Quote for week three and four

The quote for this week (and last!) is "Get things swell and keep them swell." I'm way overdue for a new quote, and I'm sorry, but things have been a little overwhelming for me. (It's obvious why I picked that quote.)

So, here's to a week of getting our lives in order and happy and keeping them that way.

Oh, and the quote is one by Grampa Wilber

Emma's Baptism

Well, we finally did it! Emma got baptized. It was a wonderful experience with a spotlight from mom (Mary), an exciting talk about baptism by Gramma Nancy (does she ever do anything not exciting?), A duet by Emma and her mom, a sweet talk about the Holy Ghost by Aunt Stephanie and dad's (Gary's) First chance to baptize one of his children.

Week #2 quote

Hello one and all. This week's Glidewellism is by Ann Glidewell. "It is not a chore to do something for someone you love. It's a privilege and a blessing."

This week I'm trying to remember that it is not an irritating thing to do things for my children no matter how often they ask. I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about! Doing the same thing over and over in a short period of time tends to raise my blood pressure a bit.

Good luck this week as you strive to find the blessings of serving those you love.

Holt kid pictures

Here are a few pictures from this last week. I was taking pictures of Simeon on his blessing day. The girls were loving it and decided to get in on the action. I'll have to put the ones of Simeon on another post later. Bekah loves to make silly faces for the camera.

Here's Rebekah in the uniform we bought for Joseph, but he literally won't touch the thing. It fits Bekah and Sariah great though. They have a lot of fun wearing it.

Spaghetti face Joseph. Pasta is his favorite food.

And last but not least is Elizabeth. We started potty training with her today. We bought a training toilet for her. (All I can say is ewwww!) I have never used one for any of the other kids simply because I think they are disgusting. She is now terrified of the real toilet since she fell in all the way while Uncle Timmy was watching her. (Don't worry Tim, I'm not blaming you, I just think it's funny!) Before that you couldn't keep her away from the toilet. That was a while back, and I've just now gotten brave enough to go forward with the potty chair setup. So far she has peed on the floor four times today and pooped on it once, and the total for the potty chair is a big fat zero! Yes, I know, that's exactly the information that you were all looking forward to reading today. For some reason Joseph is convinced that the chair has to be outside and he keeps taking it out there for Lizzie. She is loving it. I found her out there like this this evening, and just had to take a picture. Some day she's going to be dating right? Gotta have those blackmail pictures!

Oh, and here is this one. It reminds me of a shirt I got for Joseph from Aunt Nancy's boys. It has a restroom style stick figure on the front that is falling down, and it says, "I do all my own stunts." The stick figure looks just like Joseph in this picture. He actually belly flopped off the wall this evening, picked himself up, dusted his shirt off and went at it again. It was seriously a belly flop. He landed flat on his tummy just like a pancake. Crazy kid. So far he is the only one to get a concussion out of all my kids. Twice actually. Funny thing though...he's to chicken to go down the slide at the park!

Happy New Year! (Week #1)

Happy New Year everyone! Another year is gone, and we have a new one ahead of us. The last week I have been thinking about new year's resolutions. I personally never make them. Jacob is the goal setter (and achiever) unlike me. I have never liked them, even though Jacob is always after me to have a goal in mind. I have been thinking of Wilber Glidewell and thinking of what an impact he had on the lives of everyone around him. Anyone who remembers him has good memories of him and a great opinion of the kind of man he was. So, I'm starting out this new year with quotes from him and a few from his parents. I'll post them on here for you guys also so you can follow along if you would like. The idea is to take the quotes and do your best to follow them that week. Then the next week add the next to that one and try to become a better person little by little this year. I'm already really excited about it and am stocking up on quotes for the year. My day today has been so much better already and the kids are really happy simply because I'm trying my best to be happy. I want our kids to have a positive happy outlook on life, and they aren't going to have that if I don't. I want to be happy and productive even though Jacob is gone and I don't know when we'll be together again. I want to find the joy in life and be a better person, so here it goes!

This week's quote is from Paul Glidewell: "No matter what the job, do it like you enjoy it and do the best you can."

I'm going to try to do my scripture study this year to match the self-improvement project. To start this quote off I'm going to study the talk by Elder Wirthlin from conference. "Come What May and Love It" is the title I think. If any of you would like to join me with this this year or even every once in a while that would be great. If you don't want to that's fine too. Put the success stories here if you want.

I picked this quote to begin with so that I can start with some happiness since Jacob left yesterday. I'm back to life without him and most of you probably know that I despise doing the dishes and the laundry. Now I'm back to doing them without him here to help. Who wants to wash the same dishes and mountains of clothes day after day? Not me that's for sure! So far today with the new outlook I've been able to do the dishes, sweep the floor and take up the trash all with a smile and not lose my temper when the kids interrupt me in my dreaded tasks! Keep smiling on the outside until you feel it on the inside is the mantra for the week.