M5 seminar in Salt Lake City

We arrived in SLC on Monday for a real estate investors seminar. We are here with friends and are having a great time. I must admit that I am certainly not a real estate guru. I'm ready to buy into everything. So far I want to buy oil leases, buy mobile home parks, and move to phoenix. Dale and his partner Gary are having a good time making fun of me. These speakers just make it sound like it is so easy. I do realize that there is an enormous amount of work, time and dedication