Oh the simpler times...

On Friday I spent a little time with this 95 year old women named Stella. We were driving up to Mission Carmichael Rehabilitation Center to see her friend, and mine, Evelyn. On the way back, she started telling us that the next day (yesterday), marked her 77th wedding anniversary. WOW! She told us all about that day, and the party they had out at the lake with all of their loved ones. It was really sweet. But the thing that struck me the most, was, that she told us, that at barely 18 years old, she liked the guy,... ok..,but was really getting married to get out of her house. ( She apparently didn't have a great home life) But she said that their relationship grew into a deeper love than she could have ever imagined. She said they had"quite the affair". And now, as an old women, she had nothing but sweet memories.

This caused me to reflect on a lot of the problems that people have today. How there are so many couples that truly love each other, at least in the beginning, and still cant manage to make it work. A luxury that Stella didn't have, yet a very different outcome. I know that it all comes down to selfishness, or selflessness, depending on how you want to look at it! And it seems so simple...JUST STOP BEING SELFISH...RIGHT? That's what its all about, learning to put someone else's needs and desires above your own. The funny thing about it, is that when you do this, you are so much happier yourself. I know that at the times when I am serving someone else, and not stressing out about myself, I not only feel better about the problems that I have, but they usually diminish anyway.

I know that I cant change the way that people are today...but, I really feel like everyone would benefit from spending an hour in the car with a senior citizen. They really have some good insight. Times may have been simpler, but the principals don't change...or at least they shouldn't.

Happy Anniversary, Stella!

Ok...I'll get off my soap box now.

...A Few Things You've Missed

First of all, I would just like to throw in the disclaimer that, all of these pics were taken with cell phones. The first few were with my uncles iPhone, which is why they don't suck as bad. But the rest were with mine, which are terrible. But, sadly, a few months ago, my dad dropped my camera into a sink full of dish water, so its what I have for now! :( Anyways...moving on!

Camping

We went on this fun little hike when we were camping at Sly Park, everything was really wooded (like you would expect camping), but then we came to this huge clearing, and there were literally thousands and thousands of ladybugs. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen! Sadly, you cant see them in the picture, but Jess sure thought it was amazing!

This is at the bottom of the spillway.

Jess felt the need to take off her pants!

Little nature girl! She loved it!

End of School Festivities!

This was their little "graduation" type thing from Pre-Fun preschool. Jessie's teachers said that she is really good at being the leader and organizing group play. She likes to be in charge?What a shock!


This was her dressed up as the "Black Sheep" in their little rendition of "Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?"

Zoo trips

This first pic was actually from the Hogle Zoo, but forgot it was in my phone!

Jessie sizing herself up to the monkeys!

Folsom ZOO school trip. This was the first time we've been there when the animals were actually AWAKE! Imagine that?

My cute little bear!

I have more to update. For instance, Noel and Jared, moved into their new house last week, and we have done a ton of work over there, which definitely needs to be documented. And I know there are other things, but that will need to be for another time. For now,

Have a good weekend!

Continue In Patience

I've had a lot of free time on my hands lately. Well that's not exactly true, I've been really busy, but I have had a lot of time to think. Sounds like a little bit of a contradiction, I know, but it is what it is. Anyway, I've spent a lot of time feeling sorry for myself, and then feeling guilty for feeling sorry for myself, and so on.
So the other day, as I spent hours scraping paint off of, and re-painting Jessie's dresser(see what I mean by the busy, yet time thing?), all while feeling particularly miserable about my current situation, I starting to contemplate the difference between myself, and the people that can just take the hard things, and roll with them. How do they do it? What have they figured out, that I still haven't?
I concluded that it all just chalked up to attitude, and decided that mine really needed some adjusting. Just as easy as that, right? WRONG.
See as much as I believe in the power of positive thinking, it is just not as easy as it sounds. So, you take the "It could be much worse" approach.
So what that I'm a single mom, who most of the time, has no control over her very strong willed child. Who cares that we are now having to sell our house, the only true place I've called home for the last 15 years, where all of my childhood memories are derived. The place where Jess has now spent the majority of her little life in. So what that the relationship I've been in for the last 8 months, that has brought me the most happiness I've felt in years, is now over, and again, I'm wondering where I belong. It could be worse. At least we are still healthy! And, we aren't living on the streets!!
So that's what I decided. Just take that approach! But the thing is, that only gets you so far. Cuz the reality is, most of the people that you know in your life, are doing OK. Which, being human, you cant help but compare yourself to. So I needed something more.
Thank goodness for angels in life that are in tune with the spirit, and know what you need. My friend emailed me the link to this talk by Elder Uchtdorf http://beta.lds.org/liahona/2010/05/continue-in-patience?locale=eng&format=conference&view=speakers.
I finally discovered my problem!! I have NO Patience! And, consequently, apparently no faith either.
So now, the quest is to find a way to build faith, and increase patience. It talked about how patience is a progress to perfection. And that to be able to have the patience with the Lord that we need, it requires a lot of faith.
I know the Lord wants to bless me, I just need to trust in that, and then be willing to wait for it. I realize that this is a huge undertaking, at least for me. I have gotten so used to trying to do things on my own, that I have completely forgotten to have faith.
I have been promised, in some pretty incredible ways, that the Lord is aware of me, and has a plan for me. That everything is going to work out. So I just need to trust that. And do the best that I can a long the way, so that He is able to bless me.

