Dancing with Daffodils

This week my kids were on spring break and we didn't have much planned except a day up in D.C. at the National Zoo. We were going to meet my friend there because it is in the middle of our two houses. I thought it was lucky that it was a nice day after a very rainy week as we packed up our picnic lunch and drove the 90 minutes to get there. Unfortunately, many other people seemed to think it was a good day to go the zoo as well and by the time we got there at 10:30, the parking lots were full. I decided to drive around a bit but couldn't find another parking garage close by or any street parking down by the entrance where luckily Carrie had gotten one of the last parking spots. After 30 minutes I finally did find a spot on the street but only for two hours. Then we got out of the car and saw this long line of people. Since there is no admission fee I figured they must be waiting for a special event. So the kids and I walked to the entrance only to be told we would have to go ...

When I first went to college, my plan was to major in English. I wanted to be a writer and that seemed the best route to become one. I remember sitting in the orientation and all I heard was teaching. It seemed like everyone else there wanted to be an English teacher and I had no desire to do that at all. So I went back to my two favorite things to do: write/read and travel. I considered majoring in travel and tourism and was really in love with the idea of getting paid to plan other people's vacations. But it was 1998 and the internet was really starting to take over tourism; people weren't calling travel agents anymore but looking online for everything so my mom talked me out of it. This lead me to print journalism where my ultimate goal was to write about travel. While in college I subscribed to travel magazines and fantasized about getting sent around the world to rate resorts and find family-friendly activities in big cities. I loved my college experience and did get to ...

Ah, the challenge of a weekly post. I don't have anything brilliant to say today but it was a day filled with wonderful connections. I am naturally a more introverted person; it is hard for me to chit-chat with people I don't know and talk in a large group of people. But I am quite social and love connecting with people that I care about and love. My first connection of the day was with my eldest daughter. She got braces put on yesterday and I went grocery shopping late last night to get food for her to take to school today, like Jello and soup and soft cereal bars. When I was showing her everything this morning she just put her arms around me and said, "Thank you, Mom. I appreciate all that you do for me." It was such a sweet moment and my heart just lit up. I gave her a big hug and told her how much I loved her. Kids so rarely say thank you and often are totally oblivious to all of the time and effort we put into their pleasant existence so I will savor that connec...

This past month our bishop challenged us to think more about our prayers and to make effort to improve them, so it has been on my mind lately. I honestly was struggling to want to pray for a little while there just because of emotional exhaustion. That may seem counter-intuitive but when I'm so down and tired I tend to hibernate and cut myself off from people, which includes God. It was good for me to reconnect and make sure I was being diligent in keeping this important commandment. However, it was a personal finance class that I'm taking that really has made the difference in my prayers lately. My church is amazing and has developed four courses for members to take regarding business and finance in an effort to help each of us be self-reliant. I lack budgeting skills and have wanted to better manage our money for years so I saw this as a great opportunity. This class doesn't have a teacher but we follow a workbook and have a facilitator that keeps the discussion focused...