Multiple Choice

If someone you thought was your friend accused you of having an affair with their husband, would you:

a. cry a whole lot
b. get incredibly angry, and imagine slapping them in the face any time you saw them
c. realize you have never been so offended, then have your husband give you a blessing
d. block them on Facebook
e. alternate between being furious, imagining what you would say to this person, and being deeply deeply depressed
f. go to the temple, do a session, put their families names on the prayer roll and find you're not so angry anymore
g. talk to the bishop, get some council, feel a lot better
h. have physical, intense anxiety whenever you see this person
i. find that you can't even look this person in the face, you are so repelled by them
j. try to move on and not think about them every minute of the day and what you're supposed to actually DO about the situation, realizing there really is nothing you can do (which is FRUSTRATING)
k. have an obsessive bout of looking up information on slander and if you should actually send them a cease and desist letter--not because you want to sue them, but just in hopes that it will finally make them stop
l. feel like you're on a roller coaster ride, that just keeps getting worse each week that goes by
m. still feel bad for this person, worry for them because they are seriously unhinged and need a lot of help
n. get mad at yourself for missing their friendship and wishing you didn't care so much
o. become an even worse insomniac than you were before, and then sleep most of the day away because life just seems too hard to deal with right now
p. hate that so much and become super frustrated with yourself that you can't get anything done and are wasting away your days, and that this person has that much power over you
q. have good weeks and bad weeks, you're in a bad week right now
r. make an appointment with your doctor to increase your anxiety medication
        or
s. all of the above

I'm sure you can guess which answer is mine.



Okay, so to give a little background: We had some really good friends of ours that we spent a lot of time with over this past year. We did a lot of double dates, our kids all get along and are friends, we even planned our trip to Cancun because they invited us along. Fast forward to November and we find out that they're getting a divorce. So sad, so emotional, just terrible. And us trying to figure out how we can be supportive of each of them and still be friends. After talking to my friend about what was going on, and my husband talking to him, we started to notice...inconsistencies in the stories. She was always very vague and not forthcoming--everything was always his fault and it was very calculated in what she said-- he was always very open and sharing and sad and sorry. She was happy to be getting divorced and things just weren't adding up for me. So we started spending more time with the husband when he had the kids with him, and she started spending less and less time with us. I still tried to do things with her, but it was very awkward. I think things really went south when we went to Cancun, and she was upset that she wasn't going. At one point when I felt that she was permanently pulling away from me, I went to talk to her about what was going on. It was not pretty. It was actually kind of horrible. She yelled at me, she accused me of crossing lines, of being inappropriate, of being a bad friend. There was crying, there was hurt feelings, there was a lot of things that just didn't make sense. I thought it got to a point by the end of the conversation where things would be okay and sort of resolved. We went to lunch later that week and she apologized and said she loved me and hugged me, and...we haven't spoken since. It was all a lie. She went to our Bishop and told him I was interested in her husband and now that they're getting a divorce, I'm making my move. She's forbidden her kids from talking to me or my kids. When her kids get back from their dad's, she grills them on if we were there and if I'm inviting myself over or if their dad is. Its sick, and I am in a huge hurtful mess. I thought this person was one of my best friends, I loved her, I wanted to be there for her, I wanted to help her. I worry for her, and I worry about her kids and all I've ever wanted to do was be a good person and a good friend. I know it shouldn't bother me, but her saying these things about me to other people makes me a little crazy and I hate that some people think its true. That I'm having an affair with her husband, that I'm this awful friend, that I'm trying to take her kids from her, that I'm inappropriate. I hate that perfect strangers who don't know me, are hearing these things and believe them. I know I can't control it and it isn't true, I know I'm not a bad person, but man, it hurts. I don't know how this is going to get better, even if we completely pulled away from her and him and their kids, I'm still the girls' Young Womens leader. I will still see her and her kids every sunday. Every tuesday when she drops them off at church. We have mutual friends, who give me the side eye and who are put in the middle of an extremely uncomfortable situation. I wish I could talk to her, I wish I could make everything right, but its not me that has to be okay, its her. And I can't force her to accept reality. I feel very stuck, and it is a terrible feeling, to have no power in what someone does to you. You want to stand up for yourself, you want to shout from the rooftops that I DID NOT DO THAT!! you want to convince everyone of your innocence, you wonder how anyone who knows you could believe that about you. Right now, I just want to be able to get out of bed in the morning and start my day and not feel like a dark cloud is following me wherever I go.

