Gracie's baptism

We had some exciting events recently.  Gracie turned eight last month and decided to get baptized the next week.  We are so lucky and all of my family was able to come into town the the baptism.  We even had to fly Stuart in from Penn. since he was up there for training.  It was a whirlwind week of everyone arriving on different days, so we ended up going to the airport 8 different times in a week, fun times.  My Dad got really good at navigating the freeway to the airport.  My 3 aunts were even able to come into town, 2 of which I haven't seen since my wedding, so that was a lot of fun.  The cousins all play so well together and we got to do some fun stuff, like Downtown Disney, Blue Springs, Disney World and lots of pool time at the resort.  It went so fast, and it was sad to see everyone leave.  But hopefully we will all see each other again this summer.  

  

We had some good friends make it out to the baptism, and it was so sweet to see their support.  Stuart and I have really tried to embrace the ward family here since we are both far from our families, and the service really had a family feeling about it.  My sister and Dad gave very sweet, spiritual talks, and I messed up and told them to both prepare for the talk on baptism but luckily my Dad is of course awesome and was able to speak on the Holy Ghost with 2 minutes notice.  His talk was told of a story that I had forgot about during her diagnosis of billiary atresia so I was so grateful that spoke.  I am grateful for the experience and very grateful to hear the sweet words of my husband as he blessed her and spoke very candidly his testimony.  I wish I had more pictures, but I didn't have my phone on me, I didn't want the distraction, so my Mom quickly took these right before.
When the bishop was interviewing Grace, he asked me if I ever think about why her life was saved during her illness, and I think about it all the time.  Of course the thought brings on guilt for not being kinder and more forgiving to her since she is such a gift, but that may be one of the reasons, to teach me.  I also have always thought that she is strong because of what she had to go through, and although she does not remember it all she will always have the fighting spirit within her, and I love that.  Grace made me a mom, and she will always be the one that taught me how to be a mom and I am very grateful for that.  And I look forward to learning more with her, and the adventure of activity girls now will be very fun to do with her.

2015 Begins

A quick run down at life in the Pitre house for the beginning of 2015.
Stuart has been at his job over 5 years and will finally become a certified bridge inspector this spring, something we have been waiting 5 years for.  He still loves his job, and can't wait to do more diving all over the country (he is still gone a lot).  If they win the Alaska job again he can finally go do that job (they required 5 years of experience) and he is really hoping he gets that job.  Last March he got cute by an oyster shell and was in the hospital for 4 days with a very serious infection.  It was very scary and I don't ever what to forget it so I remember how important he is to this family.  He thinks he wants to live in Alaska off the grid, I just laugh and shake my head.
I am currently in school at UCF working on a degree in health sciences.  I'm still not 100% sure what I am going to do yet but I really want to finally finish and although it feels like it is never going to happen, every semester I do get a little closer.  It's fun to be going back and learning new stuff, and working really hard, but it is hard with the kids and I feel torn all the time.
Grace is 7 in second grade and loves her school.  Her teacher is her favorite and I sometimes think she would go live with her if she had a chance.  But I never have to fight with her to get up in the morning, so that is a win.  She just started piano lessons but isn't thrilled about practicing everyday.  She loves singing, is a little obsessed with Frozen and wants to work at Sea World, Disney, the movie theater and be a teacher when she grows up.  And she is already talking about when she has babies and she wants to live near me so I can hold them all the time (good girl).
Zach is 5 and is in kindergarten this year.  He still is a little hard to understand sometimes, but only when he is excited and talks fast, so it is so much better then it was a year ago.  He has a very nice teacher but he is not as thrilled about school.  Mornings are very hard for him, he is like me.  His favorite things right now are snakes and guns.  He is my most snuggly kid, but also loves to play fight with Dad.  His favorite colors are black and green.  I'm trying to convince him to become a pilot so I can fly free, but he said planes go to fast, but I'm going to keep working on him.
Katy is 3 and fierce.  We joke all the time she is mean, and people don't believe us but she is sassy.  I don't feel like we have parented her differently, but she is definitely more independent that the other 2.  She loves my little pony and frozen toys right now.  We got her a kitchen for Christmas and she really likes that too (it was a joy putting together christmas eve).  She just started sunbeams yesterday and wasn't upset about it, she was ready to move on.  Her favorite colors are pink and purple and she would eat candy all day if we would let her.  Her favorite person is Stuart for sure, so we are always so happy when he is home for a while.
We bought our house in Florida a little over 2 years ago, and we are almost done paining the entire interior and Stuart is still working on the outside yard.   It may never ben done because we are constantly fighting with our grass to grow.  The kids love the pool and would be in everyday if we had a heater.  We have some really awesome neighbors, so we are very lucky.
We still have sweet, old Max, he is over 9.  I always knew we would be lucky to see him to 10 but you can say that all you want to prepare yourself, its not going to help.  My heart is already hurting seeing him slowing down.  I'm not sure now we will get through his dying, and I know we will but it is going to be rough, we are all very attached.
I hope this year brings some changes, but not too many.  Stuart said recently that we are in a good place and he is happy where we are, so lets hope we will feel the same way at the end of 2015.

Not blogging resolutions.

I'm not going to blog about my resolutions, I'm not even sure I have locked-in ones for this year.  I have ideas of course that are ongoing about how to better myself and our lives, but I don't need to put them out there to look at in a year and think "what a loser".
  I am currently in school right now (just in case in 40 years when I am reading this I forget that, ha) and I'm constantly learning new things and I love that.  And I am back in relief society and I learn a lot in those lessons as well about the gospel.  And I love that, I love learning, and I love that my parents were such a good example about always learning new things.  My parents are always reading, and not fluff stuff, real stuff.  My dad always reads at least 2 books about the place they are living in before they move there and took up birding in his 40's.  My mom is continuing her education right now after taking 38 years off and reads every genre of books out there.  But that is just a side note about how awesome they are.
I once heard my mom say that she has a few questions for the Lord when she gets to see him again, and of course she said this lightly and was not seriously questioning his great plan, but since hearing that I sometimes think about what I would ask too.  So here are somethings I would just love to ask because my meager mind just doesn't get it.
Why do some people struggle with infertility?  It seems so cruel when we are taught to go forth and multiply.
And along with that, why mis-carriages? It's like you don't feel like it was a real pregnancy, and most people don't give the opportunity to morn for the loss that is so real.
How come some people can eat whatever they want and look amazing, and some have to cut out food groups before they start losing weight?  (I'm not oblivious to that fact that most people that are in really good shape do eat right, and I eat like a cow, but still...)
There are some people out there that no matter how hard to try to be close to them just won't reciprocate.
What are we supposed to learn from our bodies getting old and not working how we want, especially our minds.
I don't understand how anyone can do anything sexual to a child, it is beyond disturbing.
It's not Aristotle stuff, but just stuff that makes me go huh?  And I will probably never get real answers, but who knows, in 40 years maybe I will.