The Crossing Guard

Last week, those of us from our formerly quiet hometown said goodbye to a city landmark.

Literally.

This is Ernie Taylor and he made a huge impact in a lot of lives...

including mine.

Grandpa Taylor was the crossing guard, at the same corner, for 17 years.  

That means I got to see him on his street corner from the time I was in 3rd grade.

Grandpa Taylor was the best crossing guard to ever be.

Do you know why?

He waved and smiled at EVERY SINGLE CAR that ever drove past him.

That is thousands of waves a day.

The whole city knew that they'd get a wave while driving up 3rd South.  

He literally never missed a car.

I have personally waved at him hundreds of times and I have been grateful on many occasions to feel that someone noticed me.

As the news of his passing started circulating the neighborhood kids, it was lovely to read the comments people had for him.  Here are just a few:

 That is so sad! You could always count on him being there every day with a smile and a wave.

Oh no! He'll be remembered by a ton.

What a huge impact he had on all of us! I hope he knew that before he died...or I atleast hope he knows it now!

This guy made my day! I tried to make sure he knew I was waving back :)

I have a memory of hugging him when I would walk home from Park.

How sad! I loved his daily wave & smile! What an incredible guy and example to us all!

I can picture him now wearing his orange and hat and giving a wave to the passing cars.

The passing of Grandpa Taylor got me to thinking about how simple it can be to make a huge difference.

He will always be remembered and all he did was stand on a street corner and wave!

I wonder if he knew what a huge difference he was making?

I wonder if he thought about the thousands of people that would miss him once he was gone?

If he didn't know then, I hope he knows now.

With the world that we live in today, we have somehow forgotten the importance of face to face communication and acknowledging the presence of other humans.

I was just walking back from the laundry room here at our apartment and I passed a beautiful girl wearing a UNM Lobos shirt.

She was literally within arms reach of me.

I could have tripped her.

We were so close and yet she never even looked my way.

I finally said "hi" at which time she said "hi" back.

No look and hardly any acknowledgement of my existence.

I remember when I was about to start my Freshman year of college at Brigham Young University.

My family took me over to the campus the Sunday before school started to help me find the buildings my classes could be found in.

As we walked around campus I remember making a comment about how many people were there walking around.

My oldest brother said something along the lines of:

"Oh, don't be nervous.  Everyone looks at the ground or their phones and ignores each other anyway.  You won't have to say hi to a single person because they'll probably not even notice you're alive."

As I started school the next day I learned that, unfortunately, this was true.

I could have easily gone through a whole day at BYU and not spoken to a single person had I waited to be spoken to.

Reflecting on that experience, I have come to realize how much it means to be noticed.

There are far too many people in this world who never get 

NOTICED.

Be it 

a child, 

a senior citizen, 

a stranger in a foreign land, 

a mother who works herself to death to create a happy home for her family,

a father who has to work late trying to make ends meet,

an employee who never receives anything but criticism in the work place,

a teenager trying to figure out who they are,

or even a college student surrounded by big buildings, books, and no friends.

Think with me about a time that you were noticed by someone.

Maybe someone you admired complimented what you were wearing

or a professor voiced a simple "good work".

Those moments mean the world, don't they?

So, the gnawing thought in my head is this:

I have got to notice people.

I love simple goals like that.

It doesn't costs any money and it doesn't take any time.

All we have to do is notice each other.

Think of the days we could make brighter just by saying hi, locking eyes, or smiling at a passerby.

Grandpa Taylor, thanks for being the perfect example of this.

You are the bomb.

Read Grandpa Taylor's obituary here.

Dear Baby: It's your 4 month birthday

Dear little one,

You are FOUR MONTHS OLD today!

I can't believe that this is true.

What happened to that time?

I'll tell you what happened to it!

It has been filled with lots of 

singing,

dancing,

story times,

smiles, 

giggles,

blow-outs,

late-night chats,

and all kinds of new discoveries.

I must be the luckiest girl in the world to get to witness it all!

You are becoming a very good reacher.

You reach for everything.

You like to comb through Mommy's hair with your fingers.

You like to grab at everything and put it in your mouth.

You still won't take a pacifier so you chew on your fist instead.

You dance every single morning.

Your favorite songs are still "Hang on Little Tomato" and "Bomba" by King Africa.

"Bomba" is your favorite dancing song.

You are a wild, wild dancer and you've recently decided to sing too.

You make the most hilarious vocal fry noises and like to be apart of every conversation.

You like to contribute lots of wisdom and loads of pretty notes.

You still smile at me almost non-stop.

You don't really cry anymore and that is lovely.

I love to hear you growling to yourself in the morning when you wake up.

You still love your Amigita seahorse that puts you to sleep.

As soon as I lay you down in your crib you reach for her and touch her until her music starts and her belly lights up.

