Finding Joy in the Simple Things

It's my son Tannen's turn to post but if it's alright I'd like to share something that he has taught me! This is one of the trucks Tannen got for his 6th birthday last week. This kid has been obsessed with vehicles since he was old enough to know what they were. If there is a vehicle around he will lose all focus on anything else. He will sit quietly and look through a Car and Driver Magazine page by page soaking in every car! Everyone that knows him knows about this obsession. Any type of vehicle from sports car to garbage truck brings him complete joy and it shows in his face, in his actions, and his words. I am so grateful for this little one who teaches me to truly find joy in the simple things!

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Sunny Sunflowers

Josh and I teach a group of 7-8 year old boys. At our last activity, we learned about helpful and unhelpful thoughts. We called helpful thoughts sunny sunflowers and unhelpful thoughts worry weeds. When unhelpful thoughts like, “I can’t do it” or “I’m stupid” or “Nobody likes me” enter your mind, pull them and plant sunny sunflowers! A few of my favorite sunny sunflower thoughts are: “I can do anything I put my mind to”, “I am enough”, “All of my problems have solutions”, “ I am perfect just the way I am”. We planted sunflowers and strawberries in little pots and had pudding dirt cups with Oreos and worms for dessert. It was a lot of fun and such a good lesson to learn! Remember you are loved! You can get through anything, and when things do get hard, ask for help! 😊 “The only tyrant I accept in this world is the ‘still small voice’within.”-Gandhi -S...

"I Can't Dad"

A few years ago we took the family on a backpacking adventure. Little did I know that an experience at the end of the trip with my 9 yr old daughter would, years later, teach me a profound lesson about the love that my Savior has for me. I think it was a little too much too soon for Ella, because she no longer wants to backpack with her mom, brother and I. We had planned a two night, three day backpacking trip to one of my favorite places in southern Utah. My good friend, his family, as well as my sister in law and her husband were planning to make the trip. When I was in college I took a class called Literature of the Outdoors. At the end of the semester I was able to go along with a small group of classmates and my instructor on a two night backpacking trip to Coyote Gulch. It was a life changing experience. I have always loved nature and spending time outdoors but this trip was different. We walked for miles in the bottom of a narrow canyon with towe...

A Virus, an Earthquake, and Me

This might be a lengthy post so if you need the short version you can jump to the quotes for the highlights. I went back and forth on whether I should even bother to say anything about all the events but have been happening recently because part of me just doesn't want to hear any more about it ... but the other part of me thought that in a year or two from now I may want to go back and remember what was going on at the time of this post. Ironically what has scared me much more than the coronavirus has been the frantic reaction of a lot of people. There is so much to be frustrated about, irritated over, and downright angry at. HOWEVER... it is also been encouraging to see so many good things and that is what I would like to focus on. I have seen some really creative ideas being shared on how to work with our kids at home and how to keep ourselves sane during a time of isolation. Many have offered free online sources to help us still attempt to enjoy life....

Sharing Every Good Gift

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