Tools

I am so grateful to live today with all the tools that Heavenly Father has given to us to be able to withstand the trials of the day. I look at the world we live in right now and if you watch the news it can be overwhelmingly scary. In my opinion it is overinflated and sensationalized so we will continue to watch it. And then Satan will have an upper hand in our life because we will live in fear. I believe in being informed, but I think it is important to watch or read just enough and not make it a steady diet.

On the other hand I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that has given us TV to watch Conference in our own homes, to have the Internet to look up things we need to know at the tip of our fingers. To have all our manuals at our fingertips in our homes and on the Internet. I am so grateful that our leaders are always looking for ways to help us combat the worlds influences if we will just take advantage of them. I am so grateful for the BYU channel that gives me opportunity to learn ever more about the gospel, to be uplifted when I am feeling down. Last night I didn't want to go to sleep, and I watched 3 wonderful programs that answered questions that I had been asking for help in my prayers with.

I think it is no coincidence that at this very time when our economy is struggling that our lesson in RS and Priesthood is about trials and how to weather them and be grateful for them, as they bring us closer to Christ. I admonish all of you to read lesson 19 if you haven't. Even if you do get to attend RS read the lesson for yourself, I found it sobering , comforting and uplifting. It brings true hope. I am so grateful for the Prophet Joseph Smith, I look forward to seeing him again after this life.

I love you all so very much. I am so grateful to be a mother and have such wonderful children! I am truly blessed. I am so grateful for the Internet, so we can have blogs. I am very excited about our book club, it is one more step in unity, which was talked about so often in this last conference.

I am grateful for a loving Savior and wonderful Prophets who dedicate their lives in our behalf. I feel truly blessed in this life!

Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...It is about learning to dance in the rain... Anonymous

Monday I went into our messy, dangerous closet under the stairs and just about tripped on a cabinet I bought about 3 years ago at Target. First it was out in the garage for about a year and then the next three years it was under the stairs. When I just about tripped on it I thought, this is stupid, I am going to put this up today. So I did! It took about 2 hours or more, but worth every minute and dings in the wall to do it. I now have feminine products out of sight and a cute toilet room to boot!! The cabinet with the doors open!Lovely feminine products now hiddenFor those that have been in my toilet room, you will appreciate how clean and tidy the floor area is now!View as you walk by, I know silly, but I am still excited about it!

After that great feeling I moved onto our garage! I pulled my car out for some reason one day, and that was a mistake!!! Steve's fishing stuff and a trip to costco started a mess. Thankfully it wasn't near as bad as last time so I got a good start on Monday and finished it yesterday! It looks so cool and feels so good it's hard just not to stand in there.The blue tape on the floor is where our new generator is going to go.

I realized I had never blogged all my tuna, acutally there were three more cases where the holes are, a couple of cases on the counter and two more cases on the shelf on the wall. But you get the picture. Now I am on a mission... to finally tackle all the things that have been driving me crazy, in the order of whatever I feel like that day. I am tired of procrastinating this experience, because I think there is a "right" order to organize my house in! Crazy I know. I think the next thing may be my bathroom, closet and decor in my bedroom! I am pretty excited.

I was debating on whether to keep being a WW leader, and after lots of thought and talking to Steve, I decided that I need to and want to keep doing it. I was frustrated with my weight, and was doing the typical reaction to those feelings-there must be a way out or at least an easier way. As Steve talked I could feel the spirit telling me that what he was saying was true. He told me before he even started talking that he had said a little prayer while I was talking to help him say what needed to be said. It wasn't the easiest thing to hear, but it was all true. I just need to accept and be grateful that I have a tool like ww's to help me with a problem I have had all my life and will never go away. To think that it will ever be easy is not real life. I have realized life was never meant to be easy we just need to learn to find ways with the help of the Lord to make it better. Like the quote in my title, I need to learn to dance more!

Yesterday when I woke up there was the coolest moon out, I had to share it!Well, life is great! Love you all!

Miles b- day

Yesterday we went to Portland and celebrated Miles b-day. He was so cute and typical. Not knowing what was going on, letting everyone else open his presents, noticing some and not others. Lyndsey and Ruby on the other hand were having a great time! When it came time for the cake he was hilarious, typical at first, what is this do I have to, and then Rachel (Nathan's wife, the other lead singer in Jakes band) sticks a bite in his mouth, at first he was insulted, then his eyes lit up and he was into it! He couldn't get enough. He practically shoved his hand down his throat. It was fun.Daddy saying "here Miles take a taste"

"Grose dad what is this?""Rachel, here Miles like this"Miles still didn't get it, so "here Miles let me help you""What are you doing? Do I have to?""Oh my gosh this is good!""I get it now!""This is too much!""This is good stuff dad!"Getting serious nowAll gone!He was pretty funny when it was gone, he wanted more, what a shock, an Arnold wanting more chocolate! You notice the frosting is still there, it is the cake that is gone! This was his first time to ever taste a treat or chocolate! As I said, it was fun!

