Out of Control Ugh!

Life around here has gotten out of control for me.  We have so much going on right now.  When that happens, I feel lost.  I feel lost because I love being here on my blog writing and recording.  It is always in the back of my mind to find time to get here.  I tell myself every. single. day., “I’m going to blog today.”  Ugh!! The day gets away from me, and then when night time rolls around, I try; but my brain has shut down. I kinda need my brain to write.

What happened to me?  I used to be able to make time to blog, and scrapbook, and write.  Now, when I do have the time, my brain doesn’t work.

I’ll tell you what happened.  My kids are growing up.  I’m am in the busiest season of my life.

I used to think that having 4 kids under the age of 7 was a busy time, but I was wrong.

Life then was about staying home and taking care of them.

Life now is about getting in the car and running them here and there.

Life now is about interruptions.  Stopping what I am doing and taking someone somewhere. 

To be honest, I have sat down to blog here so many times.  I get started and I get interrupted.  I know, you are saying, but the little kids interrupt to.  They did.  They would interrupt me to help them with something in our house, and then I could come back to what I was doing.  Now, my interruptions involve me leaving the house, and then for some reason I can’t make it back here to blog.  Ugh!!

I feel like I post about this a lot.  Can you tell it bothers me?

So with that being said, I have over thirty-five 365 pictures to share here.

I have thought to myself, I should just give up and let it go.

Then I thought, “No way, I am going to complete my goal.”

So here it is:

My lengthy 365 post.  Which btw, I have typed up already and lost due to an interruption.  Ugh!!  Can I say that again?  Ugh!! 

I feel like Charlie Brown.  Isn’t that the sound he would utter when life got him down?

I’m not going to give up.  When I’m here I’m happy, so I have to find a way.  Even if it isn’t as frequent as I would like.

So here is our life through my 365 project:

March 17, 2015

St. Patricks Day dinner: green eggs, green grapes, green crepes and rainbow sprinkles.

March 18, 2015

 

Tessa does her chores.

March 19, 2015

It’s been so warm that signs of spring have already arrived.

March 20, 2015

Tess fell asleep in the car, and only made it to the couch once she came inside; poor tired baby. (part of being the baby is running around with mom to all the places we go)

March 21, 2015

Dad plays basketball with the boys. I’d say he’s still got it.

March 22, 2015

I love seeing this Arkansas Razorback on the back of Jonathan’s truck.  We will always be southern folk.

March 23, 2015

It’s strawberry season, time for strawberry jam.

March 24, 2015

Bringing a little spring indoors.

March 25, 2015

This birds nest in our tree makes me smile. (I do not however, like the trail of bird doo-doo they are leaving on my driveway.)

March 26, 2015

Lemonade+mug+straw=happiness.

March 27, 2015

It was cold enough today to turn this on.

March 28, 2015

We spent our spring break in Utah this year checking out some of the great places SLC has to offer.  This day, we went to This is the Place park.  What a neat place.

March 29, 2015

We spent this beautiful Sunday checking out Temple Square in SLC. (taken by some random stranger who offered to take our picture; one of those random acts of kindness.) I do have to say it was a little scary for me to hand my camera over.

March 30, 2015

Because I am such a loser, I forgot to take pictures during the rest of our spring break.  So I will share a few more from Temple Square and This is the Place park. This is the kiddos at the temple in their Sunday best.

March 31, 2015

This is the kids in front of the monument of Brigham Young and the pioneers at This is the Place park.  Those are the words Brigham Young uttered when he and the pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley, “This is the Place.”

April 1, 2015

Stella Grace taking photos at Temple Square.

April 2, 2015

Stella took this photo of me taking pictures at Temple Square.

April 3, 2015

We made it back home, and Stella is enjoying dinner. This girl is such a good eater.  I love it because she always loves what I fix.  It’s nice to have a child that clears their plate.

April 4, 2015

It’s Easter Weekend and my sister Kristin and her family came for a visit.  We did lots of fun Easter things. Here they are dying eggs.

April 5, 2015

Forgot to take a photo once again, so here is another Easter weekend pic.  This is a shot from our egg hunt.

April 6, 2015

Kristin and her kids are still here for a few days.  It’s fun to spend time with them, and see how cute and funny Hank is.

