Dreams....

Do you think about what your dreams are? I admit I hadn't thought about my dreams much until last year when I attended a Power of Moms retreat (you can read about that here) and we had a "dream night" where we talked about our dreams and passions. We talked about how often as Moms we put ourselves totally on the back burner because we are taking care of everyone else's needs.  Being a Mom is one of my lifelong dreams and I love it (most of the time). In fact when asked what my dreams are, it took me a while to be able to answer anything other than being a Mom. 

I'm not talking about being selfish,  I'm talking about dreaming in a very balanced way, not in a neglect our families for our own interests type of thing, but in filling our own reservoirs so we can be a more fulfilled person for our family.  Taking care of the person inside the Mommy is essential!

For years and years I have loved studying family dynamics.  I have a degree in Marriage and Family studies with an emphasis on early childhood.  I love reading books about family structure, disciplining kids etc.  It is fascinating to me. For a couple of years when Dave was at BYU I taught some child development and preschool administration classes at what was then UVSC.  Another of my passions is teaching, I love it.  

So when I went to my first Power of Moms retreat nearly two years ago and had a major paradigm shift in my Mothering I knew I needed to be a part of this organization.  Their philosophies align with my beliefs.  Then I found out that I could become one of their "trainers" and teach these things myself.  I knew that was one of my dreams and passions.

It has taken a while due to life circumstances, but I am about to fulfill that dream!  I am going to Albuquerque next month as one of the presenters at a Power of Moms retreat!  I will be teaching with Tiffany Sowby who is the director of trainers.  This will be my "apprentice" retreat and then I will be looking to do some "mini retreats" locally.  I am nervous, but so excited.  I have an awesome husband who is so supportive of me and keeps saying, "Go for it!"

If you know of anyone in the ABQ area, please encourage them to attend this retreat.  They are life changing and empowering!  You can get more information here.

Me with April Perry (left) co-founder of Power of Moms and Tiffany Sowby (middle) at the Vegas retreat last spring.

Meal planning

Do you ever feel like this?   I have so many times.  I have so many times stood at the refrigerator at 4:30 p.m. hoping a dinner idea or ingredients would magically appear so I could make dinner. Lots of times we have resorted to having cereal, quesadillas or nachos when I didn't have anything planned.  It really stresses me out and  $$ for going out to eat regularly isn't plentiful (taking 7 people out to eat is PRICEY, no matter where you go).

So here is what I have done to help with my sanity.  I have made a list on my computer of dinner ideas that my family likes, along with new recipes and ideas I have found on Pinterest those have a (p) after them.  From this I create a menu for the  month and create my shopping list from that.  I do  a BIG shopping trip for the month and then try to only go to the store for fresh produce.  It saves me so much time, quite a bit of money and simplifies my life so much to do it this way.  

In February I didn't star until mid month and I am so glad I am back doing this, it works for me.  It takes quite a bit of time to make the plans, create the shopping list etc, but once it is done I dont' have to think about it again for several weeks!  How I write the menu on the calendar isn't set in stone.  Sometimes we have a crazy night and so I switch it up and fix a more simple dinner that night.  None of my dinners are gourmet by any means, but some take more time than others.

What do you to plan your meals?  Any great recipes you would like to share?

Going for Gold

We are big time Olympic junkies at our house.  We are letting the kids stay up far too late, but we all love watching together.  

My boys were most excited about the half pipe snowboard competition.  They think Shaun White is one cool dude.  I have to agree with them.  I knew the results before we watched last night, but I didn't tell them.  The anxiety was high in our house as he fell on his first run in the finals.  During the second run when it became obvious that he wasn't going to win gold, they were disappointed.  When he didn't even get on the podium, they were even more disappointed.   I was as well.

But then we saw this....

Shaun White is one classy guy.  He was obviously disappointed with his performances.  He was obviously upset he didn't medal.  But he congratuled and shared in the joy of the winner.  He was positive in his interviews and was graceful in defeat. Here is a great article about all of this

It made me actually more grateful he didn't medal because he taught my kids a great lesson.  Even if you are prepared and the best in the world and train and work hard, life doesn't always work out how you hope.  You can either get angry and bitter about it.  Or you can hold your head high, put on your best smile and show what your true character is like.

UPDATE:  Just read the article and saw a special on the Today show about the little boy and girl cancer survivor's who he jumped over the barrier so he could meet them.  Double points for that Shaun, double points.

Shaun White is golden in my book. 

Ordinary days...

Back in this post I talked about doing Ordinary Days posts on a regular basis....well that didn't happen then, but it is going to now.   I love thinking about my everyday life and writing about it because that is what makes up our life stories.  I need to be better at documenting our lives.  I'm not a scrapbooker so my blogs are my family history.

We are getting settled.  We have a few boxes left to unpack, but not necessities so they are slow in getting unpacked.  We are finally hanging pictures and making this house feel like our home.  I would love to paint this living room as all the white is blinding me.  We are in a rental so I don't know if that is frowned upon...I may ask forgiveness rather than permission :)

I took my two older boys on a date to their Uncle Paul's piano concert with Josh Wright.  Both are amazing pianists and it was a very uplifting evening.  Both of my boys enjoy playing the piano so they liked this, plus I'm always looking for ways to expose them to a bit of culture. We went to dinner before and we had a good time together.  I am constantly trying to figure out things to help me connect more with my teens.  I have figured out how to connect with my younger kids, that is pretty easy, but it's harder as they get older.  What do you do to connect with your teens?

This is the view out my front door.  It lifts my spirits every time I walk out the door.  It is magnificent!  I love the Wasatch mountains with all my soul.  After living away from them for 13 years, I marvel at their beauty on a daily basis.  My kids (and my instagram friends) are probably sick of it, but I don't know that I'll ever tire of this view.

This guy is in between napping/not napping.  He still desperately needs one most days, but fights me like crazy.  He likes to fall asleep at really convenient times in the car like 4:00 in the afternoon or when we have to get out of the car to go do something.  This particular nap was on the way to pay for lunches on my kids account...it was about 10:00 in the morning.

My sweet girlie has dreamed for a very long time about doing snow angels.  We used to do sand angels when we lived in Las Vegas because that's all we had.  One time we put cotton balls on the floor and did snow angels that way.  So when we got a storm with soft, fluffy snow she couldn't wait to do these angels.  She did several, and so did her Mom.

Love this planner.  I have not been a planner person in the past, but as my kids get older and we get more and more busy, I was double booking myself and forgetting things (I'm sure my age has nothing to do with it).  I was using my phone, but there is something about writing things down that helps to cement things in my mind.   This is the website you can order them from.  This particular one has everything a Mormon Mom  might need.  They also have one for Mormon women who aren't Moms and a great planner for Moms who aren't Mormon. 

My 3rd boy LOVES the snow.  Today we are getting rain and he said, "Rain is soooo boring, snow is where the fun is at!"  He has spent hours outside with shovels, brooms and buckets.  The more snow the better.  He also loves that we have multiple boys on our street to play with.  He tells me he never, ever wants to move from this house.  

That is our week in a glimpse.  It's been a great week in spite of our truck needing a costly repair among other fun "mortal life" things.  Those things are just temporary nuisances, what really matters are these relationships we are working on daily.

How was your week??