Been awhile

The count down has started. I am just about to head to Europe in 3 and a half weeks! I am beyond excited to see a continent I have never been to and to spend time with my brother. So I will post after the trip with los of pictures.

On top of going to Europe, I recently received great news from my dear friend Katie Cooper Christensen! Katie is coming to visit me next weekend. I am so excited to have company.

I also had the opportunity to be reminded how amazing my friends are. So to my dear Friends, Thank you so much for your love and support over this last week and especically these last 2 days! I truly appreciate you and all you do for me.

I also had a nice experience last Sunday Morning... I woke up, headed out to my kitchen, only to step into a puddle of water. I first thought is was my dishwasher leaking, until I opened the door to my laundry room, which also had a bit of water on the floor. So I found the leak, got the hot water shut off, as that is where the leak was, dried off the floor, pulled the washer out and there it was... Mold growing on my wall. Apparently the leak had been leaking for quite some time. I assume for about 3 months as that is when I got my washer and dryer. However Saturday evening was the first time I had ever washed anything in HOT, hence the larger leak. I placed a call to my apartment office to cleam up the mold. After all, before we can use our washer the maintenence staff must check all connections.. Apparently they didn't check them well enough. At least they have now taken care of it. Ironically over the last little while I had noticed a smell in my apartment, so I would take out the garbage, put orange peels down my garbage disposal, trying to decide what the smell was. Well now I know...it was mold. I am glad that I knew how to shut off the water and glad I have tools to do so...

So that is the adventure of the week. I am looking forward to a quiet weekend.

A Carrot, An Egg and a Cup of Coffee

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up, She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil;without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl . Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.'

'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft.. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.

The daughter then asked, 'What does it mean, mother?'

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak The egg had been fragile.Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

'Which are you?' she asked her daughter. 'When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the neat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity?

Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

Nails in the Fence

NAIL IN THE FENCE

Make sure you read all the way down to the last sentence.

(Most importantly the last sentence)

There once was a little boy who had a bad
temper . His Father gave him a bag of nails
and told him that every time he lost his
temper , he must hammer a nail into the back
of the fence. The first day the boy had
driven 37 nails into the fence Over the next
next few weeks, as he learned to control his
anger, the number of nails hammered daily
gradually dwindled down. He discovered
it was easier to hold his temper than to
drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't
lose his temper at all. He told his father
about it and the father suggested that the
boy now pull out one nail for each day that
he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally
able to tell his father that all the nails
were gone. The father took his son by the
hand and led him to the fence He said, 'You
have done well, my son, but look at the
holes in the fence. The fence will never be
the same. When you say things in anger,
they leave a scar just like this one. You
can put a knife in a man and draw it out.
It won't matter how many times you say I'm
sorry , the wound is still there. ' A verbal
wound is as bad as a physical one.

Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They
make you smile and encourage you to succeed.
They lend an ear, they share words of praise
and they always want to open their hearts to us.'

YOU ARE MY FRIEND AND I AM HONORED!

Please forgive me if I have ever left a hole in your fence.

Roller Coaster

I figured it was time to actually blog about life. Perhaps I have been facing some of the truths about life. It has definitely been an adventure for quite some time, it has been a roller coaster ride for over a year now... I have learned more lessons than I even imagined would be possible. I am amazed at the ability of the human heart, body, spirit..emotions to recover and then crash again and then recover.. just like a massive roller coaster. I went from having parents that were still married, and being very happily married myself, to having my marriage fail, to being divorced, still loving my Ex, my in-laws and my step kids, to attempting to move on and pretend to be happy, finding other things to fill my time with. I even attempted to run away from life and start over in Cedar City. I was so looking forward to going back to the town where I attended college and have some of the best memories and friends of my life. Thru all of the challenges over the past few years, I am amazed at the amazing support system I have. I love that I don't have to say a word to my friends, but they are so intune with the spirit and with me that they just know when I am struggling. I am also grateful for my amazing family, who have stood by my side thru all of life. I am grateful for my Savior and what he has done for me. I love the poem "Footprints in the Sand". I can honestly say I have felt my Savior carrying me a lot of the time over the last while.

Have you ever noticed that just when you think you have things figured out, a curve ball is thrown at you? I think this is to make us stronger. I am grateful for challenges in life that shape us into the person that our Heavenly Father wants us to be and knows that we can be.

I am amazed at the blessings that also come thru trials. I have 2 amazing jobs, one that pays the bills and another that allows me to share my love of dance with many amazing girls. I am blessed to have a place to call home, an amazing family, and friends, enough food...

I am grateful for all that I have and for everyone that is a part of my life. You are all very imporant to me! Thanks for everything!

To Those of You Born Between 1930 and 1979

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE
1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or
drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can
and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in
baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors
or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps
not helmets on our heads.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats,
no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and
sometimes no brakes

Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always
a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and
no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon.. We drank
Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't
overweight. WHY?

Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as
we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and
then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the
brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned
to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There
were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies
or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal
computers, no Internet and no chat room

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there
were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games
with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it
would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the
door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those
who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was
unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers,
problem solvers and inventors ever.

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new
ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we
learned how to deal with it all.
If YOU are one of them? CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck
to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government
regulated so much of our lives for our own good.

While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know
how brave and lucky their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors,
doesn't it ?
~
The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:

'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides,
flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one
end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist
attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the
Pledge of Allegiance?'

Keepers

OUR PARENTS

I grew up with practical parents who had been frightened by the Great Depression. A mother, God love her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then reused it. She was the original recycle queen, before they had a Name for it.... A father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones.

Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. It was the time for fixing things; a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, oven door, the hem in a dress. Things we keep.

It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that repairing, eating, reusing, I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be more.

But then my mother died, and on that clear summer 's night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that maybe 'keeping' wasn't to be scorned because sometimes there isn't any more.

Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away....never to return. So... while we have it.... it's best we love it... And care for it.... And fix it when it's broken...... And heal it when it's sick.

This is true.... For marriage.... And old cars..... And children with bad report cards..... And dogs and cats with bad hips .... And aging parents.... And grandparents....And friends ....We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it. Some things we keep.

There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special... And so, keep them close!

Good friends are like stars.... You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.

Keep them close.

Lesson Learned from Clay Balls

A man was exploring caves by the Seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.
He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock . Inside was a beautiful, precious stone! Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left.
Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!

It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it. We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.

There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth. May we not ome to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May we see the people in our world as God sees them.

I am so blessed by the gems of friendship I have with you. Thank you for looking beyond my clay vessel.

APPRECIATE EVERY SINGLE THING YOU HAVE--ESPECIALLY YOUR FRIENDS! LIFE IS TOO SHORT AND FRIENDS ARE TOO FEW!