Innocence & Joy

I am often touched by the beauty of pure innocence. The other day, 3 of  my *Littles* were dropped off at my house by their dad after spending the weekend with them. As they bounced into my house, I noticed that Alakina had a HUGE hat on with a colorful, blinking necklace on around her neck. She was so excited to tell me about her day at the Circus with her Grandma Bardee and Aunt Jackie.

She was so expressive as she proceeded to tell me about the elephants, tigers, mermaids (she said there were mermaids...??) puppies riding horses and clowns. It was adorable to watch as she could hardly get everything said because she had SO much to tell me. All the while, she had this ridiculous hat on her head. She was SO proud of that hat!

Then I got Stella to put hers on (she wasn't so proud)...

I have reflected back on that day. Alakina was so exited, so proud and so uninhibited as she shared her pure joy of seeing the Circus with me. She proudly took her hat and necklace to her preschool for show-n-tell and happily told everyone about  her adventures.

It just struck me as so innocent. I wish we, as adults, would be less inhibited and more free with sharing our joy. Her ability to be unchained by pride and vanity was a gift to me as I was able to "experience" her memories in even a small way. She lifted me up and she made my day!

Maybe we could all learn a few lessons from these wee people who just love life and want to share...Hmmm...

Vegas, Baby!

I have been away for quite a while and I apologize for that...no good reason, really, just busy and unmotivated. Anyway, I'm back...at least for today!

Last night I was supposed to teach a class in Relief Society about Blogs. How ironic since I have been such a slacker lately but since I have been so behind, I figured now is as good a time as ever to start posting again...so here goes:

September has been a crazy month, to say the least! Swiss Days came and went, we headed off to a family reunion in Southern Utah so made a detour to Las Vegas, and my sweet little Tage had surgery. We survived it all and are back, doing well and so far, we're all healthy!

Let me start by saying that today is my amazing husband's birthday! He is 56...FIFTY SIX...Five/Six!! and he looks GREAT!! I'm not too sure what we're going to do today, he just wanted to play it by ear...but it will be a great day because he's a great man and deserves the very best. I am so blessed to have him in my life and my children have benefited more than I could have ever imagined. He is a good man who loves me and honors me as his wife. We just celebrated 6 wonderful years of marriage and I look forward to an eternity of happiness and joy with him! Happy Birthday, Brad!!

Natalie, Brad & Me...

The whole gang...

We went to Las Vegas with Brad's cousin Doug Pope and his adorable family. Vegas has become a regular haunt these days...it's only about a 5 hour drive which makes it very accessable. Aja, Natalie and 3 of my Littles came with us and we had a BLAST! We stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn where we got 2 suites which worked out so well for each family because we were able to hang out together or go our separate ways...it didn't matter, we had SO much fun together. Of course, we HAD to see the Cirque du Soliel show, Beatles LOVE at the Mirage...it's become our favorite ritual or "right of passage" in Vegas! This was our 15th time and it NEVER gets old. (I know, it's ridiculous, but we love it and it's cheaper than gambling!) 

Diane, Erica, Melissa, Me, Sara, Nat, Aja & of course, Alakina!

Brad, Errol, Preston & Doug...

But before the show, we had dinner at "Cravings" which is a HUGE buffet at the Mirage. Dinner was wonderful, as always, and the company was so much fun. We had 12 in our party so dinner conversation was never lacking! Then we headed over to the theater for the best part of the night...

The Pope family had never seen LOVE before, they loved it and it was awesome to watch them rock to it. Alakina has been wanting to see it since she was 2! Yes, really, since she was 2 years old she has been singing Beatles songs and has talked about Beatles LOVE...so at the last minute, Aja bought her a ticket even though she's only 4 years old (she was supposed to be 5...oops!) she loved it and made it through about 3/4's of the show before finally falling asleep. We went to the 9:30 show which was just a bit too late for her...next time we'll make sure we hit the 7:00 show.

Aja, Sara, Nat & Ali...

Brad & Errol Flynn (Yes, that's his real name...)

After the show, we went back to the hotel and played "Balderdash". This is one of our favorite games...you pick a card and there are 5 categories: Word, Initials, Movie, Person & Laws. One person chooses one of the categories and reads, for example, a word...it's always a word that no one has ever heard of, then each person makes up and writes down a definition for the word, passes it to the person reading the card (who wrote down the REAL definition) and each is read aloud. The objective is to try to guess the correct answer. Of course, the definitions are usually outrageous and hilarious (especially late at night and as the night wears on). We laughed until we cried as some of the answers were read...Hilarious game, I HIGHLY recommend it!

All in all it was a GREAT trip and we have all decided that it will become a yearly thing.

After a late Vegas night...

