Monday, April 29, 2013

I survived the busiest week ever and lived to tell about it!

This quote is SO very true 
and I learned first hand what I'm truly capable of 
after the busiest and craziest week 
I have had thus far in 2013!
I have been thinking  
A LOT about a quote that I read when we were on our President's Day weekend.

"Life begins where
your comfort zone ends"!


Now that I have my crazy week behind me I can totally see how much
I have truly grown in leaps and bounds 
by having to majorly step outside my comfort zone and really take on some tough challenges. 

I also learned that no matter how crazy and busy life gets, there is ALWAYS beauty to see each day and simple things to enjoy, if you just take the time to notice them!

The biggest challenge this week was having to perfect a piano solo to be able to perform it at our Stake Conference on Saturday evening April 27th.  
It seems silly that I would have taken on this challenge, especially, since I have only been taking piano lessons for 4 months.  
However, when the girl called and asked if I would do a musical number, I really couldn't turn her down, because I have been in her shoes before,  having to get people to do musical numbers for our meetings. I would have loved to have sang, but I have been dealing with a tickle in my throat and didn't want to risk losing my voice and not being able to sing. 
SO, I started practicing on the 16th and have played the song at least 20 times everyday trying to get it without mistakes. 

SO, with that said, here is my week in photos with descriptions of our events!
  My week started off with having to help with a leadership training meeting on Sunday morning with our Young Women girls and then having to also teach the lesson to the girls in class.
I went from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm with not much stopping at all!
Sunday was a rather WINDY and gloomy day.
However, as the evening came, 
we got to enjoy a gorgeous sky and a beautiful sunset! 
Oh, it's a welcome thing to be able to see such beauty!
We truly live in a beautiful place for sure!
This seems silly, but every time I walked by our table, 
I loved how the bubbles in the water
 looked in the vase that held a single yellow tulip 
that was sunshine on our table for the majority of the week!

My life has been SO crazy and busy,
 that dusting hasn't been done for awhile.  
I noticed that my sweet husband had drawn a heart in the dust.  Every time I looked at it throughout the week, 
it always made me SMILE!!
I was online trying to find etiquette quotes for our youth dinner I was in charge of this week and I instantly thought of my husband when I saw this.
I'm truly lucky to be married to someone who puts forth a daily effort to show me and tell me how much he appreciates and adores me. It is something that I NEVER take for granted!




It was a stressful Tuesday morning 
as we awoke to another scary sight...
that of my sweet Jade experiencing another Grand Mal seizure!  
It wasn't bad enough that he had one, but he had two of them and the second one his ankle was underneath the rim of our parlor stove and as I was getting ready, I heard a loud bang and came out to him having another seizure. When I saw where his legs were I instantly grabbed them and held them so they wouldn't bang anymore, but, unfortunately, damage had been done and he had a burn on his ankle and it was all cut up.  AND he also bit the end of his tongue so bad it was all gnarly looking! :-(
Oh the stress and worry of a parent.  
Jade was out of it pretty much all day and wasn't aware of life until dinner time.  

Here is a sweet note that 
 Tracy posted on Facebook about our day:

"I have never been one to let people see my worry or sadness. I usually mask my worry behind humor and prosaic statements like, "things will work out... they always do"... and to be honest, I really don't worry that much because usually things really do work out but today my heart is truly heavy for my sweet son Jade. He's been having a pretty tough time lately. I have seen a side of him that speaks to some real inner stress, worry and turmoil as he sees others his age preparing to launch into life and go out to seek their "fortune"... whatever that may be. He hasn't said anything but he hasn't needed to. He just hasn't been himself. In the wee hours of the morning today, he had a bad seizure and then another. He banged up his ankle pretty bad and bit his tongue. I am using a vacation day to spend the day with him along with Kimberly. I sure love that young man!"
I felt SO badly that Jade missed out on 
making tie-dye shirts with his class at school today, 
that I helped him make a shirt 
at home that night after he woke up.
 I Love the vibrant colors he chose!
(my facebook status update on Wednesday morning)
It's a brand new day!
...I woke up to happy, healthy kids and hubby!!
...It's SUNNY and beautiful outside!
...There is NO wind and it's supposed to get up to 55 degrees, which means PE kids get to enjoy being outside for activities today!
...As I walked out to my car this morning, with a cup of green smoothie in my hand and the sun shining so brightly on my face, I had an overwhelming sense of gratitude, realizing more than ever how truly and deeply blessed I am and how abundant and rich my life is in all the things that truly matter... Life is SO good!!

