Lists

When I was younger I used to keep all the stuff I had in my pockets. There were a lot of rocks & little shiny things. As I got older it got to be too much to carry & I couldn't remember why I kept it anyway so I finally got rid of it. Now, I make lists. This was a thought from Storypeople.com I loved it because I love to make lists. Maybe it did start when I couldn't keep everything in my pocket? I love making lists. Kelly recently wrote about making lists, and the joy that comes from checking things off. I have also been guilty of adding something I already finished to my list, just so I can check it off. I use lists with my kids and school. First, Shelby makes a list of things she wants to learn about for the next 6 months. Then, we sit down together and make a monthly plan using her Big List. Each day we come up with her daily list of school work. When the list is done, school is done for the day. Darren says I'm brainwashing them with the list making, actually I think it was his idea. Since checking things off makes me so happy maybe it would work for the kids too. They still carry stuff around in there pockets (Shelby actually brought home a box of rocks and bones from Topaz). There, my random thought of the day. Happy list making!

Saturday Sentiments on a Monday/Topaz Mountain

I want to first thank everyone for your response to my last post. I was totally in a mood, and writing it down does help me feel better, I'm just usually not so public about admitting faults. It really is nice to know that I'm not the only one that struggles with these things.

Now, onto other things. This weekend we went to Topaz Mountain with some friends, and family. Darren had taken the scouts there last fall. Afterwards, he and the other leaders wanted to take their families back for another trip. We had a great time! We went the the Davis', Fletchers, and Palmers(even though we didn't really see them much) and Darren's brother Brett, and his family. Brett brought his 4-wheelers that everyone loved, especially the kids. Even Sarah learned to drive, and Shelby quickly became a pro. We dug, sifted, and broke rocks looking for Topaz, and found some really nice pieces. I'm wondering what do do with them now. (Jared, do you have any ideas-hint, hint?)

I'm combining this with my Saturday Sentiments because it really made me happy to spend time with my family and friends. I thought about how happiness really can come from small things, like sitting in the dirt looking for things that sparkle. The time spent together and relationships that are strengthened are priceless treasures.

I also have a new appreciation for how hard my parents had to work when we went camping as a family. The kids, just enjoy themselves while parents are preparing meals, setting up camp and everything else. But, its so worth it to watch them have a good time.

I really love camping, as long as I don't have to sleep on the ground, can stay warm, and have a toilet. I am really looking forward to our next trip. Darren is already scoping out new rock hounding spots!

Stuff

I just need to vent a little so, indulge me. I guess no one is making you read it anyway.
Isn't it funny how much truth we all know, yet we don't live it? I mean we can give all the right answers in a Sunday School lesson, but when it comes down to the daily grind, its just that- a grind (Sometimes, sometimes it is all truth and happiness-this is not one of those times). For example, I have two (maybe more, but two that I recognize) unproductive ways of dealing with stress one is eating and the other is shopping. Eating out kind of combines the two, good times! Anyway, I know that its just stuff, and that stuff will not make me happy, yet I continue to buy stuff. Then I have to sit down with the budget(yes, I just finished balancing my budget) and there is all of my stuff reminding me that its just stuff, and didn't make me happy. Spending the time with my sister or even alone buying the stuff made me happy, but not the stuff. Stuff is a funny word when you say it over and over try it stuff, stuff, stuff. Ok, I feel better. Hopefully none of you think less of me now that you know I am not perfect when it comes to handling money. It is one of life's struggles.

Look at this funny picture of my dog, Keno. He at some chili.

Saturday Sentiments

I'm sticking with Saturday Sentiments for now, since that seems to work.

1. I can't decide what to call this first one, since its a combination of two things. I love bright colors, they are just so happy. My girls rooms are painted yellow and pink, and (when they are clean) their rooms are just happy. My favorite colors are yellow and red. The second thing is, I love the outdoors. I love nature, I love a beautiful sunset. I think I get this from my dad. When I was a teenager sometimes I would wake up in the middle of night, wrap up in blanket (made by my grandma-that could be another sentiment) and sit go sit on the patio and just think, and get my head head quiet and calm. When we bought this house I was so excited to have a yard, a place to sit outside and enjoy the quiet, Eagle Mountain is great for finding peaceful spots. The problem is we have a small yard, and an ally that runs down the back, I never felt like I had any peace in my back yard. I am so excited that we were able to get a fence this year! So, I am working on creating my own peaceful backyard where my kids can play and I can just go and sit outside and think. So I have decided to paint my old porch swing, and when I saw these bright pillows I knew they would be just the thing.

