Nikki's Blessing

There sure were a lot of people at Nikki's blessing...and a LOT of pictures taken. These are just a few of ours...

ECHO!!

From Rides 1-2-2010

(click on the picture to watch the video...)
I took Courtney Morris (one of my piano students and a friend of Dallin's), Dallin and Kyle Kirkeby on a trail ride on top of Snow Canyon for Courtney's 17th birthday. We hiked a bit at the top. At one point (no pun intended), Dallin went out on the far rock and started shouting "HELLO!" to hear the echo. If you listen closely you can hear it on the video!

FACING YOUR GIANTS. . .

So, I'm reading a book about facing our "giants," whatever those may be. The author uses quite a bit of comparison with David as he faced off with Goliath. I love all the correlations he makes between the two. Here are a couple of my favorite paragraphs:

"One might read David's story and wonder what God saw in him. The fellow fell as often as he stood, stumbled as often as he conquered. He stared down Goliath, yet ogled at Bathsheba; defied God-mockers in the valley, yet joined them in the wilderness. An Eagle Scout one day. Chumming with the Mafia the next. He could lead armies but couldn't manage a family. Raging David. Weeping David. Bloodthirsty. God-hungry. Eight wives. One God."

"David's life has little to offer the unstained saint. Straight-A souls find David's story disappointing. The rest of us find it reassuring. We ride the same roller coaster. We alternate between swan dives and belly flops, souffles and burnt toast."


We all, hopefully, are working at improving. Being a little better today than we were yesterday. If we mess up on something, we need to dust ourselves off, climb the ladder, and try again!

Love you!!

Mom

Can ONE MINUTE Change Your Life?

Okay, here's a challenge for you! Can you think of ANYTHING you can do for just one minute, that can change your life?

I have to admit I had to be told, too!

Here it is:

Spend just one minute every day, right before you pray, and think about what you want to talk to our Heavenly Father about. Try writing down a few thoughts. Just for one minute think about your blessings, what you may need, and seek to obtain the presence of the Spirit, then pray.

Try it! Just ONE MINUTE. See how this affects your life for the next week. I'll be interested to hear what you experience!

Love you all!!

Mom

SO many things. . .

There are SO many things I want to tell you, so many things I'm learning and want to share with you. Instead of worrying about the right time and the right way, maybe I need to just write things down!

So, here goes! Baby steps...talked about and, hopefully, remembering to implement. Case in Point: Last week I started making a list of all the huge projects of cleaning/organizing that I need/want to do. I had ten things written down in a matter of minutes, and then I was out of space on my paper. For a second I felt overwhelmed...until I looked at the list and picked ONE thing to focus on this week...yes, you heard me right...this WEEK. That way I wouldn't burn out trying to do a ton of stuff.

I chose "PANTRY" since I had recently purchased new contact paper in the hopes I'd get around to cleaning it out. The goal I set was to only do ONE SHELF per day.

The method to the madness is, if I ONLY do one shelf a day, I feel:

1. Successful;

2. Underwhelmed;

3. Able to be consistent and focused;

4. Like repeating my productive behavior!

And that's what I've done. I have the top shelf to finish because it got set aside due to another family needing my help more than the pantry. But I'm doing the shelf this morning! It's pretty cool!

So, I hope you take baby steps in your lives! Don't try to do everything, especially not all at once! Do ONE SMALL THING today. Maybe it will simply be saying your prayers. Maybe it will be completing your homework assignment for chemistry (or any other class that may be challenging!) You get to decide what ONE THING you want to do today, or each day this week.

Let me know how it goes!

Love,
Mom

WOMEN!!

This afternoon I discovered I needed to "reorganize" my new piano studio, AGAIN! I should have had the pianos on the east wall rather than the west, which gives me 3' more room, and my students aren't hitting their backs on the corner of my desk. The only problem was I wasn't POSITIVE it would work, AND it would be a LOT of work to move. Dallin was NOT impressed when I first asked him, and Dad was a clone of his son! They had both done a ton of work to get the pianos and desk all set up the first time, and now I had the nerve to suggest they would be better flip-flopped! AND the Football National Championship game was on.

Luckily, I've learned to be patient...sort of...I waited until the 4th quarter before I realized "Hey!! Dallin's got two of his buddies here! The three of them could move this all around rather 'easily' and Dad wouldn't have to do a thing!!" I was amazed when the three boys rather willingly came in and made the changes. I simply told them where I wanted things, then got out of their way!

I LOVE my new piano studio/office! Thanks, boys!!