Finding Krissi

I had the opportunity this weekend to attend an education conference. I had a wonderful time and learned so much. There are some very intelligent, dynamic, and creative people in this world. I have had many opportunities lately to be around people who are enthusiastic and full of passion. There is something so appealing and wondrous about enthusiasm. Enthusiasm feels the air, surrounds you, and motivates you to do more. Enthusiasm brings a smile to your face and lights a fire to new ideas. Next week I will have the opportunity to review a book. A book that the author himself asked me to review and share my thoughts with you. When I told Brent about the request, the first thing he said was, "Krissi, what if you hate the book?" The only thing I could think is I hope that is not the case. I received the book and started reading it the other day and thankfully, halfway through the book, and I can say I don't hate the book. In fact the author has seemed to capture this idea of...

I have a confession. . . I love the CW. . . 90210, Vampire Diaries, SuperNatural, One Tree Hill I'm an addict from the days that Joey climbed through Dawson's window and Felicity cut off all her curly locks. But here is the thing, the shows, well I can take em or leave em. What I'm truly addicted to is the soundtracks. I watch the shows and then track down the songs. I can't tell you how many of my favorite songs have been featured on a CW shows. It is sad really, other people they go to concerts, they listen to the radio, they hunt the Internet. Me...I watch shows on CW. Please don't judge me. Tonight I was watching the CW's latest show, "Life Unexpected," and the opening song came on and I was off on a hunt. It is a great song. Okay, I know I have said this before and I know I will probably say this again, but truly it is an awesome song and the artist of the song is so ummm. . . well excuse the pun but she is unexpected. Anyway I'm linking the Y...

I have been a tad bit cranky lately. In fact, if you have had a conversation with me in the last couple of weeks I should probably apologize. I have no idea what my problem is. I wake up in the morning with every intention of being nice to knock out my crap and the next thing I know I’m being totally obnoxious. There is no reason for it other than I feel like a bear trying to take a nap and some kid keeps poking me with a big stick. The world keeps poking me with a big stick and I just want to scream, KNOCK IT OFF!! Only there is no one around to yell at. Unless…. You have had the unfortunate task of speaking to me. Then I’m grouch, loud, and maybe even a little pushy. Yah… Again sorry about that Angie… Anyway, please forgive me I know I’m being a butt I will stop I promise. Maybe I need to get my rear exercising maybe take a kick boxing class then I can hit a bag. I’m working on it I promise but next time I’m being loud, obnoxious, shovey and downright annoying feel free to push back....

This is going to be one of those braggy, braggy post just thought I would warn you. Life has gotten to the point that it is completely out of control. I’m not really sure what we were thinking when we had four children in the span of six years. I also don’t know why I thought it was difficult when they were small because life now is, as I said, completely out of control. Everyone is at the age that they are involved or doing something. Our nights have become logistic nightmares. Pick up here, drop off here, go here, and stop here. It is craziness. Added to this insanity is the fact that we are currently a one-vehicle family. A couple of months ago as I was signing Al. up for basketball I was desperately trying to talk H. out of playing basketball. He has only wanted to play since he was four and every year he would remind me how many more years until he could play. Why, oh Why did I not say he had to be 16? Eventually, I gave in and signed him up knowing it was going to be tough to fit...

It seems the older I get the less I know. Correction , it seems the older I get the more wrong I know I am. I use to KNOW I was right. Yup, I was ALWAYS right. Now days I am lucky to be right now and then. When did that happen? Why did that happen? I miss the days of being right. Today, I pushed Brent and A. out the door early so that they could go snow shoeing. They went with the scouts. It was a five mile hike in the great outdoors. Did I mention it was snowing. A. said it was fine and he has been in pretty good mood so I am guessing it was fun. Brent just shakes his head at me. Sometimes it makes me giggle thinking of my California Hubby trudging through the snow. For those of you that know Brent you will appreciate the fact that he did wear snow boots on the hike. However, the first thing he did when he got home was to kick them off and put on his sandals. Crazy Boy! From SwimMom Anyway, it has been a difficult couple of weeks around here. Kind of like an emotional roller coaster t...

Looking for motivation. For some reason I don't think this is the kind of motivation I am looking for. Prayers and Hugs,

Have you ever been driving down the street or walking in the park and looked up and saw something beautiful? Then without even thinking you start smiling. Then you start thinking, "You know I'm pretty lucky." "My life is pretty good." A list of blessings runs through your mind and you feel your heart fill up. So many times I am so busy running through life that I forget to stop and look up. Then one day I will catch a glimpse of pink and purple out of the corner of my eye and I will find myself looking up. Then as I look up I remember I'm pretty lucky. I have come to the conclusion that Heavenly Father made the sky so pretty so that we will look up towards him. Maybe, we will even remember as we stare at the pink and purple whispy sky that he loves us. It is a beautiful day today and that means that it is going to be a beautiful sunset. Just thought you should know. Alma 18:30-32 And Ammon said unto him: The heavens is a place where God dwells and all his ho...

After my last post I feel it is important that I be nice. Say something positive. Let the world or umm the three. . . okay two. . . fine! whatever! The one person that reads this blog know that we are okay. In fact this has been a wonderful four day weekend. Last night was the last night of another class. I have a whole week before the next one begins and I'm not quite sure what I will do with myself. As for our wonderful weekend. We didn't do anything terribly exciting. The older two had a swim meet Friday and Saturday. S. is struggling with the whole aging up aspect of swim. She is now officially in the 13-14 year old group. Who also swim a lot of open events that include high schoolers. I guess she is pretty intimidate swimming against those sixteen and seventeen year old girls. In her words, "Mom, they're like, F A S T!" She is having a hard time realizing that a 13 year old swimming a 58 second 100 free is fast. She is just focused on how much faster the oth...

