Life's Greatest Lessons

I did my final presentation for my Master's program last week.  (YAY!!! I can't believe I'm almost done!) It was no big deal just a presentation on a book.  I was all prepared with 16 pages of notes.  KC and I were going out and I needed a break after working all day on this that I saved and shut down my laptop because it had been a while since I had completely shut it off.  When we came back at about 9:00pm I decided to work on my presentation a little bit more and I could not find my notes anywhere!!!  Aghhhh!!!  I asked KC (the expert) to help me but nothing.  It was gone.  I think what happened was that I had just opened the attachment from gmail and I never did "save-as" so who knows where it was saving to.  2 1/2 years in this program and I have never lost anything because I know that I'm supposed to save regularly.  Oh well, I started over again.  I guess I must have needed to know this stuff really well.  Awesome book btw.  It's called: 

Life’s Greatest Lessons--20 Things That Matter
Hal Urban

Here is the 20 Greatest Lessons that we are never too old or young to remember: 

      I.        Success is more than making money

Success means doing the best we can with what we have.  Success is in the doing, not the getting--in the trying, not the triumph. Wynn Davis

    II.        Life is hard… and not always fair

Life is a series of problems.  Do we want to moan about them or solve them? M. Scott Peck

   III.        Life is also fun… and incredibly funny

Of all the gifts bestowed by nature on human beings, hearty laughter must be close to the top.  Norman Cousins

  IV.        We live by choice not by chance

God asks no man whether he will accept life.  That is not the choice.  You must take it.  The only choice is how.  Henry Ward Beecher

    V.        Attitude is a choice—the most important one you’ll ever make

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

Viktor Frankl

  VI.        Habits are the key to all success

In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits.  Og Mandino

 VII.        Being thankful is a habit—the best one you’ll ever have

Don’t complain because you don’t have… Enjoy what you’ve got. H. Stanley Judd

VIII.        Good people build their lives on a foundation of respect

Treat other people exactly as you would like to be treated by them… The Golden Rule

  IX.        Honesty is still the best policy

Honesty is the best policy in international relations, interpersonal relations, labor, business, education, family, and crime control because truth is the only thing that works and the only foundation on which lasting relations can build. Ramsey Clark

    X.        Kind words cost little but accomplish much

Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push.  A smile.  A word of optimism and hope. A “you can do it” when things are tough.  Richard M. DeVos

   XI.        Real motivation comes from within

No matter who you are or what your age may be, if you want to achieve permanent, sustaining success, the motivation that will drive you toward the goal must come from within. Paul J. Meyer

 XII.        Goals are dreams with deadlines

People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going. Earl Nightingale

XIII.        There’s no substitute for hard work

The best prize life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. 

Theodore Roosevelt

XIV.        You have to give up something to get something

Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it, establish your priorities, and go to work! H. Lamar Hunt

XV.        Successful people don’t find time—they make time

Time is life.  It is irreversible and irreplaceable.  To waste your time is to waste your life, but to master your time is to master your life and make the most of it.  Alan Lakein

XVI.        No one else can raise your self-esteem

Self-esteem is that deep-down inside the skin feeling you have of your own self-worth. Denis Waitley

XVII.        The body needs nutrition and exercise—so do the mind and spirit

…Mind, body, and spirit act in concert to determine health and well-being. 

Dr. Carl Thoresen

XVIII.        It’s OK to fail—Everyone else has

If you’re willing to accept failure and learn from it, if you’re willing to consider failure as a blessing in disguise and bounce back, you’ve got the potential of harnessing one of the most powerful success forces.  Joseph Sugarman

XIX.        Life is simpler when we know what’s essential

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; It is only with the heart that one sees rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.  Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

XX.        Essential #1 Is Being a Good Person

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can.  John Wesley

Unexpected Haircut

I have 4 girls.  You would think that they all would have at some point cut their hair right?  Wrong!  If they did it was never noticeable... Until now... Little G is obsessed with cutting papers.  I gave her her own scissors so she could cut stuff like paper dolls and crafts.

Well this past week she was cutting some papers and I left her with CR while I went to pick up S from ballet.  I was gone about 15 minutes.  When I got back CR made her show me that she had cut a big chunk of hair.

 Ahhh.  Her beautiful long hair!  Well we had no choice but to cut the rest of it the same length.

I think her hair cut looks really cute.  I had been thinking of cutting her hair because it was getting really long but she always told me how much she loved her long hair so I was waiting for the right moment.  Well I guess the right moment came.  She even liked her hair cut.  She thought it was cute.  It is definitely easier to take care of.

A Close One

Yesterday was the first gymnastics meet of the season for CR.  He did well.  Won one silver medal and two ribbons.  Not bad for the first meet of the year. It was in Springville so K was able to come down and meet us there.  It's always nice to see her.  Last year the meets lasted like 4 hours now because he is in level 5 it was only about 2.  Much better I would say.

It was raining all the way down and then coming back it started snowing.  The visibility wasn't great and it was mostly just wet.  All the cars were moving at normal speeds and so were we.  We were only about 5 miles from home when we hydroplaned.  We hit the barrier with our bumper and it threw us into the middle lane.  We spun around and we could see a few cars coming at us.  I was holding on tight because I was sure one of them was going to hit us.  Well they both swerved out of our way and avoided hitting us.  We continued to spin until we were facing the right way again.  We could not hear or feel anything wrong with the van so we just continued driving.  When we got home we discovered that our entire bumper cover was gone.  But no other damage to our car.  What a blessing!  It took us a few hours to get over the shock.  But we just feel so blessed that nothing worse happened to us or others.  It could have been so much worse had there been more cars on the freeway at the time.  We were definitely being watched and cared for!

