One of my High School friends(thanks Nellie) put this on her blog and I think it is wonderful to remind us of how we need to be. I know it's how I would like to be! We all have bad days, and I guarantee, if I was in a grumpy mood and said something that I didn't really mean to the person I was saying it to, because I was having a bad day, I would love it if they just smiled at me. That would really make me stop being so grumpy and smile back!


One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport.We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'
-This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so..... 'Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't.' Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

We never really know why somebody is having a bad day, we don't know what is going on in their lives. But if we try to be more like Christ and love everyone no matter what they have done to us, all of us would be so much more happier.

Is it Thanksgiving or CHRISTMAS!!!

This is honestly my favorite time of year! I love putting up my decorations and I LOVE LOVE LOVE putting up my Christmas tree as a family and decorating it. And yes....our tree is up!! We don't have our lights up outside yet........who knows if it will get done this year. We'll see.
But we do have our house somewhat decorated, and our tree up. Although we seem to have misplaced half of our tree decorations. I can't seem to find them anywhere, so either we have a mouse that LOVES Christmas decorations in the house, or my children went through them and seems to have misplaced them. Oh well, our tree is still pretty.
I love sitting in the living room at night, drinking hot chocolate, in front of the tree, reading a book!!! My absolute favorite thing to do with my family!!!

Give Thanks!!!

Today I am thankful for my parents!!! They always know what to say, even if they don't know what to say! Thanks mom and dad for being wonderful parents and listening to me no matter what! I do have the best mom and dad in the world.

Today I am thankful for my brothers and sisters. All of us are different in our own little way. And even though there are a lot of us, when we get together, we have a lot of fun with each other. Everyone is kind and loving to each other, and I appreciate that in my family. We each go through our own trials, and everyone is there to help each other out. I love them so much.

Another day of THANKS

Since I didn't email what I am thankful for yesturday, I will do a few today. Yesturday......I am thankful for my sweet husband, who just decided to take a day off to spend the day with me and get me out of the house. He always knows when he needs to take a vacation day for me. I love him so much.
I am also thankful for indoor toilets. Right now ours in the garage. We came home yesturday to water pouring out of the bottom of the toilet. Thank goodness for insurance because we will likely have to redo the entire bathroom. It stinks so bad today. It leaked down the wall by the stairs, and had a water pocket in the paint. So that wall will likely have to be cut out, and all of the sheetrock in the basement was wet. There is nothing worse than sewer water!!! But again, I am thankful for a house to live in and everything that comes with it! And I am thankful that it wasn't as bad as my parents house!!! Things could always be worse!

Today........I am thankful for good friends who know when to call and take my children from me. Thanks for letting Aspyn come and play!!! I am also thankful for ADVIL, a good book and a warm fire and my sons cowboys blanket!

Inside running water!!!

I like Gina's idea on writing something that I am thankful for every day this month. Today I am thankful for running water inside my house, so that I don't have to go outside in the freezing cold to get it, and warm it up to give my children a bath! Although, Kaden flooded the bathroom with the running water, by leaving the sink running!!! Funny kids!

Lifes Experiences

It's interesting the different things that life brings to us. My cousin sent me a poem that says:
God didn't promise
Days without pain
Laughter without sorrow
Or sun without rain
But he did promise
Strength for the day
Comfort for the tears
And light for the way.

Today is a day that he is comforting me. And helping me to find the strength to go on.

I love life! I love my three boys and my daughter and husband more than I can ever imagine loving someone. But I also love the three little babies that I have lost this year. I know that there is no doctrine on miscarriages. But I saw with my own eyes that they were real babies. I loved them from the minute I knew I was pregnant. This last one was the hardest, yet I am so glad that I experienced it. We were able to give him a name and a blessing. I know that may be weird for some people, but to me it was the neatest experience I've ever gone through. He was really a baby, and I was only 41/2 months pregnant. I gave birth to him and I got to hold him. He fit right into my hand. He was beautiful to me. We named him Beau Gregory Bean. He weighed 1.8 lbs. and was 6 inches long. The hospital staff was so amazingly nice. They held him as if he were alive. They put him in a little square of a blue blanket. I was able to hold his tiny hand and hold his tiny foot. He was beautiful. I didn't want to give him up. I wanted to hold him forever. I know that he was needed in heaven. I guess I'm selfish, but I wish I still had him. I can't wait for the day that I can see him, and raise him. I loved him so much. My children loved him. They talk about him all of the time. Someday I will see him again. As for now, I get to see my other beautiful children grow up, and they do so very fast. I wish they would stay small just a little bit longer!!