2. Music. Music makes me happy. There is nothing like a song to improve my mood, or to recall a memory, or help me feel like I am strong and can handle what is before me. I took piano lessons for 8 years when I was younger, and I was feeling so bothered that I couldn't sit down and play anymore that in September I decided to start taking lessons again. Progress is slow, its been 18 years since I took lessons, but I like playing. I even have a few Hymns that I can play pretty well. For those of you that have heard me play in Relief Society, those songs don't count, because I never got to practice them before I played them. Shelby also takes lessons I love listening to her practice. I have also chosen songs for my playlist that I feel are "me" and express how I feel or that make me happy. Hopefully all of you will listen to For Good, because I think of my friends when I hear that song.

Well that's it for today. I have written a ton this week, but it has been so much fun.

Yeah! I got my trip to Logan!

After being so nostalgic on Sarah's Birthday I really wanted to take the kids to Logan. To show them around the town Darren and I spent the first 5 months of our marriage, and where I went to college. We couldn't go because of the snow, and Mary and Wicket were in the back yard, and we didn't think it would be a good idea to leave them there for too long. So, we decided to plan our trip for Thursday. I packed a lunch, and we went and picked Darren up from work, and we were off. Our first stop was the Logan Temple. We used to go every week- the things you can do when you don't have any kids. Sarah was most excited about the water fountain as you can see by her running in the background.


Our next stop was USU campus. We stopped at the "A", and then went to the bookstore to buy the girls USU T-shirts, we have to start the brainwashing early. It was also fun to talk with Shelby about college and all the things you can study, she was most excited about animal science (so, this counts as a school field trip!).

Next we showed them where our little one room "studio" apartment was and "The Pink Palace", where I lived before we got married. "The Palace" is a cool old house, and really I have some of the best memories there.

We had dinner at the The Bluebird, which included buying chocolate as we left. I bought a chocolate dipped York(along with some other delicious treats), but as we drove home, I thought the chocolate dipped York is kind of redundant, isn't it? I'm mean its already chocolate, but double chocolate can't be a bad thing-or maybe it can. I'll let you know, I haven't eaten it yet, sometimes just having chocolate in my house gives me comfort. Anyway, back to our trip. We followed up dinner with a trip to Charlie's for shakes. The weather was perfect, and the day was perfect. Thank you Darren for giving me such a perfect day with my family in a place I love!

Dogs

Does this look like happiness? I'm not sure it does, but this was our life the last couple of days. We were dog sitting my sister's dogs; Mary-the black one, and Wicket-the puffball. Four dogs in our little house is a lot of dog. Fortunately I live with the "Dog Whisperer" Darren loves dogs, and has read a lot about dog behavior, so he worked really hard with the dogs to get them to all assimilate into one pack. You may notice from the picture that they are still divided. Our dogs are with Darren, and Mike and Tiff's dogs are on the other side of the bed, with me as the divider. There was fighting and throwing up and even a little blood, but overall I would say it went really well. Darren did a great job of showing them who was boss, and getting them to live peaceably together. By yesterday Keno could walk past Mary without fearing for his life, pretty good progress for only two days. Part of the reason for this madness, other than Mike and Tiff going out of town, was that when they sell their house they will come to live with us, (dogs, Carter and all) while their new house is being built. This was practice for us and the dogs.

So, Garrett how did I do on my punctuation? I spent a lot of time working on commas. Am I just being paranoid?

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Here is Sarah blowing out the candles at her Birthday party on Saturday. She had a dinosaur party. It was so funny when I started looking online for party ideas and all of the dinosaur ideas were about a party thrown for a little boy, and here my 6 year old daughter wants a dinosaur party. She is still all about dressing up, make-up, jewelry, and everything girly, she just wanted a dinosaur party. Sarah walks to the beat of her own drummer, which is one of the things I love about her. Ask Sarah what she wants to be when she grows up and she will tell you, with all seriousness, she wants to be a mermaid.

We took her out to her favorite restaurant, Sweet Tomatoes, for lunch. Then we went to Target for a few things, including the ingredients to Sarah's favorite dinner-Sloppy Joes. We bought the game Clue, to play together. Sarah and I were Miss Scarlet, and she was great at making accusations using cards that we already had in our hand, and telling Darren and Shelby she was using those things because we had that card, so needless to say we always lost.

I can't believe my baby is 6! At lunch we told Sarah about the day she was born. It seems that there is always a big wind storm on or around Sarah's birthday, one year we ended up replacing shingles, so on this day bad weather makes me a little nostalgic. Of course, Shelby wanted to know about when she was born, so we had a great time reminiscing. I so wanted to take a drive to Logan and show the kids where we lived when we were first married, but the snow stopped us from going. It seems that not a lot has changed for us in 6 years, and at the same time so much has changed. Don't you love milestones that make you look back? I do, especially happy milestones!

