Monday- Potty Training

Today, Natalie and I started the first day of our 3 Day Potty Training Method. She made it to the toilet twice, and had several accidents. I do think she is showing signs of understanding better and I am hoping tomorrow is better. I have to admit this evening it was hard for me to keep up my intensity of watching for her signals because Justin came home. However, it is totally great that Justin was home! A Monday night with His presence does not happen very often. We even had Family Home Evening.

I gave a lesson on praying and Natalie ran around in circles and wanted to look at other pictures in our Gospel Art Book rather than the praying picture. Justin and I ended up coloring her picture for her. It was a great evening. I look forward to completing these three days of potty training and having my husband home again tomorrow night. Happy Monday y'all.


Justin and Ruth Blazzard

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Since I was too sick at Christmas time to deliver any neighbor/ friend gifts, I decided Natalie and I would have some fun with this holiday. I assembled these simple gifts for Natalie's little friends.

 

She looked like a cute little leprechaun delivering them with her red hair and basket. It was fun to watch her be able to do a little act of service for her friends. All she asked in return was to play with their toys. Most houses I tried to keep her on the door step, but a couple she sneeked in and began playing. 

She especially enjoyed eating the Lucky Charms for breakfast. We don't each much sugary cereal around these parts, so she was quite pleased with the 'magically delicious' marshmallows in her bowl.

On another side note, our baby is growing well. I think we have her name picked out, but I am not telling yet. She is a big girl and I am feeling rather round. I am grateful to have most of my energy back and to be doing pretty well with food again. I really hope to make it a point of getting more walks in. It has been a little bit harder this pregnancy to be really active with having a toddler and the time of year right now. 

Justin is wonderful, but was especially so this last weekend as he pretty much took care of Natalie the whole time. I had several meetings and responsibilities with my church calling that took me away from home Saturday and Sunday. This calling has given me a whole new perspective on how much time especially the Priesthood leadership in our church spends away from their family serving other. I am grateful for their sacrifice and always learn much from their example. 

We are excited to have Justin home tomorrow and I am looking forward to our Relief Society Birthday Celebration with a Tea Party as the theme. Happy Week to you all!

 

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Stake Conference

We had Stake Conference this weekend. I have to admit it is nice to not have to worry about Primary for one week. Sitting and being edified by speakers is a great change up to my Sunday norm. We were privileged to have Elder Baxter from the first quorom of the seventy visiting our conference. He was funny and has a British accent which was fun to list to. He also delivered the words of God and that was the best part of the weekend.

When he first stood up at the adult session, he asked us all to put a big smile on our face. He said, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about Joy and if you loose the Joy you loose it all. I hope I can always remember that and serve in my roles as wife, mother and right now in the Primary with great Joy. Joy for my Savior and His amazing Gospel. There was much more said, but just remember to have Joy and Hope. Never loose Hope.

Natalie made it through the 2 hour stretch today with only one visit to the hall. She was a real champ. We also brought M&M's to feed her the last half an hour. We are good parents like that. i have been trying to get her to pick out her clothes lately to help her be more independent. Sunday mornings we go through all her dresses until she says yes. Mostly her response to anything these days is "No." This dress was her pick this morning and good thing, because it is almost too small. She also just got these new white shoes and socks for the Spring and Summer time. She loves them and put them on first thing after getting her dress on this morning. Every morning when I ask her to pick socks she wants to wear these "church" socks, she was glad it was finally a "church" day.

Another great part of the day was we all got naps. It was a gorgeous day and it was nice to spend some time with Justin as he was busy most of Saturday doing service and attending meetings. We are looking forward to a busy week with Tuesday being our 20 week ultra sound day. Boy or Girl? We shall see.
 
Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Two Great Men

Leaders greatly impact the atmosphere of any activity they are in charge of.

This is truth and because that is true, these two made my years of 

playing high school basketball fun, challenging and a real treasure of memories.

Mr. Buck and Mr. Gray coached together for 25 years the JV and Varsity Basketball teams at OHS.

They always expected our very best effort and attitude on and off the court. 

The teams I played with were very successful. We made it to the Elite 8 each year and always did well within and out of league play. While there was much talent among my team mates, Buck and Gray knew how to coach the essentials and how to help us succeed. They pushed us to be conditioned and to do things right.

They were usually very calm during games, Gray always, Buck was easier to get riled, but he still mostly kept his cool. They both spent tireless hours at practice, watching film, compiling film for highlight DVD's for us, coaching games, and driving mini school bus so we could make it to our games. I believe they made it the State Tournament for 17 or 18 years in a row with all of the teams they coached. This picture shows girls from all of the different years they coached.

