COUNT YOUR MANY ROCKS!!

All right! There are times when I get all caught up in all the things that I am NOT doing. I feel that if only I were more like so and so I would be so much better off. When I get like this I am reminded of an experience I had several years ago.

It was one of those days when nothing seemed to be going right. My house could not be found under the blanket of "stuff" all around. My kids probably were fighting with one another. I was probably wondering how I was ever going to get the 5 years of food storage that I need to substain my family for the next 10 years of famine. I was probably concerned about all the commandments that I was either breaking or not living like I should. I was probably wondering how I was ever going to lose the extra weight that I have accumulated over the years and etc. Anyways, it was one of those days were everything was wrong. There were no bright lights in my eyes that day. As a way to try and cope with this heavy weight of "pressures", I decided that I would go for a walk.

As I walked up the canyon I started to cry. I could not believe that I had allowed my life to get into this kind of shape. How was I ever going to get out of the mess I created. As I walked I remember my mom telling me that when she gets down on herself that she counts her blessings. This thought kind of sent chills down my spin. "How could I could blessing when I didn't have any," I thought to myself. I kept walking.

I found myself sitting at the bank of a dry creek bed. The pressure that was welling up inside my chest was more than I could bear. I decided that I would start counting my blessing to see if this pressure would disappear from my chest. I decided that I would name a blessing for every rock that was in front of me. So I begin..
1. I am alive(I think that is a blessing) 2. I have a husband 3. I have children 4. I have parents 5. I have a roof over my head 6. I have food to eat 7. My husband has a job 8. I don't have any physical handicap's(most of the time) 9. I have the gospel in my life 10. I have a car to drive.

I started to feel a little lighter in my chest. I continued:

20. I have hair 21. I have eyes 22. I have clothes to wear 23. I have a phone 24. I have some talents 25. I have friends 26. I have grass to play on 27. I have been able to travel and see some of the world 28. I have been able to get an education
29. I have the ability to think 30. I can have an opinion.

Man, my pile of rocks in front of me was getting bigger. Not the "pressure" from inside was gone it was replaced with excitement. I continued:

100. I have a red pair of shoes 101. I have a black pair of shoes 102. I have two swimsuits 103. I have a pair of shorts 104. I have blue eye makeup 105. I have mascara 105. I have teeth 106. I have sheets to put on my bed 107. I can choose what cup I want to use 108. I have a phone. 109 I have a cordless phone 110.I am alive!

I stood up to looked at ALL the blessings I had, I was impressed. My pile of blessings was HUGE! The pressure inside my chest had been replaced with a feeling of contentment and hope. I knew that I had been given a lot and I had a lot to be thankful for. As I turned to walk back home, I noticed that the rocks stretched far beyond my pile in both directions. At that moment I realized the Lord was teaching me a tender and precious lesson. His blessing have come from so long ago that I can not even count them. The blessings that he has yet to bless we with are without number. The ones that I can count are only very small in to comparison to what I have already gotten and what he has yet to bless me with. My stubbornness in refusing to acknowledge the blessings that I have the ability to count seems so unjust. Unjust to the Lord to the one who gave me ALL.

As I returned home: my blanket of stuff was not that big of deal. It was all blessings in disguise. My kids fighting was an opportunity for me to teach them how to work our problems. My beginnings of a food storage was a great start and sufficient to substain us if we needed it to. Those commandments that I could do better on, I am learning a lot about why they are important to keep.

It is amazing to me what a change in perspective can bring. To me it has brought happiness and hope.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARLIE!!!

Out little Princess turned FOUR! I can not believe that she is already so grown up. I have just noticed in the last couple of months that she is not quite that toddler that she once was. She is a sweetie. Her personality is all girl. There is nothing that is purple or pink enough.

For her birthday we celebrated it over a few days with lots of friends and family. On the Sunday before we had the Anderson's up for a dinner. She got to open up some present and hear the happy birthday song. She was really excited about that. Then on her actual birthday we went with Hailee on a field trip. We got to all go to the Bean Museum at BYU. After the Bean museum we went to Toy's"R"Us and looked for a gift she went straight for the princess baby care set. I asked her if she was sure that it what she wanted and she said yes. It was so cute, I noticed that a couple of times she clenched her fists up in the air and rose them above her head and shook them like she was really excited. It was really cute. That night we had the neighbors over for pink and purple cupcakes. Then on Friday night we went with some friends to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate Marlie's and their little boy's, Logan, birthday. Logan's mom is so awesome she bought some birthday things for the kids to celebrate. She bought Marlie a ti era, a princess wand, necklace, bracelet, and balloons. My other children said I want Nickcole and Al to come on my birthday. (Thank you for doing that Nickcole) After dinner we went swimming as families and that was cut a little short because the pool closed earlier then we anticipated but we ended the night with an ice cream from Article Circle.





I am so thankful that Marlie is a part of our family. She is defiantly the baby. She has these eyes that melt anyone when she looks at you. We want you to know Marlie, that we are proud of who you are and that we love you. We are thankful that we are your parents and you are in this family. We want you to know that we love you more than you can understand and more than we can express with words. Thank you Peanut!! We Love you.

Having fun with Kale

Kale is such a cutie. Today we went on a field trip together. We had so much fun. We went to the children's museum. I was not able to ride the bus with him so I was a little disappointed that I could not be with him. At the museum they had a lot of fun things to teach the kids abut the human body. It was a little crowded with a few to many 5 and 6 year olds. After the museum we ate our lunches and then it was time to go back. I put Kale on the bus and started heading toward my car when I heard "Mom, Mom." I turned around to see Kale in the back seat of the bus with the window down and his head hanging out. I laughed and thought that I was glad that there were other adults on the bus to supervise. After we got home and I got dinner down with I had to leave for a minute. All the other kids were in the house so I went looking for Kale. When I opened up my front door this is what I saw:


I said to him "Kale what you doing?" His reply "Reading a book" I said, "Do you have a book?" he said, "No". I just laughed and had to take a picture. He is such a little cutie pie. I love him a lot.

