Temple and The Flag!

I Love to see the temple!

I am going there someday

to feel the Holy Spirit to listen and to pray.

Katy and I snuck away.
We needed to feel the spirit.

We came to our favorite place in St. George!

The sky was cloudy,

raindrops where in the air.

A slight wind was blowing.

The symbol of Gods eternal love for us.

The symbol of our beautiful country

side by side.

It was a very peaceful and serene moment.





I could not stop photographing -



these beautiful symbols!

Full of promise!








Bringing me joy!


For the Temple is a house of God.
A place of love and beauty,
I'll prepare myself while I am young, this is my sacred duty.

Distracted

Definition of distracted:

Rendered incapable of behaving,reacting etc.

in a normal manner, as by worry, remorse,

or the like; irrational, disturbed.


Okay, the last part has me a little worried, but I have sat down to blog several times this week, and have been totally distracted. I would start doing really random things.

Mookie let Murphy jump on to me, I am usually am very okay with sweet little Murph running all over me, but he started chewing on my knuckles?? Very random, he has never done that before. It tickled and I squirmed, Murphy gets excited when you squirm. Not a good thing for a sugar glider to get excited, yes he does, and he did.

He tinkles on you. Distracting!

Seventh grade means starting band. He had to pick the trombone - he just had to!
Very distracting!

(Also, a little bit cute!

I make him practice a lot, hoping he will improve fast,

so it won't sound like someone is dying. )

I haven't run in two weeks. Do not laugh at me, it has been very hard on me. I need some tips on how to exercise at night. I am too distracted at night to get anything done. I am happy enough to just watch this awesome OHS trackster!! Run Katy Run!

This is all the papers they gave me to read and sign my first week of work at the FBI, oops I mean BYU!!

Shh, do not tell them but I read them as well as I read disclosure documents from my school children. I will leave it up to you to assume how much that is, 'cause I am not telling.

I sat down at the computer once to blog,(What else do you do on a computer??) and ended up organizing all my photos into files and folders.

I just thought you would like to see Baby Holly's MOM!! Yes, I had a baby at thirteen, but thankfully I was just raising my little sister! ( okay Cathe you can have some of the credit too!)

I am usually not this touchy about how old I am - I am really distracted. Sorry, this conversation is a you had to be there moment.

Forgive me, this happens when my mind gets boggled, (is that another word for distracted?) Photos still not completely organized.

Is it me, or Holly? me or Holly??



Then I happen to stare for a few moments at the books on the bookshelf by the computer.

What the Heck?

Please notice the short middle book! ??? What can I say, I have no excuses.

Okay, here's the story.

I have a box of old books in the storage room, getting ready to be taken to DI. When I was in Colorado sweet Hubby and Nellie rearranged my computer room, and fixed the bookshelf I had built, (of course I am using that term loosely, thanks to IKEA!) They needed some books to place in it and used the books from my DI box.

I just noticed!

The book in the middle, someone gave to me as a white elephant gift a couple of years ago, with a gorgeous Fabio t-shirt to go with it. I have got to find that T-shirt.

What a laugh!

The rest of the books I can't explain. Sorry!

Weekend Warrior

I realize life is all about balance.

When I feel out of balance the grumpies take hold.

I know myself well enough to know I need certain things to feel balanced.


I really need this guy. He helps me balance all my pebbles. The thing I need most from him is this amazing smile. He is not allowed to be grumpy. The very first thing I fell in love with is this fantastic smile! Yes, that was in the first five minutes of meeting him twenty something years ago! I am still left speechless when he flashes me this genuine smile!

(I know me speechless it is hard to imagine!)

I need my children to be healthy and happy. Each one of them needs different things for this to happen. Balancing six different personalities and needs sometimes is quite the juggling act. There are days when I feel that our home is a bed and breakfast. A cozy, cottage type of bed and breakfast, with a mint on the pillow, and a maid that picks up

---REALITY!!

this is not a bed and breakfast. I need to make sure as a family we feel a little more connected then just eating and sleeping.


School has started and we find the students and school work spread all over the house. My day starts before dawn and ends way after dark. I have always felt like I struggled to have enough energy to get everything that is important done. You may be asking yourself why I would want to take on a full time job, if I am just shy of crazy.

Simple answer - I felt prompted!

We are already seeing the blessings of working at this particular place at this particular time.

My kids will get a break in college tuition, which will be our number one expense in the next few years.

Plus, I can begin taking a few classes to work towards my degree (which I never finished and have always wanted too!) for free.

This is a huge blessing in our lives!

So, as I join all the other moms out there who are trying to balance a lot of pebbles, I found myself at Wal-mart (my least favorite place) on a Saturday afternoon (the worst time ever).

I have become a weekend warrior!

Ughh!

A weekend warrior is the worst type of athlete. The athlete that is so busy during the week that they only exercise on the weekends, and most of the time they over do it and get very sore, or hurt in the process.

I knew at that moment that I need to really learn to pace, and stack my pebbles. Quickly, very quickly, or else I will find myself in the worst places at the worst times, and miss moments like this.

I might forget to notice things growing and changing like this!

So a weekend warrior I am not.

I will find my balance.

I will find the time for the most important things in life.

I will sit still every once in awhile and enjoy the sweet moments of life.

I will take time to notice the blessings that a loving Heavenly Father is sending my way!

Life in Scrubs!

Could you live your life in Scrubs?

I LOVE them!
They are the best!
So Comfy.
Always in fashion, (in certain jobs)

You've got to love them!


So life as an employed person has its perks.
Hubby loves how organized I've become.

Ta DA!

The School drop bench.

Kiddo's please drop all school gear two steps inside the door!

I've trained them perfectly.

Here is my best friend, patiently waiting for me to come home from work.

Lon Dree is a always there for me.

Thus my best friend, and I am going to embrace her,

(I have no idea why she is feminine,

but she is in my house?!)

and most of all I am grateful that we have clothes,

lots and lots of clothes, apparently!

I survived,

I am alive!

It's Friday!

I love my new job!

Go Courgars!

I am hopeful that it will work out well, really well.
I am excited for the opportunity to learn.
I hopefully can become more organized as the weeks roll on.
But in case I don't,

I love laundry!

and Hubby does the cooking, so I am twice blessed.

Back to the Future!

As the kidlets head off to school tomorrow. I try to remind myself that we send them to school to invest in their future. As their parent, I believe the more I can get them to work at, enjoy, and learn from school, then hopefully their futures will be bright.

And, I do see a bright futures for my favorite people on earth.

He knows more random facts about unique animals, or strange places, then anyone I have ever known. He has a love for life, and a thirst for knowing all about how the planet we live on works. He amazes me with his memory, and I want him to fill it up with good things.

He starts jr. high this year and I am so happy that school peaks this curiosity he has about the world. When he comes home from school, everyday I love for him to tell me all about it, and you know I learn something new every time. Yeah for good teachers!

She lights up my room when she walks in, thank goodness I see her every day, or else my life would be so dark! I need her light, and life seems a little more fun when she is hanging out with you. She made the best snow cones this summer, I think she put extra syrup on mine, she is like that always doing nice things for me.

She also did my laundry for me all summer. When someone does your laundry, as a mom you feel like you are on vacation. Well, back to the laundry for me, and back to school for you sweetie, back to books, boys, wood shop,(?) and health science. Just smile baby, you'll be fine.




Here is my world traveler, my Mona Lisa, which she saw in person this summer, by the way. She has worked full time this summer to pay for her next trip, next summer to England and Ireland she goes.

She keeps me stable, and calm, when she is around I feel grounded, and that life is going as planned. Her senior year holds great promise for her. I hope her future includes many, many more trips, beautiful old buildings, gorgeous photos, original paintings, graceful dancing, and the stars, the stars honey, you know they are within your reach!

Yes, my oldest is still running faster then I can catch up too! I think she started this as soon as she could walk. I tried to hold her down, but I have to say I have never succeeded. She is a junior at college this year, says she wants to be an English teacher, and I am sure she could teach me a thing or two. She is an explorer, always off and discovering things I can't teach her.

I love to watch her, tackling a new challenge, and coming out on top. She always comes out on top! I am so happy for the beautiful adult daughter she is, and I am glad she is my friend, one of my favorite people in the world!

