Just a thought.

A lady in church today sang a really beautiful song about bitter vs. sweet things.  It talked about how you wouldn't know the how good soft words sounded unless you had heard angry, or you wouldn't know the warmth unless you had felt the cold.  It really made me stop and think about being grateful for all things in life, even trials.  Then I came across this little quote:

WHY PROBLEMS

Life is a series of problems. Either you are in one now, you're just come out of one, or you're
getting ready to go into one.

The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than in your comfort. God is
more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be
reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character,
in Christ likeness.

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something that needs to be worked
on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can
thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your
problems, you're going into self centered ness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But
one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and
others.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life .. Actually, learning to deal
with the good is harder. God didn't put us here on earth just to fulfill a "to-do" list. He's more
interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human
doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.

William Winegar

What's going on at our house?

I know, it isn't even Thanksgiving yet but I just can't resist.  I got used to putting Christmas up early when we lived in Vegas because we would come home so early every year that if I didn't get it put up we wouldn't have time to enjoy it.

I put everything but the tree up on Saturday while Jer was at the BYU vs. Utah game (dare I mention again that we won?).  When the girls woke up the next morning they were so excited to see it all.  It reminds me of when Neeley was just 2 and I decorated while she was having a nap.  When she woke up she just kept repeating, "Thank you Mommy, thank you." 

On Sunday Jer and the girls helped me put up the tree.  Lilah was dying to get her hands on it all, except for Santa that is.  We brought her in to see our Santa (which is taller than Jer) and she could only look for a few seconds before turning away.  It was as if she thought her eyes would burn if she looked too long.  She has since warmed up to the big guy and is very curious about that big beard.  Maybe this will get her used to the idea and she won't take till she's four to sit on Santa's lap like Neeley and Kayla have.

Two Words!

GO UTES!!!!!

Couldn't Resist!

My Jack-o-Lantern grin!

Lilah is growing up so fast.  I know this statement is so cliche but it is sooo true.  She has this cutest little jack-o-lantern grin with her little lone tooth.  She now has tooth number 2 coming in and I am a little sad to see her cute little lone tooth become two.

She is now about 18 pounds but still so little.  She will stand up every chance she gets and can stand without holding on now. She is getting very good at emptying a cupboard or drawer in about 1.2 seconds and can scout out any scrap of food that exists in a 5 mile radius.  In fact, last week she was nawing on something and when I pried it out of her mouth I was mortified to find a piece of hotdog.  Not so bad because she can eat hotdogs now, but, well, uuumm, we had them 5 days ago.  I know you are thinking, how could a hotdog be hanging around on your kitchen floor for so long.  I guess I am still asking the same question!

I love Primary!

Today Neeley came home from church and was very busy.  She kept telling me not to look at her.  When I came inside I found she had gotten the mail and left this cute little service heart on it.  She had also made Kayla's bed and set the silverware on the table for dinner, both with service hearts.  I said there had been and angel to visit and started asking who had done it.  She got really embarrassed and told me to stop asking because her primary teacher told her it was supposed to be a secret!  I love what she learns in church each Sunday.  She has such good teachers!

Neeley is our big helper around the house.  The other day I went downstairs to get something and found she had cleaned up the whole play room by herself without being asked.  If only we could get some of that to rub off on Kayla.....

My Polkie Girls!

There is something about polkies that I love.  I have always loved jammies and get so excited every year for Mom Dopp to give us a new pair on Christmas eve.  One year she really hit the mark when she got me the cutest, most cuddly pair of polka dot pajamas.  Since then, we like to call them polkies.  Yesterday the girls were playing together and said look at us mom.  They had all climbed in our black chair and were snuggling in their polkies with their blankies.  They looked so cute I just couldn't resist getting a picture!

NOT a fan.

Ok, so most of you know how this family voted this year.  I just can't stand not posting my view on the subject and get my opinion out one more time.  I have major issues with a man that thousands of people voted for because of the color of his skin.  They call it so progressive but for whom?  The pendulum is just swinging the other way if you ask me.  If someone would have said, I'm voting for good old John because he is white there would have been an uproar.  Go figure.  They actually did a news piece about this.  They went out on the streets and interviewed minorities and asked them if they agreed with Barracks views.  They went through several things and asked if they agreed to each point, what the people being interviewed didn't know was that they were actually using McCain's views but saying they were Barracks.  Funny how they were so on board with what "Barrack" was going to do. That aside, even if you voted for Barrack, are you not scared to have him have so much control with such a one sided congress and senate?  All I have to say is I am fearful!  I am however grateful for the words of our bishop last Sunday.  "If we do not agree with the leaders of our nation, isn't it wonderful to have a leader whom we can trust, look towards and emulate- our prophet.  We have someone we know we can follow and never be lead astray!"

Oh, and you "BO" supporters, if you think your health insurance is going to be so much cheaper now, just remember, the money has to come from somewhere!  And next time you have to wait 6 months for a procedure, remember you asked for it.

With that said, I just want to leave you with this little thought I got on email today.

Fellow Business Executives:
As the CFO of this business that employees 140 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barrack Obama will be our next President, and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way.

To compensate for these increases, I figure that the Clients will have to see an increase in our fees to them of about 8% but since we cannot increase our fees right now due to the dismal state of our economy, we will have to lay off eight of our employees instead. This has really been eating at me for a while, as we believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who will have to go.

So, this is what I did. I strolled thru our parking lot and found 8 Obama bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the first to be laid off. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem.  These folks wanted change: I gave it to them.

If you have a better idea, let me know.
Sincerely,
CFO

Halloween fun!

Our day started out with a trip to Krispy Kreme donuts.  There is just something about Halloween that doesn't seem complete without a donut.  The girls love to watch the donuts go through the frosting water fall.  They would stand there for hours if I let them.  Then of course they have to pick the donut with the most sprinkles and get all messy eating them.  I was good this time, no donuts for me.  Now that is control!

That afternoon it was time to go to Circe's annual Halloween party.  After convincing Neeley to get out of the stroller because she was too afraid of the dog, they all had fun.  Funny how there was like 100 other kids there that didn't even notice the thing but Neeley was convinced it would eat her up!  When the party was over their buckets were already so full we could have skipped out on the trick-or-treat thing all together.  But then what kid would let you get away with not going t-o-t?  

All the Dopp gang met out at Mom and Dad's for some soup bowls and cider.  Then we put Lilah to bed and took Neeley and Kayla out.  Kayla made it around the block before she got too tired but Neeley was ready for more, so I took Kayla home and Jer and Nells stayed out another hour.  In fact, Neeley was the last kid standing and even out lasted her oldest cousins.  Which is funny because she is not really a candy-aholic at all!  I think she just liked the attention in her Hannah Montana outfit!

Lilah is back to being a girl, but it was fun to have a little son, even for just an afternoon!