Family Pictures 2009

Thanks to my sister Micki. As you can see the kids had a hard time looking at the camera! :)

Endurance

Today I did something that was very hard for me to do. For a few months I have been working on running this hill (almost a mile of hill) that has frustrated me because I haven't been able to finish it without stopping to walk. Well, today I told it who was boss! It felt great. Even though everything physical in my body was screaming at me to stop, I persevered and did it. As I was doing this I thought of all the emotional and down right hard hills in my life right now. I don't want to sound like I am complaining, but life is NOT easy, nor perfect. A friend of mine asked me how to increase spiritual endurance and I thought just like in physical running in order to increase your endurance you have to do hills, just like in life we are all going to face our emotional and spiritual "hills". Sometimes I find myself when I look at other people's blogs I think,"Wow, they seem to have the perfect life," or "I wish I had that." But I have really come to realize that blogs are really what the author wants them to be. We will all have our struggles in life. It is part of life, but the key is how we CHOOSE to deal with them. Life is really all about choices and self mastery. I can honestly say that the experiences that I have gone through and still face have broken my heart, but they haven't broken me. I am so grateful! It really is true, "that which doesn't kill us only makes us stronger." But it is still a choice!

Who are you going to Marry?

Ashley informed me this weekend that she is going to marry Jordan. Jordan is my 15 year old nephew. I told her that she can't marry Jordan because he is your cousin, and we can't marry cousins. She just looked up at me and replied, "Mom, he is just Jordan." She said Jordan in a very dreamy way. She sure likes Jordan. This fall we have been able to go to some of his football games and Ashley loves it, especially the cheerleaders. When we were leaving she said she wants to dance and hold the fuzzies!

Laughter is the Best Medicine

I think my kids are some of the funniest little people. They are always saying or doing funny things and I just have to write a few down.

A few weeks ago before Blake started pre- school I could tell he was getting a little nervous for school to start. He told me he was nervous because he couldn't write a "k" in his name, but I reassured him that Miss Angie would teach him how to write a perfect k. Well, I guess that wasn't all he was nervous about. A week before school started he got some mail from his teacher and it was addressed to Master Blake. (Don't say that too many times.) A few days later my sister Micki asked him why he was nervous for pre-school and he replied, "I'm nervous because I don't know Kung Fu!" Blake has seen Kung Fu Panda and he thought in order to be a "Master" he had to know kung fu for pre-school!

The day pre-school started I was getting ready and walked out fully dressed, but had my curlers in my hair and teased Blake if it was okay if I took him to pre-school like that, Blake answered, "Okay Mom, but you will just have to go with a blanket over your head!"

I think everyone knows that Ashley is a very LOUD child. She cries loud, laughs loud and sings loud! Last week Ashley and I went to Wal-mart while Blake was at pre-school and Ashley was loud. She wasn't crying, she was singing. She was singing really loud, "Hey, hey, you, you , I don't like your boyfriend," and " Fire burning on the dance floor," I got some really strange looks. I tried to get her to sing quiet but she just kept on singing. To end her singing, Ashley said a prayer. A nice prayer, that everyone close by could hear. I hope she gets a cute daughter just like her!

Pre- School and Potty

This week Blake started pre-school again. He loves his new class and new teacher. Ashley wanted to dress just like Blake on the first day, so she did! Ashley also started to potty train. She is still working on it and she told me yesterday that she doesn't want big girl underwears she just wants diapers. Um, no. Hopefully we soon will have more successes than accidents. My pics as I uploaded them are just uploading as words, does anyone know how to change that? Computers and I are not friends. Anyway, it has been a week of change for us. The first pic is of Ashley with my really old pair of glasses upside down. She cracks me up. The other night the kids and I were jumping on the trampoline and I told the kids that since I have had them I can't jump on trampolines for very long, if you have had kids you know what I mean. :) Anyway, Blake just says, "Come on Mom, just hold your inner breath." Okay, whatever that means!

13.1

Yesterday I ran a half marathon! I really can't believe that I actually did it and finished. This is actually a picture of my sister Honey and I in Denver, but I didn't take any pictures yesterday. I was too much of a chicken to run the Spanish Fork Half because I had only ran 8 miles before and I didn't want the pressure and not getting a good night's sleep the night before. So I did my own. I still didn't sleep the night before so I might as well just have done the Spanish Fork half. Anyway, from Vivian Park in Provo Canyon to my house in Orem is exactly 13.1 miles. My Dad dropped me off at Vivian Park at 7am and I started. The run was BEAUTIFUL. I had never run down the Provo River trail, it was awesome. I must confess that when I got to the point where I only had a mile left I got tearied eyed and couldn't believe what I had just done. It was a great feeling. I felt like humming the chariots of fire theme. We are sent here to do hard things and we can do it!

For Blake and Ashley....

This month's Ensign has some great advice that I want to write down for my kids and my future posterity that will one day read this blog book.

"May I invite you to rise to the great potential within you. But don’t reach beyond your capacity. Don’t set goals beyond your capacity to achieve. Don’t feel guilty or dwell on thoughts of failure. Don’t compare yourself with others. Do the best you can, and the Lord will provide the rest. Have faith and confidence in Him, and you will see miracles happen in your life and the lives of your loved ones. The virtue of your own life will be a light to those who sit in darkness, because you are a living witness of the fulness of the gospel."

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Influence of Righteous Women," Ensign, September 2009.

"The point is this: when you are having a bad day, you've got alot of company- very,very good company. The best that has ever lived."

"In fact, it ought to be a matter of great doctrinal consolation to us that Jesus, in the course of the Atonement, experienced all the heartache and sorrow, all of the diappointments and injustices that the entire family of man had experienced and would experience from Adam and Eve to the end of the world in order that we would not have to face them so severely or so deeply. However heavy our load might be, it would be a lot heavier if the Savior had not gone that way before us and carried that burden with us and for us."

"I testify that bad days come to an end, that faith always triumphs, and heavenly promises are always kept."
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "Lessons from Liberty Jail." Ensign, September 2009

Mommy LOVES you Blake and Ashley!