Happiness

I read in a blog (71toes.com) something about how to get along with your teenagers that I really liked.  The author spoke about “returning the volley” to our kids. When they are babies we are interested in what they are interested in. We say “that’s a cow” and “it says Moo” and the child says “Moo”. We say “yay!! Right!!” She suggests we do the same with our teenagers. Yesterday Asher commented- “the food I’ve been eating is so bland, I just want to cook something nice!” “Ok” I said “go for it.” He decided on crepes (one of his favorites), checked to see if we had some ingredients and then we had a discussion on how to separate the egg yolks and how they felt so weird when they did. All this from my 14- almost 15- year old. It was amazing to watch. I love my teenagers! They make me so happy- especially when they get along with each other. They aren’t perfect, but hey, no one is, right?!

When our son Declan was 4 he taught himself how to read. We should have seen that as a sign that he’s pretty bright. We- or at least I- didn’t at least. Sure we read to him every night but we did that with all our other kids and that hadn’t changed things.  And so fast forward almost two years later when he was given the gifted test. He scored very well on it and after a year of being bored in traditional  schooling (Covid didn’t help), we are on the hunt for a better and more challenging option. And being in Arizona we have the option of paid for charter schools. There are schools that offer an hour of homework for 7 year olds (what?) and schools that do separate groups for gifted students or mainstream or varied curriculum.  I feel kinda over my head with all of this but I hope that Josh and I will be able to sort all this out together.  And we will.

  Sorry I’ve been gone missing around here! A lot of important decisions were being made- like whether we should have any more kids and what kind of night time snack we should eat.  But I digress. 20 years ago Josh proposed a life of possibilities and adventure- one full of joy and hope and exciting times (spoiler alert- I said yes!) We knew that would be sadness and pain mixed in with this particular hope and joy and we were willing to risk it.  Just like in our pre-mortal existence. We knew before coming to this earth that there would be pain and sorrow along with happiness and peace and we were thrilled for the chance to experience it all. Not just happy to experience the good but thrilled to experience the bad too because it would bring us happiness and joy in the end. And that’s what this thing called life and marriage is all about. Happy 20th anniversary, Babe, of working all this out. I love you!

Rosie and I took a walk with the group Heaven’s Hummingbird’s-  a local support group for Moms who have lost a baby in miscarriage or still birth. The Mom I talked with had a stillbirth at 37 weeks! And a sweet 3 month old. After almost two years, Jonah got his braces off! It looks great! Now he has to wear clear retainers for six months and then nightly after that! Pretty wild! I just finished this book by Brooke Romney and every chapter seemed to hit a chord in my life! Perfect for a pep talk or advice on how to follow the Spirit! The kids are back in school full time and my house is a lot cleaner now! And the pantry is a bit fuller. Hooray for that! Also, Josh got the vaccine at ASU so we’re pretty happy about that as well! Life is great!   

The kids are back to school for the Winter Semester for half the time! Yay! I'm glad that get to go in person, to learn personally from teachers, to see their friends and to keep in contact with the outside world a little more. Oh, also to play their instruments in band- that is crucial! Elizabeth is a Senior this year and she is handling all of this commotion up in the air really, really well! I'm so happy for her. She manages her anxiety well and gets all of her homework done! She's going to ASU in the Fall and we are all very excited for her! I think she's a bit nervous.  Ethan is busy working 4 days a week at QT lately. He is excited to be saving up money for his mission! Jonah is taking 3 AP classes and so is also quite busy. He's also taking Robotics this year which he really enjoys. He wants to major in something Math oriented in College. They both don't know where they want to end up for College! Asher is an awesome student and rocks it in all of his Hon...

I wanted to share with you one of my favorite things: Young Living Essential Oils! I started using Young Living in December of 2014. I remember it clearly as I had been having headaches for quite awhile and ordered an oil called MGrain, (which has Peppermint, Basil and other oils) along with a starter kit for those headaches. I began putting it on every day- on my Temples and the back of my neck- and within a month, my headaches were a lot, lot better. It was amazing!  And thus began my adventure with Young Living.   Since then I've kept up a regular use of these oils. I love these oils. It's not just the fact that they are essential oils- parts of the plant that have been distilled. I've tried other oils- DoTerra brand, general brands at Walgreens and Target, Garden of Eden.They are not the same. Young Living uses essential oils for their pesticides while the other brands use artificial chemicals to keep the pests off. So, a small part of those pesticides go into the oils....

  As you may know, I have Bipolar Depression. After having Rosie I started back on my medicine but it didn’t help as much as it used to. I was depressed most of the time. I went to my Primary Care Dr and he told me to get a walking group together and go to counseling to help with Postpartum Depression. That helped! Finally, two weeks ago, I switched to a new Dr and he prescribed me a different medicine. I felt really good but it has caused me to wake up from 1-5 an or 3-6 for the last 10 days! I have had all the feels. Tired Sad that I couldn’t sleep Hungry Teary Testy  Hormonal  Irritated easily after a week of less sleep I finally decided that I would rather be up at night than be depressed that I was at.  And so, I’ve been up for most of the night tonight. Reading a bit, snacking, but mostly I’m so sleepy (especially with cumulative lack of sleep) that all I can do is scroll on my phone now.  I called my Dr and he prescribed a medicine to help me sleep. It di...