Happiness is...

"The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way".

The older I get the more

I am realizing that this quote is SO true!

Lest I get any further behind with Blogging, I thought I would share the things these past few weeks that have made me HAPPY

Happiness is...
having school lunch with my 8 year old!!

I loved going to school and enjoying lunch with Ethan. Although, he was a little shy and embarrassed for me to walk down the hall with him and his friends, we had such a great time and it was so funny having all of the kids fight over who got to sit next to me at lunch time. My kids are going to look back in future years on our lunch date tradition.

If Chili and Cinnamon Rolls are on the lunch menu, than Kimmie will be found sitting with her kids at school enjoying lunch together.

I hope my kids will always be excited for me to come and eat lunch with them!

Happiness is...

being loved and adored by your husband and kids!!

I went on a getaway this past weekend and had kids running out the door to greet me when I got home and they were SO excited to show me that they cleaned up the house! I have such SWEET and hard working kids and I am married to the hardest working man in the world.

WOW!! I SO love and adore that man!

Happiness is...

having a hubby with “Mad Skills”!

Each day I am in awe and

amazement at the talents of Mr. Smith.

It doesn’t matter what it is, he can fix it! Despite our crazy life right now, he took a whole afternoon and evening and replaced all of the struts in my car.

It amazes me that he hasn’t had training for any of this, but he can pull things apart and put them back together with no problem at all. He saves us SO much money by putting his “Mad skills” to use on a weekly basis. One of these days when life slows down a bit I am going to do a whole post dedicated to highlighting the many talents of this amazing hubby I am married to!

Along the lines of Mad Skills,

we needed to have a piece of wood that was a bull nose for the top of our stairs and so Tracy glued together miscellaneous pieces of oak wood he had in his scrap pile in the garage and created an awesome tread for the top of our stairs.

He exudes talent and never ceases to amaze me!!

Happiness is...

PROGRESS!

My Awesome Father-in-law

who without his help, we wouldn't have made the progress that we did!!

Yes, we are making progress

on our hardwood flooring project!

After four days of working early in the morning until late at night, the flooring is finally all laid!
NOW, the fun REALLY begins
with sanding, puttying, sanding, staining, varnishing, sanding, varnishing, sanding, varnishing, sanding and then putting on trim work and painting.

However, we are having FUN with every aspect of this crazy project we have going on right now.

Happiness is...

FLOWERS!!

We have the most amazing neighbors that have a yard full of blooming flowers and they make flower arrangements and bring them to church each and every Sunday from March to October.

I was the recipient of this gorgeous bouquet

this past Sunday!!

I felt so lucky and it brightened my day and week SO much!! I am still amazed that people have gorgeous things blooming in their yard this time of the year. I mean it is October in Southeast Idaho!!

I LOVE FLOWERS…especially wild flowers!

Happiness is...

time spent with family!!

Conference Weekend we went to my parents vacation property in Lava, Idaho and spent the afternoon with my parents, siblings and all of our kids. It was SO much fun as my brother Weston flew in from Arizona for a few days. We enjoyed LOTS of fun breaking a pinata, decorating pumpkins and spending time together. The men then went to the Priesthood Session together and the women and kids went to Deseret Book and my mom bought all of us a book. It was a great time together!

We are cherishing these moments as my Sister Heidi and her hubby and kids are moving to Seattle in December and then we won't get to see them as often.

Happiness is...

TRADITIONS!

Pancakes for lunch after church on Sunday!

I LOVE Sunday breakfast for lunch. Since we have church at 9:00, we usually don’t get breakfast before we race out the door and I am not good at getting something thrown together for lunch before church and so we just have made it a tradition to have pancakes and eggs for lunch on Sunday afternoons.

I LOVE these special moments of sitting down and eating together and discussing our church lessons and planning out our upcoming week!

 "Friendship is when people know all about you but like you anyway!" 

Happiness is...

FRIENDSHIP!!

I went on a blogger retreat this past weekend to Bear Lake!

It was SO much fun to meet people in real life.

I have never done anything like this in my life. I always do everything with Tracy and so this was quite an adventure for me.

I was with some pretty amazing women

and we laughed, cried, LAUGHED some more, played games, ate wonderful food, shared heart felt stories and feelings about most every aspect of life! 
OH, and I must mention that each and every one of them spoiled me rotten!!

I went away feeling enriched

and motivated to be a better person!

Happiness is...

taking time to notice beauty wherever you are.

While we were at Bear Lake someone commented about how nice the gravel was along the shore of the lake and then we took a closer look and noticed that it wasn't gravel at all, rather it was lots of little snail shells covering the shoreline.

It was gorgeous!!

I'm savoring each and every moment of this amazing journey of life!!
My family, friends and every moment good or sad, is what makes my life so wonderful and memorable!!
Being happy doesn't mean everything is perfect.
It means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections.