24 hours and Counting

Today is the day before we drop our oldest boy off at the MTC in Provo for a two-year mission that will take him half way around the world and only allow me brief visits via email and 2 phone calls per year. There was a LOT to get done today!

Son and hubby met me downtown for a quick lunch. Blocks from our destination my car konked out without any warning. Just a slight whimper and she was gone. Gratefully my strapping 19-year-old didn't mind pushing an over-sized SUV through downtown traffic to the one available parking spot. Did I mention that it was pouring rain?

That put a slight damper on the day, but hubby graciously waited for the tow truck and son and I dashed off to our new favorite dining spot, Bruges Waffles and Frites for a delicious 'last lunch date.' Oh my, it was good. I ate at least a pound of potatoes that I dipped in this amazing fry sauce (something mayonnaisey with a bit of kick) and more than my fair share of the most delicious caramelized waffles. T's new home away from home promises to treat him well in the food category!


We found out the fuel pump on my car needs replacing...not exactly how we wanted to spend $500, but grateful it was nothing more serious. We took just enough time to grab a second waffle for kind dad (who took pulled the short straw so we could have our lunch date) and ran to pick him up and rent a car for the big day. Somehow, cramming the family into the Honda Prelude, not to mention the two big bags that is holding all of my son's earthly possessions for the next two years, did NOT sound like fun.

We were moments from our freeway exit when traffic came to a screeching halt. The first few seconds of waiting weren't bad, but as the minutes ticked on it became painfully apparent that we were not going anywhere soon. As i sat there thinking of the things were were supposed to be getting done, I started to nimble on the waffle that I so lovingly held for my better half.

It took more than an hour, but traffic finally started moving again. We got to the school in time to rush in for an end-of-year recital. We made it the bank to take care of all the important paperwork that we left until the very last moment. We ran by several friends homes for quick last good byes.

All in all, I'd say our day was better than this poor driver's!
I was NOT driving when I took this picture. T was behind the wheel!!

Hug the one's you love and let them know how grateful you are to have them in your life!

California Cousins

Some things in life are inevitable. Unfortunately, death is one of those things. My brother-in-law had a death in his family this past week. Among the sadness there were a lot of smiles because my sister and her 3 girls got to come to Utah (from sunny San Diego) to see us for a quick dinner!

(Max, Luke & Lucy)

We're always happy when we get to see family - and this was the first time Ben had met his California cousins. They all loved each other!

(Lucy, Sofi, Luke, Max, Kaylee, Ben)

Glad we got to see you guys!

(Bills Family with Mom & Dad)

Thanks to my sis for the pictures!

A Season of Thankfulness

It's mid-November! Where has the time gone? My sweet baby is two-months-old and growing way too fast. In my spare time (ha!) I gathered a few supplies and made this banner. All I needed was some burlap, twine, paint and a sewing machine. Oh, and a sleeping baby so I could put it together!!

It hangs in my kitchen where we can all see it everyday. It's a great reminder that we have much to be thankful for. And with this new season, I am trying to help my kids say THANKS for all that they have.

I used butcher paper to create a simple stencil of each letter. A quick dab of black paint with a stencil brush added the lettering to each triangle of burlap. The fabric pieces are connected with the twine, sewn in place using a zigzag stitch. The dot garland was even easier! I cut out dozens of different colored circles using a 1" and 1.5" circle punch. All that was left was stringing them together using a straight stitch on my sewing machine.

Of course, Lauri had to have one also! She made her own dot garland, with a slight twist.

Wishing you a Thankful November!

So Much to be Thankful for!

We have much to be thankful for this holiday season. Business is good. Our families are healthy and happy. The weather is cooperating. At our house, we've instigated the tradition of having each family member prepare a dish for our celebration. It really takes the stress off the mom! This year Kevin is making the sweet potato gratin (YUMMY!). Trent will make his famous turkey gravy. Davis had a hankering for Silk Chocolate Pie. Without any help, he found the recipe of choice, got me a list of needed ingredients and prepared (what promises to be) a scrumptious dessert! True to form, Colton requested Mac and Cheese for dinner. You'd think that 12 is old enough to expand one's taste buds, but it's his dinner too, so tomorrow will find the two of us whipping up a pot of a homemade variety that will feel comfortable next to the stuffing, green beans and salad! All this help gave me enough time to think about table decor. We've had such fun with our new block ornaments that I decided to bring them to the table. I want EVERYONE to know what I'm MOST thankful for! Before our last snow storm, I happened to find some fallen tree branches that I knew would be perfect for a project somewhere down the road. Who knew that I'd put them to use within the week?!

All I did was spray the branches with a bit of silver and gold spray paint. After they dried, I simply secured them in two long, skinny vases. (The display was too tall for the center of the table - it competed with the overhead lighting, so I decided to plant one at each end of the table.) Next, I add 4-5 bright red ornaments, along with 5 block ornaments featuring family faces to varying branches on the limb. That's it. Really! It makes a spectacular display!!




