If you could change, would you?

So I started reading this new book and it has put me in a very reflective state of mind.  It is "The Christmas Sweater" by Glenn Beck.  It the front flap of the book it poses the following question, "If you could change your life by reversing your biggest regrets, sorrows and mistakes. . . would you?"  That is a really tough question.  When I think about mistakes that I have made my heart feels deep sorrow that I had disappointed my Heavenly Father or hurt someone else.  It reminds me of Alma the younger when he says his soul was wracked with sorrow for his sins.  It causes my soul such pain to think of my mistakes.  But then at the same time I am reminded that our purpose in life is to learn and grow from our experiences so that we can again come to know and return to a loving Father in Heaven.  We are here to experience both joy and sorrow.  Without the sorrow we could not truly know the joy.  

I pray that as I go through each day I might be able to gain a little more knowledge and learn from the mistakes I make so that each day I can progressively become more like the person I hope I can one day be.  I know I will stumble along the way, that is inevitable, but I know that I have a loving Savior that knows my pains and sorrows and He will carry me through after I have done all that I can do.  And I also know that if it were not for the mistakes I have made, I would not be who I am today.  I am a culmination of the experiences I have had.  My job is to learn from those experiences, to not repeat the mistakes and to keep the good and help it grow.

So to answer the question, as painful as it sometimes is, I would not change my life by reversing my sorrows and regrets.  I just hope I can life in a way that I will have less and less of them.

ABC Tag

A- Attached or single?  Attached

B- Best Friend?  Hmm, My husband 

C- Cake or Pie?  Cake

D-Day of Choice?  Saturday

E- Essential Item?  Chapstick

F- Favorite Color?  Teal  

G- Gummy Bears or Worms?  Worms, they are much more fun to eat.

H- Hometown?  Ashton, ID

I- Indulgence?  Chocolate (Sorry Stacy, I agree)

J- January or July?  Well, that depends.  If we are talking about Idaho, July.  Talking about        Missouri, January.  (I do not like the super hot and humid summers here!)

K- Kids?  3 beauties

L- Life is Incomplete without?  A family vacation that includes driving for several days  

M- Marriage Date?  Sept 13, 2003

N- Number of Siblings?  3 brothers

O- Oranges or Apples?  Oranges

P- Phobias or Fears?  Mice

Q- Quotes?  Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but the moments that take        our breath away.

R- Reason to Smile?  Listening to my girls playing together

S- Season?  Fall

T- Tag 5 People?  Mary, Rachel, Becca, Sarah, Kristy

U- Unknown Fact?  I had the tip of my tongue surgically removed

V- Very Favorite Store?  General store, Target.  Clothing store, Maurices.

W- Worst Habit?  Biting my cuticles

X- X-Ray or Ultrasound?  Both  Broke my right wrist and I've had a few with my pregnancies 

Y- Your Favorite Food?  My mom's lasagna

Z- Zodiac?  Aquarius 

Election Day, it's finally over!

So yesterday was the big day.  I am so glad it is over!  I was getting a CNNed out.  I do care deeply about politics and the state of our country, but it seems like lately all the news has been the same.  So yesterday morning Chant left the house at 5:00 to get to our voting place.  He was 10th in line at that early hour.  The voting booths opened at 6:00, so he had a wait.  But he said by 5:30 the line was to the end of the parking lot.  As soon as he got home I left.  I arrived at 6:45 and finished voting at 7:45.  Not too shabby, considering there was a record turnout in Missouri.  Missouri also had the closest vote of any state.  It felt good doing my civic duty and making my voice heard.  Chant proudly put his "I Voted" sticker on our calendar to save for posterity.  Whatever will we do with our time now their is no more campaigning news to watch? 

Ainsley's Haircut

So, as you can all see, I have not figured out how to put pictures up going the right direction.  I have a Mac and use iphoto to put my pictures up.  Anyone who can help me figure out what I am doing wrong, I would greatly appreciate the advice!

Short, but cute

So, it happened again.  Ainsley's hair was beautiful, so long and curly.  But with her fine hair we were finding snarls to be a real problem.  Chant normally cuts the girls' hair, but he wanted someone else to cut it this first time and then he would just trim it as it was needed.  The last time I was in charge of haircuts Brinnley came home with a very short A-line.  So this time I put Chant in charge of being there when they cut Ainsley's hair.  He told them we wanted it just below the shoulder (her hair was almost to the middle of her back when it was pulled straight).  I got the last cry as I explained that hairdressers don't always listen to what you are telling them.  It was so hard for me to see her hair gone, but it is cute and spunky, just like my little girl.  And I know it will grow back.  In the meantime we are enjoying the ease of doing short hair. 

Lovin' Those Leaves!

Fall is my favorite time of year.  I love the brilliant colors of the leaves and the gorgeous weather.  It has been especially nice this year.  Today we enjoyed the wonderful 75 degree temp and the light breeze.  The Perfect Day!  We took a sandwich and grape dinner to the park and then played until dark.   Yesterday was a little sad for me though.  We have the most beautiful tree in our front yard.  The leaves were a deep crimson red.  But yesterday I woke to find most of them on the ground.  So Sad!  But we enjoyed the benefits of fallen leaves.  I snapped some fun pics of the kids and Chant playing.  

Halloween!

We actually did the whole Halloween thing on the 30th.  Our ward party was that night.  Our kids have never gone door to door and we did not feel like starting this year.  It was a great party!  First, costumes.  Brinn was a dragon, Ainsley a Monkey (fitting, right), and Porter a duck.  All three of our kids have now been that duck.  Chant and I made our best attempt at dressing up.  He was a Rasta and I did my best at a pirate.   The Young Women ran games for the kids.  We had Brinnley and Ainsley's friend Ellie Tilton with us while we went to all the different games.  They did a cake walk (that was the favorite), a ring toss, a bean bag toss, and golf.  The kids did great.  Brinn kept at it until she made it with every game.  And the girls cheered for each other when they won.  It was very cute!

Then came trunk or treat time.  Let me just tell you, we have some amazing people in our ward.  So creative!  One couple dressed as a biker chick and a biker dude.  They brought bicycles and wrapped foil around them and had a CD with the bike revving sound on it.  It was awesome!  Most people do really well at decorating their trunks.  We even added some spice to ours.  

Brinn was busy running from trunk to trunk as fast as she could.  Ainsley was so funny.  Instead of saying "trick of treat" she would hold her bucket out and say "I want some!"  Then the drama kicked in when her bucket dumped.  I hurried to gather up her candy while she cried.  After that she wanted me to carry her so that she could hold her bucket with both hands to protect her candy from falling again.  After we had gone around the whole parking lot, the girls headed back to the car and plugged in a movie.  Ellie came over to join in the party.  Watching movies in the back seat after with Ellie after trunk or treat is becoming our little Halloween tradition.  It was a great night! 

Pumpkin Time!

October 28th we spent the afternoon carving pumpkins.  We had 3 pumpkins, one for each of our little pumpkins.  They had a blast!  We gave each girl an ice cream scoop to get the seeds out with.  Brinnley wasn't as excited about that part, but Ainsley loved it.  Once all the seeds were out she sat for a long time moving them from one bowl to another.  Brinnley was very much into carving them.  She sat intently watching every cut Chant made and she told him what she wanted the faces to look like.  They had a great time doing it!