Attitude of Gratitude

This last Sunday, our family was asked to speak on Gratitude. Can I just say, I'm grateful that it's over. In preparing for our talks, Gracie reminded us over and over that she was not going to give a talk. No amount of bribery was going to change her mind. However, she did say that she would sing with Emma. So, Emma gave a short talk about the Ten Lepers, and how we should recognize where our blessings come from. Then, Emma and Gracie sang a song called, "My Heavenly Father Loves Me". I couldn't believe that they did it so well. I asked them later, if they were scared and both said "no".

Then we were privileged to hear from Ty and he told an awesome story that goes like this.

A long time ago in a faraway village lived a man who everyone did their very best to avoid. He was the type of person who believed that there was only one competent person in the world, and that one person was himself. Consequently, he was never satisfied with anything. His shoes never fit right. His shirt never felt comfortable. When his food wasn’t too cold, it was too salty, and when it wasn’t too hot, it was too bland.

If a field wasn’t sowed by himself, it was not sowed well. If he didn’t close the door, the door was not closed properly.

In short, he made a career of frowning, lecturing, criticizing, and mumbling about the incompetencies of every other person in the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, the man was married, which made matters all the worse. No matter what his wife did, in his eyes it was wrong. No matter what the unfortunate woman cooked, sewed, or cleaned—or even when she milked the cow—it was never satisfactory, and he let her know it.

She tried very hard to be a good wife, but it seemed the harder she tried, the less she pleased him. Finally, one evening she could take no more.

“I’ll tell you what we’ll do,” she told him. “Tomorrow I will do your chores and you will do mine.”

“But you can’t do my chores,” the man replied. “You don’t know the first thing about sowing, hoeing, and irrigating.”

But the woman was adamant. And on top of that, she was filled with a righteous anger that frankly astonished and frightened the man to the point where he didn’t dare disagree.

So the next morning the wife went off to the fields and the man began the domestic chores. After thinking about it, he had actually convinced himself he was looking forward to it. Once and for all, he would demonstrate to his wife how things should be done.

Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan. In fact, nearly everything the man touched turned into disaster. He spilled the milk, let the pig get into the house, lost the cow, burned the dinner, and ultimately set the house on fire, narrowly escaping with his own life.

When his wife returned, she discovered her husband sitting on a pile of ashes, smoke still rising from his clothes. But the woman wasn’t the type to rub things in. She helped him up, wiped the soot from his beard, fixed him a little something to eat, and then prepared a bed of straw for them to sleep on.

From that day forward, the man never complained about anyone or anything else for as long as he lived.

Bryce shared some more insight on the story of the Ten Lepers taken from a talk given by President Thomas Monson.

Then Bryce and Tyler played a duet of "Each Life That Touches Ours For Good". I was really impressed that they pulled it together so well. It really sounded beautiful and they learned to work together to get something done.

I was the lucky one to go next and so I shared some stories about Matt and my dad, and how to look for ways to live with Gratitude in our Hearts by following these fives steps.
Pray Always
Make the Best of Each Day
Give Service to Others
Don't Be Distracted By Worldly Things
Be An Example

Then Tom up and shared a story from President Hinckley. Here is the link to it:
What I learned as a Boy

I believe that life is all about recognizing the hand of our Savior in ALL that we do. He has given us life, he has given us families to be sealed to for Eternity, He has given us a Chance to Repent through the Atonement, and the ultimate gift to be able to Live with Him again.

This Thanksgiving Season, May we all recognize our Bounteous Blessings!

What I got out of the Glenn Beck Rally

For more pictures check out the links to the right



Glenn Beck Rally

August 21-29, 2010
We were fortunate to go to Washington D.C. for the Glenn Beck Restoring Honor Rally on August 28th. We actually took a tour with LDS Travel and spent a wonderful time with our guides, We toured through New York and saw the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, and an Awesome Toys R Us store at Times Square New York. We then spent a day at Gettysburg where we learned about the Civil War that raged, where lives were lost and brother was fighting against brother, and Father against Son.

Gettysburg

Then we toured through Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where we learned about the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and the Amendments to the Constitution. The kids favorite thing about Pennsylvania, was the Hershey Chocolate Factory! We also stayed in Lancaster and visited the Amish Country and were fortunate to try some homemade root beer and chips. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.



Thomas Jefferson's Home in Monticello

We then headed to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson and we were amazed at the wonderful gardens, and ingenuity of a great man. One who spent hours writing the Declaration of Independence. We gained a new respect and love for our country and the leaders that started our Country. Then we spent time learning about our Nations First President, George Washington. We toured through his amazing home in Mount Vernon. What a wise and humble man he was.



Mt Vernon, George Washington's Home

Arlington Cemetery was a humbling experience to take in. As we walked along the streets that surrounded the graves of those who have fought for our Country and Freedom, how does one keep the tears from coming? We visited the Tomb of the Unknown and watched the "Changing of the Guards". Then we headed to the north of there to see the Arlington House where General Lee was living when they took his property for burying the soldiers. What a sight from his front door. You can see Washington D.C., with the Capital Building, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and Jefferson Monument all neatly placed in a row. We even got to see the statue of the "Flag of our Fathers", at night. What an awesome sight.


View from Front of Arlington House, Arlington Cemetery

We spent 2 days in Washington D.C. which was not enough time to catch all that we wanted to. We saw the White House and then toured the Capitol Building. We spent some time in the 'Free' Smithsonian Museums and enjoyed the amazing sights and history that is kept there.



Glenn Beck Rally

Then on August 28th, we arose early to arrive at the Glenn Beck Restoring Honor Rally. I was in awe of the support he received from so many wonderful people. We were so amazed at how friendly everyone was and how many were there because their love for their Country. There was a lot said about restoring the Values to our Country.



Glenn Beck Rally

I learned that this is my time to be here on Earth and that it does matter what I do and say to others. It matters that I teach my children to be honest, caring, giving, God Loving, and Righteous. I have been saved for these latter days, because I was a Valiant Daughter of God, and I am called to teach my children to stand for Truth and Righteousness, no matter the cost. We need to have 'Faith' in Jesus Christ, our Savior, have 'Hope' that things will get better and that we can return to live in Heaven with our Father in Heaven, and then live like our example, Jesus Christ and have Charity, the Pure Love of Christ, be the center in all we do.

The Bear Lake

When I was a kid, we used to go to Bear Lake and swim for the day and go home totally burned to a crisp. We dug holes in the sand and then placed our towel over the hole that was big enough for our bottoms to sit down in and we would eat our lunch out on the sand. Yep, we are lucky to still have teeth after all of the grit that was in our meal. Then, at the end of our adventure, we would pile into the back of the truck and we would argue about who was going to get to sit on the wheel on the way home. It was the best seat in the back, because you could sit higher than anyone else, and you could feel the wind blow against your face. No seat belts, just 7 kids in the back of a truck with our towels and blow up toys we towed to the lake with us. Good Times!
Well, I still have fond memories of Bear Lake and this time we took the kids and slept overnight in a tent. We decided to follow Tyler's scout group up there and camp overnight. Then we could hook up with them after they 'Biked the Bear.' All 53 miles all the way around the lake. By the time we got out of here, it was almost 8:00 pm. We didn't want to leave that late, but due to schedules, we had no choice. We pulled in to the North Shore Hot Springs camping area, paid our $20 for the night, and pitched our tent in the field of grass. At least that's what we were told it was. It was more like, ragweed that was sparse on a sloped hill full of gopher, mice and rat holes. I wouldn't recommend this camp ground for campers like us. (It was the most expensive and crowded, and very bumpy ground for tents.)

Some good friends of ours went up with us, because her husband was biking the Bear with the scouts and she thought it would be fun to be up there too. So, we pitched our tents in the dirt and laid out the sleeping bags and mattress pads and started to doze, when the wind started to pick up. I had earplugs in and started to pray that the wind would stop. The next thing I know, Gracie, who is laying next to me is getting hit in the face with the tent pole. We couldn't even find Bryce because he was covered with the tent like it had just swallowed him up. Then I hear yelling and screaming outside, next to us. Our poor friends tent had totally collapsed and had eaten them up too. Then it tried to fill with air and take off like a hot air balloon. Their youngest was scared he was going to blow away, or really get eaten. Then, we hear the rest of the camp yelling, "Be Quiet" Except they didn't really say it that nice, the words they used have been banned from our home, but they start with an S and a U.
Well, their tent was toast, so they put the cooler from their car in the tent, so it wouldn't blow away, and they all piled in the car for the night. It's one of those fancy company cars that has an alarm and a sensor and every time they moved inside the car, the lights on the dash would turn on, and if you moved too much the alarm would go off. At this point what do you do, except laugh? Really. What do you do?

Bryce was still being swallowed by the tent, so I told him to use his bag to push up against the corner of the tent to keep the poles from hitting him and Gracie in the head. So he did, and then we could feel these cold gusts of wind that blew right through the sleeping bags and blankets. It was a night to remember. Emma and Tom slept like rocks and didn't really know what happened that night. Bryce and I kept pulling the blankets and sleeping bag over Gracie as she kept kicking them off all night long. At some point in the night, the wind stopped and we slept great.


After that long night, I was grateful that we were headed for a day of playing and relaxing. I did settle down on a blow up mattress on the beach for a while, after I had sprayed the girls and myself with sunscreen. It was nice to watch the clear blue water flow up on the shore and to see how beautiful that lake really is. It's really quite a sight. The water has always been known to be freezing cold, but it wasn't too bad this time of year. The kids played in the water for hours and built sand castles in the sand and burred the boys up to their necks. We ate lunch and roasted hot dogs for dinner on the beach and had a wonderful day. It was just a 'Bear' of a night!

