Off they go.....

1st day of school! I have 3 hours to myself 3 days a week!! YEAH!

This was Mara's actual 1st day of school! She was so excited!

What would you do?

It has been a VERY LONG and draining 10 months on our little family. We NEED a vacation, BUT,

I have a dilemma.

Do I go HERE, WITHOUT the kiddos? (Maui, HI)

OR....

do I go HERE and take all 3 crazy munchkins?! (Disneyland) HMMMMM......
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?!

I didn't do what I thought I would do.....

I had a WEEKEND OFF of all motherly, wifely duties! 32 hours all to myself! My cute hubby took the kids to an overnight family reunion and left me to do WHATEVER I wanted...SOOOOOO, what did I do?!

WELL... on Friday night I went to see EAT PRAY LOVE for a much needed GNO. AWWWWEESOMMMEE, (but the book was better . I HIGHLY recommend it)! AND, even BETTER company! Thanks Ladies!

I got home around 12:45AM and slept in until 8am! WOW, I know, I didn't get much sleep, which ironically is what I usually complain about, so go figure that I didn't want to do that!

I woke up to a VERY silent house. I didn't know what to do with myself! The possibilities were endless! Mani, pedi, massage?! SHOPPING!!!! Sleep!

WHAT was I to do?! Think, think!!

BUT as I looked around at my empty quiet, VERY dirty house, I began to clean, And Clean, AND CLEAN and rearrange, and CLEAN! Before I knew it, it was 5pm at night! I HAD spent my ENTIRE weekend off CLEANING MY HOUSE!

I can only imagine that this is what I looked like..... (I did however have my ipod in and had the music blasting! YES, there was dancing!)

(Picture from here.)

No kids to interupt or disorganize what I had just cleaned. I cleaned my house and it stayed clean! I found myself walking back into rooms that I just cleaned, being totally amazed that it was STILL clean!

Even though I used my day off to do something that I usually loath, I was HAPPY! I had a clean house that my VERY dirty kids could come home too. All was well, with me, my house and my family! Lame I know, but a clean house makes for a happy mom!

At least it lasted about 12 hours before the kids destroyed it again!

Welcome home!

And the answer is....

WOW! My 4 year old William (aka. Spiderman, see above he is throwing his webs at you!) is FULL of questions, some of which I just don't know the answers to. Like:

-Why is a spoon called a spoon?

- Why do cars have tires?

- Why do I have 2 sisters and my friend Cache doesn't?

- Why does Dad have gray hair?

- How come Spiderman can fly and I can't?

-Why do people smoke?

-Why do we wear shoes?

- What would happen if we didn't have a mouth?

- Is Bob the Dog really an angel?

- When can I go to New York?

- Why is there dirt in everyone's yards?

- Why can't I have a magic wand like Harry Potter?

- Am I getting big?

- Are bee's fat?

- Why do we have feet?

- If you have your picture in the newspaper, does that mean you died?

- Why do we have to get old?

- If there are angels, why can't we see them?

I love the way his little mind thinks and I truly wish I had all the answers. Truth is, I'm still wondering some of this myself.

There is good in the world today....

I LOVED this and thought I would share this! Enjoy.

It took girls camp to remind me that......

This past week I had the amazing opportunity to go with our young women to girls camp up in Heber Valley Camp. The fact that I can say it was amazing is pretty amazing in and of itself. I will have to admit that I was not excited at first! I don't know why. I know when I was young, I was never excited for girls camp, but I always came home so glad that I went. BUT, it was going to be 5 days away from my family, home and reality. CAMPING. Not generally my favorite past time. I was so NOT excited that it took me until 11pm Sunday night to pack and that with a 7 am departure the next morning.

Well, it took girls camp to remind me that....

*We were continuously surrounded by God's beauty.
* It was Heaven without my cell phone! Cell phones, email, FB, blogging... can all wait. What is important is right in front of us. Just look around.

*Live now, Be Strong and of Good Courage. Joshua 1:9

* Never EVER give up!

* I am stronger than I thought I was. Really.

* We had an amazing group of young woman that inspired me and taught me something each day without them realizing it.

* Being with great women makes me a better person and hopefully adds to their well being too! We had a BLAST for 5 "old" woman! Thank you Jamie, Emily, Paige and Erica!

* Having the spirit of the Lord with us through all of the daily activities is up to us. Words cannot describe nor deny the power when used to it's full potential.

* Watching testimonies being born makes me speechless.

*Watching last friendships being born does my heart good!

* I wish I were more creative. i.e. crafts.....

*Miracles happen everyday, whether we realize it or not.

*The rainbow that we witnessed as an answer to our prayers was a true miracle that our prayers do get answered, just not in the way we may expect.

* We are ALL daughters of God. All of us!

* The Atonement is real and is one of the greatest gifts we have been given.

* Don't silence your voice to your Heavenly Father. Pray Pray Pray........ Talk with God.

* I LOVE my family! AND I have the most amazing husband! (ok, I already knew this, but being away for 5 days made me realize it even more!)

*Having hot showers everyday and a cabin with electricity is the ONLY way to CAMP!

Can I ask a favor?

It seems like this world is full of bad news and heartache right now. It really is hard to find the good. You have to look hard, but it's there. My prayers are with several friends right now who are dealing with illness, loss and unanswered questions. I know you don't know these people, and maybe you do, but PLEASE help me pray for these families (and people you may know too)... Heaven knows we could all use a little more help! I have felt prayers from others while we have been going through our own trials with health and want to give a little bit of that comfort back to those who truly need it at this time.

The Huckemeyer's

The Penington's

The Bradley's

The Brown's/ McQueen's

The Nelson's

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THANK YOU!