At the Real soccer game with the Allen family:
Andi is beginning to show a great desire to be with this family. She feels the connection. Wants to know where she comes from.
My own personal goofball on her favorite toy--a princess chair:
Playing with the doll stroller at Grandma's:
Our bunny. Unfortunately I'm in the process of trying to sell him. We'll see. But he sure is a cute little guy. I'm glad we've given him a home as long as we have.
Playing at Uncle Mel's house on the 4th of July:
More pictures coming.
She knows how to put lipstick on. I know. It wasn't me, I swear.
Playing at the pool with her sisters:
In Park City with the Allen family for the annual Allen Family Reunion:
We stayed two days, two nights at the Westgate Resort. That place has many memories for the Allen family.
Turned out to be quite a hectic first day, but it got better and we made some fun memories. Andi loves her Allen family and very much needed that time.
I appreciated that we were all able to go.
Waking up in our Park City room to this:
Ah, morning cuddles.
No better way to start off a day.
The Farmington Festival Days Parade last weekend:
Visiting the Zimmerman family for a Sunday meal. At Russ and Erin's.
Here's baby Geneva (Melissa's daughter) hugging baby Millie: They're three months apart.
Then Millie stuck her finger in Geneva's mouth and Geneva gave her a good bite.
Why do all good things have to come to an end?
More summertime fun at Grandma Luke's house:
We got some Luke family pictures taken in May. Here's us:
Another trip to Cherry Hill this week.
This time we took my friend Natalie's girl, Addy.
Here's Addy and Abbey:
It's a Luke girl tradition to go to lunch at Rainbow Gardens in Ogden.
We got to go this week:
A picture frame Andi found that she wanted me to take a picture of:
So true. So glad that thought sticks out to Andi.
Playing (with her favorite chair again) in my room:
It's my nephew Bo's birthday today.
Look what Abbey made him with her origami kit she got from her Grandma and Grandpa Zimmerman:
A Bowen Boat! Ha! She's so clever. :)
A few thoughts to share:
"In light of the ultimate purpose of the great plan of happiness, I believe that the ultimate treasures on earth and in heaven are our children and our posterity."
--Dallin H. Oaks
"Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. you do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for."
--Neil A. Andersen
I was having a particularly difficult week last week.
One of my dear daughters told me she wished I wasn't her mom. Our trip up to Park City was particularly taxing for several different reasons. I had dealt with five (or was it ten?) too many temper tantrums in one week.
I was just feeling like all the good I try to do, all the endless hours of hard work and emotional effort, amounts to very little. I think we're doing so good but then I have these times that have a way of humbling me to my core.
A regular old pity party.
I felt I was guided to a cheesy old book sitting on my shelf by Sheri Dew. It provided a good, comforting thought:
"No one can take your place in your family or with your friends....No one can have the influence you have been prepared to have on all who come within your sphere of influence. Without question, no one can fulfill your foreordained mission. No one can do what you were sent here to do. No one. This principle is particularly easy to grasp and understand when someone is gone.....I muddle along without [my loved ones who have passed on], but the space they filled hasn't been and can never be filled by anyone else....As we continue to miss them in deep and penetrating ways, there is something sweet about the reassurance that nothing and no one can make us forget them or forget the effect they have had on all of us, both in life and in death."
I loved that quote for several different reasons, but mostly because I just needed a positive reminder to help me keep going on a day (actually, a week) that I really just wanted to quit and sit down and cry.
Which I did.
But then I got up.
Hope I can still keep getting up.
I am grateful to have things--people--joys--that keep me going.
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