WEDNESDAY April 24th was our 
Youth Etiquette Dinner that I was in charge of!
(and wouldn't you know it, it was SO hectic getting it all set up and put together that I didn't end up with ONE Single photo!)
It was a success, nonetheless!
Beautifully decorated tables! (thanks to the amazing and talented women that I work with!)
Fun learning about table manners, how to properly eat a formal dinner 
and how to show respect to each other!
The boys drew a girls name out of a bag and escorted her to a table in the gym.
Delicious dinner of salad, rolls, baked potato with all the fixins', ham and dessert! 
Kids had a ball and learned a lot of great thing!  
These handouts on being a Gentleman and a Lady were what we gave them at the very end.
OH and they also each got a
 Chocolate Dipped Strawberry to enjoy as well!
This old silver colander full of apples 
caught my eye 
in the lunch line at school today.
It's such a great thing to see FRESH fruit 
being served to the young kids!

Thursday night we experienced
 a beautiful FULL moon!
(Yeah, I know, this photo doesn't do it justice, but, that little white dot, is indeed a full moon and I very much enjoyed it nonetheless!
Friday morning I went to get my haircut...
This cool old building is part of the hair salon. 
I LOVE the lichen covered rocks, partial standing wall and old Hotel sign!

WARM SUNSHINE 
on both my face AND feet today!
I LOVE THE SUN!

I SPY... 
a blooming Geranium along with a handsome face 
when I stopped by my hubby's office today! 
Amazing how a little splash of color 
and lunch with your best friend 
can brighten your day. 
Simple things bring so much JOY! 

Picked up Jade's graduation announcements...
They are SO cool looking and turned out awesome!
Can't wait to get them addressed and in the mail to family and friends!
D8 NITE!  
(here for photos and details of our wonderful evening!)



Saturday morning, I spent ALL day long practicing and practicing my piano solo.
I got the biggest and most exciting surprise EVER!
Tracy came over to church where I was practicing
 and he knocked on the window 
and informed me he bought 
Depeche Mode Concert tickets for October 2nd...
Los Angeles, California at the Staples Center!! 
 OH HAPPY DAY!!!!
I thought we were weren't going to be able to make it to another concert of theirs, but thanks to Tracy, I will get to experience one more thing on my bucket list!

I think by the time the day was over 
I had played my song over 60 times!
(I'm  pretty sure my family was sick of it!)

I usually don't dress up fancy, 
but, I pulled out my ruffle shirt, my crystal necklace, my black skirt and tights and got all gussied up to go and play my piano solo!
This was a mirror in one of the rooms of the church that I did a quick practice on the piano before the meeting started.
I loved the message and frame and so I took a quick photo!  

DID I do a perfect job on my song...
well to be honest, NO!  
I did make some mistakes, but all in all I felt good about it, especially, since I haven't played the piano in front of an audience in over 27 years and I only had less than a week and a half to perfect it!  

I can now breathe... 
I DID IT!
I accomplished some REALLY hard things this week!
I FOUND out what I'm MADE OF!
Life is great...
AND hopefully, I won't have another week 
with so many demands all at once!
(at least for awhile)
Grateful for my wonderful and supportive family, 
whom, I LOVE AND ADORE
and who truly are the sunshine and the apples of my life, who are my biggest supports and who are always there to CHEER me on, whatever it is I'm doing!
Life...
It's Awesome, Wonderful and OH so Happy!

Sunday, April 28, 2013

It's the most wonderful day... Of the week!!


Friday April 26th...
I sent Mr. Smith out the door with a big hug and kiss and proceeded to try and spend a few hours trying to at least get the dishes done up from our super busy week we had experienced thus far.
I was in an extra happy mood 
as I was listening to some very FUN music while I was cleaning.  

In fact, I wrote the following message to Tracy... 
"Tracy... I love how much fun you bring to our house when you come home from work, especially, when it's been a long and stressful day and you come in the door and hook up your iPhone to our stereo and start playing FUN music that you purchased that day and you get us all excited! I LOVE this song "The Great Commandment" by Camouflage that you downloaded yesterday... it's playing loudly as I'm trying to get us out of a mess from our whirlwind of a week we've had thus far!! Kisses! Looking forward to D8NITE!"

Well do you want to know how he responded...
"Glad you like the song. Camouflage takes us back... 
Can't wait for D8NITE. We should go somewhere different tonight. 
 Snakebite maybe?"
(I SPY... a blooming Geranium 
along with a handsome face when I stopped by my hubby's office today! 
Amazing how a little splash of color and lunch with your best friend can brighten your day. 
Simple things bring so much JOY! )

D8 NITE!!
No matter how busy or crazy the week, 
there is ALWAYS a DATE with the love of my life!

