Shane

Last week I shared President Eyring's talk about noticing the hand of the Lord in our lives.  I was brought back to this blog.  It was so great to read these things.  It was awesome to feel all the feels again.  So maybe I'll start this up again.  I need to keep a record of the ways I've seen the hand of the Lord in my life and there's no better place than here to do it I think.  

Today I'm grateful for Shane.  I'm so grateful that I was able to find such a good, good man to marry.  Today as I woke up without him, I was sad.  I miss his cheeriness and his laugh.  It seems like he is always in a good mood.  He has a very calming influence over me.  

I had a doctor's appointment this morning and we were talking about my blood pressure.  It has gone way down and is consistently staying down.  This is due to the medication, of course, but she also said that maybe my new happy life is helping.  I agree.  It is.

So today I'm grateful for Shane.  He's nicer and more fun than he is handsome and to some that might seem impossible because he is SO DREAMY.  I don't know how I got so lucky, but I'm certainly grateful. 

Gratitude for things

Today I'm so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I'm so grateful to be able to go to a meeting on a Saturday night and feel so much love from my Heavenly Father.  I am grateful to be able to hear messages from the leaders of the church that touch my soul and make me want to be a better person.  I think sometimes I take for granted how amazing it is to be given so many opportunities to feel the spirit.

I'm thankful for temples.  I'm so thankful for the spirit I feel there and for how serving there also makes me feel so loved and makes me want to head out of there and do better, serve more.

I'm thankful for my trials.  Really.  They have brought me closer to my Savior and have made me love and appreciate Him more like a friend,  rather than a holy being that is just out of my reach.  I'm thankful for the growth that has come from a hard experience.  I am thankful for little acts of kindness that have helped me through.  I'm so grateful for the woman who stopped by my door with a treat the morning I felt so low.  I'm thankful for the other woman who dropped by my house that exact same day with flowers for me.  There was no way that either of those women could have known about my sorrow.  In fact, those women hardly knew me at all.  But Heavenly Father must have whispered to them that I needed some love.  I hope that He can whisper to me when those around me need some love too.  I love the gospel of Jesus Christ that fosters service and kindness to others.  It's important.  It's real.  We all need it and we all need to give it.

So, all together I'm just sitting here today grateful.  It started last night when the tears couldn't stop falling for almost the entire meeting. Watch it here if you didn't get a chance.  It was so great.

(Relief SocietyMeeting)

Lizzy and Jesus

Sunday we went out to my cousin Alex's homecoming from his mission.  He gave a great report and you can tell that he was a great missionary.  Afterwards we took the kids out to the temple.  I asked Liz if she wanted to go see the big Jesus. When we came around the corner to where he was she gasped, threw out her arms and ran over to it.  She couldn't reach anything but his toe - but she just held onto it.  She said, "I love Jesus. I want to hug him."  So I lifted her up and she hugged his knee.
She was mesmerized.




Why does a 4 year old feel love so strong for a man she has never met?  Why the overwhelming love?  It's been all she can talk about since we've been home.  She keeps saying that she wants to see him, when she is very, very old.  (I told her there would be no meeting him anytime soon.)

I love the faith and love of a child.  I love that she loves him so much and at this age she doesn't even know why.  Someday she will understand all that he has done for her.  But for now, I think that love she had for him before she came here still fills a corner of her heart.  I hope she never loses that feeling.  She is precious.

Hard times

See the burger king sign in the background.  It's all true.  And look at my bangs!  Awesome.

So Saturday night I was sitting in the church parking lot about 10:30 waiting to pick up 40 kids from the dance and to shove them in every possible crevice of my car.  (And don't forget the back smells like total death from the people before us, who either spilled a ton of dairy back there and never cleaned it up, or because they murdered someone and hauled them around in the back of my suburban for weeks.)  Either way the ones in the trunk got a nose full.

Anyway, I digress.  I was waiting to pick up all these kids and all of a sudden I thought, "When did this happen?? When did I become the old lady mom waiting to pick up the kids instead of the being one of the cool kids leaving the dance and heading over to Burger King afterwards.  WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?  It really freaked me out and I've been a little depressed ever since.

Life is flying by too quickly.  One second ago I was 14, running around the dances and being just as annoying as Courtney and her friend Ally.  (Sorry mom).  When did I get all old? "I'm the crypt keeper!!!" 

I know I have five kids, I know I've gained a bazillion pounds, but somewhere in my mind, I didn't get older.
Now I know for sure.  And I don't think I like it.

Here she goes....

 She is heading to High School.  I have a daughter old enough to go to High School.  When did Jeff and I get so old?  When did she?  She is such a neat girl.  She is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the out.  She is kind to everyone.  She is such a great older sister and helps out so much around the house.  She loves the gospel and strives so hard to be a great example to others.  She is modest. She is virtuous.  She is ADORABLE.


And she is heading into the fire. Sometimes I look at the world and wonder how my kids are going to make it through unscathed. I hear scary stories about high school these days and I thought it was scary in my day.  "In my day?"  Am I 100?  Really, I think today aged me 20 years.  But I digress.  I hope that in four years I can say all the same things about her.

 I hope that, like me, she has a great friend who helps her through.  Me and Michele didn't care about being "popular" or hanging with the "right" people.  We just had fun together.  We laughed and laughed and laughed our way through high school and it was great.  I don't have horrible memories of that time of my life.  It was fun.  I had good friends and did good things.  I'm grateful that Courtney has so many good girls that surround her and will help her to keep her values high.  We made a great move 4 years ago into a ward that has so many girls her age.  I am grateful for her.  I love her very much.  I hope the next four years bring her so much happiness (and very little drama and very little heartache ).

So, Saturday night was the first annual Surprise AZ LDS prom.  It was amazing.  It looked so beautiful.  We were all so proud of how it turned out. We personally thought it was at the greatest spot right by the lake and that everything turned out just as we had hoped.

 One of the kids wrote on Facebook this morning that it was "like a prom in the movies."  Do  you know how great that makes you feel as a leader?  I know the kids have no idea the time or energy that goes into something like this.  I know I didn't as a kid.  But when a statement like that is made it makes all the hard work worth it.  I'm so thankful to Valarie and Annette and Sasha and Kristin and everyone else who put in countless hours to make this night a success.  And it really was just that - success.

I couldn't be more proud of our kids.  They were all dressed so modestly in amazing dresses and they danced and laughed and had a good time.  I am glad that there was a place for them to have a dance that lived up to their standards.  They want to be good and to be surrounded by goodness.  They are an amazing generation.  I love them so much!

Ah ha ha ha 3 days.....

So Tuesday I made a goal to get back on here for just a sec everyday.  I didn't even make it to WEDNESDAY!!  I really am losing my mind.  I really am a flake.  But here is the picture of the day.  I think my niece, Abby, may be the cutest baby on the entire planet.  She is the most darling thing and I can't wait to hold her and love her and smother her with all these smothers that I have been saving since last August.
Today I am thankful for Lexi and all she does to raise these special kids.  She is my hero.  I don't know how she does it. She is a wonder to me.
And PS - Isn't it sweet how my picture in the corner is looking so adoringly over at my little Abby?