Much needed inspirtation to lift my weary soul!

Each morning when we open our eyes, we should say to ourselves: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it!!
 -- Groucho Marx

 How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.
-- George Washington Carver


Do not fear the winds of adversity. Remember: A kite rises against the wind rather than with it.

"In moments of discouragement, defeat, or even despair, there are always certain things to cling to. Little things usually; such as remembered laughter, the face of a sleeping child, a tree in the wind....in fact any reminder of something deeply felt or dearly loved will do. No man is so poor as not to have many of these small candles. When they are lighted, darkness goes away...and a touch of wonder remains."
-tombstone inscription in Britain

"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy."
--Guillaume Apollinaire

Mommy & Princess Priece-ie Day!

Today while Brogen was gone at school and daddy was resting at home with a sick lil baby Briley, I decided to take Capriece out for some special one-on-one time with mommy. (we hadn't done that in a while). So I asked her where she wanted to go and of course she said the park, so off we went. It was kind of a cloudy day so we had hats and gloves on to keep us warm and we had the whole park to our selves. We swang on the swings a WHOLE bunch (her favorite thing to do) then we went down every slide a hundred times; we played princess Capriece locked in a tower with prince charming (me) coming to the rescue; we did following the leader and played tic-tac-toe; then we fought off a big green dragon and broke out of a dome shaped jail and made it safely back to our car and off to another park for some more fun where we pretended to be bad bus drivers and crashed into everything, braking our limbs so that Doctor Capriece had to fix them. After we were all worn out and kind of chilled we decided to stop at the gas station for a few lil treats then headed home just in time to pick up Brogen from school. It was a lot of fun and a very special day. Can't wait to do it again with both Brogen and Capriece. I think its very important that each of the kids gets a special day to themselves once in a while.

                                            Capriece's favorite treat from the gas station!

Briley & Brandon's Special Day!

This past Sunday was such a very special day for our little family. We had the chance to witness two huge milestones that brought us all so much joy. During sacrement meeting Brandon was substained to the calling of an Elder in the church, then his dad (who came all the way up from St. George) ordained him afterwards amongst our family and friends. This was something Brandon has been wanting for a long time now and everyone was so proud of him for his great accomplishment. Then, later that afternoon, we got to watch him bless his baby girl Briley- who is the 1st one of our kids he's blessed, and it was so very sweet and special. He did a great job and she looked so beautiful wearing the blessing dress that her mother and older sister were both blessed in as well. Grandma & Grandpa Woods were there all the way from St. George, and Grandma & Grandpa Heaton too. I made over 2 dozen butter cream cup cakes with pink B's monogramed on them just for Briley's special day, and we took tons of pictures. It really couldn't have been a more perfect day!

Finally found the answer to something I've always wanted to do!!!

It seems that lately I've been pondering the direction of my life a lot more then usual...and one of the many things I have always wanted to do sometime in my life was participate in some kind of humanitarian project or volunteer work in a 3rd world country. I've always had a tender spot in my heart for people living in great poverty and deprevation and have wanted to somehow help/aid them in any way that I could. You know all those sad commercial advertisments on TV about sponsering the starving/homeless children in other countries...they make me cry every time and all I want to do is go over and adopt every last one of them. I have been given so much in my life and have been blessed to live where I do and it only makes sense to me to share what I can with those who are less fortunate. I've considered joining the peace corps, I've looked into church service-orientated programs, college affiliated programs, and then just today I stummbled upon the Cross Cultural Solutions Organization. They offer exactly the type of program I've been deeply interested in finding. They are known as the leading organization in the field of international volunteering and have done so much wonderful work in over 12 different countries and have helped so many people and communities. They are comepletly non-profit, dedicated to the saftey of their volunteers, and have amazing program quality. I guess I feel that

Briley's 1st real smiles!

Babies are so cute, especially when they start to figure things out. Briley has decided that sticking your tounge out and going "bleh" is the funniest thing in the whole world. She's been smiling up a storm and getting all excited; kicking her lil arms and legs like crazy every time we do it. Then she learned how to do it herself and has been copying us ever since. Can't wait to see what she'll figure out next!