My Gratitude month comes to a close...

I was watching a rebroadcast this afternoon of last week's Music and the Spoken Word as I reflected on my month of Gratitude. Some days have been easier than others, and some days have been just flat out hard, but overall I have seen a difference as I have tried to focus on the positive at the end of the day instead of the negative. The following is part of the message...

Daily Gratitude and Thanksgiving
Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell
A few years ago, two researchers conducted what they called the Research Project on Gratitude and Thankfulness. They found through science what most of us know intuitively: gratitude makes people happy.
For the study, several hundred people were divided into three groups and asked to keep diaries. The first group listed the day’s events in their diaries, the second group recorded any unpleasant experiences they had during the day, and the last group made a daily list of things they were grateful for.
The researchers found that the simple act of taking time each day to count your blessings makes a person more enthusiastic, determined, optimistic, and energetic. Those who expressed gratitude experienced less depression and stress, exercised more regularly, and made more progress toward personal goals. Researchers even noted a relationship between feeling grateful and feeling loved, and they observed how gratitude inspires acts of kindness and compassion.1
Remarkable, isn't it? All this from daily gratitude and thanksgiving.

I know that I am better prepared for the holiday season, and (most days) I am more patient with my family. I hope that I can find something to continue the momentum throughout December and beyond too. Thank you to all of you who have commented and shared your thoughts with me as well. Having an "audience" has kept me diligent. I needed this.

Thanksgiving weekend!

My Front porch - one of my favorite things!

We ate, we visited, we ate again. We slept. We decorated, we cleaned, we ate again (Out to dinner this time to the India Fusion restaurant with my sister and her husband!). We went to a movie. We slept. We shopped, we visited, we shopped some more. We ate (this time at Grandma and Grandpa's). Now we are getting ready to sleep again. Wow, I'm exhausted! (and I think we can stop eating!).

But... It was a great weekend, with much accomplished! The house is almost done - just have to do the trees - and I finally made a dent in the shopping area! And I got to spend the ENTIRE day with Tim! We even went shopping together, something we are not always good at! On to tomorrow. Somehow I don't think I'll be ready for work on Monday...

Belated Thanksgiving Pics

For some reason I have not been taking very many pictures so I had to get some of these from my mother-in-law! Tim and Grandpa with their fabulous BBQed turkey!The Kids table

And the adults...

Let the decorating begin...

It's official. My wait is over. Today I can decorate!!! I have started with my blog (now it matches my music!) and I think that I am going to do my front porch next. Then I'll start on the rest of the house. Today I also get to see my sister. You would think that Idaho was days instead of just hours away as much as we see each other! The cousins are going to play and the adults are going to go out to a movie. I almost started the decorating yesterday, but decided in the spirit of my gratitude month, to let it be thanksgiving insead of Christmas. Have a great day after thanksgiving! (no cooking required today - an added bonus!!)

I'm Grateful for Turkey!!!

The past few years we have had BBQ Turkey. It is the best!! There are two reasons that I love it! One is that is has a good flavor and is always really moist. The other reason is that I DON'T HAVE TO COOK IT!!! I can concentrate on everything else and Tim takes care of the turkey. My oven is free for everything else and the turkey is delicious! Thank you Tim for cooking such awesome turkey and also this year for my father-in-law who, because Tim had to go to work for a while, came over early and got the turkey on the BBQ. I intended to take pictures, but... It was a good family day and you can't ask for more than that!

Happy Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving eve...
Are your rolls made? Is the House clean? How about pies? Did you remember to clean the bathroom? Have you made your last trip to the store? Don't forget the cranberry sauce! Did you hand make your table favors? Do you have activities for the kids? Have you made, cubed, and dried your bread for stuffing? Are your Christmas decoration ready in the wings for the moment everyone leaves your house? Have you had enough sleep this week so that you can be a pleasant hostess and handle all crisis' with grace and diplomacy? If so, congratulations! (or should I say "Are yo insane???") If not... Welcome to the real world!!!

Happy Thanksgiving and remember to count your blessings!!!

PS - what I'm grateful for is that no one expects me to do all of the above!!!

This post is for last night...

Thank you to some good friends. Life gets busy, and we don't see each other like we would like, like but they decided that my skepticism over the Twilight movie needed to be put to the test. So we headed off to the movies! And... it was definitely better than I thought it would be!! Still didn't really click with Edward, but I thought that Bella did a great job and I really liked her portrayal. And I really liked Charlie - he just cracked me up!!!

I also really like Alice and Jasper. Every time they showed Jasper it just made me laugh!

And of course I loved the good conversation, the laughs and the 1 am conversation reminiscent of old times!!! Thanks gals! Love ya!

I'm thankful for my Gratitude month!

Maybe it's odd, to be thankful for gratitude, but after last night's miss, it would have been very easy to just be done. But because I had made a commitment, I kind of forced myself back today. It took most of the day, and of course the hardest part of the day is the evening. But I managed to keep myself on track and we had a pretty good FHE. I read one of my favorite children's books for the lesson - You Are Special and we talked about each of us being made in God's image and the fact the he wouldn't make anything that was unworthy or not amazing. A good reminder. So today I'm thankful that I have so very much to be thankful for!!

Last night's miss...

So I missed my gratitude statement last night... I just couldn't seem to pull it out of me so I am trying to do 2 today. I went three weeks straight and am not going to let one day put me back... So my gratitude for this morning is that I am willing to keep going, knowing that is only my own actions that can pull me up and I include this quote from President James E. Faust (1920–2007), Second Counselor in the First Presidency:

“A conviction that you are a daughter of God gives you a feeling of comfort in your self-worth. It means that you can find strength in the balm of Christ. It will help you meet the heartaches and challenges with faith and serenity”

We Bleed Blue!

I know at the moment that it seems unlikely that I would say that I am grateful for BYU football, but the truth of it is, it is something that the whole family gets into! We love the rivalry and the joking with our friends, and the cheering and the yelling - well maybe not the yelling - it did get a little ugly there in the 4th quarter! What I like about it is simply that we all do it together. Anything that unites my family and actually makes us want to spend time together is a good thing!!!

When we were younger, my sister and I were known for the times we would hid under our covers with flashlights when we were supposed to be sleeping and read our books. I was also known to hide in the closet and even the bathroom when I was supposed to be doing my chores and reading also!! Growing up it seems we didn't really talk much about books. My sister Jeniel graduated from BYU with an English Degree, and we were both big readers, but it was only about a year and half ago that we started sharing with each other the books that we were reading.
We don't talk as often as we should, but one of my favorite things about our conversations is that I always come away with a whole bunch of ideas for new books that I can read! Jeniel was the first person to tell me about Twilight, and believe me when I first started reading it I also called her up to chew her out for recommending a vampire book to me! Little did I know... Our latest top authors are ...
*Juliet Marillier who wrote Wildwood Dancing which was recommended to me by Jaqui. Jeniel has since read her other books and now they're on my waiting list.
*Kristen Heitzmann who has several books out, our favorites include Halos (Which I just finished), The Edge of Recall, and The Rose Trilogy
*Lynn Kurland - not all of her book, but she has a current trilogy out that begins with Star of the Morning, and then The Mage's Daughter, and the third one comes out in January, Princess of the Sword
We talked this afternoon, and it made me want to run to the library!! Thanks to her, and to many friends, who keep me in books!!

Turkey burgers!

I'm grateful today for Turkey Burgers... especially when Tim makes them!! He found a recipe with curry and mango mayo so he decided he would cook dinner tonight. I helped the kids with their stuff and even sneaked in a little bit of my book while I waited for dinner to be ready - I wish that I had taken a picture of the yummy burger. I love it when he cooks!!! (And they were really good!)

Grateful for my health!

