Max is Two!

The other day I went to take out the garbage. I told Max I would be right back and I was. However as I walked up the stairs I heard Max crying. I tried to open the door as I asked him what was wrong.  The door was LOCKED! I panicked a little but still stayed calm. I tried to explain to Max how to unlock the door. He tried, but was unsuccessful. Every once and a while he would say, "Mom, I need help." 

Well I was starting to get a little more worried because I was supposed to watch one of my friends boys. I knew it was getting close to that time and I didn't have my phone to call anyone for help. Luckily, a lady was gracious enough to call the owner of the apartment. 

He wasn't picking up, so she went down the road to where his family worked to see if they could get a hold of them. 

Meanwhile my friend shows up and I still haven't gotten in my apartment. So she tried to help me pick the lock, but we were unsuccessful. She left her sweet cold boy with me as I tried to get Max to unlock the door. 

Just then a man came walking up the stairs. It was the owner's brother. He told me that Troy( the owner) was in the mountains and couldn't get away. So we decided calling the police would be the best option. 

After what seemed like hours, he showed up asking if we wanted to pay for a lock smith or if I wanted him to kick down the door. A lock smith was called and about 20 minutes later, he came. He was there for 2 minutes and I was able to get inside. Max was stuck inside and I was stuck outside for almost two hours.

The crazy thing is that both were locked (padlock and door handle). When I showed Max how to unlock the door, he couldn't do it. 

I learned a great lesson: Always make sure the spare key is accessible. Also I don't ever plan on leaving the house without my keys or my phone again. 

Growing Up

I'm shocked at how big my little guy is getting! He is really tall for his age, so I think most people who don't know him think he is older than he really is. But he really changes every day. 

We just got new carpet yesterday, (it's so WONDERFUL) but as my husband and I were taking things out of the rooms, he told me he didn't want to put the crib back up. So we needed to get Max a new bed; which meant a big part of our Christmas for Max would be given to him before Christmas. But Devin was right we needed to get him out of the crib. 

So last night we found Max a "big boy" bed. He slept just fine in it! I'm amazed at how easy the transition was. He has always been a good boy and had never tried to get out of his crib. So I guess it is no big surprise when he woke up saying, "Mom, come here." Instead of just getting out of bed by himself. I went in to tell him that he could get out of bed himself and showed him how to so it. (That may have been a mistake... We will see how it goes tonight) ;)

(Please ignore the binki) I feel like this is the last big transition we need to make for a little while. However, getting rid of this binki scares me. Lately, Max will wake up screaming for it. (He usually loses it in the middle of the night) which is the first red flag to get rid of it. I'm tired of hearing him scream and I'm tired. However, I'm not ready for the tears right before bed and nap time. I know I need to get rid of it cold turkey for it to work. I just some strength. 

I'm so amazed at what Max is capable of at such a young age. He is our little sponge and repeats everything we say! He makes us so happy and I can't wait for him to be a big brother in April. He is already wanting to play with his baby sister! On to new adventures and learning. 

Just Keep Going...

Life can be hard. It can be full of hardships and struggle. I have found it is harder when all I focus on is the bad, the ugly, the negative. But life is great even with the struggles.

So how do we get out of this rut? I think one thing we can do is to start looking at our blessings.  Though we may have some hard things in our lives, I think we can all find positive things in our lives too. Hopefully the positive can out weigh the negative. 

I always have an easier time accepting my hardships when I pray for help. We are all human and we are not perfect. I believe we were put on this earth to grow and become someone better. However, we cannot do it on our own. We need help from our Father in Heaven. I know (even though I have a hard time accepting at first) we can grow from our trials. 

Life is such a wonderful blessing and I hope that as I go throughout my life, that I can continue to improve on this simple statement: Life can be hard, but we can find happiness through the trials. 

We Are our Parents Children

This may seem like a silly or obvious post, but I love that I am a lot like my mom and my dad. There are certain things that I do because I learned them from my parents. 

For example: I like British shows that are set in 1800's to 1900's; period films like Pride and Prejudice and Downton Abbey! I get that from my mom. We always watched Jane Austen movies together. She loves them and so do I.

I also love to draw, probably because my dad likes to draw, and so did his mom. I get that trait from my dad. 

I think we have this desire to be just like our parents when we are young and then sometime as we grow older into teenagers we think it's weird to do what our parents like. Then, yet again, as we grow into adults we move away from home and find ourselves doing and liking some of the same things as our parents. 

