Laughter is the Best Medicine

While I was getting our taxes done, I saw a sign hanging behind our CPA's desk that stated a health benefit of laughing, how it relieves stress. Then this morning I read the verse, "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the house." (Prov 17:22). I looked up laughing facts and was surprised to read that God created us to laugh before we speak. I'm sure I knew that because it's common sense but I've never really thought about it.
I began thinking about various people in my life that can really get me laughing. I remember how my Nana would giggle like a schoolgirl, which would get everyone else laughing. I remember laughing until my sides hurt and tears were streaming down our faces with my college girlfriends. I remember  laughing at other people's expense with my mom (not maliciously but when someone falls we inherently find it comical.) Pretty much every time my brother talks, he's laughing. Laughing is contagious.
When I've had a rough day, spending time with my boys is the best medicine for me. P and I can get the giggles over something as simple as walking the dogs together. E is quick witted and just about everything he says makes me laugh....or roll my eyes. I love laughing and sometimes I get so caught up in the every day life stuff that I forget to find the humor in things. So my challenge to you is to find something to laugh about every day, even if it means looking up corny jokes on the internet. Laughing was created by God and is good for your soul so there's no reason not to do it!

Travel Memories

If you read my blog, you know that travelling is one of my most favorite things to do. I love visiting new places and I love, love, love when the boys can be part of the travels! One thing I/we try to do every year is to introduce the boys to new places or experiences. Yesterday Rob and I were talking about our travel plans for the next few months. We are excited to take the boys to one of mine (and P's) favorite states: TN. We have been there a few times but this time we'll be going almost to Kentucky so we'll really get to see the state. Then we'll be doing to the Dallas area where we will be staying in a kid themed hotel called Great Wolf Lodge. I keep getting on their website, excited about all the hotel has to offer! To be honest, I wish it was in our budget to stay the whole week to really experience it. But I will be happy with the few days we'll be there. After school gets out for the Summer we get to go camping at a state of the art campground close to where we live. We haven't camped since we lived in NV so, although we have been to this place before to spend the day with friends, I am SUPER excited to go camping!! Then we'll top of our travels with a long trip to Cali. The boys and I came up with a "dream list" of places we'd like to visit while we're there, some new places and some places we've already been to.
As P gets older, the more it hits me that in 8 years or so he will be heading off to college to start his life as a young adult. I want him to look back on his childhood with fond travel memories. I'd also like him to use those memories to guide him in choosing a place to go to college or set up life after college. I want both boys to experience as much of the world as we can give them. I want them to have a lifetime of wonderful memories before their childhood transitions into adulthood. And I am so happy to get to experience it with them!

Total Attitude Overhaul

As I get older, I learn things about myself- some good and other stuff not so good. One thing that I started noticing last year is how negative I can get about things/people. I contribute certain things in my life to my overall attitude but it doesn't excuse having an overall negative attitude. So, in an effort to change my outlook, I started a 21 day devotional called "Total Attitude Overhaul". I'm only halfway through it because I only read it when I have time to really absorb it. But, wow!! It has kick me in the gut and has convicted me of some of my actions....and my overall attitude. Take today for example. I didn't sleep very much last night, which usually causes me to be grumpy in and of itself. But I prayed about my attitude before I even got out of bed. As we were leaving for school, our dogs got in their biggest fight yet and one of them ran off. By the time we got them settled. the boys and I were running late. My lessons were all "off". In one of my classes, I had prepared the wrong lesson so that had me flustered. Then I had a wardrobe malfunction that I was self conscious about the rest of the day. I was looking forward to ending the day at Spin class, where I could work out my frustrations. But when I got to the gym, I realized that I had left my spin shoes in my gym bag...which was at home. Then. as I was walking to my bike, some guy (accidentally) hit me. I had to do the entire class in my Adidas slides and my bike monitor kept shutting off. When I got to my car, the car next to me had parked over the line and didn't give me any room to get in the driver's side. I tried to get in the passenger side but lost one of my slides under the car next to me. Normally, all of that combined would've turned me into a bear. But it didn't. I'll confess that I'm a tad cranky but nowhere near what I would've been last year/6 months ago if I had had a day like this. For me, it's baby steps. On the way home from the gym I focused on the fact that I am healthy enough to go to the gym, that I have a good friend that works out with me several times a week and that I have a husband willing to hang out with the boys so I can go. I have a ways to go but I'm thankful for the attitude overhaul I've had so far. One step at a time....to a happier, healthier me.

New Year

Yesterday was the first day in a very long time that I was a "lazy" bum. I still cleaned and did laundry but I also spent several hours in bed, reading and sleeping. And it was nice. The boys played with their friend. Rob did his thing. And I just lazed around. While being lazy, I reflected on the end of 2018 and the beginning of this new year. The end of the year consisted of a lot of family time. My parents surprised the boys and flew in a few days before Christmas so that they could spend it with us. We took them on a Christmas swamp tour so they could get a little taste of the Cajun life. We enjoyed a beautiful Christmas Eve service. We ate good food, played games, talked and laughed. After Christmas we celebrated our lil man's birthday a few days early (with a sleepover and laser tag) because we surprised my parents on Christmas day by telling them the boys and I were flying back to Cali with them for a week. We got to meet my new niece, eat good food, play games, talk and laugh (see a theme when we're with my parents?). It was full of a lot more good memories than the end of 2017 had been, which was such a lonely time. It gave me renewed hope for what's to come in 2019. I am actually excited to start the new year (New years never really excite me)! I feel like God has some exciting things in store for us this year. I am looking forward to traveling to new places, taking on new photography projects and figuring out where God wants my career to go!!! So I'm ok laying around once in awhile because I know I am resting up for some GREAT things this year!

Goals

One of my (many) flaws is that I'm a perfectionist. I don't like failing and I am especially hard on myself when I do. Maybe that's why I haven't written New Years resolutions very often. Or maybe ever? This year I did. I wrote out 4 very attainable goals that I had one year to accomplish. 365 days to succeed in accomplishing 4 simple goals. I have 13 days left in 2018 and I will not accomplish ANY of the goals. At one point during the year, I was close to achieving all of them. Now I just see the list taped to my mirror as an epic fail.
Maybe, at the end of the year, I will cross out 2018 and put 2019 and start all over again. Come hell or high water, I will accomplish my 4 simple goals at some point in my life and at some point, they will become that year's resolutions. HA!

Friendships

"Good friends care for each other, close friends understand each other, but true friends stay forever beyond words, beyond distance and beyond time."

Thanksgiving morning I wanted to send out a text to my close friends, letting them know how special they are in my life. By the time I sent it, I had sent it to 8 ladies who I consider to be my closest friends! 8 friends! That's crazy to me that I have 8 ladies in my life that I consider to be close friends. Friends that I can call day or night for any reasons. Friends who will cry with me or simply just listen as I unload. Friends who I can ask for advice or who will keep my confidence. Friends who will laugh with me (or at me) and who help me build lifelong memories.

They are not friends with whom I speak daily. In fact, one of them I usually only speak with once or twice a year. Sadly, they are not friends I see often. Three of them I am happy if I see them every couple years. But, when we see each other, we make the most of our time together. 

Each friendship is unique. Each friendship adds so much to my life. I am thankful for ALL of my friendships but I'm especially thankful that God blessed me with these 8 ladies to get through life with.

Bucket List Living

The other day, during my run, I listened to Andy Grammar's "The Good Parts", which got me thinking about life. In 8 days I will be running my second 10k. I have also run three 1/2 marathons (in three different states with three different friends) and a dozen or so 5ks. I have traveled to 27 states, 4 continents, and 8 countries. I have sat next to one of the closest people in my life while she took her last breath and have lost young friends to cancer. But I have also brought two lives into this world. I have hiked, snowboarded, wakeboarded, boogie boarded, snowshoed, skateboarded, and rode dirt bikes. I have ridden horses and sat on a camel's back. I have read hundreds of (if not 1000+) books. I have been to Disneyland and Disneyworld. I have seen the Pacific and the Atlantic. I have floated in the Red Sea and was baptized in the Jordon River. I have come in close proximity to elk, deer, antelope, bears, coyotes. I have owned houses and rented apartments. I have played on soccer, football, and softball teams. I have been at the top of the ladder for jobs and have been the low man on the totem pole. I have been an employer and an employee. I have had jobs that I have loved and jobs that I tolerate to pay the bills. I have lived in 3 different states, in suburban and rural areas.
I have never, and probably will never, create a bucket list. But I try to live life to the fullest. I don't live with regrets but if God offered a "Rewind" button, there are certain times in my life I would push it and have a do over. There are also times I would like a "Pause" button because I want to cherish certain moments. I want to keep our boys young because I can't imagine life once they move away. There are still places I would like to see- Alaska, Hawaii, the Carolinas, Australia and Ireland. But if I never get to see them, that's ok. I have seen more of the world than most people ever will. In fact, if I died tomorrow, I would know I have lived my best life. I don't have a bucket list but I sure have experienced a lot in my 43 years on this Earth and I am thankful for all of it.