Thinking Out Loud

I really enjoy my kids. I was going to write "I love my kids," but that's not as remarkable as realizing you actually enjoy being with and doing stuff with them. Yesterday, we spent the entire day together. We woke up, ate breakfast, and headed to the Backcountry store to get some climbing shoes. It just so happened to be Black Friday so we secured some killer deals. We then headed to the Front Climbing Club in SLC where we climbed for over 3 hours. It was so fun to watch my kids scale walls and work together as lead and belay. Then we picked up some groceries at Sam's Club, pizza from Little Caesar's, and watched a sappy teenage love story. We were all bawling at the ending and somehow that turned into a tickle fest. We closed with a discussion on the power and purpose of relationships. I should write about it one day. I'm grateful that I enjoy my children. I'm grateful I see them as equals and not as others to rule over. I am constantly amazed at th...

I'm digging my gratitude posts as it's pretty easy to verbalize what I'm grateful for each day. Tonight, it was all about baseball and errands. Now that I'm not so stressed running multiples businesses, I can actually head to my kids' ball games and not worry about all the work waiting for me at home. I so enjoyed walking with the kids along the park stream and then making small talk as we watched Luke's ballgame. It didn't stress me out too much either that after the game we needed to run to Dick's and get baseball pants, softball pants, and batting gloves. I even picked myself up a new pickleball paddle so I can look less ghetto in our upcoming tournaments. And when we still needed to stop at Walmart to grab some groceries and face wash, I wasn't worried about time either. Since it was already 8:30 pm, and we still hadn't eaten dinner, we grabbed some frozen burritos (kid's choice) and frozen peas to cook upon our return. We had a blast d...

I just want this saved for the record. We were cleaning this weekend and Luke decided to sell some of his stuff. We downloaded the KSL app on my phone and I told him to have at it. He laid out his legos, took a pic and wrote up this description: This whole box of LEGOS is a dream come true for any kid! (Or grownup) This box, weighing just over 15 pounds contains sets like Star Wars, Ninjago, The Lone Ranger, Lego City, Pirates of the Caribbean, Chima, monster hunters, Indiana Jones, Lego Batman and more! It contains over 90 minifigures, all with excesories and weapons! There are a ton of wheels for building cars and vehicles! There are a ton of weapons included, all of which are not actually dangerous! It even contains two tools that enable you to pry hard to get peices off one another! This is a great chance to develop your creativity, intuition and show just how good you really are! Thank you for your very precious time! Happy shopping!   I did not help him o...

Luke had a dentist appointment after school on Tuesday. Since I was at work, he rode his scooter. Later, I received this message via Facebook from the dental assistant: Janelle I hope this isn’t weird to you. I work for Kip Jones I’m not sure if you’d even remember me. Anyway, I was working today when your not so little Luke came in. I just wanted to tell you how impressed I was with him. What an outstanding boy you have, incredibly happy, upbeat, positive and respectful boy. I was so impressed by the spirit he carries; not only did I notice but so did the other ladies in our office. I couldn’t help but think “gosh dang his mom is doing something (probably lots of things) right!  Just thought you might want to know how amazing you are and how amazing he is. If you wanna ever mom tutor me, I have three boys and I would be so proud to have my kids behave and have the confidence Luke has. I replied: Oh my gosh! How could anyone think such a thoughtful compliment weird? You...