We hooked up with the scouts and picked up Tyler from the group and showed him how to use our friends 'skim board'. That was fun, but harder than it appears. Bryce and I tried several times to figure it out. Tyler was a little bit tired from the bike trip and has been feeling rather sore when he tries to sit down. (The whole group is having a hard time sitting down.)
If we didn't have trials, we wouldn't grow, and we couldn't enjoy the good times in life. This was a very memorable trip, one that I will never forget anyway, and look forward to good times ahead.

We All Have Our Moments

Emma and Gracie in the clean living room

Friday morning, we all got up early and attacked the "To Do List". We needed to get our jobs done so that we could play on Saturday. We have divided the chore list into two, since Matt left, we needed to revise things, like dishes, lawn mowing, and cleaning the house. Gracie was Bryce's buddy and Emma was Tyler's buddy for the day. I helped both of the boys with their jobs. We first started with the Living Room. I needed to rearrange the furniture and clean out behind the sofa. I love to rearrange stuff, it makes it feel new again. We found some little doll shoes, hair clips, and a couple of books. The living room is my favorite room in the house. It gives me a sense of peace when the rest of the house is in chaos.
After finishing the living room, we started on the kitchen and dining room. At this point, Gracie went and laid down in the hallway and started to cry. "I wish Matt was here so he could play with me" she says. "I know, me too honey." I replied. "Can we just go and pick him up from the MTC so he can play with us?" She asked. "I wish we could, but he is helping Heavenly Father right now, and he needs to stay for two years." My heart was aching for him to be home, but I know he is where he needs to be. It was really endearing to see her want him home so much.
We worked hard and fast to finish the cleaning and then sat down for lunch. It was Gracie's turn to pray, and she always blesses Matt that he will learn his Spanish, and that he will hurry home. Tears welled up in my eyes and I started to cry, thinking that this is hard sometimes. I keep trying to stay busy, and when the tears come, I try to think of something else really quick. It wasn't working. "Oh shoot!" I think, "I can't stop those darn tears." After the prayer, Tyler looks up at me and says, "Are you alright mom?" "Yes. It's just a moment." "Oh," he replies, "I had one of those when I got my letter from Matt."
This made me laugh a little, and I quickly dried my eyes and started talking to the kids of the events for July 24th. Bryce and I left at 5:45 for the 5k and then Tom and his family met us at the finish line. It's been good to share running time with Bryce to keep us happy!
Here are some shots of the 24th of July parade in Salt Lake City. It's our favorite parade. The highlight every year is being able to see the Prophet or one of his counselors. What an awesome feeling to be there.

Bryce, Tyler, Krissy, Gracie, Emma, Grandma Hales, Bill, Diane and Leon, SLC, parade


Krissy and Bryce after running in the Deseret News 5k before the parade


The highlight of the Parade, President Dieter F Uchtdorf

The Night I Was Almost Eaten By a Wild Beast

Book Club Camp went as well as it does every year. Tom, of course, was put in charge of the movie for Sunday night. But, instead of bringing up the huge screen and the projector, he brought up my computer monitor and his lap top and hooked them up to the generator. This way, we were hauling stuff that was more compact. Anyway, we all sat down to watch "Samuel the Lamanite" with the gang and about half way through the movie, we see 2 deer prance through the camp. A few minutes later, the deer ran through the opposite direction. In my mind, I'm thinking, hmmm, they must have gotten spooked by something. Then my mind starts to wonder, again. You know it's sometimes a curse to have such a great imagination. So, then I think of all the possibilities that it might have been, a kid, or a mountain lion. You know, it's possible, we are in the mountains.

Well, it's getting dark about now, and the movie isn't quite over, and Emma and Gracie have fallen asleep on me and Tom. So, the movie ends and Tom and I put the head lamps on our head and start to clean up. I take Gracie up to the truck and put her in her car seat and buckle her up, because we are heading out for home tonight and it is almost 10:00 pm. Tyler had scout camp the following morning, so I needed to hurry and clean up our stuff, so we could leave. I head back to camp and start to fold up the table cloths that I bring every year, and I hear something in the bushes on the other side of the creek. I looked up and saw something walking toward me with big glowing eyes. My head lamp was not as bright as I wanted it to be, so I start to walk backward towards Tom who is about 15 feet behind me. The thing was still walking toward me and in the process of trying to brighten my head lamp, I turned it off, apparently it was on the highest setting. Then I start to get a little scared and I can't scream, my voice went all shaky and stuff, like when you're in a bad dream and you can't scream and you move in slow motion. In my mind I'm thinking that this is a mountain lion and it scared the deer away. In my shaky voice, I say, "Oh my gosh, Tom, Oh my gosh," He says "what?", At first he was thinking that I had caught the table cloth on fire, because I was folding them by the citronella candles grandma had burning on the tables to get rid of the mosquito's. So, I'm trying to keep moving back and then he see's the glowing eyes too and says, "get behind me." So, by now, I realize that this thing coming up on me is very big, at least to my waist. I backed up behind Tom and I see fur and lots of it. The thought that came to mind was, "it's a wolf, and I'm going to get eaten." Then as it got closer, I realized that it was a huge German Shepherd. In my anger, because it scared me so bad, I yelled at it to get out of there and go home. It turned around and headed back the way it came. It probably doesn't even know where home is.

My heart was pounding in my throat and my knees felt like I just ran 10 miles and were shaking and felt like jello. The dog walked away, but apparently went up to the parking area where Bryce was carrying sleeping Emma to the truck. He saw the dog start walking toward him so he tells Emma to "get in the truck" and he throws her in and her shoe fell off in all the commotion. She starts to cry about her shoe and Bryce is scared half to death because of this huge dog. He reaches down and grabs her shoe and throws it in the truck and then has to close the back door to the truck before he shuts the front door, just before the dog gets to the truck.

We carried the plastic baseball bats around with us for the rest of the night, and watched for the dog, hoping that it wouldn't come back, but it did. Tom didn't even realize he had told me to get behind him. His protective instincts must have kicked in.

Go ahead and laugh all you want. I know someday, I will laugh at this too. The dog actually turned out to be nice enough, at least he never growled at anyone, and never ate any of us. But in the dark, he looked pretty scary, especially when all I could see was his glowing eyes for a while as he advanced toward me.

Happy 40th Birthday To Me

This is a picture of my mountain. Ben Lomond Peak! This picture was taken from my front yard. It is a a whopping 9,712 feet high and 15.2 miles round trip, but you only gain 2300 feet while hiking. We started at the trail head at the top of North Ogden Divide and the hike took us 9 hours to complete. But, I need to back up just a bit and tell how we started.
Since I was going to join the rest of the older folks in the 'Over the Hill' category, I wanted to do something spectacular for my birthday. I wanted to accomplish something that has been on my 'To Do List' for years. I wanted to climb Ben Lomond Peak.
I had made arrangements for the girls to stay with my mom for the day so we wouldn't have to carry them all the way up and back. It's a good thing we did. That is a serious hike for just my own body, let alone, having to carry dead body weight up would have really been discouraging and would have given me second thoughts. So, we dropped the girls off with Grandma, who was more than happy to take them.
We were headed for the store next, we purchased granola bars, wint o green lifesavers, milk chugs (for when we got back), beef jerky,apples and bananas. Matt was in the middle of taking an oral typhoid immunization that has different side effects like nausea, fever, vomiting, headaches and so on. He had to stay on schedule and take 4 pills over a 7 day period. He forgot to take his pill this morning, so we ran home and he took it. Then we got up there to the trail head and realized that Matt and Bryce forgot their water bottles. I had packed two, but that was not enough for 2 boys and myself. Might I add, two very big boys. So, we ran home in the van and got the water bottles and headed up again. This time, it was for real. It was now 11:30 a.m. and we were just starting our hike. I was sure that we would be back by 5:00 at the latest. HAHA!

The trail starts heading up the hill with a lot of switch backs and about 2 hours into it, Matt was not feeling very well. He stopped to take a break and get hydrated. At this point, I'm still thinking that we will make it back to our car by 5:00. Little did I know. So, we started plugging away and listened to Tyler giggle and laugh and talk. Matt tried to convince him that it was a waste of energy to talk so much, but he just kept talking anyway. We stopped at a nice spot to eat some lunch so I snapped a picture of the cool trees that are growing crooked.

There were a lot of big black beetles crawling around the ground that made me kind of creep out a bit, but Tyler thought that they were cool and wanted to bring them home with him. He is seriously still in that kid phase. He loves stuff like that.
Well, 4:00 came and went and we were actually at the base of the peak, ready to finish the hike. We looked up and realized there was snow on the back side, and lot of it. Another group came down and told us to go around it, a little scary, but they had a younger girl with them about Tyler's age that made it just fine. We could totally handle that. Right!

At this point, my fingers are swollen and the apple I ate is not sitting well in my tummy. We began the hike, and as we got farther up, we realized that all of the switch backs are covered in snow. The higher we went the deeper it got. We started to go around, but realized it was getting a little too scary for me, so we started to make our own switch backs in the snow. Have you ever had swollen stiff fingers and then stuck them in the snow? OUCH! My fingers were burning. I mean really burning. They were just swollen from having them hang down all day and getting lots of blood to them, but not a lot out of them. At this point Matt says, "Hey Mom, do you really want to climb all the way up there? You can come back and do it another day if you want." There is no stinking way I'm turning around now, besides, I looked down and was afraid of how we were going to get off the mountain. We cut back and forth in the snow and reached some dry ground. We climbed over the snow bank and started climbing up to the top of the peak.


