Gratitude!

I was blessed to have such happy people in my life. This girl is one of them, I love all my adopted kids, they have been a blessing our lives.

I love to make things for the special people in my life. When someone really appreciates the love and time you put in it...is even better.

I don't think I have ever seen someone so grateful for a gift, oh how I love this girl!

If I could have my wish...I would be able to make something special for every single one of my friends in the world! 

They would then have something that let them know... every day how special they really are!

Good Night dear friends!

Best Friends!

On Tuesday, one of my Best Friends came to visit from Indiana. We haven't seen each other in years, and we have known each other since we first met at work when I was 18 years old. Yes, we have been through a whole lot together and it is wonderful to have her come visit!

We really haven't done much except talk and remember old times together. We did a little shopping yesterday and then went to visit Amy and the girls today. She had never met any of our grandchildren...it was so fun to have her finally meet some of them.
It is amazing to me how you can not be or have seen a dear friend for sooo many years, and as soon you get back together ( it is like you had never been apart ). What a treat to be with her.

So what a treat these past days have been.
Good Night dear friends!

Ways to create a better life!

This is definitely good advice...

It took me a few years to learn some of these things... a little later than I had hoped but I did.
And even some times I forget them... and have to remember them again! Life is all about the lessons! Learn them and try to live them each day of your life!
Good night dear friends!

5 things to ask your kids every day

Great article! I think I asked some of these to my kids when they came home, but not sure that I did all of them all of the time. Good to remember for when the Grandkids come over!
Good Night dear friends!

5 questions you should ask your child every day

By Lyndsi Frandsen, KSL.com Contributor

May 20th, 2015 @ 7:28pm

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Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com

 If you’re a parent, you probably suffer from “broken record” syndrome. You know, that habit we fall into of asking the same questions day after day. Pretty soon, that routine “how was your day?’ receives an equally predictable “fine!” as an answer.

A simple re-phrase of our daily questions can open up the door for deeper conversations and prompt our children to be more self-aware. So, take the needle off the record: Here are five alternative questions to spark better conversations with children of all ages:

1. “What was the best part of your day?”

This is a question you can pose to children of every age — from toddler to teen. From a selfish perspective, it allows you to almost feel a part of their brightest moments. From a parenting perspective, it gives you insight on the little things that are meaningful and make your child happy. And although the question itself is positive, it can often be a good way to identify whether your child had a not-so-great day (without giving off the impression that you are prying or requiring they relive a bad experience). This is a great starter question that can get the “conversation ball” rolling.

2. “What did you do today to make someone happy?”

It can be easy for children, no matter their age, to feel as though the world revolves around them. When you regularly ask your child about what they did for others, that challenge to think selflessly lingers in their little minds and (hopefully) leads to a greater sense of awareness toward others.

Eventually, they will begin to anticipate this question and even start to look for opportunities to be more kind and helpful to those around them. Maybe they will take notice of someone sitting alone at lunch, or have the courage to stand up for someone who is being treated unkindly. Not only does it make them more self-aware, but it also sets up an expectation that you have for them: to always be kind.

3. “Was there anything hard about your day?”

Maybe your child is nervous about how they did on a test, or having a hard time with friends. Perhaps they are feeling frustrated with a situation at home and don’t know how to approach you — maybe they just didn’t like what was served for lunch. (Come on, you remember the plastic pepperoni pizza.)

Regardless of the severity of their concern, inquiring about daily hardships can offer insight to daily anxieties and insecurities you may not even know exist. The phrasing of this question allows your child to feel safe and in control. Asking this question regularly provides multiple opportunities for your child to come to you on their own time. Today they might not want to talk about it — but tomorrow might be a different story.

4. “Who did you spend time with today?”

As an educator, I can attest: friends begin to play a very large part in your child’s world at a very young age. It is always important to know who your child is spending time with. This question not only gives you an idea of their friends, but can also offer valuable insight to whether or not your child is socially thriving or socially struggling. It may even make you more aware of what kind of friend your child is.

5. “What do you think you could do better tomorrow?”

This is a positive way to encourage your child to reflect upon their day and set goals to be even better tomorrow. It reminds your child to avoid complacency and always strive to improve. It might help to break or form habits (maybe they are always late to school, or maybe want to be more socially confident and make a new friend). It is also a great way to remind your child that tomorrow is a new day and a fresh start.

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About the Author: Lyndsi Frandsen

Lyndsi Frandsen is the creator of the Facebook page For All Momkind and author of the For All Momkind blog. She has many titles, including wife, kindergart

I found it Here:

Take time!

Had a busy day today, but I think the best quote to describe it is this...

Color Me Happy!

Yesterday our family did the Color Run in Austin, Texas.

It just made me Happy to see their cute faces.

Our family motto should be..."Color Me Happy! "

Good Night dear friends!

