ARROWHEAD LAKE

About a month ago a mom at church approached me about teaching her kids Spanish lessons for an hour twice a week. I've been doing it it for a couple of weeks now and it has been amazing! Danielle, their mom, watches Isabella while I work with the boys. Kaden and Mathias are both quick learners and really good students. I'm not gonna lie, at first I was kind of nervous since I have never taught Spanish before, but I have taken so many language classes that I thought my background would help me. Thank goodness for the internet and all its awesome resources. I have found most of my lesson plans and units there. This has been so fun. To be able to work with the kids and teach them something I know has been extremely good for me. Like today we learned the  body parts and colors and I came up with this really fun game the boys loved. They were laughing the whole time and learned the stuff so well.

Well this means I end up going to Arrowhead lake, their neighborhood three times a week (I am the secretary for Relief Society at church and have my Presidency meetings there too). This area is my favorite in all West Plains. The houses are surrounded by trees and there are a couple lakes right at the edge of the neighborhood. So last week I decided since the weather is nicer that I would start going on runs right after my meetings and lessons. I love were we live but we can't go on runs because we live next to the highway, no side streets. What a life changer it's been. Just today we went on one right after our Spanish lesson. Isabella didn't fall asleep like she usually does, but loved seeing all the "wow wows" (dogs) and the lakes. I didn't look at the clock and just enjoyed the wind and sunshine and the amazing view. My mind was cleared, and I was overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude for the life I get to live, but particularly for being a mother and wife. Although running is hard and exhausting, it keeps me going. Somewhere in between the sweating, the aching and the hard breathing, I begin to let go off all the things that are troubling me and renew my perspective on what I should be doing and who I want to be.

^^

these bright yellow bushes just made me smile. I love Spring!

In the middle of our run today I decided to stop at the edge of the lake since Isabella wasn't asleep. I let her throw rocks, play in the mud and get wet. I sat at the edge near a tree and watched her. Once in a while she would come over and show me some cool rock she found or how far she could throw it.

SUNDAY WALKS

Women's conference was just the spiritual breather I needed. One of the thoughts that stuck with me was how having successful happy families doesn't happen out of nowhere. It takes time, commitment and effort. I pondered this as I analyzed my life and noticed all the improvements I could make. Such little decisions like  dates, getting up and getting out, talking to each other and making an effort to listen, putting on some makeup and doing my hair once in a while, letting Isabella throw the pasta around instead of getting mad at her for messing up my clean kitchen, taking a breath before I decide how to respond to Stephen's innocent yet annoying comment, can really change the happiness of everyone in the family. 

Well all this made me think of our Sunday walks. Ever since the weather got nicer we decided go on family walks on Sundays. We talk about our future, all the cute little things Isabella is doing and any other random thoughts we have. It is one of the few times I get to really talk to Stephen. No phones, no distractions, just the three of us. Meanwhile Isabella explores, talks nonstop about who knows what and runs around chasing dogs and rocks. It's nothing huge but it makes all the difference. 

SMALL MOMENTS

Today was one of those mornings were a lot of crying/whining=a lot of curious george. But then I decided enough of this! Isabella put your shoes on we are going on a walk. She ran to get her Wow Wow and the three of us trekked out the backdoor into our never ending backyard. Our backyard has a little wooden fence that really serves no purpose since it ends half way so we really can walk forever on our landlords land. He owns about three acres and said we were welcome to walk on it anytime. We were pleasantly surprised to walk out and find 80 degree weather.
So here we went the three of us. I gave Old MacDonald a horrible rendition as Isabella made mooo and woof woof sounds. We walked without any notion of time or destination. Walking through fields of grass and long weeds reminded me so much of my childhood. We used to hop private fences like it was nothing and just explore people's properties. I remember sitting on dried cow poop piles thinking they were rocks like it was yesterday. I loved seeing hints of spring everywhere. A brighter green here and there, little purple flowers starting to sprout.
Towards the end of our walk we discovered a little pond and decided to make that our spot. Isabella mastered the art of throwing rocks and I just sat there soaking in the moment. We walked back home flushed, rosy cheeked and refreshed. This little walk shifted our whole day and gave us that breather we both needed.  It truly is by small and simple things isn't it?

END OF WINTER

And just like that the snow is gone! Our snowman "finally got to do what frozen things do in summer"....HAHA! Isabella woke up so excited to go see him and was so confused/upset that her friend was gone.  So sad/hilarious.

SNOW DAYS

I cannot get over Isabella's face in this picture. I'm not sure what kind of smile she was going for but I love it!

Man has it been snowing here. We had the biggest blizzard I have ever seen on Wednesday. I am not the biggest fan of snow but I have decided I will not let it kill my mood. So we have played in that snow in all the ways I could come up with. Hence the hipster snowman, the homemade sled and family snow fight. Miss Bella was very hesitant at first but after a couple tries,  she was convinced to love snow by her dad's irresistible charm. No one can be sad or depressed when Stephen gets on his "let's do this!" mood. Snow it's been fun but I cannot say I'll miss you.

Side note: Anyone else excited for March Madness??!! I won the bracket for the Wells family last year, and man were all those Wells boys mad. Stephen created a monster when he got me into sports. I need to have a the ultimate bracket this year. Warren Buffet gives a billion dollars to whoever has a perfect bracket. What if it's me?! That would be insane.

The Weekend

The weekend was full of snow, family time, and more snow. Of course scout camp was on the weekend we were hit with the biggest snow storm of the season. Did I mention Stephen is a Scout Master? It's the sweetest calling ever. Even though it was freezing the kids loved it and Stephen came back smelling like campfire, smoke and manliness. It was on of those chill, stay in your pjs and watch movies at home kind of weekend. Just what we needed.

 Sledding time. This snow suit used to be Stephen's, isn't that crazy! Isabella calls snow

"nene" which is her version of nieve (snow in Spanish)  

 Someone still thinks she is a baby. I can't even believe she fits in this tiny crib. 

Stephen works with the best ladies. One of them bought this huge dog for Isabella because

she knows Isabella loves dogs. How sweet is that? Isabella drags him around EVERYWHERE

We are hoping to have a little bro/sis soon so I am training Isabella to put on diapers. 

Wiping lessons next week;)

  Of course she had to put one on the dog too. Which isn't that bad of an idea. Dog diapers?? I would definitely buy them!