Day 365 FIND THE JOY

Finding the joy has been what this blog has been all about.  I hope that any person who happened upon this blog either by chance, or by me sharing it, that you found that my happy moments reminded you of similar happy moments in your own life, and that a smile crossed your face.

Today I had a cold.  Appropriate for my 365th day of blogging.  It wouldn't be a happy CHALLENGE without some moments of yuckiness thrown in!  I went about my day and I made it to the end of today!  Happy!

We started off this morning by going out to Chick-fil-A for an early lunch and play time.  I swear my children knew that I was feeling under the weather, so they made it extra fun by being especially difficult today.  I am so glad we got to go and they were able to play in the play area of Chick-fil-A for the better part of an hour!  I have had so many happy moments at that place and I am thankful for my phone which lets me read emails, keep updated on people's Facebook profiles, and talk to people.  I got to watch the boys play and quietly pin...very nice!

After lunch, we had some extra time before the boys went to their dental appointment, so we stopped over at my dad's work and the boys got to play with Nancy for a while.  Connor also requested to go pee pee in the potty!  He did that a total of 4 times today and I am SO thankful he is asking to do that now...pooping in the toilet can't be far behind now...or it will take a year, either way I will take the happy moments and the "mommy's SO happy!" from my little Boo Boo.  He even asked for a hug after one of the times he went....those are the mommy moments I will treasure forever!

So off to the dentist we went.  The boys both don't have any cavities and their mouths are looking good!  Here are some pictures I took of them sitting in their chairs.  They brought a smile to my face.  I remember not long ago, getting teeth cleaned for Joel was a very scary thing.  That is why we go to the dentist we do because he is so gentle and kind.  Joel smiles for him now and loves getting his teeth cleaned.






                                                                       

After we got the teeth cleaned, it was off to get Joel's haircut, get an Icee, and order Connor's birthday cake!  When we got to the grocery store, I was so tired and feeling yucky.  So I got the wheelchair cart and held hands with the boys.  They were so helpful and they even unloaded the cart for me!  I am so grateful to have boys who see that their mommy can't always go 100 miles per hour and that they help me.  I know they are being taught to be kind and caring to others and to help them when they see they need it.  Hopefully teaching Joel and Connor over and over and over again to be KIND when they are young will pay off someday when they grow older.  Oh how I can't wait to have one of those "YES!" moments!  Ok I can wait a little while because I am loving my little boys for now!

We came home from the store and David got home early and I slept the rest of the day.  That is it!  I helped put the boys to bed and now here I am.  So there were some happy moments to blog after all today!

With this being my last entry, I want to share some of the happy moments that maybe didn't make it in, but these are things on a weekly, if not daily, basis that bring a smile to my face and make me grateful for the little moments.

• When people wave their thanks after slowing down to let them over in front of you...getting a thank you is rare these days and it is nice to get one!
• Hearing my favorite song come on the radio or Pandora...my whole body gets a warm feeling and I am swept away to the music!
• Hearing "I Love You" said by my loved ones or friends...three little words are so precious
• Having those moments where I laugh so hard that I have tears in my eyes.  It is a great feeling to let loose and laugh with joy!
• The quiet time that comes just after putting the kids to bed.  I am able to refocus, read my scriptures in peace, and then finish out my day being able to THINK once more :-)

A year's worth of posts about someone should tell you a lot about that person.  I can't think of much more to write.  There is a year's worth of writing already done!  I wish for anyone to read this to try to FIND THE JOY in their lives.  I hope that if people read this, they get a picture of someone who went through some very difficult times, but managed to have a smile through it.  I hope people know it wasn't a fake smile.  There is nothing fake about the joys that I have had because there is absolutely NOTHING fake about the emotional and physical struggles that I have had.  There are two paths that are placed in front of each and every person in this life when they are about to go through very difficult times.  I have chosen the path of peace and happiness instead of the path of anger and bitterness.  I hope that this blog can help someone make their own choice for their own path a little easier.  Thank you for reading and being with me for this year.  I am so grateful for this blog and the Happy Challenge and I can say for certain that I won the challenge!                                                                               

Day 364

HOLY COW!!!!  This is my second to last blog!  I am feeling the emotion of being done now.  Tomorrow is going to be hard!  This was something I have looked forward to doing every day for a year.  It doesn't mean I will stop doing it on paper, but this blog WILL be done tomorrow.  No doing day 366 or something silly like that.  I committed to a year and I am sticking to it, no more, no less.