We had a good halloween this year. My kids got enough candy to last them through the year, although, it probably won't last through the day!! I will have to the few pictures I did get of my kids this year, when I put them on my computer. My battery is charging. I hope everyone had a good halloween this year! Now it's time to get my house ready for Christmas!!! I LOVE this time of year!

Ryan had a football game last Saturday and did so good!!! He made the first touchdown, but it wasn't counted because a flag was thrown because someone was holding. That's alright though, to me he made a touchdown. He is doing so good! He's not very big, but he sure makes up for it with his speed. I love the football season! It's fun to go to the games and watch the kids play. They have so much fun.

Right above me are the pictures of Girls Camp. I am finally posting them. Our wonderful girls and leaders that we had so much fun with. It rained on us the entire time. Our wood got all wet, so our wonderful priesthood got us more wood. We still were able to go on a hike, we went down a slide, floated down the river, went swimming in Jackson, played tons a games, sang lots of songs, our Bishopric dressed up as Super Heroes, as that was our theme. Nacho Libre, Captain Underpants, and a Sumo Nacho Libre.

The pictures at the very top is my family. My four brothers, one brother in law, and sister dressed up to give our good friend a Wish from the Make a Wish foundation. She qualified to make a wish and we gave her options, between going to the Kunz farm to pet a cow, going to Hawaii to learn how to Hula dance, or meeting Hannah Montana. We had a lot of fun helping her decide what her wish would be.

We had a fun family reunion. I will have to post more pictures later.

What a BEAUTIFUL DAY!!! I love the sunshine! It just makes me want to be outside ALL day long! I love planting things and watching them explode with flowers or watch my garden grow!!! I just love this time of year!

For Mothers Day, Greg didn't have any meetings, so all I wanted was to go right after church and take our family pictures. They turned out pretty good!!! I had a wonderful Mother's Day with my sweet family. We had a lot of fun together. I love my family!!! They all gave me wonderful pictures and coursages that my children made, I had to where 3 coursages that they made to church, and a necklace that Aspyn made for me. I looked like quite the LOVED MOTHER!!! I got lots of flowers from my kids and Ryan wrote what I meant to him on a piece of paper. I really do love my kids!

I never posted pictures of us when we went to Delta Utah to visit Greg's parents. We had a blast as we went to the sand dunes on Grandpa and Grandma's 4 wheelers! The kids loved the sand. As you can see, so did Ryan and Greg as they tried to jump off the top of the hills and do cartwheels off them. And loved riding on the 4wheelers. We had an easter egg hunt in their back yard, the kids swam in the their hot tub, and we went to topaz mountain trying to find some topaz. We came home with lots of sparkly rocks!! We really had a great time! Thanks Grandpa and Grandma....for a wonderful time!!!

These are just a few pictures that I have taken of my wonderful boys lately!! We have 4 comedians in our family. They sure make life fun! I love my family.

Here are some Easter pictures of Aspyn and Kaden at the easter egg hunt we did for preschool. Above is Kaden....this is what he has been up to lately!!!

After the Trials come the Blessings

You know I've been really thinking about trials lately, and it seems that you hear of a lot more of them the older you get. I'm not sure if you just start paying attention more to yourself and to other people around you or if there really are more trials the older you get.

I've been reading a lot these last 4-5 months. I love to read! When I was younger, I used to get caught under the blanket with my alarm clock light trying to read late into the night. I have always loved to sit and read a good book. The older my kids get, the less time I have had for that, so the past few years I haven't read as much as I would have liked to. Two months ago, I miscarried our baby and I was 4 months along. I went through the entire serious of Twilight in just a few days.

I hate hearing about peoples trials because I want to take it all away from them. My good friend and her husband (who is also my cousin) had a little boy who was in Primary Childrens hospital the minute he was born because he had a hole in his heart, my friend who's Grandpa just died, my brother and his wife who's one year old baby died, my sister who lost one of her twins that she was pregnant with, my sister who has tried everything, and can't have any more children, my other sister who gets so sick when she does get pregnant, my friend who can't have children and shouldn't have been able to have the one they do have. My brother who has been breaking a lot of bones lately. They go on and on.....There are so many trials that we face in life. Whether it is financial problems, or sickness, or death. I wish that I could take it all away for them. I wish that I could take the pain of these trials away from them. I wish that we didn't have to go through some of the things that we go through.

