It all comes back to love

Yesterday I went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned. As many of you know I am lucky enough to have a close friend that is my dentist. "James N. Jones DMD" Just in case you haven't heard me say it enough....Anyway when I get my teeth cleaned I am also lucky enough to say that my hygenist is my close friend. We love the same things. Her name is Leslie. We always have the greatest conversations about everything. Leslie is so easy to talk to and because we love the same things we always have something to talk about. I make her job a little more difficult because I am always trying to talk while she is cleaning my teeth. I know that is hard to imagine....We started talking about life and how we all have hard things going on in our lives. She said that in her own life she is trying to start each day with more love in her heart. What an awesome way to start a day. With each and every person that we come in contact with, we can just have love in our heart and it will show in everything we do. Each and every one of us came to earth, there is a plan, and we have a Heavenly Father that loves us. We can be his hands, and be the answer to a prayer. We can show more love, and kindness, especially if we know that we have a Heavenly Father that loves us. How can we serve and be more like him? It all starts with love. During this Christmas season we are all trying to show others that we love them. We do more random acts of kindness than at any other time of year. I love being able to interact with people and I love random acts of kindness. Here is something else to think about.

Think about how this could changes lives. To truly be able to be more understanding and compassionate with every little thing. I know I can try more and more every day to be kinder, and to have more love in my heart. I am truly grateful for the amazing family and friends that surround me. I am thankful that I have opportunites to serve and I am thankful that I can start over each day. I know that I have a Heavenly Father that loves me, and that I can show others love and compassion and that I can be his hands, and be the answer to a prayer. Thank you Leslie for the amazing example of love. Thank you for being my friend, and reminding me the greatest gift I can  give is LOVE.

Sunrise and sunset

The other day Karlee left for school, and shortly after she called me. She said "Mom you should go and look at the sunrise", (she really said sunset, and we laughed because it was the sunrise). She said it was really pretty and that it reminded her of me. Anyone who knows me at all knows that I love to watch the sunrise and the sunset. I often take pictures of them and send them to friends. I stop the car and make whoever is with me look at the beauty. Here is the picture of that morning Karlee had me go look at the sunrise.

 

 

Later during the week, Kiersten called me and she had seen my post to Instagram, it was a sunset pic. She said that she was driving and she was going to call me to look at the same sunset that she saw on my Instagram. It too reminded her of me. It made me so happy, that the sunset made her think of me. Here is the picture of the beautiful sunset.

 

 

 

 

My whole life I have loved sunsets. I have pictures that I have taken from when I was young. I still pull over and take pictures of the sun. I have lots and lots on my phone.  The sun makes me happy. It reminds me that my Heavenly Father loves me and that he wants me to have joy in my life, and that he created this beautiful world to bring me joy. Life doesn't just have to be endured, it is to be enjoyed. I am so thankful to each and every one of you. Thank you for bringing me joy, and for helping me to see the beauty that surrounds me. Reach out to others, and make a difference:) It only takes one small thing....a kind word, a smile, open a door. Write someone a note. Make a treat. Call your Mom or Dad, a friend, or your Grandma, or Grandpa. Be a good friend! Look for opportunities to take the ugly out of someone's day. Just like the quote says. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you make them feel.

 

 



 

 









Halloween and a little gratitude

If you know me at all, you know I love candy. I decorate with candy and I have candy on my desk. (You are welcome James N Jones DDS). My love of Halloween started with my love of candy. I found a sign a while ago that said "I love you more than candy". I send a picture of it to Troy or my kids, and then they know that it is a special day. When I was a kid,  I would go trick or treating for hours. I would eat all of my candy within a couple of days. I trick or treated until I was 30. It isn't an age limit, it is a height limit, so in that case I can trick or treat until I am really old. I am over trick or treating after going last year with Karlee and her friends, but I love trick or treating. The other day Troy and I were talking about my candy decorations in my house. I had just filled them up, and they looked really cute. Troy said "You really do love Halloween. Is that why you have all of those jars of candy, so you can celebrate Halloween all year?".