Today was a long day with lots of activities, because Summer time needs to be busy or we get bored, then whiny, then no happy moments lol.

So we started off our morning going to the vet for miss Ginger.  She has gained 5 pounds in 3 weeks!  That's our girl!  She is getting bigger everyday and it makes me sad that the puppy stage doesn't last very long.  We still have so much to teach her and lots of love at this stage to give and pictures to take!  It really does go by fast!

After the vet, I took the boys to our local water park.  They had THE best time splashing, playing with friends, swimming, and smiling!  They have both come such a long way in their swimming skills this summer and Connor was going UNDER the water crawling to a pool toy over and over!  It freaked me out at times, but then he would pop his head up out of the water and smile a great big smile...melted my heart!  While there, we played with my moms group friends and there were some people from church too.  It is so nice to get to know people from church a bit more this summer!  I am so thankful to be able to go up to people and know who they are and talk with them about life a little bit.  Connor was getting tired after playing for an hour and a half so it was time to head home for naps.

When we got home, Connor went down for a nap and Joel went out to water the plants.  He has become the best helper and more responsible this summer and I am so thankful for that!  I can't believe in just a couple of weeks, he is going to be in first grade!  He has grown so much and continues to amaze me with how smart he is!

Off to work I went today....I only worked for 30 minutes so I got to get home and spend some time with Ginger and David and the boys before I went to my MOPS mom's night out.  The moms met up at a place nearby which was really nice because there was a quick drive there and a quick drive home!  It was nice to see familiar faces and meet some new moms who are coming into MOPS this year.  I can't wait until October and MOPS begins!  I am so excited about being a table leader this year and leading the women in prayer and being there for the other moms.  I hope to meet some more moms with boys my kid's age as well!  Joel and Connor have so much fun playing with other boys (there are SO many girls in our neighborhood and they like playing with them, but boys just play differently!)

It was a great night out and I am so happy to come home and blog!  Someone asked me tonight if the happy moments are going to stop because the happy moment blog will be over...for sure...NO!  I am so grateful to have learned this past year how to stop and TRULY soak in the happy moments.  I savor each one and save some of them for not so happy moment times that come.  There have been days on this blog when the whole day was nothing but stress and exhaustion, but there were little slivers of moments that I thought, "ah hah! I will save this to post later on!"  So good night dear readers.  Until tomorrow and the end of a years journey and challenge!

Day 363

Wow, three more posts.  I am really amazed right now.  I feel like I accomplished something really big.  And I did, but I am still amazed that I have blogged for a whole year, that the year is almost up, and that my journey to the end of the blog is almost done as well!

I woke up this morning and headed to the gym.  My arm is getting stronger and stronger every day.  I am determined to lose the weight and get back in shape.  Being in bed for the last year has made many of my body parts jiggly and bigger than they were a year ago, but now is the time for me to do something about it.  I feel like my arm is almost healed and that there are not too many unexpected surgeries in my future...hopefully none, but you know, they didn't take my appendix out last year when I asked them to so never say never lol.

I worked really hard at the gym and Connor and Joel had a great time playing in the kid's gym.  Joel was so cute.  He told me he had a play date at the gym with his "gym friend."  When I asked what his name is Joel said to me, "Mom, I don't KNOW what his name is!  You have to play with a person more than 3 times to learn their name."  Oh how true that is lol.  Sometimes I can know someone for months and still forget their name!