I'm trying to figure out how to write what I'm grateful for without sounding whiny at the same time... I guess a good way to put it is that I am grateful for my health. Today was a migraine day. I don't get them too often and it didn't start off too bad, just enough to make me feel fuzzy around the edges and slow. Luckily I have an intern that is extremely capable and is running most of my therapy groups. After lunch, it escalated and I actually walked out before I embarrassed myself. Bethany, my intern carried on doing a fabulous job. After a half hour with my eyes closed, I returned and made it through the rest of the day. The thing that I am grateful for is that even though my migraines are extremely annoying, they're pretty short lived and don't happen very often. In between I live a fairly pain free life. So to those people who live with chronic pain, I salute you for your resoluteness and cheerful attitudes in the face of pain. I personally tend to be fairly grouchy when I hurt so it is a good thing for the most part I'm healthy.

As of right now, it's almost gone and I can be fairly certain that a normal night's sleep will finish it off. Maybe Tim will rub my head - I think I'd take that over the idea in the cartoon! (Sorry my humor gets a little punchy when my head is fuzzy!)

I'm grateful for... Tim!!

Sometimes it seems like Tim and I never see each other. Between his work and my work, scouts, kids activities, and just life when do we actually get time to be a couple?? Last week I decided that it had been too long, so I took a half of a personal day off of work and we went to the movies. Tim was on nights last week so we snuck away in the middle of the day to see the new James Bond movie. Even though it was all legit, I have to admit that I felt a little guilty. But it was great! All of the kids were safely at school and we didn't have to worry about who was killing who...
Then on Saturday, I was determined to finally make the family picture thing happen and so he took his only time home that weekend to humor me!
Today he finally gets a couple of days off and while we were all at school today, he put up the Christmas lights!! Something that I know he does just for me because I love it and he really doesn't care one way or the other. So today I just have to let him know how much I love him! Thanks for all you do for me!!!

Laundry's done!

I know, pathetic!! But I came from work today and had all of this energy, so I told the kids we were going to get the house picked up, jobs and homework done and laundry done before Dad got home from work. So we actually did it! Notice that I said house picked up, not necessarily clean, and by laundry done I mean all washed. The ones that are dry are at least folded and there is only one batch left in the dryer. None in the washer and the dirty clothes basket is empty (for now!) There is something very satisfying about going to bed knowing that it's done. I'm trying not to think about that fact that tomorrow the dirty clothes basket will no longer be empty...

Sabbath Day

It seems that only on Sundays do we tell ourselves as moms that it is okay to sit down in the middle of the afternoon and watch a movie. Most days, I rent a movie and wait until everything else is done before I watch it, which half of the time means that I don't actually get around to watching the movie. Yesterday I rented Kitt Kittredge to watch with the kids, but didn't get around to watching it. So it's Sunday afternoon, and it's a rated G movie - so we're piled on the bed watching a movie!

Pictures!!

For several weeks I have been trying to corral the family into taking family pictures. It is something that we have been really bad about doing and, well if I keep procrastinating it my kids will have moved out! Today we had a talent show for Kayleen for activity days, and then had a 2 1/2 hour window. So I've been telling the family that this is it!! So right after the talent show, we headed over to Murray park for our family photo shoot. It took some doing, every time we turned around one of the kids had disappeared. Jarom was in charge of setting up the shots and getting the timer ready, then it would take 10 shots. One of the settings we took, with each of us on a different step, I loved!, But in every one of the 10 pics, Spencer was making a face because the sun was in his eyes. One setting was just out because... well because it was not my most flattering pose and I get to edit!! In another setting, we had made Spencer mad so he had his tongue sticking out in ALL 10 PICTURES!! Of the other sets, in about 70% of them Robby was making a face or making rabbit ears!!! Of course since no one was manning the camera, and Jarom was on charge of setting up the next shots, I didn't figure this out until we got home and I downloaded them onto the computer!
So tonight I am grateful because despite all, I think we got a couple pictures of our whole family that I actually like!! And my family is grateful because they don't have to listen to me complain because we haven't done pictures yet! (Thanks Tim for understanding that I really wanted this and helping to make it happen!! Love you!)