Found the quote HERE:

Be Happy Where You Are!

I was born and raised in West Virginia, after Jeff and I were married and already had Amy and Brad, we headed for Seattle. We heard all the rumors about the gray days and the rain, but still when we arrived on the 4th of July weekend to gray skies and rain...we fell in love! We had just left West Virginia with its HOT and HUMID weather and after so many years of that ...we were excited for a different climate all together. We have lived in Seattle now for 25 years and have NEVER looked back!

So does it rain a lot in Seattle? Yes, but still I love it here! I don't mind the gray, to me it just feels cozy in our home and it even makes me want to be more creative! Don't get me wrong, I love the sun but I do realize that in order to live in a beautiful green place like this...you have to have some rain! I do love it here and for that I am grateful. I hear many people complain about it a lot. I hear how it makes them depressed, so I am very thankful that is NOT something I struggle with. Being Happy Where You Are is a big deal, I am just grateful that I can live here, a place where I want to be!

Good night dear friends!

Found the photo here:

You make me smile!

How could it be 30 years since this beautiful girl came into the world? I was almost 24 years old, and even though I had done a lot of babysitting in my life...I had no idea how to be a MOM. My pregnancy seemed to go on and on forever. She came 10 days late, and after hours of difficult labor...I wasn't progressing at all and so they figured the baby was just too big. Having never been in the hospital overnight or for any surgeries...I was scared to death when the Doctor suggested that we would probably have to do a C-section. They put me under for the surgery, and all I can remember is that Jeff and the nurses kept trying to wake me up from the best sleep I had ever had, and they kept saying "Amy is here, and she weighed 10lbs and 1oz. I thought to myself...yeah right. Then they placed this beautiful dark hair, big girl in my arms.
Along with Motherhood sometimes comes the WORRY part of your heart. I worried if I knew what each cry meant, it didn't seem to be something that I knew right away. I wondered if most Mother's got the handbook ( that everyone thinks comes automatically when you become a Mother ), but since I had a C-section, maybe someone forgot to give me mine. But when Amy cried, everyone including Jeff would always ask me what was wrong with her?  I remember thinking to myself, "I have no idea, no one gave me the handbook!"
Some of you might ask when I finally figured out what she was crying about or needed? Well, I don't remember the exact day, but gradually, after a lot of prayer and tears... I slowly and instinctively knew what she needed. And each child after that just got easier and quicker to learn about. So yes, Motherhood is a life long process and the prayers and tears never really end. You pray for their safety, you pray that the world will be kind to them, you pray for good friends for them, you pray for them to make the right choices and on and on. The tears come with each success, whether it is a first step, a new tooth, being potty trained and some tears come with skinned knees, broken hearts and leaving home for the first time. So yes, the heart has to really be in shape to handle being a Mother.
Amy continues to be our happy child, even though she is a grown woman. It is rare to see her down, she makes almost anything in life more fun with her laughter and her smile. She like the other kids when they grew up, became our friends too...what a blessing that has been. So grateful Amy came into our family30 years ago today, and even though I still have the scar to prove it...we wouldn't  trade her for the world!
Happy Birthday Amy Girl! You make me smile!

Smiling is Contagious!

I just heard on the news the other day that Depression is contagious. They went on to tell about different studies that they have done, and how just one person being Depressed all the time, could effect ( for the negative ) those around them whether it be in a family, work group or whatever. Knowing how many suffer from Depression, I didn't really think it was a whole post that I wanted to do. But I did find this blog interesting today, and I found it on my son's blog....how about that. Thanks Brad and Krystal !

It’s name is the Smile-Bot and it is based off of the theory that smiles are contagious. I like this idea, and it personally is a more uplifting article to write about. So go to Brad's Blog and check it out HERE:

“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
― Mother Teresa
 “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”
― Dr. Seuss

Baby Shower!

Tonight was Amy's Baby Shower. Her dear friend put it on at her house and what an incredible job she did. She and Amy have the same taste in decorating, sooo it was picture perfect!  Just wished all of our family could have been there, cousins and all.  Miss Audrey Jane got a lot of beautiful things tonight, how kind of all of our friends to come and support her.
This photo is of Amy a few months earlier...her cute belly is a bit bigger now!
We will have photos soon, just wanted to leave you with a Happy Thought tonight and then I am heading to bed. Looking forward to getting tomorrow  ( my cancer check up ) behind me!
 Wish me luck!
Good night dear friends!

"Let a series of happy thoughts run through your mind. They will show on your face!"
~ Norman Vincent Peale  
"The happiness of your life, depends on the quality of your thoughts."

I love the color RED...it makes me happy!

