Don't wait until tomorrow

Yesterday one of the men that Rex has home taught, basically since we moved into the ward, returned home to his Heavenly Father. It was unexpected and caught so many by surprise. As I watched my husband mourn with this man's family my heart filled with love and gratitude. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband. Can I say that I've always loved the fact that he is willing to drop everything for someone? Honestly, no, but yesterday I realized how blessed I am to be married to someone so kind and selfless. He is such an example to me. I still have so much to learn.

As I sat thinking about the day's events I remembered this poem that someone sent me many years ago. I know it's Valentine's Day and out of all the days in a given year this is the one where we remember to tell those we love how much we care, but please don't forget to do it tomorrow or a month from now. Life is short...let's not live with any regrets.

If I Knew

If I knew it would be the last time
that I'd see you fall asleep,
I would tuck you in more tightly
and pray the Lord your soul to keep.

If I knew it would be the last time
that I would see you walk out the door,
I would give you a hug and kiss
and call you back for one more.

If I knew it would be the last time
I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise,
I would video tape each action and word,
so I could play them back day after day.

If I knew it would be the last time,
I could spare an extra minute
to stop and say that "I love you,"
Instead of assuming that you would KNOW I do.

If I knew it would be the last time
I would be there to share your day,
well, I'm sure you'll have so many more,
so I can let this one slip away.

For surely there's always tomorrow
to make up for an oversight,
and we always get a second chance
to make everything all right.

There will always be another day
to say our "I love you's"
And certainly there's another chance
to say our "Anything I can do?"

But just in case I might be wrong,
and today is all I get,
I'd like to say how much I love you
and hope we never forget.

Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,
young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance
you get to hold your loved ones tight.

So, if you're waiting for tomorrow,
why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes,
you'll surely regret the day,

That you didn't take that extra time
for a smile, a hug, a kiss,
And you were to busy to grant someone,
what turned out to be their one last wish.

So hold your loved ones close today,
and whisper in their ear,
Tell them how much you love them,
and that you'll always hold them dear.

Take the time to say "I'm sorry," "please forgive me,"
"thank you" or "It's okay"
And if tomorrow never comes,
you'll have no regrets about today.

Nothing like a best friend!

I was talking to my best friend (we've been friends since 9th grade) earlier in January. I asked her if she was going to escape the cold of Utah anytime soon. She said that she would be headed to Tampa, FL to visit her dh who does a lot of work in Florida. After spending the weekend she would be heading over to Orlando to take her kids to Disney. My sister lives in Orlando and I'd been considering escaping the cold of Colorado to go see her. I thought how much fun it would be to spend some time with both of them, so I invited myself along. Luckily, we truly are good friends and she didn't say no.

My best friend has awesome connections at Disney and was able to get us two nights at the Grand Floridian and three days at Disney World for myself and the kids for a great price. It was so fun to be there with all of her kids. Michael and Jacob had a great time because her son, Zach is only a few weeks older than they are. They were able to "escape" the little kids for awhile and head to the big rides.

Some of the highlights of the trip:

Celebrating Michael and Jacob's birthday on the 24th. Despite their desire to keep it a secret, Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter made sure that the entire restaurant knew about it.

Taking Erin on the Rockin' Roller Coaster and having her say it was so much fun.

Laughing as Brooke took some funny pictures of Tigger and a buxom lady.

Being amazed that Brooke would be tall enough to go on the Tower of Terror AND would go on it not once but TWICE!

Riding the new roller coaster at Wild Animal Kingdom with Rachel my friends daughter.

Eating delicious ice cream near the Tower of Terror and what a great price.

Using the "Rider Switch" pass to our advantage and all nine of us riding back to back on Soarin' Over California.

Other things I'll definitely remember:

How many times Brooke "disappeared."

How Brooke was almost run over by a bus.

How the kids wanted to push the stroller instead of ride in it.

Overall, what a great trip!!!

I'll post more about visitng Lisa in the next post.

Parenting Backfire

When Michael and Jacob were in 5th grade I remember losing my temper one night about what slobs I was raising. I proceeded to get two rubbermaid containers and take all of their belongings minus the books in the bookshelf and their clothes and box them in the container. I told them since they couldn't take care of what they had then I would take care of it. I put it in the basement and slowly they earned some of it back and much of it we decided to donate to Goodwill over the course of a year or so.

