Sister Love

Sweet Taylen

I had a warm-feelings-in-my-heart mom moment the other day when I was putting Ryah to bed.

The lights were off, and I was rocking Ryah in my arms and singing softly to her, like I do every night before I put her in her crib. She was cuddling her blanket, and humming along with my song. Then I kissed her, told her I loved her, and put her softly in her crib.

I turned around and Taylen was standing in the doorway watching us. I walked out of Ryah's room and Taylen said,

"I have a little tear in my eye."

She was wiping away a tear, and I sat down by her and asked her what the matter was, and she said,

"That was so cute."

My sweet three year old had tender little feelings in her heart from watching a sweet moment with Ryah. Such tender little feelings that it even made her a bit emotional.

And it definitely warmed my heart, and made me so thankful for small, quiet moments like that with my children.

Sweet little thing.

Sunday Clothes

My sisters Calee and Kristina bought my girls cute church outfits for Christmas.
I decided to post a picture as a thank you to them for making my kids look cute today.

You'll have to make do with these not-so-great photos of Taylen, and the not-so-existant photos of Ryah.

My Past Life

I recently uploaded a bunch of pictures from old photo albums so I'll have them electronically.

I've decided to randomly post these pics from my past life here and there. You should probably be excited.

Here's the first from times past:

This was taken in 2001 (I believe) at UNLV. I was about 19 years old, young and carefree...

Yup. It was me.

Remember that one time Brooke and I tried out for American Idol? (click HERE to refresh your memory.)

Apparently I'm not good enough singing with my mouth open to get me anywhere, but singing with my mouth closed is an entirely different story.

And it seems I have a talent for finding new (and more public) ways of embarrassing myself all the time. This one will be hard to top, though.

I am so flattered that my impeccable grace and beauty were finally able to be appreciated by the American public.

And in case you missed it...

Shout out to Kristin

Can I just say that I love this girl...

Kristin is in my ward. Our backyards share a fence. She is a busy mom of three, whose husband is often out of town for work.

And she has been a huge blessing in my life this past year.

And I just wanted everyone to know how much I appreciate her. :)

She has had my family over for dinner COUNTLESS times. And if I can't come over for dinner when she invites me, she often drops a plate of leftovers at my door.

She watches my kids while I'm in class. Even though she is ridiculously busy with her kids, and calling, and life.

She never makes me feel like I am intruding or putting her out in any way when I need her help. Ever.

And I have just really come to value her friendship. And I know it is more than coincidence that we are friends, because I'm pretty sure I would have jumped off a cliff without her help this past year. And I am thankful to my Father in Heaven for putting her in my life.

She is a beautiful, beautiful person.

::Love to Kristin::

May We Stand Still

I was talking to a friend of mine last week about my life, and how crazy and overwhelming it can be at times. He told me to go look up a scripture, which I swear I have never read before, but it was highlighted when I opened to it, so apparently I just have a bad memory.

It is now my current favorite scripture.

Doctrine and Covenants, section 123, verse 17:

"Let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still."

Short little guy (the scripture, not my friend). Lots of good stuff in there (the scripture AND my friend :). First of all, the word "cheerfully." I love that word! There is such a big difference in doing all things and in cheerfully doing all things.

And I just love being reminded that once I do all I can do--everything in my power--I need to be still. When we are still we can feel the spirit. When we are still we can see things from a more eternal perspective. So stop worrying! Stop stressing about the details! (Says Nikki, Reigning Stress-Yourself-To-Death Queen.) Do what you can, and let the Lord take care of the rest. Hey, that doesn't mean we get a free ride. "All things that lie in our power" are a lot of things! And the Lord expects us to do our part. Like in this quote:

..

Together you and the Lord can move mountains. But don't be suprised if He hands you the shovel.

..

And once you've done all the digging you can do, and are covered in dirt, and sweat, and blood, and probably tears, and you've dropped the shovel on your foot, and your toe is broken, and a passing bird has done it's business on your head... you can trust that it will all work out.

.

Even if it doesn't work out the way you've planned.

.

Especially if it doesn't work out the way you've planned.

.

I'll take His plan over my plan any day. I've just gotta keep digging...

.

Cheerfully. :)

Asleep

I am happy right now.