But there is someone who did take it all away! Our Savior. He died for us and then was resurrected 3 days later so that we have the opportunity to see our loved ones that have died. He went through the pain that we may be going through. He knows how we feel and he only wants us to ask Him for help. He only asks that we live the gospel, that we say our prayers and read our scriptures and do our callings and go to church and help other people through their trials. I am so grateful to know that there is someone that knows how I feel each time I go through something that I don't know I can make it through. I am grateful that I am carried each time I go through a trial. I am grateful for the blessings that come after the trials, it may not be right after, but eventually, they come.

I am writing this post because I miscarried again this last weekend. I was 6 weeks along. I'm not sure why and I guess there will be a long process of tests. I am grateful to be alive, because I lost a lot of blood. I guess that I can say that I am grateful for the trials that I go through in my life, because I look at everyone else's and think, "Man I'm glad that's not my trial in life." I'm grateful for the friends and the ward members and the family members that push you along and I'm grateful for a Savior who carries me.

Thank you for being my friend. You don't know how much the phone calls, the meals, and tending my kids, and everything else, helps me out each day. The gospel that we have is truly amazing!!

I know that it is not quite March yet, but I love, love, love, March and April. Why? Because there are about a million birthdays from my family and Greg's in March and April. I love to celebrate birthdays. And my dear sweet daughters is coming up next week!!!!! I can't believe that she will be five years old!!! She will be going to Kindergarten next year. Where has the time gone? Other birthdays include my sister, my niece, who when she was born we didn't think she would make it-weighing 3lbs and coming 2 months early-but here she is now 14 years old!!!! Also, 3 of my nephews birthdays are this month. Also, my birthday is this month and I will be the BIG 30. A bunch of my friends from high school's birthdays are this month. And in April is Greg's birthday and his mom's and my dad's. Like I said, I love birthdays!!!!!

For those of you who have asked, the 14 days of Valentines goes something like this.......
I gave my kids and husband a little note that said something like this...
It is Valentines week and I think you're sweet, thus I'd like to tell you so each day with a treat!
or
There's fourteen days to go so I'll take each one to say, I think you're very special and Happy Valentines Day!

Then each day I have given them something special.......like one day I gave them all valentines coloring books, and one day we went and got ice cream cones at Artic Circle, one day I gave them each a valentine candy, and a different valentine candy the next day. We've done extra kind deeds each day to each other. We've helped each other clean our rooms, we've had banana splits, I've put hershey kisses and hugs all over their room and on their floor and had a sign that said, I kiss the ground you walk on!,......ect.

Other things that you can do is......"You make me bubble over with joy.- and give them bubble bath, "I love how you make me snicker!" -and give them a snickers candy bar. "If kids were apples I'd pick you"-and give them an apple. "Do U-No I love you!" -and play a game of uno. "Let me count the reeses why I love you!- and give them a reeses candy bar. (I just give them the mini candy bars). Just be creative and loving!!! It's been a lot of fun. My kids and nephews have really enjoyed it this year. And I love to give to my kids!!! and my husband!!! I've given him some things each day also, like little notes on the mirror and also candy bars or a box of candy, or a heart reeses. I have really enjoyed it.

What a week!!!! We have had a wonderful week this week. Our twin nephews have been staying with us for over a week and we have enjoyed every minute of it. They are the same age as our oldest. After having them in the house........I would love to have twins!!!!! They really have been great. We have had a lot of fun and will miss them very much when they have to leave tomorrow night. I will post a picture of all of them tonight. Our house has been full, but we have really enjoyed it. We have been doing the 14 days of Valentine's at our house and everyone has been so kind to each other this week. I think that I will do this every year. I love Valentines Day!

The picture above is my crazy brother, the one on the left. The other is his mission companion, I think. The picture on the right is my brother with my son Ryan.

Here are all five of my crazy, crazy brothers!!! They are so wonderful!!! We have a lot of fun together as a family.........always trying something, as you can see. They dug a huge tunnel in the snow and wanted to sleep in the negative weather with the game cube and a tv and an extension cord. We like to "Pretend" punch each other. Things are never boring at my house. Yep those are my brothers!!! I love them so much and wouldn't have it any other way.