I'm grateful for friends...

It's interesting that the older I get, the more I realize that I am clueless. Yes I know that my family already knows that I am clueless and happen to remind me of it on a regular basis, but I'm talking about a different kind of clueless. Yes I can be ditsy, forgetful, and wacky, but the clueless I'm talking about is the kind where you realize that you don't know it all. Life has taught me that I really have no idea what is going on in other people's lives. Each of us have our own trials and struggles. Things that effect how we interact with other people, how we view ourselves, and how we react to everyday situations. Many times the things that really affect us the most are the things that we don't share. I've also learned along the way that there are friends that you turn to at different times. Today I am grateful for a very special friend. Someone who understands a piece of me that no one else does. We became friends rather reluctantly, but once we realized that we could actually have someone who understood that piece, the friendship blossomed. So today I have to say thank you to a friend that came into my life at a time when I needed someone just like her and tell her that I am so happy for her news today.

And to my many, many friends, each of who have been that friend that I needed at some point in my life, I leave with you this fabulous thought...

I'm grateful for Christmas Music!!

I know, I know!! I do know the date and Thanksgiving is still 2 weeks away. I'm getting the itch to decorate, but I am resisting. This is my Gratitude month, in preparation for the holidays. But that being said... We spend a lot of time in the car and something about the close quarters often brings out the worst in my kids. A couple of times, in desperation, or maybe inspiration, I have switched the radio station to one of the two that are already playing Christmas songs and have started to sing along. In a situation like that, you can't just sing meekly along either, you find a song you know the words to (or at least some of the words) and really belt it out. It seems to take their minds off of the quarrels and brings them all into harmony over one thing - their wacky Mom! The added benefit - today when we got home I turned it on in the kitchen and... less fighting at home too!!! So bring it on - or you can simply enjoy it right here on my blog!!!

BTW Cutest blog has Christmas backgrounds posted, but again resisting until after Thanksgiving!

Be Still

I was sitting here staring at my blog, trying to decide what to write about to keep up my Gratitude Blogging Month. As I stared, my eyes focused in on the 6 Be's accessory. As some of you may know, my favorite of President Hinckley's "Be's" is not one of the original 6, but rather one of the 9 he included in his book. Be Still. To me there is such power in those two words. It never seems to fail that when I actually take the time to be still - which to me means time to listen, time to ponder, and the time to look around beyond myself at the world He has created - when I take the time to be still I am rewarded. I am rewarded with the ability to feel the spirit just a little bit more easily, to be just a little more patient, to be just a little more peaceful. When I think about the daily to do list, or about the things going on in the world, it is overwhelming, but there is a way to feel a little peace every day. First we must be still...

I'm grateful for Nights in!!!

Tonight I have nowhere to go. There are no errands that need to be run, nothing is urgently needed from the grocery store, Kayleen has dance, but it is someone else's turn to drive. The kids almost have their homework done and the kitchen is cleaned up from dinner. It is 6:30 pm and I AM GOING TO PUT ON MY PJS AND READ A BOOK!!! I hope that I have something good waiting... (and that no one comes to the door... that always happens!!!) If you need me I'll be under the covers ! :)

Grateful for added patience...

I'm tired tonight so I'm trying hard to think of what I'm grateful for. Though it's a small thing, and I blew it a little this evening, overall I am grateful for the fact that after a week of doing this how I seem to have more patience - maybe not right now, but at least overall. And if that is the case, then my experiment in gratitude is working. I recommend it.

Robby's Priesthood Ordination

Today was Robby's ordination to the priesthood. It is hard for me to believe that I now have two children that are old enough for young men!!!

You can see how thrilled he is at taking pictures with me!!!
He actually doesn't mind pictures, but he does like to make faces when ever possible. He is definitely a goof ball!!!
Funny, how we get after him, but I wonder who he gets it from??? (That's Tim's fingers in case you can't tell!)

