Simple Joys and Little Boys.

See that face? This is the look of pure joy and innocence. (And just plain adorable.) I am lucky enough to have 3 of these little faces in my life.

Today was about the simple joys.

Baby steps. Toddler giggles. Triumphs of great bravery. Finding a life metaphor in a windshield wiper on a rainy day. A good hug. The strong Spirit felt.
The simple joys of life are not to be taken for granted or ignored, but loved and noticed. I am grateful for the simple joys in my life and especially in my day today.
This is what life is all about. :)

Much Love!!

I learned it from Quinci!

In Quinci style, I am taking a picture of my missionary letter. I got my first letter from Elder Rife. (What a stud.) I was disappointed when he told me that owls don't deliver their mail in the MTC, but got the hint when he said that it is just as exciting to get letters... Thanks for the letter, Elder!



I may not have learned the following from Quinci... But I know she would approve, so I'll keep the title. :)

I try to never take life too seriously... Like today.

Thatcher's feet are just so cute. :)

Last night we hid from Mom in her bed... She found us.



So if this blog were to have a different title, it'd probably be about raisins.... That's all I have to say about that.

.... Oh yeah. And thank you for them! :)

Much Love!!

Ewww! Kissing!

Happy Anniversary to the best parents I have ever had! :) 32 years never looked so good! Thank you so much for the example you are to me. I love you, Mom. I love you, Dad.

First day back at work today! You are reading the writings of a human that is freshly re-certified in First Aid, CPR, and AED! I sure hope that I never need to give anyone CPR, but at least I know it! Keep drinking grape juice and eating avocados!
Malena and I had fun drawing each other during our class.


We know that we are amazing artists, you don't have to tell us.

We also got the back to school bulletin board finished! This is the simplest one we have done in our 3 years, and we still ended up covered in glitter and glue! I guess that is why we work with children, huh?
Yes. That is a cow jumping over the moon. :) We stapled a stuffed animal to our board. Talent.


Curls are in my blood, they are on my head, I suppose it only makes sense that they come from my hand as well. That is about the only thing that I can draw.


I am grateful for my curls and my funny toes and everything that I have been given. How I got so lucky in this life, I have no clue! I hope that you feel joy today! :)

Much Love!!

Game Time.

Ok. So yesterday I played this wonderful game that I want to share with you. It is called:
"And I thought MY room was messy!"

Here is my room:



I was thinking that it was time I got to work on cleaning up my room when I walked over and got a look at Lizzie's room:





Then at Hannah's:




My sisters are so fantastic. We have all been working hard to clean other parts of the house, inside and out and been involved in other things. I am so grateful that we have so many opportunities to be doing other things so that our rooms can be messy and create this wonderful 'game' for us. We sure got a laugh out of this, I hope you can too. It just goes to show that sometimes we think that our problems (or rooms) are so messy until we step back and get a new perspective. Haha I love my family and I am grateful to be home with them while I am off-track. What a blessing. :)

Much Love!!

Blog Sandwich

I have decided that this post needed to be a sandwich. An unfortunate and scarring thing happened today. BUT to tone it down, I will put positive bread on the outside of the yucky inside.

Guess what I had for breakfast today!?!?! That is right. I had EXTRA RAISIN raisin bran. :)




Once upon a time, Meem and Marc were slaving away in the wilderness/ backyard when Marc pulled a weed up that she should have left in the ground. Attached to the roots was a venomous, blood-sucking, life-stealing SPIDER! Dun dun dun!



Ok. So spiders totally freak me out. And this one really looked like it had a peanut connected to it which kind of ruins peanuts for me. But fortunately I Googled it. It isn't poisonous... and we killed it anyways. Ooops.

But on the upside, isn't Thatcher adorable?? How was I so blessed to have the most adorable nephews on the planet? I don't know, but I certainly won't complain. :)




As far as updates go, Lawnie is on the fritz. This could be the end...

Also, I have been thinking in an Australian accent of late because of a current obsession with a
TV show that may involve mermaids... But you didn't hear it from me.

Institute this week was on John chapter 6. The bread of life. Jesus Christ. A lot of good things came from our discussions, but the thing that stuck with me most, I think, was the question that Brother Ramos asked in the beginning: "How has the 'bread' tasted this week?" How has the Word tasted this week? Have our blessings or trials led us to Jesus Christ or have we been caught up in other things? Just something to think about. :)

As always, I am so grateful for my many blessings. When I step back and look at them, I realize that I couldn't even count them all if I tried. Life is just great when we choose to focus on the positives. I hope you enjoyed the Bread in my blog sandwich today. :)

P.S. I have spend my entire life thinking that sandwich was spelled sandwhich up until this very afternoon! Spellcheck saves lives, I know it.

