beauty

Life 365 | Week 32

Monday, August 2, 2010

For Family Home Evening tonight we talked about Service and brightening the day for others. We made marshmallow pops and took them around to some of our neighbors/friends and I truly hope the kids learned something!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

The roses are pretty much gone from our yard – but there was a few petals left on this one today and with the raindrops – I just had to capture it. Such beauty in endurance.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

I really do love the rain and overcast days. The last little rainstorms we have gotten haven’t really cooled it down much though and I can’t wait until Fall. The kids and I just sat on the porch for awhile today, watching the rain fall and watching the shapes that it made in the puddles!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

It was the kids last swimming lesson today. I’m proud of the kids and how far they have come. They are both a lot more comfortable in the water. Next year we will have to make sure they take in a couple of sessions of lessons. It was so exciting to see JJ jump off the diving board and LOVE IT! Beth jumped off once and that was enough for her – maybe next year!

Friday, August 6, 2010

I was so excited to be able to go to the Blue Cricket Designs – Girl’s Night Out event tonight. My parents came up to pick up Lane and so they were able to watch the kids while Joey was doing his podcast so I could go! It was held at The Chocolate and it was so nice to get away. We learned to make Washer Necklaces. Fabric Rosettes, and we recovered some notepad holders! Plus we had some amazing cake (I got the Red Velvet – yummy) and an amazing bag of coupons and fun crafty extras! It was a wonderful night of fun!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

We didn’t accomplish much today. We just decided to stay home and lounge! Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen and Lane left today and we just didn’t do much. I forgot to take a picture today – so I’ll share a couple of photos I took yesterday morning. As part of the kids’ swimming lessons – they give a Family Free Day for the family to swim at the Scera pool. We were excited that Joey took a couple of hours away from work yesterday to go with us. It was a fun water park and the kids really loved splashing around and it was just a great relaxing few hours. Joey even bought us lunch at McDonalds (the kids’ favorite) before heading back to work!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

My favorite part of the Girls Night Out was learning to make these fabulous fabric rosettes! Beth loved them too and we made a couple for her to wear to church today. She felt beautiful and I felt crafty and it was just so fun!

Wednesday SayingZ | Unexpected Life

{ This week’s quote }

Maya Angelou said, “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”

If you think about it, we are all caterpillars journeying through life. Each experience adds to what we are and what we are becoming until…we become butterflies. Beautiful butterflies!

Life, even an unexpected life, can be beautiful. We just have to endure the caterpillar phase, and the chrysalis stage, and look for the beauty that unfolds as we endure and then triumph over our challenges.

And we must never forget this truth: “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.”
– Andrea Merriman –

Wednesday SayingZ I am a collector of quotes/sayings/titles and I am excited to share them with you each Wednesday. I hope they will inspire you and make your day a little better! I am also creating pieces of wordart with these quotes and will be offering them to you as a freebie! Feel free to use them in your scrapbooks or just print them out for wall decor!

Project 365 | Week 47

Monday, November 16, 2009
Joey had to take off work today to try and fix things around the house and I am just an emotional wreck. For some reason our finances, the trailer, my computer problems, and everything has weighed down on me so hard and I just feel broken. I feel like I am at a fork in the road in my life right now. I’m struggling with so many personal things and I am really feeling depression/stress set in. Which way is the right way? Where do we go from here?

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Beth has really been into having “collections” lately. From rocks to leaves, she has to collect at least 10 of things to have. At least she is seeing the beauty of the earth. I especially loved the colors of this leaf that we flattened in a book for her to keep.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009
One of the managers at Joey’s work had a birthday and she sent the balloons home for the kids. They were so delighted!

Thursday, November 19, 2009
Hard hard week. I’m trying so hard to see the blessings (which there are so many of), but my heart still just hurts and their are so many decisions to make. My hubby was amazing tonight. He got his brother to babysit for us and we went out. We really needed a date night to just be together and be away from our problems for a little while. We went to Olive Garden for dinner and then we went to see The Time Traveler’s Wife. I really enjoyed the book and I thought the movie was good too. We got home and the kids were asleep and as I was sitting on my bed, I just got an urge to do something for myself and since I knew Joey has no interest in the Twilight books/movies – and it being the night of the premiere – I just impulsively looked to see if their were any tickets to New Moon available. And there was – for the 3:30am showing and for some reason, it was just what I needed. The kids were asleep – Joey stayed home – and I could just get out for a little while longer. So I did it. It was crazy and I was tired, but I really enjoyed the movie.

Friday, November 20, 2009
Tonight as Joey was headed up to SLC to do his podcast he called and said, “Go outside. You have to see the sunset.” So the kids and I bundled up and headed outside and I’m so glad we did. It was so gorgeous – I haven’t seen colors like that in a long while – deep pink, blue, purple and orange covered the sky! The picture doesn’t do it justice – but it made my heart feel a little better.

Saturday, November 21, 2009
Another down day. It helps to look at beauty like this.

Sunday, November 22, 2009
Popcorn, a good movie, and my family. Life is good. Sundays are usually our family movie night and I really love being with my little family this way. It helps me to keep it together and remember the many blessings I have.

Project 365 | Week 39

Monday, September 21, 2009

I am grateful today for this wonderful preschool that Beth goes to and really enjoys. I love that it is within walking distance and I love that Beth gets to dance, karate, and singing in addition to academics.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

We were amazed by the sunset today – it was in such wonderful colors and the gradient from yellow to purple was astounding!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Thanks to one of my dearest internet friends, Georgia – I was able to get my computer fixed. I expected that it wouldn’t be done until at least Friday, but was surprised today when Joey brought it home to me! I missed my computer so much – I have been completely lost without it.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Sometimes life can just be prickly. We have had quite an awful month – with financial woes, our van dying on us, my computer problems, and then today I went happily off to play Volleyball and came home in tears.