It was a very nice day. I always love to see the priesthood in action. The deacon's quorum presidency came over and talked to him about his duties as a deacon. The priesthood is amazing. The power that comes with it is truly the power of God. I have seen it in action too many times in my life to deny it. How lucky I am to now have three members of my immediate family that hold this power. Thank you to all the priesthood holders that I know that honor this power and fulfill its duties. Thank you to my husband for being an example to my sons, to my sons, for wanting to do the right things, for leaders past and present who direct us and bless us. I have always been amazed at how different in personality each of the bishop's I have had are in personality, but when it comes to holding that power, making decisions and leading our family, each has been equal. I am also grateful that I have my own individual role. Being a wife and a help meet, a mother and daughter of God, gives me all of the purpose that I need in life. Focusing on that, remembering that, definitely helps me to keep life in perspective!

Robby!!

Today Robby turned 12. When he was born we were living in a tiny 2 bedroom 4plex in Orem. My contractions started during ER on Thursday night and I spent the night counting them and watching the clock. We were scheduled to be induced the next morning so when we got to the hospital things were already progressing.

Robby has been full of life since he was born. I remember when he was just little and a family member would babysit. I would tell them that they really had to know what he was doing all of the time, and not to assume that everything was okay. They never seemed to believe me until they had spent some time with him. I would often find Robby in very odd places -
on top of the refrigerator, under the crib (asleep - he was supposed to be in it!), in the downstairs neighbor's house (they weren't home, he climbed in through the window) and anywhere where there might be candy!!

Life has never been dull with Robby around. From a very young he loved to conduct experiments. He still likes to break things apart and mix things together - we are just working on the cleaning up part of it...

Robby is a very loving child. He has a big heart and love to do things to please. Sometimes he says things before he thinks about them, but he has always, even as a little child been very sensitive to how others feel.

I didn't get to spend much time with Robby for his birthday this year. We had plans to do things both Friday and Saturday, but Spencer ended up with strep and I've been hanging out with him. Tim took him to play yesterday and today they are at Grandma and Grandpa's watching the BYU game on their new TV. Grandma I'm sure is taking good care of him. So even though I am not with him, today I am grateful for Robby. He's a sweet sensitive kid, who ALWAYS is looking for a laugh, and especially likes it when others laugh with him. Thanks Robby for bringing laughter to our home!!

Today I'm grateful for...

Well, I'm having trouble coming up with something specific, not because I'm in a bad mood, I'm actually in a really good mood. There is no specific - maybe it's because I had the day off and therefore got most of the laundry done, but was still lazy too. We had planned to spend the day at BYU campus (Robby's request for his b-day), but Spencer was too sick to go. Tim took Robby and Kayleen (Jarom had school) and I stayed home with my sicky boy. I played on the computer, read a little, was lazy and still got most of the laundry done.

Of course maybe it's because Tim actually has 4 days off and I get to see him a little. At the moment he took Robby and his friend to see Madagascar, but we're hanging out all day tomorrow and he's off Sunday.

Maybe because it's actually been a day with very little contention at our house. That is probably because we kept the kids busy and in play mode most of the day (at least Robby and Kayleen), but whatever the reason, it's been a nice positive day!!

Actually, I think that last statement is the reason - it's been a positive day, little contention and happy kids (and husband). Can it last??? Maybe it all boils down the concept that Mom is happy... you get the picture.

Tagged - Seven Random things...

This come from my friend Valerie... Do people really want to know 7 random facts about me??? I feel like my everyday life is pretty random most days!!
I 'm not following the rules exactly with some of the links, but...

