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??

Building a new life

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”  C.S. Lewis

This is one of my very favorite quotes of all time.  I feel very much like I have been remodeled the last year or so, lots of walls knocked out and sometimes that construction is painful. I am certain that remodeling isn't complete yet.  However, being shaped into the palace He wants me to be will be worth it for sure.

This quote has come to life as we moved into this home.  We are renting it for a couple of years and so we can't remodel it how we would like to.  There are definitely things we would change if we could, but we just have to make the best of it for now.  It is a great house that fits our family and it is a great neighborhood, it just isn't perfect.

There are things about our family, my marriage and my own self that need some remodeling.  Moving to a new place and home is a great place to start that.   My one little word for 2014 is CHOOSE, and so with this move and fresh start I have chosen one thing in 4 areas that I am choosing to change.  Good changes happen one building block at a time.

One of the best changes we have made is we now are able to have a little family devotional before my kids leave for school and before my husband leaves for work. Previously my husband left too early for work to do this and my oldest son left home around 5:40 a.m.  for early morning seminary.  We sing a hymn, read scriptures or other inspirational words and have a family prayer.  Sometimes my husband or I lead it, and sometimes we let our older kids share things they have learned or read. I can't begin to tell you the difference it has made in our home.   It really only takes about 10-15 minutes, but that short time is one of my favorite parts of my day.

No matter what your religious beliefs are, taking some time in the morning to be together as a family talking about things that really matter is a great way to draw you closer and teach your children what is important.  It really is the small things that matter.

What are the simple traditions that have brought your family closer?

A ship in a port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for....

Remember our "plot twist"?  Well our twist has been resolved and we have landed back "home" near where we both grew up.  We moved our family of 7 twice in 7 months, this last one being across state lines....wow that was fun! NOT!  But we are here, boxes still aren't all unpacked, house isn't organized to my satisfaction, but we have a home that fits our family and my husband has a job that provides for us.  What a blessing!  To add to that blessing our kids are so HAPPY here.  Our family, neighborhood and ward (church congregation) have been so good to us.  We have all been welcomed with open arms by such wonderful, welcoming people.

That being said, it was really painful and hard to leave our dear friends who are like family.  Here are a few pictures of my kids with only a few of our dear friends who we left.  It was heartbreaking to see my kids sadness and heartache in leaving these amazing people we love like cousins, they have known many of these friends for most of their lives, some from birth.  When you live in a place for almost 13 years and create strong bonds with people it is so hard to leave.  In fact I still tear up when I think about being separated from these friends.  I still have a hard time talking to them on the phone, it's still painful.  However like one of my kids said, "It's good that it's so hard to say goodbye, it just means we have lots of people that we love so much."  Amen to that.

I guess it's a good lesson to me and to my kids, just because something is right to do,  doesn't mean it's necessarily easy.  We know this move is right for us, everything has fallen into place, we couldn't feel better about where we are living, we love being close to family, but it still hasn't been easy.

We have so much to be grateful for and I thank God daily for his guidance in the last year of our lives.  Looking back we can see His guiding hand in so many decisions and happenings.  We are so very blessed.

Master Builder

This beautiful lady is my husband's Grandmother Layton.  She is 93 years old and truly an angel on earth. We spent Thanksgiving in Utah with family and were privileged to spend some time with her.  She lost her husband of 60+ years 4 years ago.  I can't imagine being without someone who you spent most of your life with, it must be so lonely.  Her children and grandchildren who live close by take good care of her and help her out a lot.  She is still sharp as a tack and quite independent.

Grandpa Layton started a very successful construction company back in the 50's.  It has grown into a very large company.  Grandpa was known for his hard work, quality and integrity.  He was a master builder.

As we were talking with my mother in-law about Grandmother, my husband said, "Grandpa was a master builder of buildings, but Grandmother is a master builder of people."   It is so true.  Every time we are with her, she makes ALL of us feel that we are the most important people to her.  She always compliments me and my children and asks about their lives.  She REMEMBERS what they are involved with and what their interests are.  That is pretty amazing at 93, but what is even more amazing is she has over 60 grandchildren, and 100 great grandchildren and STILL does this.  She sends them all personalized birthday cards.  She is truly one of my favorite people to be around and I want to be just like her when I grow up.

I guess I better start practicing my skills of being a Master Builder of people so that I can become one some day.