Category Archives: Life

Winter Solstice.

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Today is the shortest day of the year,

and tonight will be the longest night.

It is the day that the sun’s position is angled farthest away from us.

It’s not my favorite day, because it is so short

and I am very fond of the light,

but it being here means that from now on

until summer the days will keep getting longer, and the nights will keep getting shorter.

It’s like a new start.

As time goes by then the sun’s angle will keep getting closer and closer.

I love it when it is light outside until 9:30 or so in the evening.

So I’m going to watch for longer days, and more light.

You should too!

Children.

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Sweet tiny Natasha!

I have heard it said that,

Children don’t care how much you know, 

until they know how much you care! 

I have found this to be true even with older kids. When my children are struggling and I just want to fix everything.

I tell them all of the things I know about how to fix their problems.

Really, what they want is to know that I am there for them, loving them and caring about them. If they want to know how smart I am, they will ask.

My gift!

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I am a daycare provider.

I have done it off and on for years.

One day, recently, I was listening to and responding to one of the children I watch, and my darlin said,

“Can you really understand what she is saying?”

She is two years old, and it does take a little getting used to.

I said, “Yup!”

He said, “You have the ‘gift of tongues!”

I never thought about it before, but…I do! 

Nifty, Nifty, Look Who’s 50!!

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It was my 50th birthday, and I was feeling old, and unappreciated. Mostly by my hubby who hadn’t said much about the day. I think my birthday might be my favorite day of the year, next to Christmas and Halloween, and basically all the holidays. So I was wondering if my sweetie might do something special with it being a fairly significant one, but when not much was said I was thinking, “Oh well, maybe being with my most favorite person is enough.”

We went to dinner at Bella’s it was wonderful, then went home. Really nice, but not super special. The house was quiet most days, with two of the kids on missions. When we got home the house was quite dark and I could tell no one was home.  I thought we might watch a movie and just finish the evening quietly together. When we got in the house and walked past the kitchen I noticed a cup sitting on the hutch and said, “Hmmm, that’s weird.” and continued walking. As I past the living room all of a sudden…

Suprise!!!!

My darlin arranged for lots of family and friends to be at our home to surpise me when we came home from dinner! That stinker! He really got me! They all got me! What a neat surprise!

I loved it! It was so nice of all of them to come, and celebrate my birthday with me.

I love you all!!
Here are all my cards and gifts! I think this has been my best b-day so far!

What a great 50th Birthday!

Bucket List!

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I am reaching a fairly significant milestone in my life tomorrow.

I am turning “50.”

Even saying it, and seeing it written in front of me here in this post is enough to make me want to…

a. cry

b. take a nap

c. scream and say “wow, you’re getting old!”

d. all of the above.

I am usually very comfortable with my age. I have no problem telling people how old I am. I am just amazed at the number. Seriously, I can’t write a country song that says what I am going to do with my next “50” years. Well, I could, but no one would believe it, and doing laps in the halls at a rest home at 90+ doesn’t sound like a fun thing to sing about.

I am half of a century!

I have been thinking a lot about my mom, and how old I was, when she turned 50. I honestly don’t remember it being a big deal to her. She never has been as dramatic as I am. I know because of her and others, that it is what you make it. It can be traumatic, or an accomplishment. I can say, “I havn’t done everything I wanted to do!” or “I’m not rich!” Or, I can focus on all that I have accomplished and say, “I am amazing!” I think I’ll do the second one. It sounds better!

So in celebration of my 50th birthday, here is my “Bucket List.” (This may be modified according to mood swings and hot flashes)

I would like to:

1-Serve  missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: -Family History mission, Humanitarian mission, etc. (Note: we will definitely need to retire first for this, if we can, ya never know.)

2-Travel to: -England, Wales and Norway, to do family history research. -Other parts of the United States, Boston, Minnesota, North and South Carolina, Colorado for the same reason and also Canada. -San Antonio, Texas and the surrounding areas, where I served my mission a hundred years ago. – A cruise with all of my children and grandchildren when my darlin and I have been married for 50 years. -The Oregon and Washington coast -Central America to see the ruins.

3-See and do: -see the Northern Lights. -see Puffins in their natural habitat. -Meet a Prophet of God. – visit a medieval castle. -write a book.

