Clay Balls

A man was exploring caves by the Seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with
a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but
they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into
the ocean as far as he could.

He thought little about it, until he dropped one
of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock . Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!

Excited, the man started breaking open the
remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found
thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left.

Then it struck him. He had been on the
beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in
treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!

It's like that with people. We look at someone,
maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look
like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.

We see that person as less important than
someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.

There is a treasure in each and every one of us.

If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the
brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in
friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May we see the people in our world as God sees them.

Author Unknown

Happy Birthday

So today was Nukers big day.; Nine years ago in the very wee hours of the morning 1203 am she joined our family. What a wonderful day.
So I am taking a page from Kriste's blog
Nine Wonderful thing about her
1-Smile** Need I say more
2-She has an amazing testimony
3-She loves to learn
4-She loves to read
5-Sunshine doesn't hold a candle to the joy she brings to other
6-Pink and Purple. She is such a girly girl
7-She loves her family
8-She is a great swimmer
9-She has a smooshy nose no cartilage. you can push it flat
I guess what I am saying is I love that little girl. I just wish she wouldn't grow quite so fast.

Just let the kids lick the beaters

I have been in the kitchen baking all morning. Trying to get ready for the YW fundraiser tonight and Nukers Birthday tomorrow.
Any way I was making some frosting and thought to myself that it would be OK to lick the beaters. It is just frosting, no eggs involved. As I was standing there enjoying the moment it dawned on me. I never let the kids lick the beaters. Cookies, cakes, what have you. I don't. Of course I don't. I don't want them to get sick for the raw egg in the mix. I don't want them up all night and me with the heart ache of there new best friend the toilet.
My grandma always let me lick the beaters. Or even better the bowl. You know there were eggs in them when I was a kid. So what changed?
Me, I worry what could happen to them.
Life if like licking the beaters. You could stop them from the joy of the cake mix just because they may get a bad egg and a sour stomach or you can let them have the fun.Cake on the face, smile from ear to ear fun.
I guess I learned a life lesson. If you are to worried about the bad eggs you will miss out on the sweet stuff. If you think that the world is full of nothing but hate and anger you will miss out on the wonderful people all around you.
So today and from now I am going to let them lick the beaters. I may even give them the bowl.

Crazy Eights

Here are the rules:
1) Post rules on your blog
2) Answer the six '8' items
3) Tag 8 others

8 favorite TV shows:
1. Amazing Race
2. Charmed
3. Criminal Minds
4. ER
5. Glenn Beck
6. Hanity
7. American Idol
8. Music and the Spoken word

8 Things I did yesterday:
1. Went to Church
2. Went to the temple dedication
3. Sang with the choir
4. Played with the kids
5. Cooked dinner
6. Hugged Hader, Nuker, Bobo, Heybear, and Bradley
7. Read some of my book (The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox)
8. Yelled at the TV when they said snow

8 Things I'm looking forward to:
1. No more snow
2. More spring flowers
3. Warm summer nights
4. Fresh veggies
5. Summer break with the kids
6. Girls camp
7. Easter
8. General conference

8 favorite restaurants:
1. P F Chang
2. Cafe Rio
3. The roof
4. Chile's
5. Olive Garden
6. The Garden
7. Baja Fresh
8. Apple Bee's

8 Things on my wish list:
1. That Brad could be done with school
2. Happy healthy Kids
3. Slim legs on the cheese burger diet
4. Year's supply of food
5. Flowers year round
6. Sunshine rater then snow right now
7. A greater understanding of the teenage mind
8. More time in the day

8 people I tag:
Just do it, You know you want to. You don't really need me to put you name down do you? Just write a few thing you like, want, love.

fun to be had...

So I can not keep putting off telling you about our trip just because I can not post the pics. That's on me. So I will just let you know how much fun it was.
We told the kids we were running some errands and ended up at the airport. The didn't think anything of it. Mom works for an airline. So they didn't think anything. We let them know I had to run some passes inside and told them they could come in. You should have seem their faces when I asked them if they would help carry some bags. It took a second and then clicked. Then we said we were all flying to CA and they all went crazy. If you were one of the people waiting for the bus to take us to the airport you would have thought that we were all bonkers. The kids would just start jumping up and down for no reason and laugh.
Any way, that was maybe the best surprise I have ever given. The ride to and from was great of course. The plane was wonderful. If you have never flown on jetblue you may need to try it.
The hotels were wonderful. We had planned on going out Fri morning but went Thur night so we ended up hotel hopping just a little. SO much fun. It is always nicer to get to jump on the beds at two hotel verses one.
The aquarium was beautiful and full of fun thing to see and touch.
I think the highlight of the trip was going up to see family Fri night. Spending time with Ryan and Jen and the kids was the best part for me.
We took our time this trip. We had very fluid plans so we were in no hurry to get anywhere. That is what I would suggest for any trip.
Needless to say it was wonderful. I love being able to spend time like that with my family.

Shh don't tell

Today is the day. We are taking the kids to California for a surprise trip. Only Haybear knows we are going. Everyone else will just have a great surprise when we go to run errands and end up at the airport. I will make sure to take lots of pics and let you all know about all the fun we have :)

Happy Anniversary 15 wonderful years

I can't believe it has been 15 years. The time has gone so fast. On the other had It also feels like we have been together all our lives. Maybe because the very best part of my life has been spent with my wonderful eternal best friend.
So I thought I would tell you 15 thing I love about my honey!
1-He make hot breakfast's that are truly the best.
2-He plays with the kids all the time, They know he loves them SO much.
3-He gave me the four best kids ever.
4-He always wants to learn something new. He makes learning a priority in our home.
5-His hand fits mine just right. Not to big, not to small. Just right!
6-He rubs me feet just to make me feel better.
7-He serves his Heavenly Father faithfully.
8-He stick up for me when the kids don't like what I have to say. He is the best team mate.
9-He runs triathlons with the kids. Just to show them they can do it.
10-He kisses me good buy every day.
11-He calls me when he is out of town just to say goodnight.
12-He holds my heart with gentle hands.
13-He always brings home a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie for me when he goes to subway.
14-He always kisses me goodnight.
15-He loves me with his whole heart, faults and all.

So besides those few thing there are so many more things he does that make me more grateful every day to have him. He does not just hold my heart. He is my heart. I love him more and more everyday, And thank my Heavenly Father every day that he sent him to me.
It just keeps getting better.