happiness is

-reliving a moment
-working toward something
-sharing when it's difficult



-getting read to sleep by your sister
-accomplishing everything you wanted to
-learning something new
-acting on faith



-working as a team
-laughing chatter in the other room
-the smell of breakfast in the air
-a clean kitchen



-playing with cousins
-daily gratitude
-a good morning kiss



-getting an uninterrupted hour break in the car while waiting for dance to end
-reading a delightful book
-an uplifting conversation with a friend
-dinner on the table



-wind blown hair
-secret notes on a napkin
-coming home
-caramel & apples



-wide open spaces
-meeting new people
-inspirational messages
-giving kindness



-the smell of rain in the air
-running through a pumpkin patch
-the crunching of leaves
-morning light



-the opportunity to volunteer
-family togetherness
-seeing the beauty life has to offer

a happy list

10 reasons why I have a smile on my face

01. new found music. Loving to build a home by The Cinematic Orchestra, jar of hearts by Christina Perri, and the light by Sara Bareilles.


02. this quote

03. a friend I can call at odd hours and ask about strange rashes. never a bad idea to have friends in the medical field. thanks amy.

04. having a stack of books waiting for me to read.

05. spending the night celebrating lolo's birthday.


06. discovering this photo. still perplexed as to what these girls are looking at? any ideas.

07. a neighbor so generously gave us a basket of goodness from his garden.

08. remembering last nights blunder of not fully locking our bedroom door.

09. the fallish type weather.

10. realizing tomorrow is wide open.

delightful morning

* I woke up to the rain this morning hitting against my window. What a welcome change to the heat.

* Luckily it wasn't until 8am that the rain got me, lately I've been waking up at 5:45am and I desperately needed to sleep in. I feel like my new exercise routine is finally catching up with me.

* It's quiet in my house thanks to my MIL Kathy and SIL Robyn who has my girls. Bless you both...what a gift this is for me.

* Which reminds me, the sleepover gave Adam and I the opportunity to spend a much needed evening together. thank you again!

* I'm trying to decide if I want to do yoga today...

* My windows are now open and the coolness and smell is intoxicating.

I could be here all morning if i let myself, but now it's time to get up and enjoy what time I have left.

and before I go...two happy photos because it's a happy day.





* oh and one more thing, I have double chocolate cake bites waiting for me after lunch. delightful.

triggers

My dad has this thing for organizing and cleaning out his garage. Among the many moves I made as a young adult, back and forth from college and such, he has kept many of my old things boxed up waiting for me to take. In his lack of patience throughout the last few years to see the boxes go, I have little by little taken what belongs to me.

Well it was during my sister vacation this summer that many of her things were in question. My Dad had a box of stuff that was going to the DI/Good Will if they were not claimed. So of course I found myself looking through the box, I have a thing for anything that reminds me of my childhood, and found this very cool little vintage looking plaque that read, "Think happy".



Seeing it again triggered a flood of memories from my childhood. I have to be honest, I'm not sure whose it was, but I can remember it hanging on a wall and looking at it each time I passed. I always really liked the simplicity of the illustration, but don't know that I thought much about it passed that. It just, well, it made me happy to see.

My sister really didn't care whether I took it or not, which was good because when I saw it I knew I had to have it. I'm not sure why I was so attached to it, like I said I don't even think it was mine, but seeing it again reminded me that happiness is a choice and that knowledge is something I am desperate to teach my children. I know not everyday is a good day, but I know each day we can find something to smile about...how I wish I had understood that years ago. So I decided it would have a permanent home in our kitchen, a place my girls would see it frequently and hopefully be reminded that happiness is within their reach and completely up to them.

And perhaps on a bad day it can be the one thing to help them smile.

living each day

is what inspired me to create this.


another art journal entry.

Happiness cannot be traveled to,
owned, earned, or consumed.
Happiness is the spiritual experience
of living every minute
with love, grace, and gratitude.
- Denis Waitley

Whether our lives are easy, hard, lonely, full, sad, happy, or even complicated, we can live each day and make the most of what we've been given. No matter what it is we're facing I believe good can be found. We just need to be willing to open our hearts and eyes to see.

Hmm, now I need to make sure I remember that.

happiness

I didn't sleep last night, which is nothing new except it hasn't happened in several weeks and I just happened to be speaking in church again today in another ward. As I got ready this morning I decided to go the 3 hours and come home and rest, but then I found out about a meeting I needed to attend right after church so leaving would have been pointless. I was tired during my second sacrament meeting and craved my bed, so I must admit, my full attention was not on the meeting. Funny thing happened as I sat there grateful my children were quiet, I was inspired and loved the talks that were given. One was on joy and this quote by Joseph Smith caught my attention.

"Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God. . . ."

I love this because I believe we are here to find happiness in this life and that most certainly happiness is a choice we make everyday.

Thanks to everyone who supplied me with a recipe or a site to visit full of ideas. I have no excuses now. :)

Choose to be happy

This is not a new concept for me. I think about this often as I struggle with it's meaning. After reading this to my girls while dinner was cooking tonight, "It didn't matter how mean her stepmother and stepsisters were to her, Cinderella was always happy", I was reminded once again of what it means to live the life I have been given to the fullest.

