The Best Book Ever

I have been extremely blessed in my life. I was born into a family that was very active in the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. As a result I have come to love my church and have a strong testimony of all its beliefs. I have read the Book Of Mormon a couple of times and I have been changed because of it. Every time I have read it I have learned so many new things. It teaches love, acceptance, patience, missionary work. It tells the remarkable stories of Nephi and his family leaving Jerusalem. King Benjamin and the best speech of his life. Abinadi who's faith transcends life. Ammon who was a great missionary and his example is to be followed. Captain Moroni who just might be one of the greatest leaders ever. The two thousands stripling Warriors who were so brave at such young ages. My boys I pray will be that strong while fighting there battles on this Earth. the story of Samuel the Lamanite on the city walls. Who was so strong in such a terrifying situation. These stories are so amazing and I know that they are true and were written for our time. I know that Joseph Smith through the power of revelation translated the Book of Mormon. He lived and died so that we could all have this record. I know the Book of Mormon is true and I know that all who read it with an open heart will know the same.

Abigail is here.

I am going to let her Mom tell you all the details. I will tell you she is 7lbs. 19 in. and I am sure she is glowing and beautiful. She could not have come to Earth to a better family. I love you PEA and Family.

Benjamin and Jacob

So I am thankful for my boys today. I thought the best way to show you my life with them was to share so me of my favorite pictures, recent pictures, and old pictures. Hope you enjoy and get a little glimpse of how incredibly wonderful they have made my life. They are my inspiration.

Fourth of July. Benjamin loved it this year and even played with sparklers.

Jacob did not enjoy it so much. He fell asleep before the show even started and slept through the whole thing.

We got a small pool for the boys to enjoy this summer. They loved it and lived in it. It was so fun to see them become fear free.

There favorite thing to do was to put a ball under the water and let it bounce up and smack them in the head.

Jacobs favorite toy in our backyard is this trampoline. I swear he is going to be a stunt guy. He is not afraid of anything and the way he jumps is so cool.

I went with my sister-in-law to the Shark Reef with the boys and two of her friends boys. they had such a blast and were goofy the whole time.

Playing with Grandma Nelson. She lets them play with play dough, for hours. She has a ton of cool toys that she has had since Bobby was a boy so they are the cool play dough toys.

Putting on a show for Mom. They love to dance. There imaginations are growing like weeds.They pulled out the markers and just started wailing.

One of those days. The boys got the "marshmallow" cereal and spilled it all over the floor. Benjamin was very proud of his mess.

Jacob wanted to clean it up. He loves to use the vacuum. I think that is why he helped make a mess.

First thing in the morning. They always get up and bring a blanket to this chair and relax in the morning. They like to ease into there mornings, very much like there Mom.

They are best friends. This is just them being silly. They have are toy storage bins over there heads.

Watching for Daddy. They climb up and look for Daddy out the window when it is time for him to be home.

The infamous microwave fire. This is the car Benjamin put into the microwave and started on fire.

Ramdom park pictures

The mission Hills water park. It took us about 45 minutes to convince them to play.

Then this is where they stayed. Just taking turns and very upset when other kids started lining up.

Sunset Park. These swings are the best. My kids feel safe and they swing high.

The fire truck at Sunset park. They would not ride alone. It was both of them or nothing.

Benjamins thinking spot. I find him out here all the time. He is sitting on Bobbys pool trailer. I ask him what he is doing and he says " I just thinkin' mom." Like duh.

Another buddy picture.

Carmel apples with Grandma Lori.

We Are Family

I am so incredibly blessed to have the family that I have. I have amazing parents, and I have amazing siblings. They are who I am Thankful for today.