This is a picture of the back of our van:

Welcome 2012

On New Years Eve we went and so Dolphin Tale with the M's and my parents.  It was a really good movie btw.

After that we went to the Training Table for dinner.  We just had a fun time hanging out.  C had gone with her friends and K had gone to Orem to a party.  So it was us and S, CR, and G.

We were going to to to downtown SLC but decided against it since G was not feeling that great.  We had heard about this celebration in our little town and so we thought we would try that.  We came home and watched some TV and then we went downtown.  Well we were very disappointed!  There weren't many people and there wasn't much going on.  So we went home did some fireworks and waited for the ball to drop at midnight and then went to bed.

It was a quiet but fun night.  I can't believe another year has come and gone.  The time just goes faster and faster the older you get.

On Sunday for New Years Day we got together to have dinner at my parent's house.  We also celebrated G's birthday once again.  She is lucky she gets so many parties!

G's 5th Birthday Week

All year long G has been wanting to go to "Bookdocks" for her 5th Birthday.  So that is what we did.  She had a blast playing with all the games and in the gym area.

One of G's funny poses!

 

Before Boondocks while G was sleeping the older girls and I went to the mall to do some exchanges and the girls had to pose by David Archuleta.

That same day in the morning K fell on the ice and hurt her wrist and it was hurting her so bad that we had to take her to the urgent care to get it seen.  KC and K went over to get it checked out.  It was not broken but they put it in a brace to keep it still.

 After those adventures we went home to have our corndogs, blackberries, raspberries dinner as requested by G.  C's friends came over to our house to celebrate her b-day (like I have said before G thinks she is a teenager and therefore likes to hang out with C's teenage friends.)

We opened presents and had cupcakes to celebrate!

On Wednesday we went to the zoo with the M's and then off to Park City for some after Christmas shopping.

 

 

Thursday was a day at home taking down Christmas decorations.

Christmas 2011

This year I wanted to make Christmas Eve a little more Christ centered.  I made a video with a bunch of Christmas music and a slide show of pictures and videos about Christ.  I didn't expect everyone to sit and watch it I just wanted background music with something to look at.  I think it was a nice touch.  Music has a way to set the mood.

For dinner I prepared a "Bethlehem Meal."  This consisted of our traditional Guatemalan Paches, nuts, fruit, bread, veggie straws, etc. all in baskets as in Bethlemem.  I tried to make everything seem as peaceful and humble as possible.  We turned off the lights and at by candle light that night.  I just wanted us to have a more reverent feeling for this night.  I think it worked.  The kids really liked it so I think we will continue with it for years to come.

After dinner we read from the New Testament in Luke and watched the LDS video clips just released by the church.  Neither the kids or I were in any of those scenes but it was great to see a final project from the filming.  But they are soooo amazing!  Here  is a link to watch them:  LDS Bible Videos

After we remembered the true meaning of Christmas then it was time for presents.  It's tradition in Guatemala to open presents on Christmas Eve (more like midnight on Christmas Eve but we do it a little earlier because midnight? really? How can Santa come then?).  So we open the exchange gifts (we each get a name of another extended family member and buy for them a special gift).  We open any gifts from the F side of the family.  It's a crazy but bonding time for everyone (I think).  We had a Bethlehem dessert (flan) before everyone went home.

After the fun of presents the kids get in their pj's and we try to get them to go to bed.  After all Santa is coming...

Christmas Day was a little bit different this year because it happened on Christmas Day.  Santa came but left all of the presents in big sacks because he knew we needed to go to church first before the viewing of the gifts.  This helped a lot because we could focus our attention on Christ in the morning and allow us time to get ready.  We had 9:00am Sacrament Meeting.  It was a beautiful program with a narration by a family, a few musical numbers and the Choir.  KC, C, CR and I sang in the choir.

When we got home we changed and then went to look at what Santa had brought.  Just a small breakdown of the gifts:
K = Serger

C = Movie theater popcorn machine

 S =Flute

CR = Nook

 G = Littlest Pet Shop Treehouse and a Pink Nutcracker

KC & L = Tablets

Family = Exercise bike

Then we went down stairs and opened all of our gifts.  For years we have been coming up with some other names to put on the presents instead of our own names and only the parents know who is who.  This helped when the kids were young from comparing who had how many presents and the shaking trying to figure our what was inside.  So we continue that tradition and this year we had "Dumbledore's Army" names from Harry Potter.  So first the kids have to guess who they think everyone is and then we divide up and open.  We take turns going in a circle and opening one present at a time.  It takes some time to do it this way but this way we get to see what everyone gets.

After presents we had to get ready to go to the M's house.  KC made is awesome egg nog and Z&J made Shrimp Etufe.  It was all delicious!

We then had the program put on by the kids.

 Then we did our white elephant gift exchange.

We stayed and made plans for the week and then we went home.  G was so extremely tired that she was crying for everything.  So we were glad to get her to bed.

On Monday night for family home evening we finished off the Christmas celebrations by going to Temple Square to see the lights!  We also went to dinner at Pei-Wei.  It was a fun family night.  G was much happier today and had lots and lots of energy!