This summer while I was in AZ I saw the movie The Bucket List.
If you havn't seen it is about two older men to who are close to the end of thier time and want to do everything they have wanted to do. So they make a list before they hit the bucket, The Bucket List.
I was inspired! There are so many things that I would love to do, but sometimes lose tract of time and ambition to do them! Our time is ultimately unknown, so let's live life to the fullest and accomplish our dreams!!
What is on your Bucket List? I encourage you to make your own list, and share some ideas here!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Bruised Egos and Crashed Bikes: By Dena
I crashed Matt’s new bike, Yep that’s what I said. It really happened. To start things off, I am ok. I am bruised and sore and very mad at myself but I didn’t break anything except my ego. Here’s the story: Recently I have wanted to learn how to ride. But because we have 3 children having the time to t
each me just hasn’t been easy. Well last weekend all the kids were gone except for Lily. While we were in Gilbert dropping Naomi off we decided to stop at Fire Bird Race Way. While Matt, Lily, and I all watched the bikes going around on the race track I got inspired to learn. I saw 5 chicks racing these bikes. So I say to myself,” If she can do it I can do it”. HA HA HA NO that is not true!! Don’t be so quick to think you can do something just because someone else can. Trust Me!! So when we got home I jokingly told Matt he should teach me to ride, and he said ok. After a wonderful lunch and long naps we got up around 5pm. I decided then was the best time. Let’s go! After teaching me the ropes I was doing really well for about an hour; then I learn how to shift into 2nd gear. Again I am doing pretty well; except I was still learning about the extra things you have
to do with shifting. So off I go for the LAST time around (I told myself) it was about nine and I getting cold. (Oh I should tell you that I am doing this in my neighborhood, a small community of only 59 houses which are mostly empty. It is a gated one way entrance with a circular road, so I didn't have to worry about cars) Ok so my first mistake: I shift in the middle of a big curve. If you haven’t ridden a motorcycle before you need to know that you don't turn the bike, you lean and push down on the side that you want to go. Well it was too much for my brain to comprehend. I tried down shifting to slow down but by this point I realize that I haven’t turned at all and I am heading full speed toward the curb/sidewalk. I decide to try to brake using the foot brake and hand break, but I just end up giving it more gas. I jumped the curb, flew off the bike, and landed in the street. Matt and Lily were running to me even before I went down because he could tell that I was going down by the sound of the bike. Well the rest is just Matt pampering me. But the bike? Well it is pretty messed up. So the moral of the story (besides when you get hurt really bad you get pampered!) Is stop while you’re ahead. Don’t let inspiration gage your bravery. It could just end up hurting your ego, and causing a fortune to fix!
Dena
each me just hasn’t been easy. Well last weekend all the kids were gone except for Lily. While we were in Gilbert dropping Naomi off we decided to stop at Fire Bird Race Way. While Matt, Lily, and I all watched the bikes going around on the race track I got inspired to learn. I saw 5 chicks racing these bikes. So I say to myself,” If she can do it I can do it”. HA HA HA NO that is not true!! Don’t be so quick to think you can do something just because someone else can. Trust Me!! So when we got home I jokingly told Matt he should teach me to ride, and he said ok. After a wonderful lunch and long naps we got up around 5pm. I decided then was the best time. Let’s go! After teaching me the ropes I was doing really well for about an hour; then I learn how to shift into 2nd gear. Again I am doing pretty well; except I was still learning about the extra things you have
to do with shifting. So off I go for the LAST time around (I told myself) it was about nine and I getting cold. (Oh I should tell you that I am doing this in my neighborhood, a small community of only 59 houses which are mostly empty. It is a gated one way entrance with a circular road, so I didn't have to worry about cars) Ok so my first mistake: I shift in the middle of a big curve. If you haven’t ridden a motorcycle before you need to know that you don't turn the bike, you lean and push down on the side that you want to go. Well it was too much for my brain to comprehend. I tried down shifting to slow down but by this point I realize that I haven’t turned at all and I am heading full speed toward the curb/sidewalk. I decide to try to brake using the foot brake and hand break, but I just end up giving it more gas. I jumped the curb, flew off the bike, and landed in the street. Matt and Lily were running to me even before I went down because he could tell that I was going down by the sound of the bike. Well the rest is just Matt pampering me. But the bike? Well it is pretty messed up. So the moral of the story (besides when you get hurt really bad you get pampered!) Is stop while you’re ahead. Don’t let inspiration gage your bravery. It could just end up hurting your ego, and causing a fortune to fix!
