One of my childhood friends posted this on facebook and I thought it was the sweetest thing ever -
Aimee Applegate Rowley Thank you You are so sweet and I have always thought since I first met you that you were one of the prettiest girls ever and you have not changed a bit ........confession......even when I was at girls camp with you I used to watch you and wish I could be just like you......and seriously even new you are such a great example to me. its fun to see your posts and pictures so thanks for always being amazing

My specialties...

Search Rescue: Small Plastic Pieces Unit. Archaeologist Specializing in Under Bed and Inside Closet Digs. Spiritual Leader. Manners Expert, Personal Shopper, Fashion Stylist Consultant. Hairstylist (specializing in pigtails and wiggly clients). I can function without additional oxygen at 24,000 feet

How cute is this......

From my friend Brittney's baby shower.

A Minimalist’s Train of Thought

Less money spent means more money saved

More money saved means the longer you can live in financial peace and security

Financial peace and security comes from owning less

Less stuff owned means less to carry around, move or have to travel with

Less responsibility for your stuff also means less maintenance and more time

The more time you have, the more relaxed you will feel

The more relaxed you are, the less you will care about stuff

If you care less about stuff, it means you’ll care less about image

If you care less about image, you will care more about experiences and memories

If you care more about experiences and memories, you will be happier with less

If you are happier with less, you’ll never want or need for more

The less you want or need for more, the more you will feel free

- The Everyday Minimalist

Him

I am missing my husband today (he is the one holding the fish). He is gone to North Carolina on a business trip. I couldn't sleep last night because I was cold and he wasn't there to keep me warm. We had a lame Valentines day, he was sick and so was our daughter and then he left :( Sometimes I feel like our lives get shuffled in the day to day - kids, work, work, kids and we get lost. I have been thinking of how we met and how I was drawn to him - his hands, his lips, his heart. When we talk and are together we are so in sync, its like we share two minds - half of mine is his and half of his is mine. So I'm waiting for him and I hope he is thinking of me.

Loch Leven Scotland

This would be fun

Shepherds Pie

This is one of my favorite dinners - to eat and to make. Check out  http://butterflyfoodie.blogspot.com/ for the recipe!!

Light

"When you build a skyscraper you have to dig a very deep foundation. Most of us get half way into that hole and say - this doesn't look anything like my goal... I quit." - Tony Lister

Thank you Calvin and Hobbs for making me feel normal.

Two of the ski resorts opened up this weekend, Brighton and Solitude. If in an alternate universe I had no responsibilities to take care of, I would be a ski bum. I am not a complicated girl, all I need in life are...
1. Food. Hopefully good food but their are a lot of times I grab something quick that doesn't taste wonderful but is healthy and serves its purpose - fuel for my body.
2. Shower/Bath. It drives me crazy to not be clean. I have bathed in frigid water many times because of this oc. Give me a river, lake, or just a good tub of water and I'm good.
3. Warm place to sleep. I can never sleep when I'm cold.
4. Sex - I'm just sayin.
5. Family and Friends to share my life with.
6. Of course clothing, I can't walk around naked. I don't mind but other people do.
7. My ski equipment.
8. Snow :)

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square hole. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."
— Apple Computer Inc.
Steve Jobs, we will miss you.

The Weight of Glory

It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight or burden of my neighbor's glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization-these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit-immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously-no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner-no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbor he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat-the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself is truly hidden.        
                                                                                                                        C.S. Lewis

Be and example in word. Be an example in conversation. Be an example in charity. Be an example is spirit. Be an example in faith. Be an example in purity.

My son pulling his little sister - he adores her. He is the best brother!

Froggy Jump Ride

On a more serious note

On a more serious note - lately I don't feel like I really have a direction or purpose in my life. I'm in my roles in life as a wife and mother, doing what I think needs to be done but is it really purpose driven? I have been thinking about this for years - what is my purpose? I wish I had a mission statement that focused on my exact purpose. I used to think if I had more money things would be better for me but I realize now that it doesn't have anything to do with money - that belief was a lie. Look at our Savior - he was born in a stable, he grew up in an average (income) home, he walked the earth teaching his gospel, I'm not sure if he really had any monetary value to call his own. He didn't need it. His mission statement, "For behold, this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Moses 1:39. I realize that even Jesus Christ was not born into this world ready to fulfill his mission - he had to learn "grace for grace" just like the rest of us. Maybe I just feel like I'm so far behind of where I should be. I once heard a story about a father who was studying his scriptures, marking them and writing notes in the margin. His son was in the room with him playing with his toys and the father wasn't really paying attention to the boy. He noticed the boy got out his own scriptures and markers and started marking them. About a half hour passed and the father looked down at the boy and realized that his son had marked his own scriptures to look like his fathers. He had underlined the same sentences, used the same colors and even had attempted to write the same words in the margins. The boy looked up at his father and noticed that he was watching him and started to cry. The very proud father couldn't understand what would cause his son to cry and asked him what was wrong. The boy simply said "my lines are not as straight as yours." The father picked up the boy and told him "I don't care if your lines are straight, I'm so proud of you." The father knew that as long as his son would follow his example - his lines would become straighter with time.
Is it enough to follow the Saviors example and hope my lines will become straighter with time?

I have the best son - last night he got tickets to take me to see Harry Potter :) I used to read Harry Potter to him every night when he was just a little boy. My little man is not so little anymore.

LOVE LOVE LOVE FALL!! Just decorating outside and smelling the wood burning stoves and fall leaves is just wonderful. I love the seasons in Utah and can't wait to go trick or treating with my little pumpkin heads.

LaRell thought he would be funny and give Miss Cookie some little boobies - while she was in the oven she got some augmentation done and when she came out they were giant boobies.

Our trip to Wyoming

Skiing at Brighton

Does it get any better? Only Utah :)

I have bronchitis. It doesn't seem to be getting any better. I think if I cough one more time I will break a rib - blaaaa.

We took these family pictures in about 10 min. It was cold and windy and getting dark.

My daughter...number 2

She is getting so big but she is still my little baby :)

She had to have chocolate cake with 2 candles and she sang Happy Birthday to herself all day.

Buzz Lightyear!!

My daughter wanted to take her friends to Classic Skating for her Birthday. We had so much fun. She is so great I just love her!

My little 10 year old. So beautiful :)

Birthday