ANY AMERICAN IDOL FANS????

Yesterday morning as I was driving our Brazilian girls up to the airport, I was listening to B98.7. They were playing "Can you lay it on the line?". Its the game where he reads a line of the lyrics and you have to give the artist and title of the song. So I knew the song...but I couldn't remember the title or the artist...but I dialed anyway. Busy. Busy again. Ring....ahhh I still can't remember and I'm the right caller....so he asks me if I can lay it on the line...and the answer pops into my head! Its RIGHT! and I won 2 tickets to the American Idol Tour!!!! I'M SOOOO EXCITED. I love to sing...and I love watching these singers progress... Anyway...its a date-night for me and my sweet hubby. July 14 baby!!!

Gifts of the Spirit

Church was fantastic today. In RS we talked about the gifts of the spirit. I took the opportunity to read the lesson this morning...one good thing about having church at 1pm. I loved what Joseph Smith said about how most gifts are received in the quiet moments...not for show or granduer. But to be received and used to build the kingdom. I've thought a lot about what my spiritual gift(s) might be. Its humbling to think about being used as a tool for so great a cause. I'm so grateful for the gifts that I've been given and for the gifts that other's have that have benefited me. What a wonderful plan and purpose the Lord has for each of us. I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father's love for me and His hand in my life.

Funny Analogy...

So as I've been cleaning this week, I had a funny analogy come to me when I was reading my scriptures. You know how Captian Moroni in the book of Alma is talking about maintaining the cities that they occupied and trying to keep sufficient strength there to be able to do so...he said that its easier to maintain them than to have to fight the lamanites to get it back. So the thought occurred to me that its MUCH easier to maintain, the house than to have to declare WAR on it...to get it cleaned again. LOL I thought that was a great analogy. It works for me anyway.

One Day at a Time...

So this week I have been doing 1 project a day. So far they just been small to medium projects but none the less, my house is getting cleaned out and even my yard is getting some attention. It FEELS SO GOOD!!!!!
My accomplishments for the week
Mon: cleaned out my bedroom including drawers
Tues: cleaned out Josh's bedroom, including drawers
Wed: I can't remember what I did,... lol
Thu: Cleaned family room in the basement. Organized videos, dusted, washed and folded 5 loads of laundry, vacuumed stairs.
Fri: Yard work: cleared out weeds and grass and made a perimeter around the front trees. By our maple tree, (strip on the east side of our driveway) I cleaned out all the weeds from the sidewalk up to about 12 feet up the driveway. I was POOPED!!
Sat: Cleaned Josh's room again, cleaned out hall cupboard, and the kitchen.
Also this week, on top of the 5 loads of laundry I did on Thur. Throughout the week I did an additional 5 or six loads. Jason helped me get them put away today.
So its working! YEAH ME!!! lol

Mother's Day

I'm so grateful that they assigned a day to celebrate the wonderful women we call Mothers. I've really been reflecting on the influence that the women in my life have been. Of course only one of them is my actual mother, but many women have been powerful influences on me. My mother taught me many things. The first thing that comes to mind is that we don't steal. When I was about 3 I went shopping with her at the Safeway's in Castle Dale. I was riding on the bottom of the cart (the old ones that had a really high basket so you could sit up straight underneath it). She had passed by the candy at the front of the store and I had seen a package of those wafer candies that were pastel colored. They had been broken open and were just sitting there. So as we were passing, I grabbed one of them and ate it without my mom knowing. Whenever she would stop, I would run off back to the candy and take a few more. I would run back to where she was, her hardly noticing that I had left. But when I wanted more, I decided to just take the whole package of the candy and came back and just went to town eating them. She noticed I had gone and come back, so she wondered what I was doing. She came over and bent down and said, "Oh honey, where did you get that from?" I told her that they were here and already open, so I was eating them. And she taught me that when we take things that aren't ours, and we haven't paid for it its stealing and not a good thing. So she took the candy from me and put it in the basket. I remember asking her what she was doing with it, and she said that we had to pay for it, because I had eaten a part of it. I remember feeling bad that I had done something wrong, but I never felt like she didn't love me. And every other time that I was getting into trouble, which was quite a few times, :D she always made me feel that no matter what I did, she would always love me. I have appreciated that my whole life. I'm so grateful for her. "I love you Mom!"

A Special Favor to ask of all those that love and care about us...

I didn't have everybody's email or phone numbers so I thought it would be good to post it on here also. If you could help us by passing this along to others that you may know, that know us we would greatly appreciate it!! This is the email that Jason and I sent out tonight.

We know that for some of you this is the first time we've had contact with you in a long time. But we have a special favor to ask as we consider you our friends and people we care about. We hope that the feeling is mutual. :D

What we are asking of you is a very tender and somewhat difficult thing to ask, but have felt for over a month that we should. As most of you know, Jason and I have a difficult time getting pregnant. It took 3 years for us to get pregnant with Josh, with very little medical intervention. As it has now been 3 years of trying again and no success, we sought professional help. Basically it came down to the fact that both of us needed help...but mostly Jason.

He has what is called a vericocele that is preventing us or significantly reducing the chances of us getting pregnant. It will take a "same-day" surgery to correct the problem. It will take a week for him to recover, so right now, we won't be able to even think about him having the surgery until the end of summer. We still have a small chance that we could get pregnant on our own, but as time passes, the chances decrease and potential problems increase. The procedure costs anywhere between $2-3000. The insurance may cover some of it but most likely not. We aren't worried about the financial side of it, we know if we have faith that a way will be provided. What we would like to ask of you is to add your faith and prayers to ours and do a special fast with us this Sunday, May 4th. What we are asking is for the Lord to provide a way for us to have another child. Whether its through the surgery, or on our own or whatever it is that we need to do. I know that when we add our faith together it is poweful. I know the Lord loves us and gives us the trials we need to come closer to Him. We appreciate the love and friendship that we have with you and pray for you also.

Thank you...in advance.

AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!! Ok...I feel better now

The title of this tells how I feel right now. I'm grumpy b/c we got some frustrating news today. But after a little venting...I'm feeling better. So yesterday I went up to my sis-in-laws to watch her kids and it was great. The kids were good and Josh had fun playing with his cousins. I got to read pretty much the whole day...not a whole lot to do when you spend 11 hours at somebody else's house. But I realized something when I was up there and it hits me everytime I go to her house as well as my mom-in-law's. Their homes are beautiful...not that they have extravagances that I'm coveting...but their houses are very well put together. They are really well organized, everything has a place and everything is in its place. Then I come home to my house and it feels like a never ending project. Nothing is finished...not even in the front two rooms. The basement drives me crazy b/c its unfinished, no ceiling, cinder block walls etc. It just made me realize that if my house was a finished product...it would reduce a lot of stress in my life. So today, I'm being really ambitious and starting where I need to start...which is the garage. We're having company over tonight for a BBQ..gotta love the beautiful weather today!! So I spent the morning cleaning my house...but now I'm heading out to the garage to see how much I can pile into a "get rid of" pile. I'm really wanting to do a "CLEAN SWEEP" of my house....ya know, if you're familiar with the show...take everything out and then go through all of it and only put back in the house what is absolutely necessary or special. Its going to be fun!!! Anyway I better get going. I only have 2.5 hours to work on it.