We made it!






We did it! I really had a lot of fun doing it. Matt, Bryce and Tyler were troopers for going with me. On our way back, I pulled out an emergency blanket from the back pack and we had talked about sitting on it and sliding down the snow. Once you sit and realize how fast you will be going and how steep the hill is, it makes you take a second thought of the insanity. The blanket began to rip, so we bagged that idea and just climbed down the rocky hill.
I had a great opportunity to talk with them about lessons in life and about family, and how much it means to me to have them be so good. I really feel blessed to have the family I have. I love having their support and I love supporting them. They are a great strength to me and will always be.
We finished our hike at 8:25 p.m. What a hike, what a day and what an awesome birthday. It is amazing what you can accomplish if you set your mind to it.
Tom met us at home with the girls and they had watched Alice in Wonderland with Grandma and then made me some very special lemon cake with yummy frosting and raspberries on top. What a treat!

Then Comes the Blessings

Since the time, our son Matthew turned in his mission papers, we have been tried and tried. Here is a list of things that have happened since, along with the blessings.
Realizing that we still have 19 more days left and a lot can happen, I'm posting this anyway.

October 4, 2009: Hit a deer while driving home from Monte Cristo. We were driving through Eden when it happened.
Blessings: The air bags didn't deploy. Bryce wasn't driving. Tom was driving and didn't swerve to miss it, because there were ravines on both sides of the road that dropped 30-40 feet down. A policeman stopped and assessed the damages and wrote up a report. Finding later that the Insurance company would not have covered it without the report.

February 1, 2010: Bryce got in a car accident, in the van totaling 5 accidents for the van in 5 years.
Blessings: No one was hurt, and he had just taken Emma to school so there were no kids in the car. Tyler had stayed home also and was taking care of Gracie. It wasn’t Bryce’s fault.

February 1, 2010: Matt is breaking out in hives. Don’t know why.
Blessings: It only lasted 2 days and they were gone. He had them for 2 weeks last time.

March 16, 2010: Gracie cut all of her long hair off. It was choppy and short. Her hair was long to her bum and we were scheduled to have our pictures taken the next week.
Blessings: At least she didn’t shave her head or cut it to the scalp.

March 21,2010: Matt's car battery is dead. We keep charging it, but it won't hold the charge for long. He called from school to come jump his car.
Blessings: I got to teach Matt how to jump his car without help. Seeing that it is a Standard transmission, I taught him how to get it rolling and pop the clutch. He made it home.

March 22,2010: Matt got a parking ticket for facing his car the wrong direction on the road. He was trying to park his car facing down hill so he could pop the clutch if his battery was dead. 35.oo for the ticket.
Blessings: He was able to roll his car to start it with the dead battery. He learned to not park facing the wrong way.

March 26, 2010: Family pictures were scheduled and it was snowing, blowing and cold.
Blessings: It stopped snowing the moment we parked the car and entered the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and the sun came out.

March 31, 2010: Tyler hurt his foot playing soccer.
Blessings: It’s not broken,

April 2, 2010: Tyler’s foot still hurts, so we had an x-ray and still no knowledge of what’s going on.
Blessings: We had a boot and we had him wear it until his appointment with Dr. Goucher. I also learned that he is not a great Orthopedic Surgeon, so for future accidents, we won't go to him.

April 5, 2010: Gracie jumped off a chair and landed on Emma’s head with her nose. Broke her nose and she looks awful.
Blessings: She didn’t loose teeth or split Emma’s head. She is definitely still alive.

April 6, 2010: Matt was breaking out in hives. We got 5 inches of snow, and Matt got in a car accident after running a red light.
Blessings: Matt’s hives went away after just 1 day. He was driving the Buick instead of the Geo Metro. The Buick didn’t look very bad. The girl was driving by herself and no one was injured. The Buick had comprehensive insurance so all we had to pay out was 500 dollars.

April 7, 2010: Tyler got to see Dr Goucher for his foot. He got put in a cast.
Blessings: This didn’t happen before the play Annie Get Your Gun. He only has to wear it for 2 weeks instead of 6-8 weeks. He’s received a lot of attention from a lot of kids including his older brothers.

April 16, 2010: Monica called to say that Cameron was sick, so I picked him up and took him home from school. The garage door spring broke when I went to pick him up.
Blessings: We weren’t under the garage door when the spring broke. Tom knew someone that could fix it and it only cost us 75.00. It broke when no one was in the way. I was able to help Cameron.

