Girls Camp

Celine just spent her first year at Girls camp!! CAN YOU BELIEVE I HAVE A DAUGHTER GOING TO GIRLS CAMP!!! Well, it was hard for me to believe too. But I was so excited for her. I LOVE girls camp, I have the best memories of it from growing up. Celine had a wonderful time and one of her leaders told me she was such a special girl and that she bore the most beautiful testimony. I wish I could have been there for that. But I loved that I got to be the parent this time and me and kaleb both got to write her a letter to be opened one night at camp. I always loved getting those letters from my parents. I am glad that she loved it as much as I did and that she can add them to her memories. They also asked her to speak in sacrament tomorrow about her experience up at Girls Camp. Her first talk in sacrament!! She really is growing up too fast.

Love is a many splendid things....

“Love is patient; love is kind
and envies no one.
Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude;
never selfish, not quick to take offense.
There is nothing love cannot face;
there is no limit to its faith,
its hope, and endurance.
In a word, there are three things
that last forever: faith, hope, and love;
but the greatest of them all is love.”

Why is love such a complicated thing? You would think that love would be simple and easy, but it is not. It takes dedication, and hard work, commitment and patience and understanding. Why in our world do people not understand what love is anymore. It seems that more and more people are giving up on love, not working at it, and not being grateful that they have it with someone. How can you throw away a history with someone without even trying?? I don't understand. Before I got married i thought that it would be easy, that it would be a fairytale and we would just live happily ever after. I didn't know that marriage would be the hardest thing I had ever done. But the hardest things are the things most worth having. Somedays I do wonder if its worth it, somedays it does just seem too hard. But then I look at my family, my hubby and kids and think of all the good times we have had and all the good things in our life, and I know that making my marriage work is the most important thing I will ever do and that I will never regret giving 100% to my marriage. Sometimes I think that other people have an easy married life, maybe thats not true, I don't know. I just know that that won't be the case for me. Marriage is not going to be easy, but it is so worth it. All these thoughts are stemming from watching the show Jon & Kate + 8. They are getting divorced and it makes me sad. I just know that I wouldn't give up on my marriage until I know that I had done everything possible to make it work. In this sad world we live in, where more people are splitting up then staying together, I am determined to not only keep my marriage together, but to make it a great one!!!!

A little getaway...

Having a little "me" time...
Its so good to be able to spend time together as a family!
Time for a tube ride.
Our boat!
Where the kids rode the seven hour both way trip, in the back of the truck!! Now that was a nice ride for me and kaleb!!

We had a fabulous vacation with Kalebs family to Lake Powell. Everyone came and we had a great time together. I love Kalebs family, they are so much fun to be with and I am so grateful to have such awesome in-laws. The weather was off and on. We had one day of good weather and then it rained towards the end of the day, then the next day was absolutely gorgeous!! We went on a long boat ride to the dangling rope marina and then to rainbow bridge ( which is an arch, its NOT a bridge!! ) We did some cliff diving (i say we, but i mean THEM) and then me and jamie and kwinci were taken on a hang-on-for-your-life tube ride by our father-in-law. We kept saying that he was trying to get rid of us!! :0) No, I am just a big wuss and don't love water sports, but we had a good time on that tube laughing and joking. I am lucky to have such great sister in laws!! Saturday we wanted to do a few more hours of boating before we came home but woke up to gray and rain. So, we packed up and headed home. It was a wonderful getaway, one that we all needed. Thanks to kalebs parents for making it such a great trip!!!

Desperate times call for desperate measures...

In these times of financial difficulty I have been doing my part in cutting back lots of extras in my life. But that makes it hard to get out and do too much this summer with my three kids. Sure, there are things you can do for free, but some of the funner things cost some $$$. After much looking, thinking, pondering and praying trying to decide if I should try to get a part time job, I never felt good enough about it to actually do it. Then I came across a little post on craigslist about donating plasma. Yep, you guessed it, as of today I am a Plasma Donor! And for my time and effort ( and separation of blood) I made 30 bucks in about 45 minutes. If anyone really knows me, they know that I hate needles, I hate having my blood taken, I have never even seen a needle or looked at it when they draw my blood. I don't have the greatest of veins, they are on the small side and I have had more than one nurse cursing at them. But, for a little extra cash I decided that I would be willing to give it a try. Yes, there was a brief moment of pain when they stuck the needle in, but other than that it was actually very nice. I got to sit in a comfy chair for 45 minutes and do nothing but watch Indiana Jones, and they a paid me for it! I just made sure not to look at what was actually going on with my arm. So, now, twice a week, I can made a little extra cash and it will take only about 2 hours of my time. I say thats a pretty nice setup. And, as I also told Kaleb, I am helping save lives. Yeah me!! LOL!

ps. I wanted to get an actual picture of me in the chair all hooked up but I was too embarrassed to ask. Maybe next time!!

