Our New Church

Our new ward is very inviting and welcoming! They know us and we can't wait til we know them! Our new building is very close to home in old school Gilbert. It has a lot of character. Our ward is pretty diverse. Something we are not used to is there is only one nursery.

Rockin' The Mohawk!

I've been wanting to give Marce a Mohawk for a couple months now but I didn't know how to do it so when Erin posted about Rylee's cut at a very kid friendly place, I decided to take Marcelus. I took a few pictures. Marce got to ride in the firetruck and he picked out Thomas to watch. I watched the girl do the Mohawk so I would know how from now on.....Duh. It was super easy and if I'd of just thought about it for more than a minute, I'd have figured it out! Anyway, I asked her if a lot of kids come in to get Mohawks. She said all the little kids come in to get them for the summer. It turned out super cool and we've gotten a lot of compliments already!




He got a sucker at the end! He loves suckers!

I love this one!

I love this one too!

The Move

Things have gone pretty well with the move. We have been here for a week now and I should be done with unpacking and organizing by the end of the week. My mom is coming into town to pick me up to go back to Logandale with the boys for the Fair and I want my house in order by the time she gets here. We really like our place and LOVE being in town. Gilbert is awesome, right in the middle of everywhere we want to go! Sharrid found a van pool to ride on, and we are loving life as usual. Today for the first time, I went down to our complex gym, which is newly remodeled. I did over 6.5 miles on the bike in 30 minutes. I don't know if that's good but I might be pretty sore tomorrow. Here are some pictures surrounding the move and some things that I've done lately.

Look mom...no eyes! To which I reply "That's easy...I do it everyday!"

Marce got hold of some tools and thought he'd tighten the screws on our old cabinets.

Moving sure did tucker us all out! These are the knives I ended up getting. All the reviews said they're super sharp. They were inexpensive, so I ordered them from Target.com

My sister Connie and I got to go shopping together (always a big treat that never happens!) and we went to Costco. She showed me that they have these buckets of whole wheat. Neither of us have grinders yet but this will last for 30 years. They are $20 a bucket if anyone is interested. She also showed me a big bucket of powdered milk that apparently tastes really good also lasting for 30 years. That was more MOO-la, $70, and it's called Morning Moo's Milk...funny huh?

I bought these tubs to organize my baking goods and to not use the dumb bags anymore, I just cut out the name of what it is off the bags and taped it to the tub, so they are all marked. I love them! I'm also going to do one for brown sugar and salt, possibly powdered sugar but I need to decide what sizes. I made myself a deal that if I sold my washer/dryer, and fridge from my old house for the prices I wanted, that I could buy myself a new Bosch. Of course I knew that I could and so without further ado....meet my new best friend! I told Shar if I get everything I need to done for my trip, I'll make him bread for when I'm gone. Cross your fingers, I still have a lot to do!
And yes...well,...this is a half eaten apple I found while packing up the office. I remember giving it to Marcelus approximately 2-3 days prior. You can imagine how thrilled I was with him... I am proud to say that I gathered our 72 hr. kits before the move and they are ready to go although I would like to add more food to them and some coloring stuff, BUT if we needed them to survive, they are ready with all the gallons of water, the essential food, some rope, a flashlight, a Rook deck, batteries, and a leatherman. They still need some work, like matches, lighters, a whistle, just some more stuff, but I feel a lot better having something, especially with all the water we'd need.

My Favorite People

Do you ever feel so connected to other people, whether you've met them or not, to where you really believe that we all were friends and family, and something much stronger than words here, like friendship and relationship can mean? Sometimes language falls short. Sometimes I feel so much emotion and so many deep and special, powerful feelings that trying to write or describe them just won't work because it's dragging it down. It's not living up to the feeling in the soul.

I love people, and I'm not going to lie. I have my favorites. I don't pick them as favorites based on what I think of them. I pick them based on what I feel in my spirit when I see them, or when I hear their name. The judgement is true, you cannot argue or deny a feeling. Some of these are people that I know very intimately. Some of these are people that I've known since I was born...or since they were born. I grew up with some of them. Some of them I've never met. Some of them I know better than others. Some of them I will never meet in this life. Some of them I know better than I know myself it seems. Some of them don't know me at all. Some are rich, some are poor. Some are serious, some are hilarious. Some have passed on, many are still here. Some are lonely, some are famous...some are both I'm sure of it.