I am looking at my empty house and getting sorta sad. Christmas decorations are down but not put away. There is just empty spaces and boxes, if you didn't know any better...you would think we are moving, but we aren't! I thought I was going to have my January stuff all made up by this time, so I had something new to look forward to decorate after Christmas. But things didn't go quite as planned this past year. So I decided to just look up some photos of things that are RED ( my favorite color...Pink runs a close 2nd ) and it worked, as soon as I posted them ...it made me happy! I just love the color Red, and you would know that for sure if you ever came to my home. Red is my color, so here are some cute photos and cute quotes to hopefully make you smile today!
Enjoy and good night dear friends!

" Go ahead and put some COLOR in your life"

"Surround yourself with things that you absolutely LOVE, it makes all the difference" ~ Lynn Woodard

Being Happy!

I found a book the other day that I forgot that I had, I love the illustrations and the common sense information in there. The book is called BEING HAPPY! A handbook to greater confidence and security
by Andrew Matthews
One chapter was on HEALTH...
"Scientific experiments have demonstrated incredible ways to kill guinea pigs. ( at first I thought I might not like this book by that first sentence, because we had a few guinea pigs as family pets, but I am glad I kept reading ) Emotional upsets generate powerful and lethal toxins. Blood samples taken from persons experiencing intense fear or anger when injected into a guinea pigs have killed them in less than two minutes. Imagine what these toxins can do to your own body.
Every thought that you have affects your body chemistry within a split second. Remember how you feel when you are barreling down the highway and a big truck suddenly brakes twenty meters in front of  you. A shock wave shoots through your whole system. Your mind produces instant reactions in your body.
The toxins that fear, anger, frustration and stress produce not only kill guinea pigs but kill us off in a similar manner. it is impossible to be fearful, anxious, irritated and healthy at the same time. It is not just difficult, it is impossible. Simply put, your body's health is a reflection of unresolved inner conflicts which in time show up in the body.
It is also fascinating how our subconscious mind shapes our health. Do you recall falling sick on the day when you didn't want to go to school? Or have headaches brought on by fear?  The mind body connection is such that if, for example , we want to avoid something, very often our subconscious mind will arrange it. Once we recognize that these things happen to us, we are half way to doing something about them. 
Repressed feelings and emotions affect our health. If we are not doing the job or leading the life we enjoy, our mind is constantly holding the thought,  " I wish I wasn't here." As our body is a slave to the mind, our body will then start getting us out of whatever we want to get out of . The first step is illness. I don't suggest that our health can be totally explained by the preceding paragraphs. 
Good health is your birthright; and by good health I mean energy and vitality. It is your right to wake each morning with the confidence that your body can more than just " struggle through". Too many people have the notion that good health means a mere absence of disease.  If we look at the mind -body connection, it is easy to see how much our body is affected by our mental state. 
Your mind is the architect of your body and your body is a reflection of your thoughts. If  you are consumed by fear and anger and unexpressed emotion, your body will reflect it. The "disease" of the mind becomes the "disease" in the body."


"Think healthy, happy thoughts. Imagine yourself as healthy. Decide that good health is your birthright and that you deserve to be healthy. Above all, be gentle on yourself. Accept, and love yourself where you are right now and acknowledge that even up until now you have been living life the best way you know how." 
 ~ Andrew Matthews

Creative Woman

"Being Creative is not a single act, but the act of living itself. The creative Woman is on fire with imagination, ignited by the certainty of her relationship with a living God and her surety of purpose. She lives in freedom, not measuring herself by the lives around her. She takes calculated risks, understanding the value of going beyond the horizon of the known and coming back to report what she has discovered. She tackles life’s challenges, with heart, hands and faith."  ~Author Unknown

 I love this quote.. when I feel really creative, it does make me feel happy. I do think it is important to see the talents that we have, are God given. I really do believe they are. I am grateful for the talents I have, as well as my children's talents. I am still trying to learn though how not to measure myself up against others, that is a hard one for me. But the longer that I work at the Quilt Shop; the more I appreciate all of our differences and talents. That is what makes the store unique and great, because we are all good at totally different things and that reaches out to more people; because we all have different talents and tastes. 

I do feel blessed that for 30 years I got to be a stay home Mom. And during those 30 years, my talents are something that kept me grounded and some times... sane. It was the one thing that didn't get undone by the morning. No matter how hard I tried, the dishes, the house, the laundry and so on, ALWAYS got undone, messy or dirty again before the next day; and that is when I would start all over again! So yes, developing different and creative talents really made a difference in my life then...and still does.

Today was a work day ( at home ), I really love to create new ideas and sew new things...it makes me happy and it makes me feel fulfilled and grateful! It also makes me happy when I see my own kids developing and using their talents ...to better the world. I am truly blessed!

 I believe the parable in Matthew 25 about the servants being given talents, is important for us to remember. We need to remember "where much is given, much is expected". I think that we are to develop and us our talents to bless the lives of others.

