Keep Moving Forward

Gathering Inspiration

2010-10-12T20:23:00.004-06:00

This month a group of bloggers are writing for 31 days about things that they are passionate about. I have loved reading these blogs. You can check them out if you'd like by clicking on one of the top two buttons at the right, they are just two of many women that are writing. These women are writing about finances, decorating, photography, living simply, entertaining, enjoying Fall, and grace. Its like inspiration for the taking.

I haven't known what to write, because my thoughts are all over the place. I read something at this sight today that helped me put things into focus. This amazing woman is writing about 31 days of grace. I have spent the afternoon thinking about grace. I know that I need it, and want it in my life, I think we all do. But what really hit me today was how much I need to share grace. People are good, and everyone is trying to do good, more than good; we try to do the best we can. That is enough.

Living Joyfully within My Means

2010-10-03T07:56:00.003-06:00

I have had this post bouncing around in my head, and I hope to that I can find the right words. This topic could be a series of posts for me, because it has been the focus of my life probably since I became an adult, but very intensely for the last couple of years.

I am learning the joy of providently living. It is not easy. There are two things I do when I am feeling stressed, the first is eat, and the second is shop. I am awesome at budgeting, meaning creating a budget. I keep track of everything I spend, writing it down in my checkbook register and adding it to my budget. Now, following that budget is a whole other issue. I have done hard things in my life; loose 108 pounds, check (yes, that was hard and its still a struggle to keep it off, but I did it), pull my kids out of public school to home school and face the stigma and judgment of others- again hard, but I did it. Follow my budget, now we are talking about something really hard.

Over the years I have come up with a lot of little tricks I use to "float" my money. So what the bank says and what I know to be real are two very different numbers. Well over the past couple of years I started to get real. I took an honest look at my debt and what needed to happen to start paying it off. I watched some great videos and used debt calculators at this site. Progress has been slow (which, honestly, frustrates me-I have realized I do have an issue with patience and wanting instant gratification) but the balances are getting smaller.

Here is the biggest lesson I have learned. More money isn't the answer. I wish it were, but it's not. The answer is a wise stewardship over money. In September I made a serious commitment to get back on track. The reality is a huge leap of faith. I have to trust that because the council to live providently comes from prophets of God that I will be guided in this trial. As I have tried to harder than ever to live frugally I have been blessed with inspiration.

Food is the area of the budget with the most flexibility. We have a freezer full of meat, and my storage room is stocked. So, we have been living primarily off of what is already in the house. The goal: not to go grocery shopping at all, live completely off of what we already have. That didn't work. We have needed a few runs to the grocery store. Here is what has happened. With careful planning I have been able to order from a local food co-op, a couponing trip, and bulk food order. I have been blessed with inspiration and energy to make meals at home, really cutting what we have spent on eating out.

I know this has been a long post so I'll end with a scripture that really touched me.
"...take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than rainment?
"For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." 3 Nephi 13:25, 32-33.

Keep Moving Forward- Happiness is this Right Here

2010-09-26T13:19:00.004-06:00

About six months ago I started p90x with my sister, Tiffanie. It was painful and hard. To make ourselves feel better we started making fun of the teacher/creator of p90x Tony Horton. We now have a bunch of "Tonyism" that we say, things taken from the workout videos to motivate or maybe it was even just mindless stuff that Tony would say. One of those is "Happiness is this right here." Tony says it during a stretch at the end of a workout. Tiffanie and I started applying it to Diet Pepsi and cookies, and other related unhealthy things. The thing is I have found myself thinking it at other times lately; like when I'm spending time with my family and we are enjoying being together. I caught myself with this thought in my head, and realized that, Yes, happiness is This Hight here.

I've been working very hard lately at listening to the Holy Ghost. Trying to understand the will of my Heavenly Father for me. It has been hard, but I am learning so much. I have often felt a desire to write down the lessons I learn, because they are small lessons. I am a great believer in the scripture; "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass". I don't want to forget these small lessons, and I want to better recognize them. So I need to be writing them down. I have been trying to decide what to do with my blog, should I just delete it? Its mostly become a big bookmark for my favorite sites, I rarely write. The more thought and prayer I've put into writing about things and what to do with my blog, I've come to realize that I need to be writing those lessons here. I've been hesitant to do that because it may turn people off, but so few people read my blog, and these are my lessons that I want to write down for me, and possibly to share with future generations. So that is what I'm going to do.

Keep Moving Forward is the name of my blog for a reason. The reason is; that is all you can do. Keep Moving Forward. I struggle with so many things; my weight, money, parenting (which includes educating my children at home), my callings in Church. That I can get pretty hard on myself when I don't measure up to the standard that I feel I should. All I can do is Keep Moving Forward.

I hope you will join me on this journey I am on, its so much more fun with friends and people who care about you. I am making no promises about how often I will write, I am working toward at least once a week. The topics will be varied because that is life and the lessons are in everything, the goal is to see the lessons and decide how to apply them and enjoy the journey.

New insight- cooking calms my nerves

2010-07-10T16:17:00.002-06:00

I just realized today that cooking helps me relieve stress, although the previous post should have given me a clue. I know this is true for lots of people (Tiff loves to cook and makes brownies when she's stressed), but I never thought I was one of those people. I like to cook, and I have found the process of chopping vegetables to be therapeutic, something about taking a bunch of ingredients and making something wonderful. I also like being able to make a meal for my family that is really delicious.

A while ago Mandi led me to Our Best Bites,(see button to the left) they have such good recipes. They are all tried, and perfected, easy and so yummy. I have made lots of their recipes, but this week I have been obsessed. It started with making the Asian BBQ chicken, and then taking the leftovers to make pizza on the grill (which btw was easy and so fun). Friday morning Darren worked from home and I got up to look for a yummy breakfast, and made breakfast taquitos -so good! Plus, this summer I have become obsessed with wanting to own a small, counter top ice cream maker. Especially when OBB had a snickerdoodle ice cream recipe (I LOVE cinnamon, and really LOVE snickerdoodles). After searching my local Target, and Walmart for ice cream makers I turned to the internet and good old Amazon came through. My ice cream maker was set to be delivered on Thursday. I planned my whole day around it! I even made sugar cookies (our best bites, of course) to put in the ice cream. When I saw the UPS man leave without delivering my ice cream maker I wanted to eat a bag of M&Ms I was so upset. Lucky for my waist he came back, and ice cream making was back on. I made the custard, which had to cool overnight, put the ice cream freezer in the freezer, and I was set to make snickerdoodle ice cream Friday night. It did not disappoint- so good that when I woke up this morning I grabbed a spoon and headed for the freezer.

What does this have to do with stress relief? I'm getting to that. Since yesterday's ice cream was so good I decided I needed to try another flavor. I was torn between blueberry cheesecake and caramelized banana. I chose the banana because I have some bananas that need to be used.

Today we went shopping to get Shelby (and me) ready for girls camp. We only needed to buy a few things, but it was stressing me out. We still need to get her secret sister stuff. Plus, since I'm going too, and being the planner that I am, I've been trying to figure out: 1)what snacks I need to bring, so that I can eat healthy,2)what is the best way to get my trailer to girls camp, 3)Darren is coming for the first night as priesthood, so what does he need to bring, and 4)what do we do with Sarah while we're all gone. I finally have that all figured out, but when we got home from shopping I was feeling a little fried, so I decided to caramelize the bananas and get my custard for the ice cream chilling so I can make it tomorrow. That did the trick, totally helped me unwind. Who knew? I didn't have to eat a thing, just cook. That is a revelation.

My house isn't clean, but I'm making cupcakes

2010-05-15T16:56:00.002-06:00

So I am happy. Today I feel happy. It's been a bit of a rough week with my grandma passing. My bathrooms are clean, my bedroom is almost clean, and I'm sifting through the paper that seems to gather in piles around my house. Darren and I took Keno to get his shots today, and then decided to see if we could get him to the groomer as long as we were out and had him with us. The groomer(Scotty's K-9 design-who we love and is local in Saratoga Springs) could get him in today. I have an app on my phone that lets me check movie times, and we could get into a showing of Robin Hood, while Keno was getting groomed so we thought, "why not?". It was great to spend the day with Darren, and its great to put things back in order at home. Plus I got my hair done yesterday, and that is always a lift to my spirit.

I love my grandma, and I will miss her. I have realized this week what I have learned from her; mostly the value of running a home and doing it well. She did. I have also realized how much my family means to me. My parents are my rock, and I have leaned on them for support, and maybe they don't know that, but they have lifted me up this week. I have awesome brothers and sisters, and great cousins, and aunts and uncles that I want to keep in touch with and have them be a part of my life.

So mostly life is good. I really am living the dream when I stop and think about what I always wanted for my life and how things are working out. I owe that to a loving Heavenly Father. Thank you.

Where I'm at

2010-04-06T09:28:00.002-06:00

Sometimes I forget I have a blog, and sometimes I just don't know how to write what I'm thinking. I worry that I get too philosophical and that it turns people off, but really that's me. I'm always looking for the meaning of what's going on in my world. So here's here's what's going on in my world.

1.I have two awesome kids!

2.I was released from my Primary calling. I went through a bit of an identity crisis, but not to worry I ate my way through. I also learned that I can survive change, I am not perfect, but I do "Keep Moving Forward"

3.I am struggling with my motivation for healthy living, I am awesome at working out, but the eating is another story. When I started teaching I chose to go to Weight Watchers on Saturday. Its hard to give up a Saturday morning, Darren likes to make waffles on Saturday, and I would have to skip, because I was going to weigh in, plus stuff always comes up or happens on Saturday, so I was missing meetings a lot. Tiff is my loyal buddy and we try to keep each other motivated, but we were really missing our "kick butt" leader. We took the leap and went at night to a class that she teaches, not knowing what that would do to our numbers, lived through it, then Easter candy happened and I am trying to find my motivation.

4. I read blogs today and learned that two of my friends are really struggling and my heart goes out to them. Its always frustrating to me when I get so caught up in my life, that I miss when those I love are hurting. Just know that I love you and you are in my prayers.

5.Darren's parent's mission began yesterday. They are living at home while they go to the MTC, so they aren't gone yet. I am so proud of them! Darren's parents are such great examples to me. We have spent a lot of time with his family the last few weeks, there have been decisions to make and it has been a little stressful, but one of the things I love about the Shipley's is that they are always there for each other when you need them. I love you all.

6. My parents are moving! I am so excited for them! They have bought a very nice house in West Jordan (our home town), back where they belong.

7. I am starting to earn my Personal Progress award with Shelby. When our Ward YW presidency mentioned doing this with our daughters at New Beginnings in January I just thought "I'm too busy, and I can't take on one more thing." Then I got released from my stake calling, and when I went to recognition night with Shelby and the Mothers were challenged again I thought "maybe" then during conference someone said it again and I thought "ok I get the point". Yesterday I bought myself a book, read through it and picked out my first goal. I am going to work on the same value as Shelby. She is almost done with Knowledge, and then plans to work on Integrity, so that is where I'm starting. Part of the reason I was reluctant to do this was that I earned my medallion when I was a Young Woman, so I thought I was good, but the Spirit has told me I need to do this with my daughters. My plan is to earn the award with Shelby and then work on the honor bee award with Sarah, when she turns 12 in 4 years.

8. How perfect for number 8-Sarah is turning 8! I can't believe it! I thought Shelby was so big when she turned 8, but Sarah is still little, but seems to be getting bigger in my eyes every day. She is having an animal rescue party on Saturday, that will be so much fun! I love my Sarah, she has such a sweet testimony wrapped up in her fiery spirit.

9. Its spring break, and there is snow on the ground! What's up with that? I am so ready for warm weather!

Reading

2010-02-08T13:51:00.002-07:00

I love to read! My favorite afternoon activity is reading, I love to get all cozed up(a Sarah phrase), and read, maybe even take a little nap. I have this dilemma when it comes to reading. I pick something I think I want to read and then if I don't get totally sucked in I start reading something else. I still want to read the previous selection, so I end up with about 5 or so books on my nightstand(which is why my nightstand is now a bookcase) that I intend to read. So, I've been reading the same three books for a month,(one of them is a tip a day book, so who knows how long that will take me), in the meantime I've read a couple of other books. Last night I finished the 2nd Percy Jackson book (its Shelby's, but I love them-we are so excited for the movie to come out this weekend), today I am looking for something to read. I opened a goodreads account and that is helping me organize my big list of books I want to read. Which brings me to my second dilemma. When I started on this Thomas Jefferson Education path (our home school philosophy) part of that is being well read and learning from the classics, not an easy task when your trying to educate your children as well, but that is something for another post. So then there is the choice of what I want to read, plus the classics which I also want to read, but fall more under the category of 'should' read. I know I make things complicated. There is something about if its what I want and enjoy I must do all the 'shoulds' first. I scanned my lists, and then my bookcase, put a few books on hold with the library, and have decided to go with something that was sitting on my nightstand. Happy reading.

Change

2010-01-22T09:46:00.003-07:00

Big changes are happening in our house this week! I'm not one that deals with change well, but this week has gone exceptionally well, which is a reminder to me that my Heavenly Father has a hand in my life and is helping me through this change. So lets get on with it, right?

Since I'm a story teller, you get the whole back story. When I was deciding about home schooling my kids a mom in my colloquia I was attending at the time told me about the Kimber Academy, and LDS private school, her kids had just started attending. I loved what she had to say and it sounded like the best of both worlds the kids go 3 days a week for 4 hours, they get the benefit of being in school and being home, it sounded perfect. I looked into it more and it just came down to we couldn't afford it. Fast forward to the Kimber Academy opening a school in Lehi. I was so excited, maybe some day my kids could go there. My brother in law, Mike, knew of the Kimber family from his home school days, and enrolled Carter in the school in Lehi. I received an email through the Eagle Mountain homeschoolers message board about elective class being taught at the Kimber Academy. I had had my eye out for a good art class for my kids, and art was one of the classes that they were offering, so my kids started going to art once a week, and loved it. Every month Tiffanie tells me about the great parent meeting and how awesome the school is. Then, a little while ago Tiffanie told me that Carter's teacher was quitting to have a baby. I started bouncing the idea of teaching there around in my head. One day I asked Tiff what she thought of me applying for the job. She was very encouraging and got some information for me. My main thought was, would my kids be able to go there if I taught. After a lot of prayer Darren and I decided I should go ahead and apply. I interviewed last week and was offered the job as the teacher of the reading class on Monday. I started teaching on Tuesday. My kids also started going to class on Tuesday. What an amazing week.

My kids, especially Shelby, love the school. I have been praying a lot about what it is that Shelby needs right now, and I don't think its a coincidence that this is happening right now. A light has come on with her that is so exciting to see. Sarah is also happy to be there, and its great for me to be there too, so she can come and see me whenever she needs to. I love my class, I'm so excited about the curriculum that I get to teach and my kids get to learn.

It has been a crazy week, figuring out our new schedule. Mike and Tiff have been such a big help and things could not have gone so well if weren't for Mike taking the kids to school. I am so excited about this opportunity for our family.

Finding Joy in January

2010-01-09T07:34:00.002-07:00

I've mentioned this before, January is my least favorite month. The main reason is that January is so gray, the sky is cloudy and days of blue sky seem rare. So this year I have had this idea of finding joy in January bouncing around in my head, and as I've thought about this past week I've realized that so far so good. Let me share why.