There are just a handful of people for me who make feelings come to me, the strongest of feelings, to where even something funny can bring crying. Something good, amazing talent can bring a laugh of unbelief, or again crying. It's hard to contain the emotion I guess. I am finding that I am a Willard. I cry.......sometimes for no reason.....and sometimes for every reason in the world.

These people I can never learn enough from. I can never learn enough of them. They will always be in my mind. I will always be thinking of them. The ones I know, I miss terribly and wish that I could be with them, all of the time. Time is a curse, isn't it. As for the people I know but have not met. I can't wait to tell them things, to ask them things, everything.

I very much believe in personal revelation. I also believe that personal revelation can happen and does happen in a lot of different ways and with a lot of life's encounters and experiences. Most people generally see it as a spiritual experience. It is a spiritual experience but isn't always about spiritual things per say. At least this is true for me, especially being a person who writes music, lyrics and poetry. That is personal revelation right there, but it's also a whole other post.

The people that I love most in this life are the people that I feel the most love from. That doesn't mean that they personally show me love. That means that a deep feeling of love and happiness comes to me when I am with them, or in the case that I have not met them, when I am observing or learning from them. It's awful really sometimes, to see someone's face and want to cry because the happiest loving feeling is filling your spirit. They aren't necessarily doing anything for me, but something is being done. That love is coming from somewhere, and I allow them, in my mind, to share some of the credit.

I sometimes mention to others here and there who these people are, and have even done so on this blog, but I don't talk about the fact that they together are my favorites as if they were a group, or a team of favorites if you will. I actually like to say their names in my head together, it makes it so much better. They are like a series of books, like the Harry Potter series. Each book is so good just by itself, but the series together is so special, with everything in place,....it's perfect. That's how I feel about my favorite people. A good book can make you a better person. A wonderful series of books can change your life,.....not change your life, rather.....make your life. So to my favorite people, who don't know who you are, you have made my life, from my past to the present, and you will make my future wonderful as I learn and think and dream about you, my special friends.

Boys

I walked in the room to find this. Marcelus had put Phoenix in one of the toy bins and put all the toys all around him. I've finally got the boys' toys organized the way I want them...almost.

We've been going through EVERYTHING in preparation for this move and we found some old beanies that dad used to wear to work when he was doing electrical work in the early mornings. Marcelus immediately put this one on because it was "Spider-man!" Marce must have a pretty good imagination because this thing is hideous and looks nothing like Spider-man! He loved it though and wore it for a few hours.

Our Last Sunday

Yesterday was our last Sunday in our ward and our last Sunday to teach Primary. I wasn't sure if I'd like teaching Primary. I knew for sure that I would miss RS, but it turns out that I really liked it and I hope I get called to teach it again someday. There were always things that made me laugh everyday in Primary, and in class time I thought I was a pretty good teacher. I will miss it.

We are starting to really pack this place off and this will be one of the last posts until next week. We have been joking about leaving Maricopa forever! I can't believe it's almost about to happen. There are great people out here just like everywhere but to tell you the truth, we won't miss anything else about it. We are excited to finally get the move behind us. Isn't that always how you feel when you are moving? We are excited to be closer to family, friends, and civilization (shopping).

Right now Phoenix is cranky. He's trying to be happy but is pretty clingy. He isn't sleeping well during the day, and the front of his shirt is continually soaked...He is TEETHING!! Fun for us...

Newspaper

Hey, seriously! Where can I get free newspaper....and a lot of it!! We don't get the newspaper and if I don't get some for this move very soon I'm going to be screwed!! Comment below, please!!

AI & Mike

Tonight was Biggest Loser, a rather dramatic episode. Usually it's pretty practical and for me I don't need the hype, plane Jane is good but I noticed 2 channels down on Fox was American Idol. I have never liked this show. I do like Simon, but I don't like how after the upteenth season we have all these "Idols" who really didn't deserve record deals and who can't sell out concerts. Let's pretend the music industry is a hot dog. Well we all prefer different brands...different condiments and toppings...but I'm pretty sure we all can agree that if we're going to eat a hot dog, we want the All Beef hot dog, not the one that says that it's made out of beef, pork, chicken, turkey and everything else under the sun...Hence, to me all of these"Idols" are just fillers, just filling the music industry with low quality ingredient. I like the show and the judges and everything, I just don't think the winner (AND runner up) should automatically end up getting a record deal as the prize.

