Out with the old

Happy New Year!  Christmas has come and gone, and now I feel like REDECORATING!  I'm ready to take down those Christmas decorations and redo the whole house!  Yes sir, I've even picked out the new color schemes and everything.  Want a sneak peak?  Here ya go.

Family room colors, cream, with blue red and yellow (perhaps not this yellow though)



I like this fabric :-)



Living room colors, cream with yellow, green, and red accents.  



I love these colors for the girls room, when they share a room



Color scheme for master, White/cream walls, green and blue accents in a pretty non baby way

So now all I want to do is look at fabric and paint samples!  Who wants to go with me???  It will be a fun, but long process of sewing, shopping, painting, brainstorming, etc.  But one day our house will look fabulous!  Until then, I will stare at these pictures with hope and anticipation.  Yippee.

PS- gotta love pinterest for giving me all these ideas!
PPS- Oh yeah, I'm getting new carpet this new year too!  That's what started all this brainstorming.  EXCITED!!!!

She's learning

Megan has a new tactic for not spilling the beans at Christmas.  She has a hard time not walking in the door and telling us what she just picked out for us.  Her new tactic is to tell us she got us something we do not want, i.e. "Daddy, I got you a poopy diaper for Christmas!" 

At least we are getting somewhere.

But we still need to work on it.

In other news, we finally got our Christmas tree up!  Yay, I love to look at the lights, and so do my girls.  This is such a special time of year. 

P.S.
Spellcheck did not accept the word poopy.  I was surprised.

It's going to be tricky!

Time to get ready for Christmas.  We decorated our house yesturday, which I was a little hesitant about since my little one loves shiney things and danger.  Now they're combined so it should be super fun! 

P.S. Not my baby

The other stumbling block is my 5 year old.  She is NOT good at keeping secrets, for example, buying daddy presents.  This is how it usually goes:
Pick up present and put in shopping cart.

Megan: "I can't wait to tell daddy we got him a blah blah blah"

Me:  "NOOOOO!!! You can't tell him.  It's a surprise.  He can't find out until Christmas."

Megan: "OK. I won't tell him we got it.  I"ll just tell him we looked at it."

Me: "Nope."

Megan: "OK, I'll say Hey dad we went to the store and we did NOT look at the blah blah blah.  And we definitely did NOT get you one!"  (you have to hear how she says definitely, it's SO cute!)

Me:  "Megan, you cannot even say the word blah blah blah.  You cannot tell him we did or did not look at it.  You cannot even tell him we even went to the store."

Megan: "OK."

Get home.  Walk in the door, "Dad, guess what we got you a blah blah blah!"

So we may not have the element of surprise this Christmas morning.  But it sure is fun trying.  Ahh, I do love Christmas.

Give Thanks

I love Thanksgiving.  I love the chance it gives us to ponder our blessings and give gratitude for all that we have.  I love that it starts the holiday season, the season of giving. 

I have many blessings to be thankful for.  Here are a few that are not too peronal, and I can share.

I am grateful for my lovely family, for our children and the love that we have for each other.  We welcomed a new baby this year.  I have enjoyed seeing not only our family grow, but our love multiply as well.  It has been a beautiful blessing.

I am grateful for our home, job, and our abilities/skills and talents that God has given us that help provide for our needs.

I am grateful for the desire to not give up when life is hard.

I am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father, whose love is constant and unconditional.

I am grateful for our Heavenly Father's plan, the Plan of Salvation, to know where we came from and why we are here.  And for our Saviors atonement.

I am grateful that we are not expected to be perfect.  We can learn from our mistakes, and try better next time.

I hope this season of thanksgiving lasts longer than a meal or a day.  I hope we recognize our daily blessings and give thanks often. May you be blessed to spend time with your loved ones today. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

A Gift for Yours Truly

I have decided what I want.

I want a contraption/gadget/button that is easily available, (like in the palm of my hand), that I can push whenever I want to slow... down... time.  Or the power/magic/ability to do so. 

And I know exactly when I would use it:

When my baby is asleep. 

One Mississippi,Two Mississippi... Joyous peace!

When my husband is in mid-compliment.  

I'd enjoy that in slow motion! 

"T h a t   c a s s a r o l e     w a s     A M A Z I N G.

 H o w   d o   y o u    d o   i t  ? ? ?"

Slow motion high five.

