Experience of a Lifetime

I don't even know where to begin this post! The last weekend of my life was the craziest whirlwind you can imagine!
Last October, I ran the St. George marathon with my friend Jamie. You can read about it here.
Jamie's mom happened to read my post and she was very touched by the part about the little boy that handed me the popsicle. She also happens to be on the board of director's for America First Credit Union and decided to use my story in a training meeting. She wanted to talk about the boy with the popsicle and how we can all be that person who doesn't have to help people but do because we can.
I guess this story has been passed around quite a bit within America First. They have decided to make the green popsicle a sort of icon in their company this year and someone thought it would be great if they could get a production company to film a little movie about it that they can use within America First as a sort of motivational thing.
Jamie and I got a call from her mom on Wednesday. They wanted to fly Jamie and I to Las Vegas for the weekend. There was a marathon going on by Lake Mead and they thought it was the perfect opportunity to film this movie about us.
The stars somehow aligned and we were all on board. They paid all of our expenses; food, hotel, flight. It was quite an unreal trip. I am telling you that I could get used to the life of a movie star ;)
Saturday morning was spent filming Jamie and I re-creating my marathon experience. It was a total blast! We had a riot. There were tears from laughing so hard and tears from remembering. We will each get a copy of the finished product. I am excited/nervous to see it!
Who would have thought that a blog post could take me on such an unforgettable experience. Thank you to Linda Carver and America First for taking the best care of us and to Ross for hanging with our boys this weekend. I can't wait to tell my grandkids about this someday. :)

Be Happy!

"I am here tonight to tell you that despair, doom, and discouragement are not an acceptable view of life for a Latter-day Saint. However high on the charts they are on the hit parade of contemporary news, we must not walk on our lower lip every time a few difficult moments happen to confront us. …

“Knowing what we know, and living as we are supposed to live, we really have no place, no excuse, for pessimism and despair.

“In my lifetime I have seen two world wars. … I have worked my way through the Depression and managed to go to law school while starting a young family at the same time. I have seen stock markets and world economics go crazy, and I have seen a few despots and tyrants go crazy, all of which causes quite a bit of trouble around the world in the process.

“So I am frank to say tonight that I hope you won’t believe all the world’s difficulties have been wedged into your decade, or that things have never been worse than they are for you personally, or that they will never get better." -Howard W. Hunter

Resolve

“As we reflect on the value of resolving to do better, let us determine to discipline ourselves to carefully select the resolutions we make, to consider the purpose for making them, and finally, to make commitments for keeping them and not letting any obstacle stop us. Let us remind ourselves at the beginning of each day that we can keep a resolution just for that day. As we do this it gets easier and easier until it becomes a habit.”

-N. Eldon Tanner

Word of the Year-2012 Edition

I am always excited and anxious to choose my word for the upcoming year. Without further ado, here it is: BALANCE.
I tend to take on a lot in my life. Mostly because I want to leave my mark somewhere in this world and I want to be present in the lives of my husband, children, family, friends, etc. Sometimes this lends to a little bit of chaos and I end up doing things that are good things, but not necessarily the best things. This year I am putting first things first. There are things that are essential to my success and happiness in life and on a day to day basis. That is what I am focusing on.
Along with my New Year's resolutions, I also make a push goal. It is something that isn't easy to do. Something that scares me, has to be taken in steps and will make me stretch out of my comfort zone. I usually try to center it around my word (even though that doesn't always happen)
Anyway, please share your word with me! It is so fun to see people I love working towards greatness! You inspire me more than you know!
2012 or bust!!!!

2012..Here I Come!!

2011 has been the craziest year I have had in a long time. The were extreme highs and a few extreme lows too. I have run the whole gamut of experiences and emotions this year.
My word for 2011 was 'Holy'. When I chose that word, my whole intention was to take my inner being to a new level. To connect with god and heaven in every experience. My mind has been blown away by the experiences I have had in connection with that word. Heavenly Father knows me and is a part of my every day life. I have no doubt. I will never forget the way He has carried me, pushed me, prepared me and comforted me in every instance.
I am happy to put 2011 in my memory as an old friend. Onward to a new year and more opportunities!

Broken Glasses and the Christmas Spirit

Every year as Christmas approaches, I pray that we will find and have those special experiences that bring the true spirit of Christmas into our heart and mind. Sometimes it is super easy to find them and sometimes they are more elusive.
This has been a really strange year for us. We have had some of the greatest things happen and some of the most difficult things happen. It has been a roller coaster year and I must admit, I had not been feeling a lot of the spirit that I wanted to.
It was a couple of days before school got out for the break and Corbin called me from school really upset. Corbin is a hall monitor at school. He was talking to a boy in his class about the fact that he (the boy) was not supposed to be in the halls during recess. The boy got upset and grabbed Corbin's glasses off of his face and crunched them in his hand. I told Corbin that he needed to go talk to the principal about it. I was a little ticked that someone would do that but I was also surprised. I know the boy and he is not usually like that.
Corbin's teacher is a good friend of mine. She called me later and we started talking about it and what would have made the boy do that. She mentioned that she thought their family might be financially struggling. I told her she needed to find out as much as she could because we would like to do something to help them out.
The events that unfolded over the next 48 hours were nothing short of a series of Christmas miracles. It was found that the family was struggling in a huge way and that food was hard to come by, let alone Christmas. People stepped up in a HUGE way to ensure that this family had food, money and gifts. Another little family also benefited from this outpouring of love. And this was all the day before Christmas.
It's funny how Heavenly Father works. If Corbin's glasses hadn't of gotten crunched, we may have never known that this family needed help. I am so happy that He works through each of us and that sometimes we are on the ball enough to listen.
This year was one of the best Christmas's I have ever had. The spirit of Christmas lives on in this little valley of mine and in this heart of mine too.

Merry Christmas!

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!