First, in our Relief Society our ward is focusing on making "Home a Heaven" each month has a room for you to work on in spiritual, physical, financial, and emotional ways. There is a scripture that goes a long with each month and a FHE to have to work on that room. This month the room is the bedroom. This week Target had a 3-shelf bookcase on sale for $16 dollars I went a picked one up; and now it serves as my night stand, but clears all the books that I'm working on reading right now, that I have stacked throughout my room, into one place. I love it! I have also decided that I am going to finally get Shelby's room done. Do you remember that quilt I started a year and a half ago? Well, I'm going to finish it, get her room painted, paint the picture frames and shelf in her room, and get new ribbon for her mirrors, and get it done. I am working on binding her quilt and I have two sides completed, so I'm almost done. Sarah's room has also gotten some attention this week. I rearranged; hoping to make it easier for her to make her bed; I also realized her room could use a new coat of paint, that will have to wait-one project at a time.

The next thing bringing me joy is reading. I have always loved reading. I haven't set some great New Year's resolution, I just want to be healthy -physically, spiritually, and mentally. I have found some books that I am really enjoying that are helping me on that journey. I have been kind of a snob about what I will read; trying to stick with classics (not just old books, but books that have something I can learn) I'm starting to see how broad the definition of a classic can be. I was inspired by Hayley and her list of books she read last year, and I have decided to copy her and make my own list, so that I can look back at the end of the year at what I've read and hopefully what I've learned. I signed up on Goodreads this week, and like having a list like that of books I want to read, and I also like being able to get recommendations from people I know and trust, because there is a lot of garbage out there. Be prepared to hear more about the books I'm reading.

Blogging is giving me joy. I have found some blogs that I really enjoy. I have added the links or buttons on the left. I have made so many yummy things from Our Best Bites, and I love the Fashion Blog (sometimes she talks a little strange, but I found some great tutorials and tying a scarf), reading Nie Nie keeps me humble, and I love Pioneer Woman, and I love reading updates from my friends and family too. I check the blogs in the morning; its my little minute (that can turn into 30 if I'm not careful) that starts my day happy before we jump into school. I know that facebook and twitter are more popular, but I love the blog.

Finally(I know this has been long, thanks for sticking with me), last night we took Shelby to the Temple to do baptisms for the dead for the first time. What an experience. The spirit I felt last night as I was there with her was such a boost, such a confirmation of the truthfulness of temple work. The temple workers were so sweet to her, knowing that it was her first time; taking every opportunity to explain to her what was going on, why they did things a certain way, and where she should go next. Darren got to baptize and confirm her, I was so happy to be there. We learned that only the youth can do temple file names, we adults need to bring family names, just a little info for those of you that haven't done this before. I didn't know that, so I didn't do baptisms, I just watched. But, it did not diminish my experience at all; plus it was great to be able to just be there for Shelby and help her through her first time. It was a great night. I left feeling a desire to be more diligent in my temple attendance. Thank you Shelby, for getting us to the temple last night.

There it is, my Joy in January. There are also some great things to come this month that I am looking forward to. Tomorrow is Ward family FHE, and I'm really looking forward to seeing my family; we really do have a great time together (I'm using the word 'really' a lot). Sarah gets to go to 8 is great next Sunday-I can't believe she is getting baptized this year! We have Christmas Jammie pictures on the 18th, that is always chaos, but the pictures are sooooooooooooooooooooo stinkin' cute! We also get to go to New Beginnings with Shelby, having a Young Woman is a new experience; we are having a lot of firsts right now, maybe I should write about that someday.

As Long as we're sharing bad Christmas pictures

2010-01-06T17:25:00.005-07:00

Jenny and Kelly both shared pictures of themselves on Christmas that were less than flattering. After a review of my Christmas pictures I thought I join in the fun.
Like my friends this is the only picture of me on Christmas(isn't my head scarf fabulous?). I think this calls for some action. We Moms should make sure we are better documented in our family's lives. I'm worried that someday my kids will look back through the scrapbooks and say "I think my mom was there".

Mondays

2010-01-04T22:00:00.002-07:00

I have a sort of love/hate feeling about Monday. I hate that Darren goes back to work and isn't around all day. I love a fresh start, and that is Monday to me. I love putting the house back to order after the weekend. Tiff told me that she learned Monday's are for recovering from Sunday, that if Sunday doesn't wear you out than your doing something wrong. For me, this was a relief to hear, I thought there was something wrong with me that Sunday (a day of rest) left me so worn out. I think that as we go to church, and try to be in tune with the Spirit, so that we can be guided to our Heavenly Father's will for us, can be exhausting. Let's not talk about extra meetings, getting our family out the door on time, and then keeping them quiet through sacrament meeting. So, ever since I was told that Monday's are a day to recover from Sunday, I have ordered my week so that I am home all day on Monday. It has helped me to really look forward to Mondays. I am able to get so much done, and get my week going in a productive, and positive direction. I got a lot done today, and we had a good school day, it feels good to be productive, and remind myself that I do work hard. I enjoyed a little holiday break, but it felt good to get back to our regular routine today.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T17:39:00.004-07:00

Mother Goose came! This is a family tradition that I grew up with. You put your shoe under the Christmas tree on New Year's Eve and Mother Goose fills it up! In our family Mother Goose leaves books, I love it!

You may notice the lack of a Christmas tree, or any type of festive decoration, in this picture of my living room, well that is because I took it down a few days ago. Christmas was stressful for me this year and the relief I have felt this week that it is over has been tremendous. I did feel a little guilty "breaking Christmas", as I called it, so early, but I needed to put it away. I did leave our little tree up downstairs for Mother Goose, but everything else is gone! We had a great Christmas. I enjoyed spending time with my family (the four of us and our extended family). I realized how much I love Christmas eve with my family and the Shipley Christmas party. I love the brother/sister dinners. I needed that reminder this year to help me learn which traditions to hang on to and which ones just add more stress to the holidays and need to be let go. I felt the Spirit testify to me of the reality of the birth of my Savior Jesus Christ. That is what Christmas is all about; not all the craziness. I am grateful that I was reminded of that this year, and had the courage to say 'no' when I needed to.

I love new beginnings and looking back at how far we've come over the last year. Since this is the beginning of a new decade I have also thought back to where we were at this time ten years ago; and though we have challenges and struggles now I am grateful to be in this place now. Life is good and I am happy. The bittersweet of it all is that now its January. I don't like January, its cold and gray. I am grateful for everyday that the sky is blue and I can see the sun. So my goal this year (I love goals, and any reason to set one) is to live a healthy life; not just physically (which is always a challenge), but emotionally, and spiritually. I wish you all the same!

Here's what's awesome!

2009-11-28T12:06:00.003-07:00

I'm home alone! Well, except for the dogs. I am decorating my house for Christmas- I love decorating for Christmas, it makes me happy! I am also listening to Pandora, which I love and customizing my own Christmas playlist, way fun! It plays on the laptop in the kitchen while I work in the living room. I have been distracted playing on the computer, reading blogs and stuff, but here's the awesome part-It doesn't matter! I'm home alone and I can do whatever I want!!!!!! I went to Holiday and got me a Diet Pepsi, with 2 shots of vanilla and I have a gingerbread scentsy thing melting (its not a real scentsy smell I got it a Robert's, but it is yummy). I think gingerbread is going to be my thing this Christmas(you know how candy corn was it for Halloween). I have already bought these yummy white chocolate gingerbread balls from Target and Little Debbie gingerbread cookies, I haven't had one yet, but they are only 90 calories so I'm looking forward to that treat, maybe later. How did I manage this little gift of alone time you ask? Well let me tell ya. Darren took the girls shooting, that's right my girls are with their dad and uncles shooting guns. I've warned everyone about Sarah's difficulty keeping the commandment of "Thou Shalt Not Kill",(see this post) so let's hope that everyone comes back ok. Have a great Saturday!

A Tag {Fives}

2009-11-07T11:16:00.004-07:00

My friend Ashley tagged me! Here goes.

Five Things I don't leave the House without

Purse
Phone (sometimes I forget)
Shoes
Make-up on and hair done (unless I'm going to workout)
Water bottle or a cup to fill with Diet Pepsi

Five Cartoons I watched when I was Younger

Smurfs
Jem
Scooby Doo
Carebears
The Flintstone's

Five Things That Terrify Me

Something terrible happening to Darren or my kids.
Going up the stairs in the dark or with someone behind me.
Birds
Being Sticky
Smelling like Pickles

Five Things I hate/dislike that everyone else seems to like

Pickles
Country Music
Walmart
Oprah
The Olive Garden

Five Things I want to do before I Die

Go to Europe
Go to Asia
Go to Hawaii
Go on a Mission with Darren
Go to the temple with my kids

Five People I tag

Tiffanie
Tori
Dad
Liz
Hayley

Exercise Keeps Me Sane

2009-10-30T09:43:00.002-06:00

It true. I skipped a couple of days this week, because my plan for Wed. and Thurs. was to walk/run the hill, but it was just too dang cold. I told myself I would squeeze in some Dance Dance Revolution, but it never happened, its amazing how easily you can talk yourself out of something. Well I was grumpy for those two days, and even found myself arguing with my husband over health care reform, while thinking "Stop it, do you really care this much about health care reform?" Well today I had a workout with my trainer, and as usual she kicked my butt(which needs some lift), and afterward as I was getting ready to do my cardio workout I realized how happy I felt. I had survived another trainer workout, and felt really good. I am ready to take on the day and Halloween!

Where Have All the Bloggers Gone?

2009-10-26T17:27:00.002-06:00

I know I'm guilty of stepping away from blogging for months, I've written about half as many posts as I did a year ago. I don't feel guilty, and don't want anyone else to either, I know everyone gets busy and just doesn't think about it, plus it's not like it's all that important. The reason for this post is that today as I was checking to see if there were any new posts on blogs that I read (there were a couple), I decided to check in on a scrapbooking blog that I hadn't read for a while, which led to rediscovering some blogs and sites that I used to really love to read. So I thought I would share those on my side bar. I also added a list of homeschool blogs and sites that keep me going and sometimes just nurture my soul as a mother, there is some great stuff even if you don't homeschool your kids, and that is a piece of me and so it should get some space on my blog. I am feeling more inspired to write lately, but I will make no promises, who knows what I'll think tomorrow :). Happy Reading!

I think I've OD'd on Candy Corn

2009-10-24T14:29:00.004-06:00

I cheated and bought Candy Corn last Saturday (my personal rule was Thursday only). We went to Walmart where I found another brand of gourmet Candy Corn, there was Creme brulee, which Shelby loves, so I bought it. It was good, but just ok good. Then I had to go into town on Tuesday to take the kids to art class, and thought I would run over to Target and get the Cotton Candy flavor, so that I wouldn't need to go on Thursday. I opened that package on Thursday(so that's not really cheating), I don't like the cotton candy, it has a bad artificial sweetner after taste. I was hoping for the yummy burnt sugar flavor that Maggie Moos cotton candy ice cream has, no luck. Thursday I went back to Walmart to get the chocolate caramel candy corn and decided to grab the gourmet pumpkin pie flavor. Again I was disappointed by the pumpkin pie, but the Chocolate Caramel was yummy! So if you were counting that was four flavors of Candy Corn this week. I think I need an intervention. I'm still trying to decide what to do for Halloween, maybe I've had enough, maybe I need just plain old regular candy corn, or maybe I need to have my favorites and then put it all aside until next year.

Look at it!

2009-10-21T08:44:00.004-06:00

I totally stole this from Garrett's blog, but it has us laughing around here. Read his story it makes it more funny, or maybe its just some weird family sense of humor. Happy Birthday Garrett! Thanks for the laugh.

The Crock-Pot

2009-10-20T17:35:00.004-06:00

Don't ya just love the crock-pot? I do. I love putting dinner in in the morning and by 4:00 the house smells of our delicious dinner. We do regularly entice the kids friends to stay for dinner with the smell. I have used my crock-pot every day this week, yes I realize its only Tuesday, but I'm not being picky. Yesterday's dinner wasn't a smashing success, but tonight's smells really good right now, its a lentil stew. Besides, since dinner was already cooking I had plenty of time to make the apple strudel for FHE! I love that you can take a cheap cut of meat and make it super yummy. Plus its such a fall/cool weather thing. I love that I can take a few minutes to throw dinner together, then no matter how crazy my day gets dinner is done and I don't end up eating out because I'm too tired or just not in the mood to cook. I am also a HUGE fan of soups and my crock-pot gets plenty of use making soup. Its the appliance that helps me feel like a pulled together homemaker-yummy food, and sense of self all wrapped in one.

Candy Corn

2009-10-15T18:08:00.002-06:00

I'm just going to put this out there. I LOVE Candy Corn. This year there are all kinds of fun flavors out there, so since I am big on education I feel it my duty to educate people on the new and exciting candy corn out there. Thursday is new candy corn flavor day(not a coincidence that it is also weigh in day and my week starts over, so I have extra points). This is the third week of my October obsession and I have decided to share it with my small group of readers. It all began with the Carmel Apple Candy Corn made by Brach's and available at Walmart. These are red and brown and very good, I need to get more of them. The second week involved pumpkin pie, and toffee flavored candy corn. Both of these flavors are available at target in small bags that sell for 2.99. The pumpkin pie were not as good as I had hoped, but the toffee is delightful, and even better it is dipped in chocolate-YUM! So far the toffee is my favorite. Last week I tried s'mores and regular candy corn dipped in chocolate(both from Target). They were yummy! Today I revisited the s'mores and tried green apple. The green apple has the chocolate dipped pieces as well. I like the green apple it is like a green jolly rancher, the chocolate dipped ones are a bit much. Tiff was with me today and she bought the toffee ones, I think I might have to visit her a few more times cuz they are the best. There you have it, my candy corn review. If you don't like candy corn that's ok, but if you do, be a little adventurous and try some new flavors. Next week will definitely be chocolate caramel and maybe cotton candy, check back for my reviews.

I'm coming around

2009-10-14T18:07:00.004-06:00

I've got some things on my mind that I want to take a minute to write down. I've been on a kind of journey lately. For the last year, plus I've been trying to get control over our finances. Little tricks I used to use stopped working, and I needed to reevaluate and make some changes. I asked a good friend for some tips and have saved and used them, it really helped get me pointed in the right direction. I stopped being afraid of those lessons in church and conference talks about living providently, and opened up to what I could learn and use. I have read books, talks, anything that could give me inspiration and renew my commitment to this. I decided to read the Book of Mormon looking for more inspiration and guidance. It has been a long journey, but we have had our best month (financially) in years, at least since we moved into our house-and we have lived here for 9 years. I have found joy in living simply. I can be creative in finding solutions. I think the economy has made it easier for me to just flat out say "I can't afford it", people are being more honest, we're all trying to do better. I still have a long way to go, this requires constant diligence. One of the things I keep telling myself is that; if I can figure out how to manage my weight (something I once thought impossible) I can figure this out, and with a lot of prayer and faith I think I am.

Another thing. I love homeschooling my kids. Every once in a while feelings of insecurity creep in and I wonder if I'm doing enough, if my kids would be better off back in school. I feel like I am turning a corner. I am starting to have more faith in the process, and the method I have chosen. I think part of what is helping me is seeing the results in my kids. They are doing great and really love to learn, especially when I get out of the way, and try to follow their lead. Shelby is working on a model of the Solar System, how cool is that? I think we'll tackle trig. tomorrow, or maybe build a jet engine or a windmill that will power our house. But seriously, I am also seeing a need for me to study more. I have been reading a lot of mindless stuff lately and its time to put that aside and get back to stretching my mind so that I can better inspire my kids in their studies.