Right after the correct amount of make-up has been applied,
and my clothes are still

un-wrinkled/peanutbutterandjellied/slobbered on. 

and

Right after I finish cleaning the house. 

Self explanatory.

So, if any of you find this contraption in your SkyMall magazine or what have you, please, BUY ONE!  Then tell me so I can buy one too!

A Warm Heart

Today I was grateful for hot showers on cold days!  While enjoying my hot shower, I was thinking about how good it feels to be warm.  We would rather be warm and cozy than not, right?  Warmth is always accepted. 

That made me think about the warmth of the heart.  If our bodies crave warmth, I'm sure our hearts do too. 

So my thought for the day is: Don't be affraid to do something nice.  Let's try to warm as many hearts as we can this holiday season.  It's hard to give a wrapped present to everyone on our list this Christmas, but it's not hard at all to give a gift that warms the heart.  Give a smile, hold a door, shovel someone's driveway, do whatever you can. 

Our deeds of kindness will warm the hearts of those that need it. 

Feelin' Knitty

Today it is snowing.  When we woke up there was a good 4 inches on ground already!  In my last post I told you about our plans to make Christmas gifts for each other; well, today I feel like knitting a baby blanket or cute hat and enjoying this winter weather.  Of course, I'd probably have to learn how.  But that's what I feel like doing, sitting on the couch with a cup of cocoa and knitting away.  Let's hope somehow I get to do that.

In other Saturday news, my husband built a smoker.  Yup, built it all himself.  He's pretty talented.  So we're going to eat some delicious brisket tonight!  Something else to look forward to!  Ahh, sometimes life is good .

Fa La La La La

We've had 2 snow falls, which gets me all giddy about Christmas, (my favorite holiday).  My big idea this year is for each of us, me-mom, dad, and kiddos, to make one handmake gift for each person in our house. 

FUN, huh?  Well, I like making things, so it sounds fun to me!  It also sounds cheap, and like a good way to help my kids learn the joy of gift giving. 

So, now I have to think of things to make.  Things that my kids can make. And, I'd like the gifts to be something we'd actually want and/or use.  I have looked on lots of websites, and ofcourse Pinterest for handmade gifts, and they're all kind of silly.  You have to know my husband, he's practical, he doesn't want a paper mache anything.  So, if you awesome folks have any ideas let me know.  I'm looking for things a 5 year old could make for her mom, dad, and baby sister.  Oh, I'm excited!  I love Christmas!

Don't Despair

Recently I have learned of some tragedies and trials that are happening to my friends, family, and neighbors.  It has made me think about what these people must be going through.  I would like to share two short thoughts, and hope that it will lift the spirits of anyone who may be going through a hard time. 

First, people care about you.  We may not know how to tell you, I know I get nervous when visiting someone who needs a smile, and never say the right thing.  But in our hearts we want you to know how much we care about you, and  how often we think of you.  There are people praying for you, and hurting with you.  You are not alone.  Please know how loved you are. 

Second, have faith.  Whether in God, or whatever you receive strength from, but don't try to get through this alone.  Keep your faith strong.

Times are hard right now.  On top of rough circumstances, life is not relenting.  People are getting sick, bad things are happening to good people, our faith and patience are being tried. 

Please join me in spreading hope by sharing your thoughts.  Click on the comment link at the bottom of this post and share your own words of encouragement.  There are many perspectives out there, and yours can help.  It is times like these that we need to reach out and do something for someone else.

General Conference

I have been waiting to get these talks so I could share them with you.  They were SO GREAT!  We recently had an opportunity to hear from the Prophet and the Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It is always an uplifting experience to hear their words of love and counsel.  I loved so many of the talks, and wanted to share some of them with you.  Click on the links below to read a talk. 

"Stand in Holy Places" by our Prophet Thomas S. Monson

"Love her Mother" by Elaine S. Dalton

"The Importance of a Name" by M. Russell Ballard

Here is the link to ALL of the talks from Conference.  You can watch, read, or listen to them at this link.

LDS Conference Talks 2011
We have a Prophet and Apostles on the Earth today.  I have come to know this through my own personal prayers.  Heavenly Father loves us.  We can have an individual, personal relationship with him.  He is real.  I am grateful that he has given us Prophets, and that we can receive their guidance.  These are my personal feelings.  Thanks for reading.

