Home...

I've always daydreamed about living in a little quaint cottage somewhere in the mountains. I have a pinterest board dedicated to the cute little homes that I find. I showed them to my husband once and said, "I want to live in a little home in the mountains someday like these." His response was, "Do you realize how little those houses are? They are really really small." Yes, yes they are. I don't know, I've never wanted to be in some huge house somewhere (mostly because I don't want to have to clean it). There is just something that draws me to these little cottage homes. So cozy, so cute, so homey.

Well, I have some rather exciting news!!! (It's exciting to me anyway). We are going to be moving in about 2 weeks to a cute tiny home!! It's not up in the mountains, but it's right next to some mountains, and we are so super excited about this. It's much closer to my husband's new job (he's been commuting about 75 minutes to and from work each day) and it has a large yard with fruit trees and room we can garden. The house is pretty tiny, under 1000 square feet. And it's almost 130 years old! It was a pioneer home built by some of the Mormon pioneers in the late 1800's. It's been updated since then (no outhouse mind you...  but still no dishwasher) with big windows that let in the light, still very tiny. And cute. And perfect for our small family at this time in our lives. Nice and cozy but with a large yard that we can spend time together in the great outdoors. We are so excited!!!

I'm going to have to buckle down and get pretty organized so that we can fit our stuff in there, but it will be a good move for our family. I can feel it. It feels good to be excited about something like this. Time to start packing up my stuff at my in laws and start fresh somewhere new!

Home 1, 2, 3

Night in the desert...

Beautiful blue skies

Cows in every shade of brown imaginable

Quenching their thirst in the desert

Colorful Philly cheese steak sandwiches with orange and yellow peppers

Dutch oven style of course

Good friends

Good conversation

Perfect evening

Easter...

Two egg hunts made for a very happy little boy this weekend.

I love this orangcicle shirt that I found for Easter Sunday. He looked so darling in it if I do say so myself. Favorite find in his Easter basket? Silly putty. Hasn't stopped playing with it since.

And just to keep it real... right after I took these pictures he dropped his silly putty and it rolled down the driveway. He dove for it and ripped a big hole in his church pants... but saved the putty!! So my favorite gray church pants of his went into the trash and he wore black ones instead. I  try not to get mad at him for just being a little boy, but sometimes I'm sad at how fast we go through clothes around here.

Beautiful holiday... one of my favorites. I love the spring smell that is in the air right now. Reminders of life are all around us this time of year. Which is really what Easter is all about right? Life... we will live again. I truly believe this.

Antlers...

I've been on the lookout for some good antlers since I saw this photo and fell in love. I've been wanting to recreate this look for our bedroom as a symbol of our marriage (post about that here). With my husband being a hunter along with his brothers, friends, grandfather... I was sure that someone had a set of antlers sitting around that would work for the job.

Around Christmas time we were in his friends barn while they were working on some projects. Husband said, "Remember how you wanted to find some antlers? Go look over on the rafters." So I walked to the back of the barn and saw the most beautiful antlers hanging from the beams. They were perfect!

"Whose antler's are these?" I asked. Then husband reminded me of something I had long since forgotten about. They were his antlers!! The last time that he went hunting before we moved from Utah 7 years before he had gotten a deer on the muzzleloader hunt. They were his antlers! The only ones that he had gotten in our marriage so far. That made them all the more meaningful to me. 

 Hunting tag still in place. I can't believe that I had forgotten about these antlers. His friend had been keeping them safe in his barn for all these years that we have been gone. He had planned on mounting them for Trent but never got around to doing it. I'm grateful that while I have the hunter/fisher/gatherer husband who acquires such items as antlers, he's not opposed to handing them right over to his wife to get all crafty with them.

I'm holding off on making the clay flowers for now, I think I will tackle this project when we move in a few weeks. But I'm very excited to get this project underway. I think it's going to be beautiful!

And just for nostalgia's sake... here are some old picture that are from that hunting trip back in 2004.

Ready to go out hunting...

