Sunday Walk

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Where am I on my Journey?

Sometimes I like to sit back and reflect upon how things are going with my family life, my social life, and my spiritual life. This past week I have really been thinking about my spiritual life. I have always been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. As a young woman I received my own personal testimony of our Savior and of Joseph Smith. I did as Joseph Smith did and prayed to know if the church was true. My answer was revealed to me in my heart by a peaceful feeling that we get to enjoy when we realize that it is the Holy Ghost whispering to us the confirmation of things that are true.

Being a mother it is so easy to lose track of the whole purpose of why I do what I do as a LDS mother. Why do I wake up at 6:30 every Sunday? Why do I remind my children to read their scriptures? Why do I go to church meetings? Why do I prepare Sharing Time lessons? Why do I have Family Home Evening? Why do I watch Conference? Why do I help my husband plan activities for his class? Why do we go to the temple? Why do I go Visiting Teaching? Why do I take my girls to Activity Days? Why do I sit through 3 hours of church with three children? Why do I watch conference? Why do I say my prayers and have family prayers? There must be a reason for this. That is a WHOLE lot to do for no reason. The reason is that I KNOW that it is true. There is no way that I would put so much time, thought and energy into something if I did not know that it was true.

I came upon a great video clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFydLxvq-8Y&eurl=http://www.letusprepare.blogspot.com/ It really put my feelings this week into prespective for me. I hope that you will watch it and find what part of the journey of life you are on right now.

I also just came upon this clip from General Conference regarding Motherhood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrUZhhijlw8&feature=related

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Lately a battle has been going on in our house. Hailey will absolutely not eat anything that I make. She tells me that everything is gross, even though she has eaten it before without a problem. My girls have come up with a solution. If Hailey says she does not like pickles they tell her, "they are not pickles, they are dillies" and for some reason she will eat them. This has happened with a couple of other foods.

Today I made tater tot casserole which is a favorite in my household. As I was sitting down to dinner Hailey informed me, "If I eat that I WILL DIE!" She was totally serious. Needless to say, someone is not getting any ice cream until she eats it!!!! I think that Mom will win this one.

Cheaper Than Therapy

I do not know about you but after a long day I love to sit down at my computer and enter into my blogging world. It has become a form of therapy for me. I actually look forward to it. I have certainly needed my therapy (blogging) the past couple of weeks.

A couple of months ago I became a crazy woman and volunteered to coach Hailey's soccer team. I played soccer in high school so I thought, how hard can it be? What was I thinking? The first couple of practices the kids were fine, we even made it through two games without problems UNTIL Tuesday. Some unseen force came upon the kids and they were in another world. To make a long story short we lost 20-0. I came home pretty distraught. I felt like I had gone wrong somewhere with my team and let them all fail.

After some talking with my husband he informed me that I can take today's game off and he was going to coach. What a relief. I was able to actually sit and enjoy the game and watch Lindsay and Ashley play. (By the way, Ashley can really kick a ball and Lindsay is a great defender! They are taking after their mom. Ha Ha!) Our team won, the kids were happy, I was happy and Mitchell did a great job. I was even able to take some fun pictures of the kids and came home with a smile upon my face.

I realized that it is all just for fun and the kids are having a blast so now I need to get out there and have fun right along with them. I can do this for a couple more weeks.

So, here are some of our fun soccer pictures.

MY THREE SOCCER STARS!

COACHING (or being coached, not sure which one) :)

Taking a well deserved break.

Good Game!

Tag! You're It!

Thanks for the tag, Sara!

Instruction: Answer the questions with one word, and then tag three friends. This is going to be fun!

1. Where is your cell phone? Pocket
2. Your significant other? Hot
3. Your hair? Blonde
4. Your mother? Amazing
5. Your Father? Hero
6. Your favorite thing? Family
7. Your dream last night? None
8. Your favorite drink? Pineapple
9. Your dream goal? Grandma
10. The room you’re in? Office
11. Your hobby? Crafts
12. Your fear? Alone
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here
14. What you’re not? Bored
15. Muffins? Costco
16. One of your wishlist items? Home
17. Where you grew up? California
18. Last thing you did? Exercise
19. What are you wearing? Smile
20. Favorite gadget? Phone
21. Your pets? Trouble
22. Your computer? Slow
23.Your mood? Happy
24. Missing someone? Adam
25. Your car? Messy
26. Something you’re not wearing? Jewlery
27. Favorite store? Kohls
28. Like someone? Yes
29. Favorite color? Purple
30. When was the last time you laughed? Today
31.When was the last time you cried? Month?

I tag Heidi, Tina and Tricia.

I Can't Believe it Either

I shocked myself today. With my preparation for Hood To Coast I broke down and ran a mile (I had to do it sometime)! I actually did it and did not break out in a coughing spell once I was done. I was able to complete it in 12 minutes 20 seconds which is not the best, but at least I did it and did not give up. My goal of running a mile by October 31st was shattered. Now I will change my goal to being able to run two miles by then. I think I deserve an ice cream sundae.

