Merry Christmas 2013 from the Robison's!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from the Robison Family!

 

The year 2013 has given our family a wonderfully amazing ride. This year our family has been blessed to enjoy Kent's Grandpa Robison’s 90th birthday celebration, a wonderful visit from our close friends the Kent's, a family reunion at Fish Lake, the Kunz family annual camp out, the opportunity to tour temple square with Kent's brother Gordon & his family & we were grateful to be able to attend Kent's Grandma Robison funeral this fall. In March Kent & I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in Las Vegas, NV. We loved taking in the sights together!

 

As usual Kent is working hard taking good care of our family. This year Kent left his second job with Summit Ice after it changed ownership. Kent loved working with Summit, but couldn’t stay as the saw the new company not taking good care of their customers. He misses the relationships he built there, but we have been blessed with plenty of work at Midgley (construction) to cover any financial losses we could have experienced.  He’s been blessed with wonderful work relationships. This year he also took on the calling of Ward Mission Leader. It has been fun to watch him fulfill this calling with great capability.

I have had an amazing year. This year I have rededicated myself to my Discovery Toys business and it has brought so much joy and growth into my life. In July I jetted off to country music's birthplace, Nashville, Tennessee! The annual convention was held at the Opryland hotel & it was quite a treat to check out the other side of the country. I was blessed this fall watching my hard work pay off as I had many parties and two of my biggest parties to date. I feel so blessed by the many relationships I have gained through my business& can’t help but thank everyone for their love and support! We have been blessed with so many uplifting friendships in our lives! 

This June Braxton turned 7. I keep wondering where the time has gone. This summer we went fishing a few times and Braxton has proved to be a good little fisherman. This fall as Braxton became a 2nd grader he tried his hand (or should I say foot) at soccer & really enjoyed it. This year he earned two improvement awards in his schoolwork. He earned one award last year in 1st grade and one award in 2nd grade. We are very proud of his hard work! He is such a big help and a blessing to our family!

Cort started speech therapy in April & we have been so thrilled with how well he has done. There's nothing better than watching your kids grow up & learn how to communicate! In November Cort turned into a 3-yr-old & boy is he good at it. Cort also started preschool last month & now receives his speech services there. He has loved every minute of preschool & riding the bus.

As I reflect on the year 2013 I truly feel blessed! We have had many opportunities to spend time with friends & family. I have seen The Lord change us through our goals & help us to grow. Thank you for being wonderful blessings in our lives! We have truly been blessed by your love & friendship! 

Merry Christmas & may The Lord bless you in 2014!!!!

Love,
The Robison Family

Santa at 3 is scary, but Santa at 7 is AWESOME!

The Santa Process...

Mom: Want to go sit on Santa's lap?

Him: NO, NO, NO!!!!!!!!!

Mom: Ok I won't make you. Can I just sit you on the stage and take a picture?

Apparently NOT!

 

Dad says "Come on let's go kid!" and stands in line prepping him the entire way...

 Ummm Dad he's right there looking at me!

 

Dad: NO! Don't you cry. You are just fine.

Young Woman: Here's some candy don't cry.

 

 *Sniffle*

Dad: See there's mom you're ok

 

Santa: Hi Mom!

Him: *sniffle*sniffle*

 

7-year-old: So Santa, Can you bring me a Lego Chima Craggers Command Ship?

 

Mom to 7-year-old after: What did Santa say?

Him: Oh, uh I don't know.

 

All I can say is that some traditions are actually quite funny when you think about all the hassle we go through! Merry Christmas Santa! Thanks for letting all three of my boys sit on your lap!

Writing Our Songs

“Life, he realize, was much like a song. In the beginning there is mystery, in the end there is confirmation, but it's in the middle where all the emotion resides to make the whole thing worthwhile.” -Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song. Right before the orchestra performed the symphony by Rachmaninoff last night the conductor took a minute to speak to the audience about their performances.

First of all he told us that they always say a prayer before they preform. He also shared that their goal as they share this music is to uplift the audience and allow them to feel the love of our Heavenly Father through music. During that music I did feel the love of my Heavenly Father. Because of this I realized that our Father sent us here to help others feel of His love. No matter what your journey in life. Whether you are a doctor, a teacher, an office assistant, a minister or construction worker, a daughter, a son, a mother, a father, brother, aunt or grandparent your greatest work on this earth is to share the love of God with our fellow brothers and sisters. If we allow our "other" work to get in the way of this then we are not living up to our potential. I heard a woman years ago in church say words that ring true to me today. She said that "this life is about love and it always has been!"