April 16, 2010: Matt locked himself out of the car.
Blessings: I had been prompted to go and tape a spare key in the back of the Geo to save him from doing that again like he did this last winter. He claims I saved the day.

May 7, 2010: The lawn mower won't start and chain keeps coming off.
Blessings: Tom got to spend some time with the boys teaching them how to tighten a chain by taking out some of the links, and he also taught them how to hot wire the lawn mower. The seat safety mechanism isn't working, so we need to hot wire it every time. We still can mow our lawn with the ancient riding mower. We also got a new ignition for the mower because the other one was worn out.

May 21, 2010: The garage door gears stripped out and can’t open the door. We were getting ready for a date, and found that the door wouldn’t close. Oh Raspberries. So, Tom called and got it fixed on June 7, 2010.
Blessings: It didn’t cost us 200.00, It only cost 110.00 and the guy that fixed it was really nice and friendly.
Now, the belt is making an awful noise and needs to be fixed. (To be continued)

June 8, 2010: We lost 2 trees; One of our peach trees and a flowering pear tree.
Blessings: Our favorite neighbor Leon Fowers, helped us till our garden, pull out the dead trees and cut them up with the chain saw. We have connections with Lomond View Nursery and we were able to haul the dead wood over there to be burned. I also had a fresh loaf of banana bread to give him.

The ultimate blessing in all of this, is knowing that our Father in Heaven is aware of what we are going through and sees what we need to become better people. He loves us and won't let us suffer through this alone. I have been so grateful for Tom, who can see the bright side in things when it gets overwhelming for me. He completes me. I am grateful for the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the knowledge of Satan and his plan to tear us down. We are trying to keep things in perspective and hope and pray that we will become all that we need to while here on earth.

The Best Daddy's Ever

Seeing that it is June and Father's Day is on the 20th of the this month, I thought I would write about the best daddy's ever. I have a great dad, of whom I owe a lot of gratitude for. He taught me how to change a tire, start a truck with issues by sticking a screwdriver in the choke to open it up, and how to change the oil in a car. He was there when I learned how to ride a bike and skinned my knees. He was there when I fell down on our driveway with my broken foot and fixed my owies. He even took me driving in our little Toyota truck to teach me how to drive a stick. Bless his heart! I mean that literally. He has been there for us in the middle of the night when we were sick with some dreaded gomboo, and is now there for me when my kids have the gomboo. He just knows that a little bit of 'Jack Daniels' goes a long way. HaHa. (Inside joke.) He really knows his stuff when it comes to medicine, as a Pharmacist, he is the best 'Pillar of Society' I know. Every once in a while, I meet someone who swears my dad saved their life once by helping them choose the best remedy for their illness. He has always been a giant in my life, that I look up to and has a very tender heart. I really do love him forever and back.



I also need to express my gratitude for an awesome Hubby. He is the father of our children and they all look up to him with the utmost respect. When I first met him, it was his huge smile that caught my eye. Oh wow! He can still flash that smile any day and melt my heart. He offered us (Karen, Eric and I) a ride home from marching band practice one day. The rest is history. Really, he was everything I ever wanted and needed. He used to play the piano in the band room after practice and he could get quite the crowd standing around requesting songs. I love to sit on the piano bench by his side and watch him play.



On May 28, the last day of school, he promised Emma that he would take her to school on the motorcycle. Our motorcycle is not anything to brag about, it is ancient and was used by Tom and his brothers when they were kids. It is often having difficulties staying in running condition. Nevertheless, Tom had promised her, and take her, he did. We found a pink helmet on clearance and Emma was so excited to go riding. She could hardly stand herself. Tom kicked it off to a start and helped Emma climb aboard. There they were, the happiest faces on earth. Tom was happy because Emma was happy and Emma was happy, because she got to go with her daddy on the motorcycle.



Tom made the round to school successfully and waiting so patiently, was little Gracie, who was set on her daddy taking her to Preschool on the motorcycle. She didn't really understand that preschool was out for the summer and she won't be going back until next fall. So, daddy humored her and took her for a ride up and down our street. She was yelling to me "Look at me mommy, I'm riding on the front." Oh, little does their daddy know, just how much that means to them. They will probably remember that for the rest of their lives. Emma talked about it all day after school. She remembers how she smelled like the motorcycle all day. She just giggled and talked about how fun it was with Gracie.



Not only do the girls love Tom, the boys do too. He has often taken them to soccer games, coached their soccer team, taught them how to fix the mower, their car, spent countless hours with them on their math assignments, and has had the patience of Job while doing it. He has never yelled at the kids. He has spoken very sternly, but has never yelled. He has been a great example to them in all aspects. He has a love for the gospel, our country, his family, hard work, and the Savior. I would like to be like him when I grow up. I'm sure that he got his patience from his mom. She did a great job raising him and I still feel like I got the best of the bunch. I also think that he is the strongest of the bunch as well. That's an inside joke with me and his family. No one has dared challenge him yet. I have a love and respect for him that will carry through eternity. Thank heaven for Forever Families, because I really love mine.

