HELP NOW!!! PLease!!

If you haven't checked facebook, and don't know about this contest Aubrey is in... please go to facebook and help! The contest ends at 9:00 tonight.

Here's the story... the 2nd place person has stayed right behind Aubrey the whole time, but she has so many fishy people "liking" her comment... so we think she's cheating.

So, if you have a facebook account, every vote will help!!

Go to the active bands page: https://www.facebook.com/activebands and "like" that page.

Then go here: https://www.facebook.com/activebands/posts/220003278028791, find Aubrey's comment, and like it.


THANK YOU!!

Randomness... BECAUSE YOU MISS ME!!!

Admit it, you miss my random posts. Okay, don't admit it, but you know deep down inside that you love me.

This last weekend Nicole (my amazingly awesome first counselor) and I took 6 of our young women to Salt Lake. We did all of the downtown church things we could fit in... it was a whirlwind of craziness, and I only lost about 60% of my sanity, so I think that's pretty good, right? I loved listening to the girls talk about the bazillion brides we saw at the temple. I think they all planned to get married "tomorrow", but thank goodness all of those plans fell through. They've got time... lots of time.

Cooper PITCHED at his game! I was so proud of him! He struck two kids out (and walked some, but who's counting that?). I could tell he was so nervous, but he was also super cute. Brandon's out of town tonight, so I had to run back and forth between Cooper's game and Tyler's game. I missed Tyler getting on base, but he forgave me when he knew I was watching Cooper pitch.

I still never see Aubrey. She's done with track, and still finds things to keep her busy. I guess that's what I have to look forward to for the rest of her short time left at home. I like that girl... and wish I could see more of her. But wait... maybe I like her because I don't see her very often... hmmm...

Life is good, you know? So many things I love to do... so many people I love to be with... it's good. I'm sorry about my downer post on Sunday. Some days are like that. When I think about my aunt and uncle who live in Joplin and lost everything in the tornado (and their five daughters who no longer have their childhood home to go home to... and the devastation so many others are facing too), or my dear friend who is going through some of the toughest stuff ever and comments on my post that she is sorry things are hard for me, OR I plain old think about how amazingly, richly blessed I am... yeah. It happens... that wallowing, but I don't want to stay there. I visited, didn't like it, and came home. :)

Life

There are 4 things you cannot recover in life: 

the stone after it's thrown 

the word after it's said

the occasion after it's missed 

the time after it is gone

Perspective

 Yesterday was a hard day. I don't want to talk about it, and I surely don't want to repeat it. Things are looking better today... but I still feel this weight.

 After sobbing my life's worries out to Brandon, he said a lot of things that made me think. Hard. And as always, he was right. Then I started thinking about things from a different perspective. I realized almost every single thing I was so upset about could be dismissed with a laugh when looked at slightly differently...

 These are things that anybody would say, are you serious? Really? THAT happened? That's so awful! But then... when I looked at it through a different lens, it was funny, sad, no consequence... nothing.

 Not everything in life has that opposite side... that side where you can count it as no consequence. Some things just plain hurt, and are just plain hard. But I do think there are lots of things that just need to be looked at through a kinder lens.

Sigh. Still working through it all.

Reason #1,397 why I love him

Last night for Family Home Evening we played a game to see how much we knew about each other... it took forever, but I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

See, my husband is hilarious. He writes stuff that I only wish I could think of. For example, we wrote three things that we thought each person in the family wishes for (or wished for) in a future spouse.

I wrote boring stuff, like:
spiritual, smart, friend

Brandon wrote:
(for himself) Good Cook, Good Girl, Good Looking
(for me) Tall, Dark, Handsome
(for Aubrey) Someone cool like her dad, someone funny like her dad, someone good looking like her dad
(for Tyler) Good Cook, Good Dancer, Good Singer
(for Cooper) Cowgirl, Hunter, Pretty like Mom

and then... the thing that made me laugh so hard I cried... we had to write what book we think each person would write if they wrote a book. For Aubrey he said:

What I Wish I Would Have Learned in 1st Grade

That might not seem so clever or funny... unless you know that Aubrey skipped 1st grade.


And just so you know that he's not perfect, this is what Tyler said that Brandon's commonly used phrase is:

**** it tyler


I love you, Brandon. :)

I Heart Faces... Motherhood

Don't forget to go over to i heart faces to see more beautiful motherhood photos.

Mothers Day

I am so blessed that I am allowed to be the Mother of 3 beautiful children.

I don't deserve them most of the time,

but I don't care. I want them anyway.

The more they grow, and the more they become separate from me,

the more proud I am of them. My kids are good people.

I am so grateful that I have two Moms, 

one who has been Mom my entire life,

one who has been Mom the moment I met Brandon.

I am lucky that they have always been my best friends,

and that they have so much to teach me and share with me...

because they've been here before.

I am amazed by so many women in my life

who have taught me all that a Mother can be

and how to be a better Mother.

I wish I followed their examples more exactly.

But that's the best thing... my kids are forgiving,

they love me, and give me room to grow.

Every day I will try to be better,

and every day they will give me another chance.

I am a

Blessed, Proud, Grateful, Lucky, Amazed, Loved

Mom. :)