The older I get, the more I care about the person I am, on the inside. I know it is inevitable that I will wrinkle and gray, and I am not the type to spend a ton of time and money fixing that, but I would like to be kinder to myself in the next “50” years. Be productive, and successful, and not hard on myself for all of my short comings. Love me -more.

So Happy Birthday, Self! I love you, and I’m glad to know you! You’re amazing!

The Boutique!

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At one time, I worked at a boutique.

It was one of my favorite jobs!

The boutique sold various crafts, hand made, as well as items brought in by vendors. Almost everyday was an exercise in self discipline,

“Remember you are working here to earn money, not to spend money.”

I occasionally would spend money, but I couldn’t do it very often. When you are in this situation, you have to figure out how to make it work. How to have fun at work without defeating the purpose of being there.  I would think to myself, “How can I come to work every day, and rarely take anything home?”  

Then one day it came to me.

I was there almost everyday anyway, so I would say to myself, “You don’t need to take it home, you will see it again tomorrow!”

It totally worked!! 

I really don’t have much in my home from working at that job. And guess what? I don’t even remember those things I thought I needed!

Gymnastics!

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I love gymnastics!

Growing up I did gymnastics everyday. I had so much fun!! I loved the stretching and flexibility and strength, that I learned. In junior high school, I was able to take a gymnastics class instead of the regular P.E. class, which was awesome considering that I ate, drank, and slept gymnastics. I also went to a gymnastics class twice a week at a gym. I think I knew deep down that it was not going to happen, but I wanted to be in the Olympics so bad.

One of my heroes during this time in my life was Nadia.

What an amazing gymnast! It was so amazing to see her do her routines. The skill and dedication it took to be as amazing as she was, is what I admired the most. I was never really great at gymnastics, I could do some fun tricks, back hand springs and flips and such, but I was very in touch with my body and how my muscles worked. I knew what my abilities were and what I could do physically. I was blessed to have only one fairly serious injury, and that was a broken ankle in 9th grade. It didn’t stop me though. I used to jump on the trampoline and tumble with my cast on. Even though my dream of going to the Olympics never happened, I was blessed with a fun and beneficial way to stay healthy and in very good shape for most of my youth.

5ooth post!!

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It has been 2 1/2 years! I am finally doing my 500th post! So I will reflect for a moment….I have done 101 posts on Family History, 6-10 posts on each of my children (but who’s counting), 70 posts on Elder Flexy-(it has been a year and 4 months since he left), 35 posts on Hermana Kelsey-(she’s been gone for 8 months), and 23 posts on my darling grandbaby, along with all of the “Beautiful Places” that I have posted about and the “Funny Things”, the “Bumper Stickers” and “Lessons.” You can’t forget my “Heroes”, and how every “Sunday” for quite a while has been the “Best”! This experience has been so fun and I am glad I started this journey. I have no plans to quit at anytime. So here are a few of my favorite posts from the last 500!!

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Isn’t she darling!

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Isn’t she darling!! What a fun girl.

She was putting her hands under the stream of water and every once in a while she would say “woohoo!” Being a grandma is the best. Happy Thursday everyone. Love, Joy

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Bloom where you’re planted!

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I often think of a time in my early 20′s when I was serving as a missionary in San Antonio, Texas. Like most volunteer situations, we were usually assigned where we would be serving. Needless to say, the area we ended up serving at any particular time would not necessarily be where WE would choose. The President of our mission used to say a quote that to this day is one of my favorites. Bloom where you’re planted! which to me meant grow and do the best you can -no matter what situation life finds you in. We don’t always enjoy any or all experiences while we’re going through them, but even the hardest experiences make us better than we would be without them. Sometimes the Master prunes us back and moves us to new soil, in a place He knows we might struggle, but He also knows we need to grow in. He knows us and has a plan for us, what He wants us to become. If we can learn to Bloom!, He will help us.
“If ye contuinue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel.” -Colossians 1:23

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Sweet Angel!

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I’m pretty sure this is what an
Angel
looks like.
Who knew a person could love this much. I’ve heard it said that “the more we love, the greater our capacity to love is”. When I had my first child, I thought I could never love anyone as much as I loved him. Then I had another, and another, and one more still. And I realized, I loved them all more that words can say. How did this happen? Unless, my ability to love has grown. Now I’m a grandma and this little angel has come into my life. How could I possibly love another grandbaby as much as I love her? I can’t imagine it, but I know I will! Whenever that day comes.
Natasha = LOVE!
Love’s- nothing till you give it away, give it away, give it away……
You end up having more.
I love being a mom and a grandma!
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My Heroes!

