Ok hooray I didn't die or fall off the face of the earth. I am fine now (very grateful to be well and everyone else too.)and we are now well into summer and the we are watching to see if the monsoon season arrives to cool us down. We are off to ABQ soon to visit with all the fam and we are all looking forward to it. Kate, Adam and Abe already threw the essentials into the suitcases and according to them we only need our swimsuits, underwear and some shirts (from the pictures maybe not even that) to have a blast in Albuquerque. I am tempted to just go with it. Well here are a few pics of late. Take care.
Heather
Just thoughts bouncing around that have found their way to the blogosphere.
In life it seems we each are dealt a set of "stuff" good and bad. I think now though, I realize we all have stuff and that it is uniquely ours and we have to own our own stuff. There is no dishing it off to someone else to fix. They can't and they also have there own stuff. That doesn't mean we don't help others or let them help us but we recognize that it is our stuff and with a realization that only Jesus Christ can take my unique stuff and make it my strengths instead of my weakness. That is powerful. That is the real freedom God gives us through the Atonement.
We all have times ( I do.) when our worst shines through and who ever happens upon us at that time gets to see the emperor with no clothes. Its humbling but in the long term it makes us better if we turn to Jesus Christ. It is humbling. Hard, humbling, but where we find strength again. This is a process that bears repeating often because we are who we are. Mortal. But to find happiness in the mortal is just why we are here. That is the plan of happiness. Jesus Christ has the power to take whatever we give Him be it a crazy day with the kids to life’s defining moments. He is there. He is our Savior. He is our Redeemer. He knows how to take what we give Him and carry us through.
(Looks like I didn't post this a while back so I guess today is as good as any day to post it. I know why I didn't post it. Because I am a chicken. :-) I had been feeling like some stretching was coming my way and I thought hey if I don't write what I am thinking maybe I won't have to stretch. Nope, it never has really worked that way, but we can try right? I wrote this before I got sick. I sit here not knowing with what or why I am in pain and am very fatigued, but trying not to whine. After all I know compared to many it is a small thing. I try to smile and focus on the many other blessings I really do have in life and am grateful for. It looks like I wrote a future note to self above. Ugh. Well we just keep trying eh?)
Night all.
H.
I wanted to post some photos of our trip to Legoland and the beach earlier, but I have been having an out of body experience with some sort of flu/cold/sinus infection thing that kepts hanging on uninvited. I am yet to exercise (trying to not whine about it and being highly unsuccessful) but I am glad to have had a chance to remember that we all get to experience things like being really sick so we can know what it is like and can understand each other better when it happens to others too. So we learn empathy. Not an easy lesson ever I think.
Well Legoland and the beach were awesome! My Mom came along to with our family and what a fun time that turned out to be. She allowed us by trading off Paul watching to go on rides and rollercoasters, not to mention she got to ride some of the rollercoasters with the grandkids too. Super fun. Paul had a good time too just taking it all in as a he casually walked with Dad, Mom, or Nana around the park looking and being fascinated with every little thing. Cute. Kate Adam and Abe loved the rollercoasters and driving the race cars and soaking Nana at the pirate ships (that was my favorite :-) Johnny had fun on the Dino and Dragon rollercoaster with the kids and loved to watch Paul do his thing and babble about doggies and bears.
The beach was my favorite out there in Oceanside you found the surfers and waves were many. They even had a really nice playground next to the beach where the kids played and then would build their sand castles and then go play on the beach with the water and waves. My favorite was the walk on the pier out to Ruby's restaurant and eating out over the ocean a yummy sandwich and fries when we got to the end. We saw a pelican up close and the fisherman catching fish along the way.
The pics:
Well hope that was fun looking at them Mom and Dad and Carmen.
Just a thought:
Being happy is not being happy knowing we are perfect but it is knowing we are imperfect and being happy anyway and giving the others the flexibility to do the same.