Tonight it was hard to stay at Biggest Loser because it was Michael Jackson week. Previously when it is highlighting the catalog of an artist that I really like, there are always great performances,....and then there are those that just make you cringe because some contestant has just murdered a song by Elton John, or the BeeGees, or Earth Wind and Fire.......that's not okay with me. Needless to say with Michael being my all time favorite musical artist, and being one of the best vocalists alive, I was prepared for some major cringing. I did not see the full performances of all the contestants, but these are my thoughts:

• Macintyre=nothing special. "Keep The Faith" is on the Dangerous album ('91) and it's never been one that I couldn't live without, so I think he should have picked a different song and even with this song, I never noticed him really go out on a limb and do anything special so he's kind of a dud for me.
• Whoever sang "Beat It" was horrible. Period.
• The girl named Megan I just don't get. I understand the idea of picking an earlier Jackson 5 song, no problem, but why oh why would you ever choose "Rockin' Robin"? I feel so bad that Michael had to even sing that song as a child, but here is a girl named Megan probably in her 20's volunteering to sing it when she could have picked any Michael song??? You've got to be kidding me...
• "I'll Be There", overdone black girl, pick a different song
• Enjoyed Kris and "Remember The Time". He did great on the vocals
• Regardless of whether it's Michael week or not, do not try and dance if you really can't dance...other than that I thought the Michael McDonald sounding guy did pretty good vocally.
• Justin Timberlake looking guy...decent job but you cannot just do a decent job if you are trying to sing "Human Nature". I think it's an untouchable song. I don't think Michael could have recorded it any better.....at all. It's perfect so no matter how decent your performance is, it's never going to stack up...It'd be like trying to top Whitney Houston with her own song....just don't even go there.
• Oh yeah...I can barely watch or listen to Paula, why is she always crying?.....I thought I was emotional...

THAT Time Of The Month...

Well, for me it is THAT time of the month...and, quite frankly, it has not been THAT time of the month for nine months! Since Phoenix was born. It's almost like I went through a whole other pregnancy! ha ha I have been pretty on edge and snippy this week, but whatever.

Other than this special news, we have two more Saturdays til the move!! It's going to start getting crazy around here as I get organized. I love moving!....that's for real people...I really do.

Also, Biggest Loser tonight. I LOVE this show! I cry pretty much every episode! It's such a feel good show! I'm still in love with Jillian! She rocks! I have GOT to get going on the working out. My mind is somewhere else right now thinking of the move and all that entails and my upcoming trip back home and all my other goals and I will find a way to do it at some point. This week I can use the "THAT time of month" excuse.

My cousin Karena has a spiritual blog per say with fab ideas! I followed a link to the Distribution center and bought the Nursery manual for $5. It has 30 lessons in it and with young kids memories and attention issues, you could just start over with the first lesson after you finished them all, they would never know. I hope it is a great Family night tool. It's hard to know what you're young Nursery kids will be able to grasp and using what Marce already is learning in Nursery, I thought it would be great! By the way, Marcelus' prayer development is coming along. He has been able to say them all by himself for some time cause we would catch him praying but he would never do it when we asked, so I just kept asking him and being patient. He will now say them in front of us but is very very quiet. We can barely understand what he is saying. It's coming along though which is good cause it's one of my New Year goals. Marcelus is learning so much right now, all the sudden he turns 3 and he is absorbing everything!

Recommendations

We have been married for over 4 years now, which means that all of our knives as a married couple are at least that old. They were never great to begin with. We got a fairly cheap set at Target with our wedding money. It is getting to the point where using them is becoming dangerous because they are so dull. We need to replace them and had the idea that we'd buy individual knives one at a time, rather than a whole set at once. We do not know which brands are good and which ones are the same crap we started out with. We see infomercials on TV sometimes and have purchased other great products off of the TV but aren't sure what we should do about knives. We really only need a few good knives mainly for cutting veggies, and for dinner time use. If any of you have any good recommendations for knives, please comment below. It would be good to include the brand and the place to buy it. Thanks!

Primary Quotes

Yesterday Sharrid was taking Marce to Nursery and I was sitting with our primary class in the Primary room before it started. Sammy, a girl in our class (who by the way is super smart and well behaved) walked all the way down our row of chairs to me and said "Where's the brother?" (meaning Sharrid) It was so hilarious! I told her he was coming. She stood there like she didn't believe me, so I told her he'll be here. She finally went back to her seat. Later in class time, Sammy said the closing prayer. She said she did not want help this time. The block was now over but she also said "Bless us that we can take the snackerment." We sure are going to miss these little 4 year olds!

