Old Boyfriends and such...

I have all these old dance pictures from High School. I don't have a whole lot but enough. What do I do with them all??

A few of them are just fun pictures of guys that I went to the dances with, we were just friends and that was all.

But many of them are with an old boyfriend.

I really don't want them hanging around my house, but they are part of my past and so I feel funny about throwing them away.

High School is such a funny time. While you are in living it, it really doesn't matter what anyone else says it feels like such a big deal. Like your whole life will rest on what you do in High School, on the friends that you make {and the boyfriends you have}

It's not until you are a few years past that when you look back and realize how silly that is. My life definitely did not turn out like I thought it would when I was in high school! I didn't marry the boy, I don't have any girls, I still don't know how to sew, and I'm not living in the first house that we bought.

I love that my life turned out different than what I had planned for. I married a really great man, we have 5 crazy, handsome, wonderful boys {and another question mark on the way} I've lived in 5 states and made more friends than I ever thought I would.

If I could go back in time and tell me something this is what it would be.

Dear High School Leah,

Here you are in High School. It's a hard time and I know you are doing the best that you can. I am from the future looking back and here are some things that I want you to know.

It.will.end.

High School... not so much the drama of it but the drudgery of it. Life is so much better on the other side. Maybe not the growing up part... I mean man, the bills, the jobs, the demands.

But life in general is so much better. The books that you read in high school don't even scratch the surface to what is out there. The way you are able to see life in such a grander way is awesome. No longer is your view just a small blip on the grand scale, but it's like all of a sudden a whole new world is open, and you are able to reach out and touch it all.

Remember to be kind to everyone. I know you are not a bully, but you have had times when you have looked the other way when instead you should have turned and helped someone. Be aware of what is going on and be the one to step in and make a difference.

Forget the boys!! Really.... they don't matter. None of the guys that are your friends now will you ever talk to again. The guys don't matter. What matters is that you stay true to yourself that you remember your divine nature, and that you are a daughter of God. Trying to impress them will only cause you to be sad when they choose to talk to someone else.

The boyfriend.... who I'm sure you think you are going to marry.... I remember... you were trying out your new signature with his name. High school romances are cute... they really are. But there is so much more out there in life than what some boy thinks of you now. I know you like the way his hand feels in yours, but there is a man that is waiting for you and once you meet him you'll wonder why any other person was ever so important to you. If all you think about now is the boyfriend, you may miss who is waiting for your later on. {please don't screw it up!!}

Sometimes it seems hard to stay true to what you believe, but it will be worth it. That guy I was telling you about... he wants to take you to the temple. He wants to be with you for eternity. He is willing to wait for you and keep himself clean for you, do the same for him.... for you.

There are so many more options out there than being a nurse {and since we all know you pass out at the sight of blood that is not a viable option} or a teacher. While those are great professions they are may not be for you.

Learning really starts after high school. There is no one there telling you what to read or what to study. The choice is yours, use it wisely!

Branch out with your music choices!! I promise, you'll be glad that you did. There is so much more out there than the boy bands and pretty girls that sing and dance.

Be willing to do things that scare you. You will work on this for years, but if you can learn that it is ok to fail. It is ok to fall down, you will be better for it. You will learn t pick yourself up and know that life keeps on going. You will also learn that no one sees your failures like you do. they will see a lesson learned, where you see devastation. It really is only a lesson learned. {except for the one time that you  calculated the size of the beam for the house wrong.... that was really bad... learn to pay attention too!!!}

And the friends.... oh friends. I know you haven't been popular. {even though you secretly want to be... who doesn't} But high school friends are the ones that will fade with time. Work hard to keep one or two friends real close but let the rest go. There are so many more people for you to meet. Don't worry... social media is big now and you will reconnect with some friends from high school, and now that you are not in that building it's an even playing field and you'll find that real things now matter.

Don't give up on yourself. You are amazing and have many things to offer to others. Your life matters and you are everything to 5 little people who need you.

"Don't waste your time on being jealous... sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind, the race is long and in the end it is only with yourself"

You will make it through this and come out better on the other side.... good luck.

-Your future self....


What would you say to your past self??? And really.... what do you do with your old pictures??

