Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!

Today is my daughter's 27th birthday. Wow, how did that happen?? It seems like just yesterday I was hating the fact I was turning 27 years old (it was actually a traumatic birthday for me) and now my daughter is 27!! How quickly the years passed by. It makes me wonder how the time could have gotten away from me. Oh well, that's how life is.

I want to say that my daughter has been a wonderful example to me. She was such a sweet child as a girl and even sweeter as she grew into a young adult. So many mom's have trouble with their teenage daughters, but Stacy was a jewel. She helped me to build my testimony. She allowed me to relive my childhood through her, and always made me feel as if she wanted me around. She included me in so many fun things in her life, and confided in me with some of her special secrets. When she was sad, I felt her pain. When she was happy, I shared in her joy. When she grew up to be a young woman, I was fortunate enough to be in the Young Women's program to be able to watch and share as she became an adult. I am very proud of her and proud to be her mother.

When she graduated high school, she was so anxious to get on with her life. I cried so hard when I drove her to Utah to attend BYU. She seemed so young, and yet she was so ready. Although young, she was very mature, so it didn't surprise me when she found her true love and decided to marry. I trusted her judgment and when I met Jared I knew she'd found 'the one'. What a special young man she chose to share her life with, and I have so much gratitude for how he treats her and our family.

When Stacy called to tell me she was pregnant with her first child, I was so thrilled for her. I remember how I felt learning I was going to be a mom, and I was so anxious for her to have that same joy. She is a wonderful mother, caring and loving, and she has her priorities exactly right. Again, how proud I am of her. She now has two sons, Porter (3) and Tyson (6 mo's), and she's an amazing wife and mother. So, my sweet baby girl, happy birthday. I love you.
MOM

Reflections of 2010

I obviously have much less time to "Blog" than I did when I started this. But I've been wanting to update for sometime now, so here goes.....

2010 brought lots of changes for me!! As the year began, everything seemed status quo and I was going along like nothing would ever change. I was working hard at paying off the bills incurred from all our home improvements, and planning for future vacations - one being my dream vacation to Tahiti. But no sooner had I started the process, I was laid off and everything came tumbling down around me!!

Although change is never easy, I soon learned that this change was the best thing that could have happened to me. It isn't until you have the chance to step back and really look at something that you really see it for what it is. And many times, you don't like what you're seeing. I felt gratitude to realize what a blessing it was to have this change thrust upon me.



So, once you figure out that change is for the better, it's easy to see things in a totally different light. I spent a lot of the next few months doing things I really enjoyed. I got to travel to Utah to visit my grandson, Porter. I was able to spend time with him and really get to know him. What a huge blessing that was. In addition, I was able to return when my second grandson, Tyson, was born. I was in heaven. I am madly in love with Porter, and Tyson comes along and I fall just as hard for him. No surprise there...it happened with my own kids. But these two guys have just stolen my heart, and my only regret is that I don't have more time to share with them on a daily basis. But, I felt grateful to have the time I did with them.



Once I got back home and realized I needed to find a job and get back to work, I was fortunate enough to find a few possibilities, and was called for interviews. I had four job interviews and was offered three jobs. I feel pretty good about that. And, of course, I chose to work at Crescendo Properties. I cannot begin to tell you what a huge difference it is to work in a environment where people are happy and content, no drama or backstabbing, and everyone is truly wonderful. Once you get into that kind of work environment, it becomes so clear just how horrible the other place truly was. I am so happy working now, and feel so much less stress and discouragement with how my days are spent. There are opportunities ahead that will make things even better, and I'm really excited to see where this takes me.



The negative to it all is that I don't make as much money, and I don't have as much free time due to the commute. We're due to move in about 6-8 weeks, so that part will hopefully be better. As for the money, I'm hoping that will change fairly soon too, but I'm going to try and be patient. I've discovered that working in a happy workplace has a lot of value and I need to always remember that. Somethings are just worth it, and this is one of them.

When applying for my job, I told my future supervisor that I had a cruise planned and would be taking time off approximately 5 weeks after they hired me. I knew this was asking a lot, but being honest up front seemed the right way to go. They were okay with that, and so in early November, I left for a much anticipated week long cruise to Mexico with my sisters. We were all excited to be together that week, but again, you just can't guess what the future holds. The first day of our cruise, there was a fire on board, and our cruise ship was left without power and stranded out in the ocean. We ended up having food flown in via helicopter since they had no way to cook, and we were living on sandwiches and fruit for 4 days. They finally had tug boats come in and drag us into the San Diego port, but needless to say, it was not the vacation I was hoping for.




Those are my sisters sitting in front of the ship on a bench waiting to be picked up. Needless to say, not the experience I was hoping for. The cruise line refunded our money AND are giving us another cruise for free, so hopefully we can enjoy that sometime in the near future. Sadly, because I had just started a job and I didn't feel comfortable asking for more time OR spending the money it would take, I had to cancel my dream cruise to Tahiti. Hopefully I'll be able to do that someday. NO!! I WILL do that someday. I still have reservations for another Transatlantic cruise in November of 2011, as well as the replacement sister cruise. I hope those work out for me with my job. By that time, I would have been there for a year or so, so I'm guessing I'll be able to take time off by then.

Another big change in 2010 was being called to the Young Women's President in our Ward. I love being in Young Women, and I'm really enjoying this opportunity. It's a lot of hard work, but my girls are all worth it. I have been blessed many times in this calling, and I hope I'm able to serve to the best of my ability.

As 2011 begins, I have high hopes for this year. I'm hoping that work will continue and that the changes they're hoping for will happen and new opportunities will arise from that. I am worried about my Dad's health as he's been struggling, so I'm hoping he'll be able to work toward getting stronger and healthier. Scott's mom will celebrate her 95th birthday in March, and she seems to be doing really well, so I'm hoping that will continue for her. The kids all seem to be doing fairly well, with a few bumps in the road here and there. But they're handling those bumps and are working through them, so I pray daily for them and hope they'll succeed in whatever their lives hold for them. Over all, I'm pretty happy and feel very blessed for everything I've been given in my life. I recognize the source of all my happiness, peace and blessings. I hope you can recognize it too: