It is interesting how we rate happiness. To some happiness is what they buy next, to others happiness is taking time to stop and notice life around them. For me, this week, happiness has shown its self in many forms. Happiness was last night as I watched my beautiful daughter sing in the last concert of this High School year. She had a small solo part and it was really beautiful. She held her composure, she didn't show her nerves ( I commend her for this because I so often do) And as I watched, I saw this mature, beautiful young woman. I shed a few tears because I knew that my constant day to day time with her was going to be much less frequent in the next years. Then I looked at Nick, sitting next to his dad, being so proud of his sister. And I felt happiness in my heart for this amazing young man...man child...grown man person...He is remarkable and so cool. Happiness is seeing your children support one another, seeing them get along. Its really the reason we are parents. We ultimately want them to grow up to be respectable citizens who contribute in a positive way and who can get along with each other and support each other.
Happiness is also getting a text from your 20 year old saying "we made it to our destination" or "I'm on my way home mom"....He won't understand how important that is until he is a parent, but it is happiness in my book.
Happiness is also bringing home 3 new squeaky toys for your dogs and seeing them get so excited as they chase the Beaver, the Duck and the Opposum around the living room in a blaze of happy puppy fury!!
Happiness is having your husband call you at 1 pm on a Friday saying he is off work...FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK! And to start off that time off, he agrees to go to Costco with you so you didn't have to lift all the heavy bulk stuff by yourself.
Happiness comes in many forms, it is just a matter of taking the time to recognize it. In an attitude of gratitude we find happiness all around us.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
A little heart break
I find my self a bit weepy, sad in my heart, but joyful as well, as I realized that I am not holding his hand guiding him so much any more. One day it will be him, who holds my hand and guides me. Life has a funny way of slipping by quickly and changing. In the next several months we will be buying suits and white shirts and ties and socks and shoes and luggage. We will be going to doctor appts and dental appts and submitting paperwork and then he will go.
I am so very excited for him but as I said...its a bit of a little heart break. I love you Nick!
projects
Today I am grateful to be able to take time to work on projects. I have 4 currently going. One was finished today...well mostly. Nick's Graduation Announcement!! YAY! I find right now in my life, that I need projects. If not, I end up sitting and not getting much accomplished. So I am grateful for beautiful spring days, the weather is not to hot, not too cool, just perfect. It is great. Now if I could just find my motivation...I think it got packed up in a box somewhere.
So on to bigger projects and accomplishing goals. I am super excited to see 2 of my projects come to light. I will post pix when they are done.
So on to bigger projects and accomplishing goals. I am super excited to see 2 of my projects come to light. I will post pix when they are done.
Monday, May 21, 2012
take time...
We had an amazing lesson in Young Womens on Sunday. First, back up....I must say that my Laurel Adviser is one of the sweetest, coolest, most creative women I have met. She has so many talents I wish I had. So many things that seem to just come so easy to her. Sometimes she shares with me her insecurities of teaching or the struggles she faces in life and I am always a bit shocked because she is just so together all the time! I love her. She exemplifies Christ in her life at all times. If you ever need anything done, she and her husband do it. They just do...no questions asked, they just do it.
So on Sunday, we had a lesson on Writing it down...keeping our records, our personal histories, our stories. About half way through the lesson, Meghan ( my Laurel Adviser) got very quiet and then told the girls she was going to shift gears, take a left turn in the lesson and then she proceeded to tell a really cool, very amazing story about a time in her life when she needed an answer to prayer, an answer to something she was struggling with and the answer came in a really cool way for her. But she realized she had never written the story down, something very powerful happened in her life, but she had yet to record it. How often does this happen? What stories are we writing down for our posterity? For those future generations to come? How often have you read the scriptures and thought "Wow, that is so applicable to me today" ? Did those who lived so long ago know that their words would have such a powerful effect in a world so completely different than theirs? And are we really that different? Sure, the set has changed, more things are going on, but really the story is very similar between our day and those days of our forefathers in the scriptures. Where would we be without their stories? Without their words and their conversion stories? Did they ever know that their experiences would touch generations?
Our stories will touch generations. The things I go through and write down will no doubt, help someone in my posterity. So, knowing that, It is time to TAKE TIME to record my story more thoroughly and to write down the details of what is going on in my life. The spiritual ah ha moments, the things I am trying to work though as a mom and the wonders of our family life.
Today, today was an interesting day. Just a normal Monday. Get up, take the kids to seminary, start the laundry, take Kris to work, come home, shower, get ready to go Visiting Teaching. Thats where I will start today. Visiting teaching. I have really come to love it. I have loved my partner these past 9 months? Wow..that long. She is amazing. Always willing to go, to schedule to teach. She comes with a positive outlook, a kind heart and a sweet smile. There family has been here less than a year and now they are moving. (sounds familiar) We have one more sister to visit this month and that is the last of our time together.
