2014 The "Let It Go" Year

2014 has been a year of ups and downs.  A year of fear, a year of courage, a year of smiles and a year of tears.  This year was a year of discovery. This was my "Let It Go" year.  The year for authenticity.  And I feel accomplished.  I have been myself without regret or shame and have begun a new phase of adventure.

My Discoveries for 2014:

• Learning that hard work pays off, 
• true friends love you no matter what, 
• family is not defined by blood, 
• patience does work sometimes, 
• reading is a love of mine, 
• truth matters
• history matters
• vulnerability matters
• a friend to confide in is important
• friends come and go
• authenticity is happiness
• elation comes when I least expect it

I'm grateful for this year.  It was wonderful.  It is a great foundation for courageous experience.

Birthday Seasons

This morning, while contemplating the shortening distance between my current age and 30, I was remembering the different ways that my previous birthdays have been celebrated. The swimming parties, the decorations my parents put up, the mornings that I was awakened early to go out to Village Inn for breakfast with friends, and the flowers and note found on my doorstep from a friend on the other side of the world.

Then I started to think about all the fun things I wanted to do for my little ones. The decorating, the party themes, and the activities. All fun things for my special little veggies.

And after that, my birthdays to come. They seem very uneventful. There aren't any mile stone birthdays left. Nothing big like 12, 16, 18, or 21. I guess there are seasons to Birthdays. My season for the fun exciting birthdays has past. And the season to celebrate the little ones is here. They get the attention. They are the ones that need the attention and special treatment.

I hope that my Sweet Pea and my Green Bean have as many great memories of their birthdays when they get to be my age.

Pillow Talk

Last night I was lying in bed thinking to myself:

As teens, we spend ALL of our growing up years wishing we were given more responsibility, that we were trusted more, that we could stay out as long as we wanted, and that we didn't have to report to anyone. Well, at 16, little did we know that it really turns out that we spend our time answering to the screams of little children, pulling pieces sucker out of our hair, and going to bed at 9:30pm.

Oh, to be young again.

Charlotte Diamond: A Childhood Favorite

Just one of the many reasons I LOVE Charlotte Diamond:



You just can't disagree with that.

Oh, Back To School

It just smells like school outside. I love it. I remember being so excited for the new year; new teacher, new classroom, sometimes new school. Always more new friends. So much fun. Every year my Mom would take a picture of me in front of our house with my brand new clothes on and my backpack.

What kind of fun things do you do for your kids on the first day of school? OR what did your parents do for you?

I MISS:

-going to the Temple (I'm not ready for a babysitter)

-running

-taking the sacrament (soon RSV season will have passed and I will go back)

-my pre-pregnancy jeans, shirts, gym clothes

-my pre-prego will power to not eat EVERYTHING in sight

- G-ma and G-pa. they are soo far away

-hiking (too cold for my Sweet Pea yet)

-swimming

-sunshine (No more SNOW!!!!)

-having no bills

-having no worries (I thought they were worries but what did I know in High School)

-knowing what will happen (School, Christmas break, School, Summer, Work, work, work, Repeat)

What Have I Done? (with pics)

I never do these tag things, but today I thought it would be fun. It was wonderful going through all of my old pics and memories for this. I hope you enjoy. What things have you done?

The object is to copy and paste the list of "99 things" to your blog and bold the things that you have done! (I added pics for your visual pleasure, and commentary just because.)


1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars -many times
3. Played in a band -does Rock Band count?
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland -I love Disneyland!
8. Climbed a mountain



9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo -It's amazing the things you will do when you are young, but chicken out as an adult.
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch -I taught myself to quilt.
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill -I am ashamed to say I have done this
24. Built a snow fort -Of course, you can't live in Canada and not build a Fort in the snow. We used to make whole communities.
25. Fed a llama
26. Gone skinny dipping -oh yeah. You can't miss out on this freedom.
27. Run a marathon -soon.
28. Ridden in a Gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset -One of my favorite things to do with my Hubby


Regretfully this was not with my Hubby, but it is beautiful isn't it?

31. Hit a home run -I love Fastpitch Softball.
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors -Lets see, New Zealand and Canada
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David in person
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful Geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight -I've walked by sunset, not moonlight
46. Been transported by an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain -Oh yeah. Under a waterfall is next.
53. Played in the mud -I'll never forget the mud games at BYUI. Ande that was so much fun!


Mud Volleyball will turn into a mud fight, I promise!


54. Gone to a drive-in theater -It's been a while, but they are fun.
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Been out if the country
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen -I helped prepare Thanksgiving Dinner for the Homeless, but didn't get to serve. Does that count?
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies -No, but they go on sale this month. Halleluia!
62. Gone whale watching
63. Received flowers for no reason - I did once and never found out who they were from either. It was a beautiful pick me up.
64. Donated blood, platelets, or plasma -BLOOD; my goal all through college was to donate my body, not to sell it.
65. Gone skydiving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter -I've sat in the medicopter. never flown though
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy -Sally
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt


This isn't even my favorite one. I have done a whole bunch. I need to post about that one day.

73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the changing of the guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Have been published -I had my drawing published in the Magpie Magazine when I was in fourth grade.