Scrapbooking

2009-08-29T09:56:00.002-06:00

3 Posts in one week! What is going on with me? Did you check out the girls "cooking video"? Should I be worried about Sarah and the knives? Just Kidding. She has been quite delightful this week as she is trying to earn her room back. That's right I took her room away, all she has is a bed. I think the dresser will come back today, and probably her two precious dolls that were lost in the war on Monday.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Scrapbooking. I love it! I really do. Even though I spend more time cleaning and organizing my scrapbook stuff than actually creating pages. Last night was scrapbook night with some of my very dear friends. That is the best part of scrapbooking for me, getting together with friends, eating (though I only used 8 flex points-yea me!), and sharing family memories. My favorite scrapbooks are the ones that center around a theme: Nana's Christmas Jammies, Sarah's "I'm just...3", the girls dance picture books, and the "School of Life" books. This is my creative outlet, everyone needs one, I think, and this is mine. I love looking back and reminiscing, ans seeing how cute my kids were when they were little (they're still cute, just not quite so little anymore-sigh). I had a great time last night and then this morning I visited Stacy Julian's blog- the link is on my sidebar. She is my favorite scrapbooker. I love her philosophy behind scrapbooking. I actually got to take a class from her before she was the superstar she is now, when she was working a Paper Hearts in Sandy. I can proudly say she designed pages in Shelby's baby book. Scrapbooking has come a long way since then. Anyway, visiting her blog, and scrapbooking last night reminded me how much I love this hobby, and why I keep doing it even though I'll never be "caught up" whatever that is. There will always be a story to tell, and scrapbooking is one way that tell mine.

Can You Think of a Commandment You have a hard time Keeping?

2009-08-25T13:26:00.003-06:00

"Thou Shalt Not Kill"

This was the question I asked the girls at devotional this morning. I wasn't asking them to respond out loud, but Sarah had a quick response. Here I was thinking they might be thinking of "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother", no Sarah explained that she just has a hard time not killing people. So far the body trail hasn't made it back to her. She and I had a bad day yesterday (see previous post), and she said that she was going to kill me, luckily I made it through the night. Maybe that's what she's talking about. Am I raising a psychopath, a serial killer? Sarah keeps us laughing, she's especially funny when she's angry.

I Lost it - for a minute

2009-08-24T13:07:00.004-06:00

Its true. I had a moment, and it was a bad moment. Sometimes life gets to me, I had to leave. Not one of my finest moments. I realize I chose this life, I have set it up this way. Honestly 99% of the time I love it, and it makes me happy. I seriously have moments where I am struck with the thought "I'm Happy, I love my life!" However, I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist(that may be understating a bit), sometimes that side gets the best of me. I'm not proud. To save my sanity, and my children, I ran away. To the Maverik. Nothing like a big Maverik cookie and a Diet Pepsi(not ready to sharpen my sword, by giving it up just yet). So there it is, the honest truth. On the bright side, I did go home, and we are having a pretty good day.

Check out our new blog!

2009-08-19T13:38:00.002-06:00

The girls have a blog. They are always telling me what I should write here, and maybe I should write more than I do, but right now I'm just not feeling it. I have decided to give them a blog, and they can write about whatever they want. For now it is public, but it may go private, we'll see. They are super excited, so please go check it out here. I am sure they would love comments, to know that someone is reading.

"The last 97 hours have all come down to this"

2009-07-02T16:58:00.005-06:00

Should I get one for Darren and Shelby? Or is that mean?
Thanks for the email Tiff

Disaster averted

2009-06-24T20:33:00.003-06:00

I had 3 points leftover today. I love a snack after the kids go to bed. I decided on a Warm Delights mini cake. They are yummy and only 3 points. Since I often skim when I read I put the cake in the microwave for 2 min. instead of 30 sec. The cake is supposed to cool for 2 min. I stopped the microwave with 30 sec. left on the timer because my cake was smoking. I took one bite, and it was crunchy, not at all molten lava. I was going to eat it anyway, when I thought that this was SO not worth my last 3 points of the day, the night before I weigh in. I thought I should make a new one, and just throw the cake away, when another thought crossed my mind, I bet the kids would eat it, so I gave it to them. They loved it, and I made me a knew one (thanks to couponing I'm stocked on warm delight minis). Bring on the mom of the year award! Oh, my second cake was a warm delight!

My First 5k

2009-06-12T10:39:00.003-06:00

I ran my first 5k last Saturday! It was awesome! My goal was to run the whole thing-no walking, and I did it. I wasn't going for a certain time, I just didn't want to embarrass myself, by finishing last or falling, or getting sick, or something like that. As I got close to the end of the race I started thinking about everything that has lead up to this race; losing 108 pounds (not a number I like to talk about, but there it is), gaining 40 back, and losing 20 of it again (I still have 20 more to go), learning how to exercise, and becoming any kind of runner. I'm glad I didn't wait until I was at my goal weight or some other thing that in my mind would have made it perfect, before I ran this race, I set the goal and trained for it the way I am right now. I'm glad that I had so many friends there and especially that I got to run with Tiff.

MY family was awesome! Darren loaded up the kids, including Carter, and took them to cheer us on along the way, then they followed us up to the finish line. My dad was there cheering us on. As I came around the final turn my family was there at the finish line still cheering. Seeing Shelby jumping up and down made me start to cry, not a good combination after running for 35 minutes.

I'm not ready to become a big runner, but I know that I could if I wanted to. I have to admit that I am pretty proud of myself that at 35 I ran my first 5k!

You know, Ali.....

2009-05-19T19:33:00.003-06:00

If you know Sarah you might have heard of Ali. Ali showed up about 3 years ago when Sarah was in preschool. She started telling us stories about her fairy friend Ali. I asked her preschool teacher if she had been talking about fairies or read a story about a fairy named Ali, she hadn't. Ali goes through things that Sarah goes through, hears about or wishes happened to her. Ali has a mom and dad. Her mom used to drink coffee until she stopped because they are Mormons and Heavenly Father told them to stop(just to be clear I may have a caffeine addiction, but its strictly soda). She has a little sister named Ruby who gets into all kinds of trouble that Ali has to help her out of. She also has a brother named Brian.

When Ali first showed up a was a little worried, because she seemed so real to Sarah. Anytime Sarah started in on an Ali story (You know, Ali-they all start the same) we would hurry and remind her that Ali was pretend. Now the stories start: You know, Ali-my imaginary fairy... I've stopped worrying about Ali, because I realized that she helps Sarah figure life out, and deal with what's going on around her. For example once one of our neighbors crashed on her bike, well then Ali crashed on her bike and was hurt and sad, but she was ok. I know that someday Ali will disappear, and that will be kind of sad. Ali reminds me of what an imagination Sarah has, and I hope that she never looses that. I thought I should take a minute to write about it, before we all forget about Ali.

Picture This

2009-05-07T22:33:00.006-06:00

Here are some pictures that I have been wanting to post. Let's go in chronological order, starting with April Fool's Day. It is our little family tradition that I mess with our food on April Fool's, typically dinner. This year Tiff and Carter were with us (Mike was flying), Shelby's friend Krista also joined us for dinner so I went with the classic meatloaf cupcakes. I was certain that Carter's reaction would be the same as Shelby's the first time I made these. She was so excited about having cupcakes for dinner, that when she realized they weren't cupcakes she was MAD, so mad that she wouldn't touch my fried egg sundae that was made with lemon pudding and ice cream. Carter surprised us all by just rolling with it, he wouldn't eat the mashed potato frosting, but that was because he's going through an "I don't eat potatoes" phase.

Our dessert was fish sticks and peas. Don't these look awesome?! The 'fish sticks' are wafer cookies with peanut butter spread on the outside and then rolled in corn flakes. The 'peas' are made from laffy taffy. The best part (other than the cookies being really good) was that Shelby was nervous to eat them, even after she told Krista that she thought they were made with cookies and some kind of cereal. I LOVE that even though she's totally on to me, I can still get her!

Here is my new coat closet! Yay!

This is the school room. The art above the bed was painted by Shelby and Sarah just this week. I still have more decorating that I want to do, but we love going in here for school, it is such a bright, happy room. I should have taken a picture that included the curtains, they are white with colorful circles made from dots, they look great with the quilt. Mom, do you remember this quilt? This was my final Laurel project (the YW program was a little different then) I took this quilt with me to college, each circle is tied with yarn in the matching color. It was sooooo much work, but I still love it today!

And now for some Las Vegas Highlights.Here is Shelby outside her world headquarters. We like to tease Shelby that she was named after the Shelby Cobra.

This is Shelby's favorite CobraThis is Darren's favorite.So, I guess its a really big deal if you get Carroll Shelby to sign a piece of your car, like the dash board, or maybe the mirror cover on the visor. You can actually send them to him and for $250 he will sign them. So when you visit the factory, you get to sign the wall. I figure for our four signatures Mr. Shelby owes us $1000. The kids love the Rainforest Cafe, we go there for lunch everytime we visit, not because the food is great, or because its cheap(its neither of those things), but because the atmosphere is cool. There are animal statues all over that move, and about every half hour there is a thunder storm. Its pretty cool, and the girls love it.We also love a visit to M&M world, the girls like the 3D movie. This time I decided I wasn't getting sucked into buying M&Ms there, because they are stupid expensive, we can find a Smith's later and buy as much as we like, and still have money for our favorite Thai food!

So, there you have it. Hope you enjoyed a little look into our lives this past April.

What did I just do?

2009-05-05T22:58:00.003-06:00

I registered for the Pony Express Days 5K! Holy crap! I know a 5k isn't that long, but I've never done a race before and now I'm a little, no a lot, nervous. I printed out my training schedule, and figured out that I should start training this week! Holy Crap! Good thing I have a run planned with Mandi tomorrow. I've always toyed with the idea of doing a 5k and when Mandi decided to run a half marathon I decided that I would give it a go. So, after talking with Mandi today I went ahead and signed up. I'm excited, I'm not looking to do anything, but finish and run the whole thing. Tiff is supposed to be doing this with me, so here we go.

Also, on another note. We went to Las Vegas last week. Tiffanie had a conference and it was a great excuse to visit Melanie. You can get an overview of our trip on Melanie's blog, and I promise I will post some pictures soon, not just of our trip, but I want to show off my April Fools day dinner, and my school room and coat closet (I was thinking today that of all the improvements we've done on our house the closets are my favorite).

Well, wish me luck as I train for this run. I'm reminding myself that this is supposed to be fun!

I have a school room and a coat closet!

2009-04-19T19:41:00.002-06:00

I am soooooooo excited! We turned the room that Mike and Tiff were using into our school room, and turned my upstairs hall closet into a coat closet. Not having a coat closet is one of the things that has frustrated me about this house, (along with a small kitchen) and it was fairly easy to take out three of the shelves and add a closet rod.

A few years ago Darren and I listened to some cds about love language. My love language is time. That means the best way to show love to me is to spend time with me, or doing things for me. Darren and I agreed that I could make him a "honey do" list so he would know what projects I wanted done. Now, along with this comes another agreement, defining what is "enough", because honestly once he starts working I could work him to death on projects and it would never be enough because there is no end to the projects I can think of that need to be done. This also hold true for the way he recieves love, there has to be a definition of what is enough. So, back to my school room and closet. Yesterday we met my brother at the storage unit he shares with my parents to get McKay's old twin bed. We brought that home. Then Darren installed four more shelves in the closet of the school room. Then, he took Shelby's day bed apart, we hauled it to the school room (needed for a comfy place to read, and for the ocasional cousin sleepover), and put it back together. I set to work emptying the upstairs closet and moving the school stuff downstairs while Darren put the twin bed from the storage unit together in Shelby's room. When that was done he knocked out the shelves in the hall closet and installed a closet rod! I would say all of that work was more than "enough" I'm certain that he loves me! I love the new space, not only the school room, but in my closet now that coats are not hanging in there. It is also nice to have all the school stuff in one place, and not poking out from every available corner.

Sarah's Birthday!

2009-04-17T16:29:00.003-06:00

Sarah's birthday was on Wednesday. She is now 7! True to Sarah form she had very clear rules about what should happen on her birthday. First, "the color of 7 is green". I had no idea, but this meant that we had to have green pancakes for breakfast. I guess she liked the St. Patrick's day pancakes so much she invented a reason to do it again. Next rule, I was supposed to wake her up. This was a bit of a problem since birthdays are like Christmas and she was up much earlier than normal, so I failed on that one. Third, the balloons have to be pink and white. Check. We got that one right. Fourth, we had to have lunch at McDonald's, "the one that is almost to Smiths, and I get to tell everyone where to sit(at our house this is a big deal)" Check. Fifth, we had to see Monsters vs. Aliens. Check(totally cute movie). Last, she wanted a pink unicorn cake with a rainbow colored main. I made one for Shelby when she turned 5, so I was thinking I had this one under control too. I should have shown pictures to Sarah first. When she saw the cake it took her a minute to even figure out what it was -ouch. She apparantly had something else in mind, I guess I'm just not the cute cake makin' kind of mom. The more she looked at it the more she liked it.
After the movie we went to Walmart to get her a brand new bike. She promised that when she turned 7 she would stop sucking her thumb. We have told her that when she stops we will get her a bike. Well, the jury's still out on the thumb thing. She can suck it at night, I can't really stop that, and she's trying to stop so that's good. Yes, she's wearing a different outfit. I took this picture today. It was snowing on her birthday, so I didn't get any pictures of her with the bike on her big day.

So there you have it. Sarah is a 7 year old, no trainig wheel bike ridin' opinionated girl, that is trying to stop sucking her thumb. I can't believe it!

My Shelby

2009-03-30T16:40:00.001-06:00

I've been thinking I need to do a post that is entirely devoted to Shelby. I look back at these pictures and others (I would have put up baby pictures if I had any on my computer) and think how did we get here? Where did my baby go, and how did she go so quickly? Something happens as kids get older, they leave the cute little kid phase and move on to something else that seems to get forgotten, or at least not ooooed and awed over like when they are little. As a parent I still think she is cute and amazing, but in different ways than when she was little. Life is way more fun, and we have much more freedom, I love that!

The bond between mothers and daughters is interesting to me. (My major in college was Family and Human Development so all family relationships are interesting to me.) It is especially interesting when a daughter is also an oldest child. I know I am hard on Shelby I expect a lot from her, more than I expect from Sarah. Part of that is because I have Shelby that does so much, so Sarah doesn't have to. I can honestly say that Shelby does not let me down. Sure I get frustrated and disappointed, but I also realize that I expect a lot of her, so I try harder to look past the frustration and I find myself asking for her forgiveness A LOT.

I, too am an oldest child. I know what that feels like. I love that when my dad talks about my birth he says that he was glad they had a girl, because Mom would have a friend. I don't know what my mom would say about the kind of friend I am, but I like how my relationship with Shelby is changing. We can have interesting conversations, and I enjoy that. I know that my mom relied a lot on me, and I think I helped keep our house running. Shelby definitely helps keep our house running.

Shelby is awesome because she is her own person. She knows what she likes, and doesn't care if she is different from her friends. She is a lot like her dad in that way, and many others. She plays WOW with Darren (even though I don't understand what they are talking about, its fun to listen to them and see the bond that they have-it would be interesting to hear him talk about the bond between a father and a daughter). She is the dog whisperer in training. She loves to read, her favorite is fantasy-just like Darren. What can I say? She's my Shelby, my sweet girl, and I love her!

Sarah -No Training wheels

2009-03-24T14:35:00.006-06:00

Sarah has always loved to ride bikes. She got a bike for her birthday (I think) when she was 3 (I think-what a bad mom I am that I don't remember for sure, or maybe I'm just getting old). She has outgrown that bike, and wants a new one. Well, Sarah sucks her thumb. Darren and I have told her she could have a new bike (or scooter) if she stopped sucking her thumb. Bribery worked with my mom to get her to stop sucking her thumb, we hoped it was genetic. Skip ahead, Carter moves in with a bike and a scooter. Sarah is in heaven! Carter's bike is bigger than her old bike so she would ride it when she could. She got very good at riding his bike, the training wheels never touched the ground. With the nice weather last week all three kids wanted to be outside. Shelby has her awesome bike, and usually Carter picks his scooter over his bike, so Sarah would ride his bike. Well Carter's scooter was at Jared and Liz's and then it was in the trunk of Tiff's car, so he wanted to ride his bike. Mike adjusted the training wheels for him so he could ride. Sarah, being the little thinker that she is pulled Shelby's old bike out of the garage and asked Mike to fix it up for her. He lowered the seat, pumped up the tires, and tightened the handle bars. What a nice uncle. She took off!

