Linford Mark McBride

He's Turning 3!!!

Where does the time go?

I am sitting here looking at all these pictures of my little Linny

and I can't figure out how it went SO incredibly fast.

People say that all the time, but oh how it is SO painfully true.

Why can't time slow down?

I don't want them to be little forever necessarily.

I just want each year to last the length of about 3 years each

so I can really engrave each moment and memory in my head,

good and bad.

OUR little Linford truly has US completely WRAPPED,

and everyone he knows or meets for that matter.

His dimeanor is almost indescribable unless you know him.

I always try to explain him to people

and I feel like words can never quite do it.

He is the MOST mild mannered,

tender hearted,

silly,

non-confrontational,

handsome,

soft-spoken,

loveable,

loving,

MELLOW little boy.

He is a little mischevious,

more than the other two,

and very independant as well.

He loves sports.

He loves animals.

He is very tough,

but not aggressive whatsoever.

Very NATURALLY good at everything he tries.

Coordinated

Left handed

He is very smart,

and he wouldn't hurt a fly.

Funny thing...

A friend of ours just did a blog post of how much

she HATED the fair

We went to the OKC Fair today

and I will tell you how much

I LOVE the Fair...

Funny how everyone has different experiences

at these kind of things,

but I love going to the fair

The only thing is, its

SO EXPENSIVE,

other than that- I think its a blast

Last year we went and Linford was terrified to do anything

BUT

this year he loved it and did everything that Hewitt did.

Hewitt won himself a little stuffed animal and he was SO proud of himself.

I was quite proud too, yes I cheered him on.

He threw darts at balloons and actually popped them!

We got some cotton candy too which the kids LOVED and you can't do without that at the fair, right???

My aunt Susan and Uncle Brent took us and

I couldn't have been more thankful!

Here are a bunch of pictures of my cuties and some fun we had.

I don't have my camera so these are courtesy of my iphone.

Hewitt on Uncles Brents shoulders walking into the Fair

Hewitt was so giddy

AND so was this little dude

This is Linny's "new" face that you will begin to see in every picture

which to me is darling because he thinks it makes

him look mean or scary and if you know Linford he is FAR from either of those things.

The Merry GO Round

There were mirrors lining the inside of the

Merry Go Round

and he watched himself the entire time just making all sorts of faces.

Hewitt

Monsters Inc

...Love this one...

Can't pass up HULK

This one was their favorite

The only picture I could get of Harper,

he was pretty entertained with all the people and the lights and noise

We had fun!

We will definitely go back, they hold the fair for 11 days here in OKC so we'll go back a few times. Next time I will have to get some pictures of the kids playing games and more of rides and some of the animals.

Continuing to Learn and Grow

I always find it so amazing that we as human beings are

ALWAYS

Learning, Growing, Changing and Making Choices.

I find it SO intriging that life is really

SO SIMPLE

and that at times I make it SO COMPLEX

Last night I was so excited to get these swimsuits I ordered.

Something just for me.

I haven't done that in a LONG time.

Trying them on, thinking I looked pretty good and

excited for my husband to get home so I could show him.

I have been working out HARD over the summer

and I thought I had begun to see some positive results.

Then I wanted to show my friend Leah who has moved home

so I had Brandon take pictures of me to send to her to show her...

He took the pictures and as I am looking at them before sending them to her,

I am in disgust as I looked at myself in these pictures.

Thinking,

"wow I must be blind if I thought I looked good"

and "ew, is that really what I look like???"

My wonderful feeling was quickly flushed down the toilet

and I was left feeling like crap.

Needless to say, I didn't send the pictures.

I don't tell this story for any kind of "nice" comments saying

I look so good "for having 3 kids"

or whatever might go through ones mind when reading this.

I tell it because after THIS experience I learned something from it later on.

I was watching a video on youtube and it

TOTALLY STRUCK me.

What is amazing, is that I have seen this video before,

but it always HITS me to the core.

I cry everytime.

I admire this woman so much and I am just in AWE of her.

I think part of it that really GETS me is that I am a mom too

and I put myself in her shoes and I don't know if I would have her strength.

I immediately felt almost guilty for having the "feelings"

I had last night.

How dare I get upset about something so trivial

when there are people out there dealing with things like this

with such grace and strength.

I feel like I need to be MORE APPRECIATIVE

of my body and what I have.

The abilities I have.

My health.

I am so BLESSED

and why don't I recognize that more often?

Why don't I remember the POSITIVE things MORE???

It's a choice and I need to

MAKE it.

Time and time again,

I look at these 3 little dudes and I can't help but think,

"wow, you really belong to me..."

I am always wishing I could slow time down or

in some way enhance my memory so that I can remember each moment

and the emotions whether

good, bad, sad or mad.

I am over taken with feelings of gratitude

that I am able to raise these special spirits.

Then I begin to hope and pray that they will live fulfilling lives full of happiness.

I want them to make good choices and learn from their mistakes.

To be a good example to those around them and

become good fathers and husbands who love the gospel.

I hope to be someone they can turn to and talk to.

I stress about doing everything right.

The other day I was in a

combined relief society/preisthood meeting and the bishop was speaking.

He said something that I have heard many times before...

but this time I couldn't get it out of my head.

He said,

"there are endless amounts of books out there on parenting and raising children

and how to guide them, but we have the BEST book of all right here in front of us.

The scriptures. The word of God"

I loved that.

I loved these pictures that I took because you can tell that my kids think I am so funny.

I can always make my kids laugh

and I think one of the greatest parts of being a mom for me

is that my kids think I am the most

funniest, prettiest, best singer, smartest, coolest, strongest person on earth.

