"We do not doubt our mothers knew it"

I could not have said it better than the following. It pretty much sums up thoughts I've had recently.

“I feel to invoke the blessings of heaven on my [children]--to call out every possible spiritual source of help. They are at the crossroad, their decisions are so crucial; I know the adversary will do all in his power to turn them from the spiritual blessings that are their birthright. . . . These are choice and valiant spirits and worth all the effort Satan can make to waylay them from the right path. Surely the Lord knows exactly what is happening and will send every spiritual source of help that can strengthen them. Their spirits are so precious, their decisions so crucial right now--choice of [spouse], choice of path, choice of life patterns. Their whole life will be so much affected. Their unborn children so impacted. Can these unborn children intervene in their behalf? Can they influence them for righteousness and right choices? Only the Lord knows what my [children] need, what can reach them, what influences will safeguard their souls, keep them on the path to their eternal inheritances. How I pray that they will be protected from the evils in the world, that the people and situations will come into their lives that will encourage them in the things of God. I would give my very life for any one of them to keep them safely moving ahead true to the best that is in them, listening to the Spirit, following it, becoming the men [and women] of God they have the potential to become. But in reality, I know that the most important thing I can do for them is to live by the Spirit myself and be a living witness of the truth.”
--Darla Isackson, Meridian Magazine

“No child in this Church should be left with uncertainty about his or her parents’ devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Restoration of His Church, and the reality of living prophets and apostles. . . Live the gospel as conspicuously as you can. Keep the covenants your children know you have made . . . And bear your testimony! Don’t just assume your children will somehow get the drift of your beliefs on their own.”
--Jeffery R. Holland, “A Prayer for the Children,” Ensign, May, 2003, 85-87

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to"

Run a half marathon. That was my one and only goal for the year. The other day I registered for the Top of Utah Half Marathon on August 27. I am was hoping this half will would make me feel young and fit. . . . And then I had to select my age bracket and realized I've now moved up a division. I am getting older. No doubt about that. Birthdays kind of do that to you.

This year my mom gave me a birthday gift, however, that definitely takes me back 20 years to my childhood. Growing up she had this exercise video "Sweatin' to the Oldies with Richard Simmons" that we would all hip hop to (VHS naturally). I don't know that you could call it exercise; it was really just a lot of dancin' around. But I guess if it gets you movin' it qualifies and we loved it. Every now and then when we get together, someone inevitably brings up the video, and embarrasingly, we all start sweatin' to an oldies. My sisters are going to be so jealous. I definitely see a Richard Simmons workout party in the near future. My house. Bring your leotards, leg warmers, head bands.

Is it spring yet?

Woke up to inches and inches of snow (no, I didn't measure but I should have). And we still haven't sold our other home so we have double duty on the snow removal today. I would just like to say how grateful I am that our other home faces south. It made shoveling so much easier today. I still had the deck and trampoline, but hey, the driveway practically took care of itself.

Kiersten had her championship game this morning. They were missing their star player who had another conflict. That brought the team count to 6. At the beginning of the 4th quarter our tallest player (who isn't all that tall compared to this team we played) fouled out. We, the parents in the audience, thought she only had 4 but the score keeper said 5. Our little team of 5 played their hearts out. It was like David taking on Goliath in every way. This other team was taller and meaner. At half time the score was 4 to 2 in the other team's favor. The final score ended up being 18 to 2. We were just a tired, little team who did an amazing job. I was pleased with their performance today.

I followed a gentleman out of the gym who had a pack of cigarettes in his hand. Do people really still smoke cigarettes? It made me surprised that with all the negative press cigarettes get and how society is more aware of what smoking will do to your body that anybody still smokes.

Sat at our other home for 2 1/2 hours for an open house we weren't technically having. But the marquee sign never got taken down from last week so we thought we should be there just in case. No one showed. I wouldn't either in this weather. This is our first week where no one has walked through the house. Bummer!

Went to a niece's baptism. I loved my mother-in-law's talk and her analogy of caller ID and the holy ghost. I'm going to use it one day. We only recently got caller ID when we switched phone providers and it was free with the package. I love that I can see who is calling me now, but I remember the days of picking up the phone, having the other person assume you have caller ID and just start talking, and me not knowing who I'm talking to . . . sometimes until the end of the conversation. The holy ghost is like that. Sometimes we have to listen extra hard to know he is speaking to us and the more experiences we have with the holy ghost, the better we'll be at recognizing his voice . . . just like with caller ID.

Anyway, is it spring yet? I'm am still very cold and want my yard to wake up.
 

Did not see this coming

Kiersten's Jr. Jazz team has made it to the championship game, again. A little deja vu of last year?

This was a team that lost the first four games, lost twice to the team we played tonight, and has somehow managed to surprise us all.

GO BULLS and kudos to a great coach! The team Kiersten competes on this year is playing the same team that she upset in the championship game last year. Wouldn't it be sweet if she and her team could beat them for a second year in a row.

Still diligently weighing in

One of my favorite words in the scriptures is diligence. To accomplish anything requires diligence and for the past 8 months since giving birth to Alex I have diligently weighed myself every Tuesday (he was born on a Tuesday and today is exactly his 8 month birthday because we celebrate every month during that first year . . . Happy Birthday to such a cute boy who does cute things all day, every day).

Now that I've gotten past that digression, onto my weight issues. I gained more pounds with Alex than any other child and I knew it would be hard to get them off. I never really lost all my pounds with Ashlyn. For the first 6 months I made a conscientious effort to really watch what I ate and try to fit some exercise in.

I went to the hospital weighing 183, came home weighing 174, finally plateaued at 160, and from there is was much harder to lose. BUT I remained diligent and continued to lose about a pound a week until Christmas. Between Christmas and New Years I gained a pound and I wasn't too heartbroken about that.

However, the last 2 months have been a challenge. I only have 3 pounds to lose to get to my pre-baby weight and would love to lose an additional 6 but I have consistently stayed there week after week.

I was starting to get discouraged until I realized the other day that I had lost my diligence in watching what I ate. We have brownies, I eat them. We have candy, I eat it. We have ice cream, I've got my big bowl and spoon. So here's to better diligence in tracking and watching what I eat (my little sister showed my a website that aids in tracking what you eat and it really helped me in the beginning to see how many calories were in certain foods). I really believe healthy eating is the key to weight loss.

Let this post speak for itself

Cyprus CU took 3 months to deny us; Box Home Loans took 3 weeks to close.

So long. Adios. Sayonara.

We are out of here and taking our accounts with us.

Squatters

Dave, our mortgage officer at Cyprus, left a message on Ty's cell phone today.

D. E. N. I. E. D.

Yep, denied for our final financing. Apparently they didn't like the HELOC we had on our Stansbury home of $95,000.

 Nevermind that that home is up for sale and will sell eventually and the HELOC will be paid off (hopefully in the next couple of months).

 Nevermind that we have the cash to pay off that home if we wanted to right now. We would just be short on cash for the downpayment on our Lake Point home.

 Nevermind that we got approved for our construction loan through Cyprus and that was $36,000 more than the loan we're trying to qualify for now . . . WITH ALL THE SAME PARAMETERS!
 

 I haven't dared to hang pictures on the walls until I know we own this house.

Faith. We will sell our other home when the time is right and right buyer comes along. We will be able to finance this home, maybe just not the traditional way. It will all work out. It always does. And, looking at the bright side, we haven't had two mortgage payments to worry about yet.

We are indeed squatting in this home and loving every minute of it. But, if we end up moving back to Stansbury, at least I'll be moving into a VERY clean, fixed up house.