Where have you been all of my life?

Dear Readers,
I love gadgets. I mean LOVE gadgets! The bad thing about it is that once I have them in my greedy little paws, I don't use them. So, palm pilot, ipod, camera that I only use occasionally, I'm going to apologize now because I have found a gadget that I could not possibly live without. Mike had thought about buying me one for Christmas, but I told him no, I don't want it to end up being one of those gifts that I don't use. Apparently on that day I was out of my mind.

Yes people, I have a Kindle and I'm addicted! For those of you who don't know what a Kindle is, it's an ereader from Amazon that you can download books to and take it with you EVERYWHERE! It's in my purse at the moment and I love it. I can take however many books with me at all times and it's only an itty bitty thing. I thought I would miss the page turning, the feel of a book in my hands. Nope.

This brings us to the problem-self control. As in I have absolutely none when it comes to books. BK (Before Kindle), I would stare longingly at the bookstore but never go in. Why? Because I would find something that I would absolutely have to have and then before I knew it, BAM, I'm walking out with three or four books that I "needed". If Crystal and I went perusing, I would give her my debit card and tell her, "I don't care what I tell you, do not give me that card! I don't need any new books, I'm saving my money for whatever." With my handy dandy Kindle, it's a click of a button and voila! Instant joy! That is until I see the money coming out of our checking account. But, Amazon also has free books which feeds the book addiction while introducing me to new authors that I wouldn't normally pick up and reunites me with the Classics.

Pardon me while I go and make a new list for books that absolutely have to be bought and their release dates. Happy reading!

peace and love y'all!

POTW---Week 3 Topic Sweet

Dear readers,

Lately, my mind has been on my boys alot. It seems that the children take turns as to who needs me more at any one time and right now, Jared has come to the front. I don't mind that, he's one of my favorite people. He's having a rough time of it, but we're working through it slowly but surely. When this week's topic came up, I thought to myself, there is no one sweeter than my sweet boy, so he's my focus of the pictures for the week. I can't ever choose just one so you'll have to bear with me.

He had just gone to the bathroom in the middle of the night and instead of going back to his room, he decided to curl up in the sock basket.

Possibly my all time favorite picture of the boys. Jared's first fishing trip to the lake, he's probably about 2 years old. He was so excited and every fish he caught was given a kiss and thrown back in.

Christy P. took this while she was taking the pictures for Christmas. This is so him, always full of energy and acting crazy.

Another one of Christy's beautiful shots of him. This one has the smirk that I love so much.

He really is one of the sweetest people I know and I'm so glad he's my son. We have a ton of fun and I enjoy listening to him and talking with him. He really is one of the most interesting kids I know.

So, that's my picture post for the week. My sweet boy! If he sees this he'll probably want to kill me.

Peace and love y'all!

POTW---Week 2 Home

To some people, home is where you live, but to me home is people. My house is made of wood and siding and walls, but my home is wherever my family may be. We may bicker, but we mostly laugh. There are occasionally some sad tears, but they are aways balanced by the tears of joy. Mike is the anchor, always steady and sure. I'm the listener and worrier (not a surprise to most). Kiersten is our dreamer, always writing or drawing. Jared is our hugger, always quick to help or give you a hug when you need it most. So, this is my home.....

photo of the kids done by Christy Peake

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

This morning as I was doing my usual meander through the internet, I came across Orson Scott Card's article for the week in the Deseret News about respecting the Savior. There was also a lot of thought put into the language of prayer and how we show respect for Heavenly Father and Christ when we use the whole "thee, thou, thine" stuff.

However, I'm not going to write about that, it's somewhat confusing and I haven't had my Pepsi. My mind soon wandered onto other paths dealing with respect. If Christ was standing next to us, how would we behave towards others around us? I can pretty much guarantee you that there wouldn't be so much gossip, back biting or bickering. How about how we treat our family? There wouldn't be the fussing and fighting or talking down to each other or abuse. How about in the workplace? We wouldn't degrade others or make them feel bad about themselves. We would build each other up instead of tearing each other down.

In the cartoons that I watched as a kid and take great delight in educating my children about today, this whole thing was usually depicted as an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. Too bad that the angel usually got thumped off and the devil took over which led to general mischief and mayhem. Just think about what a great place the world would be if it were the opposite in real life. The angel stayed on the shoulder, which led to kindness, gentility and compassion.

Just a thought---keep the angel on your shoulder and as we learned in Bambi "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all"!

Peace and love y'all!