 “God has endowed us with talents and time, with  talents, abilities and with opportunities to use and develop them in his service."  ~ Spencer W. Kimball 

 “Neglect not the gift that is in thee” (1 Timothy 4:14).

I finally reached my GOAL!

 Today I received my life time membership at Weight Watchers! I got a gold little key to put on my key chain and a congratulations on staying at my goal for 6 weeks. Plus, I no longer have to pay as I continue to keep my goal weight I know that isn't huge mile marker but....in my mind it really was. I felt empowered to do some things I haven't done in a while. I felt good that I stayed committed to it, I liked the feeling when someone notices it and tells me how nice I look. I like the way my clothes fit and I like probably the most, the good thoughts about myself that comes from it, especially since they seem to push out the bad thoughts more and more each day. I feel healthier and as a cancer survivor, that is huge to me, to make healthy choices. I actually have always been a pretty healthy eater but...now I am more conscience about the amounts and value of the food. So for me to receive my lifer status was big today, and I feel happy and very grateful that I was able to reach my goal.

So thank you Shirley and everyone else who has inspired me, encouraged me along the way! I couldn't have done it without you!

"Success is not a race, be patient.
Success leads to success.
Success is always a work in progress.
Success doesn't come to you--you go to it.
Success is a journey, not a destination. Focus on the process.
Some people dream about success... while others wake up and work hard at it.
Success is achieved and maintained by those who try-and keep trying.
Everyday is a good day to SUCCEED!
If at first you don't succeed-try, try again"

" I wake up every day with the realization that this is it, that there's only one shot at this life and I can either enjoy the ride and live it to its fullest and to my highest potential or I can stay the way I am."

Just stay POSITIVE!!!

Today we are still in Utah and will be flying out tonight. It is always hard to leave family. It will be nice though to get home and get to see Amy, John and kids, plus our neighbors and friends! But no matter what, I am still a bit concerned about coming home to an empty house ( even worse a dirty empty house). I had great intentions on getting it cleaned before I left, but I was more worried about getting all our Christmas presents made for our family and friends here. So at least I will have something I need to do, as soon as I get there, that should help…I hope!

My niece and nephew asked me to speak today to their Sunday School Class ( of 15  year olds  ) about adversity and trying to have a positive attitude. I only had 10 minutes so I had to think of a way to make it to their level, and yet interesting. So these are the 7 things that I try to do, when I see that I am getting too discouraged or sad…

1. I first try to remember what type of people I like to be around. Obviously it is the Half full, happy, positive and kind people, verses Half Empty, sad, negative and discouraged people. So I try to see which type of  person I am being at the time.

2. Then I try to distinguish my thoughts and where they come from. It really is true that Satan is alive and well, and will definitely place bad and sad thoughts in  your mind. It is very important to control thoughts and remember that our thoughts control our actions.

3. Next I try to remember to do the Basics, I know it is the old Sunday School answers… but it is true for me. If I remember to say my prayers, read my scriptures and stay closer to my Heavenly Father, life really is better.

4.I try hard to listen to that still small voice inside. We all have it, but some times it is easy to ignore. That still small voice it is right every time. And the more I listen to it, the more I hear it. I believe that is truly how my Heavenly Father helps me and guides me.

5. Gratitude is next. When I stop… and count my blessings, I realize that I should be happy for all that I have been given. Gratitude really helps you feel more positive.

6. Service of course helps anyone, no matter how down they are. As you stop to look around at others, you realize that there are lots of people whose life is much worse or harder than yours. Service changes your heart for the better. Plus, as your help someone else…you are really helping yourself feel better.

7. Hold on to my faith! I love the quote that “ Faith has a short shelf life” you really have to work on it daily to strengthen your faith in God, and in His purpose for you .

So that is what I try to do to change my cup from Half Empty to Half Full.

Of course, I will have more bad days, and will have to go back and remind myself by reading this post again!

Well, need to head to the airport. Take care dear friends!

“The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness.  You have to catch it yourself.”     ~Author unknown, commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”  ~Winston Churchill

“If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. “   ~Mary Engelbreit

Smile!

A smile, so simple...so important!

BEHIND A SMILE

Do you ever wonder what people are feeling when they smile? Do they smile because they're happy or do they smile because they want people to believe they're happy? Maybe they smile because they want you to smile and be happy.
A smile can touch a person's life in ways you can never imagine. It's infectious and can cause a chain reaction. It can be memorable to someone you pass on the street or the mall or driving... and it only takes a split second to smile and forget, yet... to someone that needed it, it can last a lifetime. Maybe I should smile more often.

--- Written in 2003 by Delilah B.

"Today, give a stranger one of your smiles.  It might be the only sunshine he sees all day."  ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

"The world always looks brighter from behind a smile."  ~Author Unknown

"A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks."  ~Charles Gordy