 Horseback riding in the mountains {gosh I look young}...

Husband with his deer {promise this is the only time I will show a picture of a dead animal on my blog... unless it's a fish}.

Two years...

Today marks two years since my last chemo treatment... a day to be celebrated for sure. I wanted to take my picture again like I did during that first year after chemo, but my dining room table has been in storage for the past 4 1/2 months and I'm far away from my cute little condo in Las Vegas. So I borrowed my sister in law's table and wall, which are very similar to mine (you have good taste Nicole). I actually flipped the pictures on the computer so that the hallway would be on the right side like it was in my condo. Tricky tricky. I'm grateful to have these pictures to look back on and remember how far I've come in the last two years. I'm starting to look like me again. My hair is almost as long as it was before I lost it. I'm getting better at running and starting to get the muscle tone back that I lost.


This past year of being in remission for lymphoma has been interesting. I had a pet scan done last April which was good and clean, but my health insurance decided not to cover it because they said it wasn't "medically necessary". I was told by my doctor that I needed to have a scan done every year for five years to be sure that it didn't come back. So I spent a good part of last year appealing this denied claim from my health insurance company. In October I received news that they decided to cover the scan, which we were super grateful for (pet scans run about $4500 without insurance). And here we are again... April is here and it's scan time again. I've found a new oncologist and will be getting another scan later this month. Fingers crossed {as always} that it will be clean. If it's clean at this two year mark chances are super slim that it will ever come back.


Something I've been thinking about a lot lately is how so many people are starting to turn against westernized medication. The trend is turning towards natural remedies, homeopathics, etc. While I too like these forms of healing and medical treatment and use them fairly regularly, I also am so grateful for the advances we have in this day with medications. Chemotherapy saved my life. It was brutal, it took me to a low I didn't think was possible... but it worked, and it was worth it. Every morning when my little boy climbs into bed for "family cuddles" I'm reminded that it was worth it. Every time I get to spend time with my family or spend time out in nature I'm reminded that it was worth it. Every time I lay down on the floor after a hard workout and feel my heart pounding inside of my chest (right next to where my cancer used to live) I'm reminded that it was worth it, my heart can still pound inside my chest because of it.

It didn't come without a price, but I still get to be here with my family because I chose to fill my body with toxic chemicals that killed my cancer. It was worth it.

There definitely have been lasting side affects from such a treatment. Before I had my first of 12 treatments my nurse sat me down and went over all the possible side affects for ONE HOUR!!! It was so daunting, not knowing what shape I would be in when all was said and done. But the understanding was that these side affects were a small price to pay to be able to live the rest of my life with my husband and son. Now that I'm two years out, here are the side affects that I've noticed have actually stuck...

Circulation problems: I have Raynaud's phenomenon in my hands and feet since chemo. One drug I was given called bleomycin seems to be the cause of this. It wasn't a very big problem down in Vegas because it doesn't get too cold there, but here in Utah it's a whole different story. I've learned that I can not let my hands and feet get cold. Period. When they get even a little bit cold the blood stops flowing to them and it's super painful. They also seem to get cold way more often than they did before. I wear socks at all times unless I'm in the shower. I no longer can step on cold tile floors. I put gloves on before I open the door to go outside. Another strange part of this is when I've let my hand or feet get cold, when they warm up they itch like crazy. I had a few weeks this winter where I was sure that my cancer had come back because my hand and feet would not stop itching (unexplained itching is also a sign of Hodgkin's lymphoma). Thankfully though, once I learned to not let my extremities get cold the itching stopped. I'm planning on making some of these for next winter and having plenty of warm clothing to get me through the cold months.

Taste: I was told that my taste buds might change. That food would taste different during and after chemo. The biggest change that I've noticed here is that I didn't like spicy food before and now I love it! Hot sauce has become a staple in my house. Another thing I noticed is that I no longer like to eat french fries or especially curly fries. Mostly because they taste like chemo to me... no thank you.