After the gym, we came home and cleaned up and then we went to my dad's work.  The boys had so much fun playing with their nanny from last year.  We ordered lunch and ate, then the boys watched a movie and I did paperwork with my mom and her friend, Alice.  It was a great time and I am so thankful that we have an air conditioned place for the boys to play!  They love visiting their Grand-dad so much!  Couldn't POSSIBLY be because he gives them cookies all the time!

We came home late this afternoon and Connor and I took a nap.  I feel so bad for all of the times when I was little that I didn't want to take a nap.  I take it back!  I want all of the naps I missed as a kid!  Nap time was great and it gave me a chance to get my energy back.  We had a nice dinner together as a family and then we met up with our neighbors.  Joel and his friend and the two dads did soccer practice with the boys while Connor played with all of us and Ginger played with our neighbor's dog, Oliver, and I talked with the mom neighbor!  We were out there for over an hour and it was such a great time!  I am so thankful we have neighbors nearby to hang out with and that Joel can practice his soccer skills in between soccer practice and games.  Very soon I will be a soccer mom!  I am still not sure how I feel about that, but I am all in nonetheless because it is what Joel wants to do this year and I want to show him I am behind him 100 percent in all that he does in life!

Well, it is my last Tuesday of blogging.  Very soon, I will be able to go and work at the Family History Library on Tuesday nights once more.  It has been so long and I miss it so much, but I got an email saying my spot on Tuesdays is waiting for me!  I am so thankful to have the chance to do some serious genealogy research again soon!  Today was a great day all around.  My two little ones went potty a lot where they were SUPPOSED to go today.  What a feeling of relief that was LOL!  Have a great night and just two more blogs to go!

Day 362

Three days to go!  Tonight I am going to blog, probably for the last time, in bullet form....

• woke up this morning with a Connor snuggle bug.  He watched Yo Gabba Gabba while I tried to sleep with a pillow over my head.  I used to do that with Joel when he would wake up early.  It was nice to do that with him today!

• I met my mom and her friend for lunch and got to take Joel home with me after he spent the night at my mom's house.  He had fun and I think he was glad to be back with Connor.  When we got home, the two of them played upstairs for a while and I rested on the couch
•  Work today was good and challenging.  There is a fine line between a melt down for an autistic child and them just not wanting to do something.  I skirted that line today while I made one of my clients work and thankfully, he did try to work hard...whew!
• I pinned like crazy today!  There are so many recipes on Pinterest!  I think I will probably have one of the world's largest cook books online by the time I am done finding all of the recipes I want to try!
• After dinner tonight, we did a nice family home evening and Joel was eager to participate.  Then David took the boys swimming at our local pool and I went to the gym with my friend Jennifer.  We swam and swam and got a good workout in!  Then we drove home and talked and talked....such a nice time with one of the world's nicest and kindest girl!
• When I got in the house, Joel had taken a spill so he was on his bed with ice on his chest.  Those little tears made me so sad, but it was so nice to scoop him up into my arms and sing to him and give him kisses.  He went right to sleep after that and I am so grateful to have had that healing mommy moment with him!

Well, it is getting pretty late and I am so sleepy!  Time to head to bed and begin again tomorrow.  I am so thankful for all of the happy moment Mondays I have had.  I can't wait to look back and see what different themes of Family Home Evenings we did over the course of about 52 Mondays posted.  Good night and catch day 363 tomorrow!

Day 361

Well, today is my last Sunday for blogging.  It is interesting as each DAY is done with blogging, I can go back in my mind and think about what happy moments are the usual for that day.  By now most people know going to church and Sunday naps are the top two happy moments of these days!

