We are officially coming home for Christmas! We are flying in to Utah on December 17th around 8:30 pm and staying in Logan until the morning of the 26th when we will head down south to Layton until the 3rd of January. Hooray for long winter vacations! Thank you, P-E-N-N (joke for my dad who actually doesn't ever read this blog... so maybe it's a joke for me...)
I had a case of the grumpies this morning, so I thought I would take some time to count my blessings and be a little more grateful for what I have. I thought I would start with my family. You are awesome. Maybe next time when you have the grumpies, you can look at this list and know that someone cares about you. Some of these may seem pretty small, but they weren't too small for me to remember them.
Bart: What can I say? You are perfect for me, and absolutely the most thoughtful, selfless person I have ever known. If any of you know how much sleep means to Bart, you will particularly appreciate this. For the past 3 nights I have had what I would like to call "crap sleep." Each night, Bart has lovingly scratched my head for a long time (up to 45 minutes once) to help me go to sleep. In so doing, he lost that amount of sleep, but he never complained or even thought about not doing it.
Mom: You are ridiculously sassy and will always listen to me feel sorry for myself or talk endlessly about whatever thing I'm doing, even if it's inconsequential, even if you are actually the one who needs someone to talk to.
Dad: You always ask how the car is running (even though, I secretly know that you are asking me how I'm doing).
Julie: You ate the burnt monkey bread I made when you came to visit, which is representative of how you try to see the good in all things. You didn't even make fun of me when I cried because I was so touched by that example and love.
Granny: Words cannot express how much I love you. But to keep it short, I will say that you are awesome at emailing and inspire me as you try to learn new things every day.
Richelle: You are so thoughtful! You always remember what is going on in our lives even though we live like 5 billion miles away!
Andy: You took me fishing, which was the highlight of my summer. Oh, and you didn't make me put the worms on my own hook!
Shawn: You know about computer stuff and are patient when we bother you with dumb questions. You also always ask me how I am because you genuinely want to know.
Mindy: Martha-Stewart-example-extraordinaire! I love that you make being a mom fun and still have time to pursue your own interests.
Derek: You work so hard for your family even though it's not easy most of the time. You have courage and fortitude and you don't even know it.
Becca: You love your son (and impending child) so much that you teach him every day. I can tell that you love learning and that James will excel because you work so hard to teach him.
Kurt: You are quiet but you have your own ideas and goals, and it is encouraging to me to see how you take things seriously and aren't afraid to pursue the hard road.
Bonnie: You love life. I can tell every time I'm around you. I want to be more like this.
Jon: You are a goofball. But I like it because I know when it comes to Ashley, you will do anything for her.
Ashley: You love your family so much, which is probably hard since you have 4 older brothers. You are goal-driven and focused and it will pay off. (If you don't agree, look at what you have accomplished in your life and you will realize I am right.)
All my nieces and nephews: You give me courage that parenthood is soooooo worth it. I love how each of you are unique and bring something important to our growing family.
Family... Isn't it about... TIME? hehehe. Sorry, I couldn't stay serious forever.
For those of you reading this blog (which I'm sure are very few), I would greatly appreciate you helping me with some research I'm doing for a talk I'm giving on Sunday. If you could comment (or email me) with answers to the following questions, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for your help!!
What is a family to you?
If you knew that there was a free workshop to improve your family relationships, would you attend?
Why is it important to you to have your family with you in eternity?
How does the Gospel help you in your family relationships?
Of the following, which thing would you most like to improve within your family?
-Family Unity
-Communication
-Conflict resolution
-Listening skills
-Understanding of child development
-Appreciation for family relationships
-Spirit within your home
While serving as chaperons for youth conference this past weekend, we went rafting with with the youth from our stake. There was much waterfighting and colliding between the 20 rafts. At one point our raft made a brief collision with another raft which brought Katie in close proximity to some youth from another ward, whom we haven't met before. As the raft rebounded away this boy boldly grasped the opportunity offered by this chance encounter, and made the title statement of this post. And then the rafts were separated by the flowing river, leaving the boy with his hope that the seed he planted could one day fruit, never to know how truly misguided his foray had been.