As old as you feel

An elderly couple walked into the lobby of the Mayo Clinic for a checkup and spotted a piano. They've been married for 62 years and he'll be 90 this year. Check out this impromptu performance. We are only as old as we feel, it's all attitude. Enjoy! They certainly do.

You have to check this out.  It's only one minute long and it will make you smile!

Thankfulness

We're getting ready for Fall/Thanksgiving.  I know, it's not even Halloween yet.  But we think gratitude should be celebrated all year long.  Here's a cute craft I did with Megan this week.  It's a good idea for a family night too!

It's just a foam turkey, they come in packs of 10 at the craft store or Walmart for $2.00.  (It was 40% off when we got ours so it was even less)   We put them together, they have sticky backs so it requires no glue or anything.  I let Megan do hers by herself, you can tell which ones she did, which I think is cute.  Then we wrote on them "I'm Thankful for YOU!"  and put a magnet on the back so our friends can put it on the fridge.  I put our name on the back so they can remember who it's from.  I let Megan decide who she wanted to give them to, and we went for a walk to deliver them.  Easy, simple, and cheap.  We had fun. 

Kamikaze Kaitlyn

Look at this sweet face!  What beautiful blue eyes, big baby cheeks, and cute gummy smile.  She's an angel right? 

Ha!  She tricked you.  Yes, she is darling, but in the last few days her alter ego, Kamikaze Kaitlyn has come out to play... She's daring, adventurous, and fearless, leaving no table unbumped, and no stairs unclimbed.  She has an eye for danger, and the bruises to match. 



Apparently sitting, and clapping are child's play. 

Her new favorite activities are:

1.  Charging at the dog

2.  Trying to pull the dogs face off

3.  Pulling off daddy's eyebrows
4.  Crawling under tables and whacking her head

5. Trying to crawl off of the change table like she's walking the plank

6.  Pulling herself up using any item she can touch, especially things with pointy edges!

She is pretty darn adorable!  She makes the cutest noises, and lights up the room.  But I can't wait until she understands limits, boundaries, and the word NO. 



Try, and have faith

Do the best that you can, and then have faith.  That's what I believe.  And sometimes it works. 

My Megan is almost 5, she is pretty smart (learning comes quite naturally for her, she gets it from her dad).  I have been frustrated during my attempts to find her a preschool, since the preschool she attended last year closed (we loved them), and she didn't make the cut off for kindergarten.

Here is my frustration: knowing that I am going to have to pay for her to go to preschool and learn stuff that she already knows.  I don't want her to think that school is boring.  So, I tried my best to find the most suitable school in our budget and had faith.  I found one in our neighborhood.  I was disappointed that the curriculum was basic, like shapes and colors, but it was a better solution than staying at home.  She started 2 weeks ago, and I kept up my faith that things would work out.

Here's the good news!!  This weekend I got an e-mail from the local Montessori preschool inviting us to their fall picnic, and the teacher said she wanted to talk to me about Megan.  We had met in the past and definitely could not afford their tuition.  BUT, I went to the picnic today and the teacher had an idea!  She asked if I would be willing to be a substitute teacher as a trade for tuition, since I have a background in Montessori! 

What?

You mean Megan can get a Montessori education and I can occasionally be in the classroom again? 

Absolutely!!

What a blessing!

So, she was invited to start this Monday.  She had a blast at the picnic, and can't wait to go there.  What a wonderful wonderful blessing. 

The first school would have been..... OK.  But this is just the best thing for Megan, and for our budget.  I am SO glad this teacher tried to find a solution for us.  SO grateful.  And, I am excited that I get to occasionally work in the Montessori environment again!

Random Questions

These are the questions that randomly pop into my head.

1.  Why do eye brows grow back almost overnight?

2.  Why does it hurt so much when water goes up your nose?

3.  How come children can remember every word of a movie, song, infomercial, but can't remember where their dirty clothes go?

4.  Why can't a brussel sprout taste like a donut?  Why?

5.  Why do the floors at Walmart always shock me, I mean literally shock me?

6.  Why does the dishwasher leave one dish completely dirty?

7.  Hairless cats?

8.  Why do people always bid 1 dollar higher on the Price is Right?  That's just not nice.

In response to #4, I don't want to try one deep fried at the county fair or anything, I just want the nutritional value of the brussel sprout and the deliciousness of the donut. 

