BabiesPhoto by Patrick Schrödter on Unsplash - Children laughing
- Children singing
- Birds
- Mountains
- Trees covered in frosty white
- Rainbows
- The ocean moving in and out with the waves
- Crocuses poking up through the snow
- Deer bounding across a field
- Tall mountains
- Waterfalls
- Storm clouds
- Blue sky and sunshine!
- Soft pillows and cozy blankets
- Fire -- in a fireplace or fire pit
- Quilts
- Abundant flowers
- Flowers that grow in unlikely places -- like the cracks in cement
- Mail (of the non bill or junk mail variety)
- Love notes
- Listening to my children laugh together
- Warm homemade bread with butter and honey
- An acoustic guitar paired with a beautiful voice
- Soft rugs
- Rustic furniture
- A view from up high
- Wooden things
- Antiques
- Singing
- Dancing
- A good book
- pictures of nature
- Swinging
- Playing Princess (my puppet)
- Visiting with friends
- Lamp light
- Family
- Creating order and beauty
- Going for a drive
- Meandering through the woods
- Building a snowman
- Candlelight
- Thrift Shopping
- Quiet moments like this one to contemplate the many gifts God has given me.
I Sher
LOVE
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Things That I Enjoy
Monday, March 11, 2024
Ideas Worth Thinking About
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash There is beauty in seeing things from a different perspective. |
I just finished listening to a book called Soulful Simplicity by Courtney Carver. I really enjoyed hearing her story of the transformation of her life and the things she learned along the way. She started her story from when she was in an abusive marriage. Then she was a single Mom of one daughter who worked a ton and went into a lot of debt to give her and her daughter things she felt they "deserved". Then she got married again to a good man and they continued collecting stuff and going places they couldn't afford until she got MS. After that things slowly transformed as she worked to get rid of stress and be healthier so that she could be present and healthier for her family.
Some of the things she mentioned learning were that children need, and prefer, time with their parents more than piles and piles of stuff. She learned that things own us as much as we own them. Once we have them we need to store them and take care of them. So many of us store piles of things we don't look at for years, but that we keep "just in case". She and her husband took a class from Dave Ramsey and got out of debt. They got rid of things they didn't love and ended up downsizing from a 2000 square foot house to a 750 sq. ft. apartment. She quit her job and started doing something she loved and taking more time with family and friends.
Some of the things she learned would probably seem extreme to a lot of people, but she is happy with her choices and realizes that not everyone's situations are the same. Some people are super glad not to have to work in a yard while others look forward to creating their own garden, or retreat, or play area. Some people have larger families and more room makes sense. Some people love hosting and staying at home, and some want to travel as much as possible.
One of the interesting things to me was the thought that we sometimes avoid our problems through things. We may not know how to solve our problems, or who to get help from, or where to find the energy and courage to face them and so we keep ourselves busy doing things that do not really add value to our lives. We shop for things we already have too many of, or watch television so that we do not have to think. We do things mindlessly to avoid things that are hard. Sometimes this can be helpful, but if we do it all of the time, we may be keeping ourselves from moving forward.
I like to remember when I read or listen to books that the ideas in them are just that -- ideas. I do not have to adopt them all. On the other hand, there is research behind some of the ideas I read and reading about these ideas gives me a chance to think of something in a different way than I may have before. Different perspectives can be life changing, or they can just give us an interesting view of how other people live. I do recommend Soulful Simplicity. I thought it had ideas worth thinking about!
Thursday, March 7, 2024
Glimpses of Heaven
Last night after having traveled for a very long time to get home, I went to bed early. I was exhausted. But as I laid there I started remembering moments from my trip that I loved. Little glimpses of heaven here on Earth. I ended up getting up to tell Derek some of the experiences so that he could enjoy them too (though he was there for some of them).
I often feel like babies bring a little bit of heaven with them, and it is hard to beat a little boy running towards you yelling "Grandma!" and throwing himself into your arms, or laughing uproariously about the "scary face" he is making and how obviously terrified Grandpa or Daddy are because of it.
I love watching a new Mom, who is tired and worn out, doing her best to smile and give attention to her toddler, or somehow looking joyful as she holds her new little one who has kept her awake a good share of the night. I love watching a Dad who likes to be involved in taking care of his children, and who genuinely loves being with them. I love when older siblings are so happy to greet a sibling and who want to help them if they are sad.
