Sometimes as a mother, I look at my children and try to imagine them as teenagers. Even harder is trying to imagine them as adults. Will they ever understand how much I love them? Will they hold on to the negative things I did as a mother instead of seeing me for who I was striving to be? I worry all the time about the impact that I am having on them long-term. I don’t know if it is because of my own childhood, my psychology background, or my worrying nature, but I struggle every day with overcoming my self. … Continue reading →

Today, as I was walking to my daughter’s school to pick her up, I glanced to my right at the top of my street and noticed that there were about a dozen cop cars. I asked a bystander what was going on, and he didn’t know, but said that guns were drawn. I immediately worried about getting my daughter from school even though it was in the opposite direction. I soon found out that her school was on lock-down. As I walked to school, I just knew that everything was going to be fine. I said a little prayer we … Continue reading →

My little family made it to the open house last night. It was fun to get to go on a little short trip and show them something so meaningful. As we were driving there, I could tell my kids were excited. As we made our exit off of the freeway, the temple spires were in the distance and we pointed it out to the kids. It was a beautiful sight at this time of year to see those white spires against the brown mountains behind it. When we got there, we had to be shuttled in to the temple grounds … Continue reading →

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about having a more peaceful home. Not too long ago I wrote about how I am trying to NOT yell at my kids in the article, The Voice of Domestic Peace. Part of working on that goal is working on eliminating stress from my life. There is a direct correlation between stress in my life, and how often I raise my voice at my kids. I want it to stop. Unfortunately, like the rest of the world, there are a lot of things that cause me stress. It is in my genetics to have … Continue reading →

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the subject of happiness. I guess because it seems to be popping up all around me. And, frankly, it is not something that I give much deliberate thought to. Sure, I have moments where I am happy and recognize it, but I don’t ponder very often on my state of happiness. Heavenly Father’s plan is referred to as the “Plan of Happiness”. So, it is to say that he designed this plan with our happiness in mind. He desires that we are happy in this life. But, sometimes, the weight of the world, … Continue reading →

One of my children had to have surgery last week. This was a hard experience for me. I have never had any of my kids go to the hospital, much less have to have surgery. We are so blessed to have healthy children. As a part of going through this, there was never a doubt in my mind that I wanted a priesthood blessing for my child. If anything, I knew it would comfort me to know that Heavenly Father was watching over him. The night before, my husband gave my child a blessing. He took the time to ask … Continue reading →

When I go through my day each day, I don’t feel a lot of fear. I am afraid to say that I don’t often think about the tragedy and sorrow that is going on in the world around me. Some days, I don’t even think a lot about what other people are doing that might be morally incorrupt. After all, I am a Mom to 3 small children. My days are full of the bare necessities. Cleaning, cooking, bathing, feeding, breaking up fights, and teaching my children…well, everything children need to be taught. But, some days, I stop and take … Continue reading →