Night and Day

I'm sure it's something you only understand with experience, but I love my daughters so much. They are so DIFFERENT from each other! Bedtime tonight has made me reminisce about Katie at the age that Amanda is now (about 20 months). Katie was so independent and fearless. Sometimes that was a huge advantage (like leaving her in nursery, transitioning to a big bed, moving to a new house) but sometimes made me sad. Her independence means she usually has no use for Mom (unless it's to help her climb a tree or fly to the moon!) I sometimes get sad that she doesn't "need" me as much, she's not as affectionate. Amanda, however, could be represented as Katie's opposite in so many ways. Amanda has some fierce stranger anxiety (pretty much never crossed Katie's mind, and still doesn't), but she is so affectionate! She gives kisses all the time, she is soothed by hugging a dolly, and when she snuggles----ooooh! It's better than truffles! Her body just molds into mine and she relaxes and I'm sure it's a little piece of heaven!

So, what's bringing all this up? Katie now has bunk beds in her room. Katie is thrilled to be on the top bunk because she's the big girl. Amanda, however, is not thrilled about, well, going to sleep. This might have something to do with a monthly sleepover we make her endure when I go to work. She's not really content to sleep in her crib anymore (alone in a room?), but she doesn't really want to be in the big bed either. With Katie, there was never a tear about leaving the crib behind for a new, big bed, in a new house even. She thought it was fantastic! Granted, she got out to play and often fell asleep on the floor, but she was never sad about it. Amanda, however, is sad if all the little duckies of her security are not in a row! :)

Tonight, after Mandy wasn't happy in her crib, I tried to see if she'd lay down in the big bed. I thought it might be comforting to be in the same room with Katie (as different as they are, they love to be together). Well, that wasn't enough to soothe Amanda. I invited Katie to come lay down in the bottom bunk with Katie. I left the room to give them a few minutes and see how it went. I stood outside the door and listened to Mandy sit up and call for me. Katie would tell her "It's okay, I'm right here!" Mandy was quiet for a few seconds, only to fuss again, and have Katie tell her again, "It's okay, I'm right here!" I was hopeful, but Mandy didn't settle. When I went in after less than ten minutes, Mandy was upset, but she had even spooked Katie who was almost to tears! (It's pretty hard to spook Katie, so it just goes to show how listening to a baby cry can really wear anyone down!) Anyway, we loved Katie and tucked her back in the top bunk, and I rocked Mandy just about to sleep.

Long story short, I am amazed at the different strengths that our Heavenly Father has given each of us. He's blessed Katie with deep courage and belief in self. To Amanda, He's given a tender and affectionate heart. I'm so blessed to have both of them and learn from them, especially as I try to recognize and develop my own talents and traits. Sometimes I think my life would be "simple" or "easy" if I only had to worry about myself. But WOW! I would be missing out on SOOOO much! I am so grateful my Heavenly Father has trusted me with His daughters, even though I fall short in doing as He would do to care for them, so that I can learn from their beauty and goodness. I remember from my Young Women days standing and saying the YW theme, and it means so much more now as I look at my daughters and think of that. Amazing.

Well, good night to my sweet princesses, tucked in their own beds, in their own rooms, in their own sweet dreams for the night.

Here's where I remember Katie at 20 months old:Although different, they both have a love of shoes! Sorry Dad, it's in the genes!

Katie had no fear, even at 20 months! It was Mom whose heart would catch.


Two going on 20. Katie had my ipod figured out before I did.



Isn't she Beautiful? Katie Then (March 2008) and Now (March 2010).

Mandy loves shoes too! (Yes, those are 3 DIFFERENT shoes).

Story time tucked up under the computer desk. Don't know why that's the preferred location. . .

What a snuggly bug!! Amanda and her "babies".

My sweetheart, Amanda!

Cleaning Giveaway

Hey,
Wanna make cleaning a bunch easier? Enter this giveaway!

http://yourlifeuncommon.blogspot.com/2010/04/one-mega-giveaway-you-would-be-crazy-to.html

Also, if you mention my name, it would be kind!

Hurry, ends tonight.

Easter 2010

So, I have a hard time posting after holidays. Mostly, my difficulty lies in having to choose between hundreds of pictures to post in a concise manner. Apparently, concise is not my forte. We did have a good Easter, and I especially loved conference. Katie has done better about listening some, and playing quietly some. Amanda was sick for the weekend, which wasn't fun to fall on Easter, but she's a trooper and it meant a little extra snuggle time. Mostly, Easter makes me so grateful to have a Savior that overcame all the sad, horrible things of this world to make it beautiful and lovely and worthwhile. I love spring, I love Easter, and I love that the resurrection is real and for each of us. I look forward to being with my family FOREVER!
And now, here is a gazillion pictures of my beautiful Easter girls.

