Latest Reason Why I Love Texas

We are coming up on five years in Texas, and this week I was reminded of one of my favorites things about living here! Over the five years, I have been regularly amazed by how much faith and God are a part of life here ... A school assembly on Veterans Day that starts with a prayer asking God to bless the troops ... neighbors who ask where ya'll go to church (not if, where) ... etc.

This week, I went with Nat while she had surgery. Her OB came in and talked to us about the procedure, what to expect, answered questions and then he said ... "Okay, let's have a prayer." He talked about her desire to have children, using faith and having the Lord guide them both during this process. When he was done, he got me a Kleenex and made a joke about how the tears must be genetic. :)

The part that amazed me is that there is never a question about what religion you are or what religion I am, if a prayer would be appropriate or if you will be offended by such a request, what is the proper way to pray ... it is pure and simple faith and an acknowledgment that we need the Lord every step of the way in life.

Happy Fall Ya'll

When I get a little stressed out ... I tend to grab a glue gun and make something. It doesn't have to turn out perfect. It just needs to give me that small sense of satisfaction that something pretty happened today.

I made a ball wreath last year for Christmas. When I saw these fall colors, I knew I had to give it another go!

Envirosax

Don't know about you ... but I find the new trend of reusable bags highly useful. They work great from sleepovers to piano books and everything in between. I saw the bags from this website on another blog this week and I LOVE THEM!! This is one of my favorites, but they literally have dozens of styles to choose from.

http://www.envirosax.com/

WOW Box

I used something similar to this when my older girls were younger ... now that they are teenagers, I'm not quite willing to give them an iTunes gift card every time they make me say WOW!

Concept is simple. Fill a basket, bin, tub, or anything you want with small reward items -- the dollar store or the dollar aisle at Target are excellent sources -- and when your sweet munchkin does something so wonderful it makes you say WOW, you send him/her to pick a treat!

GREAT with siblings learning to adjust to a new baby in the house!

Flashback Fridays

So as to not get accused of playing favorites ... here is Lexie's flashback!! She also did dance for five years. Unlike Rachel, there were no tears! She couldn't get enough of the dress-up, make-up and overall fun of dance.

For Good

Our stake held a meeting prior to the broadcast on Saturday. As part of the program, they put together a slideshow of women interacting and serving others. I had the pleasure of helping to take some photos to use in the slideshow. For the music, they used one of my favorite songs from Wicked ... "I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn. And we are led to those to help us most to grow if we let them and we help them in return. Well, I don't know if I believe that's true, but I know I'm who I am today ... because I knew you." Such a great moment!!

Today, my heart has been inspired to think back on so many people in my life that have "changed my life for good" ... I don't generally recommend having that kind of moment in an airport! :)

However, I am so grateful for each one of them. Makes me want to go home and create my own video montage ...

Answers to Prayers

If you have less than ten minutes to give a quick lesson on prayer ... how do you make a quick impact?

Start with two balloons. One is blown up and the other is not. I told a story from the scriptures about a family that had a problem to solve and went to the Lord for help. We started talking about how the Lord answers our prayers.

Somewhere towards end of the story, I popped the first balloon. Why you ask? Well, first and foremost, it about gives the kids a heart attack, which I find completely entertaining. However, the real reason is to demonstrate the fact that the Lord doesn't usually send these massive and loud answers. Man, life would be so much easier if He did! We would know exactly what to do and when to do it.

While the kids shared some of their experiences with getting answers to prayers, I blew up the second balloon just slightly. I ended with the fact that the Lord knows we can't really learn and grow unless we figure out some things for ourselves. Let the air out of the second balloon nice and quiet like ... and end with the thought that we can only receive answers during those quiet little moments when we open our hearts and minds to that small voice inside.

Between Sisters

An older sister ... workaholic lawyer, slightly overbearing, kind of bossy ... and her baby sister, who drops out of college to build a rental property on a lake and decides to marry a guy she has known for about two weeks. What could possibly go wrong?