Finally, Baby Tage was scheduled to have 2 surgical proceedures done yesterday. He has a cleft in his throat which has been hindering his ability to eat anything other than very smooth baby food...he's almost 11 months old and should be eating chunky food by now. This has also made his sleep apnea worse. Also, he was supposed to have some biopsies done on his stomach. So he went into surgery and had the cleft opened but his oxygen kept dropping dangerously low during the proceedure that they decided not to do the biopsies. It was pretty scary, but he was little trooper and after a hard day, he was doing pretty well last night. He is seriously the happiest baby and SO adorable!.

Isn't he about the cutest little thing??

So that's about it for now. I will try to do better about posting. I guess I just need to get my life organized better and remember to take time to breathe!

Motivation...Anyone?!?

I have been SO terribly unmotivated lately! I don't know what's wrong with me, but I haven't felt like posting about anything. I hope I haven't lost all of my blogging friends because I still read all of yours and I love you all. I guess I'm just in some kind of funk that I need to dig my way out of...

Life is good:) I am happy and I am SO blessed...just in a funk.

Hang in there with me...I promise I'll be back one of these days!

Enjoy The Ride

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed.

Most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise.

Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.

The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."
-President Gordon B. Hinckley (Quoting Jenkins Lloyd Jones from Deseret News, 12 June 1973. Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1997], p. 254.)

I was looking for a document in my hubs laptop this morning when I ran across this amazing tidbit of knowledge. How timely for me! My life has been so full of the unexpected lately and so many de-railments that I have been in a bit of a tailspin...not really knowing what to do.

I am one of those people who wants clear-cut answers, and I want them NOW. I look for solutions and try to solve things with logic and reason. But I've learned lately that patience is absolutely necessary and it is one thing that I am not very good at!

I have been so prayerful and have been trying to "Lay it at His feet". I have always heard this in the Bible but have to admit that I never really stated things to Him that way in my prayers...until this past year. I am learning that by doing this, I am more free! Yes, I know that He expects me to do ALL that I can do (and then some) and that if I trust in Him, having complete faith in His great love for me, then everything will work out...I've seen it happen and I continue to see it happen. It's wonderful!

But it's still not easy...it still requires faith and patience, and there is no room for fear, (which, I am learning is a HUGE waste of time in the whole scheme of things)...and I have learned that it is an on-going necessity if we want to have real happiness in this life.

So I am thankful for coming across this sweet comment by Pres. Hinckley. He has, once again, touched my heart and given me food-for-thought. He has inspired me to keep moving forward and to keep doing what I know I need to do.

Life is Beautiful! It is most often challenging, trying, tough and exhausting, but it is worth it and it is Beautiful. So come what may...I will try to be patient and will always be so thankful to the Lord for letting me "have the ride!"

Swiss Days Press Junket

Yesterday was a loooong day! It all started at 4:30 AM when my alarm went off and I began to get ready for our "media blitz". I am in charge of PR/Advertising for Swiss Days which is a HUGE event in the state of Utah and takes place in our very own little town of Midway (this Friday and Saturday, 8AM -8PM).

The Swiss Miss girls and one of the mother's picked me up and we headed down the canyon to our first shoot at Fairmont Park with Casey Scott of Channel 2 (CBS affiliate). Casey is a SPAZZ and is know for being outrageous. We met him at 6:30, it was still kind of dark and quite cold (about 50 degrees F). We brought him some lederhosen which he put on without a shirt...AND he wore flip-flops over his knee socks! He was hilarious, was adorable with the girls and made us all laugh! I am very thankful for the press coverage and, even though we were all freezing, it was well worth getting up at "O Dark Hundred". We shared the time with the people from the "Soldier Hollow Classic Sheepdog Trials" (who are up here near Midway) and it all worked out very well.

(Sorry some of the pictures are blurry...it was tooooo early!)

We had about an hour to kill before our radio appearances, so we stopped for breakfast. The girls were so cold, they ordered hot chocolate...

(aren't they adorable?!?)

Then it was on to the Radio stations...8 total! But they were all in the same building and we only had to record twice. Then they do the editing and play us on all of the stations...They were wonderful, and even want to come up and broadcast from Swiss Days next year!

Then we were finally on to our final stop, Channel 5 (NBC affiliate) to appear on their morning show, "Studio 5". The girls were pre-recorded just before the beginning of the show, outside, doing their 2 numbers. Then they were shown 3 times during the show. I was on to discuss a little about what to expect at Swiss Days. It went very well.

It was an exhausting day, but such a great day as well. These darling girls were real professionals! They never complained about being tired or cold, they smiled, performed perfectly and were charming to be around. I am like a proud mother hen! If you come up to Swiss Days and see them, please be sure to stop by and tell them hello and if you saw them on TV, please let them know...this was HUGE to them!

A special thanks to Carrie Dunn who helped get us on all of these great shows. It truly takes a village...