Happy Halloween

Here are some October highlights. It is finally cool enough to enjoy camping, so we took a trip to the Grand Canyon and celebrated Brandon's 13th birthday.

Zachary dressed as himself for Halloween. He was firm on not wearing a silly costume.

He was willing to dance for his candy, however, and that made up for it all. Happy Halloween everyone!

The Best Things in Life

Ok, so promising to blog every day this week has proven impossible with my family and their constant needs. Even now, I have little Zachary climbing onto my lap and Amanda asking what she needs to do next. We just had chore meeting and they are all busy fulfilling their duties to the family (what we have been learning about in our family devotionals lately). I thought I would take a second to express more of my gratitude.

The most wonderful thing has just happened. The weather has changed, almost overnight. We had a huge rainstorm that lasted a couple of days (on and off) and the weather dropped to between 65 and 85. Yesterday we went to the park and it felt REALLY good to be in the 80s with a breeze. It so reminded me of Northern California weather. This morning we woke up to coolness! It was 75 degrees when I took Brandon to his commonwealth school and there was water everywhere--even in the air! Again, it was like a taste of California. I am realizing more deeply that we have just endured the "winter" of the southwest. Now, we can enjoy the rest of the school year and really be free to explore and be outside. I am realizing what a blessing it will be to not have to hibernate all winter (like so many of our friends in the north!) Yes, our pool is a little cooler now, but who cares! We can go places now!

I recently found this quote from Robert Louis Stevenson in the Arizona Republic, our local newspaper.

"The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in
your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just
before you."

I cut it out and put it on my fridge so that I could ponder it while I am preparing meals. It is really true that happiness lies in the path. Pouring over the past or fretting about the future really doesn't bring happiness. But, rolling up our sleeves and finding joy in the work right before us, really seeing the blessings right in front of our eyes, and thanking God for it all is what brings joy.

Today I am deeply grateful that I have endured this heat the best that I could and that now I have the tremendous blessing of moderate weather. I am enjoying it so much. I don't even think words can tell how much this blessing means to me. I can connect again with nature, an important way for me to feed my soul. It is like drinking deeply after a long thirst. I think I am going to like it here after all.

My Gratitude List--Day One

I loved listening to conference this weekend! It was so inspiring and peaceful. Brian allowed me to have the whole weekend off from cooking. I was in heaven just being able to sit and relax. I even got gluten-free cinnamon rolls, if you can believe it! They were really good!

I have been thinking about how I can follow the prophet's counsel to have a more grateful outlook and to show gratitude more often. I decided that every day this week I am going to post something that I am grateful for in Arizona.

Today I am going to start with the thing for which I am most grateful. That is that we are singing again. We have joined the East Valley Mormon Choral Organization (EVMCO) and now have the opportunity to be challenged musically and be a part of something truly extraordinary. It's like we have been lifted to a higher plane. We feel like singing more at home and even the kids feel that there has been a happy change. Brandon and Katelyn are in the children and youth choruses, but they are learning the songs from the adult choir as well since they join me in my practice. We not only sing more, we are singing better. That is so fun!

During our first rehearsal I peeked over to the tenor section to try to find Brian. He saw me and mouthed the words, "Thank you. I have missed this!" I did drag him to the audition, but we are both sure that this is where we are supposed to be. Our family needs music. Brian and I need music. We did not even realize how much we had missed singing together. This kind of choir is really rare. In fact there are only two in existence. One of them is in Arizona. That is one reason why I am grateful to be here.