My older sis Jenessa helped to raise us. She got the "oldest sister" duties very early in life. My mom had to work and as a result we were home together alone during the day after school. Jenessa tried so hard to get us to clean the house and do our chores so that Mom could come home and not have to. She got a bad wrap form us growing up and I am sure could live the rest of her life without ever hearing, "you are not MOM!" She has grown into an incredible woman. She is a devoted Mom and wife. She would do anything for her kids and husband, and often does. She has been my rock lately. She lets me tag along when she goes to the store, so that I can have some help with the boys, and it makes that experience easier for me. She has came by to watch my boys a number of times when I have been in a jam. Most recently she has been my motivation. She has lost a ton of weight, every time I see her she looks more amazing. I am so proud of her hard work. She has done it by working hard and learning how to eat. And on top of that exercising her butt off, literally. She does a jazzersize class four days a week. She rocks and I love her.

My little sis, PEA. What can I say other than, WONDER WOMAN. Ever since I can remember this girl has not been afraid to try anything. She has gone after ever dream she has ever had. She has been a dancer, an actor, she had taught herself sign language and how to sew, she knows the Book Of Mormon cover to cover. I have always looked up to her and wish I had her strength. She is an amazing mom, and spends all her time and energy making sure her children have fun. She is a great example of a true Woman of God. It radiates from her. I miss her so much and wish my kids knew her better and were able to grow up around her children.

My lil brother Matthew, I think is the strongest of us all. He was raised by four girls and, I think we did a pretty great job. Since he was about 12, (just a guess not sure on the exact age) he has been in and out of the hospital. He was born with a cyst in his brain that from birth tilt hey found it was putting tremendous pressure on his brain and left eye. He was have night terrors growing up, he got headaches. When they found the cyst they thought that they could just go in and remove it and he would be fixed. It was unfortunately not that easy. The cyst had grown with him and was not able to be removed. So they inserted a shunt that went from his brain into his belly that after the cyst was drained half way, would be able to keep it half drained by draining the fluid through the shunt. Problem with this was that is was just hitting his growing stages. He grew out of his shunt a number of times. Each time they had to go back in and adjust the size of the shunt, which meant surgery. Another problem was that the shunt malfunction on numerous occasions. They did not know how to fix these problems without opening him back up and looking at the equipment, which meant more surgery. I think total he had 22 surgeries. The las on being when he had to come home early from his mission and have it fixed again. They were able to this last time finally keep the cyst from filling up and it has remained that way for 5 years now. In the midst of all of this he has remained positive and never let this, any of it from keeping him from what he wanted to do. He fought to serve a mission and although it was cut short he accomplished two years worth of work in the short time he was out there. He was an honorable missionary. Most recently he, as I have mentioned before, got approved to start flight school. He has accomplished one more of his many dreams. I wish him all the success he wants in life. This is just the beginning for him. I am so proud of him. I love him. He has a wonderful wife who has moved across the country to help him accomplish this and I am so thankful for her and her sacrifices to help him accomplish this life long dream. I love her as well.

These are my siblings who I adore and would not be today without. They have made my life a blessing. I love you all.

My Many Michael's

So, it has been crazy at my house trying to get Benjamin better. This has been the worst asthma attack yet. But, he is well now so I can start blogging again. I am not going to try to catch up with my goal of blogging everyday this month. I am going to just start with today and move forward. Today I am thankful for MY MICHAEL"S!


I for whatever reasons, and mostly due to the fact that my Mom married two, have three Michael's that have influence and impacted my life. One was my Dad, Michael Richard Pender Sr. Two is my step-dad Michael DeMille and the third is my uncle Michael Hallewell.

First my Dad. I have talk about him passing away before and this post is what I am thankful for so we will skip that part. I will say that he passed away when I was three and I have never felt that he was gone. I was felt his love for me as long as I can remember. I do not feel like I am like him very much and wonder if that would be different if he was here. Or would I be the same person I am now. Who knows. All my other siblings acquired of of his many talents. Jenessa my older sister got his beautiful gift of singing. Her voice is gorgeous. My little sister PEA, is like him in every way. She writes and acts. She is funny and social. My little brother got his hair, his love and appreciation for all types of music and his singing voice as well. I feel as though I got his genes thats pretty much it. Would that have been different if he was here to influence me? I know this is not a fair question and could stir up feelings of regret of sorrow. But for me it just adds more excited for the day I am going to meet him, and remember him and finally know what it is that I got from him. I love him so much and miss him everyday. Can you really miss someone that you do not remember. I feel like I know him. I have read his poetry and I have his scrapbooks from throughout his life that I look at regularly. I have gotten to know him through those things. I do not have a memory, any memory of him alive. And, still I feel blessed to have him in my life. I know that I will see him again and spend the rest of forever with him and my family, of that I have no doubt.