This world has so many hard things, and bad things, but if you have the chance to spend time with a good family who loves each other, then you can feel heaven is closer than you knew, and there is hope for a better world.
Friday, March 1, 2024
When You Go To A Children's Museum.....
And the only picture that is taken on your phone is of you!
Brigham was not impressed with my tower. |
Brigham in a fireman coat and a Nasa hat at the magnet table. |
Mike and Brigham. The chair has a pulley so you can pull yourself up. |
When we got home Emily had a stinky diaper and Brigham wanted it taken care of immediately. He plugged his ears while she cried. He gets very concerned and wanted to make sure she was ok. |
He was "snuggling" sister and rocking the swing. |
I liked Brigham's face in this one. |
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Enjoying Brigham and Emily
Emily enjoying the swing. I enjoyed when I was holding her more than when she was in the swing! |
Big brother who is good to Emily but is a bit emotional. He loves his Mommy time! |
Emily in her lemon outfit. |
Brigham wearing my boots and getting ready to vacuum. We vacuumed upstairs before his parents came home, each of us using our individual vacuums. |
Brigham liked to put on my boots and have me tie them so that he could immediately untie them. |
This is the tool that he often had me use to "poke dirt". |
He looks very serious about playing playdough. I ended up making him a lot of snakes. One for almost every color. |
Pictures with Grandma! |
This is a bit blurry, but he wanted to wear his blue hat because I was wearing mine. |
Brigham likes to climb into the walker downstairs and run around, occasionally running into walls on purpose. He put weights on the tray that weighed about the same as he did. |
This is one of the five pound weights. He had Grandma put on the 8 pound weights. |
It is really fun to be here. Mike and Tia are really good parents who obviously love Brigham and Emily!
Monday, February 26, 2024
Sleep
Brigham using "Daddy's rake". He usually uses his own yellow one and has me use Daddy's. |
I have not posted about my new granddaughter being born because I think Tia would like to be the one to share such happy news. She has been born though, and will be coming home with her Mom and Dad tomorrow. Brigham has been as sweet as can be with them gone, but he misses them and will be really happy to have his parents back. We will see if he is as happy to see Emily!
Meet Emily Marie. |
Friday, February 23, 2024
Pictures from Today
Brigham on Grandma's "Ipad" |
Brigham helping Daddy rake in the back yard. |
Ghost Brigham with his vacuum (looking at these pictures makes him giggle) |
Brigham smiling with his body through a little hole. About two seconds before this he was frowning because I wasn't taking the picture fast enough. |
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Grandma!
Brigham and me on the way home from the airport. |
Brigham with snacks from my bag and some batteries. |
More Brigham! |
I had the very great pleasure of getting to hear, in person, Brigham say "Grandma" lots of times today. He wanted to go through Grandma's bag and use her "Ipad" (which is a kindle), and use my other Ipad (which is a Chromebook). He was thrilled to drink the water from my water bottle and to eat peanuts with me that he found when he went through my bag. We toured his house, played toys, rode his stuffed animal lion, rolled big drawers around the house with a few toys in them, and sat by each other at dinner.
I got to smile as Tia told him to pick two stories before bed and he said "six" and started pulling several off of the shelf. He really enjoyed his two stories :-). He didn't know whether to say goodnight or goodbye to me and so he will probably be a bit surprised when I am still here tomorrow. Derek asked me what I saw on the way here from the airport and I told him I saw Brigham. I also saw the entrance into Mike and Tia's neighborhood which is very pretty.
It is fun to be a Grandma and I am looking forward to meeting baby Emily when she is born!
Monday, February 19, 2024
Remembering Alex on His Birthday
Derek's family maybe a year before I met them. Alex is on his Mom's lap. |
I was remembering the other day how, when I met Derek's family, most of the children (Derek is the oldest of 11) had at least one nickname that they went by regularly, and often they had more than one. I think a lot of these were given by Derek, who didn't have a nick name, and I think Derek's sisters and littlest brother Alex were mostly immune -- though Megan was often Moogie. I had to learn them all so as not to be confused about who people were talking about!
A lot of things have changed since then (obviously!), but there are some memories that are stuck in time, and are not given the chance to be replaced or added to and so we are just grateful if we have them, or if someone wrote them down so we can hear them. Around the time that Derek and I got engaged, Alex was diagnosed with cancer and a bit over a year after we got married he passed away.
