Category Archives: Life

Family History Friday (FHF): Keep a journal!

Posted on by
Reply
I’ve heard it said
that you are the only one
who can write the history of you.
It’s true!
Others can write about you, but you’re the only one who knows how you feel and have felt about different things. One thing that might be fun would be to suggest a date in history to each of your family members and have each person answer three questions about that date.
#1 –Where were you?
#2 –What were you doing?
#3 –How did you feel about it?
For example: The flood in Utah during the summer of 1983-
Where were you? I was in Texas on my mission. My family would say they were in Utah.
What were you doing? I was serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My family would say they were going to school or working.
How did you feel about it? I would say I don’t remember being worried about it at all. In fact, I don’t even remember hearing much about it. I was more concerned after the fact, because I was unaware of it at the time. My family would say they were very wet. They may have been concerned or worried about the house flooding or being able to travel on the roads.
If you’re the type of person who doesn’t usually write in a journal, or someone you love doesn’t usually write in a journal, make an assignment once a month or week, of a date in history that you and your family could write about and answer the 3 questions above. Then you will have a history, a family history!  Here’s an assignment for you: December 31, 1999, now answer the questions and go from there.
 You can do it! Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Let’s do it again!!!

Posted on by
Reply
That was so fun, let’s do it again!!! Speaking of the past year, that is. It’s almost over, and I can’t believe it!!!!! Time flies when you’re having fun (or not). It has been an interesting year with lot’s of changes in the world. We would not choose to have some of the things that have happened happen, but we can choose how we will respond to them. I will continue to choose joy and have faith that everything in the world and life will work out eventually. I do believe, like the song says, “The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth good will to men”.  I also believe that we will never be given a problem or challenge that we can’t handle. If you’re having a hard time, either make a change or continue in faith.
“No one can go back and make a brand-new start, my friend; but anyone can start from here and make a brand-new end” -Dan Zadra
Happy New Year!!
2010
-it will be a great new year!

A Party on Christmas Day 2009

Posted on by
Reply
The Family all enjoyed themselves!
Dad reading a card.
(I’m not sure, but he might be Santa)
Me with my sweet Natasha.
My Mom!
Exhausted and snoring loud! 😉
Emily intent on the game.
Too many parties!
I love my families, all of them. I married into a great family and I grew up in a great family. And…I am the mother of a great family. I feel so blessed and thank Father in Heaven for all of them.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Posted on by
1
I love this time of year!
Sincerely.
But I do believe that I put a real effort into it.
First, I rarely shop, maybe once or twice in the whole month of December. That way I don’t feel like I’m dealing with lots of people who are shopping and don’t want to be there. 
Second, We spend alot of time with family and loving them.
Third, we have taught our children from an early age to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.
The Birth of Our Savior.
Fourth, we don’t get a lot of stuff for Christmas. My children ask for one thing from Santa and one thing from us.
I truly believe that this has made a big difference in my life. One year, we didn’t have any money for Christmas, and when we told the kids they said, “That’s okay!”. And it was okay.
We know what matters most at Christmas. We have a Savior and we celebrate His birth and His life at Christmas and always. I’m glad to be able to read about His life in the scriptures. I’m glad He gave us an example and taught what to do, and how to live in this life. I love Him.
My most favorite Christmas song is here

A little motivation is a good thing.

Posted on by
Reply
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!

Family History Friday: Been awhile!

Posted on by
Reply
Family

I’m still here! Sorry, I haven’t posted for a little bit. I worked 46 hours this week and I am bushed. I had a party tonight, and I am hosting a party tomorrow. You should see my house! It’s gonna take a miracle to be ready for it. We are not really pack rats (I don’t think), but we are all busy, and just don’t put the first thing away before we get the next thing out. In fact, I’m pretty sure I have A.D.D. I am a cosmetologist, real estate agent, Mary Kay (whatever they’re called), not to mention, I am a genealogist, scrapbooker, I sew when the opportunity presents itself, I volunteer in the church and community and work a full time job (which by the way, I absolutely LOVE). If my house was always perfect it would be a miracle. I’ve always said that at our house “it’s 5 against 1”, meaning I’m the only one who cares what the house looks like. OK enough of that! For FHF I want to tell you how much I love my life. Every messy, disorganized and busy part of it. I don’t think I would be happy if I didn’t do all of the creative and busy things I do. I also want to tell you that the most important thing in Family History is Family! I know our Father in Heaven gave us families so that we could love and support each other as we live and learn here on earth. I have learned to relax alot and enjoy my time making memories and loving my family. Try it, try to relax a little more when things aren’t perfect around the house. I heard a poem that I love and it taught me this principle.