Funny Memories

We made many road trips during the 3 years of playing for them. Oregon is a big state with a low speed limit. During the time I was playing, the bus garage decided to get monitors for the many buses that recorded a drivers speed. It was very difficult for Mr. Gray to stay under. Not only did he get a warning from the bus garage, but was also pulled over by a cop and written a citation. I never let him live that down, but he was always a good sport about it.

If we were playing sloppy during practice or had a hard time doing the essentials, Mr. Buck would get irritated and require us to do 1 pushup. Yes, that is right, 1. I am not quite sure his logic behind 1 and not 2 or 5 or 10 or make us run a suicide, but we also joked about it. Some how he would get his message through to us.

I will always look back on my time playing for them with fondness. They are two men of great character and sound principle. There example and expectations greatly influenced my life and I know many, many others. It is sad to see them go, and they will be greatly missed. 

Thanks for living lives of influence Mr. Buck and Mr. Gray.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Hiking

Last weekend, Justin had to work Saturday because of the Oregon Logging Conference.

My Primary Presidency was supposed to be doing a temple trip, but because of sick kids, and my husband being out of town, we called it off.

The Elder Quorom was supposed to be going sledding, but because of the weather they went hiking instead.

By Elders Quorom I mean the President, his three kids, his parents, and myself and Natalie went hiking.

Natalie had been sick, but needed some fresh air, and I always need the exercise and sunshine.

It was a delightful hike and Natalie did pretty well for part of it in the Ergo. 

I had to pack her on my hip the last half, but thankfully the hike was short and flat.

It definitely would have been more fun with Justin, and we need to take him on this hike on our next sunny day.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Self Reliant

For the past seven months, Justin and I have been working slowly and diligently at being a little more prepared for any type of emergency situation. It has at times been exhausting, requires a lot of planning and effort, is expensive, and sometimes I feel like a crazy person. 

Tonight though, it paid off in a very small way. Last night Natalie and I drove to Eugene to spend the night with Justin while he works at the Oregon Logging Conference. I accidentally left her pacifier in the hotel room, and just realized it tonight. It has been a long week, I am tired and only Wal- Mart sells this brand. Which would mean a 35 minute drive there, at least 15 minutes in the store and another 35 minutes back. If I had had to drive to get another one, it would have been a long night. Thankfully, I had an extra in Natalie's 72hr. kit I am still working on completing. It was such a blessing to walk into my closet and pull that out of a back pack. 

 

I have had this experience several times with food items over the last few months as well. Being in a pinch for dinner and thinking I may not have an ingredient, but am so relieved I don't have to make an extra half hour trip because it is in my storage closet.While being prepared will be an immense blessing in case of extenuating circumstances, it has brought a lot of peace to my everyday life. 

We still have a long ways to go to achieve our goal of a 1 year food supply, clothes, larger savings, completed 72 hour kits and more, but I know every little step counts and there is blessings along the way. There are always blessings and great peace in following the Prophets counsel.

Side note: (Yes, she probably needs to loose the pacifier, but she only uses it at night to fall asleep and right now, she is sick. So, probably not the best time to come down on it.)

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Toddler Bed

We switched this little girl to a toddler bed two Saturday's ago. The first night we did our bed time routine, prayed, kissed her good night and waited. We did our best to be quiet downstairs. After not hearing anything for 20 minutes we thought it was safe to start a movie. Ten minutes later, a faint knocking noise was coming from upstairs. Justin went upstairs to investigate and Natalie emerged with a big smile on her face. She ended up falling asleep in our bed and then we moved her back to her bed. She slept the rest of the night.

The next night was Sunday and she doesn't nap on Sundays, so another success and this time she fell asleep in her own bed!

Monday night she fell asleep in her own bed, only to awake at 1 a.m. and knock on our door. I let her in and let her fall back asleep between us. I returned her to her bed and 20 minutes later she woke up again. She came back to bed with me, and this time she stayed. Then we were off to Ontario for the rest of the week.

The last three nights have been pretty good with her sleeping in her bed. Last night she woke up, but still went back to her bed. Truly, I believe the jury is still out on what she is going to like. Her favorite place is our bed though.

This is how her mornings often go while I do my hair. She lays on our pillows and rubs the corners of them. This is her way of soothing herself. Especially since she hasn't been feeling well the last couple of days. Guess where she is sleeping right now? My bed.... we will see where she ends up tonight.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard