Overwhelmed

I'm completely overwhelmed

with gratitude and love

for the amazing support I have felt towards my family and I

over the last few days!

I'm going to blog about it in 3 parts starting with Part 1 today:

 

Part 1:

Chris made it home safe and sound on 

SUNDAY 

afternoon just in time for his welcome home party!

I love how excited all the kids from our ward were to see him return home.

They ran up to him with open arms...

I know it made him feel like he was missed.

We have hardly seen him since then with all the time he is spending with his friends

but I for one am just happy to have all my kids back

 under one roof.

I'm a very blessed mommy!

Anticipation

Oh my are we getting excited around here!

I got MORE good news this morning when a text came through:

"See You Tuesday"

It was from my neighbors and dear friends the

LAMBSON'S!

They have been gone for three long months and I have missed them.

Marcia and I have been telephoning on and off the whole summer but I could tell when I talked to her a week ago...

that she was ready to come home!

She had all types of ideas for her house (and for mine)

and for projects we could work on when she got home!

Yay...I can't wait to get started and I can't wait to have them home!

Christopher has left my sister's house and is making his way home.

We will see him tomorrow...

and the anticipation of seeing him is making me giddy!

We are planning a party for his return!

It just so happened that Katie and I ended up alone this afternoon!

So we JUMPED in the car

and headed to

ICEBERG

for a cool summer treat!

And we DID a lot of school shopping...

 party planning and shopping...

window shopping...

and I think we stopped for a nice dinner too...

but I don't want to mention it to loud...

cause we were having so much fun...

we sort of ditched everybody else! 

LOL!

Oh well...

we will make it up to them

with some awesome parties coming there way!

I'm heading off to bed now so that the anticipation of the next few days might just go by a little faster!

 

It's Friday...and the countdown begins.

I have TWO very exciting things

that are going to happen in the next couple of days!

1.  My sweet hubby is having a birthday on Monday!

 I never get tired of this guy!

He makes me smile.

He is such a good man.

 I can't wait to spoil him on his special day.

2.   Christopher is returning home after 8 weeks!

He's learned a lot and had many great experiences.

I just had one of the best times

talking to him...

it's fun to see your kids grow!

He just posted this picture on his Instagram page yesterday...

and I think this girl had something to do

with him wanting to stay!

But I'm glad he will be coming home and it has made me realize

just how fast time flies by...

 how fast our children grow up!

I for one want to make a commitment to enjoy this time with my kids before they are all grown up and gone.
JOY IN THE MOMENT!

Rachel had taken advantage of his empty room all summer...

but today we

CLEANED and ORGANIZED

it all to get it ready for Chris's return.

We ended up with 3 large trash bags and 3 large bags to take to

Goodwill!

It was a good DAY!

Lastly, I got to enjoy a Girls Night Out with two great girls!

I tried so hard to find a friend

when I first moved.

In fact I wrote a blog post about it here.

I was lonely.

I was surrounded by lots of people...

but I never felt more alone.
It's nights like tonight...
with girls like this
that remind me...
that I'm NEVER alone
and that I will always have a friend I can count on.
To Katee...
working with you this last year has been a dream come true.
You make me be a better person.
Even though you are younger than me I find that I am learning
more from you...
than you will ever learn from me!
Thanks for always thinking of me and including me in all your fun!
I always laugh that when I grow up...
I want to be just like you!
Love ya girl.
Now and Forever.

Adversity and Progress Report #2

One of my besties just gave me a book that I couldn't put down.

It was only 58 pages and I longed for more!

The title...

"The Uses of Adversity"

Oh my was it good...

and it was exactly what I needed to keep me

JUMPING BACK INTO LIFE.

Sometimes when life gets us down we want to blame others...

or worse yet we want to blame God.

But I'm reminded that I knew this life wasn't going to be easy...

in fact I knew it would be hard.

But I chose to come...

I chose to do hard things...

I chose it so I could learn what I needed to learn...

so I could become who I needed to be...

and so that in the process of my learning...

I could help others...

and that we can all return back HOME.

I think I have a love, hate relationship with

ADVERSITY.

I love that it makes me better and stronger...

but it sure is hard

when I'm going through it.

REPORT CARD #2

EMOTIONAL...still getting stronger everyday!

PHYSICAL...still on track and happy to report I'm getting my muscles back! I hadn't seen them in a few years! 

SPIRITUAL...I have some of the best teachers to learn from.  Not only do I have great examples, but they like me enough

to help me and listen!

Overall Progress...A-

So in keeping with my progress to

JUMP BACK INTO LIFE...

we are enjoying our last few days of freedom

before school starts

with a trip to the bowling alley

and PEI WEI.

I also got to spend time

with these sweet girls at one of their favorite

ICE CREAM SHOPS!

Boy I sure love these cute girlies!

What did you do...

 ...this weekend?

Glad you asked!

Saturday was a shopping day.

I mean a BIG time shopping day.

I really don't like shopping so I only do grocery shopping

once a month.

Saturday was the day.

As long as I was there we did our school supply shopping too.

I have found if you wait til

Back to School 

night to do your shopping then you are out of luck.

I've seen two places where parents lose control of their right minds and it is in the 

school parking lot and at Wal-Mart in the school supply aisles!

I try to avoid both at all costs!

In order to make it more enjoyable we made a pit stop at

FIREHOUSE SUBS.

 

I'm so NOT ready for my kids to go back to school.

But at least we are READY!

Sunday's are always the BEST days.

Today was extra special.

LOOK...

we got RAIN!

Not only did we get rain...

but we were literally jumping for joy that our temperatures

were only in the low 80's.

 

While Rain and Cooler temperatures

can make us happy...

nothing makes us more happy than spending our

afternoon and evening with

our great friends the 

Letner's

and their sweet boy Jared.

I love how he pulled out all the toys in Jacob's room...

and crashed and burned

right in the middle of all those toys

with his Captain America costume and his shield by his side.

Pretty much sumps up what a perfect weekend

looked like.

Now onto our last two weeks before school starts and only one more week til Chris is finally home!

Yay...can't wait!

the BEST things in life are free...

Nothing could be more true than spending time

in a peaceful place...

surrounded by the best company...

where we learned once again the

BEST

things in life are truly free.

Today our family woke up extra early to have one of those types of days.

There is a lake up in northern Arizona

that is Ron's favorite "hidden" lake.

He looks for any opportunity during the spring and summer to go there and fish.

While the rest of us were looking forward to this trip...

Rachel wasn't feeling it!

 She should know that it's only a matter of time

before FUN begins to take

over and she will be enjoying herself.

It's one of the things we LOVE about our boat.

We are in a small space...

with just our family...

no cell phone service...

no distractions...

and we get to become each others BEST friends.

 Ron is always joking.

His favorite show is DUCK DYNASTY and according to PHIL,

this teepee is a Big Foot Hunting Blind.

 Katie is always happy on the boat and this girl loves to FISH.
She's also really good at it.
It's called patience and she has lots of it when it comes to fishing.
 

But she probably doesn't like it as much as this little guy:

Jacob was up EXTRA early...

he said he was too excited to sleep!

We caught so many fish...

that Jacob couldn't help doing the chicken dance
(or should we call it the "fishing dance)
We know if we get a little food in RACHEL...

that she will be having fun in no time!

 Ron couldn't keep up...

he was always running from one end of the boat to another,
baiting hooks,

keeping worms on the line,

and digging hooks out of TROUTS mouths...

he is the bombdiggity of

STEPDADS!

I love that he sacrifices his own fishing time...

so that the kids are always catching fish.

We did it...

She's really having FUN now! 
Watch out girlie...you might actually have fun with all of us!

Rachel...
it's not because you are catching FISH

that you are a winner...

it's that you caught the spirit of the day.

I truly believe that time with our

FAMILIES

is sacred time...

no matter what you are doing or where you are at

as long as you are lifting,

building,

enjoying,

laughing,

sharing,

and spreading the JOY.

And if you do it right...

you will end up like this...
completely wore out from all the FUN!

Postcripts: My neighbor told me about this fun little app that I am using on a my photos to edit. I got a little carried away with it but it was so much fun to create fun pictures. It's called Rhonna Designs.

Jump Back In - Progress Report #1

It's been a week since I decided to
JUMP BACK INTO LIFE.
I'm refocused and dedicated to enjoying the beautiful
life I have been given.

I'm going to give myself these periodic progress reports...
in the hopes
that I will stay on track
and that if I don't...
there will be those who will give me the confidence I need to keep going.

Fitness Report:
I have officially exercised 6 out of the 7 days.
I have burned 2,187 calories.
My exercises of choice are ZUMBA, Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred, Volleyball and Yoga.
(Zumba is my new addiction...love, love, love it!)

Diet Report:
I began with joining a free online program called
MyFitnessPal.
I also have it as an app on my phone and it is easy to log-in as soon as I eat and log my calories.
I said how many pounds a week I wanted to lose and for how many weeks and it calculated the amount of calories I can eat daily.
So far I have stuck to my calories.
I like it because I don't have to deprive myself of the foods I like. 
I've always been good at moderation...
but don't ask me to give up chocolate because it just won't happen.

Emotional Report:
I'm Happy.
I have JOY!
I'm managing my feelings.
I have the energy again to DO the things I used to do that gave me so much joy and happiness.

Spiritual Report:
I've always been a little TOO independent for my own good.
I don't always think that I need to ask
GOD
for the things I need...
because I've never felt worthy enough to ask.
I'm working on this one!

Tomorrow I weigh in.
I'm excited to see progress...
but I'm more excited that I'm at least giving it ALL a try!

My Missouri Top Ten

~Random Order~

1.  One of my favorite theme parks...better than Disneyland (at least for me) is the one in Branson, Missouri known

as Silver Dollar City.

Maybe it is partly because of nostalgia since I've been going to this park as a young girl...

but I love everything about this park.

Especially the new roller coaster.

OUTLAW RUN!

This roller coaster is the craziest, fastest and heart stopping ride I have ever been on!

I also loved that our two girls braved every single ride with us!

2.  I love being surrounded by GREEN.

I always thought my favorite color was YELLOW because I love, love, love the sun.  It is a good thing I do since we live in Arizona.

However, I miss the deep, beautiful green of

MISSOURI.

 3.  I love that my kids get to be FARM kids and that in doing so they work alongside their Grandad.

It helps them understand who their grandad is...

and why he still FARMS...

47 years later.

 4.  I always tell my parents when I visit how NICE of a location they picked when building their house 40 years ago.

I love, love, love their location.

When I was a kid I thought we lived too far out of town...

especially since I thought all my friends lived far away.

Now I see my Dad's vision when he picked the spot they were going to build!

5.  Just down the road from my parents house is a river that flows through the back of my parents property. 

Whenever we go to visit...

we must take walks to the RIVER.

I love these beautiful walks to the river with my family.

When I was little...

the bridge that crossed over was the old-fashioned wooden bridges.

I miss that wooden bridge...

but for residents who live there I'm sure they appreciate the more stable concrete bridge that was built.

 6.  I love my sister-in-law Kassie.  

Ever since she married my brother over 25 year ago...

she has made me laugh.

She always makes sure she is available along with her cute girlies to see us and spend as much time with us as possible when we visit.

Not only do I love Kassie...

but my kids think she is AWESOME too!

 7.  I have lots of GREAT sister-in-laws. 

Jaime is one of them.  Despite the fact that my brother and her are no longer together...

she has allowed us to maintain a relationship 

not just with her amazing kids...

but her new family as well.

She is amazing.

8.  Not only do I have GREAT sister-in-laws

but I have GREAT brothers too!

Only 3 of the 6 were with us in Missouri but I love them all.

Todd came to visit with his daughter Nora from Columbia.

David came to visit with his 2 kids from Tulsa.

Gary lives there but was our "personal" tour guide the day we went to Silver Dollar City.

If he was for hire...I would recommend him on the spot.

We told him what we wanted to do...

and he took us through all the crowds and craziness and got us exactly where we wanted to be...

and with a smile on his face while doing it!

9.  My mom loves to walk the Frisco Highline Trail every morning for exercise.  I joined her on these walks three of the mornings I was there.  I loved the opportunity to be able to visit with my mom one-on-one.  She is an amazing woman and teaches me so much.

We were joined by a much BIGGER group on our third day.

Not much walking in the form of exercise...

but a great time to spend with family.

10.  Missouri is not the place most people think of 

when they go on vacation...

but for our family it was the BEST place to be.

It healed our soul.

It nurtured our hearts.

It calmed our minds.

We can't wait to do it again sometime.

 Missouri...we will be back!