1, 2, 3 ...

For the last few weeks my emotions have gotten the best of me and I have been feeling so stressed and frustrated by many things. I've prayed and prayed asking for answers on how to overcome these feelings and as the answers came I haven't always recognized them as answers. Today I awoke with a song in my head, "count your many blessings name them one by one, count your many blessings see what God has done...". The same song that has popped into my mind over and over again since I began my prayerful pleas to overcome my doubts and negative attitude. So I'm a little slow to acknowledge but I feel joy just thinking about beginning this path of pure gratitude. And so I will begin ....

I am so thankful for:

The protection of the Lord. I felt so watched over the other night after dark when Grace, on our family speed walk, skated out into the road with two cars coming. I knew what to do and they stopped without her ever knowing what a close call that was.

The beautiful wild flowers dotting the road.

Answers to my prayers.

A wonderful job that provides all of our material needs.

The scriptures that fill me with understanding.

Great church callings that have taught me many things and helped me grow into a better person.

Close friendships with people who love us even knowing our true selves.

Family who wants to be ours.

Amazing children who are so forgiving and willing to do what is right.

Watching my children grow and become wonderful mature people.

Our founding fathers and all who believed in our country enough to sacrafice all for the good of a nation.

Personal revelation.

Miracles.

A wonderful husband who continues to become better every day.

Trees, I love tall trees.

The Pacific ocean.

Birds singing in the mornings.

Reggie, our pest control guy.

Vacuums.

Art work.

Beautiful music.

Hearing Alex play the cello.

Alex's smile.

Grace laughing in her dreams.

Trevor's compassion.

Not always appropriate ...

I am so stressed today. I cannot seem to get out of my rut and my decluttering efforts to create a cleaner and better run home are hampered by my very creative children. I love their zest for life and creativity but when I just dejunk the work room, leave to get the vacuum and come back a few minutes later to find my son trying to build a computer in the said room, I feel a little overwhelmed. I did not have a perfect mom moment and came downstairs to read my family forum which was a perfect solution. My mother posted the following (sorry Dad):

"Dad and I were playing a game with cards that ask you discussion questions yesterday. One was "What do you do to deal with stress?" My answer was to clean out closets and eat chocolate. Dad's answer made me laugh for a long time. He said, " I don't know.... Crunch up my shoulders and act like and an ***hole."

Thanks for the necessary laughs.

Wow, what a month!

We have had so much fun with our family recently. Our first trip during spring break was to visit my sister and brother and their families in Arizona. We had a wonderful trip, staying at Elice's home where each of the kids had a cousin to hang out with. Elice, Chris, Ken and I spent many a late night talking and even enjoyed a trip to Sedona despite the stomach virus we brought with us. Rob and Angie were so accommodating and kept joining our adventure whenever they could, even having our crew over to their home for dinner and lunch. We played cards, enjoyed the 20th birthday CD Rob gave Ken, all songs from '92 haha, and a delicious chocolate cake Angie made. Alex loved visiting with Brayden as they walked the neighbors dog, Trevor and Jared discovered the outdoors together building a damn/walkway across the stream, and Camille and Grace loved playing puppy and doing girlie things. The kids all enjoyed the bunnies and fun with the rest of their cousins, Colden, Dylan, Jackson and Evelynn. They got to go to a 'farm' while we were in Sedona and did 'nothing' except ride horses, fed the animals and collect eggs.

Ken and I enjoyed an amazing adventure, loving the clean fresh air, the beautiful scenery, strengthening family friendships, long conversations, card and game playing, hiking, seeing Rob's new Ortho office, and loving all of our nieces and nephews. What a sweet gift this trip was to our family.

Then on to Camping!

Just a week and a half later we went on a two night camping trip with our dear friends the Hales. What a blast we had. Delicious dutch oven cooking (thanks Howard), fishing with mud and black eyes, long family hikes, muddy stinky dogs, card playing, visiting around the campfire, and raccoons creeping up on us. What a wonderful time we had. I loved watching the kids bonding, running around together, playing catch with the football and picking onions. I found Trevor and Nataniel telling scary stories in the dark and cutting onions to bug Joshua with. Oh how fun to be outside!

EASTER!

Just a day after we got back it was Easter. The children enjoyed simple baskets filled mostly with reminders of Christ. The few things they received were all around a picture frame with Christ in the center. I loved Grace's comment that she forgot about Jesus even though it was Easter until she saw her basket and there was the most beautiful picture of Jesus looking at the children. Oh what sweetness! Alex went shopping with me to purchase something for her siblings baskets with her own money, which brought her even more joy that morning.

