Chocolate

Today is one of the first days in my no sugar challenge that I really just want a treat. I mean I want a fat brownie sundae with hot fudge and some rich hot chocolate with real whip cream on the side. 

Sigh.

But since I can't eat that and still get my point, I thought maybe I would write about it instead. :) I am grateful to those wonderful people who invented our modern version of chocolate. Now if I can just master my powers of moderation, I can enjoy the yumminess of chocolate once again.

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Problem solved! Chocolate craving satisfied!

I invented a delicious sugar free homemade hot chocolate! This is totally gonna help me thru this challenge.

8 ozs. Milk heated

2 T good unsweetened cocoa powder (perigino here)

1/3 cup stevia

Sweet Sabrina

Today I am grateful that my almost teenage daughter is still sweet and loving and wonderful in every way! Love her!

Crazy Good

Today a friend offered to watch my kids so I could go to our Stake temple day. When I got to the temple I was surprised to see that every parking spot was taken. About 15-20 cars were looking for some place to park!

I circled the lot till finally someone pulled out right by me and I took their spot. Inside I saw familiar faces from church. Temple workers were scrambling trying to service the massive numbers of patrons. I have never seen a temple so busy. It was crazy and wonderful.

It took me 3 hours to get my one family name baptized, confirmed and ready for endowment. But watching my Stake presidency serve as the witnesses and name projector person in the baptistery was a really special. 

The temple is always wonderful and always has a great spirit inside but today with what felt like half my Stake in there, it had an extra measure of special and wonderful.

I am thankful to have a temple in our day and for the covenants Jonathan and I made there which bind us and all our posterity together forever. 

Parking at the temple today. That's my silver minivan on the right.

I am also grateful the lady who double parked behind me today wasn't in a session and could be found so I could get home to my kids!

My Savior

Today and each and every day I am grateful beyond words expression for my Savior Jesus Christ. I know He lives. In Him alone is the power to forgive sins. Through His Grace we can be made perfect. I know that through the power of His atoning sacrifice we who have been broken in spirit by sorrow or trial can in time be made whole.

I know He loves me more than I can bear to fully feel. And I know He loves you. I have felt a portion of His love for others as I have served others in His name. 

I am grateful for Him and what He has done personally for me in my life. I am indebted eternally. My life, happily, is His to do with as He sees fit. I love my Savior and am so grateful for Him.

The Holy Ghost

Last night Jonathan and I went with some lovely young sister missionaries to teach a lesson to a Brazilian woman. Her English is great but they wanted someone there who might be able to bear a testimony to her in Portuguese. Since Jonathan served his mission in Brazil, he could do that.

We had a wonderful time meeting this new friend. She is really such a wonderful and amazing person who really is looking to grow closer to the Lord. The missionaries taught a lesson on recognizing the Spirit. At one point they asked me to share how the Spirit helps me in my life to know truth.

Answering that question and our discussion last night just makes me recognize how wholly dependent I am on the Spirit in my life to guide, protect, teach, purify and comfort me.

I am eternally and daily grateful for the precious gift of the Holy Ghost which I strive daily to RECEIVE.

Best part of living in Texas

This morning I made a lightning fast Target run to buy Harrison a new car seat. He threw up in his while I was out of town and despite Jon's best cleaning efforts, it just still smells.

When I got back I put it in the car and then I saw the big empty box sitting by the recycling bin.

Today I am grateful for my sister in law Rachel. As I looked at that box, I remembered how this summer she brought her kids over and we made spaceships out of out old moving boxes. She inspired me to be a more fun and hands on mom this morning.

I brought in the box and got out the markers and Noble and Harrison began decorating. Then Noble said, "thanks mom for letting us build a spaceship!"

During our decorating above and after the boys were ready to play something else.  Just need to document that once upon a time I actually did something fun with my kids. :)

I made pretend iPads for each boy and pockets for them in the spaceship.

Having my brother Stephen and his wife Rachel 10 minutes away is by far the best part of living in Texas. I am so grateful for them in so many ways. This morning I am particularly grateful for Rachel and how she inspires me to be a more hands on and fun mom by her example. Thanks Rach!

