He Trusts Us.

So Bobby is two weeks from being done with school and we are getting more and more excited with every passing day. I can not wait to move out and have a place of my own and he can not wait to just be done.

One that note we have been trying to decide where to move. Do we stay in Vegas? IF we do do we settle in Henderson so I can be close to my family, or do we move far from everyone and have a fresh start where nobody knows us? Or do we move completely far away to ARIZONA of all places, where we have some family and still get a fresh start?

We have been talking and praying and talking and praying for months and have narrowed down to Arizona or Las Vegas. That was a joke for those who did not catch it. We can not decide and we have gotten no definite this is it answer. Well that was until yesterday.

I was sitting in Relief Society all alone, which never happens, I usually have one of my kids. We were having a lesson on eternal perspective and how we seek to obtain it. We got on the subject of prayer and answers to them. And I got my answer. I was sitting next to Sister Miller who I am sure has no idea here comment was meant for my ears. She said that we can receive three answers to our prayers, 1. A Yes, which means Go for it you made the right choice, YEA you. 2. A No, which means Woo, hold it Go Back Go Back you need to start over and try again. 3. No answer, which I used to take as a You asked the wrong question or went about it all the wrong way. But as Sister Miller continued their it was. I was hit in the head. I knew all that she had said already so I thought that the next part would be more or less the same I had already heard. But she said that when we receive no answer that the Lord is putting his trust in us, now i know that the Lord trusts us to make our own decisions. If he did not we probably would not have agency and who knows what else but I had never heard it is plainly put and never put in the form of an answered prayer. So there it was the answer I have been searching for and the reason we have not made a decision. We are going to take it one day at a time and see where our cards fall. IF all goes well when we sit Arizona in a couple of weeks that will be our destination. Or if he gets a job here that we can not pass up r he feels really great about we will stay here and move close to his school. As soon as I know you will. I am hoping for Arizona in case you were wondering.

I get them Forever

I am posting this a day early because we are moving, and I may not have access to my computer tomorrow. I have also change my first song on my playlist in memory of them. This is not intended to make you sad but help you all remember them and who they were. Please share your thoughts and memories as we remember Michael Richard Pender Sr., and Michael Richard Pender Jr.

On this day in 1985 my Father and oldest brother were in a car accident that took there lives. I was three and at the time could not even begin to comprehend what death meant or what it even was. Throughout the years I struggled with the way to handle the emotions I felt as the reality of growing up without a Father manifested itself. I never got angry. I never felt terribly sad. I from very early on never really felt like I lost them. I struggled with this while my sisters and brother would talk about how life would be different if he was here and if they never left us. I am sure that is true but I never had those feelings. I did not understand unitl the day I was married why it was so easy for me to put those emotions aside and not grieve them. I was kneeling across the alter looking into my future husbands eyes. He was looking at me with a smile on his face and as we both said yes I looked into the mirror behind him and there standing in the room with us was my father Michael R. Pender Sr. and standing next to him was my brother Michael R. Pender Jr. It was then that all the emotions I had felt throughout the years came flooding back and i knew. This life is a blib in the whole scheme of things. I get them forever. Now do not get me wrong. I miss them terribly and cry when I miss them or feel them near. Whenever I feel lonely or lost or happy I feel them with me. I never have had a day go by that they have not been with me. Its crazy to because I do not remember them. They re in my memory the way they looked in 85. But I feel that they are still here everyday and when I need a friend or have a moment when I need my Dad he is there.

Please help me remember them and celebrate not only them in this life but that we all get to live together with them again and share all the memories we made together hear and make new ones with them in eternity.

YES!! She is my Favorite.

You Are Ariel!

Headstrong and fiesty. You have a mind of your own that's full of romantic dreams about the world around you. Exploring exotic places is your ultimate dream, and although you can be a little naive you'll realize that there is something to be gained from your family's wisdom.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

63 Things To do with my Kids.

My mother-in-law stole an magazine on her last flight because it had an article she read and thought of me. She gave it to me last night and it was awesome. It is a list of 63 things to do to get wild with your kids. I loved them all and am going to do them all over the course of my children's life. I will post my success as I go and let you share in our adventures with us. Here is the list if anyone else is interested. Its fun and it made my mind spring off into a spider web creativity effect and I can add more as I go.