Sorry to lay this all out, but it does feel good to share my side even if its just to a blog that no one who knows about this in person will read. Pray for me please?

True Friends

I've got some things on my mind and I'd like to talk about them. I don't think there's anyone reading this blog anymore and thats okay. Sometimes I just need to say exactly how I'm feeling and know its out there in the void, that maybe someone will read it and understand what I mean.

I read a stupid little whatever article about five ways to know if you have a true friend. It was basically fluff. Stuff like, they accept all your weird quirks and will tell you if you have a booger in your nose and stick around when you're going through hard stuff. And while I agree that those are nice things to have in a friend, I don't think those things make a TRUE friend.

I think a true friend is someone that can call you out on your crap. I don't mean they are mean to you, but when you're asking for real advice with a problem, they can gently and tactfully help you see your part in it too. I don't think a true friend just blindly agrees with everything you say. I think they might challenge your thinking, help you see other sides, grow and become better. I think a true friend is someone who will listen to anything you say and let you say it, but will also help you move past it. If they see you're doing harm to yourself or others will not just idly sit by and say its not their problem.

I think true friends resolve things. If your friend does something that hurts you, a true friend doesn't pull away and ignore them and avoid them, you work it out. And if the other person is a true friend, they will listen to you and say they're sorry and you will all move on. Instead of holding a grudge and staying angry and letting that drive a wedge between your friendship. True friends work on their problems.

True friends aren't play things to be tossed aside when things aren't convenient or easy or always fun. I know we hear this kind of thing a lot: if a friend takes anything from you are any sort of weight to you, they aren't worth it and you need to get rid of them. And sometimes that is true, and sometimes people are worth fighting for even when they aren't perfect. Because wouldn't you in your imperfections, want your friends to fight for you? True friends don't see the worst in each other and understand that people make mistakes, and usually aren't maliciously out to hurt you on purpose.

True friends are honest with each other, you can share your deepest fears or thoughts with a true friend and know that they will understand. Or even if they don't, they won't hold it against you. A true friend might get annoyed with you sometimes, but they can still see all the good things in you and know that you are worth all of it, even the annoying parts. ;)

True friendship is hard. True friendship takes work. True friendship is worth it because after you've been through all this hard work, you know you have a friend you will never give up on and will never give up on you. One that makes you better, that makes you laugh, that gets who you really are and will always be there for you--and that is priceless. How can something like that just be easy? It isn't, and maybe instead of skipping around from person to person always looking for whats easiest, we should invest in the people around us and try to understand where people are coming from. And maybe that person you thought was just another person, will become someone you can't live without.

Things That Need to Be Shared

I have a sort of tick in my brain that won't let me move on from things stuck in there very easily. This may be because I've missed a few days of medication...

Anyway, there are a few things that I can't get out of my head, and I think the world needs to know these things.

First up, a few days ago my husband and I went on a little lunch date. As we were driving, Iggy Azalea's song "Black Widow" came on (AGAIN--seriously radio stations, lets mix it up okay??)--and we were feeling giddy with freedom and started joking around, it went something like this:

♫ ♪  black widow baby... ♪ ♫

Husband: She's not even black.
Me: Yeah it should be "white widow baby!"
Husband: Or Aussie widow baby.
Me: Totally!
Husband: Or--the dingo ate your baby!
Me: laughing hysterically

I hope you know the reference. AND I sincerely hope every time you hear that song you sing "the dingo ate your baby!" Because I sure as heck do.