The rest of my ornaments adorn some greenery that I've already placed around the front door. I thought I'd get a running start on the Christmas decorating. Next week is going to be pretty busy. Did we mention that we're going to be on Channel 4, Good Things Utah? Oh, we did?! :-)

Wishing You Joy and Peace

From our families, to yours...
We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday, one filled with joy and peace. Thanks for sharing the memories. We look forward to all that 2009 brings!

Still Grateful!

Wow! Where did November go? If you've been following our blog, you probably remember our plan to document the things we are grateful for during the month of November. From the looks of our list, we're not very grateful...

Hopefully, you know that's NOT the case.

Like many of you, we are so busy living life that we can't find the time to get everything done. Sadly, some of the important things fall by the way-side. How could we not acknowledge the amazing meals that we've recently enjoyed? (We've been blessed, really blessed with fabulous friends and family who open their homes and hearts and include us around the table at meal times.) We've been fortunate to enjoy good health, for the most part. This is a blessing we like to take for granted, until we're side-lined, usually when least convenient. Our weather has been fabulous! Of course, my interpretation of fabulous weather means warm days and cool nights...just cool enough to bring out the flannel sheets. My snow-loving family has a different interpretation of perfect weather. Either way, the fall colors were spectacular in our corner of the world and they are vividly painted in my mind as we head into the stark whiteness of winter.

Oh to have the time to give thanks to each person and experience that touched our lives this year, made us grow, and gave life new meaning. But life beckons. And so we fondly look back, however briefly, and then we dig in our heels and take off running once again.

Gratitude for Babies

Today my baby turned seventeen. Not sure where the time has gone. It seems like it wasn't that long ago that we were dashing off to the hospital excited to welcome him into the world and clueless to the changes that were coming! My man-child now has his feet firmly planted in the adult world and it's getting harder to remember those wonderful years where he relied on me for his every need.

I let the craziness of living get the best of me today and I forgot to turn my thoughts to the past and savor each delicious moment that seventeen years have delivered. Gratefully, my sister took the time to reflect on the precious gift this child presented and her memories unlocked the flood gates of my own treasured recollections.

Happy birthday big guy! We LOVE you!!

Thankful for Memories

Suni's been busy preserving her Gratitude List. She's given me permission to share her thoughts here. We're grateful that Suni is such an important part of the Stories by Me mission to preserve memories.

isn't the mind an amazing thing? i mean, the fact that i can remember what it was like to be in kindergarten with mrs. henderson and the really tiny bathroom stalls, or that i feel like it was just yesterday that i was sick, laying on the floor with my pink horsey blanket and marisa let me play with her my little pony and strawberry shortcake and it meant the world to me. sometimes the details are so crisp. other times it's just the feeling that is familiar. i am amazed how a smell can jog the mind and bring back an entire conversation or situation. some days i hang on my memories, hoping they can get me through whatever it is i'm dealing with. other days i want to forget some of those memories. i am thrilled we have the ability to keep memories alive. the key is to remember. looking at pictures, spending time with loved ones, talking with family. i'm spending my time remembering today. and i'm thankful i have the memories.

Gratitude for Mothers

*This message was shared via email. There was no reference to the original author. We'd like to think that perhaps, it was written in part by moms everywhere! Thanks for sharing this Jen!

Invisible Mother......

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store.

Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously, not.

No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated sum a cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going; she's going; she is gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself.

I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.'

It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe .

I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place.

It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'you're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right.

And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Great Job, MOM!

Gratitude for Freedom

i am thankful for freedom. i am thankful for our founding fathers who fought for this freedom so that i can raise a family how i choose. i am thankful i can choose what i want to believe. and how i live. and where i live. and who i am. and what i think. and what i say. i am thankful to those who continue to fight for my freedom. and to their families. i am thankful for freedom.

suni's thoughts as seen at thumbs toes & thursday.

Grateful for FAMILY!

We really must top our list of things we're thankful for with FAMILY! No way could we have accomplished all that we have without their support and love.

We have kids who gave up time with mom and kids who gave up personal time to BE mom. Kids who got their own meals, and took on extra chores. Kids who helped get orders out and provided free babysitting so we could get more orders.

Can't forget the extended family and their desire to see us succeed, not only in business, but in life!

Of course, we must save our biggest thanks for our wonderful husbands who stick by us through thick n' thin. They know when to keep their mouths shut...like the times when you can't find a quiet (or clean) spot in the house because we've let the business seep over into all aspects of our lives. And they know when to open their mouths and offer sound advice.

It's been a crazy, action-packed, whirlwind of a year. Thanks to our family, we're still standing and looking forward to what 2009 might throw at us!

{Yep, you counted right! There're eight boys between the two of us. Wonder why we're always running to keep up? Well, wonder no more!}

Grateful for 2008

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Doesn't that nicely sum up 2008? What a crazy ride it has been. We sometimes felt as if we were clinging to our seats as life whipped us around for another mind-numbing spin through the turbulent highs and lows that life is famous for. Would we choose to get off the ride? Not hardly. We thought we'd spend some time this month reflecting on the things that we have learned from this year's experiences. We'd like to think that we're a little wiser, a little stronger, and a whole lot better prepared to face the challenges that 2009 will bring.

Thanks, everyone, for making the ride worth it!