After watching conference and being spiritually uplifted we went to Aunt Beverly's to enjoy a wonderful meal, games, an egg hunt, and to celebrate Aunt Christy's birthday which happened to coincide with Easter this year. What a fun time to visit with family.

I think we are all ready to put our feet up and count our many blessings. Or just count our blessings and work on our education and Girls Camp, whichever comes first! :)

Rainy Day Adventure

Today is a delightful cloudy and rainy day. Grace and I went grocery shopping after dropping Alex off at school and enjoyed a wonderful time together. As we were leaving the store all the lights went out, from the storm I assume, and we enjoyed giggles as we made our way to the door that was pushed open for us by two of the employees. Grace even enjoyed our run to the van to avoid most of the rain drops. Below are pictures of Grace jumping in the rain a few months ago. Clearly the rain is so enjoyed by our little sunshine. Ahh, to enjoy the little things.

Just Pondering

I've recently been thinking about our perspective and how it affects our lives. I love to focus on the good, and allow my world to be seen from such a perspective that I may fully enjoy what is around me. I do not suggest that we do not allow ourselves to feel our sufferings, we should, every feeling should be acknowledged, but I am speaking of what drives us, our sufferings or our joys? I sometimes hear that this is not honest but I cannot agree. If so it would be dishonest to allow the negative experiences to define my focus and understandings as well. I think we all find that our behavior reflects how we feel, but how we feel is affected by what is going on at the time. To simply state, if we choose to experience the positive then we are happy, if we choose to experience the negative then we are sad. Of course there are times in our lives where there is great pain, I have felt some, and I ache for those of you who have felt it more, and it is the example of some of you that allow me to feel so strongly about where we place our thoughts. For a simple example, the other day I was at the store and a woman bumped into a stack of nuts in boxes. One of the boxes fell and she loudly announced that this was a sure sign that her day was going to be horrible. It was only 9:00am. I have many weaknesses, I am not the most coordinated person, I probably would have dropped the nuts too, I am not the best housekeeper, or the most organized and more. I have moments where I feel tempted to think that my world is not going so well because of such weaknesses that hinder my ability to be as great as so-and-so, however, this thinking only keeps me from progressing forward, overcoming my weaknesses and building on my strengths. What else would the adversary wish for us? I am not accepting his plan, I have a plan that I accepted long ago that is mine to keep and I will not be bogged down with the negative. When I focus on the the frustrations of parenthood, I miss all of the beautiful moments of great joy that it brings. When I focus on where I am lacking, I miss all of the great blessings that have been bestowed upon me. Oh, how I hate to miss such things. I don't think either point of view is dishonest, I've just decided that I do not have time to focus on all of the negative, which there is plenty, for I would then miss all of the good and great, for which there is more. I will deal with what comes, and I will allow myself to see the Lord's hand in all things, for it is with Him that I am able to see clearly the sweet blessings that are in my life.

Ahh, Music

Oh how I love music. Ken recently found a wonderful website called Pandora that allows you to select the groups of music you enjoy and play only that music. I have been quite busy and a little stressed as of late and I have been thriving on some of the most beautiful piano solos. It is amazing how music can feed your soul. What a beautiful gift we have been given, beautiful music to enjoy and the blessing of ears to hear.

Day Two

Today has been a blast. We were slow to get out because of the morning rain but the sun began to shine and we made it out the door. We went to Trader Joe's to get our food for the day, the best way to eat on the road. Then we went to a beautiful park enjoyed our breakfast and flew kites while Timmy played in the sand. Sarah and I took a run while Elice rested then we headed out to the beach. We had a great time boogy boarding, I was too exhausted from the tumbles in the waves yesterday to continue trying to surf, and Elice even made it out to join us today. We then enjoyed our dinner and took a walk over to a wave machine and watched while people attempted the wave and pushed through the heckling. We stopped at a little organic grocery store, almost peed our pants at the blond, long haired guy and the girl with the long red hair. Back at the hotel we played cards and packed up for our early day tomorrow. We are going to La Jolla before we hang out at the airport. I love being here, feeling so comfortable and safe. I love being with my sisters, laughing and playing. Thanks Brian and Timmy for putting up with us. :)

There is such joy in sisters, I feel so blessed Sarah and Elice are mine.