Much Love!!

Vacation Video

I only spent - an hour on this... So let's not be critical. :) I just wanted some kind of video of Summer vacation pictures.

P.S. You might want to pause the music on the side because there is music in the video! And sorry about the poor picture quality. I guess that's what internet does to beautiful works of art sometimes. :P

It's a little late, but better late than never! I could write a whole paragraph about every picture and the story that goes with it, but I'm sure you can have fun making up your own stories. I had such a wonderful vacation in Washington with my family. I was so blessed to be able to go with them. Washington has to be the best place in the world. :)

Oh yeah. And I tagged some pictures from my life at home so far on the end. :) Enjoy!

Much Love!!

Pin the Smore on the Jason?

The thing about being home is that I have to move in. And since you are kind enough to read my... less than exciting blog, I'll let you in on a little secret: I don't like moving in.
The last couple of days, I have worked long and hard (with the help of my ever-loving mother) to move into what used to be Lizzie's room.
(2 things: I still almost walk into my old room, now Hannah's, every time I walk upstairs. And Thank you thank you thank you, Momma. You have worked really hard to help me be comfortable in this room and I want you to know that I really appreciate it.)
Now we all know that a picture is worth a thousand words. Or at least that is what they say. (Those dang theys always gotta be sayin' stuff!)

Side note: I just put one of my trusty elastic headbands on to contain my frizz and I feel like Violet from A Series of Unfortunate Events. P.S. Why do I feel like I am the only person who ever made it through all 13 of those books? *Insert cricket noise here*

What do you think? Are they right? 1000 words, eh? Digging in the closet is bound to produce treasures such as the yellow shoes below. I'm starting the bids at.... $30,000. As if the hue and clown'ness of the shoes isn't enough, I'll assure you. Yes. My actual lips did touch these.
(Notice the band-aid on my thumb. Battle scars. Let me just tell you. Once you jam your thumb and half of your nail is purple, you begin pity all the poor animals without opposable thumbs. I sure take that for granted! Thanks for the opportunity to learn my lesson!)


This is one of many stages of clutter that has been eliminated and relocated. (Why is it that when you take a picture of a big mess that it always looks less-impressively messy?)


I could only find this decrepit hammer to put a nail in the wall. It is kind of crumbling... but it worked... eventually. Didn't a wise tortoise once say something about 'slow and steady winning the race?' (And yes, thank you for asking. I have not showered today. Haha)


As far as an update on my life at home...
I am attending the Singles ward. I LOVE institute so far! Brother Ramos is amazing! I am learning so much already! There are no less than 5 Jasons in the ward. Holly and are currently planning a 'pin the smore on the Jason' party. Stay tuned for invites.
I am still astounding people all around with the fact that I went to 2 semesters at BYU-I-Do and didn't come back married, engaged, or attached. Pretty impressive, I know. Maybe I should put that on my resume...
I am loving spending every free moment with my wonderful family and playing and giggling with my 3 boyfriends... I mean nephews. (I helped Holly cut Meem's hair today. Let me tell you, it works better if you put the scissors in your right hand...)
August Rife, one of my heroes, went into the MTC on Wednesday. He will serve in Londrina, Brazil. I feel confident that he will be a wonderful missionary. Good luck, Elder Rife! Be strong.
Ashlyn and I are thinking of starting a non-profit, overnight, impromptu, babysitting business for mothers in labor, since we are practically professionals already after our 2 nights in a row. It will be referred to as NPOIBBfMiL. That's easy to remember, right?
Oh.
In case anyone was wondering about the validity of my URL, I am still getting mail addressed to 'Marc Cullen' and although I have my guesses, I have still never found the culprit. Thanks for always being the one question that I can never find the answer to. The mystery brings a smile to my face with every credit card app and army recruit.



In typical Michelle fashion, I just want to say thank you to the extra raisins in my life. Life is a box of cereal and it's better when there are raisins to sweeten the bran. Haha That might be one of the grossest metaphors ever made. But really, thank you. :)

So you want to see what my room looks like after all of my hard work, you say?

Nah! Your imagination could use a workout. :)

Much Love!!