If you're happy and you know it...suck it up!

So, this was the last sentence of Elder Nelson's letter a couple of weeks ago in the letter he wrote home.  I have been thinking a lot about this and wondering what he really meant when he wrote this.

You know Elder Nelson has never written one negative thing home since he has been on his mission.  I personally have been floored by this.  I mean I would expect that from Stephen, but personally I didn't expect it from Michael.  Mainly because he has always been more solemn and thoughtful than Stephen (the clown) and he would share everything going on inside of him(the good, the bad, and the ugly) with me before his mission.  So, it was a bit of a surprise to see this change in him.  Although it has been such a huge blessing!  We have certainly had our share of trials since Michael has been gone and he has known this since they started before he left, so maybe it was a conscious effort on his part...either way I am just so grateful to never have had to worry about him.  I asked him once at Mother's Day or Christmas over the phone, "are you really always that happy? you never share any struggles you have had with us"...to which he replied, "don't worry, I have my journal". And that was all he said.  Wow, amazing.  So, my point is that Michael's consistent positive and happy attitude on his mission has been so contagious to our family.  And it has been so wonderful.  I am hoping that it doesnt end when he comes home. 

He has also talked about President Monson's talk in October 2008 "Finding Joy in the Journey"...and this seems to be Michael's attitude about his mission.  But isnt that what the gospel all about?  Isnt' this what an understanding of the Plan of Salvation should do for us?  Should'nt we all be finding Joy in the Journey, because we know who we are? Because we know the big picture?  Becasue we know whose we are....Because we know why we are here....Because we know he lives and loves us and has control of this universe?  Shouldn't we be happy? Knowing what we know...no matter what happens?  Well, I know that is easier said than done.  I mean we know that none of us will escape this life without trials right?  So, with this in mind I guess when those trials come we just have to remember what we KNOW and WE KNOW that this life is temporary and that if we endure it well then all that our Father in Heaven has will be ours...all the love, all the joy, all the blessings....sooooo..."If you're happy and you know it....suck it up"! 
;)

Simple Pleasures

I started watching Reese and Bridger fulltime on Monday.  Reese comes over at 9:00 while Bridger is in school.  Then we pick him up at 11:30.  And everyday when we are on our way into the house, Reese stops to pick one of the dandelions out of my front lawn.  Then he yell's "Aunt Weeses"! (that's what he calls me) and he brings me the dandelion...just to brighten my day! 

 And guess what?...

It does! 

 It's like my own little ball of sunshine and so is Reese!

Ahhhh, the simple pleasures of life!

Spring has sprung!

Spring Treats

Don't you just love these adorable cup cakes?

Sophia made these for us while she was visiting last week.

The petals are just large marshmallows cut in ovals and pressed in colored sprinkles with m&m's in the middle.  Of course we made butter cream frosting. They were so cute and so delicious!

And here is my Kit-Kat Cake that I made for Easter Sunday. We didnt color eggs or anything this year so I just made this cake.  It was super easy of course...I only do easy.  Just a chocolate cake mix with home made chocolate butter cream frosting with Kit-Kat bars all around the edges.(I did have to cut them down a bit to fit the heighth of the cake)  Then a big ribbon around it with some silk flowers in the middle.  So pretty and simple!  It was delicious too!

Hope you had a great Easter with lots of treats too!

Happy Spring!

My new job

Here are my two nephews....Bridger 6, and Reese 3!

These two cuties are my NEW JOB!

I know that I mentioned that daycare was not my favorite job while I was raising my kids, however, now that my kids are older and since I am their Auntie! 

 It's a whole different story! I get to work from home and no paperwork!

Aren't they adorable?  Fun, Fun, Fun!

Staying in control

    Lately I have been feeling really out of control!  What does that mean anyway?  I mean some people are control freaks!  Me?  I am not a control freak.  However, I have learned over the many years that I have been alive that it is not good to just go with the flow and do whatever comes naturally.  No! This will get you into very big trouble!  So, there is a certain amount of control that every person needs in their lives.  Maybe it is "self discipline" I am really talking about.  Me?  I've lost it!  And when I do, I feel like crap!  Don't you?  But I refuse to let it get the best of me as I always have in years past.  Never give up, right? 

     So, self control, or self discipline, is the name of the game for me right now. Starting today.  I love the feeling of taking my time and doing what is most important and feeling in control of my emotions, my appitites, and my actions. This week was spring break and I have been hanging out with my kids of course. So, I've been sleepin in, exsessive spending, exsessive eating out, watching movies late at night and just being irresponsible! It's hard to NOT follow my teenagers and just have fun...because I am really just a teenager at heart!  Dont know if I ever will grow out of that...honestly.  However, that is the challenge for me.  To act like an adult (all the time) and control myself...because heavens knows that when you get to be my age...it starts to show! 


