Favorite Quote

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step – watch your step.”  

 I think about all the journey’s I have been on and how they all start with an idea or an impression, like adopting the girls that was definitely a journey that took a thousand miles, but worth every hard step. I also think about some of the other journeys that I took in my life that didn’t have as great of an outcome. How seemingly little steps lead me down a path, where the outcome was regret and hindered the path I should have been on.
I wish I could go back and tell my younger self to listen to your mother. I wish I would have stayed close to my gospel upbringing, I wish I would have listened to that still small voice and realized that Satan was real and what Satan is capable of. I wish I would have recognized the subtle ways that Satan leads us down the wrong path. I was very gullible to the enticing ways of Satan. I was stubborn and thought I knew it all. What I didn't know was how much my mom loved me,  I didn't believe that I was a daughter of God, I didn't think that there was a way back once I made mistakes, so I just kept making them. I fell for Satan's lies, and he left me feeling worthless.

I think back to some of those decisions I made, at a time when I had a hard time picturing my future, and still feel regret at not choosing more wisely. School was one of those choices. I had good intentions of going to school, I worked and paid for the first 2 years of college, but I lacked self-confidence to finish, I didn’t believe that I could do it. If I could go back I would tell myself that you can do it, you can do hard things and you are worth the effort and that you can and will make a positive difference in the lives of others.  There are other decisions that I made while in high school that I wish I could have a do over now, but the 40+ person that I am today can’t go back and talk to the 16 year old person that I was then, unfortunately.

As I eagerly await the arrival of our first grandchild I see McKenzie starting out on a whole new journey, she has no idea what is in store for her. She has no idea of the love that she will feel, the hopes, desires and joy that is waiting for her.

 ( This picture was taken today, it was so much fun to be in the room when they found out if they are having a boy or girl, priceless)

Katie has also started on a new journey, they just bought a house. Their journey is going to take them to the home improvement store. Their journey reminds me of the first house we bought, it was really a fixer upper, but looking back those were some fun years. Scott and I have always enjoyed working on house projects together, and I think Katie and Jeremy will too. I can’t wait to see how they polish this stone into a gem. 

Kelsie has made the step on the journey of becoming a nurse. This is a dream that she has had, and watching her cousin living her dream has given her the drive to reach that dream too. Stay focused on the prize and have the confidence that I lacked, you can achieve this dream.

Parenting is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done but it is also one of the hardest as well. Being the parent of adult children can also be very vexing, I have no control over the decisions they make, and that scares me. I just hope and pray that they will remember the things they have been taught, forgive me for my short comings, and know that I love them to the moon and back. That is a journey that I would make all over again!

Halloween Parties

Avire;s had the Halloween Party season. First was the school fall festival, then a friends party. 2 more parties to go and I will have made it through yet another Halloween.
She went as a cowboy to the first 2 parties, I have a different costume for her for Halloween but  little scared about what she will look like. It is supposed to look like a 60's go-go dancer. You will have to wait for the picture on that one.

Birthday Time

Mia turned one! She is "like" my grandchild. She lived in my home for 10 months, along with her mom, who is "like" my daughter, and I watched her every week. They moved out at the beginning of the month and I am really happy for them, they were able to take a bad situation and make it good. I am happy that I was able to help, and I love that little Mia to pieces.
We celebrated her birthday like we do all our other birthday's with dinner and dessert. She had her own cake, although if you would have seen some of the adults going after the part of the cake she did not destroy you would think otherwise. There was no need for plates just forks!

She was done with all the people staring at her eating cake!

Fall

It was that time again to go to the pumpkin patch, apple picking farm. Scott has been working 6 days a week for the last 6 months so finding time that he can get away is hard, and I don't love going by myself.  So we made a plan to head out early Saturday morning before he had to be to work. It was great timing we got there before the crowds and we took care of business and left. It has been really weird just having the 2 little girls at home and just doing things with them, our family seems so small. We have a few older children around but we are just too boring for them to want to hang around. (Sad face)  But we had a great time with the girls. They are fun and still like to hang out with their parents, most of the time.