This is my first attempt at video on my blog, I hope it works.

Sarah says that she will stop sucking her thumb when she turns 7, which is on April 15. We are planning to get her a new bike for her birthday. I could do a whole post about Sarah's thumb, I'll save that for another day-maybe.

This is Shelby on her awesome bike that she bought herself.

I feel lost

2009-03-23T22:04:00.003-06:00

I don't know what to think anymore. Hayley had an awesome post about how the blogging world has changed. It made me think back to when I started this blog about a year ago, I used to write a lot more of what I think. I loved that this was an outlet for me to put whatever thoughts ran through my mind, and then something changed. I'm not sure exactly what, maybe I felt I put too much out there. I do hate to feel judged, and I over analyze everything I say, and when I get feedback that I read as critical that makes me pull back. Right now I feel like nothing I do is enough. I've been trying to please a lot of people and I feel 'me' slipping away. I'm not really sure what to do, because no matter what I do, it always seems to be read wrong by someone, and I can't take it anymore. So to be safe I have resorted to the safe pictures of my kids, and basic updates of what's going on, but its not really what's going on. I guess I'm putting this out there in an attempt to get part of myself back. Hope you all still love me anyway.

I've been tagged!

2009-03-19T14:03:00.002-06:00

Mandi Tagged me (thank you, I love that you thought of me!) The rules are, go to your fourth folder, and fourth picture, and blog about that. Here is my Sarah (she's 18 months old), and Shelby's foot. Where has my baby gone? If you talk to her today she will tell you that she is 6 and a half and she can ride a bike without training wheels! I'll post pictures of that later. She turns 7 in about a month. She says the craziest things, like when I asked her to put away something that was too high her response was "I just have these legs", and when we watch The Biggest Loser, she works out and says "Its all about the current weights". I video taped her at about this age saying all the animal sounds, and other talents and I'm so glad I did, they grow up too fast! My kids are so fun at the ages they are now, we can do whatever we want, and I can even leave them home alone, but when I see pictures like this I miss them being little.

I tag Tori, Garrett, Hayley, and Ashley.

I have a new Nephew!

2009-03-19T13:53:00.002-06:00

You can see him here ! I can't wait to see him myself! Congratulations Jared and Liz!

My Grandpa

2009-02-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

My Grandpa died yesterday. This is kind of an old 4 generations picture with him, my grandma, my mom and dad, and my girls. Look how happy he looks. That is how I think of him. The picture I think I love best is from when I was young. Tori is riding on his shoulders and I am walking a long side of them. We are camping and wearing our matching Mickey Mouse sweatshirts. He was the biggest guy I knew, as a kid that was a little indimidating, but he was so much fun, especially when we went camping (I loved riding trees) or snowmobiling. Today I am sad. I am grateful for his life. I am grateful to be a part of the legacy he leaves behind. As an adult I started to see his tender heart. He would cry as we left after each visit. He was full of stories, I got good at talking with Grandma while he told a completely different story. His stories have been our Christmas gifts for the last several years, I think I'll spend some time reading them today. I am glad my kids knew him and even more glad that I know him. I will really miss him.

Sarah Wants to Be a Rockstar

2009-02-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I hit the jack pot with clearance plus 40% off at Justice. This is one of Sarah's new outifits. She wants to know if she looks like Judy Nails (from Guitar Hero). Ask Sarah what she wants to be when she grows up and her response is "A Rockstar Mom". So, What do you think?

Valentines day and My New Hair Do

2009-02-17T11:41:00.004-07:00

I have about 3 blog posts running through my head. The problem is actually sitting down to write, so after getting updated on everyone's blogs I am now inspired to do at least one post.

Here is a picture of my girls in their Valentines Day shirts. Darren and I went out on Friday night, and it was madness! The wait at Texas Roadhouse was at and hour and a half when we got there. So we killed time at the mall and then went to our movie. The theater was packed, I don't think I want to go to Jordan Commons ever again! Then we went to dinner at 9:30, good times. Oh, we saw "He's just not that into you" -Ultra Chick Flick, I felt bad that Darren had to watch it. On Saturday we did a little shopping, I needed to get Darren's present, and then we went swimming, Shelby's friend was there so she had an even better time. We ended the day with a heart shaped pizza and an excellent ice cream cake. I loved that the day was about the family having a good time, being together.

This is my new hair do. I helped in Primary on Sunday and the little girl sitting next to me asked if I spray painted my hair.

Possible posts to be coming soon: We have Snack issues, and Why genius is stupid.

Love Is In The Air

2009-02-10T14:21:00.005-07:00

I am a huge Jon and Kate plus 8 fan. In one episode about Valentines Day Kate had these cute bags that she strapped to the kids chairs and filled with goodies for Valentines Day. I thought that was so cute. Well I decided to have the kids decorate these little mailboxes, and then the kids could spend the month of February delivering little things to each other. We decorated the mailboxes on Friday and immediately the kids started delivering notes and treats to each other. They raise the flag to let the person know they have mail. I thought the novelty would wear off by the end of the day, but they are still at it. It has been a lot of fun. We will have special prizes for Valentines Day. We are also our Valentines dinner, since the big day is Saturday, and it will be crazy busy everywhere Darren and I are going out Friday. Saturday we are having heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphys and I have ordered and ice cream cake from Maggie Moos (cinnamoo and dark chocolate ice cream with Heath bar and chocolate cake), I think we still need cookies from the Smart Cookie to finish it off. It is going to take some extreme points managing to pull it off, but I am up for the challenge, I think.

Yesterday we got a delivery from FedEx. I called Darren to tell him a package had arrived, and ask him what it was. I got the typical Shipley response "Its too close to a holiday to be asking those kind of questions". When he got home from work he handed me the box, I opened it and found this!

Isn't it cute? I LOVE red! I did already have an i Pod, its and old (in the i Pod world) 2G, I have to take stuff off anytime I want to put something new on. I like to listen to General Conference on my way home from the gym, now with a whopping 8G, I can have all of Conference on there at once! I am rather pathetic, because I don't know how to use i tunes or rip music. I tell Darren what I want on there and how I want it organized and he does it for me. Lame right? or is it love? I am so excited about my new ipod. In honor of Valentines Day I have decided to wear red shoes everyday this week! Today my red shoes are red slippers, cuz hey I'm not going anywhere until yoga class (tonight is my first class, I'm excited about it too).

Saturday Sentiments

2009-02-07T17:24:00.006-07:00

My friend Catey does this "Making a Happy Home" thing every Monday. I have loved the idea and wanted to do it myself.

This past Monday I had a great plan that I would start with my kitchen floor. I HATE my kitchen floor. It is vinyl and has this texture to it that holds the dirt, so unless I scrub on my hands and knees with a scrub brush it has these little flecks of dirt that stay stuck to it. I know there are those of you that regularly scrub your floors on your hands and knees, I am just not motivated enough to do it every week. I like the swiffer and use it pretty much everyday the the hard scrubbing only happens once in a while. So I was going to take a before and an after picture of my floor. Well, I did scrub the floor around the back door, in front of the oven and the fridge and in front of the buffet, the spots that get really bad. I didn't take any pictures.

Then after I was finished I took my wheat, rice, and oatmeal containers downstairs to the storage room to refil them. I couldn't open the containers on my own and enlisted my brother in law, Mike, to help me open buckets. I was in such a cleaning mood that, with Mike's help, I started organizing the storage room, mostly moving buckets around. The spot right inside the storage room door is where the soda goes, and has really been a mess. I have been thinking for months that if I had one more set of shelves that could hold the soda, as well as the cleaning supplies, and paper products it would make a huge difference in that room. I was planning on going into town anyway that day, so we added Costco to our list of stops. Mike had found some shelves there that would be the perfect size and didn't cost a lot. That night Darren and Mike put the shelves together and then we organized even more. I gained so much storage space by adding the shelves the room for my food storage also expanded. I can see what I have so much better now, and will be able to tell when I need to restock much easier.

This is how my storage room lookes now. The black to the left is the new shelves. This is seriously as good as my storage room can look.

Now, after all of that, the reason I chose this as my Saturday Sentiments post is that organization makes me happy. The storage room has been one of those scarry rooms in my house that I leave as quickly as I can (not just because its really cold in there). Now I go in there and just look around. I can with peace of mind say that it is finished. To make it even better Mike vacuumed the carpet remnants that are on the floor. It looks great. I am ready for a case lot sale, and have room to put it all. That is happiness.

What's Up

2009-01-28T20:12:00.004-07:00

So, on Monday I had this whole list of things I wanted to blog about. Basically it was stuff that's been going on and stuff that's been on my mind. Well Monday we went to the Capital and by that night I couldn't remember any of it, except that we went to the Capital.

The tour of the Capital was really neat. We visited the Capital in August when a copy of the Declaration of Independence was on display. It was cool to go back and learn more about the art and the different rooms. Then, since it was the opening day of the legislative session we got to go watch that for a minute. This is turning in to the year of U.S. History studies for school. We watched the inauguration, studied a little about the presidency, and I read some past inaugural addresses.

Shelby is looking at the seagulls painted on the rotunda.

Sarah in the old Supreme Court room

Carter thought it was awesome that he could walk on glass and not get in trouble.

Garrett and Hayley got married on the 17th, and it was awesome! I am so happy for them. I talked to Garrett tonight and they are just enjoying wedded bliss. Lucky!

Also going on right now. I am selling some of my rubber stamps on KSL.com, I wasn't really sure if they would be something that people would be interested in,but I have sold 5 sets, 2 background stamps, and all my wheels. I had invested too much money in them to just donate them, and who can't use extra cash? I keep looking around my house wondering what else I can sell.

I am so so so glad this is the last week of January. It is the hardest month for me, I'm sure lots of people can relate. I hate the gray days. This year I've tried to be grateful for every day I see blue sky. I am looking forward to February, I have some fun Valentine things planned for my kids. My inlaws are going to Hawaii on Valentines Day, how unfair is that? Actually they totally deserve it. Darren and I have plans for a weekend getaway for our anniversary, and looking forward to that has helped me get through this long gray month.

Keno needs a new sweater. His "Freddy Kruger" sweater is wearing out. It got washed and then put in the dryer so now it doesn't fit right. But, if we act like we are going to take it off he growls. He likes his sweater, it keeps him warm.

I need to go watch "Lost" now. I am so glad that it is back, it is one of my favorite shows (maybe my favorite). I have a friend that sends me emails each week with his insights and how things are all connected and that makes it even more fun. Like this:

Its interesting how each season is about as long as the numbers in reverse

Season 1= covers 42 days
Season 2=covers 23 days
season 3=covers 16 days
season 4=covers 15 days
season 5= 70 hours or 8 days?
season 6=4 days?

I know it doesn't make sense unless you watch the show, and to try to explain it is too much, and I end up sounding like an idiot. But then so did Hurley when he explained it to his mom in last week's episode. Ok I have to go watch it now. I just wanted to let my little blogging circle know that I wasn't giving up on my blog yet.

The best holidays ever-Saturday Sentiments

2009-01-03T05:24:00.000-07:00

I really had the best holidays ever. On Christmas I got to stay in my pajamas until 3pm, that was the best! We watched new movies, played the wii, and napped. Later that night my family came over for dinner and I really enjoyed visiting with them and playing some Guitar Hero. Our Shipley family Christmas celebration was moved to the day after Christmas because of the snow storm that was coming. We took the kids to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point (Sarah was almost more excited about that trip than Christmas itself). At the Shipley's Brett brought his 4-wheeler and pulled the kids around on a sled, they had a great time and played outside until they were frozen. We also got the exciting news that Melanie and Dan are having a baby! We are so excited. What will the kids do when their favorite aunt becomes a mom?

I also had some fun date nights with my brothers and sisters as well as Darren's and our parents. Its so fun to get to visit without the kids running around, we get to enjoy each other and I really love that.

New Years Eve we had our regular little party. Melanie and Dan came, and so did Daniel and Mindy and their kids. We played singstar, Guitar Hero and ate. The kids love to stay up late and then explode poppers (thats what we call those things that you pull a string and they explode and shoot colored streamers all over the yard) at midnight.

New Years Day was spent putting away Christmas. Tiffanie and I worked hard for 3 hours taking down decorations and moving furniture. Nothing like moving furniture to start the year off right. I have lots of goals for this new year, but today my heart is full of gratitude as I realize how blessed my family has been this past year. We have made it through some trials we weren't expecting and I have again realized that my life is in the hands of my Heavenly Father. I want to do all I can this year to show how grateful I am for that.

My Birthday is better than Santa Claus

2008-12-19T12:01:00.003-07:00

I have been using Santa Claus as a motivation for my kids to be good since at least Thanksgiving, maybe longer. It never really works very well, and I have decided that my kids really don't care. One year Santa really did leave Shelby coal. When my parents came for breakfast on Christmas morning they had all of her presents and told her that Santa must have gotten mixed up. I wanted to see how she would react if Santa really didn't bring presents to her Christmas morning. She had presents from Mom and Dad to and that was it. Guess what! She didn't care! She was glad to have gifts from us, and there were the movies that Santa brought for the whole family, she was grateful for those too. She was very excited when Nana and Papa showed up with her presents, but that was when I realized threatening with no presents from Santa doesn't work for my kids.

Well, today is my birthday (I'm 35, doesn't seem quite right, but I'm ok with it.) The girls tried to make me breakfast. They made baked potato chips, Mike made Oatmeal. There was no fighting! They were very excited to give me the presents that they had made with construction paper, Popsicle sticks, pom poms, and glitter glue. Mike even got them to unload the dishwasher together, without fighting, by telling them they should do it together because its my birthday.

It should be my birthday everyday!

Windows of Heaven

2008-12-14T20:35:00.002-07:00

I began this holiday season with a bad attitude. I had set some expectations for how I thought things should be and when those expectations weren't met I was angry. A couple of days before Thanksgiving I realized I needed to fix my attitude or else I was going to ruin the holidays for my family, and especially my kids. I was praying for help when I felt that I should keep a gratitude journal from that day through Christmas. Now I can see what a difference that one simple thing has made in my life. Some nights I have to really think hard to come up with five things I was grateful for that day, but last night I really started to see the hand of the Lord in my life. About ten years ago during tithing settlement our Bishop challenged us to start paying a fast offering he read from the scriptures about the windows of heaven being open and pouring out a blessing that you would not have room enough to receive it. My thought then was "I don't know, I have a lot of room". I really am so blessed. I have everything I need and a lot of what I want. Last night I was able to see how much I have been given, and the fact that I didn't even realize it showed that I didn't have room to receive it. I guess I should look at the scripture now and try to make room by being more aware of all that I have been given. I needed a kick in the pants to make me look around and see how great life really is. To steal a quote from TAMN of Seriously So Blessed, My life is a Kick-A Fairytale. It really is.

Time for Christmas

2008-12-05T08:00:00.001-07:00

I'm listening to my playlist as I type this post. The song that's playing is Barry Manilow "I made it through the rain". I can't help but think of my parents. They moved last week, out of the house I grew up in. It was tough, not something that my mom really wanted to do. But they made it through, and I really do admire the courage and strength they have. They sacrificed a lot for our family and I am grateful for the life they gave us. The part of the move that really got to me was on moving day seeing my parents neighbors, parents of my friends that I grew up with. I really love those people, they are all very special to me. Love you Mom and Dad, I hope that you can find joy in your new home.