I LOVE stories like this! It is such a great opportunity to think about your own family and relationships. As the slightly bossy oldest sister ... it can be such an eye opener to think about how important it is to love and support people even though you may not agree with the decision. :)

Flashback Friday

We were joking the other day about doing more flashbacks ... since the people who kow my kids as teenagers, did not know them as little ones.

Here's a flashback -- Rach did dance for five years!! Fake hair, costumes and full make-up. She had her first recital at three ... and she cried through the whole thing (black and white costume). By the end of the five years, she was a cheese dog!

The Forgotten Garden

So, my sweet friend Marla talked me into joining this book club. Well, to be exact ... they sent me a list of books and told me I was presenting in December ... which is kind of the same thing! ;)

This was the first book. When I first started it, I was not too excited about the new book club adventure. The story begins back in the early 1900's ... there is an Authoress who writes slightly disturbed fairy tales. However, by the end of the book, I was seriously hooked. Hooked like ... stay up until midnight reading even though you have to be up at 5am ... kind of hooked.

It was a great story that spans several generations of a family, with a series of secrets that makes for an interesting puzzle to solve. Not the kind of book I would normally be drawn to, and I really enjoyed it. Maybe this book club will be a good thing after all ... now if I could just manage to not be traveling and attend!

Soccer Fever

Apparently being 41 makes one feel a little nostalgic! :)

We spent every fall for ten years on the soccer field ... and I miss it a bit!! It is actually one of my favorite sports to take photos of. Not to mention, I may have upgraded the camera a bit since the girls were little!

We would let Megan play, but as we are all well aware, she has a tendency to get concussions. We're going to stick with non-contact sports for the runt!

If anyone feels sorry for my nostalgic oldness ... send me your soccer schedule. I would be more than happy to do a drive by and take some pictures.

Brush With Fame

So I might have gotten a fun request this week ... I took these photos for a friend of mine. Then I sent her to my new friend Natalie for the invitations. Miss Natalie asked for permission to use the photos as samples. I'm calling that my brush with fame!

Check her out:


http://www.etsy.com/shop/nattysuedesigns1?ref=seller_info


I first "met" Natalie when she did the invitations for Megan's baptism in May. Design was under $20 ... and I printed them at Costco. Hard to beat that price!!

Soulmates

Maybe it is just me ... but every so often you meet someone and you just automatically click. Some of my favorite "soulmates" in life are under the age of five. This little man is no exception. I truly love all of his siblings, but there is something different with this one. Our entire family is pretty much wrapped around his chubby little thumb and he knows it.

We love having him over ... we love his cheesy expressions ... we love how he completely makes himself at home ... we love how quick he is to smile ...

Sometimes the sweetest spirits are housed in the smallest little bodies! :)

The Memorial Service

How do you distract a little girl ... with a craft project, of course!!

Megan made this garden stone a couple of Sundays ago while the girls were gone to a church meeting. She used her thumbprints to make a flower ... stamped in the words, "Oliver, My Pal" and decorated with rocks, pebbles and mosaic tiles. By the time it was dry and we took it outside, she had forgotten all about the funeral.

We have chosen not to remind her .....

Farewell to Oliver

After my flight landed from Atlanta, the phone rang with a frantic set of children on the other end. We had three small visitors at our home. The boys LOVE the guinea pig and wanted to feed him carrots. They all went into Megan's room to get Oliver ... and came out yelling a minute later ... "HE'S NOT MOVING!!!"

The first thought I have is guilt for exposing the little visitors to the death of the pet. I told the kids to close the bedroom door and I was on my way.

Here is the part where I witnessed another shining example of the difference between boys and girls!!

I walked in the door to Megan ...

*He's DEAD!!!

*Did you feed him why we were in Florida?

*I should have never left him here.

*What are we going to do?