I will miss her. Good visiting teaching partners are sometimes a rare thing. At least in my experience. And speaking of visiting teaching... I LONG to have a visiting teacher who wants to come and visit me and talk. Someone who will bring my a lesson and want to know what is going on in my life. Im in a really good place, but there are times when my cup is low and it would be so nice to have someone around who wanted to visit me.
Ok, back to my day. Our first stop was a lady in our ward who has such a big heart. She wants to be loved, understood and appreciated (don't we all) It is so nice to visit her and listen to her. She does good work and does good with her family. Our lesson was great, Elder Cooks talk from conference. We listened to that and then left. We met up at 1 to visit teach a younger sister who has 2 younger kids. She is creative and kind. Her kids are adorable!! It is fun to go there!
Then I got home. Nick was home from school. He had a huge persuasive essay due today in English and he thinks he nailed it. Good topic too. The use of genetic seeds to grow plants with vaccines already in them...good or bad? He seemed really happy until it was time to fix dinner. Each of my kids is taking a day each week to cook dinner. Tonight Nick picked Salmon and artichokes. He got it all ready and it wasn't quite done when he called everyone to eat. I checked it and told him it wasn't quite ready and he just got so mad. Nick has a really hard time when things don't go his way. He worries that everyone will be mad, or laugh, or make fun of him. I don't know how to convey that we love him and that we want to support him and help him. I have learned however, over the past 2 years, when to shut my mouth and let things be. I so desperately want to FIX my kids, but I just need to let them learn and grow and that is tough as the parent. Heavenly Father is teaching me to let my kids grow. They have to go through these experiences and figure their way through them. After dinner Nick came back down and is doing better. Sometimes it is like that in life, we have to muddle through the muck, figure it out. Get to higher ground, keep breathing and trust in the Lord.
Lately, I have been wondering what it is going to take for Nate to be humbled and to figure out that God is real. It worries me as the mom that he is going to have to have some humbling in his life. That is what happens when the Lord needs you back on his team. I have read to other blogs today, both of families that have lost children and I sat and cried. One, my friend Brittney had linked back to her mom. A young man named Tyler who died this week from a battle with liver cancer and another of a family whos little girl, Preslee drowned in a canal in 2010. But what I took from these stories was the great love each of these families had in the Savior and in the gospel They had learned to turn their will over, to allow God to be in charge and even though that meant a painful loss in their families, they learned something about giving back to God the only thing we can give and that is our free will. I remember when Nate stopped breathing in 2002 and ended up in the hospital. That night I told Heavenly Father I did not want to have my son die, but that I was willing to submit and leave it in his hands. If it was time for Nate to return to his Heavenly home then I would be OK with that. It was not Nates time, Nate still has much to learn and a great work to do and I know that and so does Heavenly Father.
I am hoping my blogs will become much more personal and that you will share with me in my struggles and in my joys and in my growth. Perhaps my story can have an impact on yours. I am grateful for all the stories that impact mine!
So on Sunday, we had a lesson on Writing it down...keeping our records, our personal histories, our stories. About half way through the lesson, Meghan ( my Laurel Adviser) got very quiet and then told the girls she was going to shift gears, take a left turn in the lesson and then she proceeded to tell a really cool, very amazing story about a time in her life when she needed an answer to prayer, an answer to something she was struggling with and the answer came in a really cool way for her. But she realized she had never written the story down, something very powerful happened in her life, but she had yet to record it. How often does this happen? What stories are we writing down for our posterity? For those future generations to come? How often have you read the scriptures and thought "Wow, that is so applicable to me today" ? Did those who lived so long ago know that their words would have such a powerful effect in a world so completely different than theirs? And are we really that different? Sure, the set has changed, more things are going on, but really the story is very similar between our day and those days of our forefathers in the scriptures. Where would we be without their stories? Without their words and their conversion stories? Did they ever know that their experiences would touch generations?
Our stories will touch generations. The things I go through and write down will no doubt, help someone in my posterity. So, knowing that, It is time to TAKE TIME to record my story more thoroughly and to write down the details of what is going on in my life. The spiritual ah ha moments, the things I am trying to work though as a mom and the wonders of our family life.
Today, today was an interesting day. Just a normal Monday. Get up, take the kids to seminary, start the laundry, take Kris to work, come home, shower, get ready to go Visiting Teaching. Thats where I will start today. Visiting teaching. I have really come to love it. I have loved my partner these past 9 months? Wow..that long. She is amazing. Always willing to go, to schedule to teach. She comes with a positive outlook, a kind heart and a sweet smile. There family has been here less than a year and now they are moving. (sounds familiar) We have one more sister to visit this month and that is the last of our time together.