Broken Noses

Day 1
The Monday after our family pictures, I was visiting the restroom, when I heard an awful scream and cry coming from the living room. The next thing I know, Tyler is running back to get me and I'm hurrying as fast as I can, but not fast enough. Then Tom comes running back with our little Gracie in his arms.
Gracie was telling her brothers that she had invisible bat wings. She was standing on a chair in the living room and was preparing to jump off and fly! Right? That doesn't happen in real life. Emma was in front of the chair on all fours preparing to jump up. You see where this is going right? Just as the one jumped off to fly, so did the other and down came Gracie on Emma's head as she was going up.
How does a nose get that big on a little girl? OUUCH! She did not look so good.

Day 2
On Wednesday, we were getting ready to run Tyler to the doctor because he had hurt his foot on Tuesday playing soccer, when Gracie says, "Mommy, you have two heads". What? OK. I'm thinking, signs of a concussion are double vision. This is where WebMD comes in handy. I knew she couldn't smell, and she sounded like she had a stuffy nose when she talked, but double vision is not something I wait around for to see if it gets better. We took her into Doctor Matt, and he says to keep an eye on her, but he didn't see any signs of a concussion. If she is still seeing double tomorrow, bring her in. It was probably due to all the swelling around her eye. Well, she stopped seeing double, but couldn't smell anything for 2 weeks. She couldn't even smell the skunks when we drove by a dead one. Lucky girl.

Day 3
Now we tell her that there is no such thing as invisible bat wings or invisible anythings, except the Holy Ghost. It took 3 weeks for the bruise to go away and I'd like to say that it has made her more cautious, but that would be a lie.

Don't Worry Mom, It Will Grow Back

One morning, Gracie plopped herself down on the tile floor and waited for me to finish fixing her breakfast. She looked so cute with her hands squishing her cheeks and the soft puppy dog look in her eyes just melted my heart. I made her promise that she would stay just like that so I could grab the camera. What a little angel. Really, she was just waiting so patiently. This was the last picture we got of her long beautiful hair. I really miss her long hair. It still had some of that natural curl she was born with. Sure enough, that cute curly hair was not going to stay forever. It grew out with the rest of her hair.

March 16, I went with my sister and mom and Matt to lunch and Tyler was left in charge of the girls. You see, it was Matt's and mom's birthday and we wanted to celebrate. Tyler was unaware of the little darling that had gone in her room and sat in front of her mirror and with a pair of preschool scissors had started chopping away. She had two small ponytails in the front on top of her head, and she chopped those off, then she began to chop at the sides. When I got home, I thought, wow, you need a hairdo girl. Your hair looks awful. So I put her up on the counter and she put her feet in the sink while I began to comb her hair. That's when I realized that she had done an awful thing. She had a 4inch wide strip of hair down the back and that was pretty much all that was left untouched. Then the tears began to well up in my eyes. How could this happen? Why didn't Tyler catch her before this happened? How did she get a hold of those scissors? Why did she do this? Didn't she know that we have family pictures planned for next week? Doesn't she understand that I don't have time to fix this right now? We are supposed to be at the school in 30 minutes and Tyler needed his makeup on for the dress rehearsal for the school play, Annie Get Your Gun.
So, I grabbed my scissors, meant for cutting hair and a squirt bottle and I wet her down and started chopping away the uneven, straight hair. "Don't worry mom, It will grow back". "I still have hair mommy, look." What do you say to that? I am used to her hair short now. I still have to curl it everyday to cover up some of the deep cuts she took with the scissors. The front was the worst. She wears one or two ponytails in her hair everyday to cover up the uneven cuts. Oh well, it will grow back, and she is still cute without the long curls down her back. Who knew that preschool scissors could do that?

