A Snip-It

So I'll be honest- I really should not be spending time adding to my blog, but I couldn't help put a couple pictures up real quick and giving a little update on our family.
Wes just signed his contract to teach a third year out on the reservation. It is not exactly his first choice, but the pay and benefits are outstanding and it's a job so we can't complain. We've been talking more and more about what he is going to do once I finish school and he is really leaning toward getting his PhD. (Will we ever finish school? :)) Once school is out this year he plans on helping me with some unfinished projects on the house and "hanging out". I can't wait!!!
I'm almost done with Block I and I couldn't be happier about it! Don't get me wrong I love what I am doing, but if I had known how difficult nursing school would be, I don't think I would have done it. However, with that said, I can't wait for Block II when I can start working in the hospitals. Once I'm done with Block I, I plan on getting my hair done (it's been 4 months, way too long), getting a pedicure and going to Taylor to visit my favorite family!!
As for the kids- Steele will be 4 next month. He amazes me everyday with the things he knows. He loves his babysitter, loves to play games and can't wait to go to school "like mommy".
Gideon is my sweetheart. He is learning some new signs (considering we can't get him to talk) and he LOVES to make you laugh. His facial expressions are the BEST! Wes really wants to potty train him, but I think we have a while to go before we hit that stepping stone.
Lily is growing so fast. She is standing by herself already, I can't believe it! She loves to wrestle and although I dress her in bows and flowers she is looking more and more like Steele everyday.
So that gives you a little snip-it on the Filhart's.

Wes and me at TeHaru's Sushi (they serve sushi on a conveyer belt....EXCELLENT!)
Lily Mae....isn't she adorable!

Ode to Elizabeth

So this is a picture of me and one of my very best friends Elizabeth that was taken back in March of 2007. Elizabeth, or Liz, as I typically call her, got married last weekend to a wonderful guy named Joe. She looked gorgeous and the wedding reception was amazing!

To give a little bit of background on Liz and I, we first met on Institute Council back in 2003. We hit things off as friends later in the school year and started hanging out all the time the following summer. Then in 2005 we both served in the same mission in North Carolina.

Ever since we have been home we have had our share of galavanting and fun! I'm so excited that she found an awesome guy and look forward to going out on dates with our hubbies.

Congrats Elizabeth!!!!

Nursing School

For those of you who don't know I start the nursing program at MCC on the 19th. I'm so excited, but a little anxious about leaving my babies in the hands of someone else for part of the day. However, Wes gave all of us blessings last night and I have to tell you that the peace I feel now is wonderful! In his blessing he reminded me of some wonderful promises that will come to me and my family as I receive my education. He also gave me the reassurance I needed to know that my children will be in okay.
Then today as I was eating watermelon with the boys, the thought crossed my mind- Thank goodness for nursing school because I have been making the most of the little moments.
I know that sounds silly, but ever since I found out I got in the program I have been letting the less important things fall by the wayside and allowing myself to do things I wouldn't normally do, like watch a movie with Steele in the afternoon when I should be preparing for dinner or having foam sword fights with the boys when they should be in bed. Even just eating lunch with my boys or holding Lily has become more special.
Let's just say our home has been filled with lots of random dancing, tickling, running in the halls and laughing. I love it and although I will be a very busy lady, I still plan on focusing more on the little moments in my life which in my opinion are the most important moments.

Random Thoughts

My friend Sheryl posted this on her blog and I loved it! I meant to post it last week and forgot until Kaylee put it on her blog. I laughed just as hard reading it for the second time. ENJOY!

Random thoughts from people our age...

-I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.
-Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.
-I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
-Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?
-Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.
-There is a great need for sarcasm font.
-I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.
-How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
-I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
-The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.
-Was learning cursive really necessary?
- Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".
- Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".
- How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?
- Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"
- While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.
- MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
- Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
-Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
-I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
-Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.
-I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
- "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.
-I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'
-I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dang it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
- I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
-I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
-Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
-I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
-Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I’d bet you anything that everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

Etc.

These pictures are long overdue because I lost my camera cord and just barely found it. So here goes...

