Summer Hair

Cameron is a great dad!  He is always willing to let the girls try something new.  He took the girls the last day of school to have their hair colored for summer fun.  They each chose their favorite color: Karina-purple, Kensington-pink, and Karadie-blue.  I'm feeling a little blah next to them.

They have had really interesting reactions!  It's all for summer fun.  The color will be stripped out before school begins again in August.  Enjoy it now girls!

One Small Step at a Time

For the past six months or better I have felt like I needed to reconnect with a neighbor. She has been on my mind and in my thoughts almost daily. I sent an e-mail to her a couple months back. Left if at that. I had done my part, only she continued to be on my mind. I recently learned of some hardships she is enduring. If only I had listened to the spirit and REALLY tried to reconnect with her. Her burden would not have gone away, but perhaps I could have helped lighten her load.

We focus most of the time on the things that we can do in our own lives to improve our situation and happiness. We must never forget that although we are the only ones that can control our actions, reactions, and feelings there are other people around us that we must look after and be there for. Are we doing everything we can for the ones that we love each and every day? Is there anything we can do to help improve the lives of others today? Big changes happen one small step at a time. Let us find one additional thing each day that we do to help improve the life of someone we know.

IT IS THE LITTLE THINGS THAT MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE
There was a man taking a morning walk at the beach. He saw that along with the morning tide came hundreds of starfish and when the tide receded, they were left behind and with the morning sun rays, they would die. The tide was fresh and the starfish were alive. The man took a few steps, picked one and threw it into the water. He did that repeatedly. Right behind him there was another person who couldn't understand what this man was doing. He caught up with him and asked, "What are you doing? There are hundreds of starfish. How many can you help? What difference does it make?" This man did not reply, took two more steps, picked up another one, threw it into the water, and said, "It makes a difference to this one."
What difference are we making? Big or small, it does not matter. If everyone made a small difference, we'd end up with a big difference, wouldn't we?

Crap!

I have been so good for 2 months now. Darn that Kensington for making fabulous cookies today when I was REALLY weak. I walked in from work and without even thinking about it popped in 3, hmm maybe 4 hot cookies. Then Karadie made fantastic nachos. Again, today was a day without will power. Ate half the plate. I suppose it was bound to happen since I was so good over Thanksgiving, and throughout the Holidays. Good thing I haven't slacked on the exercising at all. 5:30 am comes early, but it will be worth it. All I have to say for my actions today is...CRAP!

For Tonight She is My Baby

Today I had a 5 minute meeting with my daughter's teacher. I left that meeting so angry with my daughter. I was upset that she was labeled disruptive, disorganized, and irresponsible. A 5 minute conversation plagued me for the rest of the day.

I spent a wonderful evening tonight with the Young Women of my ward. We enjoyed a delicious dinner, tasty desserts, a hilarious game of white elephant exchange, a celebration of the Christmas season.

Then I returned home to face the problem with my daughter again. I sat down with her and discussed the importance of responsibility, organization, and not disrupting the entire class. This conversation was much, much longer than 5 minutes. It was a very emotional conversation.

To calm down, I flipped on the computer and began browsing facebook. How quickly my frustration and anger toward my daughter was softened. Too soon can life change. So swiftly did my heart swell and ache. My mind has reflected on days of past when I held my daughters a little longer than was needed, held them a little tighter than was necessary, held them just in case tomorrow never came.

I crept into her room after she was sleeping, I climbed into her bed, and held her. Tomorrow we'll tackle school, but for tonight, she is my baby.

Witches Night Out?

I suppose it was better to be a day early than not at all. Girls night out was planned over a week ago with my mom, sisters, and aunt. We were all set with brooms in hand, hats dusted off, and wearing our best witches dress, only to get to Gardner Village to find that TOMORROW is "Witches Night Out." Good thing we have great self-esteem as we walked around the storeslooking a little out of place. We had a great time any way.

On-Line Again!

Eight months ago my life as I knew it ended. My favorite time to blog is at night, kiddos asleep, husband snoring quietly beside me. It was the perfect time for me to catch up on the lives of those around me and share a story or two of my own.

One night, I had finished blogging for the night. Set the laptop gently on the bed while I got up
to brush my teeth and take out my contacts. Returning to my bed, I was suddenly startled by a large spider, causing me to scream and jump, knocking the laptop to the floor. Sad was the day when my computer crashed-quite literally.

Now, due to a very FABULOUS husband - I'm on-line again with a new laptop. No holiday, birthday, or make-up present was involved. He just surprised me with a new fantastic Asus Laptop.

So dear readers - do not be alarmed. This is not a test. I am back!

Better This Year

It was a year ago today that I thought my heart would be ripped out. How I am so glad that episode is over and Cameron is living with us again in Bountiful. The opportunity presented sounded much better than the actual event, but his living in Alaska did help me gain a different perspective on family. Even though we were separated by distance for nearly 6 months, we were one. Our family grew stronger and closer than at any other period of time in our lives. Family prayer and scripture study was the highlight of each morning and so important to all of us. We began each morning united toward a common goal-drawing closer to our Heavenly Father and one another.

I'm glad that this January 29th we are not only united in heart and mind, but also living under the same household. Here's to a Happier Year - Grateful it is 2009!