You are really into finger puppets.

You especially like chewing on the frog prince finger puppet.

Good choice.

You are still totally cool about your carseat, stroller, play mat, johnny jumper, pretty much everything.

You are quite content with absolutely everything and you constantly put on gummy grin shows for everyone who gets their hands on you.

You still bat your eyelashes at your Papi and pretty much think he is the greatest thing in the world.

I am pretty sure that the feeling is mutual.

Actually, I know the feeling is mutual.

Last night you slept for nine hours straight.

That has never happened.

I sort of thought you were dead.

But you weren't, you were just deciding to become the sleeper of America.

Seriously, you are amazing.

Tonight we had a Halloween party at church and you dressed up as a pumpkin.

Actually, you just wore a pumpkin hat and a super cute polka dot dress.

You were the most chic pumpkin for miles around.

After the party we went to visit Papi at work and show him and our work friends how cute you looked.

Don't worry, everyone ooh'd and ahh'd over you.

You smiled and blew bubbles just like a true performer.

Papi was so happy to see you.

He misses you while he's at work.

I'm not sure how much you weight but you are becoming quite the little porker.

You have the most divine rolls on your legs

and quite the little Buddha belly to go along with it.

Let's not forget about the double chin and super chewy cheeks.

Basically, I think you're perfect and I love spending my day giving you thousands of kisses, reading lots of books, singing "Hang on Little Tomato" 100 times a day, and being your Mommy.

Thanks for choosing me.

I love you little nuggy-nug.

Finding Our Happy: Brookie

This is Brookie
Her real name is Brooke but I've never called her just Brooke ever.
She is Brookie.

She is lovely

and kind

and smart

and rather hilarious

and she blogs over at I Need a Little Fabulous

Here a little glimpse into her "happy" during this beautiful time of year.

I don't know if you know this, but I LOVE October. Like true love. Love. Top five reasons for this:

1. It's FALL! I love Fall. I love Fall colors: red, orange, yellow–rich, golden fall colors. I love Fall weather–it's cool, but not cold. You can wear sweaters. Fall-colored sweaters are most desirable. And scarves. I love scarves. And then the leaves on the trees are all changing and the mountains get colorful and it's just gorgeous! Fall weather, fall clothes, fall colors, fall mountains. Can it get better?

2. It's GENERAL CONFERENCE! I love General Conference. What's better than listening to God's chosen servants all weekend? And with General Conference weekend comes mission reunion time. And that's always fun.

3. It's PUMPKIN TIME! Oh. My. Word. I. Love. Pumpkins. Pumpkin decor, pumpkin color, pumpkin carving, pumpkin baked goods. Especially the latter. Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting...yep, started with that one yesterday. I love pumpkins. And carving pumpkins is strangely delightful. I love the feel of the guts in my hands. I might be weird.

4. It's HALLOWEEN! I used to dislike Halloween. I'm not one for scary stuff, and you can only take so much candy. But I've had some dang fun Halloweens since coming to BYU, including seeing The Nightmare Before Christmas and making homemade root beer with friends one year and throwing an awesome Halloween party another year with my famous Mark Boothe pumpkin. And there was Freddy the ghost sweeping across our living room. Plus that year at SHA, we drew a haunted house and we cut out pictures of everybody and included them...yep, better include that picture below too. :)

Mark Boothe pumpkin

Freddy the Ghost

SHAtastic Halloween

See? Lots of good Halloween times. This year? We'll see.

5. It's the beginning of the end. I also love October because not only is October itself awesome, but then right after that, we get November, which includes Thanksgiving. Then December, which includes Christmas. Basically October marks the beginning of the holiday season, which is my favorite.

See there, five excellent reasons for why I love this blessed month. May it bring you joy as well.

Thanks Brookie!

Don't forget to enter our giveaway for baby girl and boy accessories!

Click here to enter the giveaway.

Bay Bloom Giveaway!

This week's giveaway is sure to get your little one accessorized to the max!

Bay Bloom is a new Etsy shop of darling handmades.

I can hardly decide on what to get for baby girl!

The master minds behind the Bay Bloom etsy shop are two lovely ladies based in sunny California.

(How jealous are we?)

One just happens to be one of my favorite people in the world.

She also happened to be my very first companion as we served as missionaries for

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 

in New York.

She's super talented, insanely fun and remarkably beautiful.

Tough combo to beat.

BTW she's also a person trainer.

She basically kicked my trash at 6:30 every morning.

May I present...

Amber.

And this is Karen.

I don't know her yet but if Amber loves her, I'm sure I do too.

Bay Bloom would like to offer a Mister and Lady reader a prize pack to celebrate their grand opening!

The prize pack includes TWO items of your choice from the shop!