I will miss her. Good visiting teaching partners are sometimes a rare thing. At least in my experience. And speaking of visiting teaching... I LONG to have a visiting teacher who wants to come and visit me and talk. Someone who will bring my a lesson and want to know what is going on in my life. Im in a really good place, but there are times when my cup is low and it would be so nice to have someone around who wanted to visit me.
Ok, back to my day. Our first stop was a lady in our ward who has such a big heart. She wants to be loved, understood and appreciated (don't we all) It is so nice to visit her and listen to her. She does good work and does good with her family. Our lesson was great, Elder Cooks talk from conference. We listened to that and then left. We met up at 1 to visit teach a younger sister who has 2 younger kids. She is creative and kind. Her kids are adorable!! It is fun to go there!
Then I got home. Nick was home from school. He had a huge persuasive essay due today in English and he thinks he nailed it. Good topic too. The use of genetic seeds to grow plants with vaccines already in them...good or bad? He seemed really happy until it was time to fix dinner. Each of my kids is taking a day each week to cook dinner. Tonight Nick picked Salmon and artichokes. He got it all ready and it wasn't quite done when he called everyone to eat. I checked it and told him it wasn't quite ready and he just got so mad. Nick has a really hard time when things don't go his way. He worries that everyone will be mad, or laugh, or make fun of him. I don't know how to convey that we love him and that we want to support him and help him. I have learned however, over the past 2 years, when to shut my mouth and let things be. I so desperately want to FIX my kids, but I just need to let them learn and grow and that is tough as the parent. Heavenly Father is teaching me to let my kids grow. They have to go through these experiences and figure their way through them. After dinner Nick came back down and is doing better. Sometimes it is like that in life, we have to muddle through the muck, figure it out. Get to higher ground, keep breathing and trust in the Lord.
Lately, I have been wondering what it is going to take for Nate to be humbled and to figure out that God is real. It worries me as the mom that he is going to have to have some humbling in his life. That is what happens when the Lord needs you back on his team. I have read to other blogs today, both of families that have lost children and I sat and cried. One, my friend Brittney had linked back to her mom. A young man named Tyler who died this week from a battle with liver cancer and another of a family whos little girl, Preslee drowned in a canal in 2010. But what I took from these stories was the great love each of these families had in the Savior and in the gospel They had learned to turn their will over, to allow God to be in charge and even though that meant a painful loss in their families, they learned something about giving back to God the only thing we can give and that is our free will. I remember when Nate stopped breathing in 2002 and ended up in the hospital. That night I told Heavenly Father I did not want to have my son die, but that I was willing to submit and leave it in his hands. If it was time for Nate to return to his Heavenly home then I would be OK with that. It was not Nates time, Nate still has much to learn and a great work to do and I know that and so does Heavenly Father.
I am hoping my blogs will become much more personal and that you will share with me in my struggles and in my joys and in my growth. Perhaps my story can have an impact on yours. I am grateful for all the stories that impact mine!
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
could it be this???
So the older I get, the more tired I am...all the time...
I keep trying to figure out if it is just age, or if it is lack of exercise in my life (but even when I was exercising everyday, I was still TIRED)
Could it be some weird non diagnosed health challenge yet to be determined? Is my thyroid out? Do I have diabetes? Are my heart palpitations the cause?
I need a body "do over". As soon as Annie is over, it is back to the gym and just maybe it will mean cutting something else out in my life.
In the meantime, Kris and I need physicals so we can both rule out anything bizarre.
And so, for today, I am going to just cuddle on the couch and work on some Young Women's stuff and perhaps...squeeze in a nap, or two...or three....
I keep trying to figure out if it is just age, or if it is lack of exercise in my life (but even when I was exercising everyday, I was still TIRED)
Could it be some weird non diagnosed health challenge yet to be determined? Is my thyroid out? Do I have diabetes? Are my heart palpitations the cause?
I need a body "do over". As soon as Annie is over, it is back to the gym and just maybe it will mean cutting something else out in my life.
In the meantime, Kris and I need physicals so we can both rule out anything bizarre.
And so, for today, I am going to just cuddle on the couch and work on some Young Women's stuff and perhaps...squeeze in a nap, or two...or three....
Monday, April 23, 2012
How can you doubt that God lives?