On my wall

I have a hard time decorating.... I try, but I get so nervous that it won't look good that I just avoid it.

I have a good friend that has a great blog about decorating Inside-Out Designs. She is truly amazing and has a lot of great ideas. Now I'll be honest.... Her style is not my style and I really couldn't see myself hanging the same art that she has on my walls, but the great thing with Brook is that she explains why she changed things, or bought things, and she has a lot of tutorials so you can use what you like.

I read this post of hers about framing fabric. I thought is was a good idea I just didn't know if I liked any fabric enough to frame it.

Then I remembered that I had something special that has just been moved with us and spent many years in my sock drawer.

That's the beauty of art work.....

It is a scarf that my Great Grandma Ester would wear. She would get her hair done every week and then put a scarf on her head so her new do wouldn't get blown in the wind.

Then as my Grandma Joyce was battling cancer and lost her hair, she wore the scarf. The women who wore this scarf are very special to me. And I am so happy to have a piece of them with me. I love that this is no longer tucked away, but out for people to see, and when the boys ask about it there is a great story to go with it.

{I know it's a little crooked.... I had a great helper who was so excited to help. I'll straighten it out another day}

I love the pictures of raspberries. Every time I eat raspberries it takes me back to Michigan where those women lived next door to each other. I remember sneaking into other people's yards in the neighbor hood to eat the sweet raspberries. And the colors are so bright still. And the detail is wonderful!!

I made sure that this is out of the sun. I will be getting a new frame with glass that is a little tinted so the color won't fade from the sun.

I love that it is by the aprons. My grandma would make cute aprons for all the girls that worked at the Snack Shack, the restaurant that she and my Papa owned and ran.

It's up really high so I'm going to move things around to make it fit better, but I just needed to get it up on the wall.

I have some other ideas about what I want to put on my walls. But I'm glad I made the start with this.

Grinding Wheat

Here is my wheat grinder. I have learned to love it. I grind my own wheat and I usually make 4 to 6 loaves of bread a week. It has become something that I really enjoy, and even look forward to doing it.

Although not... so long ago I use to detest the sound of the wheat grinder.

I'm sure my mom use to grind wheat on days other than Saturday, but that is the only time I remember hearing it.

And I'm sure she would start grinding like at 10:00 in the morning when I should have been awake, but back then, when I was a teenager, 10:00 in the morning was like the break of dawn.

I really didn't like the sound of the wheat grinder, but I knew that if I was going to be domestic I would have to learn to love that grinding sound....

When I got the wheat grinder I was kinda scared of it. I was afraid that I would again detest the awful sound of that machine.

But I don't. I actually love it. I love seeing the little wheat buds be turned into a fine flour that I can use to make bread, cookies and cakes for my family {yes I use wheat flour for those things}

I love feeling that I am domestic enough to be able to use a wheat grinder. I love knowing that I can trick my family by using bean flour for pancakes.

And now I look forward to pulling out the wheat grinder at an ungodly hour like 10:00am maybe I'll go bold and pull it out at 9:00.

Adventures on Anasazi Ave

Many... many moons ago I lived in a little town called Logandale. It is a quaint little town in the middle of the desert. {How I love the desert}. When I lived there it was a close-nit town with lots of kids. I'm going to take you on a walk down memory lane.... well... more like a walk down my street called Anasazi Ave.

We'll start at my house which happen to be the first house on our side of the street. We happen to move into a sea foam green house. Our family of 9 moved in and brought even more chaos to the street. We came in all ages so there was plenty of everything going on at my house. We never locked our door, and we often had extra kids at our house for dinner.... depending on what the mom's up an down the street were cooking.

Next house was a brown one, and really.... I'm not sure who lived there.

Now there were two boys in the next house, now they didn't actually live on Anasazi, but they were part of the crew so we'll throw in Jason and Justin. Jason was my age and I had a little crush on him probably the whole time we lived there. But, I think every girl my age had a little crush on Jason. Anyway... they had horses and a small basketball court. Jason taught me how to shoot a basketball. We would run through their yard every day to catch the bus. And Jason's mom only had one request.... DON'T EAT THE POMEGRANATES! She liked to make jelly with the fruit and didn't really like all the kids eating the perfect pomegranates. Confession.... every now and then I would grab one and run home. I just couldn't help myself!