After the pumpkin patch Scott headed to work and we went shopping. The girls wanted to make caramel apples but I didn't want to use the apples we just picked so we went to the store and bought the supplies to make them. I also needed to stop to get a birthday present and some how Destina ended up with a new pair of shoes. The girls and I had a fun time making the caramel apples even if Ryan came in just as we were getting ready to dip the first one and decided that he wanted to try it, and the heat got turned up and the caramel became to hot. Anyway, there is a reason I bought cheaper apples for this project. The caramel ran off the apples and puddled at the bottom, but that didn't stop us from eating them, it just took a little more work.

Grateful Under Any Circumstance

It is time for another school assignment, and blogging works as the requirement. Our assignment is to write about something that we have been studying this week, I am choosing Grateful Under Any Circumstance. It was a talk given by Elder Uchtdorf and in the talk he related a story about a man going to the same restaurant and ordering the same meal each week and when asked by the waiter the man's reply was always, "It was good, but I could have used more bread." The waiter increased the bread several different ways and the reply was always the same. No matter how much bread the man received it was never enough. 
In the Book of Mormon Nephi is commanded to build a ship and his brothers complain and cause trouble for him. Once the ship was finally built they set sail and again the brothers started complaining that their brother was crazy, leading them the wrong way, and they tried to take his life. Nephi stays strong and never complains and is continually grateful for the blessings in his life.  He is the one that has so many justifiable reasons to complain, yet he doesn't, he is faithful and recognized the Lord's hand in everything.
In 1 Nephi 18:16 it states: "Neverless, I did look unto my God and I did praise him all the day long: and I did not murmur against the Lord because of my afflictions." He was tied to the mast of the sail, there was a great storm swirling around them, they thought they were going to die. In verse 20 it states: " And there was nothing save it were the power of God, which threatened them with destruction, (talking about the brothers) could soften their hearts; wherefore, when they saw that they were about to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea they repented of the thing which they had done, insomuch that they loosed me."
Sometimes it is hard to remain grateful under any circumstance, it is easy to dwell on negative things happening in out lives and loose sight of the good things. We had something happen this week that made me reflect on being grateful for my husband. If you know Scott you know that he is very generous with his time and is willing to help anyone out. He has stopped to help people on the side of the road when their car is broken down, has given them rides to their destination, even if it was several miles out of his way. Scott has given the coat off his back to someone that was out in the rain. Shortly after we were married Scott stopped to help a young guy whose car was broken down on the side of the road, Scott towed the car to the nearest car repair shop, and they told the guy that it would be the next day before they could get it fixed. It was getting late and this young man was about 2 hours from his destination and wasn't sure what he was going to do without his car. Scott and I took him out to pizza and then let him stay at our house for the night. Scott has helped dozens of people move, repair their decks, install flooring, help paint, etc. He has done this for as long as I have know him and he has never asked for anything in return, he usually tells people not to make a big deal out of the help he gives, and if they insist he tells them to make him some cookies. Anyway, Scott, Ryan and I helped someone move, it was a chaotic, unorganized mess of a move, and Scott spent several days helping. They had to be out of their house but couldn't move into the next house until 2 weeks later so Scott offered to store some of the outdoor furniture and other items that could be outside in our backyard. Scott then delivered the 2 trailer loads of stuff to the person who now lives 30 minutes away, and she accused Scott of stealing some of her stuff. She said some really hateful things. Scott didn't reply he got into his truck and just drove away, he was not going to get into a conflict, he was not guilty of taking her things.
I was really upset, how could this person accuse Scott of stealing items that are worthless to us after all the help we gave. She even let me know how horrible my husband was and that I was being deceived. I defended my husband then I let it go. I had great peace knowing that Scott would never take anything from anyone. I am grateful for a husband that is so willing to help others, and that he didn't engage in a conflict with this person, that he was able to just walk away. 

Photo Shoot

I had the afternoon with just Avrie this week and we decided to have a little photo shoot. We went to the park and had a fun time together, she is sweet and loving and I love spending time with her. Can't decided which one is my favorite so here are the top contenders.

Quotes of the Week

Here are my 2 favorite quotes this week.

"Satan will tell a thousand truths to get you to believe one lie" Michael Vey

"Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What is that supposed to mean?  In my heart it don't mean a thing." Beloved