81. Visited the Redwoods
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper -for athletics and school functions.
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Years Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had the chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous -working Sundance Film Festival is so much fun.
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Ocean
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Used a pay phone
99. Been stung by a bee -on the bum. it hurts!

Look What My Mom Let Me Do. . .

I was going through my dad's camera this holiday and found the pics they took of my room while I was in High School. My parents, after 8 years, have finally painted over my walls. I don't know what they were thinking when they told me I could do this, but it was a lot of fun. I painted most of it, but received a lot of help from my girl friends.

I just thought I would share. They didn't take pictures of every piece of artwork I placed on the walls, but these were some of my favorites.








I painted these vines in between all of the roses and corsages that hung on my wall from the dates I went on in High School.






This one around my light switch was my favorite. I thought it was really pretty.









I have always been really into quotes. I collect them and used to hang them all over the place. They are so much fun.

Recap 2009

2009 has been a really good year. Like every year, it started out with goods and bads and it is ending with goods and bads. (and when I say bad I mean, struggles)

I was introduced to blogging last January and have fallen completely in love. I'm totally addicted. I love reading your blogs and being able to communicate with others so far away. It truely brings us closer. (sappy I know, but it's how I feel) Thank you for all you put out there for me to enjoy.

Here are some of my memories of the year:

January- the beginning

February- Lent begins, Running Posts

March- Spring Cleaning, the R.S. birthday card that was 3 months late

April- the Ravenous Animal inside me, Easter, the Women's Merit Badge

May- Totalling my car on I-15, Mother's Day

June- Panic: I'm Pregnant

July- Oquirrh Mtn. Temple open house

August- Mrs. B Roth in Cheaper by the Dozen

September- Crafties, Food, Rainy days

October- General Conference, Sunday Thoughts

November- Rememberance Day, Books, Blind Side

December- Christmas Traditions, Behind the wheel with Phannie


I can't believe that it has been a whole year. You have definitely put up with a lot of sass from me. I hope you have enjoyed it and will continue to discover with me more things that we Don't have to do to get to Heaven.

Remembrance Day

In Flanders Fields

by Lieutenant Colonel John MrCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

********************************************************

This is one of my favorite poems. It won it's way into my heart when I was a little girl. Every year in school, for our Remembrance Day Assembly, we would recite this poem together. I still have the first two stanzas memorized. (I surprised myself today) I remember the poppies that were sold in the schools to make money for the veterans. It was a holiday that I loved to be a part of.

I am truly grateful for the freedoms that I enjoy because of what others have sacrificed.

I hope you have a wonderful Remembrance Day.

September 11th

Today is another day. A day to remember.

Remember that:

I found out what I was having today.

There was a National Tragedy eight years ago today.


Richards Birthday

The Scots remember this day as the victorious William Wallace defeated the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297.

It's Mrs. B Roth's Anniversary (sealing).

And I am sure, many other things that I can't think of right now.


There is a lot of memories for this day. I just seem to take a little bit of time every Sept. 11th to reminisce. Helps me to remember how blessed I am.

What do you remember about today?

Memories of the First Day

On Saturday, my Hubby and I spent the evening with some very good friends. We ate dinner, had creamies, built a fire, laughed, talked, and conversed with multiple junior high and high school kids getting ready for the next week. They were talking about the things they had just bought for their new year at school and I couldn't help but feel a sadness.

I wish that I had mom to take me shopping still for new pairs of jeans, shirts, shoes, felt pens, books, binders, pens, and pencils. I miss the smell of the school the first day (at the beginning; by the end it just smells like sweaty boys). I miss the first day of practice after a full day of school. I miss the papers, the assignments, the new cute boy in English. The excitement of being older.

Now, I'm older. I have responsibilities. I'm pregnant. I can do whatever I want (in theory) when I want. It's just not what I imagined when I was younger. It's better in many ways, and I was seriously mistaken in others. It's nice to be older; I just wish I wouldn't have wished it away so fast and would have enjoyed the younger times a little bit more.

Rexburg, Idaho Temple

So, apparently my weeks are filled with visiting temples.

I went up to Rexburg, Idaho with my Mom to drop off my younger brothers at the lovely E.F.Y. program. It was interesting to be back up at the school where I made so many memories and friends. It's a great campus, but seems so empty when no one you know is there.

After dropping off the boys we went up to the temple to see it. I hadn't seen it yet. It's a beautiful temple. I didn't have time to go inside and do a session, but the outside was wonderful.

Remembering when. . .

I have been thinking about something that some wonderful friends did for me and my hubby three years ago. I don't know if I ever gave a shout out then, but thought I would now.

I was getting married and I had my best friends flying/driving into town to come. They were wonderful. We played before the wedding and they took care of me after too. While we (me and the hubby) were still at our wedding reception, my wonderful women took our keys to our apartment and went to "straighten up." (I really wanted to go home together on our first night as a couple, not a hotel room)

Now, I thought that straighten up meant move all the boxes, furniture, washing machine, and pieces of table out of the way to make a walking trail on the floor. That is apparently not what it meant. They managed to pack everything (all my two bedroom apartment stuff crammed into a one-bedroom) into the laundry space, and two small closets. Trust me they packed well.

Anyway, we returned to our apartment to find a home. Everything in it's place. Nothing on the floor and the heavy washing machine in the laundry room. It was perfect. The Best Wedding gift we received. Wonderful.