I think we can all relate to these

So is everybody just as sick as I am of gas prices being outrageously overpriced?! Of course, it doesn't help that I live in Washington state where we have the highest excise tax on gasoline in the nation, which gives us the second most expensive gas prices in the country only behind Hawaii.

I would get on my soap box about big business oil companies, the war in Iraq, our oil rights-preoccupied commander-in-chief, and the fact that there is enough oil underneath American soil to supply our energy needs for the next two millennia, but I honestly don't have the mental energy to get into it today. ;-)

So in lieu of my ranting, here are some more light-hearted pics that I hope will make you laugh as hard as they made me. I guess that's all we can do for now is laugh our way to the pump...as the oil industry big wigs laugh their way to the bank.

Presidente Soares

To all you Porto sisters, wasn't it AWESOME to hear Elder Soares (he'll always be President Soares in my head!) give the closing prayer in Sat. morning's session? Just hearing his voice gave me warm fuzzies. ;-)

I'm curious, were any of you able to attend the mission fireside last Sunday? If so, please tell me all about it. Blog about it or leave a comment here. I would have loved to be there. I miss the Soares family so much!!

On another note, I thought it was really incredible to witness the process of sustaining a new prophet, a new first presidency, and a new quorum of the 12. President Hinckley was the prophet when I was baptized eight years ago, so this is my first experience with this whole process, so forgive me for being so in awe by it all. But it's a testiment to me of the validity of our faith. The Church of Jesus Christ will always follow a pattern set by the Lord Himself and we can see it carried out in our local meetings as well as these world-wide meetings of the Church. Very cool indeed. The Spirit of God has helped me to know for myself that President Monson really is a true prophet of God and that we are still being led in the correct path.

Survival mode

I'm sure all of you at one time or another feel as I'm currently feeling. Like you're living day by day in "Survival Mode". These past few weeks of existence have been pretty much that. Existence. Surviving. ;-)

Not much to blog about because between our school and work schedules and me feeling like death warmed over, we haven't done much.

But I do have some CUTE pictures of my little kiddos, so here they are. I can't believe how big the girls are growing. Joanna looks like such a young lady in the pic with me and the girls, huh?! Not like the toddler that she is. I also love the one with Joanna playing guitar hero. She watches Josh (or me sometimes) play and has learned how to hold the guitar and "strum" the notes. She's our little rock star!!

Jaclyn has been walking for about a month and a half now, and she's really cruising. But she often starts running too fast for her little legs to keep up and then she trips and falls. Her falls are so hilarious to watch!!! That's probably not a nice mommy thing to say, but when she falls, she does it right!! ;-)

Fred Meyer's had a big fat sale on all Radio Flyer bikes so we got the girls one. Joanna's is a tricycle and Jaclyn's is one of those toddler bikes that they scoot with their feet. It even came with a bell and tassles on the handle bars. And the weather is warming up so we've been able to take them outside almost every day (well, when good ol' Ellensburg wind isn't HOWLING!) and practice riding. Joanna is really getting the hang of it, but Jaclyn doesn't have that much interest. Jaclyn rides hers for, like, a minute, and then she's off...you guessed it...RUNNING away!!! She'd rather practice her short distance sprints than her bike-riding skills.

It's finals week at Central so Josh and I are getting through that. Well, more so me, actually! Josh had his first and only final this morning, so he's already done. I still have two more later this week plus two papers due by Friday. Yikes!!! Mmmm, maybe I should be studying instead of blogging!! Nah. Who likes to study?! Blah.

Also, I am nearly 13 weeks pg so that brings GREAT news to me!!! It means that I'm almost out of the woods with the nausea/fatigue phase. Hip Hip Hurray!!!! I am SO ready to feel better and to start liking food again! I told Josh that the minute I'm feeling better he has to take me to the Olive Garden! ;-P Oh yeah, and I also told him that this better be our last baby 'cause I ain't never doin' this again!!! (But you just watch me...I'll be eating those words within the coming year. I said the same thing after having Jaclyn and then I'd go somewhere, see someone else's baby and get baby fever all over again. Yes, yes. I AM insane.)

a mother's influence

"If human infants are not surrounded by genuine love from birth, radiating outward into a truly caring family and social environment, then we pay for our failure toward the next generation by having to live in a world torn with fear and hate...The importance of security for babies and mothers outweighs every other issue. If that is not achieved, everything else we do merely sustains human masses to struggle on from crisis to crisis."
~ Harry Guntrip

I read this quote in a textbook and I thought wow. Even the "big brains" acknowledge the importance of loving, stable homes as the basis of a righteous society!!

Growling Grizzly

Okay, do anybody else's kids behave like a grizzly bear when they're sick?!?! Joanna has had a NASTY cold for five days now and all day, every day, she has been growling, moaning, and screaming like a grizzly bear! I sympathize with her completely, I really do. I, too, hate being sick. It's so miserable. But c'mon. We've got wailing and gnashing of teeth going on over here!!! What a drama queen. I hope she gets better soon. Not just for my sanity, but for her to feel healthy again.