It's almost 10 p.m. and I promised I would be in bed before then. So I am going to keep this brief. I had another great day that started rocky but finished strong. I was so tired this morning that after I made the kids an awesome breakfast I went back to sleep. Instead of resting for 20 minutes I slept for almost 2 hours. My body is trying to tell me something. I quickly said I prayer to get me through the day. I got everyone ready for the day and made lunch. I went to Costco by myself. It was so nice to have a few hours to myself. I needed to time to think on my own. I will write tomorrow about that experience. I was able to give Kaitlynn an piano lesson while I made dinner. I would run over the piano play the song for her and show her how a few techniques. Then I would cut up a few more vegetables for the meal. I made homemade hamburger buns in 45 mins! I just used my pizza dough recipe and instead of letting it rise in a bowl for an hour, I just shaped them into a disc and let them rise. They went great with the homemade sloppy joe's. I had cooking class after dinner because I ran out of time since I had to go to Costco. We made scratch made vanilla pudding with a Graham cracker crust. It was really good. We read 2 chapters out of double fudge. We then finished the night off with a story out of the New Testament. I was going to go to sleep early tonight only to discover that I had 3 loads of laundry on my bed. Instead of throwing them into a basket to fold tomorrow I just quickly folded them and now I can go to bed. I am figuring this out. I will write more about tomorrow. I just wanted to make sure I keep myself accountable!

Today Chris and I had a great workout. We pushed through and ran 2 miles in 16:30. Not bad for two old 30 somethings! I made the kids homemade pancakes and strawberry syrup. We cleaned the house and it seems that the kids are getting into a better routine of just getting it done. I don't have to yell or remind over and over again to pickup. They just know that they can do whatever they want after the house is done. We have been able to have lunch together everyday. I love hearing the kids laugh and carry a conversation with each other during meals. There truly is something remarkable about gathering around the dinner table to talk about events of the day. I have seen a difference in my kids the past few weeks since we have started being consistent again. We have tried to have dinner at 6 p.m. and then and activity. We have also followed through with activities we have scheduled for that day. CJ was able to pass off 5 merit badges while he was down at scout camp last week. So we celebrated today by giving him a free trip to Yogafina. He loaded the cup full of waffers and chocolate with very little frozen yogurt at the bottom. I thought there was no way he was going to finish it but he did. It was fun to spend a few hours with just him today. After dinner we went over to a friends house to swim as a family. I also want to mention that I finally cleaned out my downstairs closet under the stairs and I vacuumed the stairs. I am taking little steps each day to be steady and constant. My house feels cleaner and my kids are happier. I need to continue to stay focused and be present. I need to not let life overwhelm me. I just keep putting one foot in front of another.

Today was another great day! I have been feeling so blessed this week. Today I was able to fast and then bear my testimony in church. I prayed that I would know what to say and the words just came out of my mouth. When I finished my testimony and sat down I was amazed at how clear I spoke and everything I wanted to say came out of my mouth. I truly felt the spirit help me bear witness to what I know to be true. I will write my testimony down here when I have more time. It is now past 10 and I promised myself I would go to bed on time. I just wanted to check in. I have a wonderful life. Thank you Heavenly Father for everything that I have. I love you and I want to serve you with all my heart, mind and soul. I know that with your help I can become the person you sent me here to be. I know that through your son I truly can be made whole. Satan you can get behind me! I know who I am and I know who God wants me to be. I am a mother. I have one of the most noble callings on earth. You will no longer make me feel inferior. I know that I have a great work in front of me. I am brave. I am faithful.

Organization in process!

Today was a full day of cleaning and organization. I thought we it would only take us a few hours to get the job done. We started at 8 a.m. and finished at 8 p.m. I am not kidding either. I also had to stop and fix meals, diapers, etc. We organized the office, Ashlin's room, and my closet. We also cleaned out the garage which is a constant battle anyways. Taylor cleaned out the front closet for me. CJ came home from scout camp today. He has been gone all week. Chris was gone the first 3 days of the week and then came home on Wednesday. CJ came home talking in the Batman from the new Lego movie. At first I thought he had lost his voice at camp but it turns out he found a new voice instead. He had a great time and hopefully I can get him to write about it. He came home with 5 full merit badges accomplished! I am so proud of him for following through. Overall this was a fantastic week. I learned this week that I can do hard things. My success this week came from trying harder to listen to the spirit. I tried to have more patience with the kids and I was able to listen to them better. We kept the house clean and we were able to have a learning class each day. I let the kids have 2 hours of free time each day. They chose to play electronics of course. I was able to take a nap each day during this time and tackle one of my projects. We were able to accomplish so much this week. I exercised all 5 days even though I didn't want to most days. I was able to study the scriptures everyday. I listened to conference talks while I cleaned. This helped my mind relax and focus on what the Lord wants me to do. It was a great week. I love this family and I am so grateful for them. Abby melts my heart with her little words. She says Cookie and I can't help but give her one. When she wants to eat she sticks out her tongue several times. She is such a smart busy little kid! She gets into everything. She also has everyone in this house under her spell. She gets he siblings to help her with everything. She is spoiled and we wouldn't trade he for anything. Life is really good! I am thank my Heavenly Father that I was able to get out of my funk and see what is in front of me. My life is so blessed and I am grateful for the lessons I continue to learn. Life really is meant to be enjoyed. I am going to stay present and savor the blessings I have in front of me. Here's to a new week!

She's at it again!

Today is day 4 of my new journey to serendipity. I have worked out consistently for the past 12 weeks. I have lost 10 pounds and I am wearing size 6 clothing. There are so many mornings where I have a mental war and try to justify staying in bed. I say to myself, "I can miss one day, it won't change anything." Then after 10 minutes I get up put my running shoes on and go. It's that simple. I don't want to let myself down. I will write another day about the becoming "super" challenge. This was the motivation to finally start exercising again. I realize that I can use this model in every other aspect of my life. If I set realistic goals and expectations for myself I can accomplish anything I put my mind to do. It's that simple. What holding me back? Here's to keeping up with this blog and being accountable everyday. That is my new challenge. I am going to write on this blog everyday and report what I did that day. The good, the bad and the ugly. Life is too short to not enjoy it. I am started the day out exercising. I always feel better after a good workout. I then made Swedish Pancakes with homemade buttermilk syrup for the kids. I had Taylor take to get the whip cream from the fridge. It ended up being cream cheese frosting and they loved it! I let them also have chocolate milk to go with the pancakes. Talk about sugar overkill! Oh well, what can you do? After breakfast I had to go lay down and rest. I still have been really tired everyday. I am trying to fight through the fatigue but each day I still have to lay down. I may need to go to the doctor and find out what is making me so tired. Anyway,We then picked up the house and had lunch. It was fun to talk around the table and laugh about silly nonsense. Abby kept giving me the cutest smiles through lunch. I couldn't help but think how awesome it is that I get to stay home with my kids. I gave the 3 youngest a bubble bath. Abby kept saying, "bubbles" and then would scoop up the bubbles in her hand and laugh. It was so cute. She is starting to say quite a few words. I let the kids have free time while ran to the grocery store. We ate dinner and then headed to the park. It was a great day and each day is getting better.

Today was another successful day. This week I am trying to take one day at a time. I tend to focus on so many task at once that I don't accomplish any of them at all. Today I exercised, cleaned the house and mopped. The kids helped out with their chores and we were able to go swimming at a friends house. We swam for about 2 hours and then headed back home. I made a simple dinner to finish off left overs. We watched "Sesame Spoof" a throwback from my childhood. I "rested my eyes" for awhile. We read from the scriptures and another chapter out of "Double Fudge". Today was art day and to do not disappoint the kids we ended up doing art at 9 p.m.! I am trying to be present. I don't want to miss out on my children's childhood. It goes way to fast to be too busy and feel rushed all of the time. My lesson for today is; talk positive to myself, have a more gentle tone and let little irritants go. Things are looking brighter!

Today was a good day!

Today was a great day! I started my day off with a great workout. I made the kids breakfast, took a much needed shower and then got the house clean. The kids worked together and we got the job done. We ate lunch at the park and then decided it was too hot to stay any longer. We then went home and the kids had there screen time. I took full advantage of Abby napping and took a nap myself. I got up after 40 minutes and finally tackled the big pile of papers in my office. I had a full bag of garbage when I was through. I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel with the office area. After I finished that project the kids and I had cooking class. A neighbor had brought over a box of peaches for us to eat. We made peach cobbler and pie. They both were really good. The kids did a fantastic job working together. We had a few tears along the way but mainly from Ashlin who is almost 4. She didn't think she was helping enough. I then made one of our family favorites, Talapia with orzo and steamed veggies. We rounded off the meal with our peach cobbler with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I read to Abby and played a few rounds of "Ring around the Rosy". We then read from the scriptures and a chapter from the book, "Double Fudge". I got the kitchen cleaned up from our cooking adventure and here I am finishing my day up writing in my journal. I also have to mention that even my hair cooperated today! Today I learned that I am smart, I am capable and I am me.