Pass of all passes! & Prayer

My sister called and told me to get the deal of the Century ... so I did! (Well I don't think its as good of a deal as Paul and Serena's all you can fly for $500 - but I can't afford that so this had to be the deal)

For $34.95 we got a season pass to:

2 different Trafalga locations - mini-golf, roller-coaster, laser tag, bumper boats, go-karts
2011 7-peaks pass - waterpark
owlz games - not sure exactly what sport they play but its all good
flash games - indoor arena football

Anyway, we went last night and the kids had a blast.  To make sure we get good use out of these passes they will be used for weekends, holidays, date nights, and family nights.
________________________________________Yesterday, we "thought" Jacob had a soccer game at 5:30 which meant we needed to leave the house by 4:15, but he doesn't get off the bus until 3:45 or 3:50.  He walked in the door and I told him to run up to get ready for his game.  A little while later he came down and told me his jersey wasn't in his soccer bag, so I told him some other places to look.  He looked in those places so I told him some other places to look.  He looked and looked and then I started looking. 

Of course I got grumpy at him that it wasn't where it was supposed to be. (The kids like to hide the laundry I so neatly wash and fold for them - it's a conspiracy, I swear!  I can't count the times I have found folded laundry in my dirty laundry baskets.)  Back to the story, I enlisted the help of the rest of the family and told them to hurry b/c it was getting really close to the time we had to leave.  Meanwhile, Jacob says okay I am going to say a prayer. 

Being the good mother, that I am, we continue to go about our business of searching while Jacob kneels in Prayer.  At the same time he comes back into the room, Hailey comes down the stairs with his jersey in tow.  It, of course, was in his soccer bag, where it rightfully belonged and where we had already looked twice.

Prayer works - next time I will stop and join him instead of being in a hurry.

Then last night he could not find his pass of all passes at the end of the night.  I was gathering them all up for safe keeping.  I, of course, scolded him and told him to retrace his steps and go find it.  (I don't like the pattern I'm seeing here)

He set off on his way and came right back with it.  He had said a prayer that he would be able to find it quickly and so he did. 

I know that prayer works but sometimes it is the last thing that I think of for the trivial things.  I am so glad I have such wonderful kids to teach me of its power.  Lesson Learned!

He's getting a lot better at walking.  It is so fun to watch!

Gratitude

I love learning new things. Ask anyone -- I am constantly talking about my next great idea or business. This love of learning is what took me to Education Week, and the fact that my husband so graciously surrendered his time for babysitting. While there I took a class by Sheri Dew about leadership.

She mentioned that for about a year she had been reading a conference talk a day and what a difference that had made in her life. I thought, hey I can do that! It is especially easy now that I have such easy access to the Internet on my phone. So I started that week and after a little bit decided that I might as well post them on my LDS blog that I had started a few years ago. I am proud to say that I have stuck to my reading goal but missed a few blogging days on the weekend.

Anyway, for the last week the thought keeps creeping into my head that I needed to post the link to the blog on Facebook. I kept mentioning this to my husband but was worried about starting a religious debate on Facebook. I am not sure why or for what purpose I am supposed to share the blog but I knew I was supposed to because I kept getting a prompting. I struggled with how to introduce the link so as not to create any debating or mockery.

Because I had that on my mind I was on Blogger a lot yesterday and noticed a tab for stats. It was so fun to check out how many views I had and where they were coming from.

I was so happy to see that someone was actually looking! and from other countries! It gave me new found determination to reach my goals.

And today I even got a **comment! - It was from my brother but still! Excitement!





** Okay I have received many emails, especially from my wonderful mother-in-law, but this was the first comment on the actual blog & it just sounded more dramatic! :-)

I'm in LOVE!!!

I know your thinking cheesy right? Yeah, yeah we know you love your husband. That is most definitely true but that is not the source of my new found love. I got me a Shark!!

Last month when I was in Texas my sister-in-law whips out this handy dandy machine and I knew I was destined to have it.



Mopping is my least favorite of ALL chores! Give me a toilet any day but hand me a mop and ugh! I have tried lots of things over the years to try and simplify my life and nothing has really stuck. I usually resort to hands and knee and a rag. It's just easier but not easier on my knees. I have a big table and it is no fun to crawl around under it. With 7 kids there is always a mess to be cleaned!

Most recently I had tried the Swiffer wet-jet. It showed promise until it left streaks all across my floor and the cost can get expensive. We easily go through a $5 bottle of cleaner in two moppings. My husband, the resourceful man he is, even poked a hole in the top and filled it with our own homemade cleaner but then when we didn't use the entire bottle in one mopping it left a puddle when the kids inevitably knocked the mop over. Oops!

Anyway I can't say enough good things about this little machine. Lightweight, easy to use, only had to use a scraper to 1 spot on the floor, cut my job time in half! What more can I say? I had even thought I could get an affiliate agreement (they pay me to sell their product) and start a website with me mopping up a new spill everyday like an infomercial. It wouldn't be hard to find a mess in my house. We have many a cup of spilled milk around here!