I had been playing for about 3 hours and then when I went up to spike a ball, somehow my feet went one way and my body went another – and it hurt badly. I couldn’t put any pressure on my ankle and was just embarrased as the men and women all stopped to try and help me. On the way to my car (with the help of some wonderful people), I got dizzy and the voices faded and I passed out for the first time in my life. I woke after a couple of minutes and a woman drove my car and me home with another woman driving behind us to take the other woman back to the church. These are people I just met and was so embarrassed about everything and was really in pain. I was so glad to see my house and have Joey take care of me. He helped me into the house and took care of me as I cried and tried to get myself under control. Joey listened to me cry, gave me ibuprofen and some sleeping pills and I finally after several hours drifted off to sleep, still in pain.

So life can just pile on the trials sometimes, but I’m trying to see the beauty in it. Just like weeds can have some really pretty flowers, I know that this trial is supposed to teach me something – there is something of worth in it – I just have to figure it out. At least it will give me some computer time and some down time – maybe that’s what I need.

Friday, September 25, 2009

What a day. Of course, I was still in pain and felt guilty because Joey had to take care of everything for me – including getting the kids off to school and taking care of my every whim. We decided we should go to the doctor and make sure the ankle was not broken. Thank goodness it wasn’t but we found it is probably a second-degree sprain and I got a brace. Joey missed a meeting and other work stuff today because of me, but thank goodness my Mom and brother came up today, so that he could go play D&D and do his podcast. Mom and Lane got here about 6 and they brought me some crutches so I could get around better. We went out to dinner at Iggy’s with Cody and Becki and of course as I am still getting used to the crutches, I fell on the curb and hurt my ankle again. So it wasn’t the most enjoyable time, but it was nice to get out and visit with family for a little bit. It was great to have Grandma help me put the kids to bed and everything.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

So another awful night and I just couldn’t get mobile enough to go watch Lane run in his Cross Country Race at UVU. I pretty much slept the day away. Mom and Lane left to go back home and Joey took care of the kids. I finally got up and hopped my way into the living room so I could be near my family. The kids enjoyed playing with some new watercolor paints and I finished up my grab bag – thank goodness my computer is back.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Sundays at our house mean church and Football. Well today, because of my immobility I wasn’t able to go and because I am usually the one to get everyone up and ready to go – no one went to church today. I stayed in bed for the first half of the day, thanks to another unrestful night. And then we spent the rest of the day watching football together and the kids playing nearby. Our Colts won today handily and it was fun to see them play better than last week!

Joey had this nice experience this morning while I was still sleeping: This morning, as I was sitting on the couch watching football, Beth came and climbed into my lap – this surprised me, as she doesn’t normally show any interest in watching football with me. I asked her “Do you like football?” and she said “No, I don’t like football as a movie, I just wanted to spend time with my Daddy.”

Project 365 | Week 9

Monday, February 23, 2009

So I finally took the kids to the doctor today – I figured this had gone on long enough. Turns out both of them have Bronchitis. So we got some medicine and the doctor said they could go to school tomorrow. I’m so looking forward to having my kids back. They have been really irritable and understandably. JJ really digresses in his behaviors and other development and it’s been not good the past couple of weeks. It worries me a lot and I hope it is just that he is sick. We’ve got to get us all well before our California trip!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The kids went back to school today. They are still coughing quite a bit, but it seems a lot better! So hopefully we are on the mend. It was an incredibly nice day today. It is starting to feel like Spring. The kids and I went on a little walk and caught pictures of the sunset.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

I got this little note in JJ’s backpack today. I thought it was really sweet. And even better, JJ actually read this little book to us! It was so neat to hear him actually read! Sure it was a tiny book and very easy words – but it was still amazing to see him read! JJ also got an award yesterday from the school. I helps out in his classroom quite a bit with the other kids – so this was really neat!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The kids were pretty good to each other today, which always is a plus. I had gotten a lot of sleep last night – I actually went to bed early Wednesday night (eight hours asleep – that never happens), so I got a lot more done and I was even able to catch (on camera) the kids giving each other kisses!

Friday, February 27, 2009

Beth is really getting into looking at books and especially the pictures. We got out our huge Animal Encyclopedia today and Beth pored over the pictures. She really loves animals so this was really fun for her. I really need to read to her more. I haven’t made it a real priority and I need to do that. She loves stories and I think we could definitely have a big reader on our hands in a couple of years!

Saturday, February 28, 2009

The countdown to our California Trip has begun! The kids and I made a paper chain today – only 23 days to go. With all the things I want to accomplish before then – I just know it’s going to be here before we know it. I’m really excited about this trip!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

We had Cody & Becki over for dinner tonight. I made Chicken Enchiladas with Tater Tots, Salad and Cream Puffs and Chocolate Pudding for Dessert. It was yummy and we were able to have a great chat with them, which was really great. I feel really grateful to be a part of their lives, even in a small way. It’s nice to have some family close to us and the kids love them! Plus it’s always great to have a conversation with adults once in a while! LOL Becki had made a Countdown Paper Chain for us too, so now we have two – which is actually even better because now the kids don’t have to fight over who gets to tear the paper off every night – they will each have their own!

And here’s my Week 9 Layout:

I used my Digital 365 & FriendZ from the Wood Kits to create this layout!

Here’s my completed FEBRUARY layout!

I used my Digital 365 & Daydream BelieverZ Kits to create this layout!