1. Run a marathon. I am definitely going to do this we run everyday and can not wait to run a marathon with my family.
2. Destroy a toaster. When your old one needs to be replaced let your kids experiment with the old one. Take it apart with them to learn how it works.
3. Screen silent movies.
4. Build a super sand castle. they have workshops to teach you how in South padre Island.
5. Vote. Have your kids go with you when you vote teach them young about its importance.
6. Walk off the edge of the Grand Canyon. They have that new see-through glass sky walk.
7. Get old school. Show them you high school year books and let them laugh at you and your clothes.
8. Pull Taffy. We used to do this with my Grandma and I loved it. I can wait to make it a tradition in my home.
9. Tour the world in a trio of American cities. Chicago's Ukraine Village. Washington D.C.'s Little Ethiopia, and Anaheim's Little Gaza.
10. Do lunch. Take you child out of school and take them to lunch with just you and them.
11. Crack Cascarones. They are confetti filled egg shells. Just break of the top portion of an egg. Pour out the eggs contents. Let them dry. Decorate the egg shells as you wish. Fill egg with confetti. Cover hole with tissue paper. Them have a egg-static time throwing them around.
12. Camp out. In your backyard. Pitch a tent and enjoy the stars.
13. Go guerrilla. Commit random acts of kindness anonymously.
14. Get lost in a snow globe. Make your own family version of a giant snow globe. Instructions can be found at hgtv.com
15. Got to work. Let you children see what you do for a day.
16. Explode a volcano. Just a little baking soda and Kaboom. eshow.com has step-by-step instructions.
17. Discover planet Earth. Watch the 11 part series over the course of a couple of weeks.
18. Go puddle jumping.
19. Make a portable height chart. in case you do not live in the same place forever. Our is a piece of 4x4. The magazine suggested a piece of felt.
20. Score a pro baseball. Or at least try to. Do not just try to catch a fly ball ask the players to give you a ball when sitting there watching the game.
21. Make pizza. let you kids do whatever and add whatever they want to the pizza of there choice. Let them be creative and enjoy finding out for themselves why we do not eat, pepperoni with chocolate and jellybeans.
22. "Get" money. Teach you kids young to save and pay tithing or share, there money. Have three piggy banks and label them. Tithing, Spend, Save. Teach them and let them decide what to pay to each.
23. Make snow angels.
24. Read kid classics. My uncle Mike and his family read a t least one book a month with the whole family and would read before scripture study. It was so cool and fun to be there and enjoy in the family time together. It also instilled a love of reading in most of there kids.
25. Give piggy back rides.
26. Pitch in. Volunteer to help clean up your city or town. There are a tone of ways even in the smallest of town.
27. Stuff a time capsule. include not only important things for you at the time you make it but write a note to yourself about why you liked those specific things.
28. Make a tasty breakfast in bed. For mothers and fathers day let your kids help make breakfast and jump into bed with you to enjoy the meal. Isn't that what we are celebrating on these days. HELLO!
29. Swim with the dolphins. Find the closest place to you on the web.
30. Build an obstacle course in your backyard.
31. Get carded in D.C. The book City walks with kids is a book with double sided cards with fun things to do in D.C. centered around kids. The book is by Chronicle books.
32. Watch Julie Andrews. Or whoever your favorite kid friendly actor was at there age.
33. Skate on Olympic ice. You can skate where the athletes skated in Salt Lake city from October to March. Visit utahathleticsfoundation.com.
34. Visit a petting Zoo. Find locations in every state at pettingzoofarm.com.
35. Write thank you notes. Teach you kids young that this is a good way to show your appreciation for those that do things for them. I love sending out thank you for birthday cards and presents.
36. Make mud pies.
37. Launch water balloons. I would totally make this into a science thing and have my kids play around with a whole bunch of launchers and have them build there own. Predict which launcher would go the farthest and see what you can do to make those that do not work as well better.
38. Install a tire swing.
39. See a drive in movie. Love this because there is no stress to keep your kids quiet or worry about them disrupting others with questions about what is going on. driveinmovie.com has locations around the states.
40. Ride a pair of wooden roller coasters. There a a few different locations to choose from. aceonline.org is the roller coaster enthusiasts website with the locations.
41 Meet the Wizard of Oz. L. Frank Baum’s classic fantasy series comes in many different forms, so your kids can enjoy it over and over again as they grow up:

4 to 8: Ease your child into the Oz universe with Robert Sabuda’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz pop-up book (Little Simon). The spinning cyclone, rising hot-air balloon, and set of wearable emerald-tinted eye spectacles will get them hooked.
8 to 9: Watch the classic 1939 film. If your kids startle easily, you might want to fast-forward through the flying monkeys and melting witch.
9 to 12: Read Baum’s books—all 14 of them. Dorothy’s adventures didn’t end when she returned to Kansas. In fact, she soon sets up shop in the Emerald City, taking Auntie Em and Uncle Henry with her. Grab the Dover edition of the books, complete with John R. Neill’s delightful illustrations, and introduce your child to Jack Pumpkinhead, Ozma, Rinkitink, and the rest of Dorothy’s new friends.
10 to 12: See Wicked, the smash Broadway musical about Elphaba, Glinda, and life in Oz before Dorothy showed up. Reserve a seat at the permanent shows in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, or catch the tour near you this summer.
12: Watch Return to Oz, the 1985 cult classic. A quasi-sequel to the original film, Return incorporates characters and plot elements from Baum’s later books, including Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz.
Adult: While your kid watches her fifth straight showing of Oz, amuse yourself by reading Salman Rushdie’s The Wizard of Oz, part of a British Film Institute series on classic movies.
42. Race downhill. I have many, one in particular, fond memories of racing downhill with my siblings. I will never forget them.
43. See stars. On the Hollywood walk of fame.
44. Fly to the home of flight. Manteo, North Carolina. See the Wright brothers museum with films and reproductions of there first fliers.
45. Bottle up lightning bugs. Go east of Kansas and catch these guys by the hundreds.
46. Make a mobile. visit artcyclopedia.com for a guide.
47. Sled in sand. Add furniture polish to the rails of you sled and go for it.
48. Bust mutton. In English ride a sheep.
49. Make a bird feeder. Buy a bird book at the store to indentifiy the birds that drop by for a feed.
50. Teach good greetings. How to talk and communicate successfully. How to introduce yourself under every circumstance.
51. Hunt for fossils. If you do not have someplace near home to do this. Make your own with some bones and sticks in the back your.
52. Meet your inner pirate. There are tons of pirate celebrations year round in many different locations. search for the closest near you and find your treasure.
53. Grow a carrot top tree. Kind of like a potato in a jar. Just cut off the top of a carrot and put it in like warm water and watch it grow new leaves.
54. Eat king cake. Its a mardi gras classic and the best is found in Lafayette, Louisiana at Meches Donut King.
55. Do Disney. Smee this one for you. You can not let your kids get to old before you experience Disney world of Disneyland.
56. Play with shadows. Perfect FHE. Put up a white sheet and a light and write your own shadow puppets story. Get crazy and use your feet as well as your hands.
57. Learn Math. This is such a cool idea. Instead of chalk boards and dry erase boards. Cover them with shaving cream and let them use there finger to work out problems. Then just smooth it over and do another one.
58. Beckon butterflies. Make a butterfly garden. There are tons of books that explain how and I am sure you could find instructions online as well.
59. Ride an electric trolley. They have them in Dallas for free and San Francisco for a price.
60. Spin in a circle. At my house its called twirling. We see you can last the longest without falling over.
61. Sail into the sunset. If you do not have a sail boat. Rent on out or go on a tour.
62. Climb a tree.
63. Saddle up. Find a place to go on a horse riding adventure. It is an awesome alternative to hiking. And you get to be in nature. Can not beat that.

Things I have taught my kids

I love the teaching aspect of being a Mom. I love watching my kids figure things out and, learn things. Having my boys at the ages they are now, (2 1/2 and 19 months) they learn a lot in the course of a day. That being said I have learned more and more everyday that your kids not only learn those things that are taught, for example colors, shapes, numbers, words. They learn everything from you. I have comprise a list of those things that I inadvertantly taught my kids, this is not neccesarily a good thing.

Benjamin now says:

"That's enough", whenever jacob cries, which I say to jacob (when he is whinning) and the dog when he barks.
"Are you kidding me?" whenever I catch him doing something naughty.
"Get off your phone" whenever I say anything to a car while drivng.
"What", whenever I speak to him, i think because it is hard to understand him so when he is with people other than me and Bobby, but us included, we say what to him when we can not understand him.

He not only says these things but it is like looking in the mirror when he says them. He makes my facial expressions and somethimes stands just like me while reapting these phraes.

Jacob now says:

"Benjamin", with a tone like I use when Ben is beating Jacob, whenever he is being attacked.
"Eww, that is stinky", with his nose in the air when I changed Benjamins diaper.

It is amazing to me how much they watch and listen to you. I have also learned that if I over reacted when the little things happen that they both over react over everything they can not do. I am trying to remain calm and the last couple of weeks have been wonderful. I find that Ben and Jacob try to figure things out on there own a lot more. They are less whinny, and a lot more happy. It is true what they say, The mom sets the tone for the mood of the house.

I Have Been Tagged By PEA!

If your life were a soundtrack, what would the music be?

Here’s how it works:

1. open your library (iTunes, winamp, media player, iPod)

2. put it on shuffle

3. press play

4. for every question, type the song that’s playing

5. new question — press the next button

6. don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool


opening credits: The Little Things, Cobbie Calliat

waking up: What A Beautiful Day, Chris Cagle

first day at school: Hide and Seek, Imogen Heap

falling in love: You're a Superstar, DJ Sammy

breaking up: Sending Postcards From a Plane, Fall Out Boy

prom: Tequila Loves Me, Kenny Chesney_ That was Funnny

life’s okay: Your My Angel, Anberlin

mental breakdown: True Colors, Fredero Starr

driving: Fine With Me, Little Big Town

flashback: Ellsworth, Rascal Flatts

gettting back together: Say It Right, Nellu Furtado

wedding: Days Of New, Lagwagon

birth of child: You'll be in my Heart, Glenn Close_ That was crazy

final battle: Take my breath away, Dido

death scene: You've got a Friend in Me, From Toy Story

end credits: Ocean Avenue, Yellowcard

That was fun. Alot of these songs have never heard either. This is manly Bobbys music.
The country and kids songs i know but the other ones are a mystery to me. Crazy that the titles of some of them match what it corresponds to but when you listen to the song it has nothing to do with it. Thanks Pea that was fun.

I tagged penders