I've posted a lot today!

Just wanted to let you all know that I posted 6 topics today so make sure to scroll down and read them all :)

Let me set the record straight...

Ok, so most of you know about my "not supporting Oprah" stance and some of you have a little fun teasing me about that, which is fine. I just want to take this moment and clarify my stance.

I think Oprah does a lot of good in this world. I think her heart is in the right place when it comes to serving those who are less fortunate. I think over all she is a good person.

Now, I also think that her stance against the LDS church is hurtful. I think her willingness to have questionable topics on her show is hurtful. I think the amount of power that she has, especially with women, can be hurtful. I think her view of "women-power" is hurtful. I think over-all her point-of-view (except for humanitarian topics) is hurtful.

If she was doing a fundraiser, I'd dontate, it's a good cause. That's not where I don't show my support. As for watching her show, I chose not to support. I believe at one point her show was very uplifting and a very good source for women to turn to find selfworth and a purpose but I feel that those days are FAR gone! I wonder how many people she has encouraged to take just one little step to the right of the iron rod, even if it's just with our willingness to accept alternate lifestyles? I know that it is still up to us to decide if we take that step and that we are accountable for our own choices. But there are a lot of people searching out there and she has a lot of followers... A LOT OF FOLLOWERS!!!!

So, today I received an email from one of my friends. I'm not sure what her stance is on Oprah but I'm sure she doesn't watch her show because she doesn't really watch TV. But the email was very, very troubling. I want to post the link to my blog so that others may see what I have been fearing for so many years now. I know that it's a bit theatrical but the point is very clear! Maybe this will help shed some light on my point of view so that you can understand where I am coming from. Make sure to watch the whole thing. I think you'll be amazed!

Let me know what you think!

Sad but Happy!

So, most of you know that Hannah has been taking piano lessons for the last little while. It has been such a hassel getting her to practice and I began feeling like this may not be a battle that I want to take on. So, I let her know how I felt about her playing the piano and let her make the choice if she was going to continue on. I told her that if she chose to continue on that she had to dedicate herself and that I didn't want to have to fight with her about practicing. Just as I thought, she chose to stop playing the piano because she really wants to take dance lessons (at this piont in our home, we only want one extra-curricular activity at a time). I was very sad about her choice but it has relieved a lot of stress from my morning routine. Mornings are much nicer now!

Now for the happy part...Hannah's piano teacher allowed me to take Hannah's spot as her student. I was sooooooooo excited!!! But I have to admit, it's pretty tough especially that whole timing thing!! Yikes!! Plus, I had kind-of taught myself how to somewhat play (like the easy hymns, nothing major by any means) and now having to learn the correct way is quite the challenge. I keep reading the music the way I had taught myself to read it, instead of learning where each of the notes are. It becomes somewhat discouraging because I want to be really good, really fast BUT I'm beginning to see that it's going to take some time.....a lot of time :)

As soon as I have my first recital, I'll post it here. I'm sure I'll be hanging out with all of the 5-9yr olds. They'll be wondering why the old lady is playing in the recital and laughing because they'll be better than me :)

True Service

What would your house look like if you had to have your 7yr old watch your 1 yr old for the entire day, while you lay dieing in bed? Well, as soon as I download my photos, you'll get to see.

Greg had to go out of town and my mom was in Ogden....and I was sick! Hannah just so happened to be out of school for some sort of teachers work day, which became my saving grace. Hannah did her very best as she cared not only for her baby brother but for her sick mother also. I could barely walk so I only got up to feed them and change Gabe's bum.

At the end of the night when I knelt down next to Hannah to pray, the tears just began to fall. I thanked the Lord for Hannah's service toward me and her brother and for her kind heart and willingness to serve me. I felt so grateful for what she had done for me. It had been quite a while since I had felt that level of gratitude. I am so thankful she's my daughter and that she loved me enough to use her day off from school to care for her family.

The experience puts a whole new perspective on what our Lord and Savior has done for each of us. Just as Hannah did for me what I couldn't do for myself, so has Christ but at a much much higher level. I can only imagine the level of gratitude I will experience when I see him face to face. I'm sure the tears will flow, as they did with Hannah's service, from the overwhelming feeling of love I will feel from my older brother.

Hannah was such an example to me and I hope to one day be as she is!!