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When I was 5 years old, my best friend lived next door. We lived in the country so friends were few and far between, as they say. I spent quite a bit of time alone, not wanting to be too much of a burden to my friend, but once in a while I would go next door and he would be in the back of his house taking care of something important I’m sure. I really had a great time with my friend, when he could play. Sometimes I’d be gone for hours and my mom would wonder where I was. She would eventually find me…out in the field, plowing with my best friend. In case you couldn’t tell by now, my best friend wasn’t another 5 year old. It was Mr. Chard, a grandpa type who, like I said lived next door to me. I used to stand on the fence and say, “Mr. Chard, can you play?“ Even now thinking about him I miss him and his sweet and gentle way. This was many years ago; you could trust your 5 year old daughter with a man like Mr. Chard. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. I remember he never had time to “play”, but I remember riding the tractor next to him and plowing the fields for hours. It’s too bad that the world has changed. I would have never had a best friend when I was five if I didn’t have Mr. Chard. He has been gone for years, but this little girl will never forget his kindness and love.
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Lessons from the Mountain!

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See this mountain…I have been on top of this mountain.
I love this mountain. It represents so much. From the time I was a small child till now, I have looked in awe at it’s majesty.
One lesson I learned from the mountain is this – you can do more than you think you can. We have untapped abilities that are only used when we really push ourselves. My sweetheart and I decided one year for our anniversary to climb the mountain. That was about ten years ago. It was going to be a testimony to our marriage and the work and effort that got us to that point in our marriage. We started at about 8:00 am. We had a great time talking and enjoying each others company. We talked about our kids, our life together so far, our goals and dreams, and of course we talked about how much we loved each other. As the time went on the trail became steeper. There were many switch backs. There were also beautiful views and flowers along the trail. We had not prepared at all for this hike. No walking or special training to build endurance. We just went for it. I remember saying to my darlin, “Do you think I can do it?” and he would say, “YES! you can”. After 7 hours of hiking we reached the top. I was exhausted, and Brett was tired. Remember, we have to get back down. Some where in the middle of the hike I remember thinking, this is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I had given birth to 4 children and had gall bladder surgery, I was still thinking this is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. We hiked down for 5 more hours, using different muscles than we used going up. Toward the end of the hike we both really had to concentrate to put one foot in front of the other. It was more quiet than the hike up, because we were saving our energy for hiking down. Finally we made it. We were so sore, I mean soooo soorree!!! I couldn’t even look at the mountain for months without shedding a few tears. But I did it! I didn’t know I could. Now I know, I CAN do hard things. It takes alot of effort, but I can do what ever I need to or want to do in life.You can too!
(Oh, by the way the hike was 16.o5 miles)

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A little motivation is a good thing.

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 Have you ever noticed that sometimes the best motivation for a needed change in our lives is rarely fun or pleasant. When I was tiny (yes, I remember being tiny), about the time I was potty trained, I would go potty in the middle of the night and was either too scared or too tired to go back to bed, so I developed a habit of falling asleep on the rug in front of the sink. Sometimes I slept there the rest of the night. Sometimes I got cold and went back to bed.

When I was five, we moved to a very small farm house in the country while my Daddy was building our new home. Before we could even move into the farm house, a lot of cleaning up had to take place. In fact, the home had basically been abandoned and left empty for quite some time before we moved in. Mom and Dad had 5 kids at the time, and there was only one bedroom in the house. All of us kids slept in the one room. My three older brothers slept in a full bed, and I slept on an old army cot next to the crib where my baby brother slept. Mom and Dad slept on a hide-a-bed in the living room. Sometime in the moving process it was mentioned that there “sure were a lot of mice around”. This, of course, was a concern to me, because I thought they were scary. In the back part of the house was a small wash/storage room. Mom would keep her canning jars there, along with the washer and dryer. The first time I walked back in that room to get something I heard many of the canning jars shaking and rattling. I realized that the mice (not mouse) were running through the jars to escape. Ok, so now we are at the motivation part of the story. I don’t think I ever fell asleep on the rug in front of the sink ever again. I avoided the trip to the bathroom in the night time, all together. I was so good at going potty before bed and staying in bed. I became a parents dream.
I know, I know -he’s darling!!!
Just not in my house!
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Happy, Happy 100th POST!!! 100 WAYS TO CHOOSE JOY!!!