I started putting up my Christmas decorations this week. It took me 3 days to finish with the inside of the house. The lights on the outside are still not finished, but they are going to be awesome! I am really starting to enjoy this Christmas season. Last year I got rid of decorations that I didn't love anymore, so it was fun to pull out the bins and see the decorations I love.

This nativity was my birthday present from Darren last year. I love it!

I had the idea of a Christmas tree forest a couple of years ago and decided to bring it back this year. I love it. The tree with the ribbon and the bow on top is our story tree. Every night we read a story and put a corresponding ornament on the tree. Shelby told me a couple of years ago this was her favorite part, I wonder if it still is, she is the one that keeps us on track with it.

This is the downstairs tree. A new addition this year. I love the ornaments, they remind me of something from Whoville. The red lights are a little intense, but I like them, for this tree it works. I have started listening to Christmas music. Darren's rule is that the first Christmas music of the season must be Elvis. It was more like the 3rd or 4th album we listened to, but still early on. My theme for music this year is classic stuff. I have a "crooners" Christmas album that I love with Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, its awesome. My favorite song is "Merry Christmas, Darling" by the Carpenters. I love the Carpenters. Karen Carpenter was an alto, so she's easy to sing along with.

My shopping is almost done, hopefully I will finish it up today. Christmas cards are next, then its time to think about cheeseballs!

P.S. Happy Birthday Jared!

Happy Birthday!

2008-11-13T12:05:00.004-07:00

I can't believe I'm doing this so late! I am a terrible mom and wife. Shelby and Darren celebrated their birthdays over the weekend, Shelby on Saturday and Darren on Sunday. The long running joke in our family that makes Shelby shriek every time, is that we are skipping her birthday this year because Darren's birthday was skipped when she was born and he had to spend the day in the hospital, because of her (not that he had any part in that). We went bowling for Shelby's birthday. The biggest tragedy of the day was when Sarah got a strike and didn't get to roll the ball a second time.

My Shelby is Eleven! How time flies. I look at her and think back over our life the last eleven years. I am so grateful for Shelby, she has taught me so much. I'm so glad that she chose to come to our family. I could do without the wailing that Darren can provoke from her with so little effort, but she also has the best giggle around. She is growing into a very fine young lady. Happy Birthday Sweetheart.

Darren. Where would I be without him? I'll avoid getting too sappy and just say that he is my rock. To use his words he talks me down off the ledge. I'm also grateful that he has chosen me. Happy Birthday honey, your great for being half way to 70!

Time for me

2008-11-07T11:25:00.003-07:00

I have been trying to figure out what it is that my family needs, what it is that I should be doing for my husband, my kids, our home school. The answers have come to me from varying sources, but have all been the same. I'm no good to anyone if I don't take care of myself. I've never thought of myself as kind or putting others needs before my own, but as I've thought about how I spend my time and energy I realize I put what I want at the bottom of my to do list. I'm not looking for sympathy, because I think every mom does the same thing. I am grateful for this life that I've been given and maybe one way to show appreciation to my Heavenly Father is to enjoy my life, and not add more pressure and more guilt. I'm so tired of guilt, its exhausting. I quit guilt!

Its time to unite! Moms of the world; do one thing today that you want to do. One thing that doesn't have to be done, but that is on your mind that you would like to do. I've actually done almost 3 today! I am taking an online scrapbooking class, and I started on that project (its a gratitude memory box-I'm so excited about it), I left a message with my favorite hair stylist to get my hair done, and I'm blogging. I love blogging. I love to read others thoughts and I love having a forum to share my own. I am also going out with my hubby tonight for his birthday (its on Sunday), and I am so excited about that! I would love to hear what you do today just for you, so leave me a comment and let me know!

Saturday Sentiments return

2008-11-01T08:14:00.002-06:00

I loved writing my Saturday Sentiments, the problem was that I was never very consistent. I have decided that the first Saturday of the month will be my Sentiments day. I like having a place to talk about stuff that I like and is important to me. So, here goes.

This wasn't what I had in mind for today, but when I saw it on Mandi's blog I thought I would copy her (seems to be a theme for me lately-see previous post-oh well Mandi's awesome!). I read the Twilight books over the summer, and they were the perfect summer read. I want to go see the movie, but I want to go with girls (I don't think Darren really wants to see it). So anybody game for a Twilight movie night? Garrett, I know you want to see it too I bet Hayley will go with you so it looks like your being drug there. I know Mandi and Kelly already have tickets, but you could see it twice. Mandi I have 2 of my books back from my sister if you want to borrow them.

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Fall Moments

2008-10-29T20:56:00.005-06:00

I pulled out my Christmas notebook tonight (I'm always worried about forgetting things, so I have to write everything down), and as I was making lists of gifts, and projects, and things to do I remembered that I have a blog. So before it all passes by I thought I would post some of our fall goings on. Life has been crazy as I've adjusted to our household growing from 4 people and 2 dogs to 7 people and 4 dogs. Having Mike and Tiff and Carter here is great, we have had a lot of fun.

I love fall. Mandi's post about fall was the best and ever since then I have wanted to take a minute and post about some of the things I love about fall. Darren is at a meeting tonight, the kids are in bed, so since I have a minute I'm going to take advantage of it.

Every fall I love to go to Gardner Village and see the witches. I love that place, I love the little shops, and the treats at Sweet Aftons. Mom came with us, and we had a great time. Sarah knew exactly what she wanted to see, and made sure we found all the right witches.

We went camping with the whole Shipley clan (except Melanie and Dan-we miss you guys, and Daniel and Mindy didn't really camp, they just came up for dinner one night) over UEA. We went to Look out Pass. The weather was so nice, I had been worried about that and took Shelby shopping because she had no long pants and no long sleeved shirts, and no real shoes. Riding the 4 wheelers has become my kids favorite thing-thanks Brett and Jen, we need to get some of our own. Even Keno loves a ride, Molly likes to run along side and barks at you when you go too fast.Here is Shelby and yes, that is my grandparents old trailer in the background. I love that thing, it is a 1978, but it is way better than sleeping in a tent on the ground.That's Mike and Tiff on the 4 wheeler, Mike is giving Sarah a ride. Sarah left the helmet on the time so that she was always ready for a ride.Check out Carter! To say he loved the 4 wheelers would be an understatement. He really took to driving that little one, and we had to keep reminding him to drive slower, he didn't believe he could crash.

Our next fun fall thing was Pumpkinpalooza at Thanksgiving Point. For $5 you go there and carve a pumpkin, and they clean up the mess! This sounded like just the thing for me! Well, that was before the kids got pumpkins from both sets of grandparents, but I figured oh well we can go anyway. Tiffanie and I bought potato head pumpkin sets and the kids wanted to paint pumpkins so they will also get to carve a pumpkin with the help of someone else. I don't like carving pumpkins, its gooey and sticky, I hate being sticky. I usually let Darren do it, that way I can take pictures-see sneaky right?

Yep, thats me carving a pumpkin. Sarah's pumpkin. Darren carved Shelby's and Mike carved Carter's. So much for getting out of carving pumpkins. Next year I'll make my own treats, turn on my own spooky music, and do it in the backyard and save 10 bucks. If the kids want to paint pumpkins I won't argue.While I was carving her pumpkin Sarah took this picture of all the guts.See Sarah with my cute pumpkin? I mean her pumpkin.Photo op. at Pumpkinpalooza.Finally, the kids with their potato head pumpkins. Those turned out so cute. We went to pumpkinpalooza last Wednesday night and with the warm weather our carved pumpkins aren't looking so hot.

So there you have it, our life over the last couple of months in a nutshell, aren't the pictures awesome? I love this time of year, I love wearing a sweater, I love the taste and smell of pumpkin spice (have you tried the hershey's kisses?). Fall is also the beginning of birthday season, my Shelby turns 11 on the 8th, so be prepared for something totally sentimental then.

Family Production Numbers

2008-09-30T10:34:00.002-06:00

When I was a kid, one of my favorite things to do was organize a family production number. I would take the Janeen Brady stuff, or whatever, assign parts to my brothers and sisters, and we would put on show for our parents. Our stage was usually the hearth (sometimes pronounced hearther, and also used by Garrett for cracking open his head during an exciting night of spinning), we also would perform on the trampoline or swings.

Well, this morning my kids were listening to an oldie, but a goodie, My Turn on Earth. The song "What does it take to make a family" started to play. It all came back to me. How about at Garrett's wedding luncheon we do a production number!? The words are "What does it take to make a family? People who love and laugh, people who sing a song". Come on, does this not sound like us? Tori could be our choreographer (be sure to include lost of jazz squares). So are you game?

Ok, if not a production number maybe we could make a video with pictures of Hayley and Garrett and put it to that song. I hope you are all laughing with me!

Walking Dogs

2008-09-26T09:38:00.001-06:00

About a year ago, after reading Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion. I was trying to come up with a way that Shelby could earn money. Something that was real (not just me making up work) and meaningful to her. My brother in law, Mike, has a nephew that likes snakes. Tiffanie was telling me that he started selling mice to people with snakes. As creepy as that is, it got me thinking. What does Shelby love? Dogs. She has to walk Keno everyday, maybe she could get a couple of other dogs to walk too, since she has to go anyway, she could make money while she's at it. Darren and I also thought she could start paying for dance, not all of it, just $5 for every day of the week that she has a class. So if class was 2 days a week, she would pay $10 a month. She would also have money to pay tithing on. When I presented the plan to her, she cried. How could I be so mean. Mike talked to her about his money making endeavors when he was a kid, and she started to warm up to the idea. We decided we would make fliers and give them to people with little dogs. It has been wonderful! She has 4 dogs she walks each week plus Keno. She loves the dogs, and has hired Sarah to help her on days that she has more than 2 dogs to walk. She pays Sarah a dollar a week. I love what this has taught my girls. They have to be responsible to show up on time, they have to manage their money. Shelby has since opened a savings account that she pays 10% to each month. Plus, I have not bought her a single webkinz, she uses her own money.

I was so glad they stopped by the house last week with the dogs so I could get pictures of them with the dogs! Thank you to those that have been kind enough to let my girls walk their dogs. Their relationship with the dogs and the owners has blessed their lives and it touches my hear too.

Fairy homes

2008-09-17T17:15:00.006-06:00

My girls, especially Sarah, love fairies. When we saw an article in Family Fun Magazine this morning on building a fairy house, they were totally excited. They quickly got dressed, ate breakfast, and cleaned up their rooms, so that they could get outside and work on their fairy houses. They used flowers from the funeral yesterday to make beds, and other fairy household items. Sarah covered the floor of her house with petals. I did feel bad that they didn't dry them to save, but this is what they wanted to do, and now they are preserved in pictures. To make the houses totally magical, they sprinkled them with glitter, and then spent the rest of the morning going in and out of the house to check to see if the fairies had been there. Some things had magically moved, so we know that they did come and visit.

Grandma Elsie

2008-09-16T20:43:00.001-06:00

Darren's grandma passed away Friday night. She has been living with Darren's parents for the past two years, and would stay with them for 6 months at a time for a couple of years before that. His mother (Pam) has given her life to taking care of her mother since she moved in full time with them. I really admire all that Pam has done, she has taken great care of her mother and I know it has not been easy. I sat with Grandma a few times when Wayne and Pam would go out, and Grandma would be so worried when Pam wasn't around. Since Grandma died on Friday, I have been trying to think of something good that I could keep with me. Today was her funeral. I learned that pink was her favorite color. I felt like I really got to know her today, and I wish I could have known her better when she was more of herself. Today as we were driving home, and I was thinking about her, I felt her spirit. I felt like she was letting me know that she knew that I try to do what is right, and she appreciated me. Thank you Grandma Elsie.

Update

2008-09-15T15:22:00.009-06:00

I know I have been kind of a slacker blogger. It just seems like I never get the time to sit down and write. So here is a little update of what has been going on.

1.We have been working on finishing a room in our basement. Actually, to be honest Mike (my brother-in-law) has finished a room in our basement. Mike and Tiff and Carter will be moving in with us soon, and now they have a room to stay in! I am excited to have them stay with us, and even more excited that they will be living in Eagle Mountain. Here are some pictures of the new room before and after. Isn't the color fun?! Keno adds a little human interest, although I don't think he can compete with Sarah dancing.

2. Darren was called as the Elder's Quorum President in our ward. We were so surprised when we got the call to meet with the Stake President. We didn't think Darren would ever be released from scouts. I have so many thoughts about this calling as well as my own, but the right words just aren't coming to me right now. So, I'll just say that I know that Heavenly Father is aware of our family and will help us in all that we have been asked to do.

3. I have loved summer! We have a had a lot of fun with our family. Tiff and I perfected ( in our opinion) lounging at the pool. We bought umbrellas, and beach chairs, and went as often as we could. Tiff and I went to the Parade of Homes, and check out this room!

4. I started school back with the girls at the beginning of August. I am really excited about this new school year! I found a History curriculum I really love, it called Story of the World. We are also making a BIG time line, it has lines for world history, American history, Church history, and Family history. I'm excited to see how everything comes together. We also got our new math books, and Core Knowledge books. I feel like I have better grasp on things this year, and I know what I want to see happen in our home. Wish me luck, I need it! Here is our 'First day of School' picture.
So, with all of this going on I needed a little getaway with Darren. Two weeks ago we went with Mike and Tiff to Park City. We shopped, went to the movies, and visited the Olympic park. It was the perfect break. I came back with new clothes, and ready for whatever is ahead. There's a quick blurb about what has been going on in our home.

Garrett is getting Married!

2008-09-05T09:03:00.003-06:00

I got a phone call last night around 9:30 from my brother. Which was odd because he never calls me unless we have plans. He proposed to Hayley last night! I am soooooooooooo excited! They are getting married in January. I am adding Hayley to my blog roll, so you can read about the proposal if you want! Congratulations! I love you guys!

I quit the daily schedule!

2008-08-26T11:40:00.003-06:00

If you know me well, you know I live for a schedule, and routine. It is what helped me during those postpartum months, and saves me when things are in limbo. I love a schedule so much that I have gone so far as to map out my day hour by hour, sometimes even by the half hour. I sat down yesterday to type up the new schedule for this school year, and I felt the frustration coming. I don't like having my days mapped out to be that ridged. The problem is, if I get off the schedule somewhere, or just don't feel like doing something, my day is ruined and I feel like a failure. There are plenty of other things that are worth getting your day ruined over like when you buy a 32oz. Diet Coke and your sweet 6 year old spills it right after you get it home, but that's another issue. I think I'm hard enough on myself without some piece of paper making me feel worse.
So, here is my solution. Our mornings are pretty structured, we start with Scriptures at 7:15, then instead of being driven by the clock its more of an order of things that come next. We have Job meeting, breakfast, devotional, and I make the daily school list. I am going to have certain benchmarks, that keep us going throughout the day, or help get us back on task if we stray a little (I'm all for being open to where a new thought will take us, who know what we might learn along the way, and I don't want to stifle any learning). So, we have jobs and school in the morning, then I start Lunch at 12:00, followed by finishing up school. I start Dinner at 5:00, bedtime is 8:00. I have our big calendar in kitchen that has the times of lessons and appointments, and I can glance at that throughout the day so I don't forget anything important.
I feel a weight has been lifted. I don't need every hour of my day planned in order to be productive! I have my school log that I fill in each day, so that I make sure all the really important stuff happens. Its more important that it happens, then what time it happens. I'm still finding my way down this home-school path, and it has only taken me a year to figure this part out. If I am stressed about a schedule all day, I'm not creating the learning environment for my children that I want. This is huge for me!