I want you guys to know that I love broccoli. I do. I think its really delicious and wonderful. Of all the gross vegetables out there, you can't beat broccoli or carrots. Mmmmm, carrots. Anyway, I finally got my crap together and made some freezer meals and cooked one yesterday. Which happened to be beef broccoli teriyaki. And you know whats NOT nice about broccoli? Its extremely pungent. My whole house yesterday smelled like cooking broccoli. My kids came home from school and crinkled their noses and said "WHATS THAT SMELL?!?!" I went to bed last night and could smell it in my room. I woke up this morning and the smell is still here. 

I'm never cooking broccoli again.

So we've become the official dog watchers. We consistently watch three dogs every couple weeks/month-ish. This week we'll have two of them together! I love it, but my husband is wondering how this happened? SOOooooooooo, I convinced him that we should get a puppy for Christmas! A PUPPY! I am so incredibly beyond excited for this, I can't even explain! Can you just picture how awesome its going to be to surprise my kids with a PUPPY on Christmas morning?!? Its like out of a freaking movie! They will remember this Christmas forever! I just want to add that the dog we're watching right now is very very old and just farted behind me and I think I'm going to die. Wow. BUT I'M STILL EXCITED FOR A PUPPY!!!

Guys. GUYS! Its happening again! That time of year where I want to chop all my hair off! What am I supposed to do?! I seriously don't want to grow out a pixie cut again, but I saw the cutest pixie the other day and felt like I got punched in the stomach--I WANT ONE! Ugh. Hair shouldn't be this hard. In an effort to get some of this out, I shaved the side of my head. Wanna see? 

Can you see it? Hmmm, I don't have many pictures on my computer... Oh, how about this one?

So anyway, I kind of have the itch to cut all my hair off and dye it super blonde. I also have been really wanting to chop it above the shoulders and dye it lavender. I love that so much! Here have some more pictures:

 I think after Halloween, this is what I'm going to do ^^ And then, I can switch back and forth between the blonde and the lavender (see below)  (side note--why is there no down arrow thingy??)

But I'm also really tempted to just do something like this ^^ since I already have the shaved side. Not sure how its going to work with the shoulder length cut. We'll see. Tough decisions my friends.

So whats your vote? What do you think I should do? (Knowing full well, that once I get something stuck in my head its eventually most likely going to happen...)

Oooh OH! I am SO EXCITED for Halloween!! I LOVE IT! We finally figured out what we're dressing up as and I'm obsessed with it and so stoked! WHOO! Can't wait to show you guys! Now if I could just get my kids to settle on ONE costume instead of changing their minds every two seconds, that would be great. But seriously, how can people not like getting dressed up?!? SO FUN! So what are you doing for Halloween? Do you have a party you go to every year? Are you a boo humbug kind of person? Are you not the dressing up type? Why?? I just can't wrap my brain around that! ;) 

Okay, fine. I should go. Gotta pick my medication up from Costco!

I'm a Realist Gosh Darn It!

So uh...I recently discovered GOMI. Have you guys been there?? Do you know what Get Off My Internets is?

Basically its a site dedicated to snarking and complaining about all the big blogs out there and what you don't like about them. I got turned on to it through NieNie Dialogues instagram account, she had some fluke with her name being changed and people were going CRAZY about it and then there was a fake instagram account that was making fun of her and it was horrible and pretty hilarious at the same time...because I'm sort of a bad person.

See, if you're a really positive person, who only sees the best in people, who always looks at the bright side, who never complains or gossips or is negative: you won't get this.

I wouldn't say I'm a positive person, but I also wouldn't say I'm a negative person either. I would describe myself as a realist.

Let me explain more: I grew up with a mother who HATES dishonesty. I don't care for dishonesty much myself but I feel like this emphasis on honesty in my young life and growing up, put me in a position to feel like when you pretend someone is nicer than they are, its a lie and I don't like it. Does that make sense? Have you ever had someone say something flat out rude to you, and you KNOW exactly what they meant, but when you tell someone about it they're all like "Oh I'm sure they just meant this, or they were meaning it in this way!" And in your head, you're just like "no, they weren't. They were being rude and we all know it."