These first pics are of my friend's little girls.
Lily and Savana Brisolara

Adele Evans and Lily

Our "breakfast for dinner" after Lily's and Maycee's blessings.
Marianne and Tina in the kitchen- THANKS GIRLS!

Doug holding a very dirty Gideon- he was playing in the fire pit when I wasn't watching.:)

Mom and Lily

Steele went with Wes to a conference and had a blast needless to say!
Gideon LOVES Lily. He also loves her swing. In fact he has pulled her out of it to get in it. Poor girl!This was our October project- Paving our front porch and landscaping our yard.
I think the boys enjoyed having a sand box for a day, in fact Steele keeps asking me to pick up the pavers so that he can play in the sand again.
More pictures of the finished project to come.

My happy little girl! This was on one of the few cold days we have had in AZ.
The Crew!

Now these next 3 pictures are old, but I just found them.
These are 3 of my favorite kids!
Rylee Shirley, EmmaLee Washburn and Steele.

Steele's first guitar clinic! It was AMAZING!

The Zoo with the Shirley's and Michelle and Abigail.

And last but not least, our most recent family picture at Halloween.
I LOVE THIS BUNCH!

October

October, what do I say. This has not been one of my most memorable months. It seemed as if the burdens just kept piling on all month long! However, things eventually turned around and this has been a good, no, a great week.
Last Sunday, October 18, Lily was blessed by her sweet Daddy. Wes gave such a beautiful blessing with so many wonderful promises. I can't even begin to express my gratitude to him for his worthiness to hold the priesthood and bless all 3 of our children. Lily's dress was amazing, thank you Mom! And thankfully we didn't have another "dropping" incident, with the way things were going this month I was fully expecting a repeat of last time.:) Afterward, we had family and friends over for a waffle bar dinner. It was excellent! I honestly think it was one of my favorite family gatherings yet.
Then on Wednesday, after a lot of persuasion from Wes, I got my hair done. I didn't want to do it because the brown was free to keep up and blond hair is expensive. I explained this to Wes many times and told him the only reason why I would go blond again was for him...his response, "Sound like a good reason to me." So I did it and guess what he LOVES it and so do I. He keeps telling me it reminds him of when we first started dating. The coolest part, he's acting like he did when we first started dating- I never knew hair could do so much!Last night Wes and I had a date night. I love date night. I used to love it when I was single, but it's so much better now that I'm married.:) We went to the Cornish Pasty Co. It was so yummy, I'm sure I gained 5 pounds. I got what they call the Pilgrim. It's basically a Thanksgiving dinner stuffed into a bread pastry and baked in the oven. It was so delicious and got me all revved up for the holidays!
Finally, as I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week, Alma talked about turning to the Lord and that through your faith your "burdens may be light"- it's true. All that has happened this month brought me to my knees and by turning to my Heavenly Father I found peace in the Atonement. This week only made me realize that more. Although October started out to be a crummy month, my burdens were lightened and it's turning out to be a very memorable one!

What Is Important and What Is Not

Wes and I had a little trial this week. Let's just say it involved a misunderstanding, $1600, a lot of frustration and quite a few tears. I prayed hard to find some reason that this would have happened and a way to fix it, but I don't think I was praying for the right things. I should have been praying for peace and showing my gratitude that all we lost was money.
As I left my house yesterday with Gideon in my arms the thought came, "At least I still have my children and Wes. It's only money and what is $1600 going to mean in the eternities? Nothing." I will be honest, it still stinks, but President Monson says, "I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon this earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not." Perhaps this is just such a lesson for our little family.
We are here on this earth to gain experience, not to "get gain" as it says in Book of Mormon. I have gained a little more knowledge and a little more experience from this and was reminded that money is not everything, even if the world would have you think so. I also know I have a long way to go and each trial/experience only reminds me of the long path ahead of me. Thankfully we have all of eternity to learn, because I'm going to need it.:)

PS- I'm so excited for General Conference. This is my favorite time of year, I feel like it kicks off the fall and holiday season! Nice weather- here it comes!