Time Out For Women

I am a huge Hilary Weeks fan-love her. She is amazing and talented and seems so down to earth...love her testimony-love her voice-we always have her cds playing & I love her blog. You'd think we are best friends-we totally are not-I wish she thought I was as cool as I think she is. It'd be cool if she knew my name and called to borrow a cup of sugar! ;) My kids even know and love her music. Sheri Dew is also incredible-I have all of her books and they are completely marked up. She is so awesome-I quote her all of the time to my Young Women, I have a quote from her hanging in our bathroom...she's amazing & her words are so powerful. It says (because I know you are wondering what it could possibly say!):

"Each experience with the Savior leads to greater faith, and as our faith increases, our vision of and confidence about who we are grows clearer."

My fav-totally Sheri Dew. Powerful. Simple. So true. SO Time Out For Women has always been a dream of mine-they just never do it in Salt Lake. This year they did and a bunch of us went. It was life changing for me-I love the moments when you can listen and learn and be prompted by the Spirit to become something better. I love to be among women-there is power when women stand together. A very real tangible power. I love it. The contrast of my weekend with the gloomy times we live in was overwhelming. Sheri Dew & Hilary my bff were incredible...of course!!! But today we heard from a woman named Kris Belcher. AMAZING!!! Wish I could describe this incredible spiritual giant-she's my new hero. Incredible trials-incredible story-incredible testimony. Funniest. Lady. Ever. FOR REALS! Heavenly Father has a plan for her and she has no idea that it was to be an inspiration to me and so many. Google her name-buy her book at Deseret Book-attend Time Out For Women next year....you'll never regret it! Personally I'd love to go to lunch with her and have her for my friend also-or atleast be able to give her a hug. Spiritual Giant. LOVE HER! She makes me feel like I can tackle any trial that comes my way-and makes me realize that even though I've had some tough things happen in my life I don't have a clue what a trial is.

I laughed that they referred to my favorite part of life-that we all have a story. I guess I'm not so crazy BRIAN & ERIN!!! Kidding-sort of. I love the stories of people. I love that we are all in this journey together. That we have free agency. We have the Spirit to guide us. We have trials to mold us. Heavenly Father places people in our paths to help us learn who we are and help us find our way. We eventually CAN become someone amazing if we have the Savior by our side. I love the glimpses we get of eternity with the pinpricks of the Spirit-I love to be an instrument in my Heavenly Father's hands. I know He can do a lot more with my life than I ever can-I wish that I always remembered that and never lost my vision...it gets so confusing! ;) I truly love my life and am grateful for every precious experience-I'm truly grateful for the momentum this weekend provided-I'm ready to conquer once again!

BTW-all 4 of you that venture to our little blog should really buy Hilary Weeks amazing new Christmas cd Christmas Once Again...you will love it! I also LOVE "God Bless Your Way"-the book but especially the song with the same title. Best Christmas song ever-LOVE IT! Ask my kids-they loved it the first 1000 times they heard it-they'll be glad we have the new cd to give some variety because I replay "God Bless Your Way" quite a few times a day...check it out!

www.deseretbook.com/hilaryweeks

Spelling lessons

Jaycee is starting to sound out words-she loves to repeat the first sound of a word and try to figure out which letter it begins with. This morning she was saying, "C-c-c-coke. Coke begins with c." Casey is such a cute dad and was talking to her about this. He said, "You know what is funny?

C-c-c-cat begins with K. It sounds the same, huh?" Casey & I looked at eachother and we both busted up laughing. He KNEW that cat didn't begin with a K, he just sort of forgot for a minute.

My Unique Jaycee

Her choice of PJ's a couple of nights ago....she really wanted to be warm and cute!?
I really did send her to school like this today. Humiliating? Good mom? Not sure I care what anyone thinks anymore! I understand the phrase, "Pick your battles!" with Jaycee! After she got herself dressed she informed me, "Curly hair really does go with this outfit but I think I'll take 2 braids today." All I said was, "Huh!" She thinks she's going to be the next Taylor Swift-she has enough attitude and determination....we'll have to wait and see if she has any musical talent!

Birthday Lunch

My favorite thing to do on our kids' birthdays is to take them lunch at school and eat with them in the cafeteria. Since Shay was sick all last week we had to wait until this week. Here's Shay with some of her cute friends-silly girls! Sad Shay's birthday was such a let down for her~she gets so excited about it every year! Last year she made her own Happy Birthday Banner (pathetic!) so this year I had crepe paper and a banner ready to go-she didn't really get to enjoy them. Dang it! Hopefully next year!

Happy Birthday Shayders!!!!

I absolutely LOVE the first few minutes with each of my babies....most precious memories of my life. It's always like catching a little glimpse of heaven~they were just there. This is one of my favorite pictures ever-I remember sweet Shay just staring at me...time just stood still for a few minutes. Shaylee was a beautiful baby and is a beautiful girl-I have no doubt she will grow up to be a beautiful woman. She's always been so awesome.
We took this picture last week at Utah Lake for her county report on Utah County. This is so her-simple, pony tail, just Shay. Love it.

Our awesome Shaylee is 10 today-so hard to believe she's reached DOUBLE DIGITS!!!! We are so grateful to have her in our family~she is such a great example to me and to each of us. I honestly don't think I've ever met someone who is naturally more loving and selfless. She is amazing! I have to admit she is ALL farts and burps-makes me crazy & can be embarassing sometimes but she makes us laugh! She looks so sweet and innocent-she's not-such a tom boy! (Love you Shay!) Soccer defines her-she loves it-and she's a good soccer player. It's been so fun for her to play competition this year-it's a little more intense than her mom can handle but it's been neat to see her learn and progress. Shay is super giggly most of the time...sadly she is sick today and laying on the couch dealing with a lame fever. She's pretty bummed that she's sick on her birthday AGAIN (happened last year, also!) but we will celebrate her special day when she feels better. It will give our indecisive girl a few extra days to decide what she wants me to make for her dinner-she can't decide between hawaiian haystacks, enchiladas or french dip sandwiches. If she was smart she'd simply request to have her dinner cooked by someone other than me...it'd taste a whole lot better! hahaha We sure love this girl!

Great Advice For Riding a Broom....

This morning-completely out of the blue-Jaycee informed me,

"Mom, if you ever ride a broom you have to hold on tight, tight, tight or else you might fall off."

Thought I'd pass on her advice to the rest of you.

(COMPLETELY cracks me up that she doesn't have a clue that maybe, JUST MAYBE, the whole riding a broom thing can't really happen.)

Best Snowy Day Ever!

We woke up to snow today and although I was bummed the kids were thrilled! Sawyer & Jaycee threw on their snow pants, coats, gloves & hats and went out back to play. I just looked outside and realized it's not so bad-the snow only stuck to the grass! I could handle snowy days if they were like this every time! Who likes to shovel and drive in the mess? Only crazies!!! For just today I think the snow is beautiful.....