Cancer walks and temple trips

What a week.
I had two favorite days this week that both involved a very special place we like to visit.
My first favorite day started when I realized I didn't have enough favorite pictures of my son to put up on my picture collage wall.
So with this adorable face in tow, we headed to the Mesa Temple grounds to get some good pictures. Sister came along too. Yes, she sits in the very back of the van. It's just easier that way since I feel like we're always carting around cousins or siblings that have a hard time climbing into the backseat. And a temple trip is not a temple trip without my kids listening to Jesus speak to them. They LOVE that part. (Petey was begging to go back today so she could hear Jesus talk again.)Then, a quick bathroom break and an adorable smile from my Petey.And then it began. This boy is always full of cheese and he is always SO busy. Can you see why it's hard to get pictures of him? :)Sibling love. I love, love, love this picture! Another sibling picture. I'm not quite sure what they were looking at, though. :)Isn't he adorable? Yesterday I said, "You're my sweet baby boy." And he said, "I not a baby! I big boy!" And I got emotional and sad thinking that my little boy is already in his "big boy" stage. He is supposed to stay my baby!!!!!!! But really, I can't deny that he's a big boy. He is a little smarty pants.

This brings me to my second favorite day. On Thursday, my aunt (Well, Boss' aunt) watched my kids so I could make a trip to the temple for February (Remember my New Year's goal of going every month?). The temple is such a special place and brought me so much peace this week. I realized how great my life is and how blessed I am. And I also learned that happiness is attained, not given. We each choose whether we are happy or not. Life is hard at times for everyone but life can also be filled with happiness for everyone.
Another thing I realized this week happened as I climbed South Mountain for the Climb to Conquer Cancer 11 mile hike. (Yes, 11 miles. My legs are dying right now!) It brought back memories of 3 years ago when I couldn't attend the cancer walk due to being in the hospital at 9 weeks pregnant with Spidey. I had completely forgotten the feelings of that awful day (that obviously turned out good). I had been having stomach pains only on one side of my stomach and when I called my ob, he told me to get to the hospital right away because the most common thing when only have one sided abdominal pain in pregnancy is a tubal pregnancy. The whole way to the hospital, I remember crying and talking to my husband about what could happen. With a tubal pregnancy, they often abort the baby to save the momma or in certain cases you keep the baby but it ruins your tubes and prevents any more pregnancies. I remember grieving and thinking that I was going to lose this child and that I may never be able to give Petey a sibling.
Obviously, it wasn't a tubal pregnancy. It was actually nothing but an overreaction (Embarrassing!) but I'll never forget the feelings of sadness as I thought about my daughter not having a sibling. Even just imagining that made me so sad so it breaks my heart when I see people actually going through it.
So today as I walked, I chose to focus on the fact that she DOES have a sibling and that we are SO blessed. I cannot reiterate enough how special I feel to be the mother of these two precious people. And I also cannot express enough gratitude to my Heavenly Father who gave us these children and who made everything ok with my second pregnancy (It was the easiest pregnancy ever!).

And that's how Suze rambles on and on and on. :)