Some houses try to hide the fact
that children shelter there,
Ours boasts of it quite openly
the signs are eveywhere.
For smears are on the windows,
 little smudges on the door,
I should apologize I guess
for toys strewn on the floor.
But I sat down with the children
 and we played and laughed and read,
And if the doorbell doesn’t shine,
their eyes will shine instead.
For when at times, I’m forced to choose
the one job or the other,
I want to be a housewife, but first
I’ll be a Mother!
Let’s all make lots of great memories with our families.
Some of these memories become the favorite stories our families tell for generations.
Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Lessons from the Mountain!

Posted on by
Reply

You may have read my post  from 10-6-09 about the time me and my darlinest climbed this mountain. Wow, it was an amazing, and hard, experience. I reflect on it from time to time. One lesson I learned was to
 keep a proper perspective. When you’re up high like that, some things down below seem quite insignificant, while others seem amazing, beautiful and very important. You can’t tell from up on top of the mountain that there are any problems in the world. You would think that everything is just moving along. The houses look so nice all lined up next to each other. The things in my life that tend to overwhelm me are not even important. I sensed the reality that we’re all here together just trying to do the best we can.
I once heard an example of perspective from a teacher named Randy Bott. After climbing a mountain, his experience went something like this, while in the valley there were really rough roads, with jigs and jogs, pot holes and bumps. If you were to ride on the road you would wonder why those who made the road did such a lously job. You couldn’t see more than ten feet past the road on either side. But on top of the mountain, he could see why the road jigs or jogs, there was a big boulder or a body of water or something there that couldn’t be seen from the road. He said, “I could see, what I could not see from down on the road.
There was purpose in the jigs and the jogs…it made perfect sense from 1500 feet in the air. And from 1500 feet in the air
you couldn’t see the pot holes“. 
I believe someday we will see our lives like I saw the valley below my beautiful mountain. And like Randy said we won’t see the pot holes. The things in our lives that overwhelm or frustrate us will not be important.  We will understand why the road was bumpy or had jigs and jogs. I am glad, and am thankful when I’m reminded to look at life with the proper perspective.  

What a great dude!!

Posted on by
2
This is Alex. He is my 3rd child and the most quoted.
 He is the one who taught me about going “slow and steady”.
Here is the post from May 14th 2009:  “I feel like I have spent the better part of my motherhood very overwhelmed. I know I’m not alone, but it still bugs me. I want to be on top of all my responsibilities, all the time. Talk about unrealistic expectations!!! I learned a great lesson from one of my kids. When my son, Alex, was quite young, maybe six, he taught me the value of patience and perseverance. One day, while going through piles and piles of mail, school papers, bills and various other things that tend to pile up on our kitchen counters, I screamed, “I’m never going to get through all these piles”. To which Alex replied, “Mom, remember ‘Slow & steady wins the race!'” Now, most people know this phrase from The Tortoise and the Hare, the darling children’s book about the race between these two animals. The hare races frantically along, then has to take naps because he is so tired from being frantic (sound familiar?). The tortoise moves along slow and steady. Of course the tortoise wins because he kept an even pace, and didn’t wear himself out trying to be super turtle (or super mom). Ever since that day, I remember what he said and am glad for the lesson. I am much more patient with myself and my life. I am learning to perservere better all the time. Remember….Slow & steady wins the race!”
He is a senior in high school now and is such a blessing in my life. He is the type of kid you can always count on. I am so blessed to be his mom.