Dig down deep....

Have you ever had those days, those moments where you have to rely on other people, places, moments, music to help you get through the hurdle that is placed in front of you? To dig down deep in order to maintain that face that allows those around you not to inquire too far? In essence, fake it 'till you make it? Taking one step at a time, making things as simple as necessary to pass each moment, one breath followed by the next..... Now don't misread what I am saying. Merely stating that life is not all grand and wonderful and sometimes you just need to realize that things are out of your control. At that point of realization is the point in which we must fall to our knees and cry unto heaven for the direction that we so desperately seek. The cavat - how long do you wait for the answers? Simple really - let me put it this way.... At the moment you kneel down and pray unto heaven for help, you must release and realize that you just asked for those things to be place in the hands of Heavenly Father. He, and only He, will take these burdens from you. Allow Him to do so - and as you stand back up - remember - you just gave them to your Father, He will not forget to help you. The answer may not come at that very second, but He never promised it would be. He did promise that our burdens would be lifted. We must take the little moments of serenity that are needed whenever they come - at noon, 5pm, 8am, even 3am - these moments have been created (even though we may curse the lack of sleep that is evading our lives). Our Father will never leave us alone. There may be no one on earth aware of your struggles or your sleepless nights, but your Father is pacing the floors and gazing at the stars with you. His arms are around you - even when you feel so desperately alone. Life will continue - the sun rises every morning.

I am so thankful for the many blessings that surround me in my life. I have so many wonderful friends that help me in their very own special ways. Some are more visible than others - and I am always looking for ways in which I can find to show them my love and appreciation for all they do for me. Especially for all the help and assistance I receive with my beautiful son. How can I ever repay the many lives that have given their assistance since before he was even born! I may struggle with various aspects, but I am eternally grateful for my many blessings.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. My burdens have been lifted by all of you who have answered our Father's plea to come unto my aid - especially when I have been stubborn to not ask myself. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for being worthly and able to listen to the small promptings. You have blessed my life.

NOW - what would a post on this blog be without some pictures!!!!

Shandy, in all of her outstanding abilities.... here are some sneaks of his 9 month pictures!!!






And here is one that Hollie was able to capture for me!!!

The battles of single parenthood.....

To start off the Fall Season - I've had the joy of dealing with a few sleepless nights with a cranky baby (yeah, I said LJ was cranky - hard to believe!). And after the 2nd night in a row - I called the doctor and he asked me to bring him in. Turns out the little guy was fighting with a sinus infection AND and ear infection. No wonder he was cranky! But needless to say, thanks to a kind and understanding doctor - he gave me a prescription for some night time cough medicine for LJ and we were both able to get a nights sleep! Yeah!!!

Now on to an update for the past coupls of weeks....

This picture shows you the reason why you NEVER leave your cell phone where high school volleyball players can get to it... This is Alex and Melissa, there were on my Freshman team last year at Mountain View High School.



And thanks to Grandma, LJ is now trying even more to be like Grandpa and sporting the BSU pride! Isn't he just a little ham for the camera~



Halloween is here folks!!! Well - at least it's around the corner! Here we have a little beenie to help keep Mister's head nice and warm - and you can't read it, but it says My 1st Boo! And his shirt has a little ghost on it... either way - LJ is stinking CUTE!!!




I love the surprise look on his face!!



Over the past weekend, we were able to go up to Cambridge and spend the weekend with Grandma, Grandpa, and Tera, Dan, and the kids. After church, we were all locked out of the house since Grandpa locked the doors and was still at choir practice.... Anyway - while waiting, the puppies (6 weeks old - mini-dauschound - sp?) decided to crawl up and get warm with LJ in his carseat.... Isn't it just adorable!







Check out this smirk!!!



Ahhhhh - puppy kisses....



Of course the little guy is excited about shopping.... he was enjoying himself as I was putting different hats on him trying to find one that covers his big noggin! Can you see his hair sticking up?



Even though I'm done coaching the Freshman team for this season, I still help out with the Varsity team when I can. LJ came with me over to the game at Meridian High School - and I sat in the parking lot for a little while to let him get more of his cat nap before heading into the gym... Isn't he just a handsome little man!



"My future's so bright that I have to wear shades!"



On a late night shopping excursion with Grandpa, LJ didn't quite make it through Lowe's without crashing... But he got to ride on the big cart along with the garage shelves!!! Makes LJ look a little small.... but we all know different!

My amazing little sister!

Ok - so some of you have met my little sister, Shera. I just wanted to share a part of her amazing talents.

This is a little recording she did of the song she wrote and sang for her husband for their anniversary earlier this year!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRYV-9JKqnM



Isn't she just AMAZING!!! I can't believe how blessed I have been to have such a wonderful family. My sister's are by far the most wonderful gals that I know and they are so strong! Thank you all for your extraordinary examples. I love you!!!


Even though this day started some major heartache in my life - it was great to have my family surrounding me. And look how beautiful they are!!!



What's even better - is there are now 4 more babies since this photo - not even 2 years ago!

The infamous MRI shot!

I was finally able to get a still shot of the MRI screen that showed my glorious tear of the rectus femoral quadracep muscle........... Isn't it just lovely!!! I tore my right quad - even though it's shown on the left side....

Life's little accomplishments

According to Taylor, I need to post more....(Now Taylor, I expect to be seeing some pictures of a special day you and Erin shared a few weeks ago!!!) For those who blog-stalk daily - here are some little tidbits of life as it evolves in my little household. My handsome son is going through another growth spurt and woke up on Sunday at 5:30AM - which threw off his sleeping schedule - and we didn't quite make it all the way through church. So we headed home early - but the good news is...... He took two separate naps - both 2-3 hours long!!! And yes, I got to take little naps as well!!! I love Sundays! Here we are on our way home from church. On Saturday - my friend Erica and her son Bentley were able to join us on a little excersion to find me some new shirts.... I'll explain that a little later. But while we were taking advantage of a GREAT sale at Old Navy - we found some really cute Halloween outfits and we just HAD to try them on with the boys. Bentley was a dragon, and LJ was a monkey.... fitting, I know!


NOW - for the exciting news that is not about LJ!!!! The Army has some weird requirements when it comes to the weight scale for most women... and since having my son, I have been struggling with getting back down to standards for the military (I know most women have problems losing the baby weight - but I had a deadline with the military). But thanks to my doctor, I've been able to do a diet program that has been working AMAZINGLY!!! In the past 6 weeks - I've lost a total of............................................................................ 33 LBS!!!!! Can you believe it!!! I'm so excited about it. And I'm not done! I'm continuing to work towards a weight goal of 185 - which I haven't been since high school. And do not worry, I am under doctor supervision, so even though it's a lot of weight in a short amount of time, I'm being watched closely. If you want to get hooked up with the same deal, just let me know - and I can help you get some discounts! Anyway - Erica went with me on Saturday because I needed some new shirts. Only shirts because I'm not done losing weight, so I wanted to hold off on buying pants and such. Even though I did use a pair of pants off the rack that would semi match all the shirts I was trying on. And guess what?!?! For the FIRST time EVER... I had to ask for a smaller size of pants!!! YAHOOOOOOOOO.... I was so excited! Normally I have to ask for a larger size. Ok - so here are some of the shirts that I got. Now I have the task of finding undershirts since most of these were a little low cut. But I still had a fun time with Erica - even though the boys were getting a bit cranky towards the end. Thank you very much for going with me Erica and for helping find these great deals and styles of shirts!!! And a big THANK YOU to Valerie Ross for telling us about that AMAZING sale... $4 for Old Navy shirts.... Who Wouldn't GO!!! Along with my little accomplishment of weight loss, LJ has finally decided to show other people that he can move forward - typically only towards a remote (yeah, he's a little man.... gotta love the tv remote!) - and Hollie gave me the idea to catch him on video - she got some really cute ones of him on Friday (or was it Thursday? I don't know...) So he may not be completely Army crawling - but at least he's figured out that moving around is beneficial to his goals of capturing his toys... even though the remote isn't his toy.

The growing months

For those who all ready knew - you can skip this first part as I explain this picture...

On 24 August - I tore my right quad muscle - and let me tell you what.... IT HURT! - and it still does. I wasn't able to walk much at all - even with crutches - (mostly wheelchair) for the first week - but while at work, instead of trying to get the chair into the bathroom, I'd just crutch myself very slowly. And since they were just sitting there... one of the guys I work with decided that he would entertain us a little and found this random hat that's been in our office and a little flag - he pulled up his leg - and here's what we got!!!



Raz.... quite the entertainer - and much appreciated in the job that we do!


My Dad was able to come down and help me out with things - helped coach my volleyball girls for the first couple of days - and then I went with him as well to watch my old high school and they played over in Nampa for a tournament. Here is Jonathan getting some much desired Grandpa Time!



Now I all ready posted about my newest nephew, Taylor, but I didn't add the pictures of my little man while we were up there in Couer d'Alene.



My sister gave into the pressure of kitty kats... and she has a couple of characters!!! Gideon and (i can't remember the other one's name) - anyway - it's the one that I can't remember its name that was always on my bed and so LJ got the oppotunity to cuddle with a kitty!





And wouldn't ya know.... my mom's dog had more puppies! And since they were only a day or two old - she had to bring them up with her... Aren't they cute little weiners...



After our short plane ride back to Boise (I love the 50 min flights!!!) we got to spend a little time just hanging out before I went to my volleyball game. Isn't this guy just getting big!





What man doesn't like to have his clothes off... I swear - this kid would be naked all the time if you let him.... And it's only just begun!!!



In the early hours of the morning, it's not very often that he wakes up now before I go to work until I pick him up to drop him off at Hollie's - but a few morning he does. However, he is still so tired and not awake yet that he has a hard time staying upright. Here he is working on his "come hither" bedroom look... what do you think? Does it work?



These next two are just hilarious. He really is a tired little boy - and doesn't wake up too fast in the mornings.... He was barely holding up his head... I just love it!






My little punk rocker lookin' sweet boy... I'm excited to keep watching him grow.

Taylor Bryce Armstrong

Over Labor Day weekend - I was able to attend the baby blessing of my newest nephew, Taylor Bryce Armstrong!!! My oldest sister, Tera (mother of Owynn, Bryant ~BryBry~, and Skylar) had her 4th child - and gave our mom the best birthday present - on August 13th!!! Check out this handsome little man...







Great Grandpa got in a little snuggle time with Taylor on Saturday afternoon when they finally arrived in Couer d'Alene.



Taylor, in his completely oversized blessing outfit - but he's still so stinking cute!!!!







Welcome to the Piper clan little Taylor buddy!!! And good luck keeping up with your siblings!!!