feel so bad for him, last time I had to help hold him down and it was pretty rough.  He fell asleep before we even left the office though and slept for a few hours and then was fine, so hopefully we have a similar experience that is good for him!
    I have just discovered the addictiveness of pinterest.  It is pretty legit, we have already tried multiple recipes that I have found on pinterest and so I think Joe is ok with my new internet friend!  Seriously though, check out the spinach and sausage stuffed shells that are pinned on my food board...SO DELICIOUS!  I have found a lot of crafts and new projects to try.  So maybe one day when I get some extra time (and money) I will go for it!  School is going good, I am all keeping all A's in my classes, and I am all caught up for this week, except for one test that I need to take!  I hope to use the next few days to get ahead for next week as well!
   Hope life is going as splendid for you as it is for me!  Love ya!
   

Happy New Year!

Okay, okay so this is a little bit late for "Happy New Years," but it is January so that counts right?  Joe is out home teaching right now, and Hudson is watching The Sound of Music (my child has class!) so I decided that now would be a good time to update the blog!
     Life here is going so well!  I have started school again which is wonderful but very difficult at the same time!  I absolutely love my classes they are all classes that I have a lot of interest in.  The classes I'm taking are 20th Century Music Literature, Art and Propeganda in the 20th Century, Child Development, Voice Lessons, and Piano Lessons.  As you can see I am getting a lot of 20th Century stuff this semester!  Really it's all 20th Century because child development is something that is pretty new to history!  I love it!  20th century art and music is the most colorful stuff out there!  I am learning so much in my classes and even though the work is difficult I just love it!  It is really hard though because going to school with a baby is just tricky!  We finally got him to start taking a bottle just this last week, it's only happened twice so I'm don't have my hopes up a lot!  Most days I feed him and put him down for a nap right before I leave for class and then he is just getting hungry again right before I get home, so the poor little guy doesn't have to wait for too long before he gets to eat again.  I try to get homework done while he is napping in the afternoon, and then be a mommy to him when he is awake.  Practicing for my lessons is the hardest part because it takes a lot of motivation to convince myself to load the baby up to come back to campus to practice.  And then I spend about two hours on campus and only get about 45 minutes of practicing done simply because Hudson gets cranky after a bit so I spend a lot of time practicing one handed because I'm holding him with my other hand!  It would be much easier if I had my own piano, but those things are expensive!!!!  I'm really excited for my lessons this semester though.  Brother Peck, my voice teacher, is going to let me sing O Divine Redeemer!   I have been begging to sing this song for semesters and he is finally going to let me do it!!!  HOORAY!  He is also going to let me start singing some musical theater which is very exciting!
    Joe got promoted to manager at work!  HOORAY!  HOORAY!  HOORAY!!!!  I'm so excited for him, he has worked really hard at this job and it has paid off!  This is really such a big blessing for our family because he received a pay raise and he is working more hours due to his promotion.  Joe really is such a wonderful husband.  I love him so much.  He is so good with Hudson and so helpful with him.  I am so proud of the wonderful man that I married!  I am so blessed!
    And now for Hudson...he is just GROWING!  My little man is getting so big!  He now weight 14 lbs 5 oz. He is working hard on sitting up and rolling over.  If I sit him in my lap sitting up he can balance for a little bit and then he falls over.  He is talking (babbling) all the time now...I will sit him in the corner of the couch or in his bumbo seat (THANK YOU MARI,) and have him sit next to me while I'm doing homework.  He also likes to play "spider" a lot where we wiggle our fingers over his head and then get closer and tickle him!  He loves is and has even giggled for us a few times!  We are getting ready to start feeding him some rice cereal soon!  I can't believe my little baby is almost ready for food!  He was sleeping so well at night, but the last week or so he has been waking up almost every two hours to eat!  He hasn't done that since he was like 7 weeks, and it is quite exhausting!  So I think that he hasn't been getting a full enough belly at bedtime, so we are gonna try the food!   He is really just so big and precious and I still, after four months, can't believe that I get to be this precious little baby's mommy!