Smart Beef and Random Ramblings

The past few weeks have been so busy! Life just keeps passing by so quickly! It's like being on a road trip, looking out the window at everything passing you by, and not being able to stop. At times you think, "Hey...that place looks cool, I'd love to get out and walk around for a few minutes." Or, "That restaurant looks yummy, but I don't have time to sit down and eat, and I've gotta keep driving...probably through a Drive-thru!" I am starting to feel too busy, too rushed. I'm getting by ok, and I think I'm fitting everything in, but there's no time left for relaxing or reading. Napping is so far in the distant past I can barely remember what the word means! I know most of us feel like this; maybe this is the life of a wife and mom, and I'm just now figuring it out :) At any rate, I am going to cut back on a few commitments beginning in June--I know it's the right thing to do.

Annabelle is in the CUTEST phase ever! I LOVE that girl SO much! She is beginning to talk and communicate, and it's awesome :) I hate that time is passing so quickly because I want to cherish these days, and somehow make them last twice as long as physically possible. She wakes up in the morning saying, "Mommy! Yummy! Yummy!" I love it. This little girl has changed my life for the good in countless ways. She makes me want to be a better person each and every day, and knowing that she is beginning to model speech and behavior makes me even more aware of the things I say and do. Her vocabulary is growing fast, and some of her favorite words are: Hat, cat, yummy, Jesus, bye bot (bye bye), hi, mommy, daddy, papa, mimi (Minnie), shoe shoe (shoes), juice and cheese :) She loves to act silly, make funny faces, make "Annabelle Sandwiches" (Josh and I hold her between us and squeeze, yelling "Annabelle Sandwich!") She laughs and laughs, and tries to lean backwards into Josh so we'll do it again :) And she loves nursery! As soon as she's free in the hall after Sacrament meeting, she takes off running and knows right where to go :) I love peeking in on her, seeing her eating her little snack, chasing bubbles, dumping water down her dress, laughing at the girl trying to teach them to fold their arms :) She's got so much personality and life that I am constantly inspired and amazed by her. It's so funny how little things like seeing her fold her arms, or blow a kiss, or yell for me to come in and pick up her blankie can make me feel so happy and fulfilled.

I read an article on Yahoo tonight titled something like, "Study Finds that Kids Hurt Marital Happiness." WHAT?! I actually started to cry when I read it. How messed up is this world going to get?! It's baffling! I guess I can't speak for all of you, but Annabelle has only deepened our happiness. I cannot imagine life without her; I would never want to! I know we may not get a ton of date nights or free time, but the trade-off is well worth it. The article saddened me; it saddens me because there are people out there (people who were included in the research) who truly believe that their children made their marriages worse :( So sad.

On a lighter note, I had a REALLY embarrassing moment yesterday! I was going grocery shopping and Josh sent me a text, asking me to pick up a few things for him. Well, he uses predictive text and things don't always say what he thinks they say. He asked me to pick up some Smart Beef. What??? Smart Beef??? I'm not a cook, so I just figured I hadn't heard of it before. I walked up and down that deli counter 4 times, then back to the actual deli meat/cheese aisle where I spent another 5 minutes. Finally I went back to the deli counter and asked the kind employee, "Excuse me, where can I find the smart beef?" He looked at me for a sec, then said, "Uhhh...I've never heard of smart beef; I actually don't think it exists." "Hmmm...ok." I was about to go ask another employee when it hit me that it should've said "roast beef!" So embarrassing! :)