Inspiration-"Saturday Sentiments"?

ok, I know its been April Fool's Day on my blog for almost two weeks, but I haven't been able to think of anything to post. Sarah had her Dinosaur Birthday party today, and maybe I'll post pictures about that later on, but that is not what has been on my mind to write about.

I'm starting to think there are some things that I like about getting older. I like that I have more confidence in decisions that I make, especially when its a decision I have made with guidance from my Heavenly Father. I just think I have a better perspective. That being said sometimes I forget, and get caught up in thoughts that aren't productive, if fact down right destructive. So, I thought I would start to write about things that inspire me, or bring me happiness. I want to do this for myself so that on those days I forget I can look back at what makes me happy, what inspires me and get back on track faster. I love Jenny and Kelly's weekly posts; Flashback Fridays, Friday Favorites, Tell all Tuesdays, you get the idea. The problem is I can't think of anything catchy to call this, there isn't a day of the week that starts with "I". Today I am calling it "Saturday's sentiments" since its Saturday, but any ideas about what to call my personal inspirations would be helpful.
Here we go:

1. I am reading "Little Men" my purpose for reading this book is to learn from Jo (for those of you that may be familiar with "Little Women). What kind of a queen(all women, especially mothers) she is in her home. The thing that has really struck me this week is Jo has a Sunday closet full of things the boys like and can do quietly. She says "I want my boys to love Sunday, to find it a peaceful, pleasant day, when they can rest from common study and play, yet enjoy quiet pleasures, and learn in simple ways, lessons more important than any taught in school." I have been thinking all week what could be in a Sunday closet for me. We have church at 3:00, and that has been such a struggle for me. I hate that we lay around pretty much all day, then go to church, come home have dinner and put the kids to bed. That doesn't seem like what Sunday was meant to be. I, like Jo, want my kids to enjoy Sunday. I just don't want them to enjoy it doing nothing. We try to watch Church movies, but I think watch those all day can be overkill. I've been thinking about a family walk (if spring ever comes). I have really been inspired to think of ways to help my family enjoy the real spirit of the Sabbath.
2. Last night I went to see the Emma Smith Movie with some good friends. To read about the adventure of the evening visit Kelly's blog. I loved that movie. I loved seeing some of the places that we visited last summer in Kirtland and Palmyra, it was fun to watch it and think "I've been there." I was really inspired by Emma and how faithful she was, she struggled, but never lost faith. I was also reminded of how much the 25th section of the Doctrine and Covenants means to me. When I was in college I belonged to the LDS sorority, and each year we would award a woman in the community the "Elect lady" award. I was always inspired by these women and Emma Smith was the original Elect Lady. When I was first married I used to study this section all the time looking for inspiration in becoming a better wife, I was reminded last night that it had been a long time since I had read that section. Last week I attended a training in Salt Lake for Primary and Elder Madsen of the seventy talked about music and the power that music has to control our thoughts, and actions. All of these things seem to come together in this one section of the D&C. The group of women I was with while I watch this movie made it even more special.
   

Wow! this is a really long post. So I guess I can save other thoughts for next time.

April Fool's Day

A few years ago on April Fool's Day I made meatloaf cupcakes with colored mashed potato frosting. I got the ideas from Family Fun Magazine (just so you don't think I'm creative on my own). Shelby was excited that we were having cupcakes for dinner. One bite, and total disappointment. For dessert that night I made a fried egg sundae (also from Family Fun), it was cool whip with lemon pudding in the middle. She wouldn't touch it, now she didn't trust me.
One year we ate our meals backwards. So, for breakfast we had ribs in BBQ sauce and eggs or something for dinner. So, when I found a recipe for Fauxberry pie I knew I had found this years prank! Shelby still doesn't trust me when it comes to dinner on April Fool's day, but it was still fun. The pie is supposed to be Shepard's pie, but it has cocoa powder, molasses and BBQ sauce mixed in with the hamburger so the meat part is a little sweet. The "frosting" is once again mashed potatoes colored with beets.
I love our April Fool's day tradition. Mostly because its something I started on my own, my kids love it, and look forward to it every year. Last year I don't think I did anything and they were disappointed. We always look back on the year of the meatloaf cupcakes with great fondness.

Ain't it the truth?

I try & get a lot of living in early in the morning before everyone else gets up, because after that, it doesn't seem so much like living as it does putting up with stuff.

This was the story of the day from storypeople.com. It pretty much sums up how I feel about my day. Good for a chuckle.