Sienna's in the Friend!

The poem Sienna wrote when I was sick is in the September Friend! Melanie S. submitted it without even telling me. Sisi is so happy.

Thank You, Melanie!!

I'm Seriously So Blessed, too

So my new eBFF is TAMN from Seriously So Blessed. I might even be in her top 1,000 friends. In fact, we're such good friends that I got finagled into designing some tshirts for her. Well, maybe more like I offered because I think she is so stinkin' funny. She mocks the trendy young mormon mom blog and she is spot on. BAAAAAA! Like bananas, she makes me smile every day.

Anyway, check out her blog and the new shirts. I want the diet coke one since I, too, am "off diet coke" again, again and also the "materialism makes me cry" one.

what would you give your life for?

Today I taught about the Army of Helaman in The Book of Mormon to my sunday school class. As I prepared I remembered hearing the story when I was a kid and thinking,"would I join that army knowing I could die for righteousness?" I also remembered thinking, "Sure I would!!" I'd go down in a blaze of glory and be remembered with the martyrs of the gospel. I'd be a hero, right? SO as I thought of that again this week, I thought "could I give up my life for the gospel now?" It's different now, I have much more to lose. I have my family to think about. My life is bigger than when I was a kid. But as I thought it over, I again came to the conclusion that sure, I'd give my life for the gospel. At that same moment the thought came to me,"So why haven't you??" Oh. Here I am thinking I'm pretty great to be willing to go through death when it's really my LIFE the Lord wants. I say I'll give my life but some days I can't find 15 minutes to read the scriptures or pray?? Sure, I'll die for you but don't make me do my visit teaching!! That's too much to ask! I need to be willing to serve and pray. Every moment of my life. He wants me to dedicate my life to Him. These young men who were called to fight were good kids. They not only were willing to die for the truth, they had already spent their lives living for it. They were raised in good homes full of love and a testimony that the gospel of Jesus Christ was true. "Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them." I, too, was raised in home where my parents knew and loved the gospel. I've had the same opportunities they had. I need to make more of myself. The best quote in the lesson today was from President Ezra Taft Benson. He said,“Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life”. What an awesome promise. So once again, I try to be nice and give something to the Lord and I find out He's standing there waiting to bless me even more.

Isn't God so good?

my boy

i think he might be my best work so far.

Kill me.

We found this in our storage room last night. it's all stuck to a sticky bug thing our Orkin guy put in there. It was still alive and ripping its skin off.

I showed the kids this morning (the picture) and Sienna was so sad that Jaymee killed it instead of being scared it was there.

Sisi's Romantic Dream

Sisi is nine. She came downstairs all dancey-like and I asked her what was up. She said she had a very romantic dream. She said in it she colored a horse and then a boy put her up on the horse and then when he took her down off of it again he swung her around. She looked at him and almost fainted while saying,"I MUST BE DREAMING!!"

HA HA HA HA. Even better, who was this handsome stranger? None other than the monocled duke from Disney's Cinderella. What a crack up.

Still healthy - isn't it lovely?

"Worry is Not Preparation"
The keynote speaker at Creative Escape last year said that on the very night I went to the ER in Arizona. It made an impression. I even texted it to my sister because I thought it was so important. It does no good to worry all the time. Seems like we live in the "time of worry". It's too bad. I think it's because we know too much. We hear about every single thing that goes wrong in the world and we start to think it could happen to us. Worry is not preparation. It does no good. It takes away your joy and quite frankly, shows a lack of faith. The Lord isn't going to let something happen in our life that won't help us grow and achieve some sort of greater happiness in the end. I truly believe that. I don't think that means we're immune to pain and suffering and loss. Those things happen. They're supposed to happen. They make us stronger and more like God. So if these things are ulitmately good (though sometimes almost impossible to get through) why do we spend so much time worrying?

I have been having chest pains again and even some of the same symptoms that I had at this time last year and of course I got freaked out. (I got a chest xray and I am fine - they say the pain is costochondritis - from some broken up cartilage in my ribcage due to the radiation... no big deal.) I really hate this feeling of hunching down in cancer's shadow. I never know if it's going to turn around and face me again. I hate feeling like I'm some crazy hypochondriac because I get a pain anywhere and think it's cancer. I have been running a lot lately and part of me thinks I am running from cancer. If I'm running, I'm healthy! Sick people can't run. Look at me go! I feel like if I stop, it'll catch up and get me. Worry worry. Useless worry. Like I control my fate. Worry is not preparation.

It's not coming back. I promise I don't wander around writhing my hands worrying about cancer all the time. I'm very happy. It just isn't always rosy. It isn't over even though it's over. I think it will be over, though, one day. Maybe when I hit that precious two-year mark?

We're almost to one year. Can you believe it? My cute haircut girl measured my hair. Three inches. In a year? I expected better of my follicles. They have really let me down. But I forgive them.

That's honey butter... SIR!!

So I went to my friend Dave's Air Force retirement on Friday. Wow. That was really cool. I'm a civilian. I don't shop at the commersary or the BX. I don't know the rules of engagement. I drive a POV. I've never been TDY. You get the picture. So this was only one of a very few times I have been on the base. Everything is very official. Dave's former colonel flew in from California to officiate his retirement. HE was very official. I really was moved by the ceremony. I had very strong feelings about the purpose of the military and how the Lord's hand is in it. I almost signed up myself on the way out, but they don't want me - I'm damaged goods - but I digress. They made a big deal about Mami, Dave's wife, and her contributions to the success of the air force because she has been such a support to him. Every company should do that. They gave his kids each a certificate thanking them for supporting him, too. I just can't say enough about how neat I thought the whole thing was. Congrats, David. 25 Years... I was six when you started... USA! USA!

So then there was food and a little linger-longer afterwards. Dave came up holding a plate with some of Mami's award-winning bread and two piles of some sort of spread. The Colonel was standing beside me and asked Dave what the spreads were. He thought one was honey butter and the other was mayo.(This story gets better, I promise) Then Mami says,"No, this one is mayo and that one is honey butter..." This went on for a while. Everyone has an opinion. Finally, I couldn't take it any more so I stuck my finger in one of them and licked it. "It's honey butter", I said. Dave proceeded to hand the plate over to the colonel who then thanked me for solving his dilemma. I thought the food was Dave's. I stuck my finger in the officer's butter. OH BOY.

If you ever need somebody to be really tacky - I'm your gal.

No one understands me.

We went to a "grizzlies" game with the kids - they're a local baseball team - and i was standing in line with Mason for a jumphouse. There was a guy behind us with his little boy who was wearing a big spongy-foam grizzly bear paw with long foam claws sticking off it. I said,"Ooh, Nature has dealt your son a cruel hand." He said,"I bought it for him."

Vampires

i AM NOT in love with a VAMPIRE!!!

Melanie is grounded from my blog.