Swensen Sentral

Today the Lord was aware of me.  I taught a lesson to the youth about His tender mercies, and about noticing His hand in our lives every day.  I read a quote from Elder Bednar's talk "The Tender Mercies of the Lord" where he says these tender mercies do not happen randomly or by coincidence.  I had purchased some small notebooks to hand out at the end of class, for them to use daily to write down how The Lord touches them.  The idea was to get them thinking and reflecting about how the Lord is aware of them and blessing them each day with His tender mercies, and that it is not by coincidence that certain things happen.  When purchasing the notebooks, I couldn't remember how many kids were in my class.  With it being a new year, I've only taught them once and am still getting to know who they are.  My best guess was about 8, but I bought 12 just to make sure I would have enough.  Today several new faces walked through my class door.  I wond...

I love the way kids say things. It gives you so much perspective into how they view the world. Sawyer reaching up feeling the crusty dried hairspray in his hair says, "Mom, my hair is melting." Chase sipping my tasteless smoothie because I put too much ice in it says, "Mom, what'd you put in here that tastes like anything?" (Meaning it doesn't taste like anything) Sawyer says to his friend very sincerely, "Hey, don't take that away from me cuz it makes me sad." To which his friend responds with "Oh, sorry" and gives him a big long hug.  And then while hugging Sawyer says, "Yeah, this is good, this is good." Sawyer tells me, "Mom, last night I threw up at Nana's house."  I'm thinking, we weren't even at Nana's house last night, that was weeks ago .  But then I remember he did throw up while we were there, and then I understand.  "Last night" is his way of describing the past.  ...

Oh I hate that I have to wait one more week to see the next Downton Abbey episode!  How is it the writers can keep a person so captivated?  Truly a talent for sure. On a completely different note, I am surprised to find myself mourning the loss of Soleil's binky.  Yes it is that time in my children's life that I ween them from their binky, yet I am finding it so hard to do so with this one.  It's not that SHE is making it hard, it's all ME.  It's that it marks a passing of a stage that I will never see again, and I am having a hard time letting go.  As much as I have been anxious to pass by this baby stage (as it seems I've been in it for 7 years) I now find myself hesitant to greet the next stage of her childhood, toddler-dom.  This means I must say goodbye to my "baby" and welcome this new toddler who is running, climbing, TALKING, and expressing her own opinions and personality!  Oh my, how I need to cherish every day because time is somethin...

I like new beginnings.  I love starting fresh, with a blank slate to write on.  Every New Year I get excited to craft a detailed list of my new goals for that year.  I set goals for my physical health, for my spiritual health, and my mental well-being, and goals for my family, etc.  I go quite all out and I feel determined to actually follow them through the whole year, but it never fails that by the years end I have either forgotten what my goals were or completely lost focus on them.  And then I feel like a bit of a failure.  So this year I wasn't gung-ho about doing any New Year's goals.  I didn't want to set myself up for failure.  However, the Lord has different plans for me.  I think He still wants me to set some goals because I keep having these two ideas impressed upon my mind. Simplify & Be Early As I have prayed to feel happy in life, happy in my home, happy in my marriage, and happy with myself, this is the answer t...

The kids are just as happy here as Disneyland, maybe even more because there's no lines and all play. Funny how we spend so much money trying to please our kids when what they like most often is free.

3:00...we made it home, and it feels so good. The kids are so happy to be here in their own environment. To them it seems like an eternity since we were here last. Chase said "I remember this place, Amelie do you remember this?" as if it were years ago. And Sawyer has been asking for the past few days if we can go home now. And Chase said the other day, "I'm ready for familiar friends." So everyone is happy, despite the grumpiness from being cooped up in the car feasting on way too much sugar. And Rick is happy to have back his own bed, and toilet ;). As for me, I'm anxious to get back to a routine and have some normalcy. Sounds weird, but I am. Thank goodness for vacations to help us be grateful for normalcy. As for all the details of our vacation that I skipped out on, maybe I'll get to them later, but maybe not. And I'll just have to be ok with that. Happy 2013! I love new beginnings :)