I've used this technique several times with Erin. When she is unwilling to clean her room I offer to clean it for her using a trash bag. Sometimes this threat motivates her immediately (in between sobs) to quickly pick things up. Several times I've had to use the trash bag technique. I never really throw her things away. After she's gone to bed I go through the trash bag and throw away "trash" and the toys she has to earn back.

I guess I spoke too soon. I shouldn't have said I never throw the trash bag away. Well, I guess I didn't do it.

A couple weeks before Christmas I had to get out the "trash bag" because Brooke and Erin (they share a room now) were fighting me about picking up their room. I filled a Hefty Cinch Sack to the top with everything that was on the floor. This included some of their clothes and many other items that I can't even remember. Well, with the hustle and bustle of Christmas this white bag sat in the garage for a few weeks.

Today as I was decluttering our basement, I remembered that bag. For some reason I gasped out loud and ran to the garage. Unfortunately, I had put the bag right next to the large black trash can. Well, Michael and Jacob have the job of taking out the trash and with all the extra Christmas trash they didn't know NOT to put the white Hefty Cinch Sack, with perfectly good clothing and who knows what else, out last week.

I'm sick about - I can't get it off my mind. I don't know why. I guess because it's one thing to donate things you love, but may not use anymore, but perfectly good items!! And the worst thing - I don't even know everything I threw away. :(

Major, very major, parenting blunder. Please hide the Hefty Cinch sacks from me.....

Laughter - the best medicine

Had to share a couple of funny things that happened today.

So, we're sitting at church today and because of the new schedule with Sacrament Meeting last, we ended up in the cultural hall. For some reason the family in front of us brought an unsliced loaf of Chocolate Chip Pumpkin bread as a snack. Yes, unsliced! So the two little girls periodically during the meeting would pinch off a bite to eat. As you may imagine the floor was a mess. Towards the end of the meeting "dad" scooped the crumbs that were on the chair up into a pile. I could tell by watching him that he didn't know what to do with them. He sat for a few seconds - pondered. He then discreetly pushed them into his cupped palm. He turned toward the aisle and dumped the pile into his wife's purse. Can you believe it?! I laughed out loud and whispered into Rex's ear what I had just witnessed. The kids immediately asked what was so funny. Trying to encourage their reverence we waited until the drive home to tell them the funny story.

Second funny of the day....Erin has become our resident vegetarian. It doesn't matter what meat I serve she usually doesn't like it. We always ask her to eat at least a few bites. Tonight wasn't any different. I had made a grilled chicken with a delicious "Asian" sauce. She took one bite and said it was too spicy. She began complaining that she didn't want anymore. Brooke who always had something to say replied, "Man, you gotta eat some more, girl." To me she sounded so much like Rex. Again, we laughed and laughed.

Christmas Dresses - Christmas Ties

I had to go visiting teaching right before church on Sunday and I requested that Rex take some pictures of the kids in their Christmas clothes. I made this page today. What was really funny was that I bought the girls dresses at Costco (great price!). Well, six other girls has the same dress on! Oh, the joys of shopping at Costco - the prices are just too good to expect to be the only one with a cute Christmas dress.

When Erin started to cut her incisors I remember thinking, wow, that tooth is tiny as it poked through her gums. Just a few days later I noticed that another “tiny” tooth was making it’s way through.

I began to worry that something was wrong so I pointed it out to Rex. He confirmed what I had been thinking that these two “tiny” were supposed to be one tooth and she did indeed have an extra tooth.

Over the last six years we have fondly referred to the extra tooth as Erin’s “snaggle tooth.” I wanted to take some pictures so we would never forget Erin’s extra tooth.

A Girl's Best Friend

What happens when you mix a bored three-year old and an eight pound dog?

Brooke was swimming one day and I guess she got a little bored so she came inside, picked up Whitney and took her to the pool. Poor Whitney didn’t have a fighting chance of not getting wet. Brooke swam with her for a bit, we took some pictures and then we resuced the poor dog from Brooke’s control.

Brooke loves Whitney, but doesn’t always have her best interest at heart.

PS This one's for you Darby! :)