a little gratitude

When I look at these beautiful pictures of my kids and the joyous expressions on their faces, I have nothing but gratitude in my heart.  Life is never perfect, but we can chose how to perceive our lives.  I've learned a lot going to college lately, and one underlining these is all about perception.  It's never about if a problem actually exists, its about how someone perceives a problem.  We recently spent some time at Bear Lake.  While I sat on the beach watching my kids play, it was easy to think my life is nearly perfect.  I choose to be happy!  With my giggly children, it's easy to make that choice.

Recently I had to go to the post office.  Going to the post office with children is one of my least favorite things to do.  There's always a line, and my kids seem to find ways to run around and be crazy just about everywhere.  I tried to go first thing in the morning to avoid a line, but it seems other people had the philosophy also.  There I was waiting in line, and my kids were running wild, at least they were laughing about it.  After a few minutes, I could tell people around me were annoyed, so I asked Luke if he would please come stand in line and set a good example.  Luke listened and came to stand by me.  A few short seconds later Clara came and joined, and she said "yea, the Holy Ghost will tell you to choose the right."  I was proud in that moment that something had clicked in to her two year old brain.  We have been trying to tell our kids that they have a helper to help them choose right choices.  Apparently the lady behind me in line didn't think I was the best parent ever for teaching my children correct principles.  She said "what are you teaching your children" in a derogatory tone.  I ignored her at first, and I was a little embarrassed.  Then I decided it doesn't matter what she thinks, my kids were listening for a short moment, and there was a glimmer of progress in their understanding.

Our children are so blessed, and I need to find better ways to teach them.  We recently took a trip to donate to DI.  When I was packing things up, they kids started noticing some of the items that were once theirs.  I explained to them we are going to go give them to someone else who could use them.  I tried to tell them some kids don't have all the things that they do.  Luke seemed to start to grasp this concept.  It's difficult to teach kids these important life lessons.

I was busy doing things around the house one day, and I could hear my children playing.  They weren't screaming or yelling at each other, so I was tuning them out.  I don't know exactly what they were doing or what they were saying.  Then I finally listened to them because they were saying "mom, take a picture" and seriously could not stop giggling.  I looked up, and this is what they were doing.  They were putting their legs up to try and reach each other.  In that moment, I felt guilty for ignoring them trying to keep the house clean.  Instead, I should have joined them in their silliness, which is exactly what I did after I took this picture.  I don't know why this was so funny, but in that moment I was also so grateful that I have happy children.  Seriously, I have genuinely happy children.  They aren't grumpy never smiling children.  How many times have I been annoyed in the grocery store because they were giggling too loud?  I need to stop a savor these precious children more often.

Every day we have tough moments.  Raising little children is rough every day, but there are enough sweet moments to make it more than worth it.  There seems to be every emotion shown every day.  I feel like I live in a drama school with these kids practicing on me.  However, I feel like our family couldn't be more happy.  It's the silly moments at the end of the day that make us laugh that make you realize how perfect everything is!

Clara is 3

 My little girl is officially 3, and she loved celebrating her birthday.  Clara has always been looking forward, even from a very young age.  She will not be left behind, and she will not be told no.  She is very clever, and catches on to things quickly.  She's determined to get what she wants.  She is great at debating, and tries to argue with me daily.  She starts out many sentences "because...." and gives me reasons as to why she in entitled to do what she pleases.

 She is also a little charming dare devil.  She has an infectious grin, and as soon as she flashes her cheesy smile, she thinks she can get away with anything.  She is so adorable, that in a lot of cases, she wins. 

 She is simply independent.  She changes her clothes at least 5 times a day.  She talks to me about what matches and what doesn't as far as her outfits are concerned.  Most of the time her outfits are a total misfit, but in that department, I let her do as she pleases.  Her goal is to make me do as much laundry as possible. 

 Clara loves her brother Luke.  Anything he can do, she thinks she can do too.  She has always been his little shadow.  Once Luke figured out she's a constant play mate, they have been best of friends most of the time.  I wonder if having an older brother has made her a bit tom boyish.  Clara's favorite color is purple, but she loves a lot of boy things.  She likes to play rough and tough.  Luke and Clara have wrestling matches, and surprisingly sometimes Clara wins.  I have a really hard time not laughing when they start wrestling because Clara is so determined to win.  Clara doesn't like her hair done.  This is such a disappointment!  Luke cuts her hair a lot.  They play hair dresser, so Clara will likely have short hair for a while until this scheming of theirs ends.

 We couldn't be more grateful for our sweet little girl.  She brings sunshine to our day every day.  She is always full of funny little sayings.  She hugs Gilbert every morning before he goes to work.  Then she says "I'm going to give you a kiss" and she kisses him goodbye on the cheek.  She can be such a sweetheart.  Sometimes she gets embarrassed and has to hide for doing such cute things.   She's good a critical thinking and figuring out other ways to make things work.  She is also a crazy monkey and climbs on everything.  We will enroll her in gymnastics.  She needs to put that crazy talent to good use!

Lake Powell

We just returned from our best vacation ever.  We spent 4 days on beautiful Lake Powell.

There is something special about Lake Powell.  It breeds peace and relaxation.  Other than constantly needing to know where our children were, it truly was a vacation of a life time!

We got to spend 4 wonderful days together with family.  Completely unplugged with no cell reception.  So no emails or phone calls could distract us from spending quality time together.  Lake Powell is a wonderful playground to lounge around.  

We had plenty of sun while we were there.  Almost too much, it was a little too hot!  Nights were roasting, but our kids absolutely loved it.  They are already asking when we can go back.  

My favorite part of the trip was when we took an "adult ride" on the tube.  I haven't laughed so much and so hard in a very long time.  I had no breath left because I was laughing so hard.  Our adult ride consisted of all my siblings.  Four of us were on the tube, and one of us was driving.  I don't know who had the better experience, the riders because of the laughter, or the driver getting a front row seat to it all.

Luke took some time to warm up to such a large body of water.  He loved the slide and swimming around, only if there were other people close by to help ease his anxiety.  Luke also thoroughly enjoyed fishing.  He caught the very first fish of the trip, and in record time on the very first cast.  What a lucky duck!  Unfortunately his pole got thrown into the lake by his cousin.  What a vacation bummer!

I love the serenity of Lake Powell.  You get up with the sun, and go to bed with the sun.  You lose all sense of time while you are there, relieving any time constraint or restrictions.  We had wonderful food to eat and snack on constantly. 

Clara seemed to enjoy everything about Lake Powell.  She is more of a fish than Luke is.  She is also a thrill seeker.  She wanted to ride the tubes, and she wanted a crazy ride.  She kept yelling to go faster and faster.  She had a permanent grin when she rode the tubes.  When the tubes weren't being pulled, she just lounged on them floating behind the boat waiting to take another turn.