GIVEAWAY: Arise & Shine Forth EFY 2012 CD

This blog ran off and grew up before my very eyes. I posted about getting to go back to EFY a while ago, and ever since getting to visit during a session, I have been wondering how I can have the same feeling in my everyday life that I enjoyed while I was a counselor 4 years ago. I was so dang excited to get an e-mail from LDS Radio asking if I'd be interested in reviewing and giving away this year's EFY CD on my blog. Um - YES. I love ALL things EFY. And man, this CD is a good one. [oh, and Your LDS Radio streams music like this 24/7 online or on your phone. Rad.]



As soon as we put the CD in our player for the first time, I turned to Cam and asked "Why don't we just listen to music like this all the time? It makes you feel so good and you don't have to worry about any of the garbage that sneaks its way into the rest of the media." Part of me honestly wonders what I'm afraid of. Am I afraid of missing out on something if I just decide not to listen to popular music? Am I afraid of being "too good?" Regardless, the EFY CD for 2012 is awesome. For real. Good enough to make me even question needing popular music? That's pretty good.

I am a lyrics person. Cam is a music person. Together, we appreciate songs in all their glory. I have to say, though, that the styles on this CD are pretty varied. It was really refreshing to jump out of that Janice Kapp stereotype and into something more modern. The theme song is great - Arise & Shine. But I think my favorite track at the moment is the song "He'll answer back." It has a Missy Higgins vibe and invokes confidence in your personal testimony. I love it. I could listen to it over and over again. And every time I hear the chorus my heart just burns. I love the reminder that my God has confidence in me.

He sees the heart inside me.
He knows the strength I have.
He's always there beside me.
When I kneel down, I know He'll answer back.

The gap between followers of Christ and followers of the adversary is widening. The gray area is almost completely gone. It will cease to exist before we know it. Sometimes I panic because I don't know how I'm going to be able to raise my boys in a world that is so evil. Sometimes I smile with a confidence that comes from a higher power because I know He is watching over us and that we are steadfastly on His side. Anything to help me keep my feet firmly planted on His team is exactly what I need in my life. The lyrics from the Arise & Shine Forth CD help empower and remind me of the responsibility I have. I love that.

There's a song called "All Great Men" on the CD that also just brings me so much peace. I hope my boys will listen to it and understand it and strive to live up to its words. I feel like young men nowadays are either rockin' or total losers. Cam is rockin'. Lucky me. :) I hope my boys will be rockin' too. WANT to get married. WANT to have a family. WANT to work hard to provide, preside and protect. Having media around that encourages that can only help.

I know the CD is aimed at the youth. Maybe I'm immature, but I couldn't help but connect with it on a totally personal level. It came into my life during a bit of a rough patch and it was exactly what I needed.

So, want a copy for you? I thought so.

Enter below and I'll pick a winner next Friday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Full Disclosure: I received compensation for this post in the form of a CD to keep and a CD to give away to one of my awesome readers. All the opinions are completely my own. I'll tell ya if it totally stinks! Don't worry. :)

1 Month Old

Gray Left, Nash Right

My sweet boys are a month old already! How did that happen? I feel like just yesterday I was in the hospital for monitoring. If the rest of their childhood goes this fast, I better start writing things down. I've learned that's the only way to keep myself from panicking about life passing me by.

I've seen a lot of cute things done with monthly updates, numbered onesies, cute photos, etc. I've been told that I'm the kind of person people expect that sort of thing from. However, I have no idea what I would do with pictures like that in the long run. I don't want to stress myself out every month trying to get these boys to cooperate and they tend to look darn cute with minimal effort on my part, so long as I don't mess with them too much. It's when I try to complicate things that everyone gets stressed and sad.

I did have the realization though that we will probably celebrate the 9th of every month for the next year, just like we celebrated the 2nd of every month for the first year of our marriage. This month, we took the boys to meet the wonderful people at the fertility clinic where everything started. Dr. Foulk and his staff are incredible. I'm so grateful for them and the friendships and blessings that have come from that relationship.

This month has been full of cuddles, spit up, smiles, cute faces, thousands of kisses and laughter.

Favorites from this month:

1. Cam was changing Nash's diaper when Nash projectile pooped on him. Cam put his hand down to block it and immediately Nash started peeing. Completely exasperated, Cam just starts laughing and says "...Stop! Stop it!"


2. At one point, Gray was pooping, peeing, hiccuping, burping, and spitting up simultaneously. Poor guy just looked up at me with each hiccup as if to ask "what is going on, mom?"


3. I feed the boys at the same time, most of the time. Gray likes to touch Nash while they eat. Nash doesn't like to be touched while he eats. It's pretty entertaining.


4. The boys make some seriously great faces after they eat. Eye-rolling contentment and huge smiles. It's wonderful. I know those smiles are just gas smiles, but they make me melt.


5. We've figured out bathtime. The kitchen sink is where it's at. The boys love the warm water and calm right down. It sure helps them sleep better at night, too.


6. Nash was fussy one night after the 3am feeding. I rocked him for about a half hour until he fell asleep, which I've never had to do before, but I really loved it (for the first bit). This morning, Gray just needed some cuddle time before the day started. We hit the rocking chair for a few minutes and enjoyed the quiet. I love being a mom. I love being their mom.


7. We've really enjoyed taking the boys out for walks. They generally sleep through the entire thing, but yesterday they were so content in the sunshine, just looking around at everything.