And then the next house. They too had a boat load of kids. Some older girls and a couple boys. I remembering looking up to girls, I really like Emily and Tammy, they were always smiling and giggling. And the boys were younger than me but always funny. I remember Micheal was always cracking jokes. He was always with us when we would go and build our forts in the desert, or jumping the canal or something. He also had a pogo stick and a unicycle.... try as I might I never got it.The funny thing that I remember about their house is that I NEVER went in their front door. Not once... and I don't think they did either, humm... I always went through the garage door.

A couple more houses down was an older lady, Betty. She was really sweet and lived by herself. One year for Christmas we decided to doorbell ditch her and leave some goodies... Now all 7 of us had to go... that's just the way it was. So we go and leave the goodies and knock and run. {have you ever seen 7 kids from ages 13-5 try to run away quietly??? yeah, it doesn't happen} Well apparently she heard us but had no idea what was going on. So we knocked again. Nothing... we knew she was home... we kinda peeked in her window. So again we were going to ring the doorbell. This time we thought it would be best to have one person go up so my brother Hyrum was the chosen person. He went up to the door and go ready to knock... imagine our surprise when little miss Betty opened up the door before he could knock and and had a blow horn that she was blowing right in his face. We all took off down the street like banshees, leaving the goodies on the doorstep. We thought better next time than to ring the doorbell and run away... we would just hand her the goodies next time.

Another family on the street was actually bigger than ours. Due to a blended family I think they had 10 kids... and 2 Adams.... I just thought that was funny.

There was a a boy on our street... Brandon. He moved in about 2 years ofter we did... I did not care for him much.... he made fun of my nose. And then.... after we moved I came back to visit... he told me that my face grew into my nose.... yeah still bitter about that one.

There was a girl named Nadja on our street. She was nice and a cheerleader... I liked her we just had very different interests. Her mom was funny though, she really liked Neil Diamond.

I really like living there. We always had so much fun. The rule was when the street light comes on you come home.... yes you read that right... LIGHT. There was only on on our street, and it usually it didn't come on until a half hour after the sun went down. We would ride our bikes into the desert and climb he mesas. We would wait for the train to come and the conductor to throw candy. We would wash our feet in the irrigation ditch. We would dig holes in the desert {yeah I still laugh about that} and build forts in the salt trees. it is a good little town and looking back I'm so glad that we lived there.... even for the short time that we did.

Perfect Pomegranate Day

The other day I was grocery shopping with Tommy and Tim, while we were picking out some fruit Tommy picked up a pomegranate and asked what it was. I told him it was a pomegranate and that it was a funny fruit that you have to crack open to eat. I decided to buy a couple and take a walk down memory lane with the boys.

When I was growing up I lived for a couple years in a little town between St.George and Las Vegas called Logendale. We lived on Anazazi and this street really didn't believe in fences. Well they did but it reall was only to keep any lifestock in. The kids ran through all the yards playing up and down the street. Right next to us was the Hatch family. And not only did they have a basketball court and horses in the backyard there was also pomegranate bushes. I'm sure every neighbor kid got scolled from Jolene for picking the pomegranates. The rule was you can pick them if they were cracked open but NOT before. So as we walked through the their yard to get to the bus stop we'ld stop to check the bush and then again when we got home, usually finding a couple that were cracked.

Eatting this fruit totally takes me back to that and I thought I would share it with the boys.
They were really unsure about eatting it

Once Tim got a taste of it he didn't want to put it down. And he really didn't care about the seeds. Can you see that bright red juice dripping down his hands.

Tommy thought spitting out the seeds was so fun. Later he was planting the seeds to grow more pomegranates. (He was rather disapointed when he woke up the next morning and there were no pomegranates)

James is usaully aprehensive about trying new things but again the idea of spitting seeds was what drew him in. I got "cool" points for being able to spit more than one seed at a time.

It was a great afternoon and I love shareing moments like these with the boys. It has (finally)started to turn cold, so this was a great way to end our summer.