Mother of all posts

So, lots of stuff going on in my head lately, creating lots of ideas, making it very hard to find time to post. So here is what has been going on in my life. If you don't really care, feel free to skip to the pictures towards the end :).

I have never been very good about reading my scriptures, praying, etc. We had a speaker about a month ago that said he wouldn't read anything else until he read his scriptures. I decided to apply that to my life but include all forms of media (tv, internet, books, magazine's, etc.). It's been going great! I'm almost to Alma! I do read the ensign or the Teachings of Joseph Smith instead some days. So, then I started getting all these epiphanies (my new favorite word). I didn't get the connection until my good friend Emilysa actually mentioned, "Have you been reading your scriptures?" when I was explaining my latest epiphany. Here are the major ones, I'm sure you will read it, and say but I already knew that, well I am hard headed and needed to hear it about a million times before it finally sunk in (or start reading my scriptures to clear my mind).

E1: I have been a less than adequate house wife. Now, I am not saying mom, but house wife. It hit me when a week went by and Scott had not one minute (literally) to himself because he was working, going to school, taking care of the kids when he got home and then catching up on the housework that I hadn't gotten to. I felt so horrible after I realized that I have been so selfish the last five and a half years, taking so much time to do stuff for me instead of taking care of the house. Now both Scott and I know that I can't do everything by myself, but I can sure as heck make sure the dishes and laundry are done!

Unfortunately with this epiphany I have found myself swamped with stuff to accomplish and haven't had any time to blog. I am now trying to search for a balance between house work and my own stuff, the kids, etc. Anyone know the secret?

E2: My mom has always saved good Oprah shows that she thinks I would be interested in. Lately there has been quite a few so I started recording them and just watching the interesting ones. Well, I watched the one about, "The Secret," a couple weeks ago and was blown away. Oprah had three ladies on, one who wrote a book about healing your life, written about 30 years ago. Another lady talking about lists, and then the last talking about the secret.

The first lady talked about how you have to forgive yourself and others and learn to love yourself before you can begin to heal your life. She suggests waking up and looking in the mirror and telling yourself that you love you. She says eventually you will start to believe it.

List lady says that you have to get past the shallow self to the core self and figure out what you really want from life and then make a list or a bulletin board with pictures on it. Keep the list in a spot where you can see it every day, but don't dwell on it. Write it down and then let it go. My mom and I were talking about it and she says that the idea of lists have been around forever. She told me that when I was 3 years old she made a list and stuck it in her planner. It had five or six things on it including more time with Christi (me), and a better income. She found the list a year and a half later after marrying my dad, James, and realized that every single thing she had on the list she had gotten. The thing you have to remember about lists is that you can't grasp after the things you want, write it down and let it go.

The last lady talked about the secret to life and the Universe's law of attraction. Basically positive attracts positive. My mom has always told me (and I always thought it was a bit cooky) never to say I am broke, just temporarily out of cash, because the universe would hear me and make it true. Well, I totally believe it now. It basically all came down to, you have to be happy with where you are and you can get to where you want to be. And then it was so crazy how a lot of this follows the gospel (forgiveness, be happy, etc).

I know I will always been on meds for depression (my mom has tried using these theories as well as eating right and exercising to go off before, and it just doesn't work with our family), but I can make my life better still with these ideas. I admit I haven't been doing good with telling myself I love myself, but I am doing my best to be positive. And guess what, my life has been so good lately. I have been so happy, even when I've been sad (okay, so I know that doesn't really make sense). Ethan's birthday was on the 4th of this month, and while I was really sad I was okay being sad. I knew that I was allowed to be sad, so it didn't send me into a spiraling depression.

So, on to the pictures. Scott has decided that we have to get outside every weekend, so we have been going hiking. Here are some of the pictures from our romps.

I asked Nathan to get a toy for Caden, and this is what I found.

Boys and their boo-boos.