How do they do it??

Ok so for the past 3 months I have gone to tax school and then been working at H&R Block. I have to say I have grown a deep respect for mothers who do this all the time.. not just the few months I have been doing but full time. How do they seriously juggle it all. There are days when I get home from work and feel like I can just drop but still have to make dinner for the kids and everything else. I am lucky enough to only have 1 more month of this and then I can go back to life as usual here, with a few less bills and debts thanks to this job. I will have to say.. now that I know what I am getting into... next year I will have a better plan in place for this. For now I tip my hat to those amazing parents who are able to juggle all of their hats with style and grace... you are all an inspiration to us.

Great Grandma's are Great!

So I have had the privilege of knowing most of my Great Grandma's in my life and it it a joy that my kids have also had the same opportunity. Last October my Grandma Brooks came for a visit and I took that visit as a chance to get a picture of her with each of her Great Grandkids she has here. What a treasure for them to have in the future but I wanted to create something special for her as well. So I hopped on to my Heritage Makers site and created a little canvas for Grandma to have and enjoy. We started from scratch and the kids knew her favorite color is brown and we went from there. Each kid picked their favorite picture they had taken with her and we arranged them in a nice order. We then went through and found some word strips and the kids picked out the ones they thought best described her. after everything was done we had a beautiful canvas. We had it printed and mailed directly to her so that she would have it during all the snowy times. When she received it in the mail it was such a lovely surprise. What a great way for us to tell her how much we love her and all she does. I wanted to share this little project with you today to inspire you to make a little something special for someone in your life today. It doesn't have to be a canvas but if you want to or want to see what other things you can do with your photos for gifts go check out lovelyheartsmemories.com. Enjoy!

Families Can Be Together Forever

As some of you may know I have been doing taxes this year as a seasonal job to help us pay off our debt and to also help us get back on track with our budget after Christmas. It has been challenging, rewarding, frustrating, and oh so many other things. We as a family have had to adjust our lives around me not being home all the time. This has really made me think about family values. I know this job is only 3 months long and the sacrifice of the family will bring rewards in the end of a new vehicle so we can travel again, or a step closer to buying our own home. But what is an eternal family? An Eternal family is those people who share our lives, through the tough and good times. They support each other, work together. They pray together, read together, and look after each other. They are not selfish and worry about who gets all the money and think about where's my cut, your so unfair. They don't worry about who is doing more work and when do they get what they feel is theirs. They serve each other, with thoughts of complete love and not thoughts of "you owe me". It's a fine line, as we struggle to maintain that selfishness in our family while the world and Lucifer are out there trying to convince us that these things are not true. I have watched other families struggle with these issues of what they think they are fairly do. They twist facts around in their heads to make it so the other person is always at fault while missing the fact that they are both at fault. We were not sent to the earth to learn how to make your partner suffer no matter how much they may have hurt you. An eternal family does not have those feelings, but instead feelings of love and understanding. I am sad as I see those around me struggle with this and even more come into my office to get their taxes done telling me stories of the same. I am even more sad as I see the seeds of this starting in family that will drive a wedge in our eternal family. I see it in myself when I come home and see a mess where I use to have clean and feel angry that no one could pick up the slack. I see it in my husband who feels it is unfair for him to have to do extra around the house just because for 3 months I am working too. I see it in my kids who feel that they shouldn't have to help out with extra chores while one of them is away... and I struggle to know how to get rid of that wedge. It's funny how you don't notice things like that until sometimes it is a major problem. I don't think ours is a major problem yet, and that may be the blessing of seeing all those who it is too late for around me. These things all come back to one of my favorite primary songs when I was a kid, Families Can Be Together Forever... I want this, I have always wanted this, and I know as I pray and search I will find the solution to get this wedge out of our family. I hope for those out there who may be struggling like us that you can find it too. For now here is a Mormon Message that Primary song. Enjoy.

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Oh what a happy day!! I just picked up my computer from the store after waiting for almost 2 months for it to get fixed. I is hard to post on the kids computer one.. because I have to use a second screen with it because the laptop screen is cracked which also means I can't take it to the room I am in.. hence I am NEVER on it. Oh what a Lucky day to get my phone call today to save me from everything!
However this is still a quick post as I have lots of other things to catch-up on.. like 800 emails!! Facebook, Heritage Makers Projects and soo much more.

Before I sign off for today ( promise I will post tomorrow!) Here is a St.Patty's Vintage Card from this amazing site Enjoy!