2012: A Standard of Grace, Not Perfection

I have been in a bit of a slump lately. 

I have been searching to find myself,  trying to find something that DEFINES me. I was reading some old journals.. you know the kind you never want anyone to read.. because they are full of whining and complaining. These will definitely not be ones that will be passed down to my children. I noticed that there is the same pattern, I make promises to myself that I am going to be better. 

Be a better wife

Be a better mother

Keep the house cleaner

Accomplish something (who knows what) 

Be more patient and kind

Read and Study the scriptures

Serve others more often 

Eat Healthier

Exercise

Tone my upper arms

Put money in savings

Pay my bills on time

Update my blog before something happens and you lose ALL of my pictures

Backup my Mac before I lose ALL of my pictures

(it so happens that I lost about 8000 pictures)

Man alive! The list can go on and on and on. It is actually quite embarrassing to take note that over the last 15 years my journals say the same thing yet I still feel like I am in the same place I was 15 years ago.. with the exception of a couple grey hairs. 

I blame it on perfection. I wear myself out, I can't imagine how my family feels. Running around in circles and not accomplishing anything is getting pretty old. A few months ago I ran across this from emilyley.com:

As I look around my house tonight and look at the complete and utter mess it is in I feel so blessed. I have this AMAZING husband who works so hard for me and the kids. He works 60+ hours per week, goes to school full time, fulfills his church calling, and makes time for each of us.. with a smile on his face.  I have 4 WONDERFUL kids who get compliments all of the time on how well behaved they are. They are so much fun to be around and they are so great with each other. Dustin works for an amazing company who takes such good care of us. We just got to spend two weeks with family, going to places that we never thought we would be able to go to. I have some really REALLY good friends that understand me and love me despite my faults. I have a Heavenly Father who truly loves me and is my biggest supporter, if I would just let him in I can accomplish anything. 

And I worry about how clean my house is.. seriously mental.  

I NEED A BIG CUP OF GRACE! 

Focusing on one thing at a time and not worrying about what is going on around me. Making things happen, following through, and cutting myself some slack. 

Remembering what is important: giving my husband my UNDIVIDED attention, playing with the kids (they are growing up way too fast). 

Living in the moment and realizing that time is no longer going to wait for me. 

Florida 2011 - Part 1

For Christmas this year we met up with Dustin's family in Orlando for a fun-filled week of theme parks. The parents wanted to come back to visit us for a week after the trip so we rented this thing to ride to Florida in so we could all fit on the way back. It was awesome!

The drive to Florida was 11 hours from our little home in Gonzales, LA. Easy peasy.. We are seriously blessed to have children that can be cooped up in a car for hours at a time. We were worried that they would get cranky without a DVD player but between ipods and iphones everyone was happy. 

We got to the condo late Friday night, I think Grandma Lisa was going to go crazy waiting for us to get there. Well, maybe we all were.. we were so excited to see everyone. Cassi and Cameron were on a Caribbean cruise and would be meeting up with us on Sunday. We were sad that there kids Camorah and Creeson did not come, but also just a tad jealous that they got to go away sans kids. 

Our first stop was to the Happiest Place on Earth.. Disney World!

We got to start of the day with none other then Mickey and Minnie Mouse. 

Tyken LOVED Minnie Mouse! I cannot wait until he is dating to show off this picture of him and Minnie. 

SPLASH MOUNTAIN  

Skyler barely made the 40" mark to make it on this ride. He was so short that once the ride started we would put him on our lap so he could see all of the awesome things around him. When we got off the ride to look at our picture, the attendant covered it up so no one could see what we had done. Oops. 

I have barely made a dent into everything that we did at Disney World. But the next part deserve a post all by itself.