Regardless of how other people view me

or think about me,

My KIDS

think its true and it makes me feel so important.

Friendship

Well some might say that friends come and go

I don't usually say that, but I hear it all the time...

Brandon always asks me why I want more friends.

"we barely get to see the ones we really like" he always says.

I have been thinking a lot this summer about friendship

What does it really mean?

I have had friends that I have had my WHOLE life,

whom I KNOW will be my friends FOREVER...

One's that I can think of RIGHT off the top of my head

and they know who they are.

THEN there are those friends you meet along the way and have a special connection with.

There are some that have an impact on you,

or ones that YOU impact....

I have learned that I am the friend that will always CARE,

not because I want you to THINK that I care,

NOT because that I think its the "right" thing to do,

BUT

because I find myself CARING about these people

that I have only been friends with for a short period of time.

I think about them, I hope they are doing okay and I pray for them when their life is rough.

Some of them I don't know if I will ever see again, or in the near future at least...

But then I wonder, is it all about effort?

Does it matter if I ever see them again?

Am I still considered a good friend if its only long distance?

I don't know yet.

BUT

I figure,

why I am down here on earth, why not give it some effort?

I know I sound Cheesy right now,

but I am totally PAST the point of caring, If you can't tell.

So I made this friend out here in Oklahoma.

In the beginning I thought she would be fun to hang out with

We both have 3 kids

We share the same religious beliefs

My husband is from the same town as she and her husband are from

We are close to the same age...

it was perfect to have someone like that to PASS the time while Brandon was at work

Her name is Leah.

She QUICKLY changed from someone

who I just thought was fun and cool

INTO a

Best Friend.

I make friends fairly quickly I know that,

BUT

you can't find friends that you

CLICK with

THAT QUICKLY

I think in the short time she was here,

she's become someone that I could tell anything to.

Cry with,

Laugh with

Share secrets with

Be silly with

BE MYSELF

and feel comfortable

someone I could TRUST.

Its hard to find somebody that you can feel that comfortable around

besides your spouse, kids siblings or parents.

Not only did I think she was wonderful and like a sister that I never had

BUT

I started to love her kids too.

Yes, I love kids,

but they were such cuties and my boys played with them everyday.

She left yesterday.

Now its just me and the kiddos all day.

I miss my friend.

At the movies

at the park

After eating the best frozen yogurt!

Sunday Picnics

Showing our buff-ness from going to the gym every morning!

ORANGE LEAF

SUSHI baby!

more muscles...props to the kiddos for being such good photographers! ha!

More sushi...

Don't Mess!

On our way to the ZOO

Oh yeah baby!

This was MEANT to get the Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt sign in the picture.

This was a SWEET temptation for us....YUMMMM!

Feeling the NEED

DO you ever feel the need to be BETTER???

Not just a BETTER mom...

Or a BETTER wife...

Or BETTER friend...

BUT ALL OF THOSE THINGS?

DO you ever feel like you could do MORE???

Not just MORE praying...

Or MORE scriptures...

Or MORE service....

BUT be MORE religious as a whole?

What about being OVERWHELMED with Gratitude?

Feeling like you can't THANK enough people who have SERVED you?

Or feeling like you can't RETURN the favor adequately?

OVERWHELMED with thoughts and feelings

of GRATITUDE for and about people

that you just don't know how to express or portray?

Do you ever think about this person you WANT to be?

Or the GOALS you would like to ACCOMPLISH?

Or look at someone you ADMIRE and think to yourself, "I want to be like them"...

Then after all those thoughts PASS through your mind

you begin to feel so OVERWHELMED that you don't even know where to begin?

That is how I am feeling right now.

I think I am a pretty good person,

I know that I try hard to do GOOD

and be GOOD and CHOOSE THE RIGHT,

but I just feel like I could DO MORE,

BE MORE,

BE BETTER,

and it needs to start NOW.

I live the GOSPEL,

but I need to be a BETTER example

and a BETTER mom and wife.

I just got done listening to a million "mormon messages" and man it really hit me to the core. IF you can't tell. If you haven't watched those, DO IT, they are amazing, some more touching than others...depending on who you are, but WOW. Loved it, and totally INSPIRED me.

My Little Artist and DIRTY DAYS

My Little Artist

Hewitt LOVES to color and draw.

He reminds me of the way my big brother Jordan was when he was younger.

He has such a big imagination and is SO creative.

He is very specific and articulate and quite the perfectionist.

This is just a FRACTION of what he has drawn.

Little does he realize, I am a pack rat and

can't bear to throw away anything he draws.

SO I have loads and loads of pictures....

He is barely 5 and this is what he thought up

I am going to start posting more of his "art" cause I love it

and I want to share his cuteness.

This is "Cosmo the Cougar"

This is "Thing" or "Rock Man"

This is HULK

DIRTY

I have never had a problem with my kids getting DIRTY.

I don't ever remember my parents having a problem with me

getting DIRTY when I was growing up.

Thats what being a kid is all about

splashing in puddles

making messes

finding bugs

collecting bugs

collecting rocks and other treasures

using your imagination

getting good and DIRTY

Nothing a good bar of soap and a tub full of water can't fix....right?

Lately my kids have been getting DIRTY a LOT

Today they were living their dream.

I should have taken a picture of their bath tub.....completely BROWN.

I had to wash their hair twice.

AND this is NOT the first time this summer.

My Aunt and Uncle let the boys play out in there DIRT and MUD.

Between their dogs and DIRT and

kiddie/doggy pool they sure got good and DIRTY!