Am I crazy, or have these questions boggled your mind at one point or another?  I know you've got to have some of your own questions, come on, you know you want to share. 

Family Fun!

My husband has this long weekend off, and the fair is in town!  We had a super fun day yesterday, and we still have Sunday and Monday together as a family.  So excited, I thought I'd share some photos. 




Dad and the kids on the Carousel



Megan on the boat ride



Dad and Megan on the big kid rides



Bumper Boats!!!





I thought this was neat, she's inside a bubble floating on water.  Cool huh!



We love racing down the slide!





Megan and daddy on the Ferris Wheel


We all had a fun fun day!  Kaitlyn was a little exhausted by the end, she doesn't like to fall asleep when there's action going on, and I was the only one that got a sunburn, so it was a wonderful day. It's so nice to have some family time!!!

Losing Myself

Alright, I'll admit it, I've been a little stressed/emotional/crazy lately.  My husband has been working some seriously insane hours, meaning we hardly see each other & we don't get any breaks, which is hard when you don't have family nearby to help out.  Also, my baby has been teething, and she's a loud baby when she's upset.  Due to her teething she's been taking super short naps, which throws everything off, and she also started the I-only-want-mommy-and-I-want-her-all-the-time stage.  Basically, when you add everything up, I'm a little on edge.

Here's what I've decided to do about it.
NOT complain, (contrary to the previous paragraph which wasn't complaining, it was... relaying the facts ).  For one thing my poor husband has it worse than I do.  He has to work summer hours which is from the crack of dawn till late at night- he worked 22 hours in one day last week, plus he has to come home to our craziness.  So hat's off to him. 

Anyways, I have decided to lose myself in service.  Helping others helps me forget my troubles, and creates happiness, which is exactly what I need!  It is kind of hard when you have to work around an infants schedule, but we'll see how it goes.  So far we have decided to bake cookies and deliver them to people, and then make a dinner for a family in our congregation that just had a baby.  Not going to burn myself out, or spread myself thinner, just trying to create some happiness! 

A little laughter goes a long way

We all eventually have a hard day right?  A day that never ends, that make us want to pull out our hair and stomp our feet.  We find ourselves up at the middle of the night when we want to be asleep, but for one reason or another cannot, and so, we watch t.v. 

And thank Heavens, an episode of  the Office (or insert your favorite shows name) is on!

And we laugh. 

And that laughter is SO needed!  (notice that SO was underlined, in italic, and bolded!)
That laughter has the power to make us actually feel happy and forget of our earlier ills.
That miraculous laughter can allow us to fall asleep. 

I am thankful for shows like the Office, who are on late at night, every night, and their ability to make me laugh when I need to.  They save me from sleepless nights, which are my nemesis. 

Dwight, Michael, Jim, Pam, thank you.  I love your show.  Thank you. 

PS- on a side note, I am also thankful for pacifiers and their heroic powers. 

Where's the drive?

Last month we celebrated Independence Day and Pioneer Day, which got me thinking....those holidays are important because of the sacrifice so many made for a greater cause.  People were courageous, unwavering, filled with purpose.  Where has that gone?  When was the last time I was passionate about something?

A lot of work has been done for us by our ancestors, and as a result we are pretty casual and laid back.  Shouldn't we follow their example and have the same type of enthusiasm?  Don't you feel better when you have a purpose, or goal to work toward?  I'm not inferring that I am going to go out and save dolphins, but I think my life would be better if I had an inner goal that I was passionate about and worked toward.  And I suppose it's not that we need to go out and do "important" things, but maybe we should re-evaluate, and put some more "important" things on the list.

Anyways, I have just been thinking about the differences between our generation and the generations before us.  I like the kindness and purpose that I imagine life had long ago.  Not that I want to go back to churning butter.

Agree or disagree?  Let me know your thoughts/opinion.

An Observation

This morning I woke up refreshed, and excited to start the day.  Here's my observation as to why that might be.  You know the phrase "Do good things and good things will happen"?  Well, I've noticed those days that I wake up and do the good things that I am supposed to do; read, pray, clean, give my children quality attention, etc. I feel good.  My spirits are lifted.  Especially when I say my prayers, and in them ask for general everyday help.  I always wake up in a better mood, and feel an abundance of gratitude, and most importantly I am blessed with patience!  Good things happen.

In contrast, frequently I have days like this, I wake up exhausted and unprepared because I didn't read my scriptures the night before, and fight to get through the day. 