DenaThursday, February 21, 2008
Guilty Pleasures - Interactive
Okay sisters! I really want this blog site to be interactive so I will be posing questions for your responses! Just click comment, and if you want to sign up for google you can, if not then create a name id. Just choose your name and add comment!
So here's the question:
What is one of your guilty pleasures??
So here's the question:
What is one of your guilty pleasures??
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Finding Childhood Happiness
This weekend was another snow weekend. We headed up the mountain with the car packed with snowboards, sleds, boots, gloves, and excitement for the day to come. I spent the morning snowboarding with a couple of friends, something I haven't had the chance to do for two years. I was very stoked to get back on the powder (well, icy slush really). I can't describe the feeling of being on the snow. Sitting on the ski lift looking down on the mountain that is blanketed with peaceful snow. Then attacking it with grace. The feeling is utter freedom. Later that day I met Daniel and Cainen to go sledding. I had such a good time snowboarding and looked forward to more fun the day had planned for us.
I had never been sledding before, and this was our first time introducing the fun filled sport to our son. We put him on the sled and pulled him around a while, expecting him to laugh and smile in excitement! Nothing. Okay, well maybe he is just wondering what we are doing exactly. So Daniel and I both take our turns taking Cainen down the hills, big hills may I add. Still, nothing. Now this is just boggling because all the other children are barreling down the hills screaming and laughing the way children should. So now we take turns watching closely for any expression of fun as the other goes down with him. Nope, nothing. So we just rack it up as Cainen being just like his father; unless it has two wheels and going fast it ain't nothin! (Unless he was petrified of it! Hmmm..) Now, that's the story from Cainen's experience. My story says sledding and tubing down the hills was a thrill ride! I was screaming in fear, and laughing the way the other children were! When we headEd to the tube run that was it, I was hooked!
We shot down a contained channel in our tubes flying up and down the sides, turning around in all directions. Looking at the pictures o f me now is just hilarious! Eyes wide with fear and excitement melting together. My mouth open so wide you can hear the scream coming out! After I got to the bottom I raced back up to the top to do it again! I had found my childhood happiness again! This was not the feeling I had when snowboarding. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed myself very much while snowboarding. I think I had forgotten how to find my childhood happiness. That inner laughter that is always there, just bursting to get out! We can find this happiness in every day living, we just need to be open to letting it out.
So go on girl! Let her out to play!!
I had never been sledding before, and this was our first time introducing the fun filled sport to our son. We put him on the sled and pulled him around a while, expecting him to laugh and smile in excitement! Nothing. Okay, well maybe he is just wondering what we are doing exactly. So Daniel and I both take our turns taking Cainen down the hills, big hills may I add. Still, nothing. Now this is just boggling because all the other children are barreling down the hills screaming and laughing the way children should. So now we take turns watching closely for any expression of fun as the other goes down with him. Nope, nothing. So we just rack it up as Cainen being just like his father; unless it has two wheels and going fast it ain't nothin! (Unless he was petrified of it! Hmmm..) Now, that's the story from Cainen's experience. My story says sledding and tubing down the hills was a thrill ride! I was screaming in fear, and laughing the way the other children were! When we headEd to the tube run that was it, I was hooked!
We shot down a contained channel in our tubes flying up and down the sides, turning around in all directions. Looking at the pictures o f me now is just hilarious! Eyes wide with fear and excitement melting together. My mouth open so wide you can hear the scream coming out! After I got to the bottom I raced back up to the top to do it again! I had found my childhood happiness again! This was not the feeling I had when snowboarding. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed myself very much while snowboarding. I think I had forgotten how to find my childhood happiness. That inner laughter that is always there, just bursting to get out! We can find this happiness in every day living, we just need to be open to letting it out.So go on girl! Let her out to play!!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Valentine's Day
Valentine’s Day, Where is the Love?