I have been very fortunate to have such good parents. I know we must be our own selves and find the things that we love without extra outside influences. However, it is a comfort to me to know that some of the things I love, my parents love too! 

I am seeing this in my little boy. All around his room are posters and pictures of some of Devin's favorite sports team. Max is loving all the same teams. If he sees any football on tv, he shouts, "Go cougars!"

He likes a lot of the same things as me too! Today I noticed that he loved eating wheat thins with cream cheese. This is a pretty insignificant example, I know, but as we were sharing the snack the thought of us being like our parents popped into my head. 

I am grateful for such great parents and in laws also for helping my husband and I become who we are. I love seeing our parents and finding new things we have alike. 

Chocolate Teeth

Most days Max and I drive with my husband Devin to work and then I take the car back home. We only have one car, so by doing this, we use a bit more gas, but then I don't have to be at home without transportation. Today on the way, I was watching Max eat his breakfast, which happened to be yummy chocolate banana muffins. He looked so sweet takin big bites. Then I asked him to smile, and he had a big piece of muffin stuck in between his two front teeth. It made me giggle! 

It is the small smiles and yummy muffins on a rainy morning that make me happy. It also makes for good day when Max wakes up happy ready to play with puzzles. 

I think it's going to be a great day. 

"Heavenly Father is Watching Over Me, and Everyone Here"

I really have enjoyed the idea of this blog in recognizing the Small and Simple Things, so I thought I would join in. My name is Parker Hamrick, and Erin Garner is my sister. There is a pretty big age difference between us, I am only 18, and she is already old enough to have a family! For the past few years I have gone through high school with the passion for music, and will continue to chase after those dreams in music. I am going to be leaving for my mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on February 5th 2014 in the Brazil Fortaleza East Mission for two years. Anyways, enough about me, this is about the simple things.

This past week I had the opportunity to volunteer at a Farmstead for kids near my house. To be completely honest,  I was reluctant at first. I woke up at about 8:30, and it was just another day. We arrived at the farmstead and were given some pretty cool vests (you will see those later on). We walked down to the "Pumpkin Hollow" event where there were multiple activities set up for the little kids including: A big hay slide, a train ride, a mini corn maze, a bowling area, and many more. Once the kids arrived you could see the joy in all of their faces.

At first I wasn't really assigned to any certain position, all of the areas that specifically needed someone to watch over were taken. I'm not going to lie, boredom hit me pretty fast and pretty hard, it just seemed like there was nothing for me to do there. I decided to go around and just see what the kids were doing, whether it was running from their parental advisors/teachers, or going down the slide, they were simply having fun. Then one of the sweetest things happened. A little girl who had apparently just fallen down was being asked by her mom "are you okay?", the little girl replied "yes, I'm fine. Heavenly Father is watching over me, and everyone here". I couldn't help but smile. This little girl, the age of a preschooler has a better line of thought than most people do. Whenever we are having a bad time we need to remember this small thought  "Heavenly Father is watching over me, and everyone here". Something Small and Simple.

From that time on I just kept looking for little things like that, and for opportunities to help out. I started to notice that some of the parents and leaders were struggling with the bowling pins, while trying to take pictures and just take care of the little kids. I decided to go over to the bowling pins and set them up every time the kids would roll the bowling ball. As soon as there was a system and the bowling pins were being set up at a good rate, the number of kids wanting to bowl largely increased. The bowling station was right next to the front, and right next to the slide so it became quite the popular place. Kid after kid would come through getting so much joy out of simply rolling a ball down the slide and hitting some pins down. I couldn't help but smile because of how happy they seemed to be. A lot of adults stood there watching saying "man, looks like you got the hardest job here" and "I hope you're getting payed the big bucks". All I could do was look at the smiles on the kids faces, smile back at the adults and say "no I'm volunteering".

I had been there for about two hours when I started getting tired, it was quite a hot day in Kansas, and the kids kept me moving fast. I feel like young children know when people are upset, or are in need of help. Basically as soon as I started getting tired I felt like the kids would just come out of nowhere and just start helping me. They were happy with helping set up pins as well as bringing the bowling ball to their friend who was next in line. Observing kids in everyday life can make us enjoy the Small and Simple things even more.

There are always little things there, we just need to open our eyes.