April 7, 2015

Jex earns some scout awards at a court of honor.  I can never take pictures of him receiving the awards, because he is always pinning awards on me.  So I tried to grab this one of him hugging his dad, but they hugged a little too fast.  Jonathan is one of Jex’s scout leaders.

April 8, 2015

Tessa makes her bed.  She is so good to do this each and every day.  Teaching kids to get in the habit of things really does work when you start early.  This is a great example of that.  She has been making her bed since she was 2.

April 9, 2015

Another one of Hank, not taken today, once again I forgot. Even though I fail on some days, I am going to keep trying. Isn’t he adorable?

April 10, 2015

Stella makes school lunches.

April 11, 2015

Jex is really into art.  It has been fun to see his creative side come out.

April 12, 2015

Today, we got to spend the day seeing this little cutie be blessed.  Cade is my sister Lindsay’s baby, and I am absolutely in love with him.  I wanted to bring him home, but his older sister wouldn’t let me.

April 13, 2015

Ike and Tess play tic tac toe.

April 14, 2015

Stella does flips on the trampoline.

April 15, 2015

Really?  Snow? It’s April.

April 16, 2015

My baby looses her first tooth.  She was not happy about this picture because the sun was in her eyes. I am not happy about her loosing teeth.  She is my baby, and it’s not fair that she is growing up.

April 17, 2015

Tessa loves to play babies.  Including pretending she is having one.

April 18, 2015

I am in love with ranunculus flowers.  Right now, they are brightening up my kitchen.

April 19, 2015

We love having friends for dinner.  The kids love it too, because they have lots of playmates.

April 20, 2015

 

Stella planned a beautiful Family Home Evening with some help from her dad.  It was geared toward Isaac because he will be baptized this year.  She taught him all about the Holy Ghost and how he helps us.  In our church, you are baptized at 8.  Then after the baptism, you are given the gift of the Holy Ghost which is a constant companion to help you make good choices, and stay away from harm.  The Holy Ghost has also brought me so much peace during hard times.  I am so happy for Isaac.  Thank you Stella for the beautiful lesson.

April 21, 2015

I got to do a senior photo shoot today.  I don’t really take pictures much anymore, but love when I can do it for someone special in our life.  This is Maddie.  Her mom is Jonathan’s nurse.  It is nice having some time to develop a talent I enjoy.

April 22, 2015

Stella captured a picture of me making dinner. Thank heavens for Stella or it would look like I don’t exist in this family.

April 23, 2015

Spring baseball is in full swing.(no pun intended)

Thanks for checking out my crazy amount of photos.  More to come soon.

I hope.

Fabulous

I recently read an article titled, “Fabulous or Ordinary?”  This particular article got me thinking so much about my own life.

Am I fabulous or am I ordinary?

WARNING: the word fabulous may be overused in this post so if you are bothered by fabulousness, proceed with caution.

There are so many women that you read about now days that are doing fabulous things.

I often compare myself to other women.  I say to myself(in my head, of course), “Look at all they are doing, I could never do that, I am not good enough, or smart enough, or pretty enough.  I am not fabulous.”

When I start self-loathing to myself in my head, then I repeat to myself 3 times(once again, in my head):

“You is kind, you is smart, you is important.” ;)

I look up to all kinds of women.  I wish I could be like all kinds of women.

There are women out there who have turned their blogs into successful money making ventures. (sometimes I think my husband wishes I could or would do that; then he could quit his job. Maybe.)

There are women who are doing amazing service projects that are so big that my head spins sometimes thinking about it.  I only wish I was that cool.

There are women who are changing the world by helping people in other countries do amazing things.

There are women who are taking on new scary business ventures and are becoming very successful at it.

There are women who write books, who write songs, who sing songs, and all these leave us thinking about something. Words and music can change us.  These women change us.

There are amazing… well you get my point.

I am not one of those fabulous, famous, writing, changing the world women.

So I guess you could say I often feel as if I am just ordinary.

I wanted to know what my kids thought about being fabulous.

Do they think of me as one of those fabulous people?

I asked all four of them separately:

What makes me fabulous?

Tess said: “When you wear your sunglasses you are fabulous.”