Annie

This morning as I was running the kids to school, Annie asked if my running was part of my health challenge. I told it was.

From that point on she began cheering me on. She would ride ahead of me on her scooter. Then she would stop and cheer and put her hand out to give me a high five as I passed her.  Then repeat. All the time saying "you can do it mom! Keep running! Go mom!"

How many people have their own personal cheerleader? I am so grateful for my Ann Marie!

Snow

I am in the Salt Lake City airport waiting to fly home. Outside is a world of white as fat clusters of snowflakes drop lazily from the heavens. I am grateful for the beauty and the wonder of snow and that I had a chance to see it on my short trip to the mountainous West.

Ok here are the 10 things:

1-read 20 mins of holy writ each day

2-eat 6 servings fruit/veggies per day

3-drink 6 cups of water per day

4-write in gratitude journal daily

5-exercise for 30 minutes 5 days a week

6-consume no more than 1 serving refined sugar per day

7-no eating after 8 pm

8-work on a personal goal of your choosing (mine is to read 8 pages of Team of Rivals daily so I can finish it)

9-wild card (changes weekly- this week no soda)

10-record daily point tally to score board.

Crazy Family

Today I attended the graveside service for my cousin Jon. I got to see and remeet most of my Harris family cousins. We are all a bit crazy in one way or another and I love them all! I am grateful for my hard working, know it all cousins.

A New Day

It is November again. And while we don't typically think of November as a month of new beginnings, this one is for me. A friend invited me to join an overall health challenge. It gives daily goals for 8 weeks like drinking water and not eating sugar and reading scriptures and exercising. There are 10 daily goals each worth a point for each day you do them. 

One of the daily goals is to write in a gratitude journal. That fits well with my November tradition of gratitude posts. So until thanksgiving (and maybe after) I will be putting my gratitude journal in my posts.

Today as I ran for my 30 minutes of daily exercise, I had to go a little further than my normal route of taking the kids to school. As I ran through the park near our home, the sun was just peaking over the horizon.

I stopped to take a photo for this post because today I am grateful for new beginnings. I am so grateful for repentance and that The Lord allows each of us as many new beginnings as we need to get it right. That no matter how much candy you ate the night before or how long it has been since you prayed or read your scriptures, you can wake up the next day and resolve to be a new sugar free, praying, scripture-reading you.

So thank you to my good friend Catherine for inviting me to join this challenge and make November a month of new beginnings. And thank you to her sister Brooke for the idea and putting it all together. I have been needing something just like this to get the sun on my new beginning to rise up.

Fall in Texas

Sometimes I just ache to hold her.

My kids are growing up. My babies are not really babies anymore. We have moved on to a new chapter in life in so many ways. It is a good chapter so far. I am meeting new characters who are enriching my life. We are growing in new ways. In some ways it feels like I have lived here or been here in Texas forever but it still somehow isn't quite home yet.

It was a lovely fall day today. The soft air was a perfect temperature as I ran the kids to school. I slowed to a walk on my return to savor the season. It just felt like Fall. I decided I like Fall in Texas.

One fun thing I have done this fall in an effort to get to know my neighbors better is to host a weekly "community soup night" at my home. I invited my 50 closest neighbors to come to my home for a cup or bowl of soup each Tuesday in October. Tonight is the last soup night. I ask them to bring their own bowl and spoon to save me from the dishes or mess. I make a big batch of soup and we chat. It is like a little open house once a week. It has been an easy way to get to know some of my more social neighbors.

So far I have made sweet corn soup, carrot ginger soup, butternut squash soup, beef and barley chili, and tonight it is pumpkin soup on the menu. Each has turned out pretty well, but I think the sweet corn and pumpkin are probably my favorites.

When I have leftovers, I freeze them in muffin tins and pop them in a ziplock bag in the freezer for a quick lunch for myself or easy dinner to a sick friend.

It has been lots of fun and I have met about 8 new neighbors through it. How do you best get to know your neighbors?