 

This year I dressed up two times. I went to our ward party as a biker chick per Nicole Wheeler's request. One of the cute little girls in my ward totally noticed that I was a biker chick a different year. I think she was only 11, but she remembered. After she reminded me that I already wore that costume, she said I was totally rockin it.  Lizzy Poll was so scared of my fake tattoo sleeves. It took her a minute to see that they were fake.  All of the young women leaders wore some type of biker chick costume.

 I went as that last year, and so I wanted to be something different at work. I wore my baseball uniform from 1987.

 

 It brought back some awesome memories. I was thinking about the good ol days in Riverdale growing up and trick or treating with my friends. I thought a lot about Dena because we were on a lot of softball teams together and we always went trick or treating together. I don't know what it was about Riverdale, but it seems like we all loved Halloween. I am so grateful for good friends.
 

Halloween has evolved through the years. I would go trick or treating with my kids and when they would yell "MOM" I would have to remind them that most mom's aren't trick or treating and they should let me trick or treat without getting busted:) I am not even sure why I would go trick or treating, other than I love candy and I love a challenge. I am sure I thought I was funny because until last year no one questioned why the old lady was trick or treating. I finally decided trick or treating is over-rated, and I think I have officially retired.

As an adult I painted pumpkins for years and years. I figure I painted around 5000 pumpkins. I started to find joy in giving someone a little something without an expectation.  I have learned something about myself along the way. I love little random acts of kindness. I can surprise someone around Halloween and they don't expect it at all, but it makes them really happy. It is a holiday that you don't have to give someone something back because it isn't expected. I notice lots of others do the same thing. Families and friends gather. It seems like if you let it, Halloween can be the start of the holiday season.

 Halloween has turned my heart to gratitude. It is the last holiday before Thanksgiving. Our hearts are automatically turned to being grateful during the month of November and so for me Halloween is just where I start. 
 

I recently read an awesome article from Oprah. It talks about how to have more gratitude in your heart.

Every day you should have gratitude meditation. This should be about 15 minutes. Sit still and thank the world (Or your Heavenly Father) for every single thing that you can think of. The wind, the trees, the gas in the car, the brief breeze in the hot day, the gift of touch, smell, taste, sight and you get the idea. Fill up your core with gratitude.

One gratitude gift a day- Reach out to someone different each and every single day and say thank you.
 

Pay it forward- Let someone go ahead of you in line, pay for someone's drink or food at a drive up or gas station. give the gift of listening, do something for someone else.....put this on the list for each day. Small acts bring big results. Change the world with just being the change.
 

FOCUS ON THE POSITVE- Be the positive force in the world and turn away from the negative.
 

When you live in gratitude it reminds you at every twist and turn of your day how amazing life can really be. When you focus on the positive it changes everything. Take the time to pay attention to your life and fill yourself up with gratitude. When you are unleashing the wave of gratitude into your life you are living the best life.

 

 

 



You are good enough

Saturday was a competition for Karlee. She needed to get a certain score on her passes so when the actual competition season starts that she will be able to advance to the higher level. This process has made me think. Karlee always reverts back to tumbling because it is were she is accepted and loved.  She is great at it, and she has awesome friendships, her coaches love her, and she finds it rewarding. As a parent you want your kids to be involved in exactly these types of activities. A couple of months ago Karlee tried out for Orion Jr. High softball. She hasn't ever played organized sports before, but thought it would be rewarding and fun. She did make the team, but as a redshirt. This means she would basically just go to practice, sort of like a 6 week softball camp. She would not receive a uniform, and she had to go to every practice and every game. At first the overall result made her feel like she wasn't good enough. As a parent this was really hard to watch. Mother bear was not happy that her cub was sad. Troy and I talked through it and decided she would be able to do both tumbling and softball. This would require a lot of rides to and from the school, and lots of time exercising. Life is a series of trials that help you learn how to NOT be a victim and to prove to yourself and others that you can do hard things. We all need to know we can do hard things. I am so proud of Karlee for pushing through and realizing that she is good enough and proving to herself that she indeed can do hard things. The workouts at softball made her stronger physically. I think she will prove that at her competitions. She held her head up at all of the games and was a good sport. She is learning patience and hard work. She is being a great example. When you find yourself feeling lost, or that you aren't good enough, think of Karlee. Watch the videos and you can see how she is improving and that she can do hard things.  I know I can't physically do the tumbling passes that Karlee can, but I do know that I am a Daughter of my Heavenly Father that loves me, and I know I can do hard things. I know I do matter, and you do too! I can make a difference just by being me:)

Hello... and yes Kier I am inspired by your blog. I love reading it and decided to start my own. I do believe it is the small things that make a difference.