I'm not saying I don't want to see the good in people, I'm not saying I don't WANT to be more positive, but I feel like I just don't want to delude myself about people's intentions and by doing that get hurt by them because I refused to see that they weren't a nice person and now they've done something horrible. Really am I making any sense??

Anyway, the point of all this is (there probably isn't a point but...) sometimes I really do just want to snark on people. Because people do things that are annoying and sometimes you just want to feel validated that you're not the only one who feels this way. So when I started reading GOMI (for the most part) I was like I SO GET THESE PEOPLE!! (disclaimer: there are definitely people who take things too far and are much too nit picky and I don't agree with them, I just get the need to talk about things that annoy you without feeling like a completely horrible person.)

I also want to say something about blogs and people's blog personalities. I hope everyone realizes that what you are seeing on a blog is NOT that real person. I lay things out here and they are honest to me, but still it is only a slice of who I am, and sometimes not the slice I always want people in real life to see... ;) So while you MIGHT be reading a blog of someone who you THINK is genuine, odds are: not really. I have friends that I know very well in real life and their blogs are a very much put together display of what they want people to see. There are things on their blogs that are so opposite of what they say and do in real life it astonishes me that they don't feel fraudulent. But they don't see it that way, they see what they want to see and they put out there what they think their lives are like.

So I guess I feel a little less bad complaining about a person who's not even completely "real"-- just an image of what they want to put out there...but I still feel kind of guilty...I'm complicated.

Anyway, if you have tons of time to go through all the forums and find the blogs you like to read and sometimes love to hate and read some of the hilarious things people think of them, I won't judge you since I've spent a ridiculously amount of time on there...its kind of addicting...

But really, how do you feel about this kind of thing? Are you the forever optimist? Are you super negative? Or do you think you're just being real?? And can the optimist, pessimist and realist get along??

Why I Will NOT Appreciate Barf Right Now

I posted this to Facebook today:

              I just want you people to know its been at least 12 years since I got a good nights sleep. You might want to think about that before you have kids... we're dealing with vomit this week! Yay parenthood.

And within minutes a friend of mine (whose kids are all grown up) posted this response:

              It is the worst thing ever! But don't wish too hard that it stops - because before you know it, your kids will be gone and you will only wish you had some throw up to clean up!!!


Really friend?? REALLY?! I mean though...really???

I honestly cannot imagine a time in my life where I'll be sitting around wishing that if only I had some barf to clean up. Nope. Nope nope noooooope.

I know this is something that gets thrown around to young moms all the time. And ya know what? It really isn't helpful. Its easy for you to say when you don't have to actually deal with barfing, diarrhea, nasty sickness. And I really doubt that the people who say this, when they were young moms appreciated doing these things. Talk about hypocrisy. So if you didn't appreciate it then, you can't tell me to now.

Really though, whats the point of saying that to someone? A much more helpful thing to say would be: "Oh man! I so remember how awful that was to deal with! I'm so sorry!!" And leave it at that.

Because I can assure you I will NEVER actually WISH to clean up feces. I will NOT miss doing ridiculous amounts of laundry. I WON'T crave sleepless nights. I will not WANT to deal with tantrum throwing, snot mouthed brats who make me crazy.

YES, of course I will miss having little kids. I will wish for little hands to hold, and little bellies to tickle, and little smooshy cheeks to kiss, and little bodies to hug and little giggles and laughs and games. I WILL wish for those things. But I won't want the other parts back. Dude. For real?

And one more thing, even though I'll miss my own kids being little I don't like the thinking that once my kids are grown up I'm all alone. I'm not going to be alone, they'll still be part of my life. I will still get to have great, fun, fulfilling relationships with them and the cherry on top is that eventually I'll get grandkids and I'll have little kids around again--ones I don't have to do their laundry! This all sounds good to me, not bad. I just would rather be excited about my kids growing up and be positive than dread "being alone" and empty. Boo to that I say!