Mourn with those who Mourn

This weekend we took a quick family trip down to San Antonio. It was a last minute decision. That meant quite a bit of last minute planning for me. So Thursday was a rather busy day. Late Thursday night I texted with my friend Britt. Her son Daxton died the same week my Camille did - both in tragic, unexpected accidents. We have been close friends since we found each other online just weeks after our lives were changed forever.

She had posted about a missionary who had passed away so I texted to find out who it was exactly. Turns out it was her husbands little brother. My heart broke for her family, enduring yet again such a close and too soon loss of one so young. I told her I wished I could do something, take some of the weight of the grief for her. But knowing what I know about how unfixable grief is, especially in the early fresh stages, I was left with little of comfort to offer.

The next morning Britt got up early to drive her family to Idaho where her husband grew up. I got up just an hour later to drive my family to San Antonio. It was still the dark of night for both of us. My family quickly fell asleep and I was left alone in the dark with my thoughts. My thoughts were on my friend.

I thought of her driving in the dark, just like I was. I thought of the weight of grief on her shoulders and on her husband's shoulders as well. And I remembered feeling just a little bit that having others mourn with me when I was fresh in my grief did help me carry the load just a bit.

And so I prayed as I drove. I prayed for my friends and her family and for her husband's family. And I prayed that I might be able to lighten their load just a little bit, to help them bear this too heavy cross that weighs on an already tender spot in their heart. And I wept. I mourned with deep soul filled mourning.

I would like to think that somehow I did share a bit of the dark road with my friend that early morning. I felt an over powering charitable love for her family as I mourned with them those dark and quiet hours. I believe this is what is meant by our covenant to mourn with those who mourn. I think that in so doing, maybe we do in fact getting a better understanding of the Atonement and maybe we really do get to lighten that burden for another just a little bit.



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On a separate note: To the commenter that asked more specifics on my previous post. The parenting dilemma - basically this move has been stressful on all of us, obviously. But this has allowed me to see how each of my kids deals with stress. Each has dealt with it differently, but it has shown up in everyone. For one of my kids, I think it produced some anxiety that is above normal. It showed me that I need to help her find good ways to deal with anxiety and stress. I am glad to know this about her when she is young rather than when she is a teenager and may be less willing to open up to me and less willing to go see someone to get help.

Homesick

Today marks 4 months since our last night at home in Las Vegas. Texas is a lovely place and the weather has finally cooled off. It is green and the people are friendly and kind. The sky here is huge and beautiful and often inspiring.

But I am just feeling a little bit homesick. I know it seems crazy to miss the desert, but I do. I miss the people there whom I love so much. I miss our house. I miss the purple mountains and desert storms. I just miss home.

I have dealt with homesickness plenty of times before. I am sure I will deal with it many times again. It isn't so fun. But really there are lots of worse things to deal with in the world. So I am going to count my blessings.

Let me tell you 10 things I love about Texas in an effort to look on the bright side.

10- We have a big grassy backyard.
9- I have some really friendly kind neighbors.
8- The church congregation (ward) I go to here is full of great people who are teaching me new things and becoming good friends to me.
7- The State fair has really good lemonade and corn dogs.
6- The Perot Museum is amazing and we have an annual pass.
5- We have season passes to Six Flags and it isn't crowded all the time.
4- I found an amazing piano teacher for my kids.
3- This move has brought to light some parenting issues that I might not have seen if we had stayed in Vegas.
2- We get to spend lots of time with my brother Stephen and his lovely family.
1- Jon has a great job that he enjoys doing.

Well, I am going to keep adding to that list on my own time. Thanks for listening and if you are in Las Vegas--- hope you are feeling my love come through.

Brisket Tacos/Quesadillas

I am really missing my dinner group over here. It has reminded me what a chore it is to come up with what is for dinner Every. Single. Day! Well, one of the best dinners to come from my dinner group was a version of THIS recipe for Brisket Tacos that my friend Emily Hoopes made one week. I loved them and asked for the recipe. She directed me to the link for the recipe.

