Happiness

I went hiking by the Wind Caves- a 15 minute drive from my house- all by myself the other day while Declan was in Preschool and the weather was a touch cooler and crisp. The beauty of the clouds against the blue sky and backed behind the desert landscape had me in awe. It cost $7 to get in and it was the highlight of my month! Besides birthdays, of course.

Happy Birthday! You turned 40 a couple of weeks ago! We didn't make too much of a fuss. We went out to breakfast at one of our favorite places to eat and Declan took our picture! We had chocolate lava cake which I tasted later and it was divine! You got a book (your favorite) and some chocolate goodies even though you haven't been having a lot of sweets lately. We love you, Babe! You are an amazingly hard worker, a great friend, a good Dad and a wonderful love of my life! Love, Megan

  When Elizabeth and Ethan and Jonah and Asher are 20 and 18, 18 and 16, you will be 8- playing ball at the Park, teasing and laughing with friends, getting baptized. Maybe Ethan or Jonah will baptize you. Or maybe Asher. You'll get to decide. You turned 5 a week ago. Happy Birthday! You were SO excited to be 5! We made a paper chain and started counting down the days. You told everyone you met how many days you had left until your BIG day! 5! We had eggs on toast, per your request, and opened up birthday cards. You loved getting your own money and right away wanted to buy a hammock and a snorkel (where did that come from). The Saturday before you had your friend birthday party and people came to celebrate you! We had pink rainbow cupcakes you picked out and water games in the back. It was so fun! Maurice, Tyson, Jayden, Kimball, Emily and Kalea came. You loved opening each and every one of your presents and especially loved your new scooter! (New to you). ...

Dear Teenagers (all 4 of you),       I didn’t know my life would be so great with you guys around. You laugh, you joke, you wrestle. You watch the Great British Baking show together and vote for your favorite. You watch Studio C every Monday night and laugh at the corny sketches. You play video games together and cheer each other on- when you win and shout whether you lose or win.. You cheer on person with the newest braces and check them out. You (Elizabeth) fall in love with a boy and write his initials all over the hand out for Family Home Evening. I love being a Mom of Teenagers. It’s hard and you don’t like getting your picture taken very often because you aren’t sure of how you look. You can squabble and tussle. You wake up at 4 am to go to the Temple. You make sure everyone is treating me right and for the most part, you gobble up dinner and asks for thirds. And that’s the best part of it all. Thank you, guys, for making my life amazing. Love, Mom

This weekend we sat around and didn’t do too much. Okay, Josh mowed the law - rolling the trampoline so he could cut the grass under it. I went to two yoga sessions- one- yoga in the park and two- a private session of Thai Yoga (I trade piano lessons for yoga sessions with a Mom and it works out really well). I was sore the next day but slept really well. The kids were gone all week at school so they were thrilled to just hang out on the chrome books or watch The Great British Baking Show. That evening Josh and I got free tickets from the Mesa Library (cultural city passes- they have a lot of different ones) and we went on a date to the Scottsdale Museum of Modern Art. The exhibits were all videos including a man wearing a dress playing basketball and giant wall flowers. I am not that into modern art but I was really glad we went. It was so nice to go out with Josh after a long work week.

This is Declan, becoming Batman. This is me, becoming a Writer. Step 1 : Discover that you are a Writer This all started when I picked up Martha Beck's book Finding Your North Star. I'm almost done with it so it makes sense that I would find out what I was always meant to do. I have been a Piano Teacher, a 3rd Grade Teacher, a Substitute Teacher, an Essential Oils Educator and now I have discovered that my true JOY in life is writing. If that is the case, money, friends, events and life will all come because they follow JOY. This is what I was meant to do in life. If your deep JOY meets the world's deep NEED, then that is your passion. Step 2 : Write. Open your laptop, tablet, desktop or even your phone and write. Put down what it is you have in your heart. Lay it out there and see what happens. Step 3 : Share your writing. See how it effects people. See what happens. Good luck! You're Welcome!

Happy Birthday, Grandma! I didn't get to go to the Surprise party, but it went well!