Recognizing that what I do matters

Today we had a couple over for dinner who's own kids are grown and have kids of their own.  They just moved here from Arkansas and they are super nice people.  Needless to say we had chicken noodle soup for dinner which I believe is a very simple and easy meal.  We ate watermelon with it and since I took dinner to family in our ward who just had a baby we had cinnamon rolls after dinner.  Well when they 1st walked in she asked who played the piano, which I told her I do.  Well I don't play amazing but I play in Relief Society.  Then she started eating and she said and you make your own noodles?  I'm like yes.  Then I told her how Anna was going to Kindergarten and how most of the kids in her class have had some school before now so they don't understand her excitement.  So she said wow you play the piano, you cook, you home school, your a massage therapist now this is a very blessed woman you got right here.  Talking to Zach, "You are one lucky man you better hold onto this one."  It kinda made my day to say the least.  Not very many people comment about any of the day to day things that I do in my life.  No one acknowledges the things I do on a daily basis for our family.  It helped me realize that I am doing a good job and that I am doing what the Lord wants me to do.  It also helped me realize that I do have lots of skills and people really do look up to me.

Lately all I've been focused on is that I've gained a lot more weight since having kids than I would like and it seems like that is all people judge me by.  They think I'm a lazy Mother who can't care for her kids because I'm this stay at home Mom who does absolutely nothing but put my kids in front of the TV, when that is just not true. Sure they get to watch a few shows most days but that is about it.  Thank you Heavenly Father for recognizing that I needed that special angel in my home to tell me that I'm doing a good job and that I should be proud of myself.  This world doesn't judge success base off what happens at home, they only base it off of worldly things like how much money you make, how big your house is, what kind of car you drive that kind of stuff.  When in reality those things really won't save us in the end.  We don't even get to take them with us.  I am very blessed and I just need to be proud of myself and move on.  If I do the very best I can everything else will work out. 

My Parner in crime

So Sunday Zach and I shared our 7th wedding anniversary!  Seriously how is it 7 year already?  I almost can't believe it when I say it out loud.  I just thought I would write a blog post talking about how wonderful a man I married.  There are times in life when you think why?  Why did I do___?  Well for me I've been thinking about why I married the man I did.  Which brings me to this, the why's of married Zach. 
1st of all he is very service oriented.  If you ask him to do something he will unless there is no way possible or if he just doesn't feel good about it.
2nd  he has never ever said one bad thing about me.  Sure he has told me things I do that bother him that is obvious but he has never once said anything negative about the way I look or or what size I wear or things like that.
3rd he loves the Lord.  He is such a good missionary.  He loves going out with the missionaries and he serves in the Young Men's right now and I'll just say that they are very lucky to have him!  He may not do things the popular way but he tries his best to follow what the Prophets and other leaders have told them to do.   
4th he is such a great Dad.  He loves playing with our girls and they truly adore him!  He reads books with them, plays with them at the park, and helps them take baths and get to bed.  I guess you could say that my girls are very lucky to have him as a role model.   
5th he is my Mr. fix it.  Whenever something needs fixed he figures out how to do it.  This is such a blessing.  Ya sometimes I just want things done and I have to wait for Zach to have time but I'm grateful that he knows how and is willing.  
6th he truly works so hard for our family.  He would do anything so that he could support our family and so that I can stay home with our kids while he works.  
7th he is driven to get things done once he knows he wants to do them.  Once he decides to do something he truly can't stop thinking about it until it's done so it's just better that I let him do it. 

I'm so blessed to have found a partner in crime who loves me unconditionally and who helps our family so much.  He truly is my inspiration and he would do anything he can to help me reach my goals.  I love you Zach! 

AZ fun and Jason's Wedding

 This is the view at my Parents house which I took for granted for sure growing up. 

These two pictures perfectly depict Elsie's life with Kali.  Oh how she loves her yet oh how she wants to push her away. 

 We tried to get a picture of the grandkids.  Needless to say it didn't turn out too well.  Well Andrea definitely got a better picture than me but here are all my Parents 10 grandkids!

 The lighting is off but these are still cute. 

 I didn't get a lot of pictures of this cute couple but they seem happy and we are super excited for them! 

 My cousin Brian and his little girl Myla. 

 Dancing with Dad!

Little stop in Woodruff

 On the way home from AZ we decided to take a small little detour ti a little town of Woodruff.  This town means a lot to my heritage.  The head stone above is what I think it my great great Grandparents.  I think that Sarah is the Mother to my Great Grandma Shumway.  But I don't know that for sure. 

 These two pictures above and below are the front and back of my Great Grandparents graves.  On the back it shows all the names of the 18 children that they had.  Pretty cool if you ask me!  I only saw one other Shumway but I guess I should have looked for more because I know that some children died at birth.  Maybe if I ever end up going back I will look into that. 

 When I was a youth we did a trek that ended in woodruff and this is where we stayed the night and crossed the river.  We actually took the handcarts across the river which was pretty cool. 

 This is the house that my Grandparents raised 18 children in.  I know it's hard to tell from the picture but it wasn't a very big house. 

This picture above is the beaut in Woodruff.  As a kid I had a shirt that had this mountain on it that we got at a Shumway reunion. 

 My sister Andrea found a horny toad and they all loved looking at it and thought it was so cool! 

 We decided to go exploring on a hill behind my Parents house where as a kid we would find pottery that the Indians left behind from their pots.  As a kid my Grandpa would tell us stories about the Indians and how they would make fire by rubbing 2 rocks together to create a spark and then they would signal to the other camps that we also on a hill near by.  Pretty cool stuff if you ask me. 

Christensen Family pictures

 A huge thank you to my sister Andrea for taking pictures for all of us!  When we don't get together very often it's nice to have a second to take pictures.  Pictures I believe are treasures and most people should take more time to capture the memories only pictures can truly capture.

 These kids are lucky to have such amazing grandparents!

 I just think this picture is perfect!  I know that we will treasure this picture forever!