 I just went to Cape Cod this weekend. It was really fun to attend a wedding in a different state. The most impressive thing is that people still value marriage. It was fun to listen to everyone talk about how happy they were that Adam and Lindsey were getting married. In the ceremony they talked about how the material on the backdrop was from her grandmother's veils back to the 1800's this amazed me and brought back the renewed faith that people still value marriage.

 Getting clear across the country was interesting. I flew to Detroit and I sat next to a cute couple that was from Michigan. They were about the most normal people that I have ever sat by on a plane. It was nice. When I got to Detroit I was kinda scared that I would miss my connecting flight because I only had a 51 minute layover. Luckily when I got off of the plane, I didn't have to walk anywhere, the gate was right there. I boarded the flight to Boston and I sat by some Asians and they were stinky, but I recorded them and put my blanket over my face, and then after watching them for a while, I loved them. They were cute. . I met Troy in Boston and we went to the rental car area and started our drive to Cape Cod. It was about an hour and a half drive, and it was dark, and different than Utah. There were tunnels, and weird roundabouts. We both had our phones on Google Maps and we arrived with no hassles. What did we do without Google Maps?  We were both starving and so we went to the hotel to eat. The menu had fish.....and pizza. I ordered pizza and Troy ordered fish. The pizza was so nasty. Worse than a frozen pizza. Troy said "when in Rome you eat what the Romans eat" That would be fish but......not a fan.....The waitress was really cute and nice and brought me a salad, with ranch. We went and talked to Adam and Lindsey and then went to bed. We were both tired from traveling. Our room was awesome. It had the greatest view. It had 2 huge windows and overlooked the water.

The day of the wedding we learned about "leafing". Everyone thought it was so colorful. It was just starting, and it doesn't even compare to Utah. I feel so blessed to live in such an amazing place. It is fun to now call looking at leaves.."Leafing". We went to a little village and it was fun to see the harbor and draw bridge. We took some cute pics by a big ship. 

 I did enjoy the 3 trees we saw with color on them. Most of the shops were closed and all of the gas stations were. I wanted a fountain drink so bad, and there was one little store and it had all healthy food. I didn't like that very much, but I survived.

The wedding was amazing and it was really fun to be a part of it. There was a photo booth and I made Troy go in and take pics with me 3 times. I love the candid pictures and I will cherish them forever.

We had to leave to the airport at 5:30. We had to drive back to the airport and get the car turned back in. We arrived at the airport and flew to Detroit together. The whole weekend I kept getting up close to Troy and I would say "I miss yo face". When I left to fly to SLC he called me right before I boarded the plane and said..."I miss yo face" Made me laugh. I loved it. I sat by a sassy grandma and she was fun and really nice. What I laugh at the most is at airports, people do not see short people. They walk right in front of me, and sometimes right into me. Look out for us little people yo!

 I was so tired when I got home, and as per the usual, Bronson missed me, but Karlee didn't. Bronson kept trying to give me a hug, but he was stinky from working outside. He pestered me for hours. Finally he went and got in the shower.  Karlee stayed with Kier and I think she would totally live there if I let her. She had on Kier's pants, hoodie and watch. She would probably wear them everyday if I let her. I love how close they are. I love that Karlee wants to be just like Kier. I can't think of anyone better to have as a role model. Kier is such an awesome sister. I love the dynamics of families. I love that I have a Heavenly Father that surrounds us with those who will help us reach the best of our potential. Families definitely teach us things we couldn't learn without each other. It was a great weekend.