Fertility:this article a while back which lists which chemo drugs can play a factor in female fertility and two of the drugs I was given are on the intermediate risk section (adriamycin and bleomycin). I have hope though, I do. But this is a sore spot for me, so we will leave it at this. I'm planning on having some good answers on this one by the end of this year... hopefully my answer comes in the form of a baby ;).

Lung capacity: This one has gotten better as time has gone on, but I have a hard time singing and running because I don't feel like I can breath or take big breaths. Normal breathing is fine, but times where my lung strength is tested it does not do as well as it did before chemo.

Metabolism and Fatigue: I still struggle with being tired all the time. I get great sleep every night but wake up tired and am tired all day. I also can not seem to loose the weight that I gained during chemo and have put on even more. If I'm not actively trying to lose weight then I'm gaining it (and I don't lose it when I'm trying to either, I just stay the same). So frustrating. I'm going to have my doctor check my thyroid to see if something has happened with that from chemo, but these are things that have been very frustrating for me. A girl likes to feel her best you know... and I'm not quite there yet.

Even with all of the above going on in my life now, it was worth it. I'm so grateful to be here, I know that it's a privilege and one that I try to not take for granted. I'm grateful for second chances. I'm grateful for modern medicine. I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to be a mom before this event occurred in my life. I'm grateful for life!!!

Wooden rainbow...

My sister in law always decorates super cute for the holiday's. This year for St. Patrick's Day she wanted to find a rainbow to add to her decor, but wasn't able to find something that she loved by the time the holiday came and went. When I spotted this wooden rainbow on Pinterest I knew that we had to do it (yes, me included because I need to be better at decorating for holidays ;) ). One of my goals this year on my list is to get more into woodworking and learn to use different saws and this was the perfect project to get started with that.

Another thing about my sister in law, she is really good at following through with her projects. I went over to her house last week to just "talk" about the rainbow. Nicole does not just sit and talk about projects, she gets right on it! In the next few hours we had found a wood shop that carried wood 2 1/2 inches thick that we needed (can't buy wood like that at Home Depot...) and we had gone down there and bought our wood. The trip involved taking 4 kids with us down this industrial ally and me climbing a ladder and walking on some plywood floor in a warehouse to get our wood... yikes!!! I lived to tell the tale though and we now have some awesome rainbows!!

My father in law has lots of wood working tools so we got together Saturday to cut out the rainbows. We ended up making four, and it went super smooth. The tutorial says to mark the arches at 1/2 an inch, but when I traced it out it looked way too small. So we went with 3/4 and inch for each arch.

Me working the band saw...

Hubs on the sander...

They looked so pretty just raw wood too...

This week we got together and painted the arches. We used these water color paints from Michaels. They worked really well.

 Two coats of paint and then we set them to dry.

 We sealed them off with beeswax which really made the colors vibrant. And here is my final product...

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I really love it. I love that by using watercolors you can still see the wood grain through the paint. I love that my boy LOVES playing with it. My only complaint is that I'm not completely happy with the 2nd and 3rd from the bottom arches. I think I might switch those two colors around, but I'm not sure that I care enough to sand them down and re-paint them. 

 Now I have a cute rainbow for St. Patrick's Day and a fun toy for my boy to play with in the meantime. Very worthwhile project!!

New camera...

We were completely surprised this year with a great tax return (I was so not expecting that...). Most went to paying for my lovely pile of old medical bills, but we needed to get one little "treat" didn't we? My plea was somewhere along the lines of "we need to be able to document our child's life..." and it worked!
So we got a new camera!!! It came in the mail yesterday and I really love it. I found this list of the 10 best point and shoot cameras for 2012 and went with the #1 choice. I found the best price at Target. This camera fit my list of wants with being completely affordable and still take good, clear pictures.

I used to think that I wanted a fancy Nikon or Canon DSLR camera but then one day I realized that I do not need a fancy camera like that. I'm not a photographer and have no intentions of every becoming one. All I need is a camera to snap pictures of my cute boy and husband that will fit in my purse and that would make me happy as can be. So I'm very happy with my purchase. And on the plus side... it's much easier to blog when you have a camera ;).

