Sunday, August 30, 2009

Sunshine for the Soul...Sunday!

Saturday August 29th was a great night...
it was PayDay this week and so we took the kids to town and did our monthly shopping. This is a good and bad thing. When you take the kids shopping they always want to add things to the cart that I don't want to get, but Tracy is SO nice he always lets them add 1 or 2 things to the cart. Tonight it was "house brand" Chocolate Graham Crackers.

Jade asked me when we were driving home how I liked our treat....
I replied: "They taste like cardboard".
Ethan then replied: "Yeah, they do taste like cardboard... REALLY yummy cardboard!"

Ethan's comment reminded me of 2 years ago when I was driving in the car one day with him and they were telling how the weather was going to be.
I said: “Oh darn it looks like today is going to be windy and rainy”
Ethan said: “That’s cool mom, we get to have 2 kinds of weather today”!

Oh, to have the optimism of little kids….
they love whatever comes their way!!


Last Sunday,
I had to help my neighbor make these handouts for Relief Society and it was the following quote:
I loved this Conference Talk where this quote was given.
(here is a link to the talk)
"Come What May and Love it"!!
It makes me laugh every time and I am SO grateful to have a hubby who always makes sure we laugh in our home everyday and who always softens the stresses of life with a little bit of humor and laughter!!

Tracy enjoys FaceBook and I enjoy Blogging----last weekend one of his friends gave a link about this girl and her husband who were in a plane crash a year ago and severely burned and they just hiked to the top of "Y" mountain in Provo as a celebration of one year since their tragic accident.

Tracy and I
came home from a Ward Party Friday night (August 21st) around 9:30, tucked the kids in bed and then went to the following Blog: and stayed up until 1:35 in the morning reading. We started reading posts in January 2008 until the most recent post and we laughed and cried and we couldn't stop reading!!

I connected with her as I read about
the LOVE she had for her husband,
all of the fun events of life that she commented on with her kids,
I loved her silhouettes she made of her family above her mantle,
the joy she found in being a mom
and the way she celebrated the everyday moments of life, she was just SO funny and had such a knack for writing.
It truly inspired me!
(these photos were taken with Tracy's iPhone, which doesn't take the best photos, but I was just celebrating the moment, Being in Barnes and Noble reading books and talking with Tracy when he took these photos)

Anywho, I bought a cute skirt the first part of July and I have been just dying to wear it, however, several times this summer my legs have been bruised or cut badly and I just feel like my legs look plain awful and I sure don't want to show off my ugly legs wearing my cute skirt. (actually, I haven't worn shorts for a month because of my legs)
LIFE CHANGE happened to me last weekend after reading through those Blog Posts with Tracy from
"Nienie dialogues"
(Saturday August 22nd) I decided that I can't change what my legs look like right now and so I just need to celebrate TODAY and ENJOY what I have at the moment bruised legs and all.
So, I got all gussied up and put on my skirt and went on a HOT date with "Mr. Smith".
I was just feeling grateful that I have a working body, even though it's not perfect and I confidently enjoyed wearing my skirt and had a Wonderful Evening with the Love of my Life..."Mr. Smith"!
(I love this quote hanging in my home)
It's amazing how many times we find "Inspiration from Stangers" here in Blogland and how much I connect with you, whether we have similar interests or have had similar experiences, or you have hobbies that I would like to try out, or you have a strength that is my weakness that I want to improve, or a yummy recipe, or the HUMOR you give to me on a day when I was having a bad day.

It is a daily source of inspiration
to read about other peoples lives and I always go away feeling like a better person and more yet, feeling grateful for what I have!

Sometimes life gets a little hectic and stressful and we can either choose to be happy or choose to be sad...
I think
if we do what Elder Wirthlin said and "Laugh" instead of "Groan" when the bumps of Life come along and if we choose to always
"Find Joy in the Journey"
and
"Look on the Bright Side of Life"
we will always be able to find peace and comfort.

5 comments:

Small House said...

What a wonderfulu post! I had to smile because, I bruise really easily. I wake up in the morning and have bruises that I don't know how I got. Today at church, I was asked how I got the big bruise on the back of my leg. WHAT BRUISE??? I don't even worry about them anymore. WEAR THOSE SKIRTS!!! I also have the "New Beginning" stitch.

It's much easier to be positive to. Takes far less energy to be cheerful than grumpy. And, don't we need all the extra energy we can get???

I to loved the same talk by Elder Wirthlin. I use it a lot in my own RS lessons. It's a treasure.

Thanks again for sharing such a wonderful post, and sharing your family with us.
Have a great day.
Sandra

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

I agree! You hit the nail on the head. Thanks for the inspiration.
Good to see you again! Shopping, what a hot date!

wileyfamilyof5 said...

Thank you for another great post. You always seem to brighten my day. Thank you!! It does feel as though it takes a little bit extra to feel positive.

My greatest example of staying posiitive was my father who has MS. I have never heard him grumble or complain about anything. However he has had to stuggle for almost 40 years. I just hope I can follow that example everyday.

Have a great day!

Ann Marie said...

You hadn't read Nie Nie?
Wow! She is on my sidebar..you would probably like C jane too ( her sister..)

You need to get on Facebook! Although I enjoy blogging WAY more.. I get to see what people are doing all over -- and in my family that I don't see often.
I have a love/hate relationship with facebook.. but I have found friends and found out information about people pretty fast.

I wish all of my blog friends were on my facebook too.

You ooze positivity Kimberly!
Because I am so open.. and honest.. and opinionated.. I sometimes wonder why you read my blog-- but I am grateful we have connected somewhere!

I for sure want to get together for the Killers! If we wern't going to a concert.. I would have you for dinner... no.. wait.. maybe not. I think you would freak at my un-healthy but yummy cooking! :)

I plan on meeting up with you guys! Thanks for reminding me to look on the BRIGHTSIDE of things!

CB said...

Nie Nie is truly an inspirational woman! Her story is one of hope and courage!! I SO badly wanted to hike to the "y" with her a couple weeks ago. When she finally put her picture on her blog all I could think of was what a beautiful woman she is. It still brings tears to my eyes. I am so glad you and Tracy found her. Everyone should know her story. It sure makes our own problems seem smaller by comparison.
I love how you related this to how you are feeling about showing your legs. I think we can all relate it to something about ourselves.
I love the optimism of children. You kids comments are so cute and so true. Children teach us so many things that we forget when we become adults. Thank goodness for their sweetness.
This was a great post!
Have a Happy Week!!