Taken by Dillon. With a point and shoot. While driving a car.

I redecorated and rearranged the nursery–some of it while my baby was sleeping in the crib. The lens I used stinks and I know I need to smudge the photos, but I want to share them too much.

MM has been crawling all over now–she finally understand that crawling isn’t horrible. She just took off exploring this morning.

I taught MM to high-five. She loves it. I raise up my hand, say high-five, and she puts her hand up for me to hit. And now she has actually put her hand up before I even say or do anything so that she can get a high-five. She’s so smart.

I also tried to teach her to hit two blocks together, and she tried her best, she didn’t have the coordination. I helped her out, and she liked that a lot.

Dillon is off to Nebraska this weekend for some testing on a job. He left this morning, but my sister is going to come visit me so I don’t have to be too lonely.

To be honest, I don’t really mind being alone either because I have MM.

MM loves to play the piano. I have a keyboard pretty low, she can stand up and hit the keys on it.

It’s the HGTV Dream Home 2012. I don’t expect to win it (obviously), but I wouldn’t mind too much if it happened. I don’t think I can afford the taxes, but it’s fun to dream.

Now dreaming too much (and entering too many giveaways) is not a good way to live. I told Dillon that if that really was our dream home, we should make a plan to buy one or build it or whatever. Because winning things isn’t reliable, and you never should get something for nothing. (Hear that politicians? You should start requiring community service hours or co-payments or something whenever someone gets government assistance in any way. I’m digressing. And I should never talk politics anyway, but I thought it was a good idea. I mean, if everyone on food stamps had to do community service, the world would be a better place, wouldn’t it? This parenthesis has gone on long enough.)

But dreaming some is good, because that helps you focus your plans and your goals and the direction you are heading. Even if your dreams aren’t always realistic (I’m never going to win the Newbery), they get you thinking about what you really want in life, instead of floundering to and fro. It helps give you vision to know there is something better to work towards.

Many people live mundane lives and are unhappy about it because they’ve forgotten to dream and then take those dreams and make viable plans and goals. Like the HGTV dream home is just a dream, not a reality, but it helps me set goals and plan about owning and decorating a (more realistic) home.

Why would I want a lot of money if I didn’t want to spend it? Well, a lot of it for security, so I never have to worry about money. Another reason is so I can help people. And another reason is that so people don’t have to help me.

And, of course, I would like to own my own (small) house, retire someday, go on a mission, and travel a little bit.

But right now, my little family has very little to no income. We’re living off money in the bank for the next few months until Dillon graduates and we get a full-time job.

Having no income is not a good way to get wealth.

But I was thinking/worrying about it the other day. And I thought: I have loved having Dillon around the past few days, ever since his seasonal retail job ended. We have spent some really good time together–watching all the Harry Potter movies, playing with our daughter, going on walks, visiting family, etc. And even though we may not have a ton of material wealth, I felt super rich in the more important things. I was rich in quality time with my family. Rich in love. Rich in happiness.

And suddenly, I didn’t want money any more. I wanted time. I wanted my family.

***

I just finished listening to As a Man Thinketh. It was a very good book (and very short). It talks about how you make yourself through your thoughts. You succeed through virtuous thought. You fail through doubt and fear.

My mom once said that money seems to follow me and Dillon around–because we’ve always had quite a bit of money in the bank, and random sources of income here and there that sometimes seem to come out of nowhere. But maybe it has more to do with how we think about money–we like to have it more than we like to spend it.

So even if wealth isn’t really what I want in life, I can get what I really want by having the correct mindset and correct thoughts.

Dillon has been applying to jobs (three so far–but since he can’t even start working until May, I think that’s quite a bit) and looking for jobs. And I look at so many other people in this economy and think that we probably won’t get a job right off, that we’ll have to spend some time out of work, that life will be difficult for a while.

And maybe it will–I don’t know. But on the other hand, we do have a lot of control over our situation by our mindset. Our goal is to a job in natural resource law enforcement or similar by time Dillon graduates. And we are actively pursuing that through job applications and the like. Dillon is confident that he is qualified and can get a job.

So why not be optimistic? Why not expect to get a job? While we can’t control everything, we can do our best to seize the opportunities in front of us. Pessimism, doubt, discouragement, fear of not getting a job–those sorts of thoughts won’t get us anywhere.

This is her concentrated look, when she’s trying to do something:

This is her with my lens cap:

This is her with a block:

She loves blocks. Another version of concentrated:

That block is complex, isn’t it? She’s really good at grabbing:

Serious face:

Smile with tongue out:

Profile. Notice the cheeks:

She was having fun:

Then I got into the frame. We decided to show off our teeth:

All three of us: 

Daddy and MM, just chilling:

So sweet:

All three of us now. MM is wondering why I am suddenly running onto the couch:

And this is  a more traditional family photo. It looks all glowy because we are out of focus:

Yep. Life is good.

Their appearance: beautiful 

but has become so common that

I no longer notice

(or care) and all I see are the

shriek cries and the continual annoyance.

Pity, really,

yet I find no room to feel it

• Get Dillon a real, full-time permanent job
• MM — walk & talk
• Buy a house or get housing with job
• Memorize all Book of Mormon scripture mastery
• Find at least one new name on my family tree
• Finish transcribing my great-great grandma’s journal
• Finish my Unadventurous Prince of Niff blog
• Write down the philosophical ideas I have in my head, preferably in an entertaining format
• Read 52 books, 20 nonfiction
• Watch at least 2 classes off iTunes U
• Design 1-2 WordPress themes
• Learn piano song
• Crochet baby booties
• Finish hand quilting that quilt I’ve been working on for 2.5 years
• Get 3 months of food storage
• Plant indoor herb garden
• Be able to touch my toes
• Do 50 push-ups
• No wasted computer time (I deleted my computer games)
• Less television
• Less eating out
• No debt except a mortgage
• Shoot my bow at 30 yards
• Hike 25 miles

She has been quite attached to her momma lately, and I was walking through the room to put something in the next room. Dillon had her and she cried out for me. I came back into the room and Dillon put her on the ground.

She’s been almost crawling for a few weeks and the past few days she has been all but crawling, but she gets frustrated, gives up, puts her head on the ground, and sucks her thumb.

But this morning, she didn’t give up.  She moved her little arms and her little legs in an unsteady crawl to her mommy. She went about five feet before I picked her up.  We were so excited.  She just wanted milk.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,600 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

I gave my brother and his wife a scrapbook (I did it digitally, it’s 8×8 in size):

I gave my dad a photo mousepad, which isn’t really homemade, but I took the picture:

I gave my mom a recipe book with all her recipe files printed and organized (I don’t have a picture, because it’s not that exciting).

I gave my in-laws a book where we gathered a page from most of their progeny about what they believe (I made the binder look all nice):

I gave my husband a hat, a scripture reading card (there is a front with a picture too), and put some photos in a photo album:

I gave my daughter leg warmers and a crocheted teddy bear:

I gave a friend some crocheted teddy bears for her kids and a hat for her:

I gave my sister-in-law and her husband crocheted hats (and a game):

That’s most of it.