During a recent conversation on Monday my friend asked what I was going to be doing for my husband on Valentine’s Day. Well, I hadn’t’ really thought about it, between changing diapers and doing dishes, Valentine’s Day just seemed too far in the future to be worrying about on Monday. (This is so unlike me! Usually by now I would have Hallmark sending me a package of cards to choose from, booked a cupid to shoot my husband in the butt, and hired a babysitter for the night) but I guess life has changed and my planning skills have decreased a bit. (Although I did manage to get him a card a few weeks earlier) Hmmm what was I going to do?
So when he got off of work that I night I politely reminded him that it was Valentine’s Day on Thursday, “What does that mean,” he asked in a “what, do you think I forgot?” sort of way. Just a reminder, is what I told him, not expecting him to barge down the door with flowers in hand.
So Tuesday I get around to buying cookies, three different packages of prepared to decorate cookies, and strawberry muffins, something to get my brain ticking. At this point I hadn’t thought of anything for my son either.
Now we are on Wednesday, still nothing. No great ideas on how I am going to romanticize my husband. This is so unlike me! I would normally have 100 hearts cut out ready to put all over the wall on Thursday! Motherhood has definitely kept me busy! Maybe one dinner idea, the fish in the freezer I can at least get out to de-thaw.
Thursday, it’s here, no avoiding it now! Wake up..kiss my husband, wish him Happy Valentine’s Day! First mission, accomplished. Beeline to the kitchen and start making those muffins (anything red or pink will do!) Oatmeal for my son, add red food coloring to make the theme of the day. Oh and the cookies! Start the oven, cut out the perforated hearts, throw them in. (as an added surprise take the extra cookie dough, form it into a heart, and add appropriate message that will make my husband blush at work) Mission Two accomplished (Mission Two was to not let on that I hadn’t planned anything!) Daniel leaves, I set Cainen at the table and we make a craft, for all the people we are going to see today. At the park we deliver our cookies and smiles form on Cainen’s playmates faces, this accomplished Mission Three, celebrate Valentine’s with Cainen and friends.
Later on that day I speak to a couple cousins, who each have already planned something great, man, how did I get in this position?
Focus…dinner. I remember a recent fish recipe with a “sweetheart” glaze. That’s what I’ll make!! Daniel gets home late, I haven’t started dinner yet. But that’s okay because we can eat when we put Cainen down. He sets up a nice ambiance in the kitchen, flowers in a vase, a card, and flower candles, then brings me in to surprise me. I like the flower candles the best. So he now proceeds to tell me the “story” that goes along with the real flowers. He didn’t intend to get me flowers but a friend of ours who works with him insisted. (Thanks Mary!) These stories are part of our lives. Giving me something nice, and then telling me a story that takes the romance out of it. But hey, I got flowers; this is a 3 time a year occurrence!! Daniel’s one and only mission, accomplished!
Dinner…well come to find out I didn’t have all the ingredience. So we had dry fish, burnt potatoes, and rubbery veggies. Over candlelight, in peace and quiet. Mission Four and Five completed! (Mission Five is top secret)
So where was the love this Valentine’s Day? All around us. This day allowed me to see this is my life, this is my husband, and this is our love. Sometimes special days might not go as planned, and be all Hallmark wants it to be. But in our own way we showed each other our love, and that is what it is about.
During a recent conversation on Monday my friend asked what I was going to be doing for my husband on Valentine’s Day. Well, I hadn’t’ really thought about it, between changing diapers and doing dishes, Valentine’s Day just seemed too far in the future to be worrying about on Monday. (This is so unlike me! Usually by now I would have Hallmark sending me a package of cards to choose from, booked a cupid to shoot my husband in the butt, and hired a babysitter for the night) but I guess life has changed and my planning skills have decreased a bit. (Although I did manage to get him a card a few weeks earlier) Hmmm what was I going to do?
So when he got off of work that I night I politely reminded him that it was Valentine’s Day on Thursday, “What does that mean,” he asked in a “what, do you think I forgot?” sort of way. Just a reminder, is what I told him, not expecting him to barge down the door with flowers in hand.
So Tuesday I get around to buying cookies, three different packages of prepared to decorate cookies, and strawberry muffins, something to get my brain ticking. At this point I hadn’t thought of anything for my son either.
