words of wisdom

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,
people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful,
you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis
it is between you and God;
it was never between you and them anyway.

My friend had this poem by Mother Teresa on her blog and I had to share it. What an amazing woman she was!! :)

rainy day fun

Mason loves being outside, probably more than Eli if that's even possible. After it rained the other day I let them go outside. Eli loves pushing Mase around in the "big red car". I can't believe how entertained they were and how much Mason was laughing. At least this one time I didn't have to drag Eli in from a mud puddle!

just what I needed to hear...

Tonight, however, I have in mind the charity that manifests itself when we are tolerant of others and lenient toward their actions, the kind of charity that forgives, the kind of charity that is patient.

I have in mind the charity that impels us to be sympathetic, compassionate, and merciful, not only in times of sickness and affliction and distress but also in times of weakness or error on the part of others.


There is a serious need for the charity that gives attention to those who are unnoticed, hope to those who are discouraged, aid to those who are afflicted. True charity is love in action. The need for charity is everywhere.
Needed is the charity which refuses to find satisfaction in hearing or in repeating the reports of misfortunes that come to others, unless by so doing, the unfortunate one may be benefited."

I loved this from President Monson's talk at the General Relief Society Broadcast!

fall pics

Every year we try to take fall pics. These are a few of my favorites....

my mom and sisters

Mason thinking he's getting squashed.

My oldest sister and her kids.


My other sister and her kid.

mom and her grandkids

And I happened to stumble upon these pics from my dad's funeral. Today is my parents anniversary, would have been 33 years!

Such a bittersweet day. It was incredibly hard but I was so relieved to not have to see him suffering anymore, which made it harder because then I felt selfish. No matter how hard we tried explaining where papa was to the kids they all seemed to have that look on their faces.

haircut

Before....

(don't mind his drool filled shirt, he's cutting top teeth)


After...

oldies...

My sister, Amie, came out this weekend. While she was here we went through some old pictures of my dad from his young days. It was fun to see him in his early days. I imagine my grandma telling him, "Dennis, fix your hat!" hehe.

Wow, I never knew how much my brother looked like my dad until I saw this picture. My brothers baby pictures look almost identical to dad!!




My mom said she thought he looked like Robert Redford when

they first got married. I see the resemblance in this picture...

Mom, Amie, Dad and Jolene.

Amie holding me, Matt and Jolene. Thanksgiving 1988


My grandma was one of the sweetest women I know. She used to babysit us while my parents worked and I always loved living next door to her and my grandpa. This picture was taken at Hogle Zoo in 1991. She loved her hamburgers and cokes from McDonalds and my grandpa took her out for this treat every Friday after she got her hair done. He continued this up until she went into the care center. He probably even snuck her some in there.


This was at our wedding. They were earlier comparing their muscles. He isn't about to punch her! haha..I miss his spunky attitude and his hugs most of all. I just imagine how incredibly happy my grandma was to see him again. I can't wait for the day when I'll get to see them both again!!

work meeting

So the other day Levi was over doing some invoices with Will. Meanwhile, Will's phone rang so he went outside to chat. I was feeding Mason lunch in the kitchen and overheard this "meeting." It went something like this...
Levi: "Eli, how much do you charge for framing?"
Eli: "pizza!"
Levi: "So let me get this right, you'll frame a house for pizza?"
Eli: "Yep!"
Levi: "How many employees do you have?"
Eli: "one, two, three, four."
Levi: "So you have four employees?
Eli: "No, forty"
Levi: "What is your mode of transportation? What do you drive?"
Eli: "A firetruck!"
Levi: "So let me get this right, you'll frame a house for a pizza, you have forty employees and you drive a firetruck?"
Eli: "Yeah!"

I thought it was so funny! He comes up with the funniest things!