So here's what I think, it's my Pride that keeps me from doing the good things.  Pridefully not wanting to admit that I can't do it all myself, and needing to ask for daily help from the Lord.  Knowing that if I say my prayers and read my scriptures He will bless me with help, because that's what he does.  Sometimes the perfectionist in me thinks "I don't need help, I CAN DO EVERYTHING".  Oh how wrong I am! 

Then there are days like today, where it is so apparent how much easier life would be to handle if I did it the right way. 
I don't know?  Just a thought. What do you think?

The Big Day

It Happened.  I turned 29 + 1.  (I think that's how I will refer to it from now on)  My birthday wish was to go back and visit our family and friends, and my husband was nice enough to take 2 days off of work to grant it.  So, we said goodbye to our cool climate, and hello to the HOT and humid!  Luckily we stayed with family that had a swimming pool, and we swam every day :-) 

Let me tell you about all the fun things we did on my birthday adventure.  We visited all our wonderful family and friends.  My family had a surprise birthday party for me.  They had my favorite cake, ice cream cake, that said "Happy 29+1 Birthday!"  which is hilarious, and I am going to use from now on.  We had yummy Mexican food.  We went to a cool aquarium with the kids.  But the best part was spending the afternoon with my bestest friend!

 We got pedicures

(my foot is the extra white one)

We went to

(my most favorite place with my most favorite friend)

Then we had Papa Johns Pizza.  (We do not have one in my little town, and I have been craving it for about 2 years)

What a great birthday!  To top it all off, I am content with my age (mostly because I realized I don't look like this anymore - thanks to aging)

So, yay for being 30!



Count down to 30

Less than 1 week to go.  How am I doing? 
Well, so far I have:

- Checked for grey hair.  And let me tell you, that was SCARY!  Not wanting to know, but wanting to, and totally afraid of what I could find.  Luckily I had none!!! Thank heavens!

- Not practiced saying "I am 30", well, not out loud.

- Eaten lots of delicious sugary treats, which isn't helping my goal of looking "young" and "fit" at 30.

- Been really really tired.  Just part of aging I suppose.

However, I have given A LOT of thought to the whole subject.  You can read the concerns I had in my previous blog post entitled "The truth comes out".

I have to say, I do feel much better on the matter.  There is a lot of peace found in knowing basically what the future holds.  It's nice to have the mysteries of my 20's solved, to not have to worry about such important things, to be able to relax and watch what happens. 

Yes, I think I might actually be satisfied with where I am in life.   So, thank you for your involvement.  And good luck to those of you who have not yet reached the threshold of 30.  It is a fun journey!

PS- Wednesday is the Big Day!  I"ll let you know how it goes!

Happy Expressions

          Quotes that I LOVE:

    

 

         

   

"Alien Mom"

The true story of how Megan found out I am an alien.

Whilst having a lovely family dinner one night last week, my husband says "Megan, did you know that your mom is .... an ALIEN?"

Looks of shock and confusion on poor Megan's face as she shakes her head no.

My husband: "Yeah, she has a special card and everything that says she is an alien."

Megan looks at me.  You could tell she wasn't quite sure how to continue our current relationship, if I was an alien. 

I say, "Yes, it's true.  I'm from another country, and when you are from another country you get a special card, and they sometimes call you an alien.  But I am human, not a real alien." 

Relief washes over her.

Dinner time as a family is always a fun experience!

As a result of this new information,  Megan's response to anything I said yesturday was "Yes, Alien Mom." 
I am quite certain that when our baby is older it will be Megan trying to tell Kaitlyn that I am an alien.  Can't wait.

Megan's Example

Megan was sick last night, so today we had to stay home from church.  She is such a sweet girl, and rebounds so well.  We can never tell when she is sick because she is so upbeat, you just can't keep her down.  Even though we hadn't talked about missing church or anything, she must have known it was Sunday because of what she chose to do today while she was sick.  She picked out her special Sunday movies to watch.  It was the miracles of Jesus.  She loves to watch and learn about his miracles. 

She is such a good example.  Here I am, tired as can be, and she is actually sick and still wants to do what is right, without complaining.  Instead of a free day off of church, she knows we can still observe the sabbath at home. 

I love Megan.  I am so grateful for her example, and all that she teaches me.  I am so proud of her, and her choices.  She truly is a great example of "choosing the right".