The Call

On February 17, friends and family gathered around one person. Waiting to hear the big news. In my heart, I as a mother, kept praying, 'Please, Heavenly Father, help me to be ok with where ever he is called to serve.' I know that his call was sent for him and he is going to be the best missionary for the people he will serve and share the gospel with.
The anticipation was killing us. The mail came at 4:30pm and he was the first to get it. He hid in the office with it held tight to his chest. I had inquired as to whether it had arrived, but the smile and blush in his face revealed it had, long before he could admit to the fact that it indeed had come. He then hid his call, and left for his Physics lab at Weber State University. He wouldn't be home until 8:30.
I tried to calm myself and clean up the family room which would soon be filled with people who love him. We sat in the room, but couldn't hold still because of the excitement that was in the air. Some bets were made, he would go State-side, some other bet that he would go to Europe. Don't worry, no money was involved.
So, 8:30 arrived and we were all so excited. He was home and the anticipation was killing me. We were ready for anything. I had even taped a world map up on the family room wall, just so we could find the place if we didn't know where it was.
He slowly cut open the envelope revealing a letter signed by the Prophet of God. Dear Matthew Thomas Hales..... You are hereby called to serve in the Chihuahua, Mexico mission.....It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months.....You will report to the Provo, Utah Missionary Training Center on June 30,2010.
To be honest, I was relieved that he went foreign and that he was still close enough that I could still drive there if I had too. So, land of the "little dog". I called a lot of people and shared the news. Who wouldn't be proud of a son that was worthy to serve the Lord. Chihuahua. Wow. Where do I begin. Well, first we start with the passport, then the visa, then all of the shots, the clothes that you buy for the mission and mission only, knowing that the clothes you buy will probably not even make it through the 2 years. I'm on a mission myself to find the best pair of shoes that will last at least a year. He will be walking up to 20 miles a day in the dessert, so they need to be good ones. I will definitely be getting him some cushioned inserts for his shoes as well.
There are a lot of good things happening down there in Mexico, and there are a lot of bad things. Matt's mission actually includes Juarez, where the drug lords have rampaged and thrived on the fear of others. I was sitting in Sunday School last Sunday and I heard a scripture that really stuck in my heart. Joshua 1:9 ....Be Strong and of a Good Courage,be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest. This is my new theme. I know that I need to be strong, and so will Matt. The Lord will bless him and protect him while he is there doing his work. This is an opportunity that will bless his life and the lives he touches while he is there.
Life is good. It really is a great blessing to have Matt so willing and excited about going. May the Lord Bless Him.

Wading through the Bog

Today was the day, I was determined to mow the lawn. Regardless of the fact that it rained all night. We have had problems with the mower for quite some time and we are still working out the kinks. After fertilizing the lawn 2 times this year, you can imagine just how fast and thick it has grown with all of the rain we have received this past month. We have been trying to help family with moving, Tom with his project at U of U, working, and squeezing in a trip to California before Matt leaves and during all of this time, the lawn has grown to over a foot. Well, I put the mower to the test and set the blade on the highest setting and started cutting away at the bog of grass. Really it's only a 1/2 acre, no biggy!

I started at 9:00 a.m. and finished at 1:30 p.m. This was not my idea of fun. I love to mow the lawn, but not when it takes this long. Where the trampoline had been, the grass was so long and wet (like I said, it's been raining)(a lot), it took me several passes over the area with the push mower to get it cut. The lawn mower had met it's match. It died several times while mowing the bog. Once, it was cut, it looked all yellow due to the bottom never getting any sun. Not to mention that the grass was still not cut evenly because some of it was still laying flat on the ground.

No big deal right? Well, while trying to move the trampoline, I had to take the ladder off of it and lost one of the springs in the very long grass. I waded through it with my feet and hands and looked almost everywhere for that spring. Darn it! Wouldn't you know, there it was on my last section of grass to mow and I tore it with the mower blade. I was actually using extra precautions, by holding the mower front up and going as slow as I could, just so I wouldn't hit it, but I did. Now, I need to replace that spring.

So, I started to think about how this relates to my life, because I had a lot of time to think. (4 1/2 hours) In my life, I let too many things pile up on me. You know, like someone said something that hurt my feelings and I held it in and refused to let it go. Someone else lied to me about something, and I didn't let it go. Things were getting broken and my heart was one of them. Dealing with a siblings divorce and the sorrow that comes when you know there is nothing you can do, except pray and love them. Yet you still hear rumors about it that only make it worse. Another sibling is stuck in a hard place and I wanted to help, but finding out that it is better to let them grow from this and I need to stay out. There have just been a lot of emotions that have built up inside and I wasn't sure how to work them out until today.

I started to carry a huge load on my shoulders of things I wouldn't let go and it started clouding out the sun. Or I should more appropriately say, the Son. Sometimes, when I try to talk things out with others, trying to lighten the load I carry, I say the wrong things and make it worse. This is not my intent, and I hate feeling like this. I told a good friend that I just needed to figure out what I'm supposed to learn from this, and move on. Grow from it and move on.

So, if I could have kept up with the lawn on a schedule and mowed it every week, the grass wouldn't have been so hard to mow. It would have taken less time and it would have looked healthier after it was cut. The spring would not have been lost and run over. Now, it is going to take time to help the lawn look healthy again.

In life, if I would have let the things go, and worked it out when it happened, it would have been a lot healthier for me and I wouldn't have lost my connection with the Son. Even though I was reading my scriptures and going to church and feeding me spiritually, I was still buried by the other things that were hiding me from the Son. Now, it is taking some time for me to heal and get back to a scheduled time to keep my relationship close, with a loving Savior.