Heroes and a must read book...

Scott Leavitt, US Army Combat Soldier.

After his first fire fight. Smiling. They survived.

I can't stop thinking about our soldiers. I love them. They are risking everything for us, for our country.

The Navy Seals of Operation Red Wing that fought braver than the brave and gave their lives for us, for their brothers.

I stayed up until 2am reading "Lone Survivor" about the Navy Seals of Operation Red Wing. It is a must read for all of us!!!! My heart is so full. We have so much to learn from these heroes!!! Courage, sacrifice, brotherhood, love, hard work, hard work, hard work, patience, persistence, strength, endurance, honor.

This Memorial Day my prayer is that we all take time out to honor our fallen soldiers, their families, teach our children. I plan on writing letters to some survivors/families of the fallen and have a program. (I am the Program Queen after all.) One year we visited a beautiful veteran's cemetery that puts hundreds of full size flags up. It was breathtaking.

Afghan mountains.

I am so grateful my nephew is home safe from the dangerous mountain region of the Pakistan/Afghan border. The same place of Operation Red Wing where all those Navy Seals bravely fought in unimaginable ways. But I know that is a sacred place because many brave men have died there fighting badly wounded, never giving up, giving their lives for their brothers.
Thank you to all our soldiers and families this Memorial Day and EVERY DAY, EVERY HOUR, EVERY MINUTE! We love you, we honor you.

Real Life

Sometimes this blog is just too sugary sweet. Intentionally so actually. Because it is just good to focus on the positive instead of whine and complain all the time. When the good is accentuated, it is easier to find it all around in any circumstance. Like a positive thought is a snowflake that has the potential to turn into a snowball rolling down a snow filled mountain gathering more and more positivity and gratitude all along the way.

BUT...this is real life. And I want my kids to know in 20 years that when they are raising their own families, that I too had many many trials and stresses all along the way. Big ones. Little ones. Absolute despair at times. Like this morning!!!! It was rough. Chad has been tortuously struggling to accomplish even the most basic of tasks for the last few days. That is just the beginning of what is going on. I have endless worries about him.

I need to change things. I am WAY too over committed (to the point of often double scheduling myself and sometimes triple scheduling myself). Some things I could probably cancel, but about 95% is just really important stuff that can't be dropped like helping kids with school/medical needs/serving others (this is a big one...but really, what is more important?!)/getting them to their one favorite activity/church service/keeping kids fed and clothed/bottoms wiped. My chest is burning from the stress. And I am always in a hurry, running dragging crying kids along, always late or WAY too early (like an hour) because it is the only time I can drop a kid off, always barely making it somewhere. Frequently needing to be 2 places or 3 places at the same time. Saturday I had to be 4 places at the same time...that stunk. I never know if I am going to pull it off.

Russ said tonight from Texas that he hasn't been helping at all for several weeks and it will only get worse with his new job. He's pulling 18 hour days as it is.

I can't WAIT for summer. I am a summer kind of girl. Soaking in the sun, soaking in the fun, soaking in the kids. No homework. No pressures. I CAN'T WAIT!!!! I love every minute of it. I HATE when school starts again. Summer is my love.

But I must finish with a couple of snowflakes. The weather was PERFECT today. Dreamy. And Ava got into a swim lesson class at the YMCA where she is the ONLY student and can do all the strokes by herself already at age 4! And I got a lamp for 80% off that I love. The list could go on and on really!!! The good always outweighs the bad when you add it all up. Now, with Gods' help... if I can just help my son.

Balloon Dad

Russ was out of town for Mother's Day, but that didn't stop the kids from going to town, making me feel special! After a 3 hour nap, I woke up to Balloon Dad. Sarah had made a candlelight dinner for 2, created a likeness of Russ, called Russ and put him on speakerphone. Then she put the phone on the table so he could be part of the action! It was so sweet!See the speakerphone in front of balloon Dad? That was Russ on the phone from Texas!

They taped off the kitchen with signs that said "employee's only".

The grilled cheese was delish. My favorite was the angel food cake cooked by my Mother's Day angels.

Since I was at the VIP table, they made a sign for this section that said "Employee Lounge" and the kids all ate there.

Cheers!

And to quote some of Ava's Mother's Day card from preschool:

"Her favorite sport is Oprah."

"Her favorite thing to wear is the thing she wears all the time to watch Oprah like tennis shoes, like exercise clothes."

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Church was amazing. The Spirit was so strong. I am so grateful to be a mother, but even more grateful for my angel mother. I cried and cried during sacrament meeting so touched. And when the closing song was "Each Life That Touches Ours for Good", I had to just listen because I was overcome. I love my Mom so much. Her name is sacred to me.

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I'll leave my blog with this quote from President Hinckley...

"I look upon my dear wife, soon to be 92 years of age. Her hair is white; her frame is stooped.

I take one of her hands in mine and look at it. Once it was so beautiful, the flesh firm and clear. Now it is wrinkled and a little bony and not very strong. But it speaks of love and constancy and faith, of hard work through the years. Her memory is not what it once was. She can remember things that happened half a century ago but may not remember what happened half an hour ago. I am like that, too.

But I am so grateful for her. For 66 years we have walked together, hand in hand, with love and encouragement, with appreciation and respect. It cannot be very long before one of us will step through the veil. I hope the other will follow soon. I just would not know how to get along without her, even on the other side, and I would hope that she would not know how to get along without me."

May we all have this kind of love for each other!!! It's my prayer that Balloon Dad will say the very same thing to me in 50 more years. I think he will.

Spring Brings...

Conversations with backyard neighbors.

Dumped popcorn on the tramp. Perfect for a snack but the original plan they said was

so they could sing Popcorn Popping while jumping.

Spider Swinging and memories of me doing this with my sister.

My favorite flower.

The terrible smell of fake tanning cream on no longer very white legs.

The girls shouting "Popcorn Tree, Popcorn Tree!!!!" every time we pass a flowering pear tree.

A new airsoft gun as a reward for breaking a finger to the nose habit.

The softball coach announcing Russ' mad hitting skills at priesthood meeting inviting all to come see.

Soccer games in hail storms wishing there was lightning so they'd cancel!

A broken garbage disposal.

And my favorite...plans for summer vacations! Trying for Yellowstone if I can just figure out the timing and get a room. Russ is working and everything is booked or billions of dollars.