Yes, after the last one leaves the house this is what I do, sit, meditate, dream of waterfalls, and Hawaii! peace, Peace, PEACE! Shanti! Shanti! SHANTI!
Well not this year - in case you missed the big announcement,

I am starting work tomorrow at the BYU Health Center! HIGH HO! HIGH HO! IT'S OFF TO WORK I GO! Someone needs to pay for all this brilliance, ya know!

I know I have been embarrassing my kiddos today. Sorry kids, but I want them to know that we

(hubby is included in thinking our kids are great!) admire, and love, love, love you!

Have a great year!

Life in Steamboat

Reality Check!

Alas, these are the only pic's I have of Steamboat Springs.
Hopefully, by using the word ALAS in the previous sentence

you will note the despair in my voice.

ALAS,
I set my camera down - and it's gone! Gone! GONE!
So, I now know how to download my photo's from my phone.

(not a bad little camera).

I had been sending cute pictures of Mookie to the Hubby all day.

The Gondola ride was fun

-until-

I discovered I couldn't take cool photos.

I lost the most priceless pic's of the mammas synchronized swim team.

You should of seen us!

Working to get ready for the Olympics.

It was priceless!

Now the images are only in our hearts.

Sorry mammas!

I have a bad habit of setting things down.

I remember setting it back in my purse.

My memory is a little faulty, 'cause it's not there.

I want to live in Steamboat!

Every time I go on vacation.

I always do this,

I look around at how cool the place is,

and I want to move on in.

I really, seriously want to live there.

I have a lot of different places I want to live.

I will need to move about every three months,

for the rest of my life,

to live everywhere I want.

The same, up and move urge hits me,

when I see a fun place in a movie,

or read about it in a book. There are so many fun places in this world,

and I want to live in all of them.

I figure three months is enough time to get to know a place, right?

I am in mourning.

I want my

(it's really Rog's,

I gave it to him for his b-day a couple of years ago)

snappy little camera back, or at least my photo's!

I'm trying not to say someone stole it.

I did set it down to buy tickets.

It is not really worth stealing,

it's not an expensive camera,

but it takes fun little photos for me!

I took the most priceless picture of these two BFF'S.

(Is that too girly of a thing to say?)

You must visit Steamboat if you get a chance, it is wonderful. We ran/biked along the beautiful Yampa river. We took the Gondola up to Gorgeous Christie Peak. We floated the river. To top it all off, we went to a fabulous yoga class at the Yoga RX studio that overlooks the Yampa river.

Good friends, the sun was shinning, the cooks were gourmet, a beautiful place to explore.

Safety for all!

So, why am I complaining about this one little glitch of loosing something.

A something that I can replace.

Breathe!

I am letting it go!

Oh, and the kids had fun too!

Where oh where has Summer gone?

Yes, it is that time of year.

The time of year where you are caught waiting.

Waiting for the long summer days to go away!

Yes, I said it, and you all know you feel the same way.
It is the time of year where you are tired of looking for your kids in the morning,

and finding them sleeping once again in front of the TV.

The honesty has got me going here,

and I am going to admit that about this time of year

I am the first one in bed at night,

and who knows when my children go to bed.

Yes, I am usually the first one up in the mornings too,

by about four hours.

So, I just hang on,

and let the public school system reign my children in

because I clearly have lost control.

In honor of this last week before school starts

I am taking the kiddos on a quick trip.

We are going to enjoy these last moments of freedom.

Too bad none of my princesses' can get off work.

Once again

Mookie and I,

will venture off to have all the fun by ourselves.

BOO/HOO!!

I will take lots of pictures,

and princesses you will feel like you did not miss a thing!

You better believe I am so sad.

Why did you have to hurry and grow up so fast?

What happened to those sweet summer vacations we enjoyed all together?

Why did you want to take a summer jobs, instead of play with me?

I am certainly not the one that forced to you to be responsible.

I mean, I let you stay up way past your bedtimes.

(Question, what is a bedtime?).

I even let you sleep past.....

(shhh, but don't tell grandma it was past 10am).

I tried my hardest not to teach you

to be all organized and responsible.

So feel free to come and play with me!

OPPS!

I guess Blogspot is having a hard time downloading my pics today.

This must be why Blogger and I get along so well,

it doesn't feel like being responsible quite yet either.

We can both put it off for another week!

Enjoy the week!

I am going to be lazy one more time,

check in next weekend,

and hopefully

a new and rejuvenated moosemamma will be back.

