Lucky...

Goodness gracious, I live in a beautiful  place.

Hope...

The greatest thing took place this weekend. Our church held a three day youth conference/music festival. This wasn't like an other youth conference I have ever seen. The preparation on it started by church leaders a whole year ago and I will tell you why. The conference was to consist of a concert of over 1000 youth performing for the entire Portland community. 

When I first heard about it I thought to myself "what a great idea ...but my teenagers will NEVER actually sing." But boy was I wrong. The youth have been traveling into Portland several times this past year to practice, practice, PRACTICE. They were to put on three different performances (same songs, different times) so that as many people as possible could attend. 

It was held in a huge building at the Portland fairgrounds. ALL THREE sessions were completely FULL. Members of our church, and MANY non members attended. 

you should have seen it. A thousand youth, all dressed in black and white. 

As I looked at the program, I noticed the theme was "A Perfect Brightness Of Hope." I got teary eyed and that point I knew I would be crying the whole time. And I kinda did. 

It wasn't until the last song "Come Thou Fount" that the spirit was so strong I thought I might burst. The volume and sound from all these youth was amazing. And midway through the song on either side of the audience you see missionary after missionary carrying large white flags walking towards the front...all in a continuous row. I sat and stared at all those women and men who have sacrificed two years of their lives to share this gospel. It made me think of the missionaries that taught my parents the gospel. What would have happened had they chose not to serve their missions? They literally changed the course of my parents lives, and changed generations because of their sacrifice. How I wish I could find them and say thank you.

The purpose of the conference was to remind everyone, everywhere that there IS HOPE. A perfect brightness of it. Life can be so freaking hard at times, and yet we are not alone. What an amazing message.

I have a testimony of the gospel. There's no denying it. Either it's real or it isn't, and I'm here to say that it IS real. I'm grateful on every level for that.

Scarlett's birthday...

My sweet baby turned 5 years old on Wednesday. Seems like yesterday I was at the doctors office begging to be induced a week early because I was so sick and tired of being pregnant. The doctors gave into my coaxing and out came this lovely child with bright blue eyes. I wish I could go back and carry her in my tummy again, feel her kick, and yes...even bear the pain of labor contractions. I am so blessed to have this little girl in my life. Love you, Letty.

Epic 2014...Awesome...

We did it again. Another year of blood sweat and tears. Okay, maybe not quite...but sweat? Heck yes. And even a few tears. I love running 187 miles with these girls. Cheering each other on...cheering other teams on...meeting new people. Making new bonds. It's an experience that is truly unforgettable and a great reminder to the fact that I really do love running. We got a total of 2 hours of sleep, each ran between 13 and 20 miles a piece. And managed to get ourselves nearly 200 miles from where we started. Great times. I love these girls and am once again grateful for this chance to run with (and learn from)these amazing women.

Love notes...

When I was a teenager I would write my dad random notes, telling him to have a great day, or that I loved him. Grace does this often to Chris and I. I found this one today that she texted from my phone. What a sweet, loving girl you are, Grace. Your name suits you.

Happy 14th...

Austin turned 14 today. His voice is deeper than ever. He's taller than me. He weighs more than me....FACT, because we tried the seesaw today and he wouldn't let me down. And yet, he respects me. He loves me. He talks to me...and that's huge. We love you Austin. The day you were born my life got brighter and more beautiful.

The dreaded chores...

It's back!!!!!!! Chore time...bwahahaha. Welcome home from school, kiddos.

Happy Father's Day...

We celebrated a pretty darn terrific guy yesterday. The father of my children. And boy oh boy... He is one special man. The boys made him pancakes for breakfast and halee and I made fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn for lunch. Everytime he attempted to enter the kitchen to help, he was quickly booted out.

Not sure what life would be like without him in our lives, and I don't even want to know. Happy Father's Day, Chris. 

And to my  own dad...happy Father's Day. Without you, I never would have set my sights so high.

Am I okay with this?

I hardly think so. My sweet halee has been at her small, safe, family-ish school for 11 years. The school only goes through 10 grades so it's time for her to move on. Her principle and teacher declared for all present at her 10th grade recognition that "Halee is my favorite student."

I remember when we moved to this beautiful piece of heaven, we call our town, and halee was only 4 years old. I frantically searched for a school that would A. Give her an excellent education and B. Teach her moral values that are hard to come by these days. This school fulfilled both those requirements and more. 

When I enrolled her and I was told that they only went through 10th grade I thought to myself "that's YEARS from now." And in true Scarlett Ohara fashion I said "I'll think about that tomorrow." Well my friends (gosh, I like pretending I know what I'm talking about)...tomorrow was yesterday...because tomorrow means now...then...and everything inbetween. It comes like a thief in the night and try as I might, it WILL come whether I want it to or not. 

I'm a happy girl though, and do you know why? Because my 16 year old daughter has turned out to be more than I ever could have asked for. She's loving, kind, smart, spiritual, and by golly...she knows what she wants. And this to me compensates for the fact that time has been stolen. We love you sweet halee bug.

Falling...

Remember that commercial "I've fallen and I can't get up?" That only happens to little old ladies, right? I guess I was wrong.

Halee, Austin and I went for a six mile run and as I'm heading down a small hill...I trip. I fall hard on my hand, knee and ankle. Halee and Austin keep saying "mom! Are you ok?" And I revert into an embarrassed teenager who's more worried about who saw me, than whether or not I'm hurt. (We never really do grow up, do we?) Anyway, long story short, I'm okay...but my ankle is killing. And what do I have in less than two weeks? A relay in which I need to run a total of around 14.5 miles. Yowsers...ice, ice baby...that's all I can say.

Two peas in a pod...

You know when you find the kind of friend that's a keeper for life, or the kind that warranted the term BFF? Grace has found one. She and her friend Adrianna do everything together. And I love this pair because they both have kind hearts. They never say an unkind word to each other. They trade shoes and hair clips. They look at their school yearbooks together and giggle. It's positively adorable.

You WILL die...

Isn't this the biggest lemon EVER? We found this on our San Fran trip. I used to love fruit, you know. But not anymore. I've become an obsessive compulsive lunatic and and am frightened by my own actions against the enemy. FRUIT FLIES. They have emerged earlier than normal due to this warmer spring weather, and let me tell ya, I hate these things. I call them sluts. Did I just say that out loud? Sorry, but it's true. If you saw me chasing them through the house with a windex bottle trying to drowned them you might disown me as a friend...or report me to a mental hospital...But a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. 

Selfie...

Have you heard the song "selfie" by chain smokers? Ok, so I like to listen to running music when I run because it usually has the right beat, but for some reason I want to murder this song. It's so annoying and 100% shallow in every possible way. The song needs to die. Now.

Flowers...

After Grace and Scarlett's ballet performance Chris presented them each with a bouquet of flowers. Their faces completely lit up at this. They got home and immediately started digging through my cupboards for vases. I asked if they wanted to place them on the kitchen table. They insisted on putting them in their bedroom. They are lucky (or should I say blessed) to have a dad who loves them this much. I get the feeling they will seek for this kind of love later on in their lives.