Posted on  by joyful

 

100 ways to choose JOY!
(in no particular order);)
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100-go for a walk
99-cuddle your sweetheart
98-jump on a trampoline
97-research your family tree
96-go for a drive
95-clean a closet
94-serve dinner at a shelter
93-play scrabble
92-cuddle a sleeping baby
91-watch “The Princess Bride”
90-read a good book
89-make a new friend
88-make treats for your neighbor
87-do some ironing
86-take a long hot shower
85-lay on the grass and watch the clouds
84-watch planes take off and land
83- give the dog a bath
82-call an old friend
81-look at your eyes in the mirror
80-go to a museum
79-let go of things you can’t
 do anything about
78-paint your nails
77-make play dough for the kids and play with them
76-sing a song at the top of your lungs
75-do the dishes by hand
74-finish a project
73-practice saying “I love you” to the mirror
72-take a nap
71-start a blog
70-clean out your purse
69-write a letter
68-count your blessings
67-read to a small child
66-braid someone’s hair
65-sit in a park and just watch
64-buy flowers for yourself
63-plan your dream house or your mansion in heaven
62-try cooking something new
61-go for a hike
60-kiss someone you love
59-forgive
58-go on a picnic
57-set some goals
56-write a special memory for your posterity
55-notice the little things
54-plant a tree
53-learn a language
52-sit in the sunshine
51-pray daily
50-have a song in your heart
49-visit a historical sight
48-one word: “chocolate”
47-visit a rest home
46-don’t JUDGE
45-give a massage
44-stand for right
43-believe in God
42-listen to beautiful music
41-play with someone’s hair
40-go for a run
39-balance your checkbook
38-dust your home
37-go to a farm when the baby animals are being born
36-read about great people
35-donate to a charity
33-drink clean water
32-use the toilet
31-”do unto others…”
30-share dinner with friends
29-shampoo, massage your scalp
28-clean up someone else’s mess, without anyone seeing you
27-take pictures
26-get a pedicure
25-”if you can’t say somethin’ nice,
don’t say nothin’ at all”
24-get things done (no moping)
23-have a candlelight dinner
22-start a rock collection
21-HUG
20-listen more
19-count the stars
18-watch ants
17-don’t compare your worst with someone else’s best
16-chew bubble gum and blow bubbles
15-be grateful
14-LOVE
13-feed the birds
12-create something from something else
11-SMILE
10-ride a horse
9-smell brownies
8-Listen to your heart
7-tend children for a tired momma
6-jump a rope
5-lotion your whole body
4-close your eyes and feel the breeze
3-take a class
2-fold laundry
1-Choose it! choose JOY!!!!
Thanks for reading and spending the last 100 posts with me!
 Love, Joy
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This seat is saved!!

Posted on  by joyful
So darling!!!!!
I had to take this picture!
My kids have sat in the same spot in our BMW (basic mormon wagon) for as long as I can remember. We’re not all in the car always at the same time, but when we are this is where my children sit. In these exact spots. I didn’t assign them places, they decided where they wanted to sit and it’s been that way ever since. I mean we’re talking years and years!
 This was our last family day, before Riley left, I had to snap a pic.
I love my children. I’m so proud of the people they have become and are becoming.  
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Thanks for reading!! Love, Joy

Stitches! (Caution: Not for the squeamish)

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This routine of getting stitches continued almost annually until my fourth grade year, at which time I decided, that I was completely sick of getting stitches and that this annual event needed to stop. Of course, I really never planned to get stitches, but for some reason I didn’t have stitches after fourth grade. Except for one time, right after graduation when  the horse I was riding slipped on the road and fell on me, requiring stitches in my head and my left knee.

So here is a list of the places I’ve had stitches: leg (twice), toe, head, finger, then head again, and knee when the horse fell on me.

Lesson’s learned: Don’t climb on things that you are too small to jump off, don’t put your fingers anywhere near the opening of a door at any time, wear shoes outside, make sure my kids know what I went though-in hopes that they won’t have to go though it too, sit around and never do anything. (OK, I’m kidding about the last one!)

But really, I hate pain! It is part of life and I’m glad I understand pain, because it makes the time when you don’t have to have pain so much more enjoyable, and you understand when your kids or others are in pain! You can say, “I know, honey!” because you do.