Ellie's Violin Recital

I am trying to post a video, just to learn. So hope this works.

President Hinckley

Right after I typed that last blog I was told President Hinckley had passed away. I just have to say how much I loved him and loved how positive he always was. I loved how he encouraged us to be better, but he did it in a way that didn't make me feel bad and hopeless about where I was at. It was okay to improve little by little. And I remember hearing him speak at BYU and he told us all that we were spoiled kids and we needed to remember to be grateful for what we had because it took a lot of work on our parents parts to get us where we were. Anyway, I am sad he is gone, but happy he gets to rest--finally.

Deep Thoughts--"Is Anybody Listening To Me?"

I just saw this quote on Sally Meyers Taylor's blog and I really liked it.

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

Gordon B. Hinkley

I think so often I feel like I have to stand out and be the best at some things or have my kids be the best and when we are not I feel. . . disturbed. I really liked this story that a man told in a stake conference in Oregon. He started off his talk by saying how great his oldest son was. He was super smart and graduated with all these honors and went on to college and got more honors and ended up with a fantastic job and he just went on and on about this son and all his accomplishments. I was starting to wonder what his point was with all his bragging.

But then he started to talk about his younger son. He said he didn't excel at anything really and he was really difficult because he had autism. And that son didn't really do things to make this dad proud. And he remembers carrying his son out of the mall screaming and causing a huge commotion, and it was hard for the dad. But at one point when he was struggling with the difficulty of having this son he realized that is wasn't about him. It was about the boy and helping him to be his best.

I liked this because it is so easy to get caught up in my kids and how proud they can make me, but the truth is life isn't about how they will reflect on me and how good they can make me look. It is about doing all I can to make sure they are going to make it.

Marital Differences

When Terry was trying to decide whether or not to marry me, he had one hang-up about me which was that I wasn't active enough. He loved to go out and bike ride and ski and do whatever was outside and recreational. I on the other hand am perfectly happy to sit at home and read a book or just visit. I am a home-body. But to defend myself a little, I really do like to do those things but for some reason I have to put up a fight before I will get out there. And I keep telling Terry that we always have a little baby that makes it hard to do these things but when they are older I will go play more.





So on Saturday this issue came up again. It was a pretty sunny day that was pretty warm and Terry wanted to go ski or sled or do something. I said go ahead, just take some kids. So he ended up taking Ellie and Abby and they just hiked around in some snow over in the Mink Creek area. They were all very easily entertained I have to say because they just played in some snow on the side of the road.

Paint

When we bought our house the family room had a Thomas Kinkade border around the top and the rest of the wall was gray. It looked great with the decorations the other owners had but it didn't do much for me personally. So back in November Terry started the project of taking down the darned wallpaper border. The walls stayed bare until I talked Terry into painting a couple of weeks ago. We ended up painting two walls some kind of berry color with a suede finish and two walls a color that turned out looking light yellow. We hadn't used the suede before but we had directions. However we aren't good at reading directions. Needless to say, it took us four coats of paint to get it right. I only helped with the last coat and that was only so that Terry would repaint a wall that had some obvious problems (and to cool his anger). But we are happy with it now. I just have to figure out how to decorate it now.

Sledding

We have a hill right across the street from our house where the kids can go sledding. Terry took them all out one day and I love this picture of Ainsley going down the little hill. The look on her face makes me feel happy. Ellie is the one behind her.

Loughmillers

We just had our good friends the Loughmillers from Oregon come and stay with us on Friday and Saturday. In Oregon these were our ice cream and cookie friends that would come over frequently and just hang out. And there was always a lot of laughing with them. We haven't seen them since we moved although we have talked on the phone. It is funny because Terry and Russell probably call each other more than Jenny and I do.

We had a fun visit which included the adults going to an Italian restaurant called Buddy's while two girls from our ward babysat all the kids. It was nice being able to visit without interruptions from the kids.

Terry's sister Cheryl was also visiting us at this time. She is the one taking the picture.