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Happy Birthday Sam! 

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We had a super-fun birthday week celebrating Sam's birthday. The week included

playgroup and chocolate cupcakes and

making a bird feeder (and a big mess) and

a really big present that turned out to be a basketball hoop and

playing silly games with our family and

taking silly posed pictures because mom asks so nicely and

more presents from grandma and grandpa and

yummy cake from Costco and lots of other fun little things that we didn't photograph like having Sam's favorite foods (hot dogs and pizza) on the same day and going to Chik-fil-A for lunch with our friends and just generally celebrating and having a fun time.

We are so glad you are four, Sam! We love you.

39

I love birthdays. Mine was extra wonderful this year. 

I loved my presents: One Direction music from my kids (don't judge), some lotion, 2 watches, a movie and some books, treats, a Kohl's gift card, sewing scissors and the best ever--a heated mattress pad (think electric blanket but a million times cozier) from Rich. I may never leave my bed the rest of the winter. It is so awesome.

I also got to eat JCWs with my favorite people. Can you have too many french fries and onion rings on your birthday?
I love love loved all the calls/texts/messages wishing me happy bday. I love that my 13 year old was the first to say it to me (technically Rich beat him, so I guess he was the first of my offspring to say it to me).

I also enjoyed a few birthday lunches (on different days, not multiple lunches on the same day), a movie date to Les Mis with Eva (I cried from beginning to end and am convinced it is the best.story.ever.written.) And I have a few more gatherings with friends in the upcoming weeks and days that I am so looking forward to.

The best part of my birthday? Feeling the love and kindness of friends.  I truly love people. I wish I could be friends with everyone I meet. I would adopt so many of you as sisters or aunts or cousins or distant relatives. Because I am so insecure and literally worry constantly that I will say or do the wrong thing and then people won't like me (wow--that was a bit too much information), kindness and thoughtfulness from other people always touch me in a way I can't even put into words. I'm just so grateful to people who can see beyond all my flaws and foot-in-mouth situations and insecurities and weaknesses and somehow still seem to think I'm somewhat okay. This is why I love birthdays--you get to feel special and loved on your special day (what am I, six?).

In thinking about birthdays and people and relationships and especially friendships,

I collected these quotes during my reading this morning:

• When dealing with others, always assume "nobility of intent."

• "Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting." (Mother Theresa)

•  You and I cannot possibly know the hidden pain eating holes in individual lives, so if we want to be saviors in partnership with the Lord, we will be kind to everyone, everywhere, all of the time.

• Take the opportunity TODAY to acknowledge, support, and extend kindness to everyone you encounter. Be open, respectful, and interested.

• "There isn't anyone you couldn't love once you've heard their story." (Mary Lou Kownacki)

I feel so grateful to Heavenly Father for the friends he has blessed me with. I learn so much from everyone within my circle, and I love you all. Deeply. I hope and pray I can implement these quotes DAILY in my own circle (if I can just pull myself out of my cozy bed). If I could be that  kind of friend to everyone I meet, that would be the best birthday gift ever! (Especially if I could start within my own family!)

Good reads

Since my mom's passing, I've had more time to read (and do other things and yet so much still doesn't get done) and these three books have been such a comfort and inspiration to me. Since Sam is a late sleeper, I relish my time each morning after the big kids get off to school but before the little kid wakes up. It's such a good way to start the day, eating breakfast in peace by myself and reading good books that teach me about Jesus Christ and His gospel.I wish wish wish I could remember and apply all of the Christ-centered principles taught in these books! Looking back over the notes I've taken, I'll share a few ideas from these books with you here, in complete random order:

• "When filled with God's love we can do and see and understand things that we could not otherwise do or see or understand.  Filled with His love, we can endure pain, quell fear, forgive freely, avoid contention, renew strength, and bless and help others in ways surprising even to us." (Elder John H. Groberg)

• God loves us all the time, however, our ability to feel His love comes and goes.

• Focus your efforts on what you have been called to do, not on what you feel qualified to do.

• Don't define yourself or others by temporary tendencies.

• If we do the right thing at the wrong time, we can be frustrated and ineffective.

• If we are becoming new creatures, we will be consistently practicing--whenever, wherever.

• We can ask the Lord to help us open our heart so that it is softened, filled with His love, reaching out, non-judgemental, positive, kind, affirming.

• We must try to teach our children to do their duty, do it well, and enjoy the process.

• Any message we hear---at church, a conference talk, and Ensign article---is personalized by the Holy Ghost to our exact, immediate, and individual needs.

I've also been listening to past BYU devotional addresses, which are all archived online. I didn't know this until recently but in the app store you can subscribe to the BYU Devotional podcast and listen to the audio of recent and older BYU devotionals. They are amazing! Most of them are about 30 minutes long, perfect for listening to while counting down the minutes on that (stupid) treadmill. Thanks for letting me share. 

 

And birthday week continues! Sam has had a paper chain in his room counting down the days, eagerly taking a link off each morning. And somebody else has their big day tomorrow.  So far it has been a super fun week filled with small but meaningful-to-me events that have reminded me that God loves me in my completely imperfect state and is aware of me. What more could an almost 39-year-old ask for?  Here's to my last day of being 38....

Cougs, Jazz, and Kings

We had us some volleyball fun at the BYU Men's home opener. Gotta love those pass-of-all-passes! We were thrilled to watch BYU beat Hawaii easily, enjoyed some stale fruit snacks from the concession stand, and congratulated ourselves for getting out of the house in the barely-above-zero-degree weather.

Evidently the volleyball action was so exciting we somehow barely had time to catch this wonderful portrait. Not sure if the red cheeks were from the stale fruit snacks or the sub-freezing temps, but I sure love my red-cheeked friend, who somehow thinks he is turning FOUR this week.

Since the volleyball game was such a hit we thought we'd try a Jazz game too. We were really stoked about the amazing deal we got on tix until we actually found our seats, at which point we realized why they were so heavily discounted, but hey, it's still a Jazz game, and they still won.

Of course ice cream at half-time makes up for the worst seats in the building.

Also, I'd like to make a public apology to the people sitting right by us at the Jazz game: I'm sorry we had to leave our seats 17 times that night and walk over and around you and step on your toes. That's how Sam rolls, and we're with him.

We're in full basketball mode at the King house:

In an attempt to really focus on and improve my photography skills this year, I forced myself to take in manual mode at the boys' games on Saturday, not an easy feat considering the horrible lighting at the legacy center and Lehi High School and the fact that you can't use flash as it distracts the players.  But it ended up that I was greatly encouraged with the results and really happy because I learned so much. I set my ISO to between 2500 to 3200 and used a 1/200 shutter speed, although I tried multiple settings and am still not sure which ones I like the best. I have so far to go, but at least I'm going, right?

(On a side note, Ben scored 17 of his team's 27 points in Saturday's game, even though they lost. He's number 15.)

And what else you ask? It's birthday week around here, and Sam and I are so excited. Here's to presents, cake, more and better pictures, and celebrating in lots of big and small ways.

Awesome

This was going to be a post about my lengthy list of unrealistic resolutions for the new year, but lucky for you I found this instead. I think this is going to be my theme for the new year. Anybody else in?