1. I waste time doing sudoku
2. I often spend my lunch hour (or should I say lunch 40 minutes) in my car with the radio on and reading a book - it is my alone time for the day!!
3. When possible I do my grocery shopping at 6am - its a great time to be in the stores!!
4. Related to number three - I really do not like large crowds. Fighting my way through tons of people is not my idea of fun and there are VERY few things that would be worth it to me!
5. I've been trying for weeks to get my family together for a family picture taking session. Something always comes up. Tomorrow is probably our last opportunity with Tim's schedule and we are doing it NO MATTER WHAT!!! Actually I shouldn't say no matter what because Spencer is sick - but as long as he is mostly better we are going - mud or no mud!! (we have melting snow today...)
6. Maybe this one is too random, but sometimes I like it when my kids are sick. Not that I like them to feel yucky, but I get to take care of them in a way that doesn't happen very often any more!
7. My best friend that I talk to every day is the sister that I detested when I was growing up!!!


Some of the people that I'm tagging may have done this before, but I've missed reading news from them so...
1. Jaqui (I miss reading your thoughts...)
2. Heather G. (I know you have random things - we share them every Sunday)
3. Annalisa (The most diligent blogger I know, married to the most random person I know! jk Love ya Geoffrey!!
4. For that matter - Geoff!!! ('cos I love your randomness)
5. Megan - because the randomness sometimes is what makes us smile
6. Mindi - because sometimes the best friends come from random beginnings...
7. Heather C. - because it will give you another post for your 30 days!!

No this doesn't count as my grateful moment today... I'll have to post again...

I am grateful Conferences are over!!!

Yesterday I shared my gratitude that my kids have great teachers, and how I really like Parent Teacher Conferences. Today, from the teacher perspective, my gratitude is that conferences are over!!! I like meeting with and interacting with the parents, and I like seeing how the kids interact with the parents, but it makes for 2 very long days, and I am grateful today that they are over and that tomorrow I get the day off!!!!

I am thankful for our teachers!!

Today I am grateful for my kids teachers. They have great teachers this year who motivate them and try to understand each of their strengths and weaknesses. Being at the same school, it is sometimes hard for me to keep my nose out of their classrooms, but as they have gotten older, I have tried to back off and hear about things the way that a "normal" parent would. Tonight we had Parent Teacher Conferences, and even though I have been in contact with each teacher and try to know what is going on in the classroom, I love to participate in conference and watch how the teacher interacts specifically with each child. My three very different children each has a teacher that nailed their strengths and identified their weaknesses and communicated with them about what we can do to improve. I know that I am lucky in the fact that I actually get a little bit of a say in who their teachers are, but I just have to say, we have GREAT teachers! Thanks!!

Grateful to be an American

I am grateful today for the fact that I am an American. Because of that I get the chance to be part of a process that listens to the people and allows us to pick our leaders. With all of the hype about this election, it was amazing to see people embrace their right to vote and brave the rain and snow today, and wait in line to vote early to be part of that process. Whatever we may say about our country, whatever complaints we may have - we are still better off than so many others. We have the right to free speech, the right to practice our religion, the right to debate and speak our mind, to take part in a process that will make our voices heard. We have wealth, we have opportunity, and we have freedom. I am proud today, to be an American!!

Gratitude for my Savior - Nov.2nd

After I received the email containing the reflections of Christ slide show, I really felt like I wanted to try and make the effort to go down and see the photographs myself. Tonight we took the kids and headed down. Words cannot describe the emotion I felt as I studied these pictures depicting the live of our Savior. The artist did an amazing job of capturing the emotions of the events from Christ's life and the spirit was incredibly strong. I am grateful today for the overwhelming love I feel when I make the effort to focus my thoughts!

This picture just makes me think of how He knows each of us individually, and is willing to take the time to listen to each of us!

Afterward we took some pictures of the family. It was a beautiful night, and the temple against the darkening sky was beautiful. The kids looked pretty good too! I was even able to get a picture of Tim and I!!

We also celebrated Grandpa Norris' birthday and we are glad that they were able to go with us!!

This last picture was one of my favorites with the fall leaves and the temple spires. I am amazed at how after just two days, how much better I feel. I know it won't be all rosy every day, but it's a start...