So, if any of you catch me complaining, please kindly remind me that I need to be patient with the Lord. That He is smarter than I am, and will do things in His own time.
Wish me luck on my quest!!

My daughter the Hairstylist

Jessie has always been interested in
hair. I think it kinda comes with the
territory when you grow up watching your mom doing other people's hair all the time. I remember when she was just a year old, and she would go wet her hands in the pool water, then rub them together, and try to spike her dad's hair into a mohawk. She is always combing all of her baby's hair, and pretty much anyone else's who will indulge her for a while. All of this is well and good, and even quite adorable at times...until she decides to sneak a pair of scissors to her own head!
I know, it could have been WAY worse than what we came out with. She actually gave herself a little taper! Not bad! Maybe there is something to be said for all the hair she's watched me do, right?

Valentine Fun

So I know Valentines Day was like weeks ago now, but oh well, I'm gonna post a few things about it anyway!

Jess was way excited for her "Balentines", and I found some cute ones for her. Plus I got the Valentine themed fruit by the foot! Heck Yeah. I think I was more excited about those...but moving on.

So I am actually, as you know, a terrible blogger, but I really enjoy blog stalking, and appreciating other people who are actually good at blogging. That counts for something right? Anyway, I saw a post for Chocolate bread on one such blog, and decided to try it. So that is what Jessi gave to her teachers. It actually turns out super pretty. Plus I had some cute Valentine paper that I was able to top the bag with! Love it!

And, one of the other blogs that I follow, has super cute hair style ideas for little girls. ( I know, I should probably be able to come up with these on my own, given my trade, but I'd rather someone else do the thinking for me and I will just copy)

So for the week at school, she got to have fun little "Valentine" themed hair as well! She was so excited about that!

She is such a girl! Every single person she saw just HAD to look at her "beautiful hair".

So there you go. Not that anyone cared. It's really just that I feel like I need to document some of these things, and lets face it, who has time to scrapbook anymore?

OK, lots of people, more organized than I, do. But that's just a harsh reality I would like to try and ignore for now!

Children's Perfect Faith!

Last night at dinner, my brother-in-law, Joe related this story. I thought it was too perfect not to share.
So yesterday, during lunch, it was raining really hard. All of a sudden, it stopped, and the Morrell boys were not happy about it. So Jaxon and Zachary folded their arms and said a little prayer that went something like this; "Heavenly Father, please bless it to start raining again. Name of Jesus Christ, Amen." With their heads immediately turning to look out the sliding glass door to see if the rain had started again.
To their disappointment, it had not. So one of them said with sadness, "Our prayer didn't work".
Joe took this opportunity to teach a little lesson, and told the boys that "sometimes it takes Heavenly Father a little while to answer our prayers, it doesn't always happen right away".
Jaxon then explained to Zachary," Yeah, it takes a long time for our prayers to travel all the way up to heaven, and then Heavenly Father has to send it all the way back down again...plus its foggy today, so it probably will take longer than normal."

I just love how simple our children's faith can be. I only wish that we as adults could be that way more often. May we try harder to "Become as little children".