Okay, I think I've got that off my chest. It was too much to reply back on my Facebook status. Plus I didn't want to lose a friend. ;)

My...Crying...Valentine

Its Valentine's Day! A day of love and flowers and candy and spinning in fields of flowers!!! Whee!

I don't really care about Valentine's Day either way. Some people hate it, some people love it. I don't have strong feelings about it at all. I think its weird that people hate it because who hates love? But then I started thinking about all my own weird quirks and I realized the husband and I were talking the other day about how much I love sad love songs...

Really, I do. Some of my favorite songs are about heartbreak and sadness. Its not because I like broken hearts, its not because I'm heartless, and its not because I hate love. Really, I think the reason that I love sad songs is because they're so beautiful and emotional. I like tender songs, I like songs that make you feel like the emotion was ripped from the singer as they were singing it. They just seem more meaningful to me or something.

So in honor of Valentine's Day, I'm sharing some of my favorite heartbroken songs. Tell me they don't get you right in the gut! I dare ya! :)

Say Something- A Great Big World feat. Christina Aguilera



Your Letter- 112 (sorry about the crappy video quality)

Just Give Me a Reason- Pink feat. Nate Ruess

You Were Mine- Dixie Chicks

My Immortal- Evanescence

Funny Feeling- 112
 

 Landslide- Stevie Nicks (but I like the Dixie Chicks version)

 Someone Like You- Adele

I Will Always Love You- Whitney Houston

 All Cried Out- Allure and 112 (apparently 112 have the best sad songs!) :)


What are your favorite sad songs? What would you add to my list? And a happy Valentine's Day to you!

A Little Bit of Me

Every year since 2009, I've done a yearly review post, all my favorites, all the good and maybe not so good things that happened to us that year. And maybe...a really small maybe...I'll get to that. But I doubt it. Because you know what? This has been one of the weirdest years I've ever had. And although we did do some really fun and good things; if I think back on the year as a whole, I was very much wrapped up inside of my head and this year feels pretty lonely.

First of all, I feel like this is like some bare your soul kind of post so be prepared for that and its loooong. Sorry. This is hard for me to write, its pretty personal and something I'm still trying to figure out and deal with. If you remember, I wrote a post awhile back about being extremely tired. Basically, I've spent months being tired. And this isn't like you didn't get good sleep tired, its I can't exercise because 2 minutes in I'm exhausted and about to fall over, its vacuuming the floor and having to take a nap afterward, its getting one main thing done in my house because that is my limit for the day, its feeling completely overwhelmed by having to do anything MORE, not wanting to add anything to my plate because I can't DO ANYTHING but lay in bed and feel tired, tired, tired.

In that post I talked about not wanting to go to the doctor. I kept hoping against hope that I would just snap out of it, that if I rested enough eventually I wouldn't be tired anymore. When that didn't work, I tried making myself do stuff. When that didn't work, I finally gave in and went to the doctor. I went and did blood work, I get a lot of headaches and migraines so as a precaution he had me do a CT scan (funny side story on this for a future post), but before we even got the results the doctor said something that made me laugh: he said he thought I was depressed. He had me fill out a test and said that based off the answers, I was kind of severely depressed. I laughed and said I don't think so. I thought it was the opposite: I'm tired which is making me depressed--how happy are you when you haven't been able to do anything for the last six months except be exhausted?? He thought the depression was making me tired.

So I went home and waited for the test results. I told my husband that the worst thing they could possibly tell me was that nothing was wrong and that I'd have to go on living like this, which I just couldn't do anymore. And what do you think the test results all came back as? Nothing was wrong. No thyroid issue, no anemia, no problems with the CT scan. Nothing.

I started researching what he said about depression, I read and read and took other tests to gauge if I had depression and it still just didn't fit to me. I didn't really feel bad about myself personally, I felt bad I couldn't do anything or live the way I was used to but I didn't hate myself (any more than any woman feels guilt or not living up to what she feels she can). I was still interested in all the things I was before, I just didn't have the energy to DO them. I didn't want to commit suicide. So in my research I came across some things about anxiety and it hit me. THAT was what I needed to be researching. And so I started reading about anxiety, and I started seriously freaking out. I started having major anxiety about having anxiety. I was probably on the verge of an anxiety attack when my mom called. She said she had a feeling I needed her to call, and it was good because I really, really did. We talked for about an hour about everything I was reading and how I was feeling and it helped me come out of my own head a little bit.

So when I went back to the doctor we talked about that a little bit and he said, well, I want to put you on medication. Honestly, I know how people feel about medication, especially antidepressants. I was scared that it would change my personality, I was scared what people would think of me, would they think I'm crazy? Would they not want their kids to be around me because they think I'm unstable? There was a lot of fear in starting medication, but the overwhelming thought was that I would do anything to not feel like this anymore. If you haven't been there, don't judge.

(Side note, about a year ago I started seeing a homeopathic chiropractor. I went to him for months. He had me take a good amount of supplements (for thyroid, for energy, for yeast, etc.), he did adjustments, he did stuff for my allergies, he changed my whole diet, he made me wear different colored glasses and tell myself that I am worth it, etc. I tried really, really hard to go that route. My sister loves this doctor and he's helped her a lot and I was really hopeful that this would work out so well for me too. I didn't see any results with the allergies after three or four treatments and after so much time, the supplements made me really sick. I felt nauseous every single day. I could't live like that and so I stopped taking them. I just wanted you to know, that I didn't hop right on the antidepressant band wagon.)

Anyway, this is getting super long and I'm sorry about that, bear with me for a little more. I started on a really small dosage and I've worked my way up, if you don't know anything about antidepressants it takes up to eight weeks for them to fully work and the beginning side affects kind of suck. For me it was more headaches and insomnia. That went away after about a week but when they upped the dosage it came back. I'm still trying to figure out the insomnia part. :/

I want you to know something about anxiety though. I didn't realize how much energy I was exerting to be normal in public. Its hard for me to be around people I don't know, I hide that. I like people, I like making new friends, but its a scary and terrifying thing for me sometimes. Loud noises are hard for me, substituting in Primary took all my self control to remain calm because when the children get really noisy, it makes me feel insane. It makes me feel like someone is banging the side of my head every time someone bursts out. I just want it to be quiet. I need that quiet. This is the best way I can put how anxiety works for me: I have to think about every single thing that could possibly ever happen to me (especially if its bad), because then I have control over it. If I've thought about my house exploding, then I'm prepared for that eventuality and it probably won't happen just because I've thought about it. Its the things I HAVEN'T thought about that are going to hurt me. I'm also pretty obsessive, if something bothers me (it could be anything and I never know what its going to be--it can be bobby pins for goodness sake) it is going to be stuck on rewind in my head for days, it is going to replay and replay until I can figure out a way to make it stop. Basically my mind is like a hamster wheel, going in circles, constantly thinking about things, constantly analyzing things, constantly wondering why this is going on or what I should do about that and never getting anywhere. Its exhausting. And I've lived this way for a long, long time without realizing that it wasn't okay.

I've been on the medication for almost two months, and I feel like its starting to help. I'm still tired (the whole insomnia thing...) but I feel like things are starting to turn around. Christmas is the most stressful time of the year for me, its gotten so bad the last few years that I was starting to absolutely hate Christmas. Truly. This year was so odd, I knew logically in my head that I should be stressed out because I had a lot to get done and there was only three days until Christmas but I just WASN'T stressed out. I just felt like, it'll be fine, I'll get done what I get done. When I could remember how I felt the year before and how tense and high strung and manic I was, it was such a weird feeling to know that I SHOULD be like that, but I wasn't.