As this beautiful moving symphony played I read the biography of Sergei Rachmaninoff and as I read tears came to my eyes. "Rachmaninoff wrote two of his three symphonies before leaving Russia. The first, a youthful work from 1895, was dynamic and energetic but failed dismally with the audience and critics at its premiere. This was a demoralizing blow for Rachmaninoff, whose confidence as a composer remained fragile throughout his career. Although his Piano Concerto no.2 from 1901 was a stunning success, he still felt anxious about attempting another major orchestral piece."

 

Beautiful music filled the Mormon Tabernacle and yet the composer had his own anxiety and insecurities in his time. I can only imagine had he been courageous enough to compose more. How many more beautiful symphonies could he have written. What does that mean about me and my potential. How many times have I allowed anxiety, discouragement and insecurity keep me from amazing opportunities. Yet isn't that part of life?

Just as the symphony has it's moments of darkness and discord as well as light and harmony so does my life. If music was always "happy" and "joyful" it would be boring. It is through those difficult  times and times of growth the musical resolution creates beauty. How beautiful to know that I don't have to feel bad about a glum day. I don't have to turn my souls song into the blues, but it's okay to have problems to solve and solutions to find. Every day I write my symphony. Some days the sound is bright and has much fanfare and other days the music is forlorn and dissonant. Even in these days of dissonance there is hope that my song will end on a beautiful note of resolution. As Plato said, "“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” I will soar through all the notes of life that make up my song. A beautiful song that we all wright each and every day. Thank you for living your song with me. It is beautiful!


Images courtesy of:
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Sergei+Rachmaninoff&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=3FAD57BF61BED26B251599F42FF7BF21F9A87DEB&selectedIndex=0
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=orechestra+at+temple+square&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=971B9D88154EECDD81D17122673DA121FE07CC64&selectedIndex=4
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=orechestra+at+temple+square&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=A667B94BA2D1E801EF1D260824A39220E8C30E70&selectedIndex=25

The Most Beautiful Yodeling Orchestra Ever!

It's been the most amazing day & I feel that I would only be ungrateful if I didn't write down the joys, impressions, events & feelings of the day ending with the most poignant part of my day. This morning I took the boys to Wheeler Farm. After many weeks of some amazing results with my Discovery Toys business I have found myself busy with work, but thirsting for some pure connection time with others. It was wonderful to talk with other moms and feel like I connected in a way I hadn't in a while. As I was headed home I felt the desire to stop by and visit with my good friend (& walking partner from 3 years ago), Melanie. It was SO nice to spend time with friends & my kids.

I did have to squeeze a little work in today, but after the nice break I was happy to get back to work. As I was walking out to my car to load my products I overheard a woman talking to some men at the desk out in the foyer. It sounded as though she had loaned her sunglasses to a woman at the desk because the sun was coming in through the windows very brightly. As she was ready to jump in her car and head home she came to collect her sunglasses only to find no one at the desk and no sunglasses. She told the men she had a 3 hour drive home and needed them. She was not able to find her sunglasses and headed out to her car as I was loading mine. I asked her if it was sunglasses she was needing and she proceeded to share her story again with me. Again I asked her if she wanted sunglasses and explained that I had some she could have. She offered to pay me but I had plenty as Kent recycles his old work sunglasses to me. When I told her I needed no payment she was very gracious and thankful. It felt good to be the relief for this lovely woman today.

The most poignant part of my day was when Kent and I finally got to the performance of the Orchestra on Temple Square. My friend Rebecca had called asking if she could order tickets in my name and have Kent and I go with her & her family. The funny part was when she told me it was "An Austrian Cello Concerto and a Russian Symphony I think all I heard was Austrian & Concert and it processed in my mind as Yodeling. When I told Kent what we were doing he processed it in his head as Opera so I've been joking all week that we were going to the Yodeling Opera. lol

First of all I want to say that I am SO thankful to be married to a man who enjoys things like symphonies, plays & the ballet. We may not go to them much but every now and then I like to go to them. I am thankful to my sister-in-law Darcy for exposing him to culture. I am amazed at how much I forgot I could be moved by beautiful music.