The truth comes out

You know how this blog is called "Focused on the Positive"?  Well, I suppose I'll let the cat out of the bag, I am not ALWAYS positive.  For example, here's one thing I am not looking forward to, and I mean, for along time I have dreaded the arrival of this day.  I am turning 29 again at the end of the month.  (AKA 30)

I thought I was dreading this day because it means I am old.  But I recently realized, I don't think 30 is old.  I've been married for a long time, I have a couple of kids.  I am ready to be 30.  I think what I am scared of is the idea of monotony.  The realization that the next several years will probably consist of taking and picking children up from various activities, making lunches, soccer games, girl scouts, etc.  No more spur of the moment ideas.  Everything will be scheduled, pre-planned, routine, etc.  The so-called fun and exciting chunk of life is ending, being replaced with the minivan years. Ugh.

Here's what I mean.  All of the exciting questions I had when in my 20's, who am I going to marry?  where are we going to live?  what are our kids going to look like?, have mostly been answered.  I am grateful for the stability of that knowledge.  Now I have a pretty good map of what the next several years are going to look like, so it's just a matter of living life.  I hope that makes sense in a non depressed way.  I am not depressed about the future, I just feel like I already know what lies ahead.

So here's what I want to know, how do I deal with this positively???  How do I look forward to this?  How do I change my perspective?  If you have suggestions, please let me know.  It's coming up soon... We'll see how I actually handle this special day.  I'll keep you posted.

A guided tour

In case you haven't checked out all this blog has to offer, I thought I would tell you a little about the links up at the top. 

The Good News link is a place for all of us to go and share our good news, and little bits of happiness.

The Weekly Challenges is where I post one challenge a week to work on, and have the previous ones as well in case you want to try one of those.  We share our experiences together, as we do each challenge.

The Favorite Quote link has all of my favorite quotes, and yours that you have posted.  Some are inspiring, some are funny.

The Beliefs link has my basic beliefs, just as an FYI.

Warm Fuzzies is where I share my thoughts about someone I know who I think is awesome.  I tell you how amazing they are, and how they have influenced me. 

The Happy News link is another website with real news stories around the world that are uplifting and happy. 

So, if you're checking out the blog and the post is not new, give those links a try.  They usually are updated more frequently than the posts.  And they are for everyone to post thoughts and comments on, not just me.

CANADA DAY, EH

Happy Canada Day Friends.

Here are some pictures of where my family lives in beautiful British Columbia.

My families lake and lodge.  It's gorgeous there!

The Sunshine Coast

My Dad, and his latest catch.

  Please enjoy a tribute to Hockey,

 

Canucks, you are the best. 

  

Here's our lovely National Anthem. 

Ahh, I miss this beautiful country. 

Let's all have a bowl of maccaroni,

and some ketchup chips

in honor of this blessed day.

Have a wonderful day today!

Beautiful Moments

Sometimes life gets crazy, or sad, or just flies by, but every now and then we get to have a beautiful moment to brighten everything up.

As you know I am a mother of two beautiful girls, one 4 1/2 and one 4 months old.  I was just holding my beautiful 4 month old daughter and thought, "What a lovely moment we are having.  This is it, isn't it.  These are the beautiful moments life is made up of".  She was asleep, and I could just gaze at her.  How peaceful.

In a time of heartache, I was grateful for a beautiful healing moment brought by none else but my dog.  She was new to our family, and would just follow me around.  If I was having a moment of sadness, it would quickly wash away when I looked down and saw a cute little dog laying down as close as she could get to me, waiting for me wherever I was.  That was exactly what I needed.  It was indeed a beautiful moment, even if it was with a dog.

I too have had many beautiful moments with my best girl friend.  Moments where I knew I could say anything, even crazy nonsensical things, and there would be no judgement.  We all need those moments, and they are truly beautiful. 

One of my favorite beautiful moments was a long time ago, my then boyfriend sent me flowers, one dozen roses.  There was no particular reason, but on the card he said he loved me.  It was the first time he had said that.  Now he is my husband.  That was a beautiful moment. 

Thank you to my husband, and children for all the beautiful moments you have given me. 

If you get a chance, take a little time out to sit and think of the beautiful moments you've had in your life.  Feel free to share any that you are comfortable sharing.  And, thanks for following this blog.  I never realized how helpful it is to me.  It's nice to know that people are actually interested in my thoughts.  Thank you.

Our faithful decision

Here's the true story of a decision we made completely based on faith.

My husband and I had been married for about 7 years, with  1 child who was 2 at the time. We had been living in the same city he had grown up in his whole life, with the exception of his mission, and I thought I was totally living there for the REST of my life.  (didn't really like big cities, or the climate) 

He started casually looking for a new job, and found a company that he thought might be good to work for.  One of the jobs they had was in a small town, in another state, where we had never been.  He felt prompted/inspired that we should move to that small town.

We decided to take a trip and check out the town, and see if we received any more inspiration.  We liked it. It was cute, small, a good place to raise our daughter.  So we went back home and prayed about it.  The answer we received was that we needed to move. 

We had a house that we owned, all of our family was around us, everything that my husband knew was there in that big city.  But we followed the promptings, and started making arrangements to move.  The housing/rental market was terrible, but we found great renters in days.  The company he wanted to work for never worked out, other than letting us know about the town.  So we actually moved, without a job to come to, when the job market was non existant.  He got a job in under 10 days.  The same job he still has now, 2 years later. 

We found a house to buy, to raise our family in.  He has always had a job here.  We feel like we will be here for years, unless we are prompted to move again.  In which case, we would.  We don't know why we are here?  But we feel that we are supposed to be here.  Sometimes we miss our family, etc. but we do not doubt that the Lord wants us here.  That brings comfort, and dismisses doubt. 

Our faith brought us here, and we believe in being faithful, and following promptings that we feel.  I think that we are blessed when we follow promptings.  I am glad my husband shared the prompting he received.  I found strength in him going through that process.  I look forward to learning why we are here, and know that I may not find out for a long time, but that's ok. 

That is our experience, and why we all of a sudden moved.  I hope you found it faith promoting.

Have a similar experience?  Please share it.

Ode to Fathers

Never afraid of big bad spiders,
Or teaching scardy cats to be bike riders.
Letting us beat you, or so we thought.
Eating the fish that together we caught.
Chasing away monsters from under the bed.
Giving a shoulder to rest a tired head.
Doing the dirty work that needs to be done,
to make sure the family gets to have fun.
You have a tough job, and I thought I should say
Dad's are amazing, so have a GREAT day!

Whether a father, grandfather, husband, or friend,
you men are important, and we are grateful to have you in our lives.

Happy Fathers' Day!!!

Summery Pictures

Ahh, it's summer time. 

Time to hang out in the Super Awesome Back Yard,

 

 or go out and about
( I took this pic.  Pretty good, eh)

and do some Hiking

then, finish the day off with a camp out.

These are the things we LOVE to do.

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

Strange Confessions

I thought maybe you might find some of my quirks entertaining. 

First and foremost, I am Canadian.  I know, some of you may not have known that.  I don't usually throw that in my personal introductions.  But here it is, for everyone to read.  I love Canada.  I miss Canada.  I hope one day my children will be able to see the beautiful land that I am from.  I AM CANADIAN.  (but I like the US too, we Canadians kind of like everybody)

I have a strange, uncontrollable love for Kraft Macaroni. It started a long time ago, when I was a child.  I intend to instill this love to my own children.

I highly enjoy hockey games.  I have not found another sport as exciting and thrilling to watch as hockey.  There are no mascots, or cheerleaders, and there are a lot of fights, but I love every minute of it.

I cannot run in a straight line. Weird, I know, and I think my 4 year old has inherited this from me.  I feel bad about that.  It's kind of embarrassing in gym class.

I eat english muffins with....... butter and ...... peanut butter.  Sounds GROSS, I know.  But try it.  Sometimes I just crave it. 

I love songs with a good whistling solo.  For instance, "Sitting on the dock of the bay", one of my all time faves.  (It's about fishing, also another reason why I like it)

I have eaten pancakes almost every morning for like 3 weeks.  It's like my new macaroni.

I can't do a cartwheel, or whistle (probably why I love whisteling solos), or pronounce the word "bagel" properly - I say bagel like fraggle, with a soft A.  Mostly, I try to never have to say it. 

Goodness, I know there are so many more.  I hope that maybe you laughed at me a little, I don't mind a bit.  I did too.

Summer Faves

It's the summer, (close enough anyways).  This time of year makes me think of wonderful things, because most of my favorite things happen during the summer.  I know you're dying to know what they are, so here you go.

