Not Just Another Day

Last week was my birthday! Thirty five years ago my turn on earth began and I promise this is a big deal. Thirty five years ago I took my first breath with my tiny, novice lungs. I let out my first cries and my cheeks experienced wet tears. My mother's strong, and dependable arms comforted me and I can picture my perfect baby sigh.

I was reunited with my family!My beautiful, brown eyed Angie, my cheerful, gentle Erin, and my freckle faced, curious Shannon. I imagine my dad's eyes twinkled like they do when he's happy, and that he used his big, powerful, athletic trainer hands to carefully tend to my needs. For the first time out of the womb I sleepily heard the soft tones of my mother's soothing voice and inhaled her wonderful scent.

This life. Filled with firsts. And sometimes lasts. Was gifted to me thirty five years ago. So I'm going to celebrate! Year after year! 

I'm going to cherish my birthday kiss from my thirty eight year old husband and remember the first kiss I stole from him almost thirteen years ago. I'm so glad he was born! 
Life, birth, aging - these are things to be embraced. Every year I grow a little bit more. I hopefully become a little wiser, a little kinder, and a little less wasteful of my time here on earth. (Every year my front tooth also gets a little darker . . . but whatev. ) Every year I have the opportunity to love people a little stronger. People who also have a birthday! And without that birthday I wouldn't know them. I couldn't be molded by their incredibleness or not-so incredibleness.  So, celebrate the day you were born. It enabled the rest of us to someday meet you for the first time. To be served by you. To enjoy you. To be thankful for you. To love you. 

It's not just another day. 
It's your day. 
It's my day. 
The day Heavenly Father said something like, 
"It's your turn, now go and become what I know you can be." 

P.S. Read the second part of the message below. You'll understand how thankful I am, for many reasons, that my mother was born. She and my dad are currently on a Scandinavian cruise and couldn't be here for my birthday. I'm not gonna lie, I cried sweet tears of gratitude for my angel mother when I read this message. This year I'm going to try to be more like my parents.

Always an Audience

There's always an audience,

 and my bathing time is no exception. 

Little lovable scoundrels.

Christmas Fun in Utah 2016

A few days after Christmas we scurried off to Utah for family pictures. We also attended a BYU basketball game, celebrated Aunt Kelli's birthday, exchanged Christmas gifts, and bonded with family as much as possible. A Patton get-together means cousins galore, which is a little piece of heaven for my lot.

My mother-in-law gifted me a X-Mas Coke. Love her.

Love this crew!

Christmas 2016

I'm blogging about Christmas before summer begins! Yes!

This year Christmas was on a Sunday and since our church begins at 9 o'clock the kids had to be dressed and ready before any presents were opened. They were all over this! Charley watched from her high chair as we opened presents and she ate breakfast.

The Beloved gifted me the Durotan figurine from the World of Warcraft movie as a joke. I'm not a gamer but I loved this movie. I was absolutely pleasantly surprised. I rented it for my children afterward and they balled their eyes out and were mad at me for making them watch such a sad show... now they tease me about my adoration for the flick and I have a gigantic doll to prove it. :) It's you and me Durotan.

After church we headed to my parent's house for brunch. We then played games, had hot chocolate tea party, and lounged about. It was a perfectly restful, peaceful Christmas celebration. 

At Buckabu and Papa's:

Opening Presents Before Church:

We REJOICE at the birth of our Savior!

How marvelous He is!

So, I Yelled at my Kids Today...

Do you ever do that? I think everybody except for the baby had a front seat to my wrath. Granted, they weren't perfect little angels either. Everyone tattle-tailed, Ruckus was mad at Moo for messing up his game, Moo was mad at Ruckus for being mad, Lou was explaining over and over again why we should skip Ruckus' birthday because Ruckus is ornery, Moo thought dinner was disgusting, Little C was mad at everyone for being disrespectful and tried to parent them back into place, and Sweetrotten... well, there's a different tragedy happening every five seconds in this little girl's life.

So, I yelled.

And I may have flicked Moo's nose for telling me my meatballs were disgusting.

The Beloved has correctly labelled our children my little bees. They buzz about, swarming my personal space with their emotions, their words, and their bodies. Often, this is a wonderful thing but sometimes it's difficult for this spirited yet introverted Mama.
  
And today after I yelled over and over again I thought, "Why aren't I better at this yet?" I know the triggers. I know when my feeling-overwhelmed-bubble is about to pop. Man, I suck.

To alleviate my sadness I did the wise thing and started scrolling through Facebook. Ha. But, Heavenly Father is good and led me to a sweet message from author, seminary teacher, and motivational speaker, Hank Smith. A portion of it read, "When we signed up for this mortal experience, we signed up for a fight, a long battle with our own weakness.... This is the human experience we looked forward to and one day, when we look back on it, we'll cherish each and every day, both the breathtaking and the dismal."

(P.S. or M.S. mid script -No need to call the Whhaaambulance. My life is good. I have far easier trials than many. I have extreme gratitude for the life Heavenly Father has blessed me with. But I do get discouraged when I invite or contribute to contention in the home. P.P.S. I know most everyone has yelled at their kids and if you want a confession - sometimes it makes me happy (for a second) hearing them because I know they're not perfect. I'm a little evil.)

I opened my journal and made a list of my top five weaknesses and prepared mentally for battle. Afterward I looked over at my previous journal entry and saw a forgotten note I had jotted down. It read, "Make a list of personal weaknesses and then see which spiritual gifts you have been given to supersede those weaknesses." Obviously, Heavenly Father has been trying to get Queen Oblivious to pay attention for awhile.

So, here's the cool thing.

I started pondering President Eyring and Elder Holland's "Face to Face" . In one portion they discuss patriarchal blessings and President Eyring points out, "A patriarchal blessing, I would take it very, very seriously, but not expect it to be comforting. I wouldn't read it for sweetness. I would read it for 'what does God know about my life and what can I do better?' It's not supposed to make you feel sweet. It's supposed to make you know what it is God has in store for you." 

I have read my patriarchal blessing many times for sweetness, but tonight I read it in preparation for battle. To overcome my weaknesses. I read it for, "What does God know about my life and what can I do better?"  And of course, wouldn't you know, for every weakness I had listed, my patriarchal blessing listed a spiritual gift to overcome it. 

I'm going to get there. Through hard work and awareness, there is hope. I'll probably yell at my kids a few more times, but what a comfort it is to know Heavenly Father's got my back. He spelled it out clearly today.

Behind the Scenes - Patton Family Photos 2016

When there's twenty-two grandchildren in the family, this doesn't just happen by magic folks:

Here are some treasured behind the scenes: 

But you'd never know things got a little cray cray if I'd never told you. 

Look at these beauts!