The Simple Things

The simple things in life. Having a good conversation with my mom. Laughing with my husband. Feeling rested in the morning. Seeing gorgeous scenery and actually appreciating it. Finding a cute pair of jeans that make my butt look awesome! Fixing a good meal for my family. My kids not needing a new pair of shoes for the whole school year. Having a place to call home. The trick to a happy life is being able to recognize and appreciate the simple things. But, that doesn't mean that you don't get to hope or dream or have goals for the future. So here are the things that I want to accomplish in my lifetime no matter how stupid they sound. No laughing!

1. Own a custom home with a pool
2.Travel to Europe and any islands
3. Go to Hawaii again without kids
4. Eat my way across the United States
5. Visit the Joseph Smith Historical Sights
6. Snorkel in Australia
7. Catch a huge fish
8. Feel rested at some point
9. Be able to go jogging without my knee giving out
10. Have a group of really good friends
11.Be financially secure
12. Serve a couple's mission
13. Have my children grow up to be independent and successful
14. Laugh all of the time
15. Start a catering business

16. Find something to do with my time that I sincerely love to do.

Great Day!

Gosh I had a great day today! Here are some of the highlights!

#1 Great thing: My nephew whom I watch a few days a week was being very nice today as long as I held him. He definitely knows who his mama is and he doesn't want anyone else normally.

#2 Great thing: Found out that my aunt in CA can get us tickets to Disneyland for free. Sorry everybody. She can only get them for family. Ha ha!

#3 Great thing: Went to Ross and found some really cute shirts and flip flops for cheap. I love shopping, but have to be frugal. Kind of ruins it sometimes.

#4 Great thing: Actually got dinner made and the boys loved it. No complaints and they cleaned up after themselves.

#5 Great thing: Chad got one of our buddies who does concrete to go and take a look at the house we want to buy. Having a positive attitude that everything wrong with the house can be fixed easily and cheaply!

So here's to a GREAT day and hopefully many more to come!

Hope

We found a house! It has structural damage, and a leaky roof, but if all goes well we could fix it and have a gorgeous house with a pool on 2.5 acres! I have a good feeling about this one! We are also going to get to go to CA for vacation in March. This was no small feat planning this out, so to finally have it work is a MIRACLE! I am so GRATEFUL right now I could burst. Heavenly Father is blessing us and I am HUMBLED!

To Travel or not to Travel!

Has anyone been down to Mexico lately? I have family members who want to go for Spring Break and I am terrified. All I hear on the news is that Federal agents have been shot and there is a drug cartel running rampant. Not exactly the kind of place I want to take my kids for vacation. My in laws on the other hand go there all of the time with no problem. Anybody have any feelings on Mexico and going there for vacation?

Montra's

Remember when our toughest decision was what to wear to school? Or who to play with after school? Man I miss that! Now it's hard to make decisions. Especially when there are a lot of good choices to choose from. It is a nice problem to have though. We have 2 houses that are awesome. Move in ready, gorgeous, big enough, and on acreage with an option to buy more land later. Perfect. I already pre registered my boys for the school out there. A little premature I know. But I talked to the school and they have preference enrollment. She said they usually only have 2 spots left in each classroom after everyone reenrolls for the next year. Yay. Hopefully they get in, because I am NOT a homeschooling parent. It would be very hard to know that my child has not learned everything they need to because of their inadequate mother. My montra lately has  been If it's supposed to happen, it will happen. All day long I whisper that to myself. My kids think I'm losing it. I have to say it though. It's the only thing that makes me feel better about all of this. Someday they"ll understand. Maybe they will have a montra of their own!

Fortified

I find today that I feel fortified. The past 2 years has brought me to my knees on more than one occasion which is not necessarily a bad thing. I am crying as I type this post because I'm getting that wonderful warm feeling from the Spirit. I am so grateful for that. I don't know where we will be in 2 months, or what will happen to us financially, but I am getting that calm reassurance that all is well and that He is aware of us and our needs. What a blessing. My amazing boys are healthy, doing well in school, and are obedient for now. How can I complain?  How can I not count my blessings for the many tender mercy's that Heavenly Father has blessed our family with? I am lifted and fortified today and for that I am grateful.

Having Some Faith

A hunting we will go. A hunting we will go. Hopefully we can find something we want in the price range we can afford. A hunting we will go. For the last 3 months every spare moment we've had has been looking for a house. Everything we have looked at has been a complete gut job or the area is awful. FRUSTRATION. We have another few months to find something, so it's not like we're facing homelessness. But still. The uncertainty of it all is starting to wear on my sweetie and I. I break out in hives and my husband's stomach hurts most of the time. STRESS. Now granted we are trying to do something almost impossible with what we want and with the budget that we have, but we have FAITH. We believe that the best way for our family to live, is on acreage. Our kids can run and play, ride their horses, shoot guns, grow things, blow things up, trap animals and feed them, and best of all......... learn how to work. We love the wide open spaces, and not seeing your neighbor too often, and we love not being asked a million questions about why we do what we do. As far as our limited budget goes, well that's where the FAITH comes in. We feel like wherever we can find a house on acreage that we can afford is where we are supposed to be. Now if that happens to be out in the boonies like Coolidge, then so be it! We'll go where HE wants us to go.

Valentines Day

Well so far this has been an eventful Valentines weekend. Our oldest son Dillon had his head split open by a friend's son and we spent Saturday night in the ER. He got 4 staples in his head and got to stay home from school today.

We had a really nice dinner at my mom's on Sunday and got to visit and enjoy eachother's company. I didn't have to cook so that just made the dinner nice right there. I got a nap, church was very edifying and my kids behaved the whole time. A million Valentine's day gifts right there.

This morning when the boys woke up, they saw their Valentine's day treats on the table. They each got a small box of chocolates. They were so excited! Not a very healthy breakfast, but oh well!

Now if I could just catch up on some sleep I think I would feel 100% better.