I decided to make them again last week. But here is the beautiful discovery I made-- This can be a meal made from leftovers of another of my favorite meals! I love it when that happens.

So last week I took dinner to one of Jon's co-workers family. The wife recently had back surgery. I decided to make french dip sandwiches. Normally I make these after a recipe Bari Earl gave me. (Her daughter Emily is one of my best friends and writes and amazing food and crafty type blog ReMarkable Home.)

This recipe is awesome and makes a ton of food.

French Dip Sandwiches
Basically you buy a beef roast. You can get whatever is on sale. I got top round roast this time. I got 2 so about 5 lbs.
Normally you would put the meat in your crockpot, cover with water and put in 2-4 packs of Dry Italian Salad Dressing Seasoning packets and the same amount of Dry Lipton Onion Soup packets.
This time I did 2 of each kind of seasoning packet. (You can use more if you like the meat more flavored or you have more meat)
Then instead of water I poured in a 16 oz bottle of Dr. Pepper. Then I added enough water to cover the meat.
Next I cooked the meat on low in my crock pot for 8 hours.
I then shreded the meat with forks, removing any particularly fatty portions.
I then cooked another 2 hours on low.

I caramelized some onions and got some crusty rolls and sliced cheese.
Add a little spicy mustard and there is you french dip sandwich. Only I don't actually dip it. The juice it is sitting in is enough for me.
This is also great on Costco's pretzel rolls.

After I made this meal, I had lots of my beef left over. I made sandwiches for lunch the next couple of days and then last night I used the beef to make these tacos.
I had the cheese called for and made the Mango barbecue sauce as directed in the recipe except that I didn't have a yellow onion so I used a red one instead. And I accidentally dumped the whole 9 oz bottle of mango chutney in the mix and decided to leave it that way.

The result was OUT. OF. THIS. WORLD! Okay I know I am being a bit dramatic and in all fairness I was fasting for a dear friend of mine yesterday. (Fasting means to go without food or drink for two meals or 24 hours. It is something we Mormons do once a month and donate the money we would have used to eat to the poor. We also do it to increase spiritual awareness, self mastery, and give greater emphasis and power to our prayers. See more HERE about fasting.) And I will grant that every thing tastes better when eaten after fasting.

But when Jon came home from doing a visit he tried one and was amazed too. He had not been fasting so it made me a bit more sure that this really was THAT good. And I just had another one of the leftover tacos for breakfast (is that legal?) and, yes, it is that good.

I would put a photo up but I am not so great with the whole food photography thing and I don't want to steal the photos from Shawda. But you can see what they look like on her blog HERE.

Put it on your menu this week. Two yummy meals out of one crock pot of beef. What could be better?

Back At It 1001

1001 Seems like a fresh start number I think. This morning I woke up feeling like I wanted to go for a long run. I do feel that way sometimes. It started when I started running in college. I ran 15 minutes everyday except Sundays for about a year my sophomore year.

Then in my junior year I had a roommate and dear friend Tonna who was a runner. She asked me to go running with her. I was intimidated because I had only run short distances and I knew she was a cross country kind of girl. But she was so fun that I said I would try. Before I knew it I was running with her for a hour several times a week. We ran a couple of 10ks together. My best time for a 10k was 58 minutes.

So I haven't ever been a super runner but I have enjoyed it in the past. Since then I have run now and then but never consistently like that. And sometimes I get that feeling that I just want to let loose and run all out. But then when I try to do it I realize after about a minute that I am not in shape and my body can't run like my heart wants to.

The last few weeks since school has started I have been running the kids to school. They ride their scooters and I run trying to keep up with them. They are fast. It is a struggle for me to go fast enough to keep them in my sight. So every day I am really pushing myself to go as fast as I can. It is only about a mile to school. On the way home I walk/run.

So this morning when I woke feeling like going running, I took Nike's advice and just did it. The weather was lovely and I picked a nice route with a good variation of uphill and down. When I started to feel tired I hit the button on my iPod to get my time and found I had been running for 20 minutes and had gone over 2 miles.