A sad plate of cookies....

What do you do on about the hundredth rainy day in a row??? So, I vacuumed, and I dusted my baseboards (yes, i was that bored) and I did some laundry. What next? I decided to make some cookies. Great idea! Well, first I ran out of butter, so I had to substitute some of my tub butter and then at the end I was short a cup of flour. Hmmm..... Then a neighbor showed up about some Girls Camp stuff and I forgot all about the cookies cooking! The bottom picture was my first attempt. Horrible! They went strait to the garbage. Then my sister showed up and told me to blender some oats and add that to my dough so it wasn't so sticky. I thought it looked better, but my second batch didn't come out much better. I guess thats what you get when your mood matches the weather, and you are baking cookies while it rains while also listening to Josh Groban ( the perfect gloomy day music!) Next time I will stick with store bought!!

Turning 30

No, not me! not yet, anyways! So, I hate having a downer post at the top of my blog. Blogging is a good outlet for me when I am in need, but it doesn't mean I need to depress everyone else when I am having a bad day! So, on to happier things! Two of my best friends, who just happen to be twins, are turning 30 this week!! I think when you turn 30, you need to do something really fun with your friends so it isn't so depressing. So I planned a pool party for all of our friends at my parents house and we were going to swim and bbq....yeah, sounds fun right? Well, thanks to our FABULOUS summer weather we're having (not) I had to cancel the pool party at the last minute and we ended up just going to Chilis for dinner. But it was still a blast, its always fun when I am with my friends. So hopefully they will have great memories of their 30th birthday!!ps. is it just me or do i really need to lose a few????

Joy In the Journey

"Men are that they might have joy..." Does this include woman too? Isn't life meant to be enjoyed? What do you do when you get to a place where you are no longer enjoying the journey?It is too hard, it is too painful, there are too many bumps in your road. You fall alot, you hurt people, your sad, you no longer know if you are a good friend or not, you no longer know who you are or what you want in life. You just know it is hard. You try to get it right, but every time you open your mouth you are getting it wrong. What if you forget what it feels like to be truly happy? What if you no longer have the strength to pick yourself up off the ground, you need someone to help you do it, but there is no one. What if you just feel all alone? Well, this is the poem I like to go to to remind myself that someone is always there!!!!

Footprints in the Sand

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.

Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,

other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed

that during the low periods of my life,

when I was suffering from

anguish, sorrow or defeat,

I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,

"You promised me Lord,

that if I followed you,

you would walk with me always.

But I have noticed that during

the most trying periods of my life

there have only been one

set of footprints in the sand.

Why, when I needed you most,

you have not been there for me?"

The Lord replied,

"The times when you have

seen only one set of footprints in the sand,

is when I carried you."

Mary Stevenson

First week of summer!!

The first week of summer is officially over and I am EXHAUSTED!!!! We started our summer with fabulous trip to my sis-in-laws Jamies parents house, complete with pool and hot tub in the backyard, it was all we needed!! The kids spent countless hours swimming while I spent countless hours laying out next to the pool reading! :0) We went to Pirate Island Pizza which the kids LOVED, we are very excited for the one opening in orem and we went and saw the move UP which was so cute, we all enjoyed it. We came home sunday night and on monday we started two weeks of swim lessons for tage and aliah, celine went camping to moab with my mom and dad and her two cousins and kaleb has been working a ton at his new job at game crazy (which I am not crazy about, but I guess it pays the bills.) I feel like I have run from one thing to another and by the end of the day I am totally wiped out. So today I finally got some of my house cleaned, which has been sorely neglected all week. And I still need to do laundry, JOY!! I haven't even had time to get ready this whole week. Maybe next week will slow down a little bit, but hey, I am enjoying the sun ( when it is around) and I really am enjoying this time with my kids. I am past dreading them being home ( even though some days it still drives me crazy) because they are growing up way too fast and I am trying to enjoy every minute!!!!

The Red Tent

I just read a really interesting book called The Red Tent. Now I can't recommend it because I know that there are people out there who would be very offended by it, but to me, who is very hard to offend :0), it was quite an interesting story. It is about Jacob from the bible and his four wives. Every month during the womens "monthly" they would gather together in the red tent and that is where they stayed until it was over. They would eat and sing, braid and comb eachothers hair, talk and gossip and just be among woman during their "courses." What I thought was very interesting was that they all had it at the same time. Hhmmmm.....I think I am going to build me a red tent, and I will go into it when I am visited by my "aunt flo." No one else is allowed into my red tent, unless they are also being "visited." No men allowed ever, or children. I will be in there eating and singing, combing my hair and gossiping. If you see my red tent out, come join me, but beware, you know why I am in there!! :0)