3-28-11 Temple Walk

This past Saturday, the 26th, I walked to the Las Vegas Temple with my Young Women. We started at our church at 6 am and walked 20 miles from as far west as you can go to as far east as you can go. It took about 8 hours, and my feet and ankles were hurting after about 8 miles like they never have before. It was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done, and after walking the first 17 miles, I decided to run (more like jog painfully slow) the next 3 miles. I was so pleased with myself for pushing through the pain in my feet and ankles and actually running. A few of my young women ran with me some of the time, and I was so proud of them. I wasn’t so much exhausted as I was in pain. I find running exhausts me quickly as far as my breathing goes, but after walking all those miles I wasn’t tired as much as I was just in pain. I think everyone felt that way. Our feet were just not prepared to walk for 8 straight hours on the sidewalk. But it was a great experience that I’m very happy I was able to complete with my girls.  A few of them weren’t at church yesterday, and I bet they were feeling it the next morning. I was sore, but after getting off my feet I felt so much better. We ended at the Temple with a delicious lunch and our stake president talking to the girls.

I just got done running a couple miles. I have some running goals I’d like to accomplish this year if I can just get my lungs to keep up with my body. I’ve started running the trail through the neighborhoods around me, and I quite enjoy my morning or evening jogs. Especially on those days when we have perfect weather, and we’ve had some really beautiful days lately.

This Thursday Jacob and I are heading to Provo for his mission reunion. We’re dropping the boys off at Adam’s on the way up (he and his wife just moved to Cedar City), and then we’ll spend a couple days alone together hanging out in Provo. We are hoping to go to a session of general conference, but I’m not sure if we’ll be able to get into one without waiting in line for a couple hours. I’m not so sure that I really want to do that.

Oh, good news. I weighed myself last week, and I’m down 6 lbs in a month. I’ve been doing weight watchers, and I really like it and hope that the weight loss continues.

Two more of my classes started today, so I’m going to be busy until the end of May. I just want this semester to be over so that I can relax. Hopefully I can get an A in all my classes. I better get to reading if I want that to happen :).

3-16-11 Catching Up

Well, it has been busy around here. I think.  I can’t remember anymore what’s gone on. I know that over the weekend i had youth conference, so that kept me busy. That was Friday-Sunday. Saturday night Jacob and I actually got to go on a date. With each other. Alone. It was so nice! My hubs and I forget that we really need time to be alone together. Sometimes I forget that Jacob never got me to himself, and I never got him to myself. We’re constantly sharing each other with the boys, which is wonderful, but we definitely need a little “us” time each week. You know, a little romance :). Or just a chance to chat with each other and laugh with each other and remember how much fun we are together.  Last week we also went to lunch together, so we feel like we’ve been spoiled with “us” time, and it has been so pleasant!

On Friday before youth conference, I took the boys to the park with Jen, Sherrelle, and Elissa. All the boys had so much fun playing together.

 

Our weather has been so beautiful lately, so these park days are a must. I went running this morning after Adam picked up the boys, and it was the perfect temperature for a morning jog.  Makes me grateful that I live in Vegas where I don’t have to worry about being snowed in. It does get quite hot in the summer, but all is well if you can get to a pool.

Jacob and I are so grateful each day that we get to be with the boys. They makes our lives so pleasant and meaningful. Even on the days they are a bunch of zoo animals running through this house, I can’t help but smile as I watch them play with and love (and fight with) each other. Nothing is as sweet to my soul as watching my two boys love each other. Easton came out of his room the other night to go potty, and I asked him if Teags was asleep and he said, “Yeah, i just sang him to sleep. I sang him a song about the sky.” He then sang his random made-up off-tune song to me, and I just smiled thinking of Teagan falling to sleep to it.  Easton just LOVES his brother, and it is sweet to watch them interact when they aren’t screaming at each other. That part is not sweet. Not so much at all.

Teagan has been a ball of fun lately. My goodness, he is full of energy and giggles. Those giggles are the high points of my day. Actually, I think all of us are quite fond of Teagan when he’s laughing. It’s just contagious.  He loves to read scriptures and pray each night. Jacob and I have been reading a verse each with the boys, so we make Teagan repeat each word after us, and it is so cute to listen to him. He does such a great job saying words. He’s already gotten so big. Soon we’ll have to add another baby to the family. I can feel a baby just around the corner. Not yet, but it’s coming.

3-7-11 Family Fun Day

Jacob and I decided to take the boys to the park this morning to fly the kite. The kite-flying didn’t go so well because we could never get it up for longer than a minute, so the boys ended up running around playing on the play ground. It was such a beautiful day out, though, so we didn’t mind being out there one bit. Having fun with my boys is my favorite thing in all the world.

 

After the park Jacob had to go in to work for a few hours, but when he came home we ate dinner and headed off to the library, another one of the boys’ favorite things to do. We try to do it weekly, and we usually do unless we have a really busy week.

I bought a couple film cameras this week and did a shoot this weekend with my Bronica, so I just have to send the film in to get processed and scanned. I’m excited to start shooting film again and can’t wait for my new film gear to arrive shortly!

3-2-11 Some Favorite Marriage Quotes

It is unfortunate to watch so many marriages fail - to see the hurt of people that I love so much, and watch them helpless to the consequences of their spouse’s decisions the same way I was. It’s disheartening to know that ultimately we each have our own personal and individual agency and to see a marriage that could have been saved come to an end because one or both involved used their agency unwisely.

I have heard the all too common complaint “I just don’t live him/her anymore” and seen that complaint used as a means of justification for walking out on a marriage. But I know better that love is a choice, a verb, and that by “loving” your spouse you can revive even the most stale of marriages and actually “fall” in love again. I know that a lack of love is a lack of doing, a lack of obedience on the part of the ones that claim to have fallen out of love.

I have come across great quotes that really put things into perspective.

“Under the law of the Lord, a marriage, like a human life, is a precious, living thing. If our bodies are sick, we seek to heal them. We do not give up. While there is any prospect of life, we seek healing again and again. The same should be true of our marriages, and if we seek Him, the Lord will help us and heal us.”     - Dallin H Oaks, “Divorce”

“Don’t just pray to marry the one you love. Instead, pray to love the one you marry.”    - Spencer W. Kimball

“Thus we have seen that while a person may “fall in love” with a spouse by emotion, the husband or wife progresses and blossoms in love by decision.” – Elder Lynn G Robbins, “Agency and Love In Marriage”

“Because love is as much a verb as it is a noun, the phrase “I love you” is much more a promise of behavior and commitment than it is an expression of feeling.” – Elder Lynn G Robbins, “Agency and Love in Marriage”

I love these quotes, and I wish that we would all do better at making our marriages happy and successful. These quotes always remind to keep nourishing my marriage in the way that I need to so that I will never fall out of love, even when others around me are.