Running....

The sound of each foot pounding on the pavement, as your surroundings whoosh by your flowing body, you are one with your heaving chest rising and falling with every deep breath and you are left with your thoughts to last the trip.

I may be making running sound more glamorous than it really is.  But as I run I like to make it a thought provoking time.  I like to be my own therapist (when I run alone) and counsel myself in my current events.  

Today I learned something as I ran.

It was a rather muggy day, and pretty hot too.  If any of you run than you know after a distance you will start to drift a little to the right or a little to the left on the trail.  This particular trail runs along a river and as I thought about how nice it would be to fall into the river "accidentally", without me noticing I would find myself close enough to actually fall in.  I thought about how powerful the mind is and how much our thoughts can help us or drown us.

This lesson helped me want to keep my thoughts cleaner because I don't think i realize how many thoughts I might entertain subconsciously and how they are bringing me closer to the edge "with out me noticing it."

I am going to be better. For my family, the Lord, and Me.

Everyday.

The Comparing Disease

                     

Dear Women,

Hello all you beautiful creatures of this beautiful earth.  

I ask you all a simple question.

Do you like yourself?

If you answered no, then I hope this letter will help you.  If you answered yes, then this letter is especially directed to you.

I am going to tell a little story about Trianna.

Trianna is a beautiful woman who lives by her self on the island of Mooma.  She was sent a nice young man to be her companion and she had some beautiful babies with him.  

She never thought twice about her beauty.  

She didn't know that other women existed.  Until one day, two women around her same age were plopped down on the island.  

She noticed they did things different.  

One of the woman had red hair and had pale beautiful skin.  One of the women had brown hair that was curly, she had beautiful brown skin.  Trianna thought there was something wrong with her.  They cleaned differently and more frequent then Trianna.  So Trianna worked extra hard to clean like the two new beauties on the island.  She found red berries in the bushes and tried to die her hair like the red heads hair.  She noticed that the curly haired brunette had a six pack and calf definition.  So she tried swimming and running as much as she could.  All the while her children and her husband were telling her she was beautiful the way she was, and loved her unique domestic skills.  THey told her to stop COMPARING!!!!  But she never did and spent her whole life being consumed by the comparing disease.    

Okay, Sad story.  Right?

I live in Utah.

I love Utah.  Beautiful Country.

But I see more of the comparing disease here then anywhere.  EVER!

As women we have got to stop.  We have got to embrace our uniqueness and love ourselves with greater passion.  When we find ourselves, who we are as individuals, we then can find peace.   And others will feel your inner peace and desire to be around you because they won't feel this competitive spirit around you.  

It brings me to one of my favorite SCRIPTURES.

Proverbs 3:15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.

Couldn't have said it better!

So to all you women who are reading this.  You ARE more precious than rubies.  You are not to be compared to.  

Accept that you are a beautiful and unique person.  When you start to compare is when you become the norm.  Be different and blaze your own trail.  Don't be Mormon Barbie...or just Barbie in general.  I love you all.

Definitely NOT Margrette

I looked out the window and what did I see?

NOT popcorn popping on the apricot tree....

A Spider.

Gross.

Why don't I like them? 

Well, everyone tells me I should, mainly because they eat other bugs.  What other bugs, do I ask?  Cute little lady bugs, innocent flies, pesky mosquitos, and anything else that can get caught in there web.

I am feeling a tickle on my neck.... just a hair.  It's all good.

So one very nice day, I looked out my window and I see a black wolf spider hanging out nonchalantly as if I wouldn't notice her new habitation.  I tried to ignore her as the days went on, then finally I gave in and decided to name the darn thing. 

 

Her name was Margrette.  

Margrette started to grow on me and I didn't mind her as much as when I first discovered her.   So one morning I looked out the window to see what good ole' Margrette was up to, and to my surprise a stupid, nasty, dumb, much larger spider was in her web.  Margrette was no where to be found.  He is brown and nasty and I am going to kill him.  His hame is Willy and I don't like him.  He ate Margrette.   It's a spider eat spider world out there.  

(I don't think you want to see the pics from this murder scene,  I will spare your eyes)

Food Glorious Food

Anyone who knows me, knows one thing for sure.......
I LOVE FOOD.
I love the taste, the smell, the sight, the sound, and my favorite - the process of making it edible, i.e. cooking. I can spend hours in the bathtub (while Smith is napping) getting lost in a cook book or one of my subscriptions to "Cuisine at Home". What can I say... I am unalterably addicted to cooking. I can't help it. But it helps me.

Cooking sweeps me away into another dimension. I find the world around me doesn't exist anymore and I am concentrating and figuring out the right....no.... the PERFECT amount of spice to add to a signature dish. And when my taste buds finally reach satisfaction and bliss, THAT, my friends, is when I can serve it to you, plated and hot.

I was thinking about making a separate blog about COOKING my culinary creations, but I decided that is one thing Bryce's Wifey does best, and happily so.  So Do not be surprised to see a recipe that will knock your socks off every once in a while. But that brings me to a funny story.
My mom raised me on the phrase, "only boring people get bored." The first year of my Little Smith's life was a hard one, an amazing one, but a hard one. So while his little head would go to dream land during the bright afternoons, I would be up and around my house to entertain my self. I would paint, not often enough, read, talk on the phone, and...... enter recipe contests. 

Entering the contests was mostly a fun thing and I didn't think anything would come from it. I entered a recipe contest in November of 2008 for "Mama Mary's Pizza Creations Contest." By the time March of 2009 came, entering the pizza contest was the furthest thing from my mind, but it was closer than I thought. I recieved a small manilla envelope from spartan foods, so I opened it and to my surprise I won! My "Three cheese Hawaiin pizza with red bellpepper alfredo" won! I got a year supply of free pizza crust coupons, and........ get this.... a coffee maker. YEAH!! The proud owner of the coffee maker is now my sister Laura who lives in Atlanta, thanks Lo. But anyway.  It just goes to show, sometimes your talents can really add up to something.  And maybe that something will land  you free pre-cooked pizza dough that is ready for toppings and a hot oven.   And really, enough coupons for a lifetime.... anyone want some?

Hubby's and Fathers

Okay.

My hubby did something worth writing about.

He decided to take our little Smith on a father-son-outing.

Just him and Smith.

Smith cannot walk, he cannot talk, he cannot move like most little ones his age.  But my Bryce, despite of what Smith can and cannot do, wanted to take him to the place that he loves second most to the home.  

The Golf course.

I was nervous as I saw them drive off together because frankly I had never let just Smith and Daddy go alone, I was thinking about sharp turns that could be taken in the golf cart, or Smith getting too hot or too cold..... you know, crazy Motherly instincts we all have felt.  But over all, I felt at peace.  Knowing that Bryce really wanted to take him, just him, and spend some one on one time with his son, made me rejoice in Hubby's and Fathers.

Husbands are wonderful in themselves.  They are there to hold you when you feel bad, they are there to kiss you on the forehead when you need comfort, they are there to smile at you when you have done good, they are there to play with you when you feel playful, they are there to love you all the time-despite that time of the month thing.  And then you throw being a father in the mix.....SEXY!  They have a whole new level of WONDERUL.  You get to watch your hubby play with your children,  hold those little wonders in their big arms, read them stories when he could be reading sports or the news,  talk to them with a soft voice when normally they could sound manly, they have a whole new aura about them when they become fathers, and all you mothers can identify with this-they become more attractive, more manly, more gentle, more heroic, more of a.... A MAN.