20 Years ago tag

2008-08-23T09:54:00.005-06:00

Tiff just did this on her blog, and it was so fun so I thought I would do it too, plus I've never done a tag before. If you want to, consider yourself tagged.

20 years ago...

1. I spent the summer playing night games with my neighbors, and a guy I worshiped(like a big brother) that was getting ready to go on a mission.

2. My best friends in the world(they were twin sisters) moved.

3. I watched Greg Louganis hit his head on the diving board during the Olympics.

4. I volunteered as a Candy Striper at what was then Jordan Valley Holy Cross Hospital

10 Years ago...

1. I was figuring out what it meant to be a mother to my almost 10 month old Shelby. I experienced levels of worry and anxiety that I didn't know existed.

2. We lived in Midshore Manor Apartments in Midvale, and worked as the on-site managers. Darren was going to school, working nights at RC Willey, and was the Elders quorum President. Life was stressful.

3. I was babysitting my sister-in-law's nephew.

4. We went to Garth's family cabin in Schofield for the first time and loved it!

5 Years ago...

1. I went to girls camp, and had some of the most spiritual experiences of my life.

2. In September I was called as the Primary President of our huge primary, something like 90 kids in nursery.

3. My sweet Shelby started kindergarten.

4. Sarah was making us giggle all the time (I guess she still is).

3 Years ago...

1. I lost 84 pounds!

2. I was called as the 1st Counselor in the Stake Primary, and got to work with the most awesome women I know.

3. Shelby was about to turn 8 Years old, and Sarah was 3, and I was reminded that its not the 2's that are terrible its 3 year olds.

4. I realized that no matter what I was staying with Darren forever. I don't know why I decided this so late in the game, but I realized how much all the really hard years together meant to me, and how those years had shaped what we had now.

1 Year ago...

1. Darren and I decided to homeschool our kids. Crazy? Yes. Absolutely right for our family.

2. Keno joined our family, and I discovered that I love a little lap dog.

3. Darren and I went on a cruise to the Caribbean. When we came home we wondered why no one made our bed when we left the room.

4. I went to Pennsylvania to visit my brother (actually, Liz and Madeline) with my sister and my girls. We had a great time visiting Kirtland OH, and Palmyra, NY, and Niagara Falls. On the way home we spent a day stuck in Denver, trying to get a flight home, only to drive the rest of the way. I had dreams for months about being stranded somewhere with Tiffanie and our kids.

So far this year...

1. I have been released and recalled as the 1st counselor in the Stake Primary, and continue to work with the most awesome women I know.

2. I have gained and lost more weight than I know how to count.

3. I started this blog, which gives me a place to talk about whatever is on my mind. I love that!

4. We are sticking with homeschool, and marvel at the things that are happening in our home.

Yesterday...

1. I took a nap at 10am, because I stayed up too late the night before while Mike worked on the room in our basement.

2. I wondered for the millionth time if 10 years old is too young for a girl to hit puberty as I watched Shelby's mood swings.

3. I went shopping with Tiffanie, my best shopping buddy. She bought the cutest trench, and I can't wait till she lives here so I can borrow it!

4. I started reading "Ender's Game".

Today...

1. I slept in until 7:30 when Keno jumped on me, and wanted to burrow under the covers.

2. I checked some ebay auctions I'm watching.

3. I read some of "Enders Game"

4. Praised Shelby for organizing the pile of books by her bed, using a cute thing she got from the Hello Kitty store.

Tomorrow I will...

1. Go to Church.

2. Go to Pres. Draper's fireside for 11 year olds.

3. Take a nap.

4. Enjoy my Sunday.

Over the next year...

1. I will be 20 pounds lighter.

2. Finish Shelby's quilt, and my eye spy quilt (hopefully before the end of the year)

3. Welcome Mike & Tiff & Carter, along with their dogs to our home, and as our neighbors!

4. Watch things grow; my testimony, my children, my love for my family, and hopefully the trees in my yard!

My quilt update

2008-08-09T10:02:00.005-06:00

I have finally finished piecing all of my quilt blocks together! I was still feeling unsure of how the whole thing would look all put together so I layed the blocks out on the floor. This is what it looked like. I was pleased with that look.

Then, still being worried about how it would look with the fabric I've chosen to go in between the pieced blocks, my sister suggested laying the blocks on top of the other fabric. This is what it looked like. I thing it has just the look I'm going for. It will be great in Shelby's room. Perfect for a 10 year old, still pink, but a little grown up too. What do you think?

My grandma always liked to have a quilt up for conference, and with the pace that I am going I think I will be ready to have this quilt on frames for conference. If some how I get this done earlier, then I am going to finish my "eye spy" quilt I started with my Harward family on Thanksgiving about 4 years ago. I will have to share that quilt with you all as well. Either way I will have a quilt up for conference! What do you think should I really quilt this pink and black quilt or should I just tie it? I can see both in my head so I'm not sure what I want to do. It is really fun to see this start to come together!

This is how I feel somedays

2008-08-08T13:12:00.004-06:00

There are days I just feel so empty inside, she said, that the only cure is buying stuff I don't need from WalMart. The best thing, she added, is that it all breaks after a couple of weeks, so I can throw it out & start all over again.

This describes my feeling today. I want to go shopping. The purse store is calling me, maybe a new restaurant I haven't been to, instead I am wasting time on the computer, waiting for my sister to call and tell me she can play. Hehe. This thought from the story people also describes how I feel about Walmart-it makes me crazy.

Confessions

2008-07-30T16:32:00.005-06:00

Its been a little while since I posted anything, and I always hate it when I leave a rant up for too long, so its time I confessed to what I've been doing the last few days. I have been reading, that sounds great right? I read a mindless book that I like called "A Year of Living Famously". It took me a day to read. I thought that was so much fun, what other mindless stuff could I read. So, I decided to give the "Twilight" books a try. We had to go to Target on Pioneer Day, so I bought the first book. I read a little on Friday, and then after Darren and I got home from seeing Batman on Saturday I read half of the book, until I decided I really needed to get some sleep. I finished it on Sunday(yes, nice Sabbath day reading, but those of you who have read these books will understand). The funny thing about this book, (aside from the story-seriously, try to explain the story without sounding ridiculous) is that it was recommended to me about two years ago. I went to Barnes and Noble to try to find it. The people working there had no idea who Stephanie Meyer was, can you imagine such a thing today? When I found out it was about vampires I decided against it, because I really don't like vampires. I've seen enough vampire movies that just gross me out. However, I have been so intrigued by the popularity of these books, and the age range of people (ok female people) that like them that I was curious. This was the perfect mindless read, totally romantic, what can I say, I am hooked, and must finish the series. Well Monday morning I called my friend that I knew had the books, but she wasn't home. I had to read the next book-no question. I went to the Library with Tiff, and looked for it there, no luck. I had to have the next one to read that night, so I went to Target and bought the next two, I played it safe. So I started "New Moon" Monday evening, and finished it Tuesday afternoon. I am now half way through the third book "Eclipse". I'm taking a break to blog because I just keep laughing at myself. Darren keeps laughing at me too, because when I tell him(a serious sci-fi, fantasy reader) about these vampires he just chuckles. I mean vampires that aren't hurt by the sun, they glitter, what's not funny about that? So, I have them all now, and fully intend to buy the new one on Saturday, let me know if you want to borrow them, they are a great summer read!
This post is titled confessions which hints at more than one, so here is my second confession. I bought the new George Micheal CD. I saw him on Good Morning America on Thursday (I must have been extremely open to suggestion on Pioneer Day), and hearing his music made me confess that I like it. So, I looked at it when I was at Target, but they wanted too much so I bought it at Wal*mart. The funniest part of the interview on GMA was when he said that women love him for his mind. I've never thought about what could be on George Micheal's mind, unless "Wake me up, before you go go" is something deep that I'm missing? Anyway the CD is fun and I like it. I guess you could say my summer really is about being mindless, but I am having a great time!

Homemaking vs. Housekeeping

2008-07-21T08:01:00.003-06:00

Darren and I had an interesting conversation yesterday that has kept rolling around in my head. I have been reading the Worldwide Leadership training pamphlet, and I was looking back through the notes that I took the day that it was broadcast. I had written "A lack of homemaking leads to emotional Homelessness." Darren and I then started talking about homemaking and that too often we equate homemaking to a clean house. I believe that there are principles to homemaking and certainly keeping our homes neat is one principle, but I think there is more to homemaking than a clean house. As I thought back to my home growing up I remember comparing our home to my friends houses. It seemed that our house was never quite as clean as everyone else's house, I am sure now that my point of view was somewhat off. We had awesome neighbors, the family across the street was like a second home to me. JoAnne was my Young Women's leader and a second Mom, I could talk to her about anything, and the awesome thing as I look back now was that she always backed up my parents. It seemed like her house was always clean and one day when I was saying something about our house not being as clean she said "You guys have 6 kids, I only have 3". JoAnne taught me something great that day. It wasn't just about having a clean house. It seems like she went on to list all the things my mom did that she didn't. My mom is a great seamstress and sewed a lot of our clothes. She kept 6 kids organized and got us where we needed to be, when we needed to be there, and we participated in a lot of lessons and sports and stuff. She didn't (doesn't) like to cook, but she still taught me how to read and follow a recipe. So as I think about homemaking I think its looking at your family, seeing what your family needs and meeting those needs. Its about having an idea of what will and won't happen in your home and building life around those values. It does involve cooking and cleaning, but if that was all, then everyone that hires a cook and a housekeeper would be a good homemaker as well. That is why I think Sis. Beck says that women in the Church should be the best homemakers. We know what should go on in our homes and what shouldn't, because of that knowledge our homes reflect that.

Another Em rant to start your Monday.

Saturday Sentiments- I Love My Dogs!

2008-07-12T18:56:00.004-06:00

I really do love my dogs. They are great because they are always happy to see me. I can yell at them and they still love me. All they want is to be fed and loved, and told what to do (it really does make them happy to make me happy). Yes they get obnoxious, and I'm sure my neighbors have all heard me yelling for Molly to come home a lot, but I still love them. So let me tell you a little about each of them
1. Molly
Molly is a symbol to me. We got her on September 10, 2001. To me she symbolizes what an average American family would be doing before September 11 when the world changed. Part of what made that day so stressful for me was dealing with her. I had never had a dog before (my dad believes the best kind of dog is a dead one-love ya Dad!). So as I was watching TV, pregnant and wondering what kind of world I was bringing a baby into, I was also freaking out over this puppy that was peeing and pooping all over my house. I called Darren to find out what to do, and he told me I could put her in the garage. I didn't know you could do that! If you get sick of a dog just stick them somewhere else. Whoever invented "Time Out" must have had a dog. Not long after 9/11 Darren got lost his job. We were both so worried, I wasn't always the comfort that Darren needed because here we were getting ready to have a baby, which we had waited so long to do, and now there was no job, and how were we going to keep our house. Molly didn't care that there was no job, she loved him anyway. Did I mention Molly really is Darren's Dog. She is a German Shorthair, a bird dog. She goes pheasant hunting with Darren, from what I hear she's really good. I would love to see here in action sometime. Molly is also my running/walking buddy. The moment I wake up in the morning she starts whining and won't leave my side (she's worried I will leave her). When I pull out my gray sweatshirt she starts to pull on it, that is the signal we are really going for a walk. She can tell by what I put on first thing in the morning if we are going or not, on weekends she's always a little disappointed when I don't put on the right clothes. I love Molly.

2. Keno
Next is Keno. We got him just over a year ago. Keno has issues. He thinks he is a big dog, and not the Miniature Schnauzer that he really is. So, he gets totally mad if you try to pick him up. When we first got him, we were never sure if he was playing or really mad until he bit us. We got Keno from Darren's brother, when they thought they were going to be moving into an apartment, and couldn't bring the dog. When I first saw Keno I fell in love with him, he is just so cute. Once we got him home and we learned of his anger issues I wasn't so sure I liked him. Now after lots of work with the "Dog Whisperer" (Darren) he has gotten much better. He still rushes the door when people come over and he cries like a baby because he wants to bark, but knows he shouldn't. He also screams like a girl when we take him to the vet or the groomer. The minute we walk in the door of Petsmart he won't move, so we have to carry him (did I mention he hates to be carried?). I now see what a sweet dog he really is, and he tries so hard to be good.So even if there is a lot of this (insert growling here). They really are a part of our family. If I believed in putting vinyl sticker pictures of my family on my car I would have to include my dogs.

Relief Society

2008-07-11T09:58:00.003-06:00

I've been thinking about Relief Society lately. When I moved into this ward 8 years ago I was called to be a Primary teacher with Darren, which we really liked, but that meant I couldn't go to Relief Society From there I was called into Young Women's as the secretary, still couldn't attend the Sunday meeting. Then I moved to the Primary presidency, and served there until three years ago. While I still get to serve in the Primary (which I love) I'm not working with the children on Sunday anymore, so I go to Relief Society. This was a hard switch for me. First, I had a hard time sitting still for that long (its crazy that we thinks kids should be able to do it). Then I thought this is group therapy for some women, and time to "toot my own horn" for other women, and I struggled. I realized I had a bad attitude that I needed to fix. My good friend, Carma, told me that when she first joined the church she realized that it helped women to have somewhere to talk about their struggles. So, I started to change my complaint about "Relief Society being group therapy" attitude. Later during Sunday School Bro. Stock had asked the class to share how they had been successful at doing something, he added that it wasn't bragging because he had asked for examples. That helped me change my women "tooting their own horn" attitude. Later on I was at a fireside where the speaker said that if an "Enrichment" activity didn't sound like something that would enrich your life you didn't need to feel guilty about not going. I've used that excuse A LOT for not going to enrichment. Through all of this I have felt that I really needed to get over these bad feelings about Relief Society. So I started looking at lds.org and studying Relief Society, I would really feel the spirit of what this program is supposed to be. Plus, Sis. Beck's (the General R.S. Pres.) talks are awesome I love that she says things straight and doesn't beat around the bush or sugar coat what she is prompted to say.
Last Sunday during the R.S. lesson we discussed how we all have problems. We were studying Elder Wirthlin's talk from last Conference. We all need love and no one is perfect. This isn't a church of perfect people, we all show up on Sunday with our trials that we are trying to overcome. I think I need R.S. for that reason. I need the strength that I get by being around righteous strong women, that struggle just like I do. Last night I went to Enrichment, even though I was tired, and Darren had just gotten home from scout camp late the night before and we hadn't spent anytime together except for sleeping. I thought I would put this new idea that maybe I do need R.S. to the test. I had a good time, it was nice to enjoy the company of my friends and neighbors. I am going to work harder at reaching out to my neighbors, because I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that struggles with Relief Society. Its not easy for me to talk to someone I don't know, and I frequently feel like a freak. I also tend to have thoughts that people don't really want to be bothered by me, or that someone that has only met me once won't remember me the next time they see me, so this goal of reaching out is not easy or just the nice Sunday School answer it really means something to me.
I hope this wasn't too long and boring, but its all part of what "Keep Moving Forward" means to me.