By the time I got home I had gone 3.2 miles in 32 minutes. I walked a bit at the end to cool down. And I feel great. It is so nice to be able to run. I feel this fresh new start is going to be great.

Me right now with my little Harrison buddy who likes to sit on my lap while I type.

#1000 - Hard But Good

This is officially my 1000th post on my blog. I should announce something big huh? Well most of the big news things that have been happening in my life lately haven't been things I wanted to shout from the rooftops (like our encounter with lice this last week.) Lately, there have been a number of personally very difficult things that have come on either the stage of either my life or the life of someone I love.

But I like to keep my eyes focused on the positive in life whenever I can. And in the midst of the darkest storms there are some amazing moments of brilliant beauty when the  lightening brings a shock of light. These images can stay impressed upon the mind even after they are gone and we are plunged back into the deep darkness of night.

Jon and I went to the wedding of our niece Ella last weekend. She is the first grandchild on either of our sides to get married. All 9 of Jon's siblings and his parents came. It was so fun to have a mini family reunion with them during the wedding festivities. I had the chance to have some really good conversations with a few of Jon's siblings and his parents that really made the trip for me. I love Jon's family... ALL of them, and there are lots of them. It is a great blessing to have wonderful in-laws.

Despite the various trials and challenges each of our family members faces, there is strength in gathering together, praying together, and laughing together. We did lots of all of that last weekend.

And even in our battle with head lice this week, there are positives. Sabrina and Lauren have both been wanting short hair cuts for months. I wouldn't let them because I wanted to see how the Texas humidity would affect their curls first. But in having to check everyone for lice by coming through their hair with a nit comb... well everyone but Annie and I got haircuts.

Lauren and Sabrina will get to go to a salon next week to have a professional clean up the haircut I gave them on Wednesday. Jon has discovered yet another major benefit of being bald. And the little boys are thrilled to get haircuts just like Dad's. :) Sabrina and I will have super clean and soft scalps after all the olive oil and scalp combing treatments we "get" to do. Oh and we both discovered we can totally rock a shower cap! See ... bright side thinking going on here.

Harrison says "hair cut uhhhh like Dado" as he feels his head over and over. I think it makes me look more like Camille which is always a bonus for me.

Okay so Noble doesn't look so "thrilled" here but that is because he is covered in hair. He LOVES his "Dado" cut and says it is "perfect" and he wants to keep it like that forever.

Life can be hard and good at the same time. Perhaps life is best when it is both good and hard. I was thrilled when I asked Sabrina how she was liking being in the top orchestra at her new school. She said the music is hard to play but interesting and she likes it. I thought that was perfect. And sometimes when life is just the right level of hard it too can be interesting and when we keep focused on our blessings it also can be enjoyable.

So a few other new things, I have been running my kids to school in the morning. I don't mean running them in a car. I mean they are on scooters and I am running to try to keep up. It has been great for me...hard but good right?

I started up a new Power of Moms learning circle here. We had our first meeting last night with 10 of our 13 members attending. I am so excited to get going on it. We have a great group of women!

Texas is slowly cooling off and we Waites are slowly integrating ourselves into our new life here. This will end up being a good move for us. It has been hard but good in so many ways.

Well this wasn't an earth shaking post for #1000 but it is what I can share of what my life is like right now-hard but good. I thank the Lord for both.

Just Doing It

I will admit it. I was a bit afraid of getting back to school. That meant losing my 3 biggest helpers for most of the day. It meant getting up at 6 am each morning, and I am not a morning person. It meant going to bed by 10 each night. And I also had this whole "schedule" for myself of the work I would do during the school hours.

So I know I am only 2 days in so far, but this scheduled life is quite wonderful. I get some fresh air each morning walking the girls to school. I get a workout running home. I get time to shower before taking Sabrina to school. And our morning routines have been going smoothly because I get up early to be the oil that moves things along.

One difference I changed this year that I think is going to make a big difference is insisting that we all come down to breakfast together and read scriptures. We have generally read scriptures while eating breakfast but we weren't all around the table and Jon wasn't there. This year, I put it first on the list. I built everyone's schedules around our scripture and prayer / breakfast time. This is now the only meal we get to eat together so we may as well make it a good one.