I'm SO grateful that over seven years ago, Tracy was told to leave work on a Friday night and call his wife and take her on a date!  There has hardly been a week that we haven't gotten away on a date together!
Most of our dates are simple and frugal...
we usually split a Pork Salad at Cafe Rio,
Nacho Mucho at Plum Loco
or a Fiesta Chicken Salad at McDonald's.
We then usually go and walk around the mall a few times holding hands and talking, or, in the hot summer months,we go and walk the Green Belt in downtown Idaho Falls.
Many times, we go and sit in Barnes and Noble and read magazines or books and on our way home we always end up getting some yummy produce and a Rotisserie chicken to enjoy the next week.

I love our time with no kids...
no interruptions, 
just time to talk,
time to dream,
time to enjoy whatever music we have purchased that week,
time to enjoy nature and usually a spectacular sunset!

D8 NITE...
it truly is the most wonderful day
 of the week for me!
YES, we did decide to "shake things up a little"
and splurge and go enjoy the Snakebite for dinner.
(While we are VERY frugal on our dates, and the meal we got tonight could have paid for 3 meals on future dates, it was SO worth it!

Fun atmosphere,
Awesome art on the walls,
Delicious food
and the VERY best company ever!
Cell phones get turned off on date night, 
However,  Tracy got an emergency message from his boss that he had to deal with first off.
Other than taking some photos of the moment, 
the phones were off the rest of the night!
SO much in LOVE!!!
I could be wrong, but, I think the photographer 
really adores the gal in this photo!!
 The COOLEST art paintings on the walls! 
Loved the brick walls and 
LOVED the colorful and abstract paintings! 

YUM!!
Look at that handsome face, 
enyoing a little sunshine and R&R after a long, busy week!
D8 NITE...
Something I look forward to and something I definitely could not live without!

I hope all of my friends and family are enjoying weekly date nights as well.
If you connect at least once a week with your spouse,
 there's no way you can get too disconnected from each other.
One of the best things you can do for your marriage!  

Oh happy day...
Oh happy life!!

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Our week in photos...


April 14th to 20th 
Every week is a wonderful blessing! 
I love when I get kisses from my kids in public!   

Gingersnap Cookies, 
piano recital...
sweet notes of ..kindness.
FUN packages in the mail...
Ethan receiving his Arrow of Light...
An unknown horse eating grass in our back yard...
blue sky and sunshine...

These were the highlights 
of our home this week!  
Gingersnap cookies...
can you say we pretty much ate them for dessert in our lunches everyday this week!
 
 LOVED 
the blue skies and puffy clouds on Sunday!
 "This is the Moment"
the song I played at our piano recital.
 My sweet Ethan Kip working hard 
at practicing the piano. 
I love this photo of his so much...
it captures the moment just perfectly!  

(I must admit I feel badly I didn't get an actual photo of him playing at the piano recital. Tracy was not able to make it and so I recorded him playing it for Tracy to listen to when he got home and thus, wasn't able to take a photo.  I have a photo of me at playing at the recital, because one of our friends was sweet and took it (unbeknownst to me) and emailed it to me!)
 Sweet note of kindness and motivation from my piano teacher. 
It totally made my day!

 The view in my side window 
as I was taking the North Rexburg Exit 
on my way home from work to pick up Jade from Track Practice!
 EXCITEMENT!!!   
I received a box from UPS and I absolutely 
LOVE how my Chaco Sandals turned out!  
They have the original food bed, original Chaco Logo, "Made in Colorado" logo and heel strap from my original sandals.  I got them restrapped with NEW front webbing 
and also got new Vibram soles put on them.
Kind of funky and I LIKE them that way!
Little bit of old....Little bit of new!!
 
Last night EVER of attending a Cub Scout Pack Night!
Ethan received his "Arrow of Light" 
tonight and he is now officially in BOYS Scouts.
Bitter/Sweet moment for sure tonight!!

Our sweet neighbor boy 
getting his Arrow of Light as well!
Karsen and Ethan...
Two handsome boys that are just one day apart in age!
This nearly caused me a fright...
I was walking from the kitchen to the bedrooms and  was startled when I saw this  large horse that is NOT ours eating grass out our back window! 
Oh the fun of life in the country!  
YES, those are Tracy's and my feet reflection 
in a mirror as we were out shopping! 
(it's how I roll!)

Happy Week...  Happy Life!