4th of July

2008-07-08T15:52:00.001-06:00

I'm not one to post twice in one day, but I really wanted to post about swimming lessons and 4th of July. Then, I can move on to other things.
I LOVE the 4th of July! I love that its hot. I don't know why other than Darren keeps telling me I can't regulate my own body temperature so its nice not to be cold. I love eating! I mean I love it in general, but on the 4th we have our family's special marinated turkey. This year I made "Frog Eye" salad which I think is so yummy (and for all you out there who had some of my salad I just want you to know I am still eating it, had it for lunch today). Tiff made dutch oven potatoes in the regular oven that were so good we had them again on Sunday. We topped it off with my Aunt Saundra's recipe for Cherry Pecan Ice Cream oh my I could have drank the stuff that melted it was so good. So wow that's a lot about the food we won't mention my good porn, (which was really corn some people just can't hear).
Before we ate we went to the movies and saw Wall*E. I loved it! This might be my favorite Pixar movie! I highly recommend it.
Here are Carter, Sarah, and Shelby sitting on the display. Aren't they cute all dressed a like? My mom made their shirts, notice that the pocket of Carter's shirt matches the girl's shirts. I told you it was in my genetic make-up. You can check out Madeline's shirt on Jared and Liz's blog.

After the movie the kids played on the the slip and slide.

Go Sarah!
Notice Carter's excellent form!

Shelby showed everyone how its done. Note: she was so sore the next day she needed medication!

And finally, no Ward family get together would be complete without Rockband, Singstar, and/or Guitar Hero! We really had a party and played all three.

I also love fireworks! McKay went all out on the fireworks and they were awesome, and West Jordan's fireworks show was really good. Good times.

Swimming Lessons

2008-07-08T15:32:00.000-06:00

Swimming lessons have run our lives for the last two weeks. I chose to have the girls take lessons at Riverton Pool, since its fairly close and it was affordable. So we drove into town Monday through Thursday for lessons. I chose a lesson time of 11:45, so that we could have lunch at the park and then go back to the pool to swim if we wanted to.
I have lived in Eagle Mountain for almost 8 years, so I am conditioned now that if you go into town you must make it worth the trip so I packed as much as I could into my daily drives. Basically I'm exhausted. The 4th of July on Friday and a trip to Price for Taylor's Baptism made last week totally fun, but also exhausting. We were late for church on Sunday because we just couldn't move fast enough.
So this week is all about catching up on things I have let slide; housework, practicing piano, and blogging. Here are some swimming lesson highlights.
Aren't my girls fabulous in their matching swim suits? I love dressing them the same, its in my genetic make-up.
Here is Sarah leading her class in a game of "red light, green light". The color of the "light" determines how fast you kick your legs.
And now the most climatic moment of all. Its the last day of lessons, will Shelby jump off the high dive? She has jumped off the regular diving board, which took a lot of courage because the water was 12 feet deep. She climbed the high dive once only to turn around and climb back down. Are you on the edge of your seat with anticipation? Well I will leave you in suspense no longer.

She did it!

The Progression of Big Hair

2008-06-30T08:31:00.000-06:00

Thursday night I went to Mandi's for a fun Girl's Night Out. We watched an awesome movie and then sat around and talked, and laughed. We reminisced about all the trends that we thought were so cool in the '80s, pegged pants, plastic charm necklaces, and Unit clothes (remember the jumpsuits and the bands you wore layered around your waist?), oh, and layered socks. Well my pride and joy of the '80s was my hair so I thought I would share some pictures of my beautifully big hair. The pictures aren't great, they are pictures of pages out of my mom's scrapbooks, but still fun.

This is 8th grade. Notice how my hair looks wet on the sides, that is from the hairspray.

This is 9th grade, the hair clipped up on one side is very stylish. Also notice the scarf-fabulous.

This hair do is work of art. To get it to just flow like that, took talent. Don't you love the little cowboy slide thing at my neck. It was a stressful picture day by the time I got to sit down for the picture I didn't notice that my neck slide was twisted and one end was in my pocket. This was my sophomore year of high school.

So there you have it. Trends I did once that I don't have to do again. I do think it would be fun if our neighborhood party gals all dressed up like it was 1989 for Halloween!

Red Box

2008-06-23T21:24:00.000-06:00

Have you tried the Red Box? I gave it a try because I got a couple of coupons for free movie rentals from McDonald's. The Red Box is an interesting thing. Its a great idea because first of all its only $1. So, you rent your movie and then take it back the next day, which is great because I forget about returning a movie on Thursday that I watched Saturday night. Plus if your late to the other places they charge you for another five days and the Red box only charges you for one more night. The thing I don't like about the Red Box is that there is always a line, at least in this neck of the woods, and if there are people waiting behind me I feel self conscious. In a regular video store I can browse and not worry about how long I'm taking, but at the Red Box I feel like I need to know exactly what I want get it, and move on. This must have been invented by a man, because I just described shopping with Darren.
Last night I was returning a movie (after promising Shelby that I would only return the movie and not a buy a drink too, She worries about me keeping the Sabbath day holy). There was a line, of course, it was getting close to 9:00 when the charge for another night is added. There was a lady trying to rent something, it was taking her a while to find what she wanted, so she was getting nervous. She found what she wanted, and then was swiping her card the wrong way, so it wouldn't work, and instead of anyone saying anything, we all stood and watched. So, after about 5 tries she gave up and left. The next lady in an effort to be quick put her movie in the machine and walked away, only to have the machine spit it back out because she put it in wrong. The kid behind her, wearing turquoise and black checkered pants, didn't know what to do with her movie. Good thing the lady was still watching, and came back. She had the movie in the case backwards, once someone pointed this out to her she was able to successfully return her movie and move on. Funny how someone helped that lady, but not the poor lady that had her debit card turned the wrong way. I guess someone decided that helping the second lady would move things along and helping the first lady would only make her be in line longer. Funny that. So, another thing about the Red Box is that it makes for good people watching. How will people behave under pressure? Hope I haven't totally bored you, but I had fun thinking about this.

Dance!

2008-06-22T19:54:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was the girl's dance concert! Shelby is taking a creative dance class, and she and the rest of her class got to choreograph their dance. It was a total 10 year old girl kind of dance, complete with Hannah Montana music. I loved that Shelby happened to have a flower that matched her costume perfectly (thanks Mandi). Sarah is taking Jazz, she danced to "Under the Sea", her costume is seaweed like. This is the perfect dance for Sarah since she dreams of growing up to be a mermaid. Also notice that they have curly hair! I battled through the tears (theirs), and put spongy curlers in their hair Friday night, don't they look great! They love dance and they love their dance teacher. It was a great show. It always cracks me up how the little 3 year olds always seem to have the biggest and loudest group of people there to cheer them on. What can you say they are cute! After the show we went to JCW's for shakes. Here are my girls passed out in the car when Darren and I stopped at Maverik for drinks (Diet Coke with grape flavor is surprisingly yummy!)

You are beautiful girls and I love you!

This is love!

2008-06-20T08:08:00.000-06:00

My girls walk dogs four days a week. When the flowers and trees started to bloom they would often come home from their walks with these little flower gifts. I started putting them on my dresser in this candle lid. I always thought I would throw them away, I would think of the bugs that the flowers could be holding. The reason I didn't throw them away is that its Sarah's job to take out the garbage and I thought if she saw the flowers in the garbage she would think I didn't love them, or her. The kids are often devastated when they find beloved (to them) things in the garbage. Then, one day I was visiting with Mandi and she told me that Sarah (just to be clear Shelby and Sarah bring home flowers) had given her flowers after they had walked Sandy. I thought "that is love". I know my girls admire Mandi and that giving her flowers was Sarah's way of letting Mandi know. So, for now I wouldn't dream of throwing away my little collection of love.

I am making a quilt!

2008-06-18T10:07:00.000-06:00

I am reading a book called If You Want To Write for my colloquia (a cool word for book discussion group) this month. It has totally inspired me, not just with a desire to write, but to be creative in general. The author says "Now this creative power is the Holy Ghost." I love that, as I think about how the thought of a new project makes me feel, it makes sense to me to describe that feeling as the Holy Ghost. This thought is was made me decide that I was going to do something. "We have come to think that duty should come first. I disagree. Duty should be a by-product. Writing, the creative effort, the use of imagination, should come first,-at least for some part of every day of your life." I LOVE that! Duty is my biggest hang-up when it comes to doing things I want to do. I think "When I get this load of laundry done or this room dusted or change my sheets, and on and on, then I will scrapbook or whatever". Well this book has sparked in me a desire to make a quilt. I saw the cutest pink and black quilt on Good Things Utah one morning and thought it would be perfect for Shelby's room. So I am going to do it! My mother in law has agreed to help me with the piecing and putting it together. I am so excited. I will post more pictures as I make progress, because I know you all want to see how it comes together-of course you do!

Chickens-Saturday Sentiments

2008-06-15T00:37:00.000-06:00

My computer says its 12:22AM so, I guess technically this is now a Sunday Sentiment. I know that when I try to get up at 7:00 to "surprise" Darren with breakfast in bed I am going to regret being up so late. But, I felt bad that I have skipped my weekly Saturday Sentiments post, and I have been wanting to write about this so I am going to just do it. I should be able to get a nap tomorrow.

There is something that I just love about chickens. I started collecting different chicken things when we moved into this house. I think its the earthiness of them. I love that I look out my window and see my neighbor's chickens. I also love the rooster/chicken stuff that friends have given me, that just makes them special. The yellow chicken on the shelf is from Mandi, and has rebar legs-so cute. The white chicken is a pitcher that Darren brought home from his mission. It is called the barfing chicken and comes with a ceremony-weird missionary stuff.

When I saw this plate rack I had to have it, and I had a great time accesorizing and figuring out what I wanted to go on the plate rack. Yellow and red are my favorite colors, so I look at this and smile.

Now, this isn't a rooster or a chicken, its a Turkey. This platter was given to my by my mother in law, it belonged to her mother. No one else wanted it-I can't imagine why. I saw it and fell in love. My Grandpa Harward was a turkey farmer in Richfield. I remember going to see the turkeys (not pleasant, turkeys flock to the fence when you drive by ugly things happen to the ones in front and they stink, but I'm talking about happy memories here). Making marinated turkey is a close to a religion in my family, and eating is the best. My grandparents and uncle's homes where decorated with all kinds of turkey things. So, I love this platter. It gives me a connection to my Harward roots, even if it came from Darren's family. Like I've said before, it doesn't have to make sense to you, it does to me, and that's enough.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

2008-06-13T18:28:00.000-06:00

After our trip to Logan, in April, Darren and I thought it would be fun to take the girls to Ephraim, to visit Snow College. Darren and I met during our first year at Snow, so this is where it all began. Plus, we try to talk about college whenever we can to get them pointed in that direction, so visits to college campus' are a must. My parents did the same thing with my brother's and sisters and me, it must have done some good even if I did decide at an early age that I definitely did not want to go to BYU (not that I had the grades that made that an option, but I digress).

We thought it would be even more fun to go during the Manti pageant. Darren's parents have some property in Fairview so we decided to camp. We didn't make it through the entire pageant, Sarah woke up about 10 minutes before it ended and was crying because she was so cold, so we left.

This trip was a little different for me than our trip to Logan. I had a great time in Logan, going to USU. I had great roommates, I really figured out what I wanted to do with my life, I got engaged, and then got married. Everything that college should be. Oh yeah, I did graduate too. The thing that made this trip different was that as I walked around the campus of Snow College I remembered how hard life was. I was always worried about my grades, that during my first year weren't very good. Meeting Darren was great! Saying good bye when he left for his mission was hard. My good friend at the time also left on a mission a year later while I was still going to Snow. It was a time to grow up and learn some hard lessons, like you have to study to get good grades, and if you don't get good grades they take away your financial aid, and if they take away your financial aid, all the studying in the world doesn't matter when you can't go to school. I also had lots of roommate drama. Note to Moms: If the kids don't really like each other when they are in high school, its not a good idea for them to live together. That might be a good topic for a future post: What I learned from living with 27 different girls over 4 years.

So, why is this post titled Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy? Two reasons. First, I did figure out a lot about who I was and who I wanted to be. I learned that I could do hard things, I actually made the dean's list the next year. Quite a leap from academic probation. I figured out how to live with different kinds of people. By the time I went to USU I knew what to do and how to do it and I got to have a lot more fun.

My most inspiring thought came as I was watching the pageant. There was Mormon handing off the plates to his son Moroni, and going off to battle knowing that he would die. As Moroni walks off all alone thinking "Where I go mattereth not." I thought about my life now. I know this world is changing and things seem to be getting harder, and there seems to be a lot to be worried about. But, I felt so grateful that I'm not alone, like Moroni was. I still have my family. I still have great friends. I most of all I have the gospel. This came to my inbox this week, and I've thought about it a lot.
"We all go through different life experiences. Some are filled with joy, and others with sorrow and uncertainty. . . .
". . . Aren't the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and our membership in His Church great reasons to rejoice?"
(Dieter F. Uchtdorf, ""Have We Not Reason to Rejoice?"" Ensign, Nov. 2007, 18)
I've been reading the Conference Ensign this week, and have found a lot of joy and comfort in the words of our leaders. There is much to find joy in. I am so grateful for my family, my home, Darren's good job that lets me be home with my family. I am so grateful for the gospel it is the good news. I love my Savior. I just want to put some happiness out there!

Weekend Review

2008-06-04T20:29:00.000-06:00

We had a great weekend! I thought I would share a few photos .

Friday night we went on our Ward's camp out. It was in Ophir, which is this beautiful spot just around the mountain from Cedar Fort. It is surrounded by cliffs with holes that have been drilled into them from past mining explorations. The kids had to check them out, so after much begging Shelby, and her friends got Tom Davis to take them up to check out the caves. We arrived at the camp ground early and got set up, which was great because then we could relax and enjoy ourselves. Unlike other ward camp outs when we get there late, set up, eat dinner, and go to bed, only to take it all down first thing the next morning. We had a great time.

Saturday afternoon we went out to my in laws to help work on the garden. After years of my own garden performing poorly, and receiving lots of produce from my in laws I decided that we would help them with their garden. I clearly need help to learn how to grow a garden and they have it down pretty good. After we finished weeding and planting tomatoes Shelby asked Grandpa if she could drive the lawn mower. She did a pretty good job, and I can't believe how quickly she is growing up. Too soon that will be the steering wheel of a car.
Darren also wanted a turn on the mower, and Sarah wanted to drive too.
Tiff bought Singstar "90s" as well as a Wii so we went out to her house Sunday evening for a fun night of video games. Singstar is my favorite game, I think. Its karaoke on the playstation, I always wanted to be a superstar, this is as close as I seriously want to get. I also love Guitar Hero and Rockband, but I really like Singstar. The playlist for '90s is fun Tiff and I had a hard time getting through Wilson Phillips "Hold on" without laughing. This game also had New Kids on the Block, Paula Abdul, Cranberries, Extreme, and Vanilla Ice-fun stuff. I'm holding out hope that they will come out with a Singstar Show Tunes now that would be fun to belt out.

I don't want to get on the scale! Please don't make me!

2008-05-29T09:52:00.000-06:00

Welcome to another glimpse into my mind. Friday is my normal "weigh in"day. I start dreading it on Thursday. I have decided that I am taking a break from trying to loose weight and just maintain. Because really I feel good where I am, and I want to move forward. I don't want to look back at my life and think that I wasted too much time worrying about weight.

So, this week has not been a week of healthy food choices. I want to blame Memorial day and it being that time of the month, but I'm all about taking responsibility for your choices. However, hormones do play a huge role, so I'm not going to discount that. Knowing that I have eaten poorly and that my hormones are out of wack I don't want to get on the scale tomorrow. Is it so wrong for me to skip a week? I mean seriously I haven't skipped getting on the scale for years, and have been on the scale so much during a week or a day even that this one time won't hurt-right? It's not going to make me feel better to get on the scale. Will I feel better if I make better choices, listen to my body and then check in next week? I'm looking for support here. Do I need to have the kick in the but that getting on the scale will give me tomorrow, or do I kick myself in the butt enough without that? I'm so afraid of being out of control, but the scale doesn't give me more control. Its just a number, its not who I am. Help! Tell me its ok to skip the scale this week, make better choices and see a more true reflection next week. Please.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

2008-05-27T16:52:00.000-06:00

Today is my parents Anniversary! Thirty-six years, I think.

Thanks for your example. You have stuck together through a lot, including raising 6 awesome kids! You have taught me a lot and deserve to get credit for the great lives that we all enjoy, because without the two of you we wouldn't even have lives. The fact that we have great lives is tribute your teachings. I hope you have a great day and do something fun to celebrate. I love you both!

Sunday Sentiments

2008-05-25T19:48:00.001-06:00

My Saturday Sentiments is happening on Sunday this week, that's the beauty of having two days in a row that begin with 'S'.

I have a lilac blooming! We planted these lilac bushes 7 years ago with starts that we got from my parent's yard. They have a beautiful "wall" of purple and white lilacs. As a kid I loved to go out and smell them. I would always think of the the Primary song "I Often Go Walking". I love the smell of lilacs, especially when you can just smell them in the air. I had planted these bushes trying to create my own wall of lilacs beside my porch. I had thoughts of just stepping out on my porch and enjoying my beautiful flowers. Although the bushes grew every year I've never gotten any flowers until this spring! Only this one bunch, but after seven years I was so excited, and reminded of why I planted them in the first place.

Lord of the Rings

2008-05-22T17:07:00.000-06:00

What has Shelby so engrossed? Well she is a kid parked in front of the TV so it could be any thing.

Its Lord of the Rings. When we came home from our Topaz trip I wanted to just relax and watch Fellowship of the Ring. So, that's what we did. I had to take a short break to speak at a fireside, but we finished the first movie later (much later) that night. We spent the next two evenings watching the other two movies. Shelby decided that she wanted to read the books. I thought "Sure, go ahead and give them a try". I read Fellowship of the Ring a couple of summers ago, and it took me the whole summer, and I had to watch the movie a couple of times, while I was reading, to figure out what was going on. I thought it was great that she wanted to give the books a try. Much to my surprise she has read all three books in three weeks! My question the whole time was "Does she understand what she is reading?", but she and Darren would discuss the books every night. I guess she knew what she was reading. She has now decided to memorize some of the poems that are in the books. I am floored! Who's kid is this? Oh yeah she's Darren's. I'm just excited about all the ways we can use this as part of school, its so awesome!

Saturday Sentiments

2008-05-17T07:42:00.000-06:00

My thoughts today aren't particularly sentimental, but its still something that makes me happy. So, sit back and enjoy a look into my twisted mind.

I love angry music. Not angry teenager, I guess I would call it melodic angry music. I've written about music before, so maybe I'm being redundant, but oh well. My favorite angry song of all time is "I alone" by Live. They are a great band for angry music, they have mellowed a bit since getting married and having kids but still good stuff. Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, Nickleback (to a point, they do turn angry teenager after a while) are all good. Once screaming starts in a so called "song" I'm done, but just general being pissed off is fun.

Along with this comes the angry break- up song. No, Micheal Bolton "How am I supposed to live without you" crap. More a long the lines of "You big jerk, you stomped on my heart, don't come near me ever again." kind of song. Erasure's "Love to Hate You" is one of my all time favorite angry break up songs. I know when you think of angry music Erasure isn't exactly what pops into your head, but I'm not hear to make sense of this. I'm just telling you how it is. I'm not sure why I like the angry break-up song, its not like I've had my heart stomped on mercilessly. The closest thing I've had to a broken heart was when Darren went on his mission, that was painful, but he did come back and now here we are Happily ever after. Maybe I just live vicariously through other people, I don't think I delight in others else's pain. So, there you have it. As Jack Nicholson says in As Good As it Gets "Its not that your mad you had it so bad, Its that your pissed everyone else had it so good." or something like that.

Random Thoughts

2008-05-14T17:29:00.000-06:00

On Saturday someone I don't know posted a comment on my blog. So, I thought I would check out her blog. She had a link to a site called The Pioneer Woman. I was checking it out yesterday and she has a story on her blog about how she met her husband. I was hooked. Every spare moment I could find I was reading the next installment to this woman's story. The thing, I think, that really gets me is how great it is read about someone that loves their life and is in love with their husband. So much of what is on TV and everywhere isn't like that, its refreshing to find people that are happy. So, should you decided to check it out, you've been warned-it could be addictive, if your into that kind of chick flick story. She also has a cooking section on her site and I made the apricot bars (only I used orange marmalade because thats what I had), and they were so good, especially followed by a glass of milk. Plus, she lives on a ranch, and ever since I read Laddie, I have thought that would be a great life.

Today as I was driving home from the gym I noticed that the price of gas had gone up ten cents since Monday! I have already cut back on how often I go to the gym because of the price of gas, plus with warmer weather I love running/walking up the hill on Lake Mountain. We have been trying to be very careful with our money lately, especially since it doesn't go as far as it used to. So, as I was lamenting the price of gas a thought came to me. I think it is a good that I now take a closer look at what I'm going into town for. Staying home forces me to slow down and slowing down allows time to be quiet and think. The last two and a half weeks have been filled with more insight and personal inspiration, and a strengthening of my testimony, that I have missed in the craziness of life. I think its true that distraction is a tool of the devil, if our lives are so full that we can't be still, we can't hear the Holy Ghost, we may be missing out on something Heavenly Father would have us know. So, today I am grateful that the price of gas is forcing me to slow down, enjoy my life, and feel what Heavenly Father would have me feel.

Its Monday!?

2008-05-12T14:55:00.000-06:00

I have sort of a love/hate relationship with Mondays. I love putting my house back in order after a great weekend, and this weekend was great! I had a great Mother's day, I hope everyone did, it was for me just what I wanted it to be. Darren and I put the chair rail up in my bedroom on Wednesday, Darren bought petunias that we planted on Saturday, and Sacrament Meeting was awesome-the Priesthood singing made me cry, what a great surprise! But, I hate that Darren has to go to work, and getting back to the daily routine is sometimes hard. Today, though Monday is inspiring me. We went to Wellington yesterday, and we didn't get home until late, so we got up late. I didn't get to the gym until 8:30 and then did the grocery shopping. I called to check on the kids and Sarah wasn't even up yet at 10:00-kids were tired too. I listened to an awesome Conference talk (Knowing that you Know) on the way home about testimony, that is my favorite part of going to the gym listening to Conference on the way home. I got my kitchen cleaned (my floor hadn't been cleaned in two weeks-as my mom would say "There was so much dirt you could plant radishes"), while the girls walked dogs. When they got home we read Anne of Green Gables. Shelby made me lunch while I showered. Then practiced the piano. We still have math to do, maybe making Apple Crisp for FHE will be math (science and home ec. too) for today. I love a productive Monday.

I have also decided that I need some new motivation in my piano practicing. So, I have made a practicing calendar. I am going to use it to make sure that I practice 5 days a week from now until the recital-Yes, Jeannette makes me play. I don't like to play in front of people, but that's kind of the point of why I started taking lessons again, so that I could play in Church.

I am also having some great thoughts about what I want my blog to be. To really be a piece of me and everything that I love. To share more of what is important to me and what motivates me. So, look for some new links and me to talk about somethings that I don't always talk about. I have a vision of what I hope this blog can be, and I am really excited about it!

Saturday Sentiments

2008-05-10T09:27:00.000-06:00

My thoughts today are about scrabooking. I love it! I started scrapbooking about 6 months after Darren and I got married. My sisters in law invited me to scrapbook with them at what was then Paper Hearts in Sandy (now its Pebbles in My Pocket). I was instantly hooked and even dreamed that night about a page that I wanted to make the next time I scrapbooked. Once Shelby was born, it just got even better! I quickly recruited my mom and sisters. I don't get to scrapbook as often as I would like, but mostly because I just don't let myself (which is a whole other issue I have). I try to have a set time, but that doesn't always work. It works best for me if I have a scheduled time to meet with friends or family to scrapbook.
I've been reading a book called "The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker". It talks about figuring out what inspires you and why you scrapbook. So I have posted pictures of what is inspiring to me that I keep in my scrapbook area. I should give some credit to Mandi. The ribbon ladder was totally her idea as was the vinyl Shipley with our names on top of it. I love looking at my ribbon jars, ribbon is just happy. I was talking with Carma once about her favorite photography store, she compared it to how I would feel walking into a ribbon store. As I thought about that I kept visualizing the joy of walking into a store completely dedicated to ribbon. Now that would be FUN! Everything on the black cabinet is something I love, reminds me of someone special, or just makes me happy to look at.
Now why do I scrapbook? Well I've come to realize that I love the stories. I love to tell stories. When I look through a scrapbook magazine I hold the magazine as close as I can so I can read the stories that go a long with the picture. For me its not about all the cute stuff, however I do love the cute stuff too, but the stories are what make a scrapbook. I have lots of albums to tell lots of different stories. One of my favorites is Sarah's "I'm just 3" album. I'm so far behind chronologically that I made this album first, so that she could see pictures of herself that weren't just baby pictures. Second, because three year olds are such stinkers, but they say and do the funniest things and I didn't want to forget. When I scrapbook I look at the pictures and remember great times and how much I love my family no matter how crazy they have made me that day. To me that makes scrapbooking special.

Saturday Sentiments

2008-05-03T22:21:00.000-06:00

Friends.

This has been one of those weeks where I have been compelled to be humble. Having good friends is what has helped me get through. When I was having a particularly rough day I called Darren and my sister, and then went to visit Mandi. Talking to each person really helped brighten my day. Jenny sent me a great email that helped me a ton. I also got to say a quick "Hi" to Ashley as she walked past my kitchen window one morning. I got to spend Friday afternoon with Tiffanie and Liz, and just being with them was a great lift. Then, Friday night I went scrapbooking with my friends Carma, Daina, and Katie. Tiffanie spent the day here today during her open house, it was great to have her here especially since Darren was gone all day.

All of this time with friends has helped me to understand that we can't get through life alone. We need each other. Its funny to me what having this blog has done for me, its helped me connect with my neighbors in a way that I never have before. Sometimes I feel like I am short on friends, but since I started this blog and read my friends blogs I feel like we have more of a connection. Its silly to live by people for 7 1/2 years and it takes the computer to feel close to my neighbors. I guess through the wonder of the internet we can be there for each other when we have a minute to check and see how everyone is doing. I love it.

I want to thank all of you for the moments that you have been there for me. You may not even know how much you all mean to me. The times that you have made me laugh or shared something that was just what I needed to help me with what is going on in my life. Thanks.

Lists

2008-04-30T11:58:00.000-06:00

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

2008-04-28T12:13:00.000-06:00

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

2008-04-23T15:50:00.000-06:00

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

2008-04-19T09:16:00.000-06:00

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!

2008-04-18T08:42:00.001-06:00

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

2008-04-17T07:34:00.000-06:00

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!

2008-04-15T18:23:00.001-06:00

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"?

2008-04-12T13:50:00.000-06:00

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:

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.
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

2008-04-02T09:33:00.000-06:00

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?

2008-04-01T11:05:00.000-06:00

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.

Sisters

2008-03-31T12:33:00.000-06:00

I have been thinking about my sisters lately. It started because I was thinking about a little thought I had put on a panel of pictures of my girls. It says "having a sister means you always have a friend". For me that is so true. I love my sisters, we are each so different, but also the same since we grew up together. I love that I get to spend time with Tiffanie all the time, and that after years of fighting when we lived together, that now we have so much in common. I miss Tori she is fun and talented, and I just don't get to talk with her enough.

I also am so blessed to have six awesome sisters-in-law, that really I consider sisters. The four of us Shipley sisters have married these five brothers. They are loud, and obnoxious but there must be something to them because they have married awesome women. Melanie, as the only daughter is the glue that keeps the family together, how she turned out so sweet with these brothers is a mystery. And then there is Liz, the saint that married my brother. I always thought that it would take a strong woman to marry Jared and fit in with my sisters and I since we are all so close in age and Liz fits that to a "T".

Then there are my friends that are sisters. The women that I serve and have served with in Primary are a constant inspiration to me. I also have some great neighbors that I know I can count on for anything and I love them.

I know this is super sappy, but it has been on my mind and wanted to let these women that really matter to me know that they really matter to me.

Jane Eyre

2008-03-26T14:23:00.000-06:00

I finished Jane Eyre yesterday. I think it could go on my favorite books list! Jane has a terribly hard life, so when she finds love I was so excited, and then it turns out that he is already married. I got so caught up in the love story that I was thinking it would be ok for Jane to be his mistress, his wife is mad, and he was tricked into marrying her, everyone would understand. Then Jane says " Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for moments as this..." that line pulled me back to reality and I realized I wasn't just reading a nice story, but a classic. I loved that Jane did the right thing for the right reason. How often are we confronted with situations, and we rationalize our choices, instead of following our own principles? Jane didn't do what was easy or would be approved by society, she did what was hard, because it was right. I loved this book, there is so much to learn from this story!

Great Weekend!

2008-03-25T11:45:00.000-06:00

I had a great weekend, so great that its taken me until Tuesday to write about it. On Friday Darren and I celebrated our 12th anniversary. For fun we went shopping for lawn chairs, specifically Adirondack chairs. I am so excited about our newly fenced back yard that I think I need to create a spot to sit back and enjoy. We also went to dinner at my new favorite steakhouse; Texas Roadhouse-yum.

Saturday was our annual Easter egg treasure hunt. When I was young my family and I used to go to Richfield, and go on a big treasure hunt through the mountains, then after a dinner of marinated Turkey we would hike a huge, steep hill and roll eggs. Some people, usually the uncles and older male cousins would be at the bottom of the hill and throw the eggs back up at you and you kept rolling the eggs until there was nothing left to roll. This year we tried to recreate this experience in Eagle Mountain. I had a perfect spot picked, but in true Utah form someone was already there shooting, so we had to pick a different spot. This is what our hill ended up looking like. More of a hill of dirt, than a huge, steep mountain, but still lots of Fun!

On Sunday, we had an Easter devotional out of the Family Home Evening Manual. We had the traditional pose in your Easter Dress on the porch pictures, and Mike and Tiff and Carter came over for dinner. It was a great Easter!

Treadmill reflections

2008-03-20T14:16:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I had to get a new key to my gym, and I talked to the owner about taking a group of people to run around the hills in Eagle Mountain. After I left I thought "What have I gotten myself into?" But as I have thought about it more I thought; maybe I shouldn't find some way to back out, maybe it would be fun. Maybe this whole thing is supposed to be fun. Maybe I'm not supposed to be so obsessed with the scale and maybe all this exercise is great because its fun and I like it, and it gives me time to myself to think and get ready for my day. If that were really the point then I don't need validation in any other way. I get so frustrated when I feel that I've worked so hard and the scale doesn't budge, and I feel guilty that I leave my kids every morning. So I have to believe that this about more than loosing weight. I also like the thought that I will be healthier as I get older.

This is what runs through my head as I run/walk/elliptical, whatever. Oh, and Fall Out Boy is fun to workout to so is the soundtrack to Wicked.

Happiness is....

2008-03-11T13:42:00.001-06:00

New idea books! Look how pretty and fun they all look together. These came today! I was giddy when I opened the box! There are basically two things I do when I'm stressed 1. eat 2. shop. These books are the result of frustration I felt on Saturday.

I was reading a little of Real.Life.Scrapbooking and found a layout about the author's wedding day, she was remembering how her cheeks hurt from smiling so much. I almost started to cry as I remembered that same feeling from my wedding day. Darren and I will celebrate our 12th anniversary in a couple of weeks, and I think its great that after twelve years I can still get emotional when I think about how I felt the day I married him. Yes, way sappy, but thats my mood today.

So, Happiness came in a box, but led me to realizing where I find true happiness.