SPT- Spring Fever

It's Wednesday instead of Tuesday.
(refer back to personal mantra: Better Late Than Never)

The challenge for this week was to get outside and celebrate Spring- HA! It is cold and wet in Utah which does not coincide with my idea of outside fun. But, if we can drop the outside part of the challenge and just focus on celebrating Spring- I LOVE this kind of Spring day!

Ethan watched a movie (Cinderella of course!) while I read March by Geraldine Brooks. It is for book club tonight and so appropriately named for our March book, don't you think? :)

Anyway, it was a delightfully cool and cloudy day spent in "the cozy" (phrase coined by Jill). My little guy just snuggled in quietly and watched his favorite show (twice!) so I could smell his shampoo and kiss his cheeks as I read a great book and even finished it in time for book club tonight! If every day was like this, Spring might move up on the list of favorite seasons!

uncle DAVID!

My brother, David, decided to move from Phoenix to Utah. I found out last Friday. He drove the U-Haul up on Monday. Tuesday afternoon he showed up at our house on his motorcycle, happy to see us and willing to give everyone a ride. He is pretty much the new favorite and totally coolest uncle for that! I don't know exactly why he chose to come here. I don't really care. I'm just glad he is here. I love having my family around! I am so blessed to have a really cool family- people I like to be around, who are smart, interesting and funny! We are quickly losing elbow room at our table, but so happy to squeeze one more in for Sunday Dinner!

Welcome to the Neighborhood Dave!

head, shoulders, knees and toes...

eyes,

ears,

mouth and

nose.

{Dang, this kid cracks me up!!}

SPT: Lucky?

I had no idea what I was going to post today! I do not ever think in terms of luck. Luck implies chance or randomness and that just doesn't jive with my belief that I have a Heavenly Father who knows me and has a plan for me.
I do however, feel blessed every single day. Blessed with family, friends, a home, health, talents, challenges, education... I believe many of these blessings come from my obedience to God's commandments and the rest come from His gracious and merciful kindness. I did not get to where I am today because of luck. I got here by faith, love, obedience and testimony. For that I feel truly blessed!BUT, in trying to stay with the theme- I pulled down this box of LUCKY Charms! It is Kelly's favorite cereal and it reminds me that I am so "lucky" to have him! It makes me laugh to see my kids eat the marshmallows out of the box and I am so "lucky" to have my five kids and to have reasons to laugh
The box is red and if
I were to have something lucky-
it would definitely be red!

lights, camera, action

I know, I know. Today is Wednesday, not Tuesday. But if you only knew what my Tuesday was like! I took my picture on Tuesday, when I was out trying to finish the errands I didn't finish on Monday... doesn't that count for something? And instead of starting the laundry (typically a Monday job) I am posting! It's funny, I said back in November that life might slow down finally in March- HA!

Anyway- here is my picture. Funny story- I had a guy offer to take my picture when he saw me in the parking lot doing this self portrait. I told him that would be cheating and he laughed, then handed me his card- he is a professional photographer! I am SO glad he didn't ask to see the picture I ended up with!

I am guessing that Jill was kind enough to not post about the Lehi Roller Mills since I live in Lehi and she technically does not. In addition to really fabulous muffin mixes, the Lehi Roller Mills was one of the filming locations for Footloose. If you are too young to know this movie, I don't want to talk to you! :) But for those of you true 80's survivors, I'd say, this puts me within 2 degrees of Kevin Bacon!

So, Happy Self Portrait Tuesday, on Wednesday! I gotta cut loose...

{Happy Birthday Michelle! I hope you have a great day!}

germs, laundry and questions

This is the view from my bedroom window yesterday. It was a beautiful morning and although it may have been a week early (really warm temperatures are supposed to arrive next week), I couldn't help but throw open the windows! I have had sick kids and a sick husband for what feels like weeks. I could just feel the clean air coming in and the sick, stale, winter air leaving...

Until Emily came home from school. She has been fluctuating between a mild and high fever for five days. I kept thinking she'll be better "tomorrow" but tomorrow hadn't come. She seemed fine in the morning- happy and sunny like the weather! But she came home hot, watery-eyed and obviously miserable. I took her to the doctor- he doesn't know what is wrong. He sent me home with a cup to get a urine sample from her (she is a terrible patient!! and wouldn't cooperate at the doctor's office. I only forgive her because she feels so horrible!). The hospital ran the tests and he called last night to say the tests came back clean. She is terrified to give blood, I believe her exact words were, "You want to poke me with a needle so I will die!" No joke. So, we are watching her for a couple more days and keeping her doped up on Tylenol. I'm bordering on scared- why is she so sick?

Then, Kelly came home from work early and spent the whole night throwing up, hoping to get rid of his severe stomach pain... he is better today. But now I get to spend the whole day catering to Emily's demands and CLEANING every surface I can think of.

I can't open the windows today- it is cold and may rain. But that matches my mood as my house is full of germs, I have piles of bedding to be washed in hopes of preventing more illness and I don't know what is wrong, if it's contagious, or who will be next! I just pray it is not me! And that I will be able to blog again soon.

mirror, mirror... self portrait Tuesday

I'm posting two pictures- one for last week's challenge (which I didn't see until after I posted a different picture!) and one for this week's challenge.

Last week's challenge was to capture the idea of put your best foot forward. The morning after reading the challenge, I knew immediately that this was the picture I needed to take:

I feel like I put my best foot forward every morning just by getting out of bed. It is so easy to feel tired, overwhelmed, discouraged, and unable to face my day- a day full of obligations and demands from five children and a busy calling. But, for good or bad, I feel a deep sense of responsibility to take care of the things that have been asked of me, so, although I may linger in the warm sheets and comfort of my pillow, ultimately, I get up and start the day.

This leads into my photo for today. The first thing I do when I get up is grab a jacket (my house is always cold in the winter) and use the bathroom (a rare occurrence as the mom!) As I open the door, I glance in the mirror. Just a glance-

I have never found myself to be pretty. I don't have a feature I really like. And I don't really want to know what I look like with my bed head and day old make-up because that's what people will see until I get myself cleaned up, usually around two in the afternoon. But today, I had decided to stop and take this photo and it made me smile a little. I didn't see a plain girl who hadn't bothered to get dressed. I saw a girl who knew that by opening the door, the demands would begin. And she was ready for that- relaxed. willing. confident. even happy!

I love what a new day brings! I love the chance to start over- to try harder, to do more, to be better. Most days start with hope. Hope that things will be good. When I get out of bed and put my best foot forward, I have somehow reminded myself of that and it shows, if I just take the time to look a little longer in the mirror!

I wonder what I would see in the mirror if I checked later in the day? I'm scared to look. Maybe that will be another post.