I'm still getting used to this and all it entails and where I'm supposed to go with it long term, but for now I thought it was time to share. Its something I want to share, but I'm scared for people to know. I'm scared what people will think, I'm scared of the judgement. But I also believe that we hide too much of ourselves, and we walk around thinking we're the only ones like this, and that everyone else is great and normal and fine, when really we all struggle with something and maybe we need to stop with the act so we can reach out to each other and just help.

So friends, here's me sharing what this last year was really like for me. Thanks for listening. :)

Things I Want My Children to Know

What I want to talk about right now is my children. My oldest is now in the fifth grade. At the end of 4th they did the whole "puberty/body changing" lesson. It was a really great opportunity to sit and talk with her about things that aren't necessarily very comfortable to talk about it. And it got me thinking about some things I want my kids to know that I probably don't take enough time to sit and talk to them about.


So here's an open letter to my kids:



                             What I wish for all of you to learn, earlier rather than later in life:

 First of all, I wish for you to not let other people dictate how you feel about yourselves. What I mean by this, is that if someone (anyone: a friend, an adult, a stranger, some kid on the playground) says you're not good at something, or makes fun of you, or teases you--to not let that matter. It really doesn't matter what anyone else says because YOU are amazing. You astonish me with your creativity, your sense of humor, your capacity to love people, your ability to learn things so quickly. I look at you in awe, I stare at you and can't believe you are mine and God is letting me keep you for awhile. You are super special, and so is everyone else. Remember that people say things all the time for lots of different reasons that might hurt us. Maybe they feel bad about themselves, maybe they're jealous of you, maybe they're just feeling mean that day, maybe they didn't think what they said was all that mean, whatever the reason is, it doesn't matter. Words are careless sometimes, and sometimes YOU will say things that hurt other people. Don't let your self worth depend on what other people think of you. Who are they anyway? Focus on what God thinks of you, and God thinks you're pretty wonderful. Thats all that matters. (Let me tell you a trick, if someone makes fun of you, shrug it off and don't let them know it bothers you. Even better, don't let it actually bother you. :) If you can laugh and say "Oh well, does that make you feel better about yourself?" things will be easier. Promise.)

With all your awesomeness and specialness, that still doesn't make you better than other people. Don't act superior and arrogant and bring other people down. You'll find a lot of people like that. Nobody likes it. Whether you really ARE smarter than someone, ARE better than someone at something, remember humility because there are better people than you out there too. Be kind and grateful for the things you are good at, and don't ever make someone feel less than you. They're God's child too.

Laugh. Laugh and laugh and laugh some more. Find humor in things instead of focusing on the bad. Its going to be hard. Its easy to point out the annoying, bad things in life. Its much harder to go through a terrible situation and find something to smile about. Do that though and your life will be so much easier. I love this quote by Marjorie Pay Hinckley: "You can either laugh or you can cry. I prefer to laugh, crying gives me a headache."

Don't be afraid to resolve a situation. That doesn't mean to say mean things to people whenever they bother you, but it also doesn't mean to let people walk all over you. If someone treats you badly, in a calm way tell them how you feel. They might yell at you, they might get upset, they might never want to talk to you again. Thats their problem and they will have to resolve it. (It might hurt you a lot too.) Still, you get to dictate how you let people treat you, and if people can't be nice, you don't HAVE to stay around them. Sometimes its hard to remember when we're taught to be nice to everyone, that we don't have to be best friends with everyone. Still be nice but set boundaries. Thats ok.

Pray. Turn your heart to God, He will never fail you. Pour your heart to Him, He will listen. He understands. He will ease your burdens and give you answers. But remember, He doesn't just take everything away, you have lessons to learn and you must learn them, so pray to know how to learn the lesson, not for Him to take it away. You will become stronger from these lessons and an even better person, the closer you draw to God, the more your heart will be open to learning and loving and getting answers. Always stay close to Him, you will never regret it.