House building

We did the cement while working on the painting. This was a huge project and a great big pain! We had so much help on this. Matt Brickey, his son, and Todd Crook came and did our slab in the garage. I have a third card that I can not locate that has pictures of all of their help. I will post them when I find it. These pictures are of us pouring the driveway. We were so desprate for help. We waited a little to long in the season. It was starting to rain a lot and concrete washes away in the rain. Again, Matt was going to help but because we had to cancel it because of rain the week before he could not help this particular weekend. He had a couple of friends that were willing to come and help. Chad came and brought his big (for lack of a better word) leavling machine. I was so excited this day because the morning that we were going to pour Uncle Ron called and said that he could come and help and would bring his three boys. I was so touched. It meant so much to me. He came and brought with him three concrete blankets. (I still have them if you are wondering Uncle Ron) We prayed so hard that the rain would hold till we could get it poured. Right as we finished up the rain poured and poured hard. We covered it up and waited ahile for it to stop. After awhile we peeled the blankets back and started to finish it. It started to rain and we covered it again. After a couple of times of this we were able to finish it and cover it before the rain hit again. It was amazing and a HUGE blessing that we were able to pour it that weekend and that the rain held till we were done. Prayer works. The Lord is aware of what is going on. We still had one more cement day. Todd came and helped us pour our steps and side walks and landing. He said that having cement tools is a curse cause then you have to use them. I really would agree. But Thank you all so much. I know you spent time and money on our behalf! THANK YOU!!

House Building

One of the best things about our house is the view. I included a picture so that you could see. I love to look out the window and watch the town live. The next project we took on was all the finish work. That is one things that Garry knows how to do. By the time it was done I knew how to do it as well. After the finish work we painted. WHAT A PAIN. We had to go through the whole house twice with primer. Then we had to go back and tape everything off. Then we painted the brown. Then we had to go tape off all the ceilings. I am so thankful for all the help that you all gave to us. Here are some pictures of us painting. Autumn came up and spent and entire day taping. Mom and Dad Van Tassell spent a ton of time taping and painting. we could have not done it without them. The kids really enjoyed painting. They all wanted to use the sprayer. They thought that was fun. I guess when there is nothing in the house but sheet rock and plywood it is a good time to let them paint! Thank you Todd for the paint sprayer! It worked out marvelous!

More house building

Here are some more pictures of the house building process. After it was framed the electrical and plumbing had to be done. Garry and his dad did the electrical. We are so thankful for dad! He spent so much time up here. He did it all just to help. We are very thankful for him! Thank you dad! One Saturday Uncle Chandler came all the way from Roosevelt to help out as well! Thank you so much. It meant so much. I think that day he gained a new buddy! Kale would not leave his side. He answered about 1000 questions as well. Garry tried his hand at plumbing and decided he would reserve his plumbing skills for repairs only. He did a good job and we have great water but think next time that is a job to hire out. (J/K there is no next time) After the guts were in we decided we needed a cruise. The timing worked out perfectly that while we were on out cruise (thanks to mom and dad Anderson) it was sheet rocked and bricked. Kyle and his boys came back and grated it. I was so proud of Kyler, Nick, and Lance, they were able to do it with a little help from Kyle. Again, so thankful for ALL of the work that they gave to us!

The house that many hands Built

Kyle was SOOOOO Awesome to us. He dug our foundation, brought in fill, and made rock walls. There is no way we could have done it with out him. Thank you so much Kyle so much! After we hired the foundation poured we did the underground plumbing and I tared. Dad and mom Anderson came up to help with this. We then paid someone to frame it for us. After framing we decided to roof it ourselves. Chad, Kevin, Eldon, Brian Laney, and Garry gave it a good shoot. After working on it a couple of days Kyle saved us AGAIN and hired a roofer. That was a HUGE stress relief.

In Memory of Lynn Marie Norton

My dear friend Lynn Norton passed away a couple of weeks ago. You may all know her as Kelby's mom. She will be missed. It is at times like this that I lean on my knowledge of the plan of salvation. I find my self often wondering what she is doing. How much of what her kids are doing can she see. And knowing how free she must feel to not have her dieased body holding her back. She was a great lady and a dear friend. I will never forget her and look forward to the reunion on the other side. This picture was taken when Lynn, Kelby, Jeremy, Ryder, and 5 day old Haydyn came to help Garry and I lay our wood floor!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

We decided that for my Dad's birthday we would go where he was to wish him a happy birthday. He was in the next to last day of the senate session. We really surprised him. We had a lunch the day before to celebrate it so he really was not expecting anything. It was awesome. After we sang to him we walked around the state capitol and decided to see if the governor was in. Our governor is so wonderful. He left some meetings to come and meet with us. I don't think that at this point my kids understand how unordinary it is to meet the governor. Someday they will.

Our trip to Moab

We went with the Anderson side of the family to Moab last week. We had so much fun. We went because Tracy, Ryan, Trisha, Jody, Loren, and Davette all ran the marathon. I was sooo proud of them because I know that it is something I can not yet do. By the end of the race Mom, Dad, Garry, and I decided we will be running next year. I will be running the five mile. After the race we did some hiking with the kids. We had a good time. We are thankful for the oppertunity to spend time with them.

Welcome to our blog

Alright, I decided that I would put together a family blog about us. I think that keeping track of thoughts, feelings, trials, and fun is very important. So this is the beginning!!