Here's what you need to do:

1. Go to the Bay Bloom Facebook page and click LIKE

2. Go to the Bay Bloom etsy shop and check out what they have to offer.

3. Come back and leave a comment telling me which two items you'd like.

(You can change your mind later...no pressure!)

BONUS: for extra entries you can share this giveaway on your blog and/or facebook page.

Be sure to include where you've shared it when you leave your comment.

One share = One extra entry

Easy Peasy.

Winner will be announced on Friday so be sure to check back!

Luckily, even if you don't win, they are giving a 20% discount on any purchase 

now through Sunday, October 28th!

In the mean time, I will be on the Bay Bloom etsy shop trying to decide which Owl hat Celine needs.

xoxo

Sometimes we remember that we are AGING

I remembered

last night.

I did something horrible to my back.

As in, 

couldn't move

couldn't pick up the baby

couldn't carry the baby

couldn't sleep

couldn't bend over to put on pants.

Yep.

Aging.

I think it's a combination of a lot of things in my life.

For example, we new moms tend to act like pack horses.

Car seat

diaper bag

shopping bags

sonic cup (is that only me?)

And heaven forbid I have to take more than one trip from the car to the house.

(Bless apartment living)

Someday I will have a garage.

My pack-horseness might be coupled with my poor anatomy.

I was given the Johnson/Boothe ankles and feet.

Flat as boards and the ankles are caving in.

Basically, I was given a 100% chance to have HORRIBLE feet.

Thanks guys.

As a teenager, I was told by a podiatrist that I'd be in a wheelchair by age 30 if I didn't stop wearing "stupid shoes".

I just wasn't cut out for the trendy little flats.

Blast.

Did I listen to that lovely podiatrist?

Not so much.

Guess who's getting close to 30?

That would be me.

I'm beginning to hear the gentle squeaking of my wheelchair...

Yesterday I wore my Sperry's all day as I traipsed all over 

campus,

the store,

the house,

and the neighborhood.

Then, from the car to the house, I thought I should carry in the 

carseat,

diaper bag,

sonic cup

baby backpack

Johnny Jumper

laundry detergent

and husband's dinner 

at the same time.

I nearly collapsed halfway to the door.

(I'm actually not kidding.  I kind of thought I was going to die)

The flat-footed pack horse had reached her limit.

This morning I was in so much pain that I begged the Mister to take a half day off of work to care for the baby while I spent the day in awkward yoga poses trying to alleviate the pain.

He is a gem and said ok and then made me promise that I will ALWAYS take more than one trip to and from the car and then I forced myself to do something horribly emotional...

I had a shoe purge.

I know that if those tempting little nuggets are in my closet, I just won't be able to resist wearing them.

My good friend was the recipient of the shoe purge.

Lucky her.

New TOMS, boots, heels.

Ugh.

And then we went to Dillards to buy some BORNS.

Read: shoes for people like me 

(except "people like me" are usually recipients of the senior citizen discount)

Luckily, the Born brand has recently decided to make things that aren't completely hideous.

So, that's positive.

Nonetheless, I felt like crying in the shoe department.

That Mister is so patient and reminds me that it's more important to be able to walk than to wear sparkly heels.

I'm having my doubts.

Anyway, since I have to do it or you all will be pushing me around Disneyland in my wheelchair, I will be drooling over the following pairs of "good-for-me" shoes until I can afford them.

These, these, and these

and maybe these

But I did manage to buy these and a pair of metallics that I can't find online anywhere.

So, anyway, when you feel a little crick in your neck

and you find yourself craving peanut brittle 

and wishing for a 7:45 bed time...

You are not alone.

Two years as the Mister and Lady

Today is our anniversary.

Two whole years.

Feels like two minutes

but at the same time it feels like two lifetimes.

Time is strange like that.

I have learned more about myself in the last two years than probably the rest of my years combined.

I have the Mister to thank for that.

He has had his work cut out for him but he has managed to help shape me into something greater than I could have become on my own.

Let me give you some examples.

If you knew me in the growing up years, I could play the diva card pretty well.

I tried to refrain but sometimes it just happened.

The Mister made it known VERY early on that playing the diva card was unacceptable.

He would laugh at me when I did.

His laughter would make me more mad.

I don't play the diva card anymore.

Another example?

Ok.

We don't fight.

Period.

All because the Mister won't do it.

Once again, he laughs.

It really ticked me off at first but his laughter always makes me laugh.

And then it's all over.

Sometimes (all the time) he leaves crumbs on the coffee table.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is as annoying as he gets.

Even though the Mister and I dated for a year before getting married, 

he may as well have been a total stranger.

I thought I loved him then?

That was nothing.

I now love him in ways that I never even knew I was capable of.

Moving away from everyone and everything we knew created an unbelievable bond between us.

I have, over the past year in the ABQ, become completely obsessed with him.

I love everything he does (except for the crumb thing...).

I think he's ultra hilarious.

I have never witnessed a man be so loving towards an infant as he is towards Celine.

I have become more aware of his incredible sensitivity.

He would do absolutely anything I asked him

and he'd be happy about it.

(Mind you, he might forget what I asked him to do, but as long as it's on his google calendar he'd get it done.)

The man can literally speak peace to my soul unlike anyone ever.

I love talking to him.

We could talk about absolutely nothing for hours and I'd love it all the same.

So, pretty much, he's my perfect match.

I am so blessed to have found him.

I am seriously ecstatic about the adventures that are sure to follow with that guy.

Maybe it sounds like our marriage is perfect.

One thing is for sure...

it's just as perfect as we decide it will be.

And we've decided on perfection.

Love you Mister.

 *all pictures are from year two of marriage...except the first one...obviously.

What I Believe

I know the loveliest lady named Leigh Anne.

She is the author over at Your Home Based Mom.

She also happens to be the mother of one of my dearest friends.

I have been privileged enough to spend time in her home and learn from her incredible skills as a 

mother, 

wife, 

homemaker, 

cook, 

party planner, 

interior decorator, 

and the list goes on and on.

Last week she shared some info on her blog about our religion and is even offering PACKETS to give you more information about our religion.  

So, go read her post on her blog and request your packet to learn more about us by clicking here:

http://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/what-i-believe/

Xoxo, The Lady

Graceful

I believe in family.

I believe that the most important things in this world are 

PEOPLE.

No amount of money or products have ever made me happier than these people.

It doesn't matter "how good skinny feels"...

being surrounded by those I love feels better.

I believe in family.

I believe in God because I know that He gave us family.

I believe in God because I know that He wants me to be surrounded and supported by 

PEOPLE.

I believe that family comes in many shapes and sizes.

I believe that we have our blood family

and I believe we have other family members.

I believe that family is just the same whether it comes through birth at a hospital

or through an adoption agency.

I believe that God already knows who is supposed to end up with who

and if that means that I'm going to get my family through adoption

so be it.

If that means that I'll never have blood sisters

but I will have a handful of dear girls that love me unconditionally,

I'm in.

I believe in family more than I believe in most anything else.

I believe that relationships are the most important.

And I believe that it's all apart of a big plan that has been in the works for thousands of years.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Family was a really, really good idea.

Thanks for that.

Love, The Mister, Lady, and Nugget

This Girl...

is the reason I'm blogging at 2:02 am

and I don't even mind.

She is my angel baby.

I must be the luckiest.

Finding Our Happy: A New Series

Welcome friends!

As inspired by THIS POST, it is time to 

find our happy.

I've asked a few of my favorite people to contribute to this series and you are sure to read some fabulous words in the coming weeks.

New posts from fabulous people will be featured every Monday.

To start us out, I bring you one of the dearest friends God ever gave me.

May I present Mrs. Powell.

Newlywed.  First grade teacher. Homemaker of America. BFF. 

Mrs. Powell posted this on her facebook wall last week and she started it like this:

If I had a blog, this would have been on it today.

Just a few thoughts...
I love a quiet house. I love just sitting here and soaking in the sounds of my home – the ticking of the clock, the siren of a passing police car, the chatter of a bird in the trees outside the window, the steady hum of cars as they pass, the children as they play in the yard next door, my own thoughts. I can hear them, in the quiet of my home. And it’s nice to listen to them. Today they are telling me to sit and write. And maybe read for a little bit too. Before beginning to prepare dinner for McCade when he gets home.

My heart is full of gratitude and thanksgiving today, for so many things – 

For my husband, whom I love with a love that I didn’t know was possible until I knew him. 
For the changing seasons and the coming of fall. 
For cooler weather.
For trees and leaves that change colors.
For a job that provides an income for our family.
For opportunities to become more patient and loving; more like my Savior.
For the PTCAS and having it done. Finally.
For the prospect of going away to PT school next year.
For the calmness and peaceful confidence that comes from the Spirit and my Heavenly 
Father when I know we’ve done something right.
For a desire to do my Father’s will and serve in whatever part of His vineyard He 
chooses to take us.
For my love of being a wife and homemaker.
For my recent desire to be crafty and “create.”

I am so happy today; so peaceful; so content. Even though I know, deep in my mind, that there are things I could and should be worried about, I’m not worried about them today. Today is my day to feel peaceful and content. Today is my day to bask in the beauty of quietness and let it wrap me up in happy thoughts.

Thank you Mrs. Powell.

Because of you I am sitting here enjoying the sound of my humming refrigerator

which makes me grateful that I have a refrigerator and it is full of food.

That makes me blessed.

And the happy thoughts just keep coming...

(Follow Mrs. Powell on Pinterest HERE)