The Family: A Proclamation to the World

I have been all emotional lately, and I can't pinpoint exactly why. I know I have been in a spiritual rut for the past few months, and am actively trying to bring myself out of it. We had a speaker in church on Sunday say something that really hit me hard.

Not a direct quote: Does your child know more about Thomas the Train than he does about Jesus, or the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den?
I honestly didn't get anything else out of that talk, and it took all that I had not to start bawling my eyes out. Ethan knows every Car's character and most all the super heroes. He can even spot the Blue's Clue's Dog from a mile away! He can point out Jesus, but I know we haven't spent enough time providing for his spiritual needs. We do Family Home evening almost every week, but we don't put enough time into preparing a lesson. We usually read a few Book of Mormon or New/Old Testament stories, and end with ice cream.

However, we are getting better at involving him in our nightly prayer. Sometimes he does really well. He will usually kneel with us, (or crawl all over us) and say, "Amen" in the sweetest voice humanly possible. Some nights, he'll yell and talk through prayer. My favorite thing so far:
Daniel had just started praying, and Ethan yells "Amen!" mid prayer. Daniel barely got through the rest of the prayer without laughing. It really was funny!

I decided to take some time and read over “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”
Again, it got me all emotional. This part really stood out:

“Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. ‘Children are an heritage of the Lord’ (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations."

I want Heavenly Father to be pleased with the way we are teaching and raising our son. That puts a lot of responsibility on our shoulders. I have a lot of work to do, and I'm not going to let Satan make me feel inadequate any longer! Check back with me in about 17 years to see how we did.

With the warm weather that we have had, I have found it hard to resist ice cream. I find it particularly hard to resist Cold Stone & Dairy Queen. Looking up the calorie content makes it a lot easier! I thought I would share some of my findings. Thank goodness for the new mini-blizzard! I can indulge and not feel as guilty! I am only including my favorites:

Dairy Queen:

Oreo Brownie Earthquake Blizzard
mini-430 calories
small-660 calories
medium-880 calories

Cookie Dough Blizzard
mini-420 calories
small-710 calories
medium-1020 calories

Butterfinger Blizzard
mini-340 calories
small-470 calories
medium-740 calories

Reeces PB Cup Blizzard
mini-370 calories
small-530 calories
medium-760 calories

Oreo Blizzard
mini-350 calories
small-550 calories
medium-680 calories

Cold Stone:

French Vanilla Ice Cream with Brownie, Fudge & Caramel
Small-688 calories
Medium-891 calories

I have to stop right there. I like Cold Stone too much. It's a good thing their location is really inconvenient and we don't go there very often!
I feel as though I should keep going...Just so fast food totally grosses you out...if it doesn't already.

Mcdonalds:

A Big Mac Value Meal (with diet or no soda)
920 Calories
OR
Cheeseburger Kids' Meal (with diet or no soda)
531 Calories

Chicken Nugget Value Meal with BBQ sauce (with diet or no soda)
890-Calories
6-Piece Chicken Nugget Kids' Meal with BBQ sauce (with diet or no soda)
557-Calories
(deduct 50 calories if you don't use sauce)

Do you want Coke?
Small Coke:155 calories
Medium Coke: 203 calories
Large Coke: 310 calories

How about the "healthier" items?

Grilled Chicken Sandwich
420 calories
"real fruit" smoothies
278 calories

Ok, I'm done. I can't take anymore.

Lurkers?

I'm just curious...who is actually reading my blog? I would like you to identify yourself. :)
When I made my blog public, I made the decision to not add any photos. Anyone who I am comfortable viewing my photos is a friend on FB. There are too many people from my past that I don't want in my business. If they do find my blog, at least there aren't photos. I'm not a good writer, and don't have many interesting things to write about. It still feels good to type it all out, even if nobody reads it!

So Blessed!

I probably sound like a broken record, but I really do have the best husband ever. Ethan fell ill on Tuesday, which made me a nervous wreck. Not only is he the best husband, but he is the best Father ever. I am also grateful for a mother in law who will drop what she is doing to come rescue us when Ethan or I am sick. Did I mention she lives 3 hours away? She stayed with him the 1st day, and Daniel took time off to stay with him today. Why did I not stay home? As you may have read in a previous entry, work is crazy until September. I have not been getting my normal Wednesday off because there is 1-2 people on vacation at a time. I have not been a happy camper! It makes me extra grateful that I have a husband who is able & willing to take time off to care for our son. Not all dad's would do that. He really pulls his weight when it comes to parenting. I don't do anymore than he does. He's the best. That's all.

What do you do when you fall off the horse?

You get back on, right? I fell off a week ago. (The healthy horse) To make myself feel better, I have a list of reasons why:

-August 6th: We went to Great Falls, and went to the Fair, and I HAD to eat at Taco Treat!
-Steven & Jess's wedding was on August 7th, and things were just crazy busy...with lots of good food involved!
-We had a family birthday party for Ethan on August 8th. We had to eat cake with him!
-August 10th: Ethan came down with a stomach bug at daycare. I went into worry & stress mode and ate whatever. We had pizza, and ice cream that night. (Daniel & I did...the poor sickie got crackers and Popsicles.)

The good news is, I haven't missed working out! I'm still sitting at my 20 lbs lost. It is time for me to get going again! Even though I haven't gained, I still feel blah. I just feel so much better when I eat better!

Even better news: The bug Ethan had was very short-lived! Thank goodness!

Reason #345334 that Daniel is so awesome

We watched Carol's son yesterday while she was working. We stopped at Costco, and decided to let the boys share a hot dog for lunch. I cut it all up and put a little ketchup with it, and they went to town. Daniel just so happen to be wearing one of his many super hero shirts. Of all the shirts he could have worn, he wore his white one. He sat next to the boys while they ate lunch, and they noticed all the super hero's on his shirt. They got all excited, and started naming them off. As they named them- they wanted to point to them.
He got all snappy and said, "Don't get Ketchup on my shirt!" The eatery was busy, so I'm sure someone else witnessed what was going on. A grown, almost 30 year old man getting all upset with 2 toddlers that are trying to point out super hero's with their ketchup fingers. He was genuinely concerned they would stain his shirt. Funniest moment of the weekend, by far!!

...And he DOES understand!!!

I know it has been almost 4 months now, but I still am struggling with a lot of emotions. I don't often show it, but I still think about it a lot. It is probably no surprise that when I see pregnant people I get a bitter feeling inside. I still think at times that it should be ME waddling around.
I told Daniel quite a while ago, that it really was hurting me to see pregnant people. Almost to the point that I wanted to avoid church. I got the idea that he had NO IDEA what it felt like. I haven't brought it up in a least 2 months. Today, as we are making lunch together, he said: "It is kind of annoying to see all the pregnant people at church."
For those that don't know him well, he doesn't mean they are really annoying. They are doing nothing wrong. We don't dislike them at all. The opposite actually. We consider the pregnant people we know friends. What he meant was, "It bothers me too." He is just too macho to word it in a way that would make him look overly sensitive. It still seems silly that this has me all excited, but it is sooooo nice to know that I am not alone!! I do feel stupid for feeling bitter towards people who are pregnant, so it is so nice to know that I am not alone!

If anybody who is pregnant reads this: I hope you don't take offense. We really wish nothing but good for you and your growing family! Please don't feel bad for us. Our time will come.