"1040"...Not a bad number...or is it?

So, Hannah had a jump-a-thon for her school last Friday. I was worried when she brought home the paper about it because she has always struggled with jumping rope. It always seems to get tangled up in her hair or around her feet. My heart was aching as I watched her practice and become frustrated because she only made it to "2". I kept encouraging her, letting her know that it takes lots of practice to get to the higher numbers but the progress seemed rather slow. My mom and I filled out the "pledge sheet" with our pledges per-jump and sent it to school with her.

As the week progressed I noticed that Hannah was doing much better with her jumping than she had in the beginning of the week and her devotion to practicing was amazing!! I wish she felt as motivated about keeping her room clean. Anyway, I had come to the conclusion that Hannah would jump about a hundred jumps during the 1 hour jump-a-thon.

So, the day came and Greg & I went to go support Hannah's first jump-a-thon. It was kind of chilly but we stuck it out! Hannah started off pretty well but then the rope kept getting tangled. She almost broke down because she was so sad that she had worked so hard and was doing as well as she had hoped. Greg and I both took turns giving her a pep-talk, letting her know that we believe in her and that she can reach her goal, whatever it may be. So, after a short rest and some asthma medicine (it was cold outside and the cold air mixed with jumping triggered it) Hannah was up and jumping again. I noticed that she had started jumping in ten-jump intervals and that they were becoming much more frequent than at the beginning. At one point, Hannah asked how long she had left and I informed her that she had only been jumping for 20 minutes, so she had 40 minutes left. I could see the discouragement in her eyes. Greg swooped in to lift her spirits while I checked with the tally-girl to see where Hannah was at. I about died when the girl told me 300 jumps!!! I calmly walked over to Greg and told him the total and our eyes seemed to be saying to each other, "what do we do?!?" So, me being the budget-minded mother, I begin encouraging Hannah that if she was tired, that she should take a break. I offered her a drink and made sure to make more opportunities for pictures. I thought Greg was on the same page as me until I heard him ask Hannah what her goal was. When she said 1000 jumps, my heart skipped a beat. Greg came back and informed me that he was going to encourage her and help her reach her goal. I looked at him in disbelief and reminded him of our per-jump pledge. He didn't seem to care. He wanted to help Hannah feel like she succeeded by helping her reach her goal. I had to walk away a few times as she just kept cranking out those 10-jump intervals.

So, as you have probably guessed, Hannah jumped 1040 jumps, which I was very surprised about. I couldn't believe how much she had progressed during the week to reach that kind of goal. I was very proud of her, I really was!! I took lots of pictures but I will add them later. (we have a new computer and I'm not sure how to download on this one. Greg has to give me the tutorial first :).

Ok, so I know you all are wondering how much my mother and I had pledged........10 cents per jump!!!!! So, for those of you who aren't good with the math part, both her and I owe $104 for the jump-a-thon!!!! HOLY SMOKES!!! But Hannah did learn a valuable lesson as she worked through her emotions and kept reaching for her goal. I'm amazed at what she was able to accomplish and when I took the final picture of her holding the counting sheet, her proud little face was worth the $104.....for sure :)

But when Gabe is in 1st grade, the goal can be the same but the pledge will not!!!!

My Current Favorite Song

Ok, so those of you who know me well, know that I get on little "kicks" where I become compulsive about one thing or another. Well, right now I'm totally hooked on a certain song, which I can play repeatedly, over and over, for the entire day! Not many people can say that. :)

So, here's the link to the video....it happens to be a video produced for America's Next Top Model, for those of you who are fans, you already know what song & video I am talking about.

Enjoy & beware...my dear friend Karie insisted that I put a rating on this video because it is a bit "steamy". So, my rating for this video is....PG25 or PGmarried :)

Yes, I am still alive!! :)

Thank you to all of you who have tried to check in on me to see if I am still alive! Those of you who live near me know that I am but for those outside of our little Eagle Mountain, you may have began to wonder.

We have had a couple of illnesses in our household and the last one was a bugger! It took sooooooooo long to get over. In fact, I still don't have all of my energy back. So, I suppose that may be a reason that I haven't blogged nor looked at anyone else's blogs but I don't think it's the only reason. I think I may have just been in some sort of funk....But now I'm out of it :)

As you can imagine, I have a lot of things to blog about so.......I better get blogging!