My boy asked what I wanted to take a picture of with my new toy (he's a smart boy) and I said that I wanted a picture of his big blue eyes and little nose that's speckled with freckles. Yes he's sweaty and flushed from the park and has a dirty face (always) but oh those blue eyes...

Hannah and Hilary...

Five boys between me, Hannah, and Hilary. Were missing Hannah's little girl who was at school and a few little babies who left our lives too soon...

Yesterday we went on a fun playdate with some good friends of mine, Hannah and Hilary. I met Hannah back when we were living in Hawaii. I worked for her dad as a student secretary and Hannah and her cute family came out for a semester and were in our ward. Thanks to the wonderful internet we've been able to keep in touch through blogging over these past 5+ years since that time.

A few years ago Hannah wrote me an e-mail. Her sweet sister in law Hilary had just lost her little boy when she was 21 weeks pregnant like I had. Hilary's boy Michael had a heart condition that took his life before he was born. Hilary and I started e-mailing during this difficult time in her life, and we became friends through our common grief of losing our two boys.

I've been wanting to meet Hilary in person for a long time, but with my living in Nevada and her living in Idaho I didn't know if it would ever happen. As luck would have it, in the past 6 months we have both moved to Utah. So I knew we had to get together soon, all three of us.

We met up at Thanksgiving Point yesterday while our 5 little boys roamed around looking at all the fun farm animals. It was so good to meet up with dear Hannah again and to meet Hilary in person for the first time. Such beautiful women these two are. I feel so lucky to have such good strong women as friends.

These girls have been so supportive of me as I've gone through the different trials I've faced over the last few years. I hope that I can be as good of a friend to them as they have been to me. One thing that I kept thinking about as we spent time together yesterday is that the three of us have experienced our fair share of grief as we've tried to grow our families. Miscarriage, stillbirth, burying children, secondary infertility. I think we've pretty much covered the spectrum ;). But we pick ourselves up as best we can, press on, and enjoy and appreciate the children and life that we have. Isn't that what life is all about?

I really appreciate these girls and the example that they've been to me. One of the greatest blessing that come from trials are great friendships. True friends shine brightly as we work to support and love each other during the different storms in our lives.

Yesterday was a beautiful day spent enjoying each others company, and I left feeling buoyed up and thankful for the great people in my life. Thanks for the great time Hil and Hannah!

Sneek peak...

I've been working hard on these quiet books for the last few weeks. They are coming together so nicely!!! I can't wait to take them to church! The page I'm working on today is my favorite so far. Bedtime is a special time here, so I'm making a bedtime page for the boy and his cousin. Complete with pillow, top sheet, quilt that matches the one on his bed, special blanket, his favorite book, and a little mini boy to tuck in at night.

A little funny story... when my husband and I got married I moved into the place he was living. Our first night home from the honeymoon we climbed into bed. I had never "been in his bed" before so I didn't know what to expect. I thought that everyone slept with sheets, pillow cases, blankets, etc. Nope. He had two sleeping bags spread out with a blanket on the top. No sheets. No pillow cases. I lasted about two minutes when I got up and said, "I'm not sleeping like this. Where are the sheets?" We found sheets and blankets and pillow cases and made the bed. Bachelors... holy moly!

So my boy is going to learn how to make a bed, in real life and in his quiet book. My favorite is the little mini pillows I made stuffed with cotton balls that go inside the cases. Everything is so cute when it's mini!

Introducing the "I'm going to eat fruit whenever I want" diet...

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So remember when I talked about trying out the 4 hour body diet here. Well... I lasted for 2 1/2 days. Pitiful I know. But it became a moral problem that I had with the diet. You see, it's a strict one, and I tend to not agree with most super strict diets. But on this one... absolutely no fruit! No FRUIT! He makes a statement that our ancestors were not eating Florida oranges when they were struggling through a long cold winter or something like that... so we don't need to either.

