Families are Forever

David and I were priviledged to attend a sealing yesterday at the Salt Lake Temple. His niece, Tara, and her husband, Burke, have been working on adopting a lovely little girl. They were her foster parents from the day she was born. They named her. They've raised her. She calls them mommy and daddy. Just this week the adoption finally went through. And yesterday they were sealed as a family.

The older two children, Whitney and James, got to be there as well. Whitney is nearly 11, and very grownup. She and London wanted matching dresses, of course. Isn't that what sisters do? Tara couldn't refuse a request like that. I know that I wouldn't have been able to. James, who is around 6, started giggling into his hand when his new little sister started screaming for her daddy. This is a happy family. *grin*

I, too, am a member of a happy family. My boys fought all morning. Ella ate an entire Symphony bar (a large one) by herself...at least we hope she did and it wasn't the dog. Sarah is...well...Sarah is busy. I didn't see her that much yesterday. David and I did get to spend most of the day together. In other words, I'm grateful for forever. I think it's going to take that long to get my kids to clean their rooms.

Fez

What's in Fez? I don't know. Isn't Fez a hat?

I watched Gilmore Girls with Rachael yesterday. I cannot even begin to describe how relaxed that made me the rest of the day. I would start to get stressed and then..."Do I look shorter? I feel shorter."

I started teaching two new students yesterday, which means I started at 1:30 and taught straight through until 5:30. It's only 5:30 because one of my students had surgery this month, but she'll be back next month and then things will probably go until 6:00. "What do you think about Luke? You cannot date Luke, because then you'll break up and we won't be able to eat here anymore!"

Drewser was about the cutest kid in the entire would yesterday. He kept handing me my keys trying to get me to take him home with me. "What about a motorcycle? If you're going to throw your life away for a boy he should at least have a motorcycle!"

Even at the bishopric party last night, when things got deadly dull..."Poor ugly baby! Doesn't even know it's ugly!" We're hoping she'll improve with time.

My advice for the day? When things feel incredibly stressed, take a break, it's only 45 minutes an episode, and watch Gilmore Girls. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll laugh some more.

Gratitude

David gave a Family Home Evening lesson on gratitude this week, and it got me thinking. Am I really grateful for everything I've been blessed with? Do I show that gratitude? Am I even aware of all that I've been given? I don't think I can answer yes to any of those questions, most especially the third one.

I read an article that stated that people who kept gratitude journals were happier than people who didn't. It's true! I kept a gratitude journal a few years back, and now, I find that even the act of re-reading what I was grateful for two years ago makes me smile. I think it's time to start again.

1. Last night we had family scripture reading. Benjamin has misplaced his scriptures, yet again, and thus, didn't have them last night. Joshua asked how much new scriptures cost, and we told him. "Darn! I can't afford that!" was his reply.

2. Again last night, when it was Benjamin's turn to read, both Sarah and Joshua were anxious to let him read from their scriptures. All my kids were willing to share. *grin*

3. Even though I added three new students in the last week or so, I managed to turn one down yesterday.

4. Audio books are a wonderful thing. I managed to clean my house and listen to a book (A Great and Terrible Beauty) all at the same time. Whoever decided to put books into audio form is a genius!

5. I actually got to bed before 10:30 last night. The kids were all bathed and in bed by 9:30, the house was quiet, there was nothing worthwhile on TV, and I was tired. And I got a good night's sleep because of it.

Five Gratitudes. Five things to keep me going if today gets rough. Five reasons to smile and say "Thank You". Try it. Being grateful is addictive...in a good way.

When the Snow Squeeks

Once There Was a Snowman, Snowman, Snowman

Once There Was a Snowman, Tall, Tall, Tall

In the sun he melted, melted, melted


In the sun he melted Small, Small, Small
(or doing the limbo, same diff)

Then he started leaning, leaning, leaning (Because he leaned.)

Then he started leaning, Until a crazy kid knocked him over. (He didn't really)

One more thing

Three reasons Rachael needs a dog.

Okay, it's only one, or maybe it's a thousand. A picture is worth that much, right?

Three Things

Why Three instead of Four?

1. I'm being a rebel.
2. Four is too many this early in the morning
3. My quotemaker is still three.

Three places I've visited

1. Hawaii, many times *sigh*
2. Disneyland, especially with the kids *laugh*
3. Yellowstone, camping is fun *grin*

Three jobs I currently have

1. Voice teacher
2. Stay-at-home mom
3. Internationally renowned chef (just kidding! Short order cook is more like it!)

Three Favorite Movies

1. Singing in the Rain
2. Joe vs. the Volcano
3. Hairspray , this is subject to change without notice

Three places I went to college

1. BYU-Hawaii, Laie Campus
2. Ricks College, Rexburg, ID (before it was BYU-Idaho)
3. University of Utah

Three books I want to read this year

1. Les Miserables
2. The entire Chronicles of Narnia
3. Does it really matter? I'll read more than a hundred other books anyway.

Three TV shows I love and really shouldn't

1. Beauty and the Geek
2. America's Next Top Model
3. One Tree Hill

Three web sites I love

1. My blog!
2. Good Reads
3. Amazon

Three foods I could eat every day (but won't, because I'm an adult)

1. wontons
2. ice cream
3. pizza

Three actors I have a crush on

1. Matt Damon
2. Hugh Jackman
3. Scott Bakula

Three year old sings:

"Stop! Telling me what to do-o!
Don't! Treat me like a child of two-o!"

(check out the teddy bear flash player if you don't know what this song sounds like)

Three things I am grateful for

1. My close family (yes, all of you!)
2. My extended family (yes, all of you, too!)
3. Good Friends

Futhermore

A while back I blogged "10 Things I Would Recommend". Well, I think I've changed my mind. Not that I wouldn't recommend any of those other things, but rather that I needed a blog for this morning, and this one presented itself. I also don't have 10 new things, just things I would recommend in addition to what I already posted.

11. Full Body Massage. Seriously. Give my sister-in-law, Danna, a call and schedule yourself for an hour of uhhhhh. I got one yesterday, and I slept like a baby last night. Really, it's a wonderful thing. She even used lavender scented oil for me.

12. A really great haircut. Most of us spend our lives having adequate haircuts. Haircuts with little or no style, shelving layers, cut that are bad for our faces, with no good color, haircuts that leave us uninspired (think how many ponytail days you've had in the last month). Find yourself a great stylist and pay the extra money to get a great haircut. You won't regret it. By the way, my stylists name is Cindy Johnson. She just had a darling baby girl, but she is working again.

13. Lunch menu at Appleby's. I'm going there today with my girlfriends, and I am so excited! Reasonably priced, delicious choices, good company...lunch doesn't get better than that.

14. Learn to say 'no'. I must apologize to my husband. David, I'm sorry. I didn't add one new student, I added three. You just heard the last one...

So maybe this isn't so much a list of recommendations as a list of things that I've done in the last week. I also watched "Doctor Who", "Quantum Leap" and "Firefly". Sci-fi is cool.