I would like to share a blog address with you. If you can, please go and visit it. This is the blog of a sweet couple. I knew Ashley just for a brief time when she was in primary. Her family is amazing and wonderful and the things she has been taught in her home and at church have prepared her, no doubt, for the huge trial and miracle that happened to her husband 6 weeks ago. Her husband, a 3rd year med student, tri athelet and probably all around amazing man, was in a bike/car accident. He was riding his bike around a blind corner when he struck a car. He is very lucky to be alive, but his recovery is nothing short of miraculous. It is a testimony of the power of prayer, Priesthood authority and understanding God's plan for each of us. As you read, you will see real miracles happening. I have cried as I have read their story and I have been humbled and had many things put into perspective in life. Some of those things we get so worked up about just do not matter. It really is nice to have life unfold in the perfect way but life is not in a perfected state yet and it is a time for us to grow, be tested and to LEARN from that testing and to move forward to a place where we are becoming more celestial in our thinking and getting away from the world and all the muck that weighs us down. This blog reminds me daily of what is most important. Family, the gospel, my children, my dogs, my Young Women, my testimony, scriptures, the temple, keeping commandments etc.
This is the blog address:
http://scott-recovery.blogspot.com/
let me know what you think.
Miracles do happen, every day!
much love!!
This is the blog address:
http://scott-recovery.blogspot.com/
let me know what you think.
Miracles do happen, every day!
much love!!
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
2 months later...
Sometimes I read the blogs of my super creative friends and I feel a bit guilty I am not putting in more effort...but every 2 months may have to do until Annie is over...
In the past 2 months:
1) I have had to STOP P90X which TOTALLY bummed me out. I was loving it until I locked up my SI joint in my lower back and couldn't move. It has been 2 months of Chiropractor appts but I am doing SO much better now. My upper back still gets out of alignment but lower back is doing MUCH better. So much so that Kris and I joined the gym. I was hesitant because my knees have been bad for so long, but the other night I rode 5 miles on the recumbent bike and did 2 miles on the treadmill. I am building cardio endurance and am slowly adding weights back in.
2) Kris, Caitlyn and I are in Annie and we open the first weekend in May. I am 98% memorized which is SO nice right now. Caitlyn is totally memorized and has all her stuff down really well. Kris is almost memorized and has considerable more lines than all of us. He is a great Daddy Warbucks and has now shaved his head all the way down. (not that it was a far stretch to go totally bald) I am really liking his shaved head!! :D
3) Nick is down to the last 6 weeks of Senior year. He had a 4.0 for 3rd term which is fantastic!! He has senioritis big time. Today they had Senior Breakfast. They had french toast, sausage, eggs, bacon etc. They did a raffle and dancing...Nick...sat by himself, which is was perfectly ok with.
I can't believe we will have 2 graduated children.
4) Nate just finished up his seasonal job. He was the top chat agent for the whole time he was employed. Which is super fantastic!! I am hoping he will be able to find another job but he has been invited back for their other support center for next tax season. His letter of recommendation is really wonderful!
We are super proud of all our kids and all their accomplishments.
I am still YW Pres...love it!! And Kris is still High Priest Group second counselor (counselor, assistant?? Not sure what it is)
And the blessed doggies...still doing good!
In the past 2 months:
1) I have had to STOP P90X which TOTALLY bummed me out. I was loving it until I locked up my SI joint in my lower back and couldn't move. It has been 2 months of Chiropractor appts but I am doing SO much better now. My upper back still gets out of alignment but lower back is doing MUCH better. So much so that Kris and I joined the gym. I was hesitant because my knees have been bad for so long, but the other night I rode 5 miles on the recumbent bike and did 2 miles on the treadmill. I am building cardio endurance and am slowly adding weights back in.
2) Kris, Caitlyn and I are in Annie and we open the first weekend in May. I am 98% memorized which is SO nice right now. Caitlyn is totally memorized and has all her stuff down really well. Kris is almost memorized and has considerable more lines than all of us. He is a great Daddy Warbucks and has now shaved his head all the way down. (not that it was a far stretch to go totally bald) I am really liking his shaved head!! :D
3) Nick is down to the last 6 weeks of Senior year. He had a 4.0 for 3rd term which is fantastic!! He has senioritis big time. Today they had Senior Breakfast. They had french toast, sausage, eggs, bacon etc. They did a raffle and dancing...Nick...sat by himself, which is was perfectly ok with.
I can't believe we will have 2 graduated children.
4) Nate just finished up his seasonal job. He was the top chat agent for the whole time he was employed. Which is super fantastic!! I am hoping he will be able to find another job but he has been invited back for their other support center for next tax season. His letter of recommendation is really wonderful!
We are super proud of all our kids and all their accomplishments.
I am still YW Pres...love it!! And Kris is still High Priest Group second counselor (counselor, assistant?? Not sure what it is)
And the blessed doggies...still doing good!
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