So I went my 2 1/2 days without any fruit and I thought a lot about it. I have to say it was almost a spiritual decision that I could no longer be a part of such an act. I almost felt like I was saying...

Dear God,

You know these perfectly portioned incredible things that you placed on the earth for us to enjoy... fruit? How much variety you gave us, each contained in their own perfectly created peel. That ripen and rot quickly as if to persuade me to eat them often. Every color of the rainbow imaginable fruit. Some sweet, some tangy, that crunch in my mouth and spark every taste bud that I have. That keep us full and are packed full of healthy fiber. That give me just enough sweetness that I don't go running for chocolate at 3 PM on the dot every.single.day...

Ya those... well... I'm not going to be eating them anymore, I'm trying to get skinny.

I still love you and your wonderful creations though... promise,
Meg

You see... it just didn't work!!! I felt like I was going against something that I fundamentally believed in with every bit of my soul.

So that was that.

I really do love fruit, I find it completely amazing. Have you ever peeled and orange or a grapefruit and looked at all the little membranes filled with their juicy fluid? Amazing! I made a salad for Christmas dinner last year that had pomegranate in it, and that was the first time I've ever peeled a pomegranate myself before. It was the coolest thing ever!! All those tiny little seeds, plump and full of goodness. Not to mention that they are HEALTHY!

I don't want to live in a world or life without miraculous, amazing, fruit. 

I've spent the last few weeks re-vamping my eating habits and figuring out what I want my "diet" to consist of and I've decided that I want to feed my body good nutritious food that makes me happy. I want to NOURISH my body. Fruit is at the top of the list. Along with beans, vegetables, peppermint tea, honey, fish, chicken, quinoa, nuts, salad, cheese (especially the bleu variety) and... the occasional girl scout cookie {maybe not so nourishing for the body... but for the soul}.

What's my favorite fruit? Right now it's grapefruit. I like to peel it and divide it in half. I take out all the middle goodness and throw all the pulp away. Then I eat one half and put the other half in the fridge for the next day. I love it!

What's your favorite fruit? And what's your favorite fruit to eat to nourish your body?

Leap...

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I've been thinking a lot about faith lately. How we need to actually have times in life where we need to exercise our faith in order for it to grow and become stronger.

Moving back home to Utah was a really scary thought for me. I knew that we wanted to move back, but just because you want something doesn't mean it's the best decision or what you should do. I knew that my husband really, really wanted to move back, but there was so much at risk... this was not a decision that I could make or do just based on want.

So I did what I usually do in situations such as this. I prayed. I prayed a lot. I prayed that if this was what we should do that I would know it, somehow. My answer came the first weekend in September. I was driving up to central Utah to go camping with my in laws. My boy was asleep in the back of the car and I was longingly gazing at the beautiful mountains around me. Is it time to come back? I wondered and prayed for the thousandth time....

Yes, I felt it throughout my whole being.

Yes it was time. This was what we needed to do. And somehow, all the little details of life would work out so that we could.

Coming back was a path of great resistance. We both had jobs in Vegas, something we did not have up in Utah. My husband was even offered an amazing nursing job in Vegas, straight out of school {I haven't told this to very many people, because then I just feel like we are super crazy}. He turned it down. When he told me he turned it down I felt really good about that decision. Somehow this was all going to work out, I just didn't know how. Trent was delayed in taking his nursing licensure test by two whole months due to misplaced paperwork. At the time this felt like huge problem, but in those two months we were able to save up enough money with both of us working for us to live on when we got here. That money lasted us until last week when he started his new job. Huge blessing. We also needed to sell our little condo that was worth half of what we had bought it for 3 years earlier due to the housing crash in Vegas. We waited till August to put it up on the market and attempt to short sale it. We had an offer two days later, in cash, for our asking price. We still had to do a short sale, but it was not as bad as I feared it would be. Our closing papers came as we were driving the moving truck up to Utah... I miss my cute little place, but it worked out for the best. One of my biggest hold ups... health insurance. Hello!?! I'm in remission for cancer, and leaving my job meant I would lose coverage. Have faith Meg, have faith. This was the biggest pill for me to swallow, and like everything else... this too has fallen into place and we were able to keep me covered until new insurance started. It's been a blessing to watch these small and simple miracles take place as we've made this transition in our lives.