Its okay when you make mistakes! We all do it! Nobody is perfect and you are just not going to be. Sometimes you will mess up, sometimes really badly. I will still love you and so will God. Don't expect yourself to be perfect right away, don't let the guilt of mistakes make you not want to try anymore. When you do mess up, take care of it and try again to do better. Work a little more and a little more towards doing the best you can, but you can't expect to do everything perfectly and right every single time. Just keep trying, thats all I ask. Don't give up.

Work hard. You're going to see people all around you and their lives are going to look perfect and better and more appealing. That is a lie. You don't know their whole situation and even if things do seem easier for them, they aren't. To get good things you have to learn to work hard. You're expectations of what you want, can't exceed how hard you work. If you want something a lot of people don't obtain, you have to be willing to work harder and take the time to get there. And its okay to be satisfied with less than what others have. There is no reason to think you need a ginormous house or make tons of money to feel legitimate. Think about how silly that sounds: This person is better than me because their house is bigger and more expensive. Thats dumb. Are they a nice person? Do they treat people respectfully? Do they serve and love and help others? THAT makes a good person, not possessions. Learn this lesson and you will feel so much happier than constantly competing with the people around you. Its just not worth it.

I may not be perfect at these things, but having lived my life so far, I know if I had learned these things and put them into practice earlier I would be so much happier. I'm not saying my life would be easy, we still all have trials and hardships, but so much happier. And THAT is important.

Your mom loves you so much! I only want to give you the most important things in life, and that doesn't always include "stuff." I want to give you the best parts of me even though I fail and mess up. There's another lesson I had to learn: parents aren't perfect. We're people too. We don't always know how to control ourselves or whats the best thing to do in a situation, but we are trying our hardest to do our best. So try and remember that for me okay?

Love, Mom


I could probably still add a lot more, but it just got too long. :) What else would YOU add? Is there something really important I left out? Isn't being a parent so hard sometime?!

Thats the Way the Cookie Crumbles...

...I don't know I just really want a cookie right now.

Sleep Deprived In Seattle

Hey guys, I just wanted to pop in here and just say...something? I don't know, I just know that lately my posting has been inconsistent and a little nutso. And I'm sorry about that.

I mean, to be honest, I AM a little bit nutso and sometimes I struggle with that, which is why I blog about it because a lot of the time it helps me work through things when I talk about them or write them down.

I've really struggled the last little while with having no energy. I've been really, really REALLY tired and I'm not sure why. I mean, I'm ALWAYS tired. I've been tired for the last eleven years since I started having kids, but this lately has been an all time low and its just starting to sink in for me that it is really not normal.

I've pretty much spent the whole summer trying to get my feet underneath me and failing. Last summer I had a great schedule; we went to the library every Monday, we went to a different fun park with friends every Wednesday, we had our ward play group every Thursday, etc. etc. I tried to do the same thing this summer and I just couldn't make it happen because I was so dang worn out!

So now school's here and I'm trying to get back into a new routine and I'm hoping against hope that I can figure out whats going on with my body and somehow get control of it.

I know what you're thinking right about now: GO TO THE DOCTOR FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!

I get it, I do, I would probably say the same thing to my friends; but there's also this: I feel so stupid going to the doctor because I'm tired. It seems so lame. And when you're so super tired it feels like so much work to drive out to the doctor and talk about stuff and all that...jeez, I sound so lazy. But thats kind of the point! I have no energy to do anything not even help myself. Blah.

And thats about it. I'm working on it. I'm working on getting organized and pushing myself to do things even though I'm tired, I'm working on keeping up with my schedule, I'm working up to the doctor. I'm trying, I'm actually really trying.

Have you ever felt like this? Have you ever just been so worn down and for no apparent reason, you haven't had a super stressful time or pushed yourself any differently than normal, but you're just so tired??

I would love some advice, or experiences or pretty much anything--and I'm sure my family would appreciate it as well. :)



I think I've yawned ten times just in the typing of this. Ugh.