I love: blue sky days, long long walks that tire us out, ice cream and popsicles, watching Megan swing, laying in the grass on a blanket reading books, laying in the hammock in our awesome backyard, picnics, BBQ's- my husband is great on the grill, butterflies (we have one that visits us everyday in our yard around 3pm), floating in a lazy river, sleeping in, taking afternoon naps, going for a drive, camping in the backyard, opening all windows in the house, visits with family and friends, getting vegetables from the garden, hiking, campfires, fishing with the family, baby snuggles, parades, fireworks, being able to wear shorts and sandals, walking to church, visiting National Parks, roasting marshmallows.  I could go on and on. 

I am SO glad we can finally get out there and do all these fun things.  I am so glad I have such a wonderful family to do them with.  It's going to be especially fun this summer with our new little baby. 
SO EXCITED!

On the bright side

I recently bought myself special body wash for days that I need to de-stress. My daughter is old enough to take baths, for the most part, by herself. Tonight, when I went to get my daughter out of the bath.....

the bathtub was empty.....

by empty I mean there was no water.....

It was however FULL of bubbles :)

and my new body wash was almost all GONE.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

I have no doubt that she is clean, she may not even need a bath tomorrow night. Alright!!! And the body wash was on sale, only $1. Thank goodness I didn't splurge!

PS
This is the last time I change the background of my blog. I know I'm a little indecisive, but the good news is I really love this one!

What's Important

Here's what is really important to me. Warning, some of it is kind of deep, and/or touchy feely. I'm not talking about the superficial, or temporal. I am talking about if you really boil things down and thought about what is important in LIFE. Here's what is important to me.

First, having a personal individual relationship with God is beyond essential for me personally. Knowing and having faith in him.  Knowing that he loves me and hears my prayers, and that there is a divine plan, brings me so much peace and comfort.

Love. Being loved and letting others know that I love them. It is absolutely wonderful to feel like someone else here needs me, whether it's my spouse, child, or best friend. It's just good to feel love. It is also just as wonderful to give that love.

Being a good person is also important to me. Caring about others, helping people, having a good heart is important to me.

Having morals, beliefs, standards, traditions are all important. Knowing what you are made up of, and truly believe in is important, as far as knowing who you are, (and helpful in raising children).

As I sit and think about what life is really about, so many things that had high priority seem completely insignificant. Every now and again it's refreshing to refocus, and make sure life is going in the right direction. I need to make more of an effort to tell the people I love that I love them, and to give genuine compliments more often to more people. Because I think our relationships are what we take with us when everything is said and done.

Those are my thoughts. They are my personal, individual thoughts. Thank you for reading them. I'd love to know what things are important to you. Please share your thoughts.

A Happy Family Thought

This blog has really given me a chance to think about all the things I am grateful for. One of them I thought I would share. I have been married for 9 years. WOW! Sometimes I don't feel old enough to say that. Anyways, when I joined my husbands family there was something very important that happened. His family immediately made me part of their family. Not an "in-law", but a sister, a daughter, and a granddaughter. I have always appreciated that. Still to this day my husbands sisters treat me like a real sister, which is nice because until I was married I just had 1 brother. My husbands mom and grandmother do the same things for me that they do for their real children and grandchildren. That really makes me feel loved. It just tells me that they consider me family. For some reason there is a real difference between "in-law" and family. There is a difference in the connection. I don't know if they do this for any particular reason, but I am sure they would treat anyone my husband married the same way. It really touched me, and there are days when I really appreciate it. I love my family, they are all very important to me. I love the many people and friends I consider family. You know who you are. Thank you for letting me in your life. Just thought I would share that happy family thought.
As always, if you have a similar experience please share!

Megan - The best 4 year old ever!

My daughter Megan is 4. She is the Best! Every morning she wakes up and comes in my room to snuggle and say hi. Now that we have her baby sister she runs in my room and asks, "Is Kaitlyn awake?", she is always excited to see her sister. So, all us girls hang out in my bed and make baby sounds and play. Then it is time to play pretend. Megan has a very good imagination. VERY good. She even made her imaginary friends real by dressing up her coat rack and carrying it around with her. So we play pretend, and each of us is a character. Even Kaitlyn. She could do this all day, but eventually she gets hungry and we start our day. This is how we start every morning. I love it. I love Megan.