Every Time at the Grocery Store is an Adventure!

(Alice...you know what I am talking about!) Today we went to get groceries with my mom after I got off from work. When we were there I whispered to my mom that I needed to get some tampons. Alexa heard and yells across the store, "TAMPONS, TAMPONS, TAMPONS, WHAT ARE TAMPONS? WE NEED TO GET TAMPONS!" She then also realized that it would echo really loud in that store so she didn't want to stop. I was laughing so hard I started to tear up. My mom was trying to get her to stop by explaining what they were and why we don't say that out loud, but that didn't work.

Making Life Simple

Alexa is on this kick lately to shorten all of her words. Instead of calling her dolls her Barbies, they are her "Barbs." She recently got a new Tankiny, but to her it is called a "tank!" Today when I picked her up from my cousin Holli's who is going to babysit her Alexa informed me that she calls her "Holl." Why use the whole word when you can just abbreviate it.

No Regrets

I can never get her with her eyes open!

Alexa came home today. Yea!!!!!! It is so good to have her home. She seems like she grew so much just in the last week and a half. While she was gone, a friend of my parents came over and we were discussing the gospel. He read an article titled "May We So Live." (click here to link to the actual article. It was really good. I highly recommend it.) In the article it talked about death and how we can live our lives in a way that we need not fear. This was a great message, but the thing that really touched me was the part about living without regret and giving service. You could hear his voice start to crack as he was speaking and I was holding back the tears. The spirit was so strong in the room. There was a story about this old lady and this feud that she had with her neighbor. They were neighbors since they were newly married little couples just starting out and something happened to start the battle. In the local newspaper the grandmother used to write in to the "Dear Abby" type column where anonymously other locals would write back solving each other's problems. The grandmother made a dear friend through the column and they would write each other regularly. Using their pen names, they became best friends. This is where you thing the story gets good and you can kind of predict what happens, but then there is a turn for the worst. The neighbor from the horrible feud passes away. Because they were neighbors it was customary to go and help the grieving family so that is what the grandmother did. She was asked to help clean the office where she found a scrapbook full of her letters to the column. The woman next door who she had spent all of these years hating was actually her one true friend.
I know it is a sad story, but it just reminded me how important it is to love you neighbor and to live your life in a way that you have no regrets. Since I have moved to Vegas, I almost daily have to explain why my last name isn't Brown anymore and yet I am not married. There are so many people who knew me as a Brown. They then always feel awkward for asking, but it doesn't even seem weird or uncomfortable for me. I have had some things happen the past year that I didn't want. Things have not gone according to my "plan," but I have absolutely no regrets. I am so grateful for Alexa and the life that I have. I don't think I would have really changed a thing. I have learned so much in the past few years that I would never have understood. I am so grateful to my Savior for all that He has done for me and for the comfort he has given me. I only hope that through serving others, I can begin to show Him my gratitude for the love He has shown me.

Missing Alexa!

Alexa left Tuesday to spend a week and a half with her Grandma up in Utah. This is the longest she has ever been away. It feels so empty here without her running around and without all of her funny little comments. She called the other day and told me that she get to get her fingernails painted and they have a white flower with a pink dot in the middle. She is having a good time, but we all sure do miss her here.
I started my first week of orientation at my new school. I know I have been kind of pessimistic about the whole changing schools thing, but I am finally really getting excited. I will definitely miss my old students and the teachers that I worked with. I have been worried that I would just kind of get lost in this big old school. A lot of the teachers seem so much older than me and since I went there for high school it might be a weird working relationship at first, but my prayers have been answered. At the new teacher orientation stuff I met a girl who will be in the room next to me and has the same prep as me and she just got baptized and goes to one of the other singles wards. We have had a lot of fun together. I am glad I will have someone to do stuff with and to get ideas and help from.

Just a Little Bit Perfect!

I already blogged today (although it is after midnight so technically it is tomorrow), but I had to write this down before I forgot it. Tonight during family home evening, we were making brownies and I was distracted so I didn't get the first part of the conversation, but my family was talking about a perfect world or how this isn't a perfect world. Alexa piped in and said, "My world isn't perfect, but my world is just a little bit perfect."

I know it doesn't really make sense, but it kind of sums up the way I have felt lately. Today in church we were having this same discussion. How can the Lord say that if we keep his commandments then we will be blessed yet why do bad things happen to good people. Shouldn't we have a perfect life if we are keeping the commandments? We all have trials in our lives. Some are bigger than others, but through Christ we can overcome any obstacle that may come.