The Austrian Cello Concerto was nice. I enjoyed it, but it was no where near as superb as the symphony. I will share more about what I learned tomorrow. What a lovely & beautiful day! Below is a link to the symphony we enjoyed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpzLR9mMCsI

Why don't you love me?

You would think with me getting my largest amount in party sales this week that I would be on cloud 9. It's not that I am not grateful and ecstatic about the party total but even with getting a hostess over $150 in free products & 4 half price toys I had the clouds of gloom hanging over me today. For those of you who may not know I struggle with seasonal depression. This year it feels like it has set in hard and fast. Because of the gloomy rain cloud over my head my mind went to that awful place called negative self talk. I hate it there. Everyone hates me and truthfully I hate them there too.

While in negative self talk I decided that my kids never listen to me and they don't even care to help me. All they want to do is destroy my house. I also decided that my husband doesn't care about me either. He's never home and when he does take a day off it's to go hunting. Now I did remind myself that he needs a break and that his break is also going to provide us meat. However, I still had that lonely unloved feeling that took over. I had a REALLY good cry about all this mind you. Not that it really helped. Just gave me blotchy skin and a headache. I lamented the fact that we never spend time together as a family. I never get the time I need to exercise and I never get my own me time. It feels like my whole life is taking care of everyone else and it's just not fair! When is someone going to take care of me. Of course then I rudely interrupted myself with asking, 'well doesn't Kent spend most of his time at work so he can provide for his family? Does he really not care?' I pushed that thought aside because all I wanted to focus on was my very raw pain. Plus this thought made me question my thoughts and didn't fit in to my pity party thoughts.

Eventually Kent came home and we talked and he did help me to feel a little better as he often does. But now he's gone to bed & I still had things I had to finish up so then it was back to my personal pity party. Thankfully however I started to allow myself to question my thoughts. What if I am looking at Kent thinking 'why don't you love me' but what is really going on in my heart and soul is that I am asking myself 'why don't you love me?' 

What I am really saying is, 'Marlies, why don't you love me enough to take care of me. Why don't you love me enough to make exercise and health a priority. You can feel the weight of stress and depression slipping into your mind and body and yet you excuse yourself with the 'I don't have time' statement. You notice your health slipping away in so many ways and you KNOW what you need is exercise, but keep saying maybe tomorrow or next week.' Marlies please love me again. I am worth taking the time to care for. I am worth the time to exercise, eat right, get enough sleep (ok you can start on that one tomorrow), read, fill your spirit with spiritual nourishment & take the time to feel beautiful on the inside and outside. Marlies it's time to love you!

Maybe now after filling my love tank I will stop believing that no one else loves me. Maybe when I start to think that my kids don't listen to me and don't care to help me that I realize it either means that I don't care to listen to myself or help myself or it means that I don't care to listen to or help my kids. Either way feeling sorry for myself is not going to fix this problem. It's time to pull up my boot straps and prove to myself that I love me and that makes me loveable to everyone else who wants to take the time to love me. Because guess what Marlies...I do love you!

Amazing Life

I read an article today that talked about gratitude & it got me thinking of all the things I am grateful for. With Thanksgiving only a few months away what better time is there to take a moment & express thanks for all that I am blessed with.

Home: I have been blessed with the best home. Not only does my home keep the heat & the cold out it has plenty of space for my family & my things. It's not overly large or spacious which makes the cleaning duty light & manageable. It's comfortable, cozy, & bright. There's plenty of yard without it being overwhelming. The best part about my home is the feeling inside. That feeling is created by the 4 people who live here. There is love in this home. There is kindness & understanding in this home. There is hope & security within its walls. It is beautiful!

Family: As I mentioned before I have been blessed with an amazing family. I LOVE my boys. They are GOOD kids. I love that they are so different from one another. It gives them the freedom to be themselves. I love watching my oldest son learn & grow & become better at soccer & in school. I love watching my youngest improve daily in his speech. I love sharing my life with a warm, kind, & generous man who knows everything about me & still loves me as though I were perfect. I love that I get to be the mother to this group as well. They are so kind & understanding. I enjoy teaching them how to enjoy life!

When it comes to family You can't forget the one you were raised in. I was blessed to come to a family where I was taken care of and provided for. My siblings didn't always get along & we still don't, but I know they all love & support me.

In addition to those families I also married into a wonderful family ten years ago. I'm amazed when I look at the 16 children currently being raised in this family. Never have you seen a more polite, well mannered, thoughtful group of kids. What a fantastic reflection on their parents & grandparents.