Now we are on Wednesday, still nothing. No great ideas on how I am going to romanticize my husband. This is so unlike me! I would normally have 100 hearts cut out ready to put all over the wall on Thursday! Motherhood has definitely kept me busy! Maybe one dinner idea, the fish in the freezer I can at least get out to de-thaw.
Thursday, it’s here, no avoiding it now! Wake up..kiss my husband, wish him Happy Valentine’s Day! First mission, accomplished. Beeline to the kitchen and start making those muffins (anything red or pink will do!) Oatmeal for my son, add red food coloring to make the theme of the day. Oh and the cookies! Start the oven, cut out the perforated hearts, throw them in. (as an added surprise take the extra cookie dough, form it into a heart, and add appropriate message that will make my husband blush at work) Mission Two accomplished (Mission Two was to not let on that I hadn’t planned anything!) Daniel leaves, I set Cainen at the table and we make a craft, for all the people we are going to see today. At the park we deliver our cookies and smiles form on Cainen’s playmates faces, this accomplished Mission Three, celebrate Valentine’s with Cainen and friends.
Later on that day I speak to a couple cousins, who each have already planned something great, man, how did I get in this position?
Focus…dinner. I remember a recent fish recipe with a “sweetheart” glaze. That’s what I’ll make!! Daniel gets home late, I haven’t started dinner yet. But that’s okay because we can eat when we put Cainen down. He sets up a nice ambiance in the kitchen, flowers in a vase, a card, and flower candles, then brings me in to surprise me. I like the flower candles the best. So he now proceeds to tell me the “story” that goes along with the real flowers. He didn’t intend to get me flowers but a friend of ours who works with him insisted. (Thanks Mary!) These stories are part of our lives. Giving me something nice, and then telling me a story that takes the romance out of it. But hey, I got flowers; this is a 3 time a year occurrence!! Daniel’s one and only mission, accomplished!
Dinner…well come to find out I didn’t have all the ingredience. So we had dry fish, burnt potatoes, and rubbery veggies. Over candlelight, in peace and quiet. Mission Four and Five completed! (Mission Five is top secret)
So where was the love this Valentine’s Day? All around us. This day allowed me to see this is my life, this is my husband, and this is our love. Sometimes special days might not go as planned, and be all Hallmark wants it to be. But in our own way we showed each other our love, and that is what it is about.
Monday, February 11, 2008
The birth of More than Mothers
So after a tough week of realizations More than Mothers is born. I have always wanted to stay home with my children, future children. I never imagined what that entailed. What motherhood gave to you, and took away. Seventeen months ago my husband Daniel and I had our son Cainen. No, I had our son Cainen, 12 hours of having. Since then everyday has been filled with love, giggles, looking deep into his eyes, watching him learn everything we teach him, and pure bliss....who am I kidding? (surely not the other mothers who are reading this) Yes motherhood has been the most special gift God has blessed me with. I will treasure every moment I share with my son. But many moments and memories go like this: my body transforms into something unrecognizable, what once was perky is now a source of food instead of a source of pleasure, and they are now in a new mountain region, constantly dodging flying bodily fluids and food that is only recognizable by taste (sometimes), hunched over on the floor picking up what didn't make it on my clothes, wondering if the neighbors downstairs are adding clothes to my laundry baskets through a hole in their ceiling because it never seems to let up, going to the doctor to have him insert an eye in the back of my head for the times my son is climbing on every possible surface area or channeling his father by standing on his baby quad turboing down the hallway, having a continuing concert ear ring because of the pitch of the screaming, and recently dealing with the horror that my son is the bully on the block. Yes, motherhood has been very rewarding, but let's face it, it can have you start to question, "Who am I?"
Sisters, we are not only mothers, wives, business women, or every other role you play in life. We are passionate, loving, creative, females that are multidimensional!! A very wise friend said it well, "God has given you these talents, these characteristics, to use them!" Taking care of ourselves is an important ingredient to taking care of our families.
So welcome sisters! To More than Mothers!
Sisters, we are not only mothers, wives, business women, or every other role you play in life. We are passionate, loving, creative, females that are multidimensional!! A very wise friend said it well, "God has given you these talents, these characteristics, to use them!" Taking care of ourselves is an important ingredient to taking care of our families.
So welcome sisters! To More than Mothers!
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