Life isn't perfect right now, and it will probably never be perfect. There are a lot of circumstances that I wish were different that I just don't have much control over, but life sure feels perfect. I am contradicting myself. That is where Alexa gets it from, but when I see the wonderful life that I have and Alexa, all the things that aren't so perfect don't seem to matter and LIFE IS PERFECT!

Every Precious Moment

We have had a very fun filled week. This was our last week before work starts again and Alexa is going to visit her grandma. We used every moment this week for fun.

We got to go to F.A.O. Schwartz with my cousin and her friend and their kids. The kids had so much fun running around and looking at all the toys. All of them were mesmerized by the Jack-n-Box. They would laugh every time it popped up. I was worried that going there could turn into a huge fit. I thought the kids would want everything they saw, but Alexa was so goo. She amazed me. She would sit in her stroller until we were ready to stop and play with a display. Like my mom said today, "She finds joy in the silliest little things." I wish we could all be like that and see the joy that is all around us in this world.

When Tommy was little we use to put him in my parent's tub and fill it with bubbles and let him play. It is crazy to think that he is now old enough to go on a mission and that I have a daughter that is playing in the tub. My mom filled the tub with bubbles for her and then did rag curls. Alexa loves her curly hair.

Yesterday, we went to the Lied Discovery Museum. I use to go there when I was a kid and loved it. We took Alexa's friend and my other cousin and her family came. It was a blast. I think my dad had the best time there. He loved to try all the exhibits and see how they worked. Alexa was more concerned with looking pretty and having everyone watch her. She said her favorite was going grocery shopping, but she liked dancing on the stage, singing in the booth, and went in the wind tunnel twice.

I am so glad I get to act like I am 3 and just play and have no worries. Now that the school year is starting I might have to act like a grown up, but I will always have time to play!

Chocolate Solves Everything!

Today I was really feeling stressed. I am usually a pretty easy going person and don't get to stressed often, but with being out of town so much the past few weeks, some other crazy things going on in life, and school starting this week I have been feeling overwhelmed. I was venting to my mom today and just listing off my "to do list" as I was getting ready to run out the door. Alexa come in to the room with a bag of chocolate and said "mommy, I have a list of things to do. I have to eat this chocolate, give you a hug, give you a kiss, and go to bed tonight." She then come over and offered me some chocolate and gave me a big hug and kiss before I ran out the door. How could life get any better? She is so smart. I am so glad I have her to remind me how simple life really is. All we need is each other and a little bit of chocolate and the rest will all just fall into place.

Last Family Trip :(

With Tommy leaving in 2 months for his mission to Uruguay, we decided to take one last family vacation all together. I have been wanting to go to the San Diego Zoo for a long time to take Alexa there, so we headed down there Thursday and spent the weekend there. We had a great time at the zoo!!!

OUR FAVORITES:
Alexa loved it and couldn't pick a favorite animal. She said she liked them all the same. She doesn't want to hurt any of their feelings, but she really loved getting her pictures taken in the cut out things. We stopped at every single one!

My favorite animal is the Koala. I can still remember going to the San Diego Zoo when I was a kid and going to the Koala exhibit and my grandma bought me a t-shirt. You can't see the Koalas very well, but that is where we are.

Tommy's favorite animal is a lion (well h says now that it is a dog, but it use to be a lion when he was little), but they were asleep and you couldn't see them very well.

KT loves the monkeys. She has a huge stuffed monkey collection in Alexa's room. It is kinda creepy! The monkeys were fun to watch though. It is so weird how human like they act.

My mom and Will like the Polar Bears. We were lucky and got there right as they were feeding them and saw them eat this huge bone with meat. It was really hard to take pictures of them though.

My dad said his favorite animal was my mom!

The next day my family went to the San Diego temple early in the morning and then we went and spent the day at the beach. Alexa made songs up about the beach the whole way there. This morning after we are already home she asked if we could go to the beach again today. She loved the water and playing in the sand. She played all day!!! We got to meet up with some of my mom's old friends from work and BBQ on the beach. It was so nice. We will have to go back soon.

Sunday morning we got up and went to church. It is always nice to go to an unfamiliar ward and see how familiar it really is. We are all brothers and sisters and we are all more similar than we think. Then we got to see my cousins and their kids that live out there. They are so much fun and we don't get to see them often enough.

It was such a wonderful trip. I am so blessed that I have the best job and can just pick up and go where I want for the summer. Now it is time for me to get back to the real world since school starts next week!