I am so thankful I belong to my church.  Today, as we sat and listened to a young man who prepared for the past years of his life to go on a mission, and then got called to El Salvadore and Belize, I was so thankful to get to hear his talk.  As he thanked his mom for all of the love and support she gave him, as he told his siblings how much he loves them, and as he shared his joy and love for the gospel of Jesus Christ, I thought about Joel and Connor and all of the many years I need to prepare them for that moment!  When that day comes for each of them, I pray I get the moment where my sons look down into the congregation and are grateful for the spiritual preparation and great love I taught them for our Savior each and every day.  I hope they take with them the spirit of joy that our family has to whatever culture they get sent to on their mission.  So many tears in the audience today from us women all thinking the same thing...that mom did it RIGHT and we all hope to be able to get there ourselves!


Church went by quickly today.  During the third hour with the younger primary learning songs and a lesson, Joel sat on my lap most of the time.  It is fun to be able to teach the 5 year olds and have Joel's class right behind me.  I am thankful that I can watch both Joel AND Connor next year in primary...it will be fun and hopefully little Connor will behave!

We came home to Connor and David (both of them not feeling so good today) and relaxed.  I sat with the boys and ate popcorn and watched a movie while David took a nap.  It was a really nice snuggle time with them!  After that, I took Ginger to puppy social at the vet office where she played HARD for an hour with two "double doodles."  Face it folks, if your golden doodle was bred with a labra-doodle...you have a mutt....not some new designer dog lol.  Four different dogs were involved in the process....if you can't tell what your dog is and have to say FOUR different doggie names...yeah...mutt lol!  They were really cute dogs and Ginger had the best time running around.  I got a really cute picture of her "frog dog" pose that she does.  I will post it on here.  Hoping she sleeps well tonight!  So far she is down in the crate crying her little puppy heart out...this too shall pass.

 

We did dinner with my parents tonight because David was feeling hungry and a little better.  I am going to take Connor to the doctor tomorrow...at this point I am thinking ear infection but we will see!  We all had a good dinner and Joel go to go spend the night at my parent's house.  Something he loves doing so much and I am so grateful for his little smile and joyful walk as he headed to their car tonight.

Well, the rest of the evening was pretty much just resting.  I am so tired lately and hoping to perk up soon!  I am grateful for all of the Sundays that I have had the chance to write about.  I hope that in these blogs, anyone reading can see that I dedicate my life to being obedient to God and his teachings.  I am so thankful to have the opportunity each Sunday to attend church, take the sacrament, and renew my promises that I made to God and Jesus.  To always remember them and keep their commandments.  I hope my life each day can be an example for others to follow, or want to follow at least.  I am so very thankful for my loving Father in Heaven.  I know Jesus died for me.  I taught that today to my little children.  That it was difficult for him, that he prayed for another way, but that he accepted his Father's will in the end.  Our Father in Heaven has a plan for us.  We have to have faith in His timing of all things.  That is something I have TRULY learned in the last 361 days.  Have a good night all!

Day 360 FIVE days to go!

Well, the blog is beginning to wind down, but the happy moments from today still need to get posted!

We woke up this morning and David headed to the Cannery to do some canning of food storage with other people from the ward.  Connor and Joel played downstairs and I was on Facebook.  I found this amazing doughnut shop that just opened and someone posted how amazing it is.  So I posted pictures of it and that I would love to go sometime.  Well, before I knew it, a friend had said she would meet me there in 20 minutes and the kids and I were off!  There was also another person from the ward with his kids that had seen my post on Facebook.  It was a great morning with some really interesting doughnuts!  I got a few dozen for the guys at my dad's work and they were all oohing and aaahing over the different kinds.  It was great to see their faces light up as they opened each box to find crazy doughnuts like blueberry madness or Nutella with rainbow sprinkles.  The one I had was a peaches and cream and it was OH so yummy!  The boys were in doughnut heaven as well!

It was a really fun morning and I am so glad we had a fun doughnut adventure!  It was great meeting my friend, Lori, and her kids at the doughnut place as well.  We got to chat for a while which is ALWAYS nice to have girl talk.  However, we now understand why we usually leave the kids at home and do frozen yogurt and movies just the two of us lol.  We didn't get to talk as much as usual.