Because of this, every year on Alex' birthday, I remember. I remember Alex wanting to invite both me and Derek's former girlfriend to his birthday party and how Derek's Mom had to tactfully suggest that maybe just Sherie should come this time. I remember Alex running to put on his shoes every time we came because he knew Derek would tickle his feet. Of course, this only stalled the inevitable, but his giggles were priceless.
I remember, that as he got more sick, I was constantly impressed with his siblings who would pull out the stops to make him laugh or to otherwise entertain him. Once I red him Fox in Sox which I liked, but he preferred Henny Penny. At least that is my memory. Fox in Sox was too weird.
Alex absolutely trusted in Priesthood blessings and knew that if he was blessed to have less pain he would. He was a normal little boy in so many ways, but rather advanced in others -- perhaps simply because of his absolute faith in Jesus and all that he had been taught.
My favorite memory of Alex might always be the one where Derek's Mom was bringing groceries in the house. She was wearing a red coat and Alex hid his head under it while his Mom pretended she couldn't find him. He laughed so much, and I don't think I had ever seen anything quite so fun and precious!
We all love Alex, and I am super grateful that I was able to join the family while I was still able to get to know him, at least a little.
A Memorial Day when my children were younger. |
Friday, February 16, 2024
A Fantastic Friday
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Love A Little Extra Day
For years I have watched as many people mourn on Valentine's Day. They mourn their lack of a significant other, or a "Valentine" that is all of their own. I have also heard of people who complain that it is a time when they feel pressure to give a gift that is romantic, or expensive and so they feel it is a holiday of extortion. Every year I wish that St. Valentine's Day was just thought of as a day to love a little extra and to celebrate God's individual love for each and every person there is.
I will grant that this is easy for me to say because I have Derek and a beautiful bouquet of flowers in my room, but I don't like that people feel sad on a day that is meant to celebrate love. Now, I have discovered that I can't make anyone want to celebrate their own birthdays and I can't make anyone want to celebrate Valentine's day. I cannot take away the sadness that comes from not having something you desperately want, and I can't make anyone want to give a gift without feeling forced to do so. I just hope that when you read this, whether you have your own special "Valentine" or not, you will try to think of ways that you can love a little extra today and lift the burdens of those who feel sad, lonely, and forgotten.
Heavenly Father and Jesus will never ever forget you or stop loving you and I hope that there is someone in your life who will help you to feel that today.
Monday, February 12, 2024
Jake To The Rescue!
One thing I notice every time it is Jake's birthday is that he likes to avoid getting his picture taken and he seems to be good at it! |
Today is Jake's birthday. I asked him if he'd like me to call his work and tell them it is his birthday and he said "Absolutely not!" Of course, I knew he would say that. He was always pleased in high school if he could get through his whole birthday without anyone realizing it. He doesn't like to have the attention centered on him.
Quite a long time ago now, when it was Halloween time, I decorated our front porch and door as "The Bat Cave". We always joked that if we asked at dinner time who was Batman, all of our children would raise their hand. So, on the inside of the front and back door I hung a sign that said, "To The Rescue!" I was thinking last night that in our family, I don't know if there is anyone who is called on to come to the rescue in one way or another more than Jake.
This picture is old, but Jake spends a lot of time helping his Dad with projects! |
Friday, February 9, 2024
Wacky Weather Report
Photo by Xiang Gao on Unsplash Our snow looked like this, but I didn't take any new snow pictures today. |
Today there were moments when I would look out the window and see fog. Other moments I looked out the window and saw lots of snow coming down. Out of curiosity I wanted to see what Alexa (of Amazon fame) thought the weather was. When I asked she said, "It is 36 degrees and rainy. You can expect snow flurries later today.
Fast forward a bit and Derek taught Dan and I how to use the snow blower. We blew off 4 or 5 inches of snow as more snow fell on the driveway behind us. Then Dan and I went on an adventure to the new Spanish Fork Library and out for a treat. It snowed big flakes the whole time we were driving there and back and we slid around the last couple of corners on the way home.
Derek and I were going to go on a date today but I suggested we go tomorrow because I really was done with being out in the snow. Derek looked outside and said "Wow the driveway needs to be cleared again". He blew off as much snow as we had done the first time!
Sometimes Alexa is right about the weather, but looking out the window is usually a better measure of what is really going to happen, and for sure is better at seeing what IS really happening! I am thankful for the snow even if I was tired of being in it. It brings moisture and beauty!