Droplets of Water!

Since my mind has been on droplets this week,

and droplets lead to water,

water leads to drinking water from bottles,

which my friend happened to show me the little blurp

on the side of her water bottle.

Go ahead, read it, and have a laugh.

Be glad you are reading it here,

because on the water bottle the type was minuscule.

I know what that says about us taking the time to read it,

but please believe my two excuses

(1) I compulsively read everything(cereal boxes, billboards, and now water bottles)

and,

(2) we like to laugh!

- Joleen and I, yes we do!

The water with all the answers:
Is it just us or do clouds get a bad rap? While we admit they're not as great to have around on a beach day, as say, the sun, clouds are unsung hero's because they contain nature's purest source of water. Meanwhile, spring water comes from the ground and contains random stuff and whatever else the animals that swim in it leave behind. That's why we copied our white puffy friends by creating smartwater. It's vapor distilled so its in its purest original state. It's a difference you can taste...unless of course, you have no taste buds (then you're on your own)but, we don't stop there. We one-up the clouds by adding electrolytes just in case you do decide to hit the beach, unfortunately, we can't fix the whole men in thongs thing.

YUMMMMM!

I'm just going to laugh, just laugh, and laugh,

and laugh!

-what were they thinking????

Laughter brings its own special kind of hope!

Daily Droplet of Hope

Dictionary.com's definition of hope:

to believe, desire, or trust:

a particular instance of this feeling

Romans 15:13

Now the God of hope fill you

with all the joy and peace in believing,

that ye may abound in hope,

through power of the Holy Ghost.

The beauty of this earth keeps me full of hope daily.

I am going outside today and breathing in Hope!

It is a great feeling!

(Photo byRog)

Spuds & Taters, Taters & Spuds

DROPLETS OF HOPE

Coming out of sleep early this morning

I had an image in my mind that I would like to share.


I saw myself looking in a mirror,

and words were reflecting back on me.
I do not know what the words said,

but I felt hopeful.

I looked over and saw my husband still enjoying sleep.

He looked beautiful.

Is that okay to say that about my man?

He is always beautiful,

but sleep takes the worry and stress

of everyday life away from his face.

I looked up, and saw the first rays of sunlight

peek in our windows that face east.

I love my bedroom windows.

Isn't morning sun a nice way to wake up?

I have thought about the image

and the feeling it left me with for the day.

I have decided to title it,

"DROPLETS OF HOPE"




I'm so glad I was paying attention.

Normally, I would of brushed the image and feeling aside,

and gone jogging.

Instead I stayed put and enjoyed the feeling for awhile.

I believe Heavenly Father gives us, Droplets of Hope, everyday.

Do you see them in your life?

I'm going to pay more attention.

Droplets of Hope fill me up,

they nourish my soul!

FYI: All pictures courtesy of

stock.xchng photos
http://www.sxc.hu/index.phtml
I am hoping for a lot better camera equipment
so I too can take gorgeous photos like these.

AWE!

My beautiful friend Chris gave me this brilliant Hibiscus plant for my birthday.

Did you know that the flower on this gorgeous little plant only blossoms for one day,

that is it - one day.

What a blossom to have for one day though, aren't these the most beautiful, graceful flowers you have ever seen.

Such a unique color too, orange, brilliant orange.

I have been on orange junky this summer, I have bought a couple of orange shirts, my purse for the summer is orange, my sweat jacket.

In my chakra training this all means something. Orange is the color of the 6th chakra, which sits exactly where my ovarian cyst was. This in turn is the area for creativity. Just very interesting.

By the way, Howard Decyst was gone when I went back to my doctor. He said my left ovary is completely encased in scar tissue which is part of the problem. I'll keep taking my women's formula of herbs.
Plus, now I know being a little creative makes my life sweeter, kind of like these beautiful orange blossoms.


If I could only blossom for one day - I hope I would be this beautiful. I hope I would put a smile on someones face. I hope someone would pause long enough to notice and stand in awe for a moment.

I am taking the time to notice these blossoms.

I have so many things to be in awe about, as I contemplate for a moment all the beauty in my life.
That is all I can handle the feeling for... just a moment, then I am overwhelmed.

I cannot take it all in, or grasp the meaning. So I just look....

at these brilliant, creative blossoms!