Saturday

On Saturday night we went to Fogo E Brasa on a date. It's one of my New Year goals to date and so far we've been on two. I am definitely the date "instigator" or the creative one when it comes to dating. It is MY goal after all I guess. I am the one thinking of when and where our next date should be. Always looking out for things we can do. Sharrid is not creative. He's not a gift giver, and he's not a surpriser. That kind of bites because those are all things that I love! I'm hoping by my example that Sharrid will develop some new "talents". This date was a surprise for Shar from me. I chose Fogo E Brasa because it is an authentic Brazilian steakhouse. Shar and I are both carnivores AND he went to Rio on his mission so I knew he'd love it. It turns out that it was just okay, but a date is a date and we had a good time together. I always get so excited for our next date! Is this normal? Maybe it's cause we've never dated. I mean it's not like I'm wondering about whether Shar likes me or not, or is he gonna kiss me this time, or whatever like before you are married dating......we've been married 4 years, cats out of the bag, so why am I so excited? I think it's this: No kids, No cooking, No chores, Getting out, Something new. But......I don't know, I could be wrong but I think that's it, or close.

Here's a picture of Sharrid at Fogo E Brasa. By the way, I meant to try duck for the first time while there but was too stuffed on everything else. I couldn't eat another bite. I didn't even eat that much but everything was super flavorful. Great egg salad though...but honestly anyone can make good egg salad right? My mom can anyway.......mmm, egg salad.......


Earlier on Saturday I made bread from scratch BY HAND!! Yay for me! It wasn't even that bad, of course once the flour started coming on strong, I made Sharrid mix the dough. He eventually put the wooden spoon down and mixed it with his hands.

Here is my bread in the bread pans ready to go into the oven.

Here is a loaf cut in half to see what the inside looks like...(actually I cut it to see if it was done) It was a great experience being my first time. It turned out great. Shar was worried because it looked pretty done and was hard on top when it came out...

...but it cooled off and became softer and then I brushed the tops with melted butter, just like my mom does. Don't they look great? All growing up my mom used the same great recipe for her bread. I have that recipe, along with about 3 others, and just for fun I wanted to try one of the others so it did take me a bit to get used to a slightly different taste but it is good and I'll try my mom's next time.

I am planning on getting a Bosch bread mixer hopefully in about a month, but until then, it's bread by hand every weekend! I also need to get an electric bread knife, my mom's is great and I sure missed it! This recipe made 3 good sized loafs. We go through about 2 loaves a week so I gave the 3rd loaf to my VT who watched our boys when we went on our date. It was still hot when we dropped the boys off!

Everything Is Amazing Right Now, And Nobody's Happy.

This clip was on a friend and fellow blogger Christy's blog. I loved it and had to put it on my blog for those of you who don't know Christy but check my blog.



This is the comment I left on Christy's blog after watching the clip.

Lexie & Sharrid said...
Ok so the clip wasn't working but then I found it anyway, and I LOVE it! So true!! He gets it, that's for sure. Seriously though, I think it was great for him to talk about this stuff because there are a lot of young spoiled brats who watch Conan, and even for us older people, we all need to be reminded, it's like in the scriptures where it talks about being provoked or being made to be humble, instead of just being humble in the first place so we don't have to go through depression and recession and stuff, we're just like those people though, we don't learn. When things are going great, we forget how blessed we are and take it all for granted, when things suck, we beg for help. That's how it's always been.

Lexie & Sharrid said...
By the way, I love the title of the clip, everything is amazing, but nobody's happy, or something like that...

Phoenix Walking - Video

Sorry this took so long to get on the blog. Phoenix walks a lot but still crawls a lot too because he doesn't know how to get up without using me or a piece of furniture but anyway, here he is walking at 9 months!! Hopefully, he'll be walking EXCLUSIVELY by 9 1/2.

When It Gets Pretty Warm

The boys' hair curls up. Marcelus' hair is too short right now to curl up. When Marce's hair is short it is thick and he has so many weird cowlicks, but when it's long it curls up. For some reason when it is long, the thickness seems to leave and it ends up being thin wispy curl which is so annoying to me! The boys' hair takes really well to product though and when it is wet, or in this case, when it is sweat ha ha, it curls up. Here are a few pictures of Phoenix' sweaty curls. It was pretty toasty inside today. We have not turned on our AC yet. So it sometimes gets up to 80 degrees in the house.