~Lisa

Confessions of a stay at home Mom

My kids are ages 21, 16, and 13 now.  I have spent most of their growing up years staying home with them.  It was not always easy to make that sacrifice but somehow we made it happen. So, here are some of the things I have discovered while I've been a stay at home Mom.

1. It was harder for me to be home with my kids when they were little than it is now that
    they are older.  Little ones demand so much constant attention and care.

2. I would not make a good single parent. How do people do it?  Could not have done
    it without a wonderful husband and father.  Make sure you "Marry Up"!

3. There were several times when I had to find some kind of work I could do at home
     and it seems that it always came down to watching other people's kids.  Being
    Mommy to my own when they were little was draining enough.  Daycare...not my
    favorite thing to do. 

4. The other option to working from home is usually some kind of independent sales.
    I have to admitt I am just not good at it.  Just not a very self motivated sales person
    especially when I have to work from home. 

5. I love the teenage years!  Although I miss the little ones that always made me laugh
    and smile, I love when you can talk to your kids and even enjoy the same things that
    they do. I guess I am just a teenager at heart!

6.  Even though those early years were so hard in so many ways, when we struggled
     it brought our family closer.  I can now appreciate the hard times.

7.  I wish I knew then what I know now.  I would have had a much better attitude and
     had not been such a booger to live with at times.

8.  I dont know what is more important, being home with my children when they were
     little, or being home with them when they became teenagers.  Teenage years are vital!

9.  Now that those early years are gone and we have had many ups and downs, I can
     finally see the bigger picture and I feel renewed in my committment to our family's
     future!

10. I have had several jobs literally drop in my lap as I have put my family first and left
      the rest up to my Father in Heaven.

11. Finally, I am at that place again when I have to find employment.  I tried the sales 
      from home thing again and it is just not my thing.  I need to leave my house, go
      work somewhere and then come home to be with my family...not paperwork and
      phone calls.

12.  There have been lots of ups and downs but it has all been well worth it!

Every Season By Kenneth Cope

He is in"Every Season"!

So, enjoy the one you are right now and have a beautiful day!

 ~Lisa

What Heaven Sees In You

Sent to this earth
You were saved through the ages for this day
and time
Child of great worth
Child of promise, daughter of the Divine
Pure and holy in a little, white dress
You were held in a circle and you were
blessed
And the Father looked down
And the angels surrounded that place
They knew the truth, all that you could do
And you will, too, if you have eyes to see
What heaven sees in you
Dressed in white once more
Making promises to follow in God’s way
So much lies in store
For the little girl who enters at the gate
Pure and holy in a little, white dress
You were led into the water and you were
blessed
Repeat Chorus
Do you understand who you are
Part of the Father lives in you
If you continue on this path
Every promise God has given will come true
Heaven on earth
In the house of God, so much fills your heart
and mind
Woman of great worth
Woman of promise, daughter of the Divine
Pure and holy in a long, white dress
You promise forever and you are blessed
And the Father looks down
And the angels surround that place
They know the truth, all that you can do
And you do, too, ‘cause you have eyes to see
What heaven sees in you
Will you have eyes to see
What heaven sees in you

~by Doug and Sherry Walker

Have a beautiful day!  

Hidden Treasures

     Imagine walking along the seashore for the first time feeling free and full of wonder.  You are just discovering life and all of it many splendors.  You stop every now and then to pick up the many beautiful and unique shells that catch your eye.  You gather them all up and you continue to walk down the seashore and enjoy the beauty of life and it's nature.  As you walk along you drop some of your sea shells, even some you thought were the most beautiful ones.  But they are gone now and you continue on your awe-inspiring journey.  There are some seashells that ,no matter what, still remain in your hand, sturdy and secure.  You begin to become more aware of the beauty around you and you get more and more excited as you begin to run and skip and jump. You feel so free, so beautiful, so alive!

     Then suddenly without warning you are struck by a massive wave that you didn't see coming.  You are now drenched, shocked, even heart-broken as you lose many of your most precious shells.  You begin to cry, you didnt know that this beautiful place had any chance of hurting you.  You now suddenly realize that you need to be careful, careful of the unknown, the unseen, the real-world. You stop crying and squeeze the seashells in your hand hoping that some of them have remained.