H. :-)
Kate's baptism was this past weekend and it was so beautiful. It was so wonderful to see her as she willingly and bravely decided to enter the baptismal font and follow in the steps of our Savior Jesus Christ. What was wonderful was to see that she was glad and she gained a great peace knowing she was the one that chose to do this. It was all her. So beautiful. I don't know if anyone reads this, but for all of those people who have accidentally stumbled upon this blog it is not much. I do hope, though, you take from this an understanding that hey we all have a bit a beautiful roller coaster ride to enjoy here in life with our family and friends and we hold on to those moments in life when we know truly we got it right that day. Those moments that we know for sure God was happy with us that day. We all have them and hope for them. I have had them and as a mother there is only one thing greater than knowing God was happy with you. It is when you know God is happy with your child. When you feel you have given your child something greater than you. It was a day like that for our family when Kate was baptized.
I keep thinking of a song called "In My daughter's Eyes" I love the lyrics.
In my daughter's eyes I am a hero
I am strong and wise and I know no fear
But the truth is plain to see
She was sent to rescue me
I see who I wanna be
In my daughter's eyes
In my daughter's eyes everyone is equal
Darkness turns to light and the
world is at peace
This miracle God gave to me
gives me strength when I am weak
I find reason to believe
In my daughter's eyes
And when she wraps her hand
around my finger
It puts a smile in my heart
Everything becomes a little clearer
I realize what life is all about
It's hangin' on when your heart
has had enough
It's giving more when you feel like giving up
I've seen the light
It's in my daughter's eyes
In my daughter's eyes I can see the future
A reflection of who I am and what will be
Though she'll grow and someday leave
Maybe raise a family
When I'm gone I hope you see how happy
she made me
For I'll be there
In my daughter's eyes
Thanks Kate! I love you.
Here are a few pics from that great day.
We wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I sent out a bunch of cds with a little Christmas video to those I had addresses for, BUT there are plenty of addresses I don't have. I still want to say hello so I am putting the video here and will hopefully be able to get this thing to work. We have had a quiet Christmas. Johnny had some knee surgery the Monday before Christmas and so that went well, but that meant we were to stay here for Christmas and not go to ABQ and see the fam. Which it turns out has its positive points like no packing, or only us to cook for so who cares if the turkey turns out or the best one having time to just have no schedule right here in the comfort of your own house. We had a few hiccups along the way like when Paul got the throwups on Christmas Eve and Sarah and Mike and Genny and Eli didn't come because they didn't want to get sick or when Johnny was passed out in terrible pain for most of the week, but hey that's just life. :-) We have much to be thankful for and we are alive and have each other. That's enough to be happy.
Well here's the video...
www.yelifari.com/videos/merrychristmasshort.wmv
Merry Christmas everyone!
Happy New Year too!
Kate and I went to Saguaro National Park today for her class and we had fun looking at all the different types of plants and cacti. Kate is a fun little girl and we enjoyed the time to talk and walk. We finally had some good one on one time the past few days and that has been nice. The boys in her group were hilarious distracting the ranger with many types of "scat" they found and strange questions about owl hairballs.
Anyway time to get to bed but I am going to run in the Turkey Classic tomorrow on the spur of the moment whim and will get to jump over hay bales and water jumps. It should be fun since it is suppose to rain. Maybe it will become a race through the mud. What could be better? Love it.
Take care and Happy Thanksgiving. I love you all and I am thankful so much for all of you. I would write a more sentimental entry about all of that but this will have to do because I am tired and going to bed so just know I love you all.
Night.
Heather
We finally have taken the time to get our family pictures taken (Paul our caboose is finally included. Paul for the future remember that in times like these that saying "last the best of all the game.") and to our utter joy and surprise the whole experience was fun AND we love the pictures. Two things that should be present in all photography experiences, but seem to always be missing in ours, but not this time hooray! We had a friend who is a great photographer take them at a park and she did a wonderful job. Anyway I wanted to post the link to a few of the pictures and here it is:
http://ashliephotography.com/blog/?p=78
and http://ashliephotography.com/blog/?p=70
Thanks again Ashlie!
Hope you all have as much fun as we did looking at them.
Heather
These are the pics from a little while back when Christine our family friend came to visit us. We all had a super fun time and enjoyed every minute and hope she will come back again soon.
Take care all of you out there from Tucson to Albuquerque to Florida to California to Oregon to Minnesota to Washington D.C. to Ghana to China to Russia to soon to be Cairo and all the places in between and back home to blessed Tucson. Know you are all loved by us here in Tucson and one day someday we all get to have one big giant get together in Heaven and you will all get to meet all the people together that we love so much.
Love you all,
Heather