Jex said: “All of your sunglasses make you fabulous.” (remember I asked them separately, oh, and I only own 3 pair of cheap sunglasses)

Stella said: “Your long hair makes you fabulous.”

Isaac said: “Your green eyes make you fabulous.”

I was so shocked by all their answers.  I didn’t expect them to have answers that were only about my appearance. 

It just proved to me that my kids find the word fabulous to describe one’s appearance and how we look.

So when we say that a person is fabulous, what does that really mean?

To my kids it means; you can be fabulous with just a $10 pair of sunglasses.

Maybe instead of saying that a person is fabulous, I should say that a person does fabulous things.

So then I rephrased my question and asked them one more time individually.

I asked, “ What does mommy do that makes her fabulous?”

Jex said: “You are a fabulous housekeeper.”

Tess said: “You are fabulous when you snuggle with me.”

Stella said: “When you run with me, you are fabulous.”(no running picture, sorry)

(so I found 2 holiday pics)

Isaac said: “When you plan all the fun holiday activities you are fabulous.”

It made me think about how we perceive fabulousness.

To my kids, the simple things I do make me fabulous.

Like making birthday cakes, might make me fabulous?

or braiding my girls hair?

or reading to my kids?

or listening on a bad day?

I don’t know? it’s all in the eye of the beholder.

What do we behold in others that we perceive as fabulousness?

In return, what do others see in you that makes you equally as fabulous?

It made me realize that we are all fabulous.  We are all fabulous in someone’s eyes.

I want nothing more than to be a fabulous mother to my kids.

I am, however, not a fabulous pregnant person.  We can’t be fabulous at everything.  We can’t expect to be. We must learn to celebrate other’s successes, and then in turn celebrate our own.

We all do fabulous things. We can’t be fabulous at everything. There is always someone out there who believes what we do for them is fabulous.

Those women who are changing nations, who work full-time and are still full-time mothers, the women who write novels, and take on big challenges like loosing weight and succeed.  I see you as fabulous. 

The neighbor whose yard always looks awesome, or the woman at church whose children always look so put together, and even better the mom who gets her family to church on time.  I find you fabulous.

The store clerk who always wears a smile, or the nurse who calms my fears at the doctor, and the woman who seemed uber frustrated at the store today because you had all 4 kids with you; and for a moment it got crazy, I think you are fabulous.  (I used to be that woman.)

But aren’t we all?  We are all fabulous. No one person is ordinary.  We were all created by a loving father, in a miraculous and amazing way; so there is no way we can be ordinary.

You may feel ordinary, but you’re not.

Just ask someone who loves you. 

Ask them what you do that makes you fabulous.

You will find that you are fabulous in someone’s eyes.

Post-edit:  I wrote most of this post about 12 days ago.  I had hoped to get it posted sooner, but I got super busy with life and actually haven’t opened my computer since then.  I hope to share soon what is making me busy and taking me away from this place I love to be.   However, something “fabulous” happened to me today and I just had to share it.  It seems so fitting with this post.

I was out shopping at our local Sam’s Club today, and a women stopped me.  She said, “I just have to ask, do you write a blog?” I replied, “Yes.” She responded back, “I just love your blog…..” and then she preceded to tell me all the things she loved about it.  All the fabulous things she admired, and even some projects she has done that she found here.  I just had to ask her, if she started reading it before I moved here or after and she replied, “before.”  This made my heart happy.  This means that this sweet girl has been reading my blog for quite sometime.  This sweet girl, made me feel fabulous.  I am not a famous fabulous blogger who is well-known, and gets stopped all the time.  It is so nice, however, when someone does take the time to stop, and tell you they admire something about your doing. 

So… Thank you sweet, and adorable, and fabulous, gal who stopped me in Sam’s today.  You touched me deeply, on a day I needed it.

Before I walked away, I thanked her for stopping to tell me.  This is a good reminder that we should all take the time to tell others that they are fabulous.  It is important to remind them that the things they do are fabulous. 

This sweet woman did that, right before we parted ways, she said, “don’t stop blogging, you are reaching people and doing great things; I just wanted you to know that.”

Today, I am thankful for this blog, my children, and that sweet beautiful woman who reminded me that I am fabulous; in my own way.

In a world of comparison, especially among women, it is nice to know that we are all fabulous in our own little way.

Tell someone today just how fabulous they are.