My second Michael, is simply Mike to me. He is my step-dad and has been married to my mom for ten years now. It was a rough start for us. We had a hard time blending our two, totally different families. It took me awhile to be conformable talking to him, other than the polite talk coming and going. He has become, however a man who loves my mom. He takes care of her. I respect his opinion and ask for his advice. We have found a place where we are both comfortable and I love him for who he is.

Mt third Michael is my uncle Mike Hallewell. When my father died he jumped in and help my mom with the "fatherly" tasks. He reminds me often that he and my Aunt would take me to church when I was little before they had kids and tell people I was theres. We formed and instant bond for that point forward. He has always been there for me. He came over every year at the beginning of the school year and gave us blessings. He was the Priesthood holder for our family. We knew he would come in a heart beat whenever we needed him. He has listened to my problems and given me advice. He helped us go to EFY during the summer and has strength my testimony of the gospel whenever I have been in his home. I spent many days with his family growing up. He was my example of the kind of Man I wanted to marry and have bless my family. He has helped to make me the person I am today. He still cares for me and I love his hugs whenever I see him.

These are my Micheal's. I am grateful to everyone. They have helped me so much to grow and learn.

For Yesterday

I was woken up yesterday morning by Benjamin at 630 a.m. I know that sounds normal to all of you but he usually sleeps til about 8. He was coughing pretty bad and it only took me seconds to realize he was wheezing. He has struggled with asthma since he was born and this was the worse one yet. I have a nebulizer and a life time supply of Albuteral here so I started treatments. The first one did not do a thing he sounded just as bad afterwards. So I immediately gave him another one. Sometimes it takes two, and thats what we so at the doctors. They told me last time that I could do this at home before I came in. I waited for the second treatment to finish, and had a little voice say in my head that I needed to take him to the doctor. I instantly thought that this was just the "paranoid mom" I have in my head that visit to make things worse and blurs the image of what I see to make them much worse than they are. I tossed it aside and continued to wait for this treatment to work. Meanwhile Jacob was awake now and wanted some cereal. So, I left Benjamin to finish the treatment by himself, he is a pro and I knew he could handle it. I got Jake some thing to eat and came back to check on Ben. He had finished his medicine and I gave it a min before I started to really listen. Sure enough that little voice was not my paranoid self. It was The Holy Ghost. After two treatments he seemed worse. I called Bobby first, he had a teacher development day yesterday, so he had no kids. He told me that we are given as mothers that intuition and I needed to follow it. If I think it silly or not. I then called my Mom and she told me the same thing. So I made an appointment with his doctor and waited for it to be time. I called at about 11:30 and his appointment was not until 2:30 and it was about 45 mins away from me. It was the longest 2 hrs. of my life. In that time I gave him 2 more treatments and kept him calm and sitting, which was not hard and just confirmed that something must be wrong. every other time before this has happened he has still been a ball of energy I have to try to control and keep from getting to excited. Yesterday he just sat on my bed. He did not want anything to eat or drink. So, i left my house at 1:15 and met Bobby at his school which was about 2 mins from the doctors office. He took Jacob back to work with him for the remainder of his day , which was about 20 mins., and I took Ben to see Dr. Nyarko. We got there about 20 mins. early but the staff was great. The doctor was doing a circumcision and for obvious reasons had to finish. His nurses took over. They checked to O2 level and went to talk to the doctor. The doctor came in quickly after that and explained to me that his O2 level was 94. In order for us to leave the office it had to be back up to 98 or better and if we could not get it under control Benjamin would have to be admitted to the hospital. Benjamin was a trooper through the whole thing and this kept me from breaking down. It is so hard to watch your children so sick. Well, sick at all. We had to do three treatments of a medicine I will not even attempt to spell, but it does the same thing as the Albuteral, but is way stronger. His O2 started to gradually get better and was at 98 at the end of that. They tried to give him a pill so that he would not have to have a shot, but Benjamin was not having it. So he had to get a shot in his leg. This was the worst. He cried for about 5 mins., well he screamed and would not talk to the nurse after she did that to him. He had already gotten two suckers for doing such a good job and the nurse felt so bad that the shot upset him so much, we ended up with a bag of farm animals as well. He finally said thank you after we got the animals and we were free to go. On the way home I got to really thinking about my prompting and all day had not given the thanks I needed for that nudge to go to the doctor. If I had waited any longer and his O2 dropped to 93 he would have had to be admitted to the hospital.

