The Final Result

So, here is the final result of my haircut. (Not my best picture, but it'll work.)
By the way, if you ever are looking for a great hairstylist in Ridgecrest I recommend Marilyn at Madison Avenue -- she was fabulous! Jim is even happy with it and thrilled that it is not too short. All in all, I think it worked out great!

And the winner is . . .

After counting up all the votes, the majority vote (including the all-important husband vote) goes to the Reese Witherspoon look. My haircut is tomorrow. I will have pictures up tomorrow afternoon, hopefully! Thanks everybody for your input!

Hairstyle Options

I have been wanting to cut my hair for a really long time. So, I decided to look up some options and have you all vote on what you think I should do. (Thanks, Aimee, for the idea.) Let me know which one you think I should go with!

Family Time

Today we watched the General Conference and listened to the Prophet of the Lord speak to us. The main thing that he talked about that really hit me was as he talked about how children grow up and move away and how a parents often feel pangs of regret for not doing more with their children.

I also had watched a special program before the closing session of Conference called "Real Families, Real Solutions." This episode was about Protecting Family Time. As I watched I could feel how important it is to have family time together and how much it means to the children. I made a commitment right then to spend more time with my children.

Now, I have to say that this is not an easy thing for me to do. I like to keep busy and get things done. When children help with anything, it takes so much longer. Also, if I take the time to play with them I am not getting work done that I need to.


But, I decided to commit to it so today I decided to try it out. I had gotten the ingredients to make a special cheesecake for Jim. Cheesecake is his favorite and I found an amazing recipe that I wanted to try out. The girls and I giggled in the kitchen as we made this "surprise" for Daddy. They were so excited! We even added a little decoration on top. It turned out to be so much fun and I noticed the girls were happier all evening than they had been the rest of the day. Jim even had a fun idea to put a candle on it and take turns blowing it out to celebrate our "un-birthdays." The girls thought that was such a great idea. We all made a wish and blew out the candle.

Not only did I spend time with my children, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! Families truly are the center of God's plan and I know that is where we will find true happiness.

My Favorite People

After working outside all day on Friday the little girls were so tired and fell asleep with their Daddy. I loved seeing all three of them together. It makes me so happy to see my wonderful husband with our children. As I watch them I realize how truly blessed I am.

Beautifying our Yard

We spent a lot of time on Friday working in our yard. The weather felt wonderful and we spent quite a few hours outside as a family. We all loved it, including the girls.

This little palm tree was planted in our front patio area.
We planted this palm tree in our backyard. It is so cute! You can see how small it is compared to the girls. Violatte was especially proud of this tree because she had her little shovel and was helping her Daddy plant it. She was such a big help.

My favorite project was our garden. I love having a garden and I have missed having one for the last couple of years. This is our little garden. On Friday we planted carrots (Violatte's favorite), tomatoes (Jim's favorite), and peas (my favorite). Violatte is soooo excited for her carrots to grow. She can't wait to see them. On Monday we are going to plant some peppers and tomatoes. It's so wonderful to have a garden again. The girls helped so much moving bricks and planting the seeds and watering. I love doing yard work as a family.

Scorpion Sighting

The other day Jim found a scorpion in his cubicle. It was a very little one and hopefully you can see it in these pictures. It is in the jar. It's kind of crazy looking.