Sometimes the events in your life are not pleasant. In fact, sometimes they are just down right ugly. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason for the unpleasantness that other people dump into your life. There are times that I would be perfectly happy to escape to an island and live with only my family all on our lonesome. But then S. rolls her eyes at me and I change my mind. Honestly, how many times can she do that before they stick? I'm not entirely sure what lessons I am suppose to learn when the garbage from other people starts piling up? This week I have received council that goes from one end of the extreme to the next. On one hand I have actually been encouraged to press police charges. Not only to press charges but I have been given enough evidence that they would probably stick. On the other hand I have been told that I should be Christ like, forgive, and feel sorry that someone is going through a hard time. I am sorry that someone is going through a hard time. However, how...

I found a new singer to torture you all with. This song is a new release but A. and I were totally jamming to this song. I dare you to listen to it and not join in on the chorus. Prayers and Hugs,

So a mere week after saying, "I'm accountable!" I have not once updated my workout log. Wanta know why? Because... Five am workouts are not FUN!! I have not gotten back into the groove of hauling myself out of bed that early in the morning. I set the alarm.... It goes off... I hit snooze... I snuggle down into my covers.... I sneak my hand out of the covers and turn off the alarm. Stupid alarm. Stupid cold weather. Lovely, lovely, lovely bed. I need a personal trainer. Correction, I need a drill sergeant to show up at my house and haul my big ole ..well you know what.. out of bed and get me to the gym. Yup, that is what I need. Until that happens I'm not giving up. Somewhere inside me is the determination and motivation to get my but in gear. It is going to happen. Really. Oh Whatever! Snooze... Prayers and Hugs,

I have been hard at work. I have spent the weekend laboring. I'm pooped. In fact you could say I'm dog tired. What is it that I have been working on? Fractions! Adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, teaching, learning, answering.... Fractions, fractions, fractions! Leaving my brain thumping a tune at a 1/4 of 1/8 x3/16 divided by 9/-11 (Which I'm pretty sure is an improper fraction) (I think it is, at least I answered it was on a quiz.) I decided to go back to school! I decided to be a teacher! I forgot that meant I had to teach math. Fractions are part of math. Fraction equivalencies are part of math. Please forgive this post you could say my brain is feeling a little fractured . Okay, stopping now. Have a great week everyone. Prayers and Hugs,

This year I have decided that the 52 Blessings challenge will go hand in hand with scripture. Haven't you ever read a scripture and it touched your heart? Even if you read that same scripture several times there is that one time where it was exactly the words you needed to hear. That is exactly how I feel about the following scripture. I know that I complain more than anyone when it comes to time. There is never enough, it moves too fast, I never feel like I am caught up. Well, when I read the following scripture it suddenly dawned on me that time is not my enemy. There is a season for everything a time for all that I do. In the end it isn't the lack of time that is my enemy it is what I do with the time I have. Psalm 1:3 "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Our lives are full of seasons. Our youth a time to grow, blossom and del...

My hope is that in about 15 minutes there will be enough hot water for me to take a shower and get ready for work. I'm not holding my breath. With a family of six there is never enough hot water. Especially, when your the last one in, after everyone else has showered, the washer has been started and the dishwasher loaded. BUT. . . My house is clean or at least resembles clean, I have been to the gym, eaten a healthy breakfast, kicked four kids out the door, and a husband and am blogging. Honestly as much as I hate getting up and going to the gym in the mornings I am 100% more productive. I get twice as much done and start out the day feeling so much better about life. Why does something I hate so much have such good consequences? Why can't getting up at 9 and eating chocolate for an hour reap happiness. Life is so backwards at times. You may or may not have noticed my little accountability list on my side bar. I am going to track my workouts on the blog. If you notice that I s...

I really should quit being such a Debbie Downer because today turned out to be a fairly decent day. The kids were all great and today was pretty fun. My fifth grade group made paper airplanes. Of course we had to learn something so we learned all about what makes a plane fly and about how airplane wings are shaped and the laws that keep the plane in the air. Then we threw airplanes all over the place. I told all of them to make sure they looked like they were learning and not having fun. Every time a teacher walked by they would look all serious. It made me laugh, what else do I need to make Monday a little less awful. Reading through my reader today I came across the following picture on one of my favorite blogs Quiet Life . One of those pictures that just says it all don't you think? Prayers and Hugs

Hard to believe but vacation is over. Kid's are on their way to bed and I'm not that far behind them. I'm trying to decide if I am ready for work tomorrow and I'm pretty sure that tomorrow is going to be a, "Just make it through it day." Such a great attitude for my whole have a better attitude resolution. Clicking through my Itunes music looking for the best back to work song and this is the best I came up with. Does this song in anyway give away my age? Don't answer that. Just have a good Monday and remember Friday is only 5 short days away.

Happy New Year everyone, I hope that you all had a fun New Years Eve. We were quite boring this year. Games, sweets and movies with the family. I didn't even make it to midnight. Well midnight here. I made it to midnight somewhere. I am such an old fart. Oh well, the New year and a new decade is here. Yay!! I have no idea why a new year always makes you feel like anything is possible. I am being such a nerd this year and am actually excited about the new year and all the possibilities. Hopefully, I sustain this mood when real life, real schedules, and huh humm Christmas bills start on Monday. Well actually, I am pretty sure I will because that is one of my New Year's Resolutions is to develop a better attitude. Kinda like Willow's New Year's Resolution to suck a little less. Though I have to say in all the years I have known Willow I have never known her to suck. She must have kept that side of her hidden from me. I have to many New Year's resolutions which of cours...