So today, well yesterday, I am thankful for the Holy Ghost. I know that He is real and can be with us everyday if we choose to make him an important part of our lives. I am so grateful that I was blessed to be born into the church and have the knowledge of the Holy Ghost since I was little and then to have received the gift of his presence for always when I was eight and choose to be baptized an d become a member of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter day Saints. I know the Church is true and I am so grateful to have it in my life and to see it blessing my children's lives as well.

WHAT????

I never thought that I would ever be thankful, to the extent I am anyways for todays gift. Saying that however I am thankful today for television. More specifically PBS. My boys have been sick lately and today it was a down day for them both. Great for me bad for them. They woke up and wanted to do nothing. I have never had this happen. They have both been sick before, Benjamin a lot with his asthma, but they have always had tons of energy anyway. Today all the energy seemed to be sucked right out of them. Do not know if it was the medicine they took to sleep the night before or if there little bodies just knew they needed to get better. They sat on my bed the entire day. I turned PBS on and they watched from 7 a.m. til about 2 p.m. I watched with them in between cuddling them and having Jacob pick a book to read, and doing my household duties but most of the day was spent in front of the television.

What I love most about PBS is first, no commercials. I do not have to continue to check if they are seeing something that there little souls do not need, second they learn while they watch. They interact and respond to questions there brains are still turning as they sit. They do not turn into zombies who are having there intelligence sucked out of them. There shows are smart and aimed at bettering children and making them love reading, activities, and asking questions. (I know at the same time sucking you into there world so you will continue to watch and totally contradicting but hey you go with what you got right?)

So today it is PBS.

Today It Is Washcloths

Yesterday my boys were having one of there weird days. Benjamin usually is very independent and loves to be on his own doing his own thing. Yesterday all he wanted was Mom. Jacob was overly whinny and also just wanted Mom. I spent most of the day taking care of them and just giving them what they wanted and needed. At about 630 they both lost it, they started crying and fighting over who got me. I decided that it was a great time for the bath. I got them both in and they asked me for washcloths and we played in the tub for almost an hour. I would have kept them there all night but the water was cold. I am amazed still how the littlest things make them so happy. We spent an hour making storms, cleaning up, and dropping the washcloths in the water to make big slashes. All day I needed something this simple and so that is why today I am thankful for Washcloths.

I Am Thankful

I have decided that everyday this month I am going to blog about something I am thankful for. I am not promising anything long each day but I am going to make a post each day. Anyone that feels as grateful as me fell free to do the same.


1. I am Thankful for my Husband.

I know easy. But not many people know just how much he does for me on a daily basis. I ma not talking about work, or those things he does to support us. He is my best friend. HE is the only person in my life that continues to have faith in everything I do (aside from my mom). He never gives up on me. If I am having a bad day and take it out on him, he is very quick to be understanding and forgiving. He loves me for the real person I am and he believes in everything about me. He is my rock. He makes me want to be better everyday for him. I feel incredibly lucky to have him forever.