Orem City's Egg Hunt: Incredible Mad Dash of Egg Stealing PARENTS

Easter Breakfast: Krispy Kream Easter Eggs, and grapefruit.

Amanda found her basket on accident, in the toy closet. What was she interested in? The lamb shaped egg, and the chocolate covered marshmallow! I guess it's in her blood! :)

"Look, Mom! Money!"





Finding eggs with your mouth full.

After finding each egg, Amanda would hold it up and say "Here Mom!"

We were so excited about an egg hunt in our awesome back yard, only to wake up to 4 inches of new snow. Katie asked if it was Christmas again. So, we had a vigorous indoor egg hunt. Katie: able to leap egg hunts in a single bound.

"Here, Mom!"

Although Katie's eggs were supposedly more difficult to find, Amanda found many of them, only to have them quickly snatched from her by her big sister. This is the face of "Why does she get the egg I found??"

Of course, the egg hunt ended with a "Feed the Piggie" frenzy. Piggie went away fat and happy!

Happy Easter!

Transactional Law Competition

Here's a little write up about Brett's law school competition in Philadelphia, as reported by BYU Law.

http://www.law2.byu.edu/news/item.php?num=672

BYU Invited to Participate in the First Ever Transactional Lawyering Competition

This year BYU law students have been invited to participate in the first ever Transactional Lawyering Meet to be held at the Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University in Philadelphia. BYU is one of the ten schools invited to this inaugural event, which also will include law students from Columbia, Cornell, Drexel, Emory, Georgia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Temple, and Washington & Lee.

An internal competition was held at BYU in January to select the national team. In that competition, BYU law students worked in teams of two to prepare and submit letters of intent for a business acquisition. The students negotiated against each other, and judges selected the team of Brett Nichols [2L] and Doug Yarrington [2L] to represent BYU at the meet which will be held on March 4 and 5, 2010. The two students have spent the past month working with Associate Dean Gordon Smith and visiting professor Marie Mackey in preparation for the upcoming competition.

“We have been preparing by meeting together frequently to discuss various modifications that we can or should make to the form contract that was given as part of the competition materials,” Yarrington said. “We have also benefitted from frequent and critical input from Professors Smith and Mackey, each of whom has taken considerable time to help us grapple with issues where we lack experience.”

Professor Smith, who has been instrumental in helping organize the internal competition as well as prepare Nichols and Yarrington for the upcoming national competition, sees this competition as an opportunity for students to combine skills and knowledge in an area of law that isn’t always focused on in law school.

“Law schools emphasize litigation -- both in the classroom and in co-curricular activities, such as moot court -- but many law students find that they prefer transactional work,” Smith said. “The purpose of this competition is to combine training in the skills used by transactional lawyers, including drafting and negotiation, with a substantive knowledge of contract, corporate and securities law. Mix in the need for business judgment, and you have a recipe for a valuable learning experience that most law students otherwise would not receive.”
As this is the inaugural competition both professors have had the opportunity to help with the organization of the national competition by providing feedback from the January internal competition.

“We, as professors, have been able to provide feedback and make suggestions about the scoring rubric,” said Mackey. “It has been exciting for us to be able to influence certain aspects of this new competition.”

Nichols realizes how beneficial participation in this competition will be for students as it grows and continues on in the future.

“We are breaking new ground for what will hopefully become a national trend comparable to moot court, but to prepare law students for transactional work as opposed to appellate litigation,” Nichols said. “I am excited for this opportunity to gain experience in a transactional setting, competing against students from some of the top law schools in the country.”

Posted: February 25, 2010

Welcome Spring!

Philly Phun!

We're back, and I'm ready to GO BACK! By the end of any vacation, I'm itching to get home. About 48 hours after getting home, I'm ready to go back. We had a lot of fun. Oh, and Brett enjoyed the competition too! We definitely could have used some more time (we saw less than half of Gettysburg and did not dally through any of it!) but we saw so many incredible things. I guess we're a bit of history buffs when it comes to vacations and Philadelphia sure is full of History!
Many thanks to the babysitters!

The City of Brotherly Love

City Hall

SORRY!

Drexel's Law School

Liberty Bell with Independence Hall in the background.

Reading Terminal Market: Philly Cheesesteak!

The First Bank of the United States

Gettysburg, PA