Dear Me

I had the awesome opportunity to write a letter to one of my many gorgeous nieces this week. She is going to a camp to focus on her relationship with Heavenly Father for a week and my sister in law asked me to send her a loving advice letter. So great right? Well I thought and thought about the millions of things that I wanted to tell her but had to boil it down to just a few most important. So I told her about her infinite worth, that God is real and He knows her and truly loves her. I told her to pray, to pour out her heart to Him. I told her there are going to be trials in life but that as long as she takes the Lord as her partner she will be just fine and those trials will help her grow. I told her that I believe decisions determine destiny. And I told her I will always be one of her biggest cheerleaders and will love her no matter what. 

A few days after I sent the letter a very distinct thought came into my mind as I was driving. I know thoughts like this one come from the Holy Ghost and are what my Heavenly Father is trying to tell me. That thought said “you should say the same things to yourself.” A feeling that my Heavenly Father loves me filled my heart and I was almost moved to tears. I’m not very kind to myself sometimes and I don’t always tell myself the nicest things. But if I really had to write a dear me letter I would say a lot of the same things I said to my niece. I would urge myself to remember my infinite worth and how much the Lord truly loves me. I would beg myself to pour my heart out to Him and remember that trials are for my growth. And I would remind myself that decisions determine destiny and to please love and cheer myself on always! 

So my letter to my sweet niece really could also have said Dear Me at the top. Because apparently what I felt she needed to know is exactly what the Lord feels I need to know. Funny how that works! And honestly at this time I could use all the help I can get! This motherhood business is no joke! And I absolutely couldn’t do it without the Lord! So I’m incredible thankful I don’t have to! 

It was Him who I turned to after a very hard experience at school. I witnessed Riley be rejected and kind of made fun of by some unknowing kindergarteners on the playground and it definitely brought me to tears. And there has been lots of hard and stressful things going on lately that I absolutely could not get thru them without the help of the Lord! Keagan navigating friend drama and getting her feelings hurt, my own feelings being hurt which doesn’t happen often, helping loved ones, Rileys ARD which will be the IEP she takes to intermediate school so it’s a big deal, a big testing process that Keagan has been going thru for her dyslexia, balancing two jobs and momming, both girls having colds and Keagan staying home with an ear infection, more I’m sure I’m forgetting and just trying to keep up with life. I’m pretty much exhausted but we’ve had a ton of fun as well too! Of course we have! 

These girls of mine are absolutely loving Young Women’s! We have been having so much fun! Minute to Win It games, axe throwing, camp fire and s’mores, crafts, service projects, a make up class, heart attacking people, singing, and Keagan even taught the lesson for her class on Sunday with a partner! This past Saturday was a Stake Young Women’s Fitness Day where the girls got to do yoga, hip hop and attend a nutrition class. They absolutely loved it all! And I just love all the opportunities they are getting! When driving my girls, Claire, Kaylee and Lexi home from Young Women’s last week and they were singing Frozen 2 songs at the top of the lungs I thought “my babies are living their best life for sure!” And as if seeing my babies so happy isn’t already enough, I’m having a ton of fun myself with the older girls that I love! 

The girls looked adorable for their very last elementary school picture day. Another last, we had the girls very last Valentine’s Day in elementary school. They gave out really great valentine punch balloons that of course I just got on amazon. We also celebrated that night with a fun cookie cake from me and a cute heart shaped pizza sent from their dad. And they had their last multicultural heritage day parade at school too. This year Riley picked her Japanese heritage and rocked the cutest red kimono with her own touch of red converse and Hawaiian flower in her hair. And Keagan dressed up with one of her besties Audrey to represent her Irish heritage. You know your kids are definitely multicultural when they are twins and dress so differently for this kind of event! Also I will give you three guesses where their entire outfits came from! Yep, Amazon! 

We’ve been busy with running club, doing our Come Follow Me and DPAC weekly. We each look forward to all three of those things every week! Of course Keagan has made a million and three funny/dancing videos by herself and with friends. And Miss Riley seriously accomplished eating an entire box of Girl Scout cookies by herself in one sitting!! The girl loves those Carmel delights and momma was too tired to fight her on a Friday night. I became the definition of a  crazy helicopter mom when I followed Keagan and Claire in my car while they were riding their bikes around the neighborhood! But then I thought maybe I’m doing something right when I saw in Keagans iPad contacts she has me down as “The Best Mom in the World!” I got super vulnerable and spoke at a fireside about Depression and had one of my most ever embarrassing experiences at a doctors appointment! And we had a super fun Super Bowl party at the Frenchs with them, Kellie and Justin and the Balkmans who were in town for the weekend. 

We jumped at the chance to celebrate two people we love! Calli’s birthday party was a blast and we are so proud of Hudson for earning his Eagle Scout award so we couldn’t miss his Court of Honor! 

Oh and you know just regular life! 

After documenting all that, I’ve now decided my Dear Me letter should also say: “girl you have every right to be exhausted! But you know it’s all worth it!”