[more like marjorie]

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed some one's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

"We women have a lot to learn about simplifying our lives. We have to decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for us. We have to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something. We have to learn to be content with what we are."

Marjorie Pay Hinckley

I want to be more like this sweet lady. I've been trying to find simple ways to enrich my life and my family. I know that as I center my life on the Savior, just like Marjorie did, the needed energy, peace and happiness I seek daily will come. I've found it important to be able to move along at my own pace. It helps me little by little in the things I want to improve on, such as... letting myself play and be spontaneous with my girls, stretching myself in area's that need it, getting more in touch with my creative side, changing even the smallest habit's to be able to feel the spirit more fully in our home, thinking more about others, finding evidence of God's love all around me.

-Note to self: ---Life can get messy, let it be.

Sometimes its best to forget the mess and focus on whether the ones around me are happy and feeling loved. I have to ask myself... is picking up toys & clothes, making beds, making sure the dishes are done, or just pacing back and forth with jumbled thoughts of all the things I would like to get done that day all worth it over the attention and love that my children need from me at the moment? All those other things can wait. What really matters is whether I am doing the Lord's work, His will for His children. What matters to me is strengthening my relationship with the Lord, my family, and striving to be a light for those around me.

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Today was a great day. My sweet husband had some time off so we left the girls with my mom for a few hours and went to the temple. Brylie then spent the day with Grandma B and we had a nice little day date. It's nice to have those kind of days to recooperate. They help me to remember what matters most.

When Brylie got home tonight I realized how much I love our bedtime routine. She is very particular, if one thing is skipped, she knows it, and by golly, she will make it known!: [read scriptures, go potty, brush teeth, prayers, read 1 book, plug in night light, lights out, sing 2 songs, lay my head by hers, kisses and hugs, tuck-tucks, radio softly turned on, and then "I love you's" and "goodnight's" back and forth at least 10 times after I close her door]. Oh, and the things she has to have by her as she sleeps: her little "brylie-bear", her unicorn flashlight, her soft Thomas toy, 2 pictures of baby Jesus, her big "brylie bear", and her gigantic unicorn!]  

Sometimes it is hard to get her to bed, but most the time when I am sitting at her bedside, it is such a good time to just talk to her, find out what's on her mind, what she liked about the day, answer her questions, listen to her sweet & funny thoughts, give her hugs and kisses, and just let her know that I am always here for her. I've been blessed to be able to teach her in these moments. Things like how much Heavenly Father loves her, and that Jesus is always with her when she gets scared. We've had some special moments here. It's just what I need as a mother to put the frustrations of the day aside.