8. They sleep really well right now. We put them down to bed at 8 or 8:30 and go back up to feed them at 10:30. Every time I walk through the bedroom door at 10:30, my heart just soars because they're still there. They are our boys. They get to stay with us forever. This is a dream come true in every sense of the word.


9. I generally try to tackle the middle of the night feedings on my own because Cam has to get up super early and go off to work every morning. I have the option of sleeping in so long as the boys cooperate. He doesn't. Sometimes, though, I really need his help. (Tandem nursing is tricky...) Cameron is pretty groggy when that happens. This results in some pretty great conversations. (Cam: Don't worry. I packed their bags. Me: Oh? Where are they going? Cam: The Dark Side.)


10. Gray is a very voracious eater. Once he figures out it's time to eat, he gets so dang excited. Noises, stretching, arms flailing. It's quite a production. Nash generally just latches and goes. When Gray starts "being Gray", Nash will stop eating and just watch him with an expression on his face that says "What is your issue, dude?" It cracks me up every single time.


11. Gray spit up in Nash's ear.


12. We read a page out of the Book of Mormon board book every night for our family scripture study. One night we read the story of Nephi building the boat and talked about how we're going on a boat this summer at Lake Powell and we will be on the houseboat with all of our family, just like Nephi took his family. Last night we read about King Benjamin and how sleeping is helping Mom and Dad and makes Heavenly Father happy.


13. Praying for our sons by name.


14. The first night we were home, Cameron wasn't used to all the little noises the boys make in their sleep. For the first 3 hours, Cameron probably asked me "what's wrong with them??" 15 times. We got him some ear plugs. He only had to wear them for 2 days.


15. General Conference. Cam and Nash on one couch. Gray and Me on the other. Pure contentment.

So, happy 1 month gentlemen! You sure are handsome.

 

The Nursery

We did manage to finish the nursery before our boys made their early arrival. I am too thrilled with how it turned out. I remember when the idea hit me for what I wanted to do in this room. It was the absolute middle of the night and I had just gone to the bathroom for probably the 4th time since we went to bed. I had been thinking a lot about how to raise two righteous young men in today's world. All that kept running through my mind was "start now." Start now teaching them how to treat women. Start now teaching them to study the scriptures. Start now teaching them about missions. Start now.

I came back from the bathroom and woke Cameron up.

"I know what we're going to do for the nursery."

"Seriously, Kristin?"

I was too excited. Inspiration had struck and I needed to share it with him.

"We'll theme it around 'I'll go where you want me to go'. Vehicles, maps, travel, etc. It's perfect."

Needless to say, Cameron was much more excited to talk about this once the sun came up.

The biggest shot of the room I could get. The view going the other direction isn't very pretty at this point. I'm still waiting for the boys to get a bit bigger so we can take a picture of the boys in these cute hats my sister made for them and blow it up for the wall over the cribs. Until then, it's just big and blank.

That gorgeous changing table was built from scratch by my very own handyman husband. (Affectionately named "Handy Cammy" by my sisters.)

It was truly a labor of love. He designed it, built it, and stained it all on his own. It is perfection and I couldn't be more in love with it. The right hand cabinet fits our hamper perfectly. The top drawer has diapers and wipes. Middle drawer holds all the cloth diapers I made until the boys fit them. The left cabinet is stocked with diapers and wipes from our baby shower. I feel so prepared. And once the boys are grown, it will make a beautiful console for elsewhere in our home.

I had a blast designing the prints above the table. The large one says "I'll go where you want me to go" on a background of a subway map.

The heart print on the bottom right includes maps of where all the men in our immediate family served their missions. I love that our boys have so many good examples to look up to!

The clocks mark the minute our boys entered the world. On the far right you can see a shadowbox with two missionary tags that say "Elder Call" on them, from Cameron and his dad's missions. Eventually that engagement picture on the far left will be replaced with a cute newborn picture as well.

I love the artwork above the rocking chair. My mom gave me a puzzle last Christmas of the US made up of license plates. I'd done it 3 or 4 times already and knew it would be just perfect for the nursery. Cam found a piece of wood at work, we put the puzzle together, he stained the wood with leftover stain from the changing table and adhered the glued together puzzle to it. Bammo, artwork for $0.

The curtains are actually two sheets we bought from DI. Cam cut them into strips and I sewed them back together. Each sheet cost $2. Curtains for $4. And they block out the sun pretty darn well.

I love this little pillow. I really wanted to include a tandem bike somewhere in the room. Two seats for two boys. I love that. And it only took about 10 minutes to make with my silhouette.

This "dresser" was really a great solution as well. Cam found it outside his work and asked if he could have it. Apparently it had been there for years. We cleaned it up and gave it a fresh coat of paint. Lucky enough, target carried bins for $6 that fit perfectly.

This clock is one of my favorites. We found it at RC Willey for $16 on clearance after a $25 giftcard we got from unsubscribing from their mailing list. Who knew?

I couldn't be happier with how this all turned out. The idea of "start now" causes me to act a little differently. I know sometimes it feels weird to read a Book of Mormon board book to 2 week old babies, but starting now means the habits are being formed both in us as parents and in them. It sometimes feels weird to plan a FHE when the boys aren't even old enough to focus their eyes on us or react to our facial expressions, but we're starting now to develop a pattern of consistency and a priority on family time.

It's not much, but it's a start.