Additionally, watching the boys has been so much easier than expected. They play so nicely together and with no big sisters with whom to compete they are more easy going.

This experience has made me think what other things have I been hesitant to do because I was scared of how hard they would be.  I am resolved to forget the fear and just do it. Once you get going the work for something worthwhile is always handsomely rewarded.

Prayer

I taught a lesson on prayer today at church. The best quote of the lesson was from a 2008 talk by Elder David A. Bednar who is an apostle of Jesus Christ. "The prayers of prophets are childlike in their simplicity and powerful in their sincerity." I found that statement profound. What makes a prayer powerful is the faith, sincerity and real intent of our heart when we offer it. As one who has benefitted greatly from the power of prayers on my behalf I testify of their power and encourage all men and women everywhere to pray to that God who gave us all life to find the answers, guidance, comfort and miracles you seek in your life and the life of those you love.

Thoughts on Prayer

I recently got a church calling, a volunteer church assignment. I was called as a ward missionary. In connection with that calling I get a chance once every 7 or so weeks to teach a Gospel Principles class. This weekend is my turn to teach and the topic is on prayer.

I have been trying to be more mindful of my prayers this week to help frame my lesson preparation. One thing I have noted is how often I look to "connect" to those I know and love through instagram, Facebook, email or this blog. I long for this "connection." I love hearing news from "home" and friends and family I love and miss.

Last night as I knelt to prayer I focused on really "connecting" with my Heavenly Father and that heavenly home from whence I came. Rather than just thinking the words and being grateful and expressing desire, I sought to be fed.

True prayer takes effort. It is a mental discipline. It takes desire for a connection and a willingness to set aside your own will for the divine will. As we exert our efforts to find this connection we can be instructed even in what the subject matters of our prayer should be.

More importantly, at least for me, we will be fed spiritually with a wholeness. We can feel that "connection" with heaven and our true home that settles earthly cares and eases our daily worries.

Often we use prayer most earnestly only when we are suffering. But we are still in need of that connection and spiritual nourishment even when life is going well. Without it we wither and feel empty. With it we can make something more of our lives than we could possibly imagine. We can become a tool for the Lord to use for His purposes.

That is my prayer. I want so much to be a worthy and useful tool in His service. I hope that I can exert the mental discipline to truly connect in my daily prayers and find ways each day serve His will.

Getting Back to Myself

This summer has been the laziest summer I have ever had as a mother. Okay, I know, I know. You are thinking, "Stephanie, you MOVED 1,200 miles with 5 kids and a bearded dragon and unpacked your house etc..." I know and that was busy. But that only took a few weeks. Since then we have been on a serious vacation from our normal scheduled life.

It has been so wonderful and nice in some ways. But in other ways I have really "let myself go." I haven't been exercising. Not good. I have been slacking on my personal scripture study. Really not good. And I have been let all my normal routine "systems" for  parenting (like chore charts and practicing music and paying allowance) become haphazard and rather ineffective.

Tomorrow is August. July was our "vacation from real life" month I guess. I am committing myself to get back to the real Me and get my system up and running in August. Now I am not going to expect myself to do it all perfectly all at once. I need to tweak a few systems to fit our life here in Texas. But I am committed to have my stuff in gear by the time school starts on August 26.

I have already started diving back into the scriptures. We had really good instruction on Sunday that highlighted for me the importance of reading scriptures personally and not just with my kids. So this week I have been reading by myself each night. It has made a noticeable difference already.

I really miss my mothers "Learning Circle" (for info on that go to the Power of Moms site HERE). I feel like I always need fresh ideas for ways to motivate my kids to get their chores done and be kind to each other. Our Learning Circle was a great source of ideas for me and it gave me a time once a month to refocus and rededicate myself to be the best most deliberate mother I can be. I need to get one going here ... just as soon as I have more than a couple of friends.

As much as I have loved the lazy days of summer. I am really getting ready for some structure.