Building Patterns of Love

My Aunt Wendy posted an article titled "20 Things Our Parents Did That We Don't." The bullet points included

1. Send thank you notes.
2. Shake hands.
3. Collect things, specifically when it comes to kids.
4. Stand up straight.
5. Have dinner parties.
6. Take walks.
7. Have Family reunions.
8. READ!
9. Spring clean.
10. Volunteer.
11. Call our moms.
12. Sleep over.
13. Make a casserole.
14. Say our prayers.
15. Watch the sky.
16. Play board games.
17. Gift just because.
18. Go out for ice cream.
19. Read aloud.
20. Take a drive.

I guess I'm doing pretty good because we do all of these things. Some more than others, but I do them all with my children.

Personality Aura

Every once in a while I take these silly personality tests that my friends share on Facebook. Most of the time they are good for a laugh. Today I took one that described me pretty well, and it did make me laugh.

"Personality: Blue’s are very loyal and can be the truest friend any aura could hope to find. On the inside, blues tend to be emotional and even a bit moody. However, you know that other auras depend on you, so you put on a strong front. They tend to live a quiet but enriching life. Blues are very giving of them and is hard to let go of relationships. They believe the key to living a good life is simple: Be as honest with yourselves and others as possible. They value the truth over everything else. Blue will remain loyal to those who are honest with them, even if their honesty hurts. Compared to most other auras, blues handle the truth very well. They take every event into stride. Blues are the calm spot in a sea of chaos. They think that the solution to most problems is open communication; they wish that people would be more real with each other. A Blue personality uses its five physical senses to access information. An emotionally driven personality, you need to be liked and accepted. It is one of the "needs" that can cause apprehension in your personality. You are a polite, cooperative person who seeks to create conflict-free surroundings. You possess highly developed powers of observation. Family is important to you and you sometimes find yourself in the role of being a caretaker. You are conservative, reliable and trustworthy - you are quite trusting of others although you are very wary in the beginning until you are sure of the other person. You are not impulsive- you always think before you speak and act and do everything at your own pace in your own time. You take time to process and share your feelings. You are genuine and sincere, and you take your responsibilities seriously. You have a deep need for peace and harmony in your everyday life. You appear to be confident and self-controlled, but may be hiding your vulnerable side. You are generally fairly even-tempered, unless your emotions take over - then you can become either moody and over-emotional, or cool and indifferent. You are sensitive to the needs of others. While you are friendly and sociable, you prefer the company of your own close group of friends. You are a rescuer and love to be needed. You can be rigid - you like to stick to what is familiar to you- you stubbornly do things your way even if there is a better way. Untidiness and unpredictability overwhelm you. You don't like to draw attention to yourself. While you don't like to have discord or conflict in your life, you are often the cause of conflict with others; you can be quite manipulative but in a very subtle way.
You make a loyal and faithful marriage partner and you are an honest, trustworthy and sincere friend. You are aware of others feelings and sensitive to the moods of others. You are approachable and friendly, always making people feel welcome in your life. You have a thirst for knowledge in order to gain wisdom and appear knowledgeable in whatever area interests you. You can be too cautious and worry about every little thing."

Count Your Blessings

I recently started working part time in a volunteer capacity (one of those unpaid positions that gives you more experience than you bargained for). I had no idea what I was in for when I agreed to do it. However, despite some intense growing pains it has been very good for our family and I have experienced some blessings along the way.

• My husband is more involved in helping me do the shuffle to get everything and everyone out the door to practices and games. (Bekah is in soccer and Benjamin is in football. No, I didn't plan it that way. Things came together like that in the end.)
• I have learned the value of prayer to help sooth my anxiety and give me strength to complete the tasks I need to.
• I have received courage to talk to people I would normally be terrified to talk to.
• I am learning how to stand up for myself in a confident and kind way.
• I am learning to let things people say and do not bother me in a way that will make me hold it against them. Not a simple thing when it is easier to let things fester and hold a grudge.
• The important document I need for each game, I printed enough copies for the regular season before my printer stopped working.
• People are actually helping when I least expect it.
• I still find time to take care of my house and children.

"That" Person

We all have a list of people we don't want to be like. For example, I never wanted to be "that person who yells at her kids" or "that person who doesn't spend enough time with her kids" or "that person who's kids look like they need their clothes cleaned and their hair combed." The longer I'm a mother, the more compassion and understanding I develop for "that" person.

You see, I used to have a long list of people I judged to be inadequate human beings. Now, I have an even longer list of people I sympathize with because I have walked in their shoes. I find myself now saying "that person needs a smile" or "that person needs a kind comment" or "that person needs some empathy."

Raising kids is hard work. Judging others instead of helping them makes it even harder. I am no longer afraid of being "that person" because each time it happens I learn a little bit more about being human and having compassion for someone else. I cannot say I am over being embarassed when something happens, but I am learning to be more compassionate.

Sidewalk Chalk & the Parade

While we were waiting for one of the parades to start this summer we watched a family have a chalk art "battle" on the sidewalk behind us. They kindly shared the chalk with my kids and that helped keep them entertained during the long wait for the parade.

Baby Birds

We have a tree/bush right next to our front porch. In June, we found something exciting there. A nest with three baby birds inside! The kids were fascinated to have the nest right at their eye level and how the birds changed each day. I have to say I found it fascinating to see how fast they grew feathers and opened their eyes. And when they were full feathered and open eyed, they were gone.

Rodeo Days: Playing in the Park

Rodeo Days Grand Parade

 

Rodeo Days Float

Our ward had a movie theme for the float this year and the children were able to dress up like their favorite movie character. Can you guess who each of my children picked?

Ski Resort in the Summer

Michael took me on a date to the ski resort this summer. We rode the lift about halfway up the mountain and hiked down while taking pictures. Some of the slopes were a lot steeper than they looked. We had fun.