HAPPINESS

What is happiness? It's different things to different people. I am trying to be happy. More. I think I'm *happy* most of the time, but I want to be happier!

Today I am concentrating on the little things.
So here is a list of some of the little things that make me smile!

1. The smell of homemade whole wheat bread - fresh out of the oven. (paired with pinto beans cooking in the crockpot and homemade salsa is manna from Heaven)

2. Listening to my girls laugh with each other.

3. Going in my girls rooms to see why there is a light still on and finding her asleep...propped up in bed with her scriptures, journal and pen still in her lap.

4. A hug from a nursery child.

5. Notes, cards or letters!
I **love** them! I save them and read them over and over.

6. My husband in a suit and tie. (stops my heart!)

7. A phone call...just because.

8. Josh Groban music. ALL of it.

9. BBC Romances - (Pride & Predjudice; North & South; Wives & Daughters; Emma...)

10. Daughters who share their thoughts with me.

11. See's Chocolates

12. Watching miss M. playing. Especially when she figures out something new!

13. The view from my bedroom window.

14. A clean car.

15. Holding my husbands hand.

Through my Mother Eyes - dancing daughters

Last weekend was our daughters dance recital. Heidi, Holli and Hope have all been taking dance at the Dance Barn since they were 4 years old! I look forward to dance recital week all year. It takes lots of time, but I love watching my daughters dance!

Dance recital week consists of a rehearsal day and one to three shows. Now that my girls are in upper dance classes they are involved more. So, we are usually at the dress rehearsal for the whole 5 hours. We are usually involved in all three shows. This is what happened this year.

I LOVE it! I never tire of watching them dance. Yes, the rehearsal and shows have many of the dances repeated, but I don't care. You will find me at rehearsal and each show - thoroughly enjoying each one. I love watching each class, not just my own daughters.
Dance is an amazing art.

I am so grateful for a wonderful dance studio for my girls to take lessons from. The director is a wonderful friend and is careful to keep her studio a positive place for the girls to grow and learn. She tries to keep the dances appropriate and the costumes *modest*. I know that the experience that my girls are having is a positive one.

Heidi is in Sr. Elite Company this year. She dances about 7 hours a week and also is assisting with other classes two days a week.

Holli is in Jr. Elite Company this year and also dances about 7 hours a week. Heidi learned 11 dances with 10 costume changes for the recital. Holli learned 8 dances with 7 costume changes!

Hope is getting up there dancing about 2 1/2 hours a week! She danced 4 dances and had 3 costume changes! As you can imagine this takes sacrifice and working together to manage this in our family!

Being a part of the dance studio this year I have seen another side of dance. They work SO hard! Ok, I already knew this... but seeing how the girls and instructors work together and pour their hearts into instructing and learning has been a sweet experience for me. I'll never watch another dance recital again and not know what's going on behind the scenes! It's a little crazy but amazing!

As I watch my girls dance I am filled with amazement! I usually fight tears all through the recitals - sometimes even the rehearsal! I've tried to hide it - successfully I think! But I can't help but feel so much emotion as I see them twirl and bend. It's beautiful.
There is a little part of me up on the stage with them. (I always wanted to dance!) I guess you could say I'm living my life a little vicariously through them. I'm not a stage mom... they could quit anytime they want, but I'm grateful they don't!

I'm so proud of the hard work they put into their dancing. My heart is full of gratitude for beautiful girls who know how to work hard to accomplice something important to them.

As you might imagine there is LOTS of twirling, leaping, stretching and hip shaking at our house! These are the joys of being a mother of dancing daughters! And I LOVE it!

It's the Simple Things - Minestrone Soup

Aren't they beautiful! Well, maybe they aren't the biggest and best you've ever seen, but they are the first carrots to come out of our garden! YUMMY. They taste delish!

So I washed them up and had them drying on the counter, but before they could be put away in the refrigerator I decided to make them into our dinner! Minestrone Soup. Even in the summer this soup is yummy. It's a water based soup, so it's not heavy, and I don't add meat, so it is full of veggies and a little pasta! The best part of this soup is most of the ingredients are on my cupboard shelf!

In a large pot start with 1 - 28 oz can of tomato puree (I use 2 smaller cans of whole or diced tomatoes whirled in the blender real quick!)
1 quart of water
2 large carrots (sliced)
2 - 8 oz cans of tomato sauce
2 cups beef broth (I pour the tomato sauce in the pot, add bouillon cubes and then use the cans to add two cans of water, rinsing the rest of the tomato sauce into the pot of soup! No waste!)

Add the spices: 1 T. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. ground basil
1 tsp. oregano leaves
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic salt

You could use fresh, ground or leaves if you don't have what the recipe calls for. I substitute all the time!
While that simmers over low heat for 20 minutes I like to open and drain the liquid off:
1 - 15 oz. can garbanzo beans
1 - 15 oz can green beans
1 - 15 oz can kidney beans
Add these drained to the pot and stir in.

Bring the soup to a boil and cook 15 - 20 minutes.

In a separate pot bring to boil some water and add 2 cups of pasta (whatever YOU like!) Cook pasta until almost done - NOT soggy. Drain and add to soup.It's ready to serve! We like to add parmesan cheese and serve with garlic toast! ENJOY!

Easter Blessings

What a beautiful Easter we had!

We did our Easter Baskets on Saturday like usual. We watched General Conference this year, both on Saturday and Sunday.The weather was absolutely B E A U T I F U L !

Then we ended the day at my brothers house with a yummy dinner and Easter egg hunt!


It was a wonderful spirit filled, family filled, fun filled day!

He IS risen! He Lives!

Conference Sunday

OK - raise your hand if you LOVED General Conference this weekend!!! I know I did. It was wonderful. I LOVED the first session. I loved Sister Beck's talk, President Uchtdorf and pretty much everyone's. There were talks in each session that stood out as wonderful.

I felt those gentle nudges of the spirit reminding me of things that I need to work on. I was reminded of the love of my Savior and kind Heavenly Father. I feel Hope, Peace and Courage to face six more months of earth life!
My cup is full and running over.

This time I prepared all week for Saturday and Sunday. I cleaned my room BEFORE conference. We cleaned our house BEFORE conference. I was able to really enjoy and listen to conference each session - doing mini tasks, but really listening.
I feel good. I can't wait until the Ensign comes so I can read and take it all in again!

As per Daughter's request: our traditional Conference feast! YUM!

Computers - friend or foe?

I've been horrible about blogging. This whole computer crash thing has ROCKED my world. I've never spent so much time trying to fix something I know nothing about. And every time I think I've got something figured out something else doesn't work. Apparently, nothing I used to use on my old computer is compatible with our new computer. ARGHHH!

Yesterday the CD player broke. Yes, that is the only thing we hadn't replaced. All I see is $$$ when I look at this computer!

The good news though, is it looks like most of my pictures were recovered. The bad news is Quicken was not and my data base that I kept for Coupon Sense is not compatible on this computer, so I don't know if it was recovered or not.

I am grateful to have my pictures. Now I can learn how to get them organized and keep them that way.

My advise to anyone who owns a computer is to back everything up... off site. Carbonite here we come. I will never feel this helpless again. I will never lose EVERYTHING and wonder if I can recover it again.

If you don't think it will happen you are wrong. It will! It's just a matter of time.

Spring Break 2010

Spring Break STARTED off great! I had high hopes for all the things that I wanted to do/get done. Why does it always seem like there is so much more to do than time! *giggle!*

I did love Spring Break though. I took the week off from work. We gardened, shopped for Easter dresses, shopped for Easter dresses and did I mention we shopped for Easter dresses. After our third attempt we decided we needed to visit a fabric store, 'cause apparently there weren't any Easter dresses for teen age girls to be found. The girls picked out a pattern for a skirt and then the search for fabric began... it was almost as stressful as finding a dress. When did my girls get SO picky?? Finally, the fabric was decided on and purchased. Thanks to my Moms help the skirts were almost finished Friday and completely finished on Saturday! YAY! They turned out so cute! The girls had so much fun sewing and are already planning the next skirt they want to make! Now we get to go get shoes and tops to go with the skirts! I expect that to go much quicker!

Between the shopping I worked on cleaning my house - many of the things that have been ignored since starting work and trying to get my computer up and running again. It's still a work in progress, but it is moving along! YAY!

I also did some Easter crafting and birthday presents. I made a darling Easter Eggs wall hanging for my bff Theresa 's birthday and I finished my 2nd Birthday banner. (shhh don't tell, but I have 5 more to make for my Moore SIL's!). I refurbished several decorations and I decorated my house for Easter. It looks like spring is here now!

We were suppose to go to the cabin, but that didn't happen due to the huge amount of snow falling on the power box and bending the pole and taking out the electricity! :( Oh, well.

The bad news is I didn't get my coupons organized, my laundry ironed or my bedroom cleaned. Looks like I'll have plenty to do this week!

All in all it was a fun week - not as relaxing as I had hoped. But definitely fun!

Spring Break is all about giving us a glimpse at what summer is going to be like! I think it going to be a fun summer!