Just watched American Idol.

Laughed.
Laughed some more.

I've been in a happy mood ALL YEAR!! haha.

Seriously, though. So far, I am liking 2009.

I had a great break, which I just really (really times a million) needed.

I have been revamping my spirituality a bit. Just putting things that should be priorities back where priorities need to go. Like...um...the Priority List.

I have been spending a lot more time with my girls because I'm not in school at the moment.

And I'm just excited about what this year has in store for me. I can feel the ickiness starting to evaporate a little bit.

And pieces of me are waking up that have been suffocated by a couple years' worth of crap (insert any strong, feces-related word you wish into this sentence). And I've really missed those parts of me. And I didn't even notice that they had faded away.

For example:
1. I'm singing. (I'm in a store, and I'm siiingiiinng.) Like, around the house, in the car, at the top of my lungs while doing chores. There was a long time there that I didn't do that. And I didn't notice. And I'm glad it's back. :)

2. My kids were asleep. I was alone in the house. So I (naturally) decided to practice my karate jumps. I spent a good ten minutes running down the hall and flinging myself (not) gracefully into the air...complete with hand chopping motions and warrior cries. Face planted a couple of times. It was awesome. And I thought to myself, "It's really too bad there's not a man around these parts to appreciate me right now." haha. That dorky, way-too-much-energy side of me was on hiatus for a while. And I have no idea how to spell high-ate-us.

3. I run with my kids. Not like, "hey, let's go for a quick jog." But like, "Taylen! We're at the mall and there's a bunch of people around but I'll race you to the ice cream store...ready, go!!" And we run, and she laughs, and I look like an idiot, but I don't care.

4. I tell stories. This has always been a Schroeder gift (or curse...not sure). We can turn pretty much ANYTHING that happens during the day into an entertaining story. I've noticed myself doing that more and more, and I love it. It makes for interesting days, and weeks, and lives. :)


Yay for coming back to life after being numb and frozen and devastated and heavy and dark for so long!! It's like when all the blood rushes to your leg after you've been sitting on it weird.

The life is rushing back into me.

And it tingles.

And I like it.

Sweets

You cannot possibly be sad when you look at

this sticky, ecstatic face.

In a Nutshell

So, I've had an AWESOME break. Really relaxing. And fun. And perfect.

And I'm putting a bunch of pictures on here to sum it all up.

Here's what we did while in San Diego:

Calee turned into a high school girl for New Year's.

haha.

The sisters (plus a few boys) partied it up New Year's Eve.

Took my kids (and my friend Jenny and her daughter Emerson)
to a friend's 20 acre ranch and rode ponies, pet chickens,
picked tangerines, held guinea pigs, got dirty, and
had a great time.


Me and Jenny. We go way back. And Ryah and Emerson are
like 4 days apart, and she's pregnant with #2. Notice her adorable baby belly.

I hung out with BRANDON DINSBACH...a friend

from BYU who I haven't seen in 7 YEARS.

How am I possibly old enough to not have seen people in 7 YEARS?!

It was awesome to see him. And kick his trash in air hockey.

And yes, he really is THAT tall...

We watched Ryah make ridiculous faces while eating...

Weird British doctors flew across the waters from ENGLAND to hang

out with weird sister who has been chatting it up with him...that's right, people.

We talked with British accents the entire time.

And Jet gets a thumb's up from me. Way to go.

And, oops, these pictures are in reverse order. Oh well.

We went to Disneyland (SO CROWDED).

This is us on the way back to the car.

Three tired girls...

Meeting Mr. Mouse.

Taylen got a princess makeover and met

three real princesses. She was on cloud nine.

Seriously, look at her face. So happy. :)

Getting her princess makeup after

her hair got done.

Ryah chowing down on some cotton

candy. She was definitely not sticky at all

after this.

We went hiking at Daly Ranch

by my parents' house.

Calee and I with an angel or something.

I got my hair cut and colored.

Love it.

Sweet baby :)

And there was so much more, but I'm not going to post all of it. I'm feeling rejuvinated and ready to take on 2009! I am so happy that 2008 is over...

Come on 2009...you're my year :)

We've been busy...

...Relaxing in San Diego.  

I'll update you soon. 

Hope you've all had a great holiday!