What's in a name?

What's in a name?

I saw this on another blog awhile ago and I thought it was adorable  I love when names have special meanings or reasons behind them. Helaman named his sons Lehi and Nephi because he wanted them to live up to their namesakes and be righteous like them, so I thought I'd share the meanings behind the names in our family.

Dallas T

Dallas' dad served his mission in Dallas, Texas, which is why he is named Dallas :) The 'T' stands for Tony, his dad's name, and Texas. Pretty cute, huh?

Amaya Belle

I used to babysit the cutest little girl named Amaya and I always loved that name. Luckily Dallas agreed. :)

We really wanted to name one of our kids after Dallas' mission, but we weren't too fond of Geneva.  Dallas spoke French on his mission, and 'Belle' means beautiful in French.  When I was little, my mom always tell me that it was important to be as beautiful on the inside as I was on the outside, so 'Belle' is to remind Amaya that her dad served a faithful mission and that she needs to always be beautiful where it counts--inside.

Oaklie Talitha

Oaklie was another name that we just really liked. After we chose it, I thought it was really neat that it had “Oak” in it like Elder Oaks, but Dallas told me you can’t say they’re named for someone if you named them before you thought of it :)
Talitha, Oaklie’s middle name has a longer story to it. It comes from Mark 5.“22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,

23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live."
Elder Howard W. Hunter said,  “These are not only the words of faith of a father torn with grief but are also a reminder to us that whatever Jesus lays His hands upon lives. If He is allowed to lay His hands upon a marriage, it lives. If He is allowed to lay His hands upon a family, it lives.”

"36 … [Jesus] saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.

37 And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.
38 And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.

39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

40 And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.

41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment."

I've always loved that story and we thought it was a wonderful name for Oaklie to have to remind her that if she will allow Christ to lay His hands upon her life, she will live.

Updates from Mississippi/ Updates from Idaho

Yay! Finally a post about Dallas! I've been begging him to send me some pictures and he finally did.

Dallas is doing really well in Mississippi.  He's staying busy, which is nice, and we usually can talk on the phone and text several times a day, which is great. So far I've sent him two packages.  I told Dallas it was kind of fun because it's like having a missionary without having the stress of. "Does he like me? What if he's writing other girls? What if he wants to date other people when he gets back?" Dallas told me I was a nerd.  Don't get me wrong--him being gone is NOT like a missionary in a lot of other ways...like the fact that he carries a gun instead of a Book of Mormon, we're married and have kids, and I think once he's over there I'll worry about him more than if he were in Kentucky knocking doors. Anyway, off topic, onto the pictures!

Dallas said this was his sad face because he misses us. :)

Dallas' bed--I made that blanket :)

One of the buildings there. I asked Dallas to send me all of these random pictures because I like to be able to visualize things when he says funny stuff like, "I'm going to chow."

The bathrooms and where they sleep are seperate buildings, so they have to walk outside in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and apparently there are skunks everywhere.  Dallas has had a couple of near death experiences.  The little black speck over by the building is a SKUNK! 

Dallas (obviously)

I'm so glad he's having a good time and making friends! Even though I HATE this deployment most days, it has definately been a blessing, because we have grown so much as a family, and have been able to see so many people around us grow, and I couldn't be more proud of Dallas and the amazing person he is. 

On our very first date, I asked Dallas about the Army, his first tour to Iraq, and why he decided to join in the first place. He told me that he just realized that a lot of people had worked and sacrificed so that he could live in a free country and it just seemed like the right thing to do to sacrifice a little so that his kids could enjoy those same blessings.  I'm very grateful to be married to a man who not only says a lot of amazing things, but is willing to live them.

The other day I was walking back to my car from class  and I got caught in some freak rainstorm.

As you can tell,  I wasn't very happy about it.  Later that day, I was driving and I noticed the most beautiful rainbow.

People always say that after the rain comes the rainbow, but sometimes you can see the rainbow before the rain lets up.  It reminded me that we can be grateful for and recognize and enjoy our blessings, even when it's raining. I've learned to live the saying, "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain." As much as I wish it were next year and Dallas were home, I'm glad it's not because I'm able to watch our little girls grown up right now and I LOVE it.

 sleepy heads

I haven't been very good about taking pictures with my camera lately because I usually snap them with my phone so I can send them to Dallas right away, so enjoy some of our low quality mobile updates.

 That's not my pee--it's Oaklie's.  Gotta love being a mom some days.

I spotted this guy in Sunday School and had to sent a picture to Dal.  White shirt, tie, black slacks, and FLIP FLOPS! Dallas text me back and said, "But yet you had your phone..."

Amaya's been cutting more teeth, so we spent some time on the couch watching Nemo.

Amaya thinks that Oaklie is so neat. She thought it would be SO COOL if they had a slumber party together.

Side note: That blanket was made for Amaya by her great-great-grandma. Grandma Neville died when I was five but I remember going to her house and playing with her poodles when I was little.  My grandma gave me that blanket--the very last one left of Grandma Neville's that hadn't been given away--at my baby shower for Amaya.  Pretty neat!

Oaklie has been full of smiles lately.  I have some really cute pics of her on my camera but they'll have to wait for another day. Poor Oaklie got shots today and hasn't been very happy, but she's still such a sweetheart, even when she's sick.

Amaya is such a dork. She definately keeps me entertained.

Sisterly Love

Tough Little Boys

Below is the official video, also worth watching!

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken before Dallas left for Mississippi and we just got them back. Our photographer is Brianne Serrano ( www.brianneserrano.com ) We just love her!

How are we doing?

Whenever I run into anyone I know lately, they always seem to ask, "How are you doing? How's Dallas? How are you holding up? How are the girls?" So, this post is my attempt to answer how we are doing. 