My Birthday Girls

HAILEY JOANNE

I can not believe that my baby is 4 years old. She has been asking for months when she would finally be four, and on the day she actually turned four she asked when she was going to be five. :)

Hailey is such a joy to be around. She loves to play with her baby dolls, play games on the computer, watch Dora and Caillou, play in the sand, ride her "motorcycle bike", and play game board games just to name a few. She is my cuddle bug and I absolutely love it. When her sisters are at school she is in absolute heaven because she is very content to play by herself, it also helps that she has alone time with Mom.

She has a wild imagination and comes up with some pretty strange things, which makes life interesting. The other day she told me, "Mom, when I am your age I am going to marry Tavy." I told her that she can not marry Tavis because he is her cousin. She did not like that answer and informed me that she will marry him anyways because he is her best friend. She also has a friend that lives across the street that is a year younger than her. They were both playing at the park and they got into an argument so she stomped down her foot and said, "I'm going home!"

I think that she will always be my little baby (even though she will not let me call her that anymore.)

ASHLEY LYN

Ashley has turned the ripe old age of 8. This means a lot of fun things are in store for her in the next couple of months. She will be baptized October 11th and she is able to go to Activity Days for church, this is something that she has looked forward to for a long time.

Ashley is such a friendly girl and always meets a new friend no matter where she goes. You never see her without a smile on her face. She loves to read, write LONG stories, play piano, sing and dance, jump rope, play with her friends and play with her webkinz on the computer.

A couple of years ago she was hit by a firework that came into the crowd at the firework show so she is TERRIFIED of fireworks. This past Fourth of July she spent the night sitting in the house and would not come out due to fireworks going on outside. Anyways, I forgot about this fear and bought her trick candles for her cake. If you do not know what they are, they relight even though you blow them out, but while they relight they also flick sparks everywhere like a sparkler.

(I did not mind the other kids helping her blow out the candles, but they were spitting on the cake so I tried to make them stop. It sounds like I was being mean on the video.)

The Last Straw!

Me at Enrichment Night

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The Kids in Bed

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Mitchell reading a book

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Teddy running around the house unattended

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The Need for New Carpet

All I can say is UGGHHHH!!!!!!!!

Can't Believe Summer is Over

ONE LAST HORRAH!

My this summer flew by. We went on so many fun trips and made a lot of wonderful memories. We wanted to end our summer with a fun day at the beach. The weather could not be any more perfect. It was gorgeous.

What would a day at the beach be like if we did not bury each other in the sand?

Teddy also had to join in the fun.

Mitchell brought his paraglider along and was able to get up in the air this time, even though it was only for a couple of seconds.

These two surprise me, one second they are best friends and the next they are fighting. Hopefully they will remain best friends forever.

We have always wanted to have a fire and roast marshmallows at the beach. It was a lot of fun and the smores were excellent.

I had to take advantage of the beautiful scenery and snap a couple of pictures of the girls. Actually, a couple is an understatement.Can you imagine how much sand we brought home with us? Our bathtub was full.
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

At 6:45 am on Tuesday my alarm rang, but Lindsay and Ashley were already awake and ready for school. They were both so excited. As I walked with them to the bus stop I was holding Hailey because she did not have time to find her shoes. I realized that Hailey will be getting on that very bus one year from now to be in kindergarten. She is my baby and I pretty much treat her that way. I suddenly became very sad and felt pressure to make sure that she was ready for such a new thing in her life. She will be ready, but I am not sure that Mom will be.

Lindsay is in Mrs. Kinion's class in the fourth grade. Her teacher is really nice and she loves to read a lot of books to the kids. Lindsay is really excited to do science this year since it is the first year that she gets to do Mad Science. Her class will be study buddies with a second grade class so she might be able to be Ashley's study buddy this year. Her favorite subjects are math and reading. She wants to read "Twilight" but I won't let her until she is quite a bit older.

Ashley is in Mrs. Heagh-Avritt's class in the second grade. Her teacher also likes to read stories. Ashley is excited to meet new friends and learn new things. She is going to study about birds and rocks this year. Her favorite subject is math. She looks forward to being able to write cursive and doing her multiplications.I made a deal with them that I wanted each of them to make at least one new friend. When they got off the bus they were each excited to report that each of them had. I can tell that this is going to be a great school year for each of them.

QUOTE

I just wanted to share a quote that I found on another blog. It really touched me today.

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, but about learning to dance in the rain."

"As you create a home, don’t get distracted with a lot of things that have no meaning for you or your family. Don’t dwell on your failures, but think about your successes. Have joy in your home. Have joy in your children. Have joy in your husband. Be grateful for the journey.”

~Marjorie P. Hinckley