Friends: I'm pretty sure I have the worlds greatest friends. From my early years to the last few months I have been blessed to make new friends at every point on my journey. My closest friends know my best & worst qualities & still accept me exactly as I am. I laugh with them. I confide in them & know that they love & support me! If it weren't for the abundance in this particular blessing I'd name them individually, but there are far too many to mention them all.

Peace: In John chapter 14 verse 27 it says, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." I have been blessed to know how to find peace in this life. The deepest & most profound peace I have found is through making covenants with The Lord in His holy temple. I am a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints & the blessings of peace & light that from from the doctrines I have learned are truly amazing! It is definitely among my greatest of blessings.

Tools: I have been blessed with more tools than I even realize. There are physical tools such as hammers and pliers as well as physical tools you find in my kitchen. Knives, plates, mixers, a table, a fridge, stove, and microwave are all tools that make daily meals quick. I have also been blessed with electronic tools; the Internet, a smart phone, computers, and television. Not only have I been blessed with physical tools, but tools to help with my mental & emotional world as well. Sometimes these tools are the most valuable. This leads me to my next blessing.

Education: The more I learn the more I love learning. I feel I have been blessed with so much in terms of education. I have real world knowledge in terms of an associates degree. I have spiritual knowledge as well. I also have great knowledge of self-reliance. The best part is that with the tools I have at my fingertips I am able to learn so much more as I desire & thirst for more knowledge.

Finances: This is an area where I seek to improve, but I am so thankful for the abilities we have been given. We have been so blessed to have a sufficient income. We have been blessed with other ways to make money when we have needed it. I feel so blessed to know that The Lord has blessed us financially. 

Natural World: This is a blessing I cannot claim alone. Do you know what a beautiful world we live in? I feel like I have seen so much beauty in my life & yet there is SO much more beauty yet to be seen. Beautiful waterfalls, lush forests, red rocky terrain, vast oceans, emerald green rivers, tall trees, the tinest of flowers and all this made for our creation. God is good & He has blessed us with the beautiful world we live in.

Trails: Finally I have been blessed with trials. It may seem like an odd thing to be thankful for, but I am. Without having gone through trials I would be weak & most likely not close to my Savior Jesus Christ. I find that it is during times of trial that I become closer to Him & rely on Him in the way I should be anyway. I have been so blessed to have a Savior & my trials are the strength that has brought me close to Him. So truly I am thankful for them. 

The amazing thing is that I feel I have merely tapped the surface of listing my blessings. The Lord has blessed each of us abundantly. I pray that we all can take the time to be more aware of the blessings The Lord has given us & thank Him appropriately! 

Turning lemons into lemon bars

Yesterday feels like a dream to me. I guess I should back up. You may or may not know that I am working on building my Discovery Toys team and becoming a team leader. I LOVE the idea of not only building a business, but now building a team! Why this has been scary to me for so many years is beyond me, but I chalk it up to the personal growth this business has given me. I am SO ready to lead other women now & help them with their personal growth. Naturally when I received a call from a customer asking me questions about the business last Saturday I became excited.

I got the call while I was making jam with my husband. While it is not hard to make jam there are a lot of steps that require specific timing on things and you have to be attentive to the process. When I received this woman's call asking about the business I tried to answer her questions, but I got distracted with all I was doing. I said let's sit down and meet next week and I'll be happy to share this opportunity with you then. She then offered to take me out to lunch so we could talk and asked if she could share about the company she was currently associated with. I thought it was a little unusual, but I agreed. The free lunch started as the two of us & turned into the two of us having lunch at her good friends house and then turned into her good friend taking us out to lunch 30 minutes away. The more this plan changed the more I became uneasy, but she said she was interested in my business so I kept the date because I am a woman of integrity. If I say I will be there I will do my best to make it happen.

Well the short version of the story is that I got to lunch with two women who were there to talk about their business. Apparently all they cared to know about my business plan was how they could blow holes in it and let me know why their plan was superior and how it would make far more financial wealth for me than my business ever could. It was actually quite an insult to me & all that my business has done for me. Am I a rich woman from my business? Absolutely not, I am not going to lie. Am I passionate about what I do? You bet ya! Do I love the company I am with even with their imperfections? Absolutely! Did you ask me ONCE what draws me to that company and what I want from life? Not once! I was amazed at how they would get lost in talking about all the amazing "miracles" that were occurring for those people who were using their products while I sat and watched their engaged conversation with one another like an outsider. I was SO glad I had my 2-year-old son with me so I had a polite reason to be distracted. They hardly even talked to the servers when they came to take care of us because they were so busy talking about their business.

