Stop And Smell The Tulips

A few weeks ago I went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Pointe with my mom.  The flowers were beautiful so I wanted to share a few of my favorite picts.

The sunsets of life

For date night on Friday, Lisa and I went out to dinner with my sister and her husband. Afterwards we drove home, pulled in the driveway. We then decided that it was too early for us to go home and hang out, which involves changing into basketball shorts and tee shirts and watching something on Netflix. Instead we went for a drive. The last time we went for a night drive, Lisa was pregnant and got kind of car sick, so it has been a long time coming. As we were driving around, the sun started to set. We were up in the Olympus cove and over by Wasatch Blvd., and we saw the most marvelous sunset.

To digress a little in the story, I have always loved to watch sunrises and sunsets. I don't know whether I was born elderly or what, but it has been one of my innate joys. Maybe what I like so much about them is that they are easily appreciated by anyone, anywhere. There is no age limit or income needed to see such ornate beauty. It is one of the few universal experiences in this world. Whether in Salt Lake City, and the sun sets over the Oquirrh mountains, in South America where the sun sets over the Andes Mountains or Pacific Ocean, or on some distant tropical island, with the right conditions it is a sight to behold. All it takes to appreciate are slowing down a little, and a little less egoism.

To return to my story, we were driving around, and we saw the sunset, and two things crossed my mind. The first was I wished I had a camera on me, and the second was I wondered how many other people right now in Salt Lake were looking at it too.

This gets to the point of the whole blog post. How many times do we pass over such beautiful blessings of our Heavenly Father? I think that the most simple things like sunsets are some of the greatest ways that He shows us that He loves us. Some of the answers to some of my most sincere prayers have been answered by sunrises or sunsets. I knew I was to serve a mission while on Pioneer Trek in Wyoming after my senior year. I woke up at about 4:30, so I got up to walk around. A few minutes later the sun rose over the mountains and it was amazing. One of the councilors in the Stake Presidency came up to me, and told me that was for me. It was that moment that I knew what I was supposed to do.

Something else that has really shaped my thoughts on appreciating the present has been since I became a father. Almost every night, I feed Nolan, burp him, and then lay him on my chest and shoulder. He usually falls asleep there, and honestly I could spend eternity with that little guy sleeping on me. He usually grabs the collar of my shirt and rests his other hand over my back. It is the favorite part of my day. I realize it is soon that he will not want to even hang out with Lisa and me, and we need to live it up now when I can at least put him in the situation to bond with me.

Basically, the whole purpose of this post is to become more aware of the experience of mortality. If we are too busy doing things of little eternal importance, we can pass over life changing experiences like a sunset or other ways that our Heavenly Father expresses his feelings for us. Let us look around, become aware, and appreciate the unnoticed blessings we are so often receiving.

Chris

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle

Ok, so this post has nothing to do with a hand, a cradle or even that creepy movie so to speak, but I wanted to post pictures of the crib my dad, my father-in-law and Chris made for Nolan. After months of waiting in anticipation they finished it and here is the end result. I am so proud to have such crafty men in my life.

They made the crib from scratch

One half of his room

Here is his mostly finished room, there are still some photos and accessories I need to add, but you get the idea. 

Dresser and blocks I made, there is also a large bookcase to the left.

I think he likes it!

Happy Birthday Old Friend!

I cant believe 14 years ago I was begging my mom and dad to buy me a dog. I remember like it was yesterday.  I was playing outside when I heard that our neighbors had some new puppies at their house and that they were thinking of buying one.  And since I have always LOVED animals I ran across the street to play with them the first chance I got.  That is when I beheld the most perfect dog I had ever seen, he was cute, cuddly and full of personality and I knew I had to have him!

So I talked to the owner and he agreed to let me take him home and play with him (in hopes that I would buy him).  And that is exactly what I did, I immediately took him inside the house and showed my mom, I knew she would be the one I would really have to persuade to buy me this puppy.  I marched up to her room and showed her how cute he was to which she agreed but she wasn't convinced yet that we needed a dog.  I resorted to hours and hours of begging, reasoning, bargaining and when it wasn't working I took the dog and sulked in my room. 

When it was time to take the dog back we went for one last test run in our yard.  That is when the miracle happened.....  as we were playing the dog fell into a rose bush and got a thorn.  I was too scared to get it out and as the puppy was whimpering I took him straight to my dad who pulled the sucker right out.  Now here is where the miracle happened. As payment of getting the thorn out, this puppy gave my dad the most thankful stare and followed it with a lick on the face.  After that my dad went inside the house and convinced my mom to let us buy this dog.  And my dad must have really liked him because he forked out the $500 bucks for him!  We went straight over to the man selling him and paid up for the already named "Trousers"  we loved the name and thought it had so much personality that we decided to keep him named that.

Needless to say I was ecstatic and I couldn't believe I finally had a dog, and not only that, but he was the dog of my dreams.  Even 14 years later I can still say he is the dog of my dreams and I love him so much, and while he is growing old and slowing down I will always have the wonderful memories we have shared.  I Love You Trousers, Happy Birthday!

A few days after we had him.
(Don't mind my ugly outfit, I was leaving to go on Pioneer Trek)

We always included Trousers in our family photos.

Always begging for leftover food

Trousers-Jack Russell Terrier