In my mind we needed to have a job before we made the move, but as I realized this was not going to happen I also realized that sometimes we can't see how things are going to work out. If we did, then it wouldn't be required for us to have faith. I had my confirmation that this was the right thing for us, and now I needed to put my trust and faith in that we would be taken care of, somehow, some way...

I wish I could say that I had perfect faith through this process but I did not. So many times I said, maybe we did the wrong thing... we should have stayed in Vegas... things are not going to work out. My poor husband. I don't know how he stands my wavering faith. But he does, and for that I'm grateful.

As I have sat back these last three months since we made the move I have been in complete awe as to how everything has worked out. Trent would not have been able to get the job he did get if we had still been down in Vegas, sending in applications online. The little details of our lives that have been thrown up in the air are all falling back into place right where they need to be.

I'm grateful for this experience and what it has taught me. There were lots of people who I'm sure thought we were totally crazy for doing this, at this time, in this economy... but it was right for us. Every day I feel great peace in knowing that we made the right move for our family.

I still miss Las Vegas everyday... I miss my friends, I miss my amazing job and co-workers, I miss the warm winter, I miss our jewish grandma that we adopted, I miss my ward, I miss teaching lessons in Relief Society, I miss being able to walk to Target whenever I pleased, I miss my life down there. But I know that I'm where I need to be now. I know that this is where we want to raise our little boy. I know that we will be blessed for doing what we felt was right... we already have been. I'm grateful that we were able to take that leap, and that the landing has been wonderful.

I'm excited for this next step in life... whatever it may be, and am grateful that I am able to take it at home, with my family and friends by my side. I'm thankful that my faith has been strengthened through this process, and hopefully next time I'm required to leap I can do it without hesitation.

... and happy leap day by the way...

Last week of February...

Love this print

Feeling so happy these days. I feel like life is finally starting to settle down and I'm loving it. Time with my boy at home, getting into working on projects that have been on the back burner for a long time now. It feels really good. I can't believe February is almost over. Here's what I've been up to (or into) lately...

 - Can't get enough of Once Upon A Time. I've been watching it online all week, a little late to jump on board. Such a cute series.
 - Working hard on a quiet book for my boy and his cousin. It's taking twice as long because, making two just does that! But I'm so happy with how it's coming together and excited to have it to bring to church with us.
 - I really love lace. I've never been much of a girlie girl but I've been really drawn to lace lately. Trying to work it into my wardrobe and home little by little.
 - I've been watching The Bachelor too. I get sucked in every time. I think that he's going to pick Courtney, and I think that they deserve each other ;).
 - I've tried curling my hair a few times... sadly it's still too short. I just look like a poof ball. Still waiting patiently for it to grow so I can have some fun with it again!
 - Saw some rananculous plants at Home Depot today. I love that little flower. I've been thinking about getting some to plant around but I kill almost everything I plant. So...
 - Visited my cute friend Kimberlee and her brand new baby at the hospital. He's the perfect little boy. So happy for their family! I loved holding that sweet little guy.
 - Making a list of things we need to get before we move into our own little place. There were lots of things that we threw away or donated when we moved. Our couch, dishes, rolling pin, pizza cutter, etc, etc, etc. I want to get things gathered as much as I can before we move.
 - I'm also trying to get new things going so that it feels fresh when I put my house together again. New pictures on the wall, a fresh coat of paint on my boys dresser and little rocking chair... A fresh start feels good.
 - Melatonin is my new best friend at night. I really wish I could just lay down and fall asleep like a "normal" person but that doesn't seem to be the case for me. I don't know why I have such a hard time getting to sleep! Drives me crazy. But this has helped a lot and I don't feel super groggy in the morning... and it's a natural sleep remedy which I like.