On my way home I called my DT leader Leslie and discussed the who scenario with her. Interestingly enough the woman who called me had contacted Discovery Toys with interest in the business. Discovery Toys sent her information to my leader and she called to follow up. Leslie asked her about her interest & she asked if Leslie was the lady she was meeting for lunch on Thursday. When Leslie tried to get more information about her interest this woman told her she was not interesting in signing up with Discovery Toys she was interested in signing Leslie up with her company. Well at least she was honest with her. Had I honestly known that was her intention I don't know if I would have gone.

Even though the interaction was not a good one for me I wanted to turn it into a good interaction & be open & honest with her. Here's my personal growth. Years ago I would have avoided that woman's phone calls & her emails because of fear of offending her. This time I decided to look at this event as an opportunity to grow for myself. I had seen how important it is to make this kind of meeting about those I am recruiting & their opportunity. However, I also decided to share with her my experience in order to assist her in her personal growth. I sent an email outlining my perspective & feelings followed with an invitation for her to examine her approach. 

This is the closing of her response I received tonight, "I have an immense amount to learn. I appreciate the time you put into writing your letter, and your very gentle but stern and timely rebuke. I was way out of line. I shall endeavor to never treat another person that way again. Thank you for being the kind of person you are, for teaching me,  for making a difference in my life, and for helping me to get back on track." 

It's experiences like these & how I am learning to turn them around & make good out of them that lead me to believe I am being prepared for leadership. These kinds of learning opportunities are how I know I will make it to leadership. I have so much to offer this world that is good. I'm going to get there and when I do I will enjoy looking back at my writings of my personal journey & reliving my personal story.

Constant And Never-ending Improvement

There is much I want to recap from today, but it is late. Lately I have been learning a lot about ways to improve myself & my thinking. They say perspective is everything & I am really learning that. 

One such perspective I can say I do have is the knowledge that God does loves me & He gives me what I need when I need it. That knowledge should be enough to take me through anything!

As I think back through my journey this year I can see The Lord providing me with wonderful insights into ways I can improve myself personally as well as professionally. Perhaps tomorrow I will have a few more minutes to share a portion of what I have learned with you. The Lord is truly gracious!!!

Pushing through the struggle

Fall is coming. I can feel it in the air & unfortunately that scares me. As the days begin to get shorter I find my brain starting to struggle & I worry about what may be on the horizon as I have struggled often in years past with seasonal depression. I have had a few good years since moving into our home, but it still makes me worry a little as we come into fall. In addition to that I'm pretty sure my meds for my hypothyroid are not working. My name brand was recalled a few months ago & they put me on the generic drug & I am definitely feeling the side affects. It's ok though. Because while I suffer a myriad of feelings I am purpose driven & I know my goals & aspirations will pull me through the struggles that beset me now. I know that all these little efforts I am putting in across the board are going to get me to where I am to go. It will take effort & determination, but I know I am made of the substance that will allow me to experience success. I will reach my dreams, my goals, and enjoy the fruit of my labors and know that I have reached the height of success. Cheer me on. Let me know you are rooting for me. Then when those hard days get me down & make me wonder what this is all for I will know that it is for the betterment of myself & those around me. My life is significant. I can & will make a difference. Thanks for joining me in my journey of growth & development into the leader I know I will become.

My Road to Team Leader...the 1st leg.

You may have noticed a drop in posts this year. It's not because I have decided to stop writing. It's because I been busy investing in me. I am amazed at how much I have managed to learn in the course of 6 months. In January my good friend Dawn called me up and said she was going to start listening to the Discovery Toys calls that were supposed to help us promote to team leader and she wanted me to do it with her. I was willing to start working on my business again, but I wasn't sure that I was ready for that, but I decided to try it out anyway. What a great commitment I made. Since doing those calls I have learned and grown so much in SO many ways.

Those leadership calls helped me decide to honestly work my business each and every day. Guess what happens when you start to work your business each and every day. You start to take yourself seriously!!! What happens when you start to take yourself seriously? Others start to take you seriously! More importantly God starts to take you seriously. When God starts to take you seriously the pathway opens up even wider!

