I love looking back over my own blog. It may seem silly, but it is such a great way for me to learn, to reflect, and to have my heart swell with gratitude for my life.
My life is filled with such beauty and light. I am so grateful for my blog, and that it provides a way to capture my thoughts, my feelings, my family, and I am especially grateful to have pictures of the past to look back on and replay the joyous -- and sometimes not so joyous -- memories. There is so much to learn from the past, and when I look back over my own life, I realize there is so much I have to be grateful for.
The day after Charles died, I spent a lot of time scrolling through my blog, and I realized what a treasure keeping track of my life has been. If I want to recall a memory, or remember how I felt about something, I can go back and find it. I have always felt inclined to record my life, and Charles was a record keeper too, and what a blessing it has been!
My children love to look at the blog, and I often find them scrolling through it. I really think it helps them so much to have it. It helps them to still feel close to their daddy, because he is still alive on my blog. They can go back and recall precious memories with their awesome dad. My blog will be key when it comes time to teach Henry who his father is. Henry still knows who his daddy is, and can identify him in a picture. I love that. When he is older he can read more about him, and know who he comes from.
After asking myself the question, "Where do I want to be a year from now?" I decided to first look back over the last year, and see where I have been. I went back to October of last year and started scrolling forward. As I looked over all that I have experienced in this last year, I just felt so very thankful for this journey of life. Not all of my memories were pleasant, but they still stirred up feelings of triumph and spiritual education. I also chose not to write a lot of the really unpleasant and personal stuff on my blog, those things are kept for the caverns of my heart, and my personal journal.
Pictures are what I really love. A picture is worth a thousand words they say, and today I offer way too many pictures. I just started grabbing images, moments, memories... So here is a quick review of this last year. Of courses these are just small moments in time, but they unlock so much in my heart when I look at them.
Oh, how I love pictures!
Oh, how I love life!
Sammi and Daniel attempting to perform, "Shoulder Angel."
William and Henry sharing a precious moment in the sun
A walk in the woods with the kiddos
Reaching for the sun!
Making cookies for our Christmas in July party
A trip to the Idaho City Cemetery with friends
Daniel playing school basketball
Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge
Cookies. Yum!
An awesome lightning storm
A visit to Logan, Utah temple
The Salt Lake City Temple at Christmas time
Henry loving the snow!
A trip to the Sawtooths
Sammi's choir concerts
Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco
A bit of Heaven...I can't wait for these to come out for Christmas time! Yum!
Holiday trip to California
Cousin's wedding
Playing at the Beach
Henry being a big time cutie
On the beach in San Francisco
Downtown Salt Lake City at Christmas time
A trip to the cemetery
Snow day! No school!
Troller Square
Hooray for snow!
Halloween
Christmas lights
Camping with friends
Nan's birthday party
A view of the ocean in California
Gilbert Arizona Temple
Trip to Stanley, Idaho
Christmas Eve
Sammi in the snow
Halloween
Fourth of July
Stairs to the lighthouse
Hiking the Sawtooth mountains
Double rainbow
San Diego temple
The redwoods
Idaho City walk
Redwoods in California
San Diego temple in November
Snowball fight!
Sammi as Rapunzel
Walking through the redwood forest
Too close for comfort
Visiting family in Arizona
Autumn leaves
William and Toby the dog in Arizona
Sunset in Boise, Idaho
Walking through the mighty giants
Traveling in California
Riding the trolley
Disneyland! Oh yeah!
It's a small world after all
The Disneyland trip was the BEST!
Watching the parade
Dumbo ride!
Best time ever!
In awe of the magic
Thanksgiving in Arizona
Arizona family
Playing games with family
Preparing the turkey with grandma and Amy
Thanksgiving in the beautiful Arizona weather
The feast
Wow, I'm really craving a roll now... Mmmmmm...
Nan!
Salt Lake in the lights
Decorating my home for Christmas
Taking a Sunday nap
Sister trip to Utah
Christmas in my home... yes, I believe in overdoing it.
Frequent temple trips
Dinner with the sister missionaries
Everyone hanging out in Sammi's closet room
A trip to the movies
Daniel learning to ski and snowboard
Charles' Birthday
Beautiful time at the temple
Speaking at a high school youth event about Courage
Special Deliveries
How we bring in the groceries
Package of joy sent to me
Henry after his kidney surgery
Recovering
Our hospital stay after the operation
Building the trampoline
Jumping, hooray !
Charles helped 85 recipients by donating all he had
A box of sunshine :)
Thoughtful friends
April 1st, one year after Charles died... I was attacked with kindness
My leg surgery got infected... it burned like you know what.
I was able to heal with time and run again... picture taken a few weeks later. (My legs are totally healed now! Yippee!)
William got baptized
His Uncle Johnny baptized him
Sammi got a bunch of Choir honors
The boy scouts put a flag in our front yard for the holidays, some people in the ward made that possible.
Daniel's school honors for Band and academics
Enjoying the outdoors
Teaching at church
William broke his arm jumping off the swings
It took awhile, but he healed
Getting his cast removed -- Yea!
Daniel's first temple trip
Fun with curlers
Riding the Heber Creeper
Daniel got the Priesthood
A bunch of boy cousins, and Sammi
Family gathering for Nan's birthday
Speaking in church, visiting with my cousin Celeste
A girl's night out with family at Thanksgiving point
Train ride
The lunar eclipse
Looking back over my blog, I realized how awesome life is. The good, the bad... all of it! Life is such a blessing! Everyone will die, but I want to remember to really live!
Make life a good one!
Wow! All that in a year, you are one busy momma! So nice that you have kept track and kept record along the way for you and your sweet family, what a treasure! You are one inspiring lady! :) Keep pressing forward!
ReplyDeletei loved looking back with you!
ReplyDelete