Japanese Gardens Portland, OR 2006

I think for a while my life motto was "when" and "if" statements. I can recall so many instances in my life where I said, "I would be happy if....", and each time my statement would come to past, I would still be in the same place just adding a different thing to the end of that statement. I've often thought what my life would be like if I lived someone else's life. Would I be happier? After much thought and discussion I realize we all have our problems and struggles. If it's not A than it would be Z. We can't out run those things that haunt us. They come back continually throughout our life even if we try desperately to deny them (I'm so good at that).


I remember talking to Adam one night where I said, "Can you imagine if we got to the judgment bar and the Lord showed us a video of what our life could have been." He looked at me strangely and said, "What do you think Hell is?" Truly that would be my hell. Never ending regret and a clear knowledge of what my life could have been if I had only done XYZ. I know I have been blessed with so much. My life should be full of happiness and yet I find too often I'm down. I'm struggling. I know we all go through hard times, but when I go deep inside and really look at what's going on or why this would be, I realize I'm not living my life. I'm letting it pass me by instead of anxiously engaging in this precious gift.

I believe so strongly that we need to live our life now. We need to stop waiting for the perfect car, or the perfect house, or the better kids, or the more friends, or a vacation, or money, or whatever it might be that holds us back.


This is what this year has been about for me. Doing. Living. Embracing what I have been given and making the most of it. I'm tired of feeling like I need something to be happy. I'm tired of waiting for that one thing to make all my problems go away because deep down I know it's not coming. I'm tired of waiting as it says in the song by Colin Hay, "for my real life to begin". That's just it. This is my real life. I don't get another chance. Instead of wishing and hoping I need to take what I have and make something out of it. This is my life. The only one I'm going to get. It's up to me and the only person I have to blame for what I lack is me.

The fact that I have been given the opportunity of life should be all that I need. The problem lies in the "it doesn't come easily". I use to think that everyone was happy and then there were bad days. Now I'm so aware that happiness is something we work for each day. It is a choice. I wake up everyday, some days more noticeably than others, and decide if I'm going to run my life or stand idly by and wonder why I'm not happy with the way it's going. Taking charge and making our life exactly what we dream of, though hard a lot of the time, is so worth it. In the end we would never regret spending our life in the pursuit of happiness. We need to give to get.

I really hope this year I will be one step closer to letting go of my insecurities. Letting go of those apparent "needs" in my life that inevitably hold me back from living...from being truly happy. I want to live my life to the fullest. I want to be happy with what I have NOW, not what I might have or think I should have. As I've already found out...happiness is not given and most times hard, but I've tasted it's sweetness and never want to go back.

So I have been thinking today...

about the things in life that we love and make us happy. Primarily the things we do in life, we love and look forward to. My issue is why is the gospel not doing that for me.

Please let me explain myself.

I love my beliefs. I am grateful for the knowledge of it. I love everything about the gospel. The gift that I have it in my life. The promises I have been given. So why then, why does it become so difficult to do the things I am suppose to. I mean why does it become hard to go to church at times? Why does it become hard to go to my meetings? Why am I not so excited to get up and read the scriptures like I would a good book? I do what I am suppose to, but for that reason, because I am suppose to. When does it become what I look forward to? When do I do it because I want to? I feel stagnate. Like I am on a treadmill moving at the same pace and getting no where. I am tried of feeling like I am not progressing. Like I am the same person I was years ago.

Anyone else have these feelings at all to any degree or any thoughts on how I can push through this rock and a hard place.

it just made me happy.

this morning when I was pulling into my garage my eyes were drawn to this beautiful lone flower admits the piles of dirt.

I am sure there is tons of symbolism that I could talk about and metaphors to draw inspiration from, but right now it just made me happy.

Happy to see a flower in my yard since all I see is dirt. Happy that spring is coming. Happy it will start to warm up (i think). Happy life is good. Happy to be having some friends over. Happy to be a mom. Happy the house is clean and dinner made.

Happy I feel happy.

I'm 30

It is hard for me to believe that I am actually THIRTY. I mean on the inside I feel like a naive 24 year old. At times when I look back at all that I have done, what I have been through I realize I have lived and have experienced life. Not always how I would have like, but I feel I have learned from my mistakes (most of the time). However, I find myself stagnant in areas. Like I am waiting for someone else to do the work for me. So much of myself I want to reinvent and do better...more selfless, happier, positive, confident, and to rise above the pressures I put on myself. Perhaps that's what my thirties will be about. Taking my core and making it stronger. I know there is a great confident person inside of me it just doesn't always get to show itself. I am determined in 10 years, when I'm forty, to really love what I see. No matter the circumstances I find my life in.

it makes me happy...

to have a clean works surface.















My magnet board full of memories.





















My stash of paints.























My alphabet stamp set from Impress.















Listening to my girls playing dress up.






















Love Saturdays like these where I can do some organization. Do something for me. Feels good to see my desk again.