A Few of My Ramblings. . .

I have realized that even though I have been posting a few things here & there with the happenings of the kids, I haven't really posted much lately, and I've got a few things to say; I know Imagine That! Life has been good, busy/crazy, but overall good. I have been on this little kick, to spring clean my house. I have done 4 rooms so far, I'm waiting for most of my upstairs, because, I think that we are going to be painting, hopefully very soon. I'm excited; I"m not a great painter, but I love to do it, when I've got a big wall; little details I'm not that great with. However, I've got my Dad, (he's the master painter) that is going to come & help us. Yeah! I Love Color!

I know that I said a little bit about going & seeing my beautiful cousin Paige, do Jr Miss, in Blackfoot last Saturday. We had so much fun, my mom & sis, Em, came & got me & we ate at Ruby Tuesday's. Very Yummy, their crab cakes are AMAZING! Then, we went &, watched our Paige compete for Jr Miss, and of course, she did a SUPER JOB! She won it! And, really, as far as I'm concerned, she had it in the bag! She won 4 scholarships, 1st for scholastic, 1st place for the Judges Interview, 1st place for the self expression, and then over Jr Miss! I thought that her talent was by far the best also, she sang, "How do you know?" from Enchanted, her dress was beautiful, her appearance was Gorgeous, and her amazing inner self, came out as only Paige can, the most sweet & kind soul, ever. Now, obviously, I'm partial, but, really, she was the BEST! I have thought a lot of about Paige this past week. And, I feel that there are some real lessons that can be learned from parenting here. My aunt Allyson, is AWESOME!!! I've always thought that, growing up, she was always the one that I wanted to be like, she was just cool! And then , she married one of the coolest/handsome guys around, Tad Pearson. I've always said that I had HOT uncles, no I really do! Anyways, they have done an amazing job with raising their kids & helping them gain the confidence they need in life. I look at the way their kids are & how good they are, & there has to be something to learn from them, as any other good/righteous parent. You teach your children, while they are young the path they should go & then you give them the agency to choose. Now, not all of the time, are they going to make the right choices, but I truly believe that they will make good choices, as they continue to grow. Now, I'm not saying that when they hit their teenage years, that you just let them go & do as they please, Heavens No! But, I truly believe that kids need to be able to make their own choices & then, whatever the out come is good or bad, they are responsible for the out come. That is something that my mission president really hit home with our mission, as I was a missionary. That is the Lord's Plan! Forcing/coarsing is not! Back to Paige, I just hope & pray that we can raise Tess so that she will be able to be a good student & learn to be kind & respectful to those that she associates with. They need to learn this while they are young. I also, have seen the real need for people skills, a lot of people, just kind of blow this one off, while kids are young, however, I truly feel like this is one of the most important skills a child needs/should learn. And, then I want more than ever for Tess, to have the confidence that she needs to stand up in front of a huge crowd & be able to speak. I always, struggled with this part, until I went on my mission, I truly feel like that is where I gained my most confidence was out there. So Important! Especially for them to learn this while they are young. I know that I"m rambling on, but I just have thought about the gift that Tad & Allyson have been able to help Paige gain, in the middle of this process, that she can truly stand up & be an example; by her dress (modest), her confidence, and a kindness that is very rare to find these days, among teenagers. What a Fun night!

I also, went to a Stake Achievement Day, last week. It was so much fun. I had heard from everyone how much fun they really are. And it totally lived up to the hype. They talked about the importance of having joy in our lives, and places where we can find joy. Then they let the girls create. The one class was to draw on a apron & make it their own, so fun, the girls loved this. Then they got to make food for our lunch, our group made fruit kabobs, then we went to another class, on seeing our selves how the Lord see's us & not so much as to how the world see's us, & then she gave everybody these darling mirrors. Then we had lunch, chicken salad sandwiches, fruit kabobs with fruit dip & mini cheesecakes, and lemon water. It was all decorated in spring colors, they really went to a lot of work on this & we had 9 girls from our ward show up, AWESOME! Fun Times, these little, girls are!

Other than that, I haven't felt all that great lately, my back has just about been killing me, I think I need a good massage. Parker has been sick with a cold, and I'm afraid that he might have ruptured his ear drum, Clayn has him at the Dr. right now. So, we'll have to see. There's always something; isn't there. I also, got my hair done last week & that always makes me happy to have my gray colored & just to have ALL of my hair thinned out! I have a ton, and it's not always fun!

I am SOOOOOOOOO Excited that today is the last day of winter! Tomorrow is the first day of Spring & I'm so ready for it! Yeah! I'm ready for some good nice weather, I"m ready to really PLAY! Well, I'd better be done now, but I do have a few yummy recipes that I want to post, I'll have to do that one, a little later. I've got to go & get dinner ready, beef fajitas, YUMMY!
Tah Tah For Now!!