There's my little list for now. Hopefully I can have something to show for this time I've been being crafty with soon!

I like being wrong sometimes...

Well, as it turns out we were wrong.
Dead. Wrong.

HE GOT THE JOB!!!!

We are so happy, excited, relieved, thrilled, ready to move onto this next chapter in our lives!

It's kind of a long crazy story why we thought he wasn't going to get it, but it's not a story that is fit for the blog. But either way, we are just so relieved and excited for this!

I'm so so grateful. It's in Utah but in a different area than we've ever lived so that will be exciting, we like exploring new places. And we will still be able to be around for family things and to be by our friends here, which is why we wanted to move back in the first place. So we are happy campers around here tonight.

Happy indeed.

Happiness...

I've been feeling a little down lately. I know that happiness is a choice and regardless of our circumstances we have the choice of how we will react and what our attitude is. But I still find myself having a hard time being happy when life feels so so so hard.

We finally had a great lead on a job for my husband. One that would be so perfect for him and our family. It was looking like things were going to work out and they seemed to really like him. But as the weekend approached the story changed, and it's not looking so hopeful anymore. I'm pretty heartbroken about it.

That among a few other mountains standing directly in front of me have left me feeling pretty sad. I'm trying hard to reach deep and find some joy in my heart to buoy up my spirits.

Despite taking a few steps back this weekend we went on a little excursion with our family, and found ourselves at the base of a volcano. It was a beautiful day, with blue skies and the warm sun shining down on us. And I think for about one hour this weekend I just soaked up the world around me and left my worries at the head of the trail. We took our nieces and nephews up the volcano.

We started out the hike pushing my triplet nieces and nephew in the stroller but soon found it would be much easier to carry them. I have to say I've never hiked while carrying a baby before. It was wonderful!

We left the babies and my sister's in law when the hike became more of a hike than a walk, and my husband and I took the other 5 kids up to the top.

Here we are at the top! When I saw this picture I thought, "Wow... look how happy I am!" and I was. I haven't been hiking in a long time which is something that I really love to do. Spending time outside doing something physical with the sun shining down on you really is healing to ones soul.

My goal is to make this smiling face the norm around here, not the rare exception. My plan is to spend the day counting my blessings and finding joy in my life instead of dwelling on the setbacks. To try to view the way things work out as a redirection to something that could be even better. Here is my list so far...

1- My husband remains so positive regardless of discouragement which is such a blessing. He is my rock.
2- He did start a temporary nursing job today which is such a huge blessing. It's just for a short time and doesn't offer any type of benefits but it will give him experience and it's something!
3- My in laws are rockstars and I'm pretty sure I owe them my life for how much they have helped us.
4- That I have a spunky little boy who climbed into bed with me today and told me he thinks blankets should be called "huggy buggies" and asked for a gorilla cheese sandwich for lunch.
5- That we are all healthy.
6- That my hair gets longer everyday.
7- The knowledge that I can "cast my burdens on the Lord and trust in his constant care" which I am trying to do everyday.

Here's to hope... and happiness.

Apples...

My husband's aunt and uncle are fruit farmers here in Utah and we stopped by the other day to get some of their left over apples.

We took one box and dried them all... and they only lasted a week! They were so super yummy, they went really fast. So we went back down to get some more...

We came home with a trunk full of apples!!!! We've been running 3 dehydrators day and night, and we have bearly made a dent in our pile of apples.

We are swimming in yummy apple treats right now. We figure we'd just make a whole bunch to give away to our families and friends since they are so good and the apples needed to be used or they would have just been thrown out.

So yummy!

 ***My pictures aren't the greatest right now, I'm trying to blog with pictures from my phone, but my phone is craptastic. It's not a fancy Iphone or anything, it's a crappy Boost Mobile phone that has been dropped 15,000 times. But it's what I have right now so I'm trying to make the most of it!***