Dallas: Dallas is doing great.  He's enjoying his time in Mississippi and is staying busy.  I was worried about this deployment a lot.  Last time Dallas went, he was with his two brothers and about a million cousins. (To see more about this, click here.) Dallas has a couple of cousins going this time, and I have one cousin, but as far as we can understand, they won't be in the same area and will have little if no contact.  Ironic, though: My cousin (J.T.) and Dallas' cousin (Russ) are in the same section.  A section is a group of about ten that you are with most of the time. Hopefully Dallas explained that to me right.  Anyway, I was worried about Dallas because last time he had all of these great guys who happened to be his family members to hang out with, talk to about important things, and basically who had his back.  But Dallas reassured me that there are some great guys he's with this time and everything is going well. Dallas' email address is dallas_abrams@msn.com  if you would like to keep in touch with him.

These are our friends, Mike and Jill saying goodbye at the airport.  Dallas and Mike really hit it off and are going to be roommates in Iraq, which is great because Jill and I really hit it off and have been buddies here at home.

Amaya: Amaya is being a crazy little girl as usual. If you need any more proof, check out my last post here. She drives me insane most days because she insists on "helping" me with everything I do and making everything about twice as hard as it needs to be.  But that's okay because I love her. She's a happy, silly little girl and most of her days are spent running around in circles and talking on the phone.

Oaklie: Oaklie is also doing great.  She's a wonderful little baby and is so happy almost all of the time.  She's also a bit of a weirdo, which means she fits in well in our family :) Oaklie knows how to roll over--both ways.  It's crazy.  I have video of it if you don't believe me.  Also, like I said in my last post, she loves baths.  You can usually find Oaklie curled up on the closest adult's chest just like a little leech.  She loves to cuddle! She's taken a nap with just about everyone in our family, but of course her favorite nap buddy is her daddy! Gotta love this little cuddle bug!

Carissa: I'm doing well, and staying really busy. My strategy for this deployment was to stay really busy and hopefully the time would go by faster, so I signed up for 6 credits, am taking care of my girls and the house, and have taken up Zumba (kind of).  I'd love to say that I'm amazing and that I handle everything perfectly all by myself, but it's not true.  Right now I'm basically treading water, and I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have so many wonderful family members to help me and to watch my kids and be there for me emotionally right now.  I'm especially thankful for my parents and my awesome sister Meagan who has been watching my kids twice a week when I go to my class in addition to her FOUR little kids.  Conference this weekend was great, and I especially loved Pres. Uchtdorf's Saturday morning talk.  I'm definately going to take his advice when it comes to dealing with adversity. "Brothers and sisters, we would do well to slow down a little. Proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most."

And I've got to put a plug in for a few other people I know that are also doing really well. My sister, Hailey  ( http://www.koryandhailey.blogspot.com/ ) is absolutely glowing and preparing for her future basketball star that's coming into their family next month.  And Trevor and Kay also have some great news. Trevor is Dallas' cousin who is also being deployed.  They live in Rexburg and we went to Texas with them this spring (they also bailed out early because of the deployment.)  Trevor and Dallas are the second picture on this post. Anyway, Trevor and Kay are awesome and have been hoping to have a baby for several months now, and Dallas told me today that they are expecting a little one in June! We are so very excited for them!  (I hope it's ok to share the great news with the handful of people who actually read my blog :) )

Below are some pictures of what we've been up to lately. 

 

And I also have some really, really great news of my own. A few days after Dallas left, he called to tell me that in November he would have a few days off, he just had to stay within a certain radius of Camp Shelby.  So, we decided that I would fly down to see him and we would meet up in the fabulous city of

We're so excited to have a second honeymoon!  It was such a fantastic surprise because when he flew out I wasn't expecting to see him again for another year.  Needless to say, I am a very, very happy girl :)

That's all for now but we'll be sure to keep you posted on our upcoming events!

A Day in the Life of a Busy Mom

A mom has the hardest job in the world.  It is a lot of work!

 

First thing in the morning, she's cleaning the house, still in her pj's!

 

When you're a mom, there's always work to be done.  Like the dishes. 

And unpacking boxes

And getting the kids in their carseats, to go to town.

A mom is so good at what she does, she can push the baby in the stroller with her eyes closed!

  Of course, it's important to do yardwork and keep the grass is looking nice.

 And don't forget to call your visiting teaching sisters to see how they're doing!

Moms spend a lot of time cooking for their families and making sure everyone has enough to eat.

But at the end of the day, it's most important to take time to do what mommies love best--taking care of our little babies!

Amaya--you're going to make a great mom one day!

September

Wow! September really flew by! I still can't believe it's October. For the last 6 months, everything has been classified as "before Dallas leaves" and "after September". Now that he's in Mississippi, I almost don't know what to do with myself! Luckily I have two redheaded little girls to keep me busy!  I wanted to update and show everyone what we were up to when Dallas came home on leave in September.

Dallas and Oaklie took some naps together. Aren't they so cute?

Amaya and Dallas practiced pointing

 We blessed Oaklie on September 12. It was so wonderful! It was great to be able to see Dallas take her in his arms and be able to give her a blessing, surrounded by so many wonderful priesthood holders who love her so much!

We had a great barbecue afterwards with our family at Dallas' grandparents house.  Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Baxter for a great party!

We had a fun backyard soccor game afterwards.

 Amaya playing in the dryer

Oaklie LOVES baths! I've never met a new baby who doesn't cry when she takes a bath.  She just lays there with a look on her face like, "This is the best."

 Our last dinner together as a family the night before Dallas left.

 Dallas didn't want to be in the picture of my table setting!



Putting the girls to bed the night before heading to the airport. I love being a mom to two silly and sweet little angels.