Creative Escape = Happy & Sad

So excited to be going and spending the weekend (Thursday, Friday & Saturday) with some of my most favorite women in the whole wide world.

We are ready to rock and roll !!!!

Mom picks us up at 7 am and we head to The Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort. It may be super hot in Arizona but we just go inside and forget everything and really enjoy being in the moment.

What is there to be sad about ?

So sad this will be the last {Creative Escape}

I have loved being a part of this over the years - will truly miss it !!!

What a wonderful opportunity it has been that I am so grateful for.

I will miss seeing this girl in her element every year as she is one of those friends who truly inspires me to always want to be a better person.

{Heidi Swapp} you have so much to be proud of !!!!

 and none of this would be possible without Mr. Bazzill (Doug Jones himself)

I am so excited that Carol and I will get to spend 2 days working with Kelli and Jenaye Collins. 

The amazing mother - daughter team

Wait till you see what we are doing in our class !!!

{sneak peek at jenaye and kelli collins}

So for now I am going to go and forget all my worries and just really try

 and enjoy my weekend and enjoy being with all my wonderful friends !!! 

And let's not forget we get to eat Shye's cookies !!!

Bargain of the Day

So Saturday while I was over taking care of my friend Adelle she was watching TV and  I saw this infomercial and immediately thought that would be something my kids would LOVE ! But definitely was not willing to make "only 2 payments of $19.95".

So I took a chance and searched for it on Craigslist. Found one and purchased it this morning for $10.

It was brand new in the box. When I told the guy how excited I was and my kids would love it, he asked what it did and I told him and he said maybe I should keep it and I said no way you already sold it to me. 

Love it - Logan already a yummy pizza in it today after school !!!

Winner, winner chicken dinner !!!

Going on a road trip . . .

Well my mom has been called to serve a mission for our church. She will be serving in the Washington DC North Mission. She is thrilled and we are thrilled for her. 

She reports to the MTC in Provo, Utah on September 12th. 

She is packing up her car and driving and so she is going to need to have a travel companion to drive with her.My sister in law will ride with her from Phoenix to Provo and then Karen will get to visit Utah friends and then fly home. Guess who gets to be her travel companion from Utah to Washington DC ??? ME !!! I am so thrilled. 

After we map quested the trip I was even more thrilled to find out that we will drive right through CHICAGO !!! 

My girl is in CHICAGO, well she is actually traveling to CHICAGO as we speak. 

I haven't seen her in over a year and so I am thrilled to say the least.

A gentle reminder . . . to look for the good !

"We have a choice. We can seek for the bad in others.               Or we can make peace and work to extend to others the understanding, fairness, and forgiveness we so desperately desire for ourselves. It is our choice

 for whatever we seek, that we will certainly find."

--President Dieter F. Uchtdorf,

Happy

Many reasons to be happy . . . . 

The grass is not always greener . . . .

So it has been a long couple of weeks. What have I learned ? 1) I require sleep 2) I am extremely emotional - especially when I am tired 3) I have a hard time handling 15 patients at a time 4) I really like to spend 1 on 1 quality time with patients and families 5) I can't leave a toddler crying in a crib 5) cancer sucks !!!!

It has always been my favorite

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct they paths." 

(Proverbs 3: 5 & 6) 

Tender Mercies . . .

I am feeling them all around me right now at the changes that I am making. I have to admit I have questioned myself a million times wondering if this night job is what I should do. But the reality is - I think I am willing to make whatever sacrifice is needed to help provide for my family. As I just sat and plugged in my scheduled nights for the month, all my appointments and the kids schedules. It has worked out perfect. Just another way of my Heavenly Father saying it is going to be okay. Just another way of him saying you are that much closer to getting on a plane to go visit my girl or to be able fly her home and  financially be able to help her afford to take a week off.  My heart aches for her because I miss her so much. Imagine being a mom and going an entire year without seeing one of your kids. I know I wont see Dylan for 2 years. Somehow a mission is so much different. I just want her to come home . . . if even for a day. And now we are on a road to more stable incomes and hopefully positive changes for our family. Don't get me wrong . . . I am not seeking riches or fancy cars. I just want enough to take care of the needs of my big ole' growing family.

Tonight is my first night shift and I have only had 4 hours of sleep so I am sitting at the computer for about 30 minutes in an attempt to get tired and take a 3 hour nap. I am excited. I am scared. But most of all I am eager and hoping that maybe in what I do I will be able to make a difference in a little ones quality of life. I am not sure if I told you but I will be on the Oncology floor. It is full of little kids that are much braver than I. I am excited that I will get to be their friend and maybe learn some of the simple lessons that life has taught them.

Good Night my friends - hope this works !!!

So Much for that attempt . . .

So tonight is my first night shift at the hospital. My family is all out of town so I attempted to stay awake as late as I could last night in hopes of sleeping in late. In my head I was thinking maybe I can sleep till noon. Stayed up till about 2:30 am.  The house is silent, my room is dark and wouldn't you know I woke up at 6:44 am. Dang !!! A total of 4 hours of sleep. That is not going to do me any good when I have to stay awake till noon tomorrow. So laying there trying to go back to sleep just got me frustrated and so I got up in hopes of getting tired. I am going to do chores for a couple of hours in hopes of getting tired and going back to bed. Good thing is I don't have to do this again till next weekend. I am going to have to learn all the tricks to working the night shift.

Can't Get Enough of These Boys Tonight !!!

Once a Jericho Road Fan, Always A Jericho Road fan. I LOVE their music, I LOVE their message and I LOVE the spirit that I feel when I listen to it !!!

I love this song and I love this message !!!!