Beautiful day, tea set

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, and since Pres. Monson said to take joy in the journey, I decided to take advantage of the day and go out and read my scriptures. It was windy and a little cold, but it was so pretty. So I set up an umbrella and settled in. After I finished my scriptures I went in and got a book and read outside for a couple of hours. I finally finished a book that I wished I had never taken from a weight watcher member. I was glad in some ways I read it,but in general it was torturous in the sense that I wondered if I could ever get through it! I have decided I will politely say to anyone but family from now on, "thank you for offering, but I have a stack of books I am trying to get through." It was a great day. I am trying to get back into gear. I feel like I am still trying to catch up on sleep.

On a fun note, when the Leslie's were here I noticed I don't have enough tea cups anymore for tea parties, I have dishes, just not tea cups. They obviously are easier to drop or break. Soooo I went online and found some beautiful sets that would go with mine and that you could buy extra cups. Well, when my mom and Amy came we all decided that maybe I should just get extra cups from second hand stores and have an "eclectic" set. When the Leslie's and my mom and I went to a second hand store we found some children's tea cups and some beautiful children size serving dishes for a reasonable price so we bought some. On the way up to the counter, I managed to drop one of the 4 matching tea cups and break it. So I now have 3 new tea cups and 4 tea plates. Anyway I am excited about having lots of fun different tea cups and some fun new serving dishes (we were always having to use my real dishes, boring!). Here are our finds! The one in the upper right was the only one I spent more than 2 dollars on, it was so pretty I couldn't resist. The 3 tea cups and saucers were $8.00 for the whole set. Tomorrow we are off to Portland for Miles b-day party, should be fun. Well, I love you all!!

The Leslie visit!

Well, I have decided as hard as it is, the best way to blog is the day it happens, so I will have to say to the kids or make myself stay up late and blog each day! I have too many pics and not enough memory to tell you about each one. So some are just cute and some are very artistic, it is up to you to take the time to tell which is which! :-)

We had a great week, packed and yet pretty laid back. We watched lots of movies with the kids, and they watched a lot on their own. We played on the beach the two days the sun shined (thankfully we did!) We went to the aquarium and had some great firsts for me and them at the aquarium. One I can repeat for the next visits is the seal lion feeding time, great fun the seal lions did tricks for their food! A fun time with the birds that was purely chance and I can't remember the last. Oh I just remembered. At the end of the aquarium time with me I always let the kids smash a penny in the machine. I always thought it was pure chance what picture it imprinted on the penny. Rebecca noticed a BIG RED arrow showing and explaining how to pick the picture you wanted on your penny! Oh well! We had of course a tea party with biscuits that we cut out into shapes that Aliese made. She is a very good cook! We had jam and lemon curd. We had hot chocolate and whip cream. We had carrots, a strawberry, banana salad, and little petits fours glazed with lemon (nummy). It was all delicious and fun. Our conversation lasted quite a long time. We had a hard time remembering our names, maybe we will have to do name tags next time! The girls went crabbing with Steve and Darin. While they were crabbing Amy, Rebecca, and I went on this great hike! I loved it I want to go back when the rhododendrons are in bloom. I also want to take everyone on it when they come next.We went to lunch after at a quaint delicious restaurant then went shopping. My parents came and the girls were wishing they had been there longer, they can never get enough of Poppie and Nonnie. We went to an old lighthouse that I hadn't heard of until this year. It is by the bay. The girls really liked it. I think you would need to be at least about 7 yrs old to enjoy it. We went to the candy store 3 times! I think I sadly may have a new bad habit, I don't know, we'll see! Went to some second hand stores looking for additions to my tea set. We went to some souvenir stores. Played some games, I feel like I am forgetting something wonderful. Lots of pancakes and waffles. It was a great week. I felt like I finally got to know Gracie, the bigger the family the longer it takes to get to know the youngest one I have noticed. Now there are a heck of a lot of pics below. I know they say less is more, and I usually believe that with every fiber of my being. BUT, maybe it's the grandma in me I don't know, but I took 241 pictures, got rid of the bad ones and cut down to what I would post and still it is way too much. If you don't want to see them all at least scroll down to the sunset pics, not of the ocean, but of the evening sun on the girls hair, it is beautiful.

Well, here goes the pics...... Such a typical Rebecca face!I love these kind of picsThis is my modern art picAnna found this sand that felt like paper it was really weirdI love action picsThe girls are touching baby tiger sharksYes I was there!There was a Puffin that was taking a bath and Gracie was very facinated with it, and I think the Puffin got a kick out of her and got so close she could've touched it. The worker reassured Rebecca that the Puffin wouldn't hurt her so she got really close to it. Then it started flapping so hard it got water on the girls as you can see, it was really funny.Dad and Gracie were playing with the Disney Polly'sTea party timeAmy did Aliese and Anna's hair, it was really prettyWell that was it! If you made it to the end, good for you! Love you all!!!