Through out the months of February and March I was in the leadership program which was giving me a weekly conference call with a weekly challenge that helped me to focus on different parts of my business. There were point values attached to all aspects of the business and when you did different things you received points for your work. My points were not too high at first because I was struggling to get parties to book and hold. That was ok though because I was still working diligently on my business. By the end of the 8 week program I was starting to see results, but felt that the time it took to be on the calls and track the points it was more than I could handle at the time so I did not continue on with the new call group.

In addition to my small strides in January I found a new recruit via my Facebook page.. I hadn't had one for a long time so I was thrilled that Meredith actually found me! Not only that, but she accomplished success start. It was amazing the energy she was bringing to my business. Even though I was not getting a lot of parties I had recruited and she was asking about all kinds of boutiques and getting me out there as well! I was definitely being blessed for my efforts.

In life I have learned that anything worth having has got to be worked for. That is what I am seeing with this business as well. I have started to work to push the ball and get it rolling and as I got momentum the momentum was beginning to grow. I believe it was the first of April I had a man named Timothy follow up with me from a door contact I had made back in the summer of 2012. We talked about his financial program and briefly talked about my Discovery Toys. At the end of his presentation he decided to take a chance on me and loan me a CD of his called Magnetic Influence by Dani Johnson, a successful life coach. I have a friend on Facebook who talks all the time about Dani so I was excited to start listening. I have learned so much about sales and interacting with people and all kinds of useful knowledge. It's been great!

Then in May my up-line Leslie had given me the opportunity to do an event which was a non-sales event. I was just supposed to set up and give away a free gift and could not sell. Leslie's vision was to go and recruit like crazy and book parties. I LOVED so much about this event. Without the ability to focus on sales I was able to collect 60+ leads from this event and I met a new friend Jennifer and Heidi. Heidi is a body language coach and she was the next key to my success.

Heidi followed up with me the next week and we got together and she shared some things with me that I had never thought of. First when I got my leads from a party or show and I was about to call on them she taught me to pray to my Father and ask for his help in achieving my goals. Then before I called on them I was also to take a powerful business pose for 2 minutes. Do you know that when she asked me what a powerful business woman would look like I was lost. I could not even think of how that looked. That is how clueless I was about body language.

She also taught me about the negative voices in our head. She spoke about the positive voices that are trying to speak to us, but we don't hear them because we are so accustomed to hearing the negative voices and listening to them. As she spoke of those voices I realized she was right. We have so many ancestors who are personally invested in our success why wouldn't they be surrounding us telling us how to succeed and yet those spirits who followed Satan will shout at us and as long as we keep listening to them that will be all we will ever hear. I was amazed at how easy it was to get those negative voices to go away with proper body language and prayer.

What have I been doing for the past 6 months you ask? Well a mountain of personal growth I say. I have learned how to work hard, pray constantly for the Lord's help in ALL I do, and then listen to those voices that will lead you to success. Then when it comes to connecting with people I have learned that it is not about me. If I am looking for ways to help others that success will come. I have to care more about others and less about me and what I want. This month I have had 5 parties booked and a list of possible recruits. Not all of them held and I don't have a recruit yet, but I am working on learning how to do my business better and I have faith that as I learn and grow the Lord will be there to guide and direct me every step of the way. Of that I have NO doubt!

Gratitude and Blessings in April

I am thankful for...
Mon 22nd *...Getting myself out on a run when I haven't really been lately. It was really nice.
                    ...Being able to rearrange my day. Tessa ended up keeping the kids so I reworked my
                       plans in order to go running today.
                    ...Kent helping me to refocus my perspective. I had taken time focusing on the
                       accomplishments of others financial success and focusing on my weaknesses. Kent
                       helped me see where my strengths lie. Marriage, family, service, etc!

Tue 23rd *...Cort getting great help from the speech therapist. Cort started his speech therapy today
                     and he did really well with his speech therapist.

Wed 24th *...Making it through everything I had to do today!

Thur 25th *...Getting out to drop off birthday coupons

Fri 26th *...Getting to Battlecreek Boutique on time
                ...Kent bringing me dinner and letting me buy some scarves.
                ...Cheryl being able to watch Cort for me and Kent & the kids coming to see me.

Sat 27th *...Meeting the nice It Works wrap lady who I had a great conversation with.
                ...Kent picking up my toys at Battlecreek and Dawn Leslie telling him he deserves
                   Husband of the Year Award.
                ...Deciding to work on getting ready for my boutique instead of doing the service project.