Chip, Tip Top and Doggie

Max has some stuffed animals that he loves. Today I washed them and I only gave him a couple for his nap. When he woke up the first thing he asked for was Chip (the monkey). I told him he was in the dryer and that I would go get him. Max's response was, "Chip clean." He then said very happily, "Thank you!" I am so grateful for my good boy. He is very polite and I love that about him. 

Max pretending to be asleep. 

Modesty

How can we teach our children about how important being modest is? I think it is so easy to justify what we and others wear because that is the norm to see girls and boys dressed immodestly. However, I have a problem with that... Ever since I was young (in middle school) it has bothered me to see girls and boys; but mostly girls dressed immodestly. 

I guess the reason I feel so passionately about it is because I think these girls know better. I feel that they have been taught the correct principles, but aren't really applying them. I think another reason it is so important to me is because I want them to know that they don't have to dress like that to get attention. Our bodies are temples and we need to dress them like temples. To me this doesn't mean dress from head to toe, but dress to the standards they were/are taught. 

I'm sure there are many parents out there that don't think it's a big deal. But hopefully there are some that do think it's a big deal. 

To answer the question: I think we as parents need to teach our children. Talk to them about why its important to us and why it should be important to them. My boy is not old enough to really have a deep conversation about modesty now, but I can still tell him it's important to me. 

Another thing we can do is start young. As far as I know my mom didn't dress me in immodest clothing when I was a baby. When I was a little girl my mom didn't allow me to dress immodestly. That's just how it was, and I was okay with that. (I'm sure I asked my mom a couple times to wear a tank top, but I don't think I pushed her too hard, because I knew the rules.) 

The last idea I have is to be an example. Most children want to be like their parents. I know I did. If you dress modestly then hopefully your children will want to as well. 

Imaginary Friends

Last night Max told me he found a baby ant. He was walking around with it for a minute. I didn't hear anything else about it. This morning, as we were listening to music; dancing and singing, Max told me he found a sad baby ant. He went around the room trying to comfort it by saying "shhh shhhh shhh". It is simple things like this that make me smile...

Two minutes later he tells me he ate the ant... But don't worry, the ant always comes back. 

The Challenge to Become Something Better

It is only Wednesday, and yet I have felt the pull of idleness like crazy this week. I enjoy relaxing but it is more than "just relaxing".

This weekend I had the wonderfully opportunity to watch a conference that my church puts on for two days. In my church we believe that there is a living prophet on the earth today and he has apostles that share the gospel; just as Christ did when he lived on the earth. It is broadcasted live on television as well as in church buildings and the Conference center in Salt Lake City. At the conference certain members are selected to speak on a subject that they feel needs to be talked about. It is a wonderful experience every six months and it is very spiritually uplifting.

So back to why I think it is strange for me to feel this pull for being lazy... Satan has a funny way of getting into our lives; something so simple as watching one more show on tv.  You would think I would be ready to take on the world after watching conference; but not so. 

Tonight I was preparing for my lesson that I will teach to young women at church this Sunday. What I read was EXACTLY what I needed to hear. I will share just a quote that stood out to me. 

"The gospel challenges us to be "converted", which requires us to do and become." - Dallin H. Oaks

This is such a simple phrase. All I need to do is pick something that I can improve on. If I continue to be idle and lazy, I am not going to make any progress in my life. So I will spend my day "doing" tomorrow instead of being idle. 

Life is wonderful and we all have the opportunity to make it the best it can be. However, every day is not going to be perfect. That is why we can always try again tomorrow. 

Best Friends

I grew up in Kansas City and have very fond memories of my childhood. When we first moved there, I met a girl who became one of my very best friends. 24 years later we are still the closest of friends. 

Now we are both living in Utah and our boys play together. I hope (and I think she does too) that our boys can become very close friends too!

I am amazed at the bond that friendships can create. I know we will always be friends no mater how close or far away from each other we are. 

Today we met up at a great museum and as always it was very fun to see our boys interact and play together. 

I challenge all you who read this to talk to a friend today. If you are close, go visit them. If you're not close give them a call or text. Let them know you are thinking about them. 

Cami and I during our college years 

Max 26 months Asa 18 months 

A New Start

This weekend I was blessed to be with my husband's family and I have made a new goal to focus on the small and simple things that make life worth living. My little boy who is two years old takes up most of my time during the day. He is one of the main reasons I decided to start this blog. The smallest things make him happy like dancing, coloring, playing with cars and singing. I hope to inspire you who read this to take time and do the small and simple things that make life amazing.