*This is the worst day ever!

Ben said, "Can I touch it?" So not a moment to laugh, but how could you not? Boys are so matter of fact!

Megan is pretty set on having a funeral on Sunday. We are going to make a little grave marker, have flowers and all say our favorite things about Oliver. This ought to be interesting ... Rachel can't even listen to her planning the funeral without having to leave the room. Stay tuned ...

Twinkle Toes

ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THESE SHOES??!!!

Just because...

• 90% of my closet is black
• I always get the french pedicure
• I rarely wear jewelry
• The world has seen me at Target without makeup
• I do not own a BeDazzler
• I don't like heels
• I use the same purse for months
• I don't own lipstick

I can be HORRIBLY boring! Despite this fact, I do try and encourage individual development in my girls. Lexie LOVES ruffles -- Rach is going through a bandana phase -- Megan has never met a sequin she didn't enjoy.

Then comes along the TWINKLE TOES ... I have never seen a more obnoxious pair of shoes. Really with the sparkles on the toes? How long can those last? They are the ONLY shoes Megan wants for school. Pretty sure she will DIE without them. She tries them on and just giggles.

Do I have to walk next to her when she is wearing them?

Time Marches On

When Lex got home from EFY this year ... we did our normal slide show of the photos and recapping of the stories from the week. On their way to the airport, they stopped at Temple Square and hung out for a bit. Looking at her photos ..... I was completely BLOWN AWAY by how fast time is flying and how soon she will be leaving to go to school.

It took me back to my first semester at BYU -- the hair was a little bigger and thankfully, the white tights have been retired. It won't be long before she is at school and having some of those same experiences. It seriously does not seem real! I don't think I'm old or mature enough to have a child in college ..... I'm just saying!!

Megan Pulls a Funny

Jeremy decided to hang a tennis ball to help with parking his car. Up until now I have avoided the tennis ball by mocking him incessently every time he brought it up!

Megan and I were walking through WalMart when we saw the ultimate tennis ball. She said ... "Wouldn't it be funny to take this home and switch out the ball Dad hung in the garage for this huge one!" Why yes ... yes it would!

She giggled for the rest of the afternoon waiting for her Dad to get home!

Girlfriends

"Friendship between women can take different forms. It can run like a river, quietly and sustainingly through life; it can be an intermittent, sometime thing; or it can explode like a meteor, altering the atmosphere so that nothing ever feels or looks the same again." Mary Haskell

I am a HORRIBLE girlfriend: I tackle too many projects ... I work and study too much ... I'm a bit of a homebody ... BLAH! BLAH! BLAH!

However, I never cease to be amazed by the power of women and their friendships. I don't think there is anything stronger than a group of women who set their minds on a task. They can truly move mountains!

I need to spend more time with the amazing women in my life ... no doubt I will be a better and stronger person because of them.

Squishy

We generally try to maintain a sense of humor about life and everything in it ... even if your feelings get hurt ... or your pride ... or your self-esteem sustains a fracture ...

Megan, Lex and I were cuddling in my bed the other day - here is how the conversation went:


Megan: MOM ... I just LOVE cuddling you.

Mom: I love you too Pidge.

Megan: No, but seriously ... you are so soft and squishy. Cuddling is FANTASTIC!!


At this point, Lex and I start to laugh pretty hard. Frankly, it was either laugh or cry at this point. Megan notices that we are laughing a bit harder than necessary and decides to continue after smashing her face into my chest and squeezing hard ...


Megan: I mean it Mom! I LOVE cuddling with you.

Mom: (Still laughing) It's okay Pidge, I know what you mean.

Megan: Hey, don't worry about it. I don't work out either!


That would be the point we lost it. There are some words that should be banned ... and SQUISHY is at the top of that list. I looked it up and there are PLENTY of synonyms for soft without breaking out the word SQUISHY.

I have to go now ... my eliptical is calling my name ...