     You go home a little more aware.  A little more cautious of the unknown.  You want to remember the beauty of the seashore so you find a box and you safely put the remaining shells inside. Some of the shells are small, some medium, some large.  Some of them are dirty and some shiny clean.  You just leave them as you found them and you gently place them in the box and tuck them away, way up in a far away shelf. You close the door and you go on with life.

     Every once in a while you glance at the box and remember how beautiful that walk along the seashore once was, but along with this memory is a harsh painful one as well, so you look away from the box of seashells and you close the door. 

     After a while you become more secure, more adjusted to this new reality of life.  So, you finally take down the box from time to time and reminise of that once beautiful, awe -inspiring time in your life when you were full of wonder and freedom.  Freedom from the real world, freedom of any hurt or pain.  Free to love, free to give, free to take it all in. Many of the shells are now stuck to the bottom of the box and you are able to pry them up.  Some of them have now crumbled, and  there are a few, a very few, which are hidden in the corners of the box and no matter how hard you try you can not seem to free them from that space...so you move on to the others that are easier to remove. You are pleasantly surprised to find some of your favorite ones that you thought were lost are still there.  With new understanding, you can once again enjoy those beautiful shells which now, you can barely remember what caught your eye about them, as you see life so much more differently then you did back then. You still feel a twinge of the pain that went along with them but it is dulling now. You enjoy them for a bit. Then suddenly you remember all that you have waiting for you now, in the present, to take care of, all of your grown-up responsibilities, and you must put the box back upon the shelf, close the door and take care of more pressing needs.

     Finally,  those many busy days, when you had so much to do, are slowing down now.  You sit and think about those shells again, and that day on the seashore and you suddenly long for the meaning and purpose of what once was everything to you.  So, you reach for the box of seashells once again.  You take it down and begin to study it in a much different way.  You are more curious now, more aware of so many things.  You take each shell out and examine it one by one.  And suddenly you see things you never noticed about them before.  You not only see their beauty, but you also see the details about them that made them special to you.  In addition you see the many rough places that before were invisible to you.  Still you can appreciate each and every one of them and you smile...

     After you have picked up each shell and examined it carefully, you have new understanding and a new appreciation for each and every one.  With eagerness, you reach for one that is stuck in the corner of the box.  You have tried so many times to pry it loose but it just wont come.  You look at it and realize that it was one of those plain ones, nothing really special about it, "why did you pick it?", you dont remember.  You almost leave it, but curiosity gets the better of you and you try one more time and finally it comes loose.  It is free!  Free for you to examine it.  You realize that it is much bigger than you once thought it was.  And it takes a while to clean it off so you can get a good look at it.  After a good time spent on cleaning and shining it, you lift it up to the light and you realize that it is a diamond.  Yes, it is a beautiful diamond!  You are in awe. A million questions run thru your head.  Did you know it was a diamond when you first picked it up?  What was it that made you pick that one?  Why did it get stuck in the corner of the box?  Why didn't you appreciate it more when you first found it?  Finally, with tender care, you take it with you as you search to find a special place for it so that you can enjoy it, love it, and appreciate it the way it deserves to be appreicated.

As you sit back to enjoy it you suddenly realize that you have had this all along ...."A Hidden Treasure!"....and you smile, your heart is happy... and you only remember that beautiful day that you walked along the seashore, full of life, hope, love and wondering awe...and you are free again!

~Lisa

 

He Will

Well, just as I thought...things are changing. Some good, some not so good. I think it is interesting how we have General Conference every six months. Boy dont we all need it?It's like a pep talk for the next 6 months.  I still believe in change. It is how we grow. I believe it is always good...or at least good can always come from it. So many things have been happening around me lately. And with new things that happen come new changes.

Some changes come without warning and we are caught off guard and we are forced to deal with some of our deepest trials. Some changes come because of choices we have made. Some come from the choices of others.  Some changes come because it is time for us to move from one place to another. And some changes we bring on purposefully. Still no matter how the changes come, they are always a new opportunity for us to choose how we will react to these changes. A chance for us to try and see the bigger picture to this life. A chance for us to ask ourselves, "what can I learn from this experience".

I think the scary changes come when I become complacent and content in just "being" instead of daily trying to see the bigger picture. Some changes bring with it heartache and pain. This is an opportunity for me to exercise my faith. We always have a choice. What will we do? What will we see? What will we take from this experience? Who is really in control? What does the future hold? Well, thank goodness, there is someone who knows and someone who IS in control. And all we have to do is follow Him and do our part. The part he has asked us to do and leave the rest up to him. He will make up the difference...He Will!