Sun 28th *...Sandra Peterson's nice call

Mon 29th *...A Successful Work Day 

Tue 30th *...Watching Castle in bed with Kent.
                 ...Getting me to my goal. Meredith got her $750 and I got my $500 so I could be paid as an
                    educational leader.

Conference Bingo

 

(Side note: next time I do a giant conference bingo I will only do a 10 by 10 as a 14 by 14 is still a little large for getting bingos or even black out...I also gave an individual bingo prize to everyone each time they marked 5 words during conference)

 

For conference we all made up Bingo sheets and as we listened we came up with lots of words you can use for conference bingo. At our house when you get a bingo you get a piece of candy. With all these words I also made a GIANT conference bingo to work on together and have everyone mark them with their own individual color. The top picture is individual conference bingo and the bottom picture is giant conference bingo or collaborative conference bingo. I wanted to share this list with my friends and family so that they too could take advantage of it while conference is on this weekend! Enjoy!

(He) Lives

Aaronic

Acceptance

Addiction

Adversity

Age

Agency

Alma

Amen

Ancestors

Anchor

Angels

Answer

Apostles

Appreciation

Atonement

Authority

Baptism

Beginning

Belief

Belong

Bishop

Blessings

Bodies

Book of Mormon

Bread

Brothers

Build

Calm

Caring

Celestial

Change

Charity

Chastity

Cheer

Children

Choir

Christians

Church

Clean

Comfort

Commandment

Compassion

Conference

Confidence

Contention

Contrite

Conversation

Counselors

Courage

Covenants

Created

Crucifixion

Cry

Darkness

Daughters

Day

Dead

Desire

Devil

Devotion

Disciple

Discouraged

Doctrine and Covenants

Earth

Education

Elders

End

Equal

Errand

Eternal

Eternal Life

Evening

Evil

Exalted

Example

Faith

Family

Fasting

Father

Fear

Feast

Forgiveness

Fortune

Foundation

Freedom

Friends

Fruit

Garden

Gate

Gethsemane

Gift

Glory

God

Good

Gospel

Grace

Gratitude

Great

Growth

Guidance

Guilt

Hands

Happiness

Harvest

Head

Healing

Heart

Heartfelt

Heaven

Heavenly Father

Help

High Priest

History

Holy Ghost

Home

Honest

Hope

Humanity

Humility

Humor

Husband

Hymn

Immortality

Industrious

Inspiration

Jerusalem

Jesus Christ

John the Baptist

Joseph Smith

Joy

Judgment

Justice

Keys

Kindness

Kingdom

Kneel

Know

Knowledge

Laman

Leaders

Learn

Lemuel

Life

Lifted

Light

Lives

Lord

Love

Marriage

Marry

Mary

Master

Meat

Media

Melchizedek

Members

Men

Mercy

Mind

Ministry

Miracles

Mission

Missionaries

Morning

Mortal

Mortality

Mosiah

Mother

Music

Nations

Neighbors

Nephi

New Testament

Night

Nurturing

Obey

Old

Old Testament

Opportunities

Ordinances

Organization

Overcome

Parents

Partners

Patience

Paul

Peace

Pearl of Great

Perfect

Perfection

Peter

Pioneers

Plan

Ponder

Poor

Power

Prayer

Preach

Price

Priesthood

Primary

Prize

Proclamation to the World

Procreate

Promise

Prophecy

Prophets

Pure

Quorums

Rebellion

Received

Redeemed

Redeemer

Rejoice

Renewal

Repent

Repentance

Rescue

Restitution

Restoration

Resurrection

Revelation

Righteousness

Risen

Rock

Sacrament

Sacrifice

Saints

Salvation

Sand

Satan

Save

Savior

Scriptures

Sealed

Search

Serenity

Service

Shelter

Sin

Sisters

Son

Soul

Spirit

Spiritual

Stakes

Steadfast

Storm

Strength

Strong

Study

Symbol

Teacher

Teachings

Temple

Temptation

Testimony

Thanks

Thomas S. Monson

Time

Tithing

Tolerance

Traditions

Transgressions

Trials

Trust

Truth

Unique

Virtuous

Vision

Ward

Warnings

Wars

Water

Weak

Week

Widow

Wife

Witness

Women

Work

World

Worth

Years

Young

       Zion