I got to take a nice couple hour nap today!  It was LOVELY.  I have been so sleepy and exhausted lately.  Pretty sure it has to do with the progression of my RA, but I am so thankful for David watching Joel and playing with him while Connor and I took naps.  When Connor woke up, he came into my room for a long snuggle...oh so nice!

We hired a babysitter and went out tonight!!!  It has been a long time coming, but I am so thankful we got to do something just the two of us.  We went to dinner at a restaurant that was new to us.  It was nice and hopefully we can go again sometime.  Then we went and saw The Dark Knight Rises in an IMAX theater...that was totally worth it!  The floor rumbled during the action scenes and it was an amazing movie to watch on a really big screen!  David and I had such a nice time being together kid free tonight.  It just took us a little while to get to the theater because we were both talking and forgot to get off at the exit on the freeway by about 5 miles.  We laughed so hard!  We never get to talk UN interrupted and we were both enjoying the moment so much we weren't paying attention to the road....we both thought that was pretty funny! 

I am so glad for Saturdays and the joy that can be found with spending time with the family.  From going to theme parks, the beach, the pool, walks, flying kites, or just sitting in PJs all day long snuggling and cleaning, there is so much opportunity for happy moments on the weekend.  I treasure my weekends with the boys.  As they get older, they will want to go out with friends and not be around us as much.  I am so thankful for the time that I DO have to create happy moments with them.  Joel learned how to put laundry away in his drawers today.  His "allowance" is either money or spending a few hours playing video games.  I am so thankful that he did his chores and was eager to get his reward.  Time is slipping through my fingers with them, but I try to make the most of each day that I can.  At times I fail miserably as a mom, but I kneel down and pray each night and ask to do better the next day.  To love MORE the next day and be able to teach my children how to find their own joy.  Today is the last Saturday of my happy moment blog.  I am thankful for each and every Saturday I have to look back and read the weekend happy moments of our lives.  I look forward to all of the Saturdays and happy moments included in them in the years to come!

Day 359

The weekend has arrived!  Lots of happy moments today....

I got up and went to physical therapy early this morning.  My PT worked me hard and I am hoping all of those arm muscles start remembering how they used to be used lol

After PT, I took the boys with me to the gym and my personal trainer worked me even harder.  It is great to be sweating again!  It was such a happy moment when my personal trainer told me that I inspired her!  Last time, she was making me do an exercise and I was almost out of breath and it was getting harder and harder with each step.  She told me, "I know this is really hard but keep going!"  I told her, "don't say hard! It makes it even harder to do....just keep telling me how easy I am making it look!"  So today she told me that while she was leading a work out class, she kept telling the people, "Just keep going this is so easy you can do it!"  Someone came up to her afterwards and told her what an inspirational class it was and that they really did feel like it was easier!  My personal trainer was so happy to tell me that and said to me, "What a fun mom you must be!  You are just so happy and you look at things in such a great way!"  One of my happiest moments in a long time to not just find the joy, but pass it along!  SO WONDERFUL!

There are those moments during life when we don't think we are doing enough, or we feel like we are failing (potty training a dog and a kid...I feel so down sometimes) but then when someone comes your way and tells you that you made a difference in their life, it really perks you up and makes you want to keep going!  So thankful for that moment today!

After the gym, Connor seemed to not be feeling so well, so we came home and did lunch.  After lunch, Connor was pretty sleepy and I was SO tired, so we took naps and Joel got to play his favorite computer game.  After naps, Joel and I cleaned up the house together while Connor rested some more.  Joel has become such a great helper and he is really getting in to doing "chores" now.  He wants me to make him a chore chart...how cool is that?

David came home tonight and I was so tired still, so we ate out.  Right after dinner we put the kids to bed and then watched some Friday night TV and played with Ginger for a few hours.  It was a nice time with Ginger with the adults...she felt like an only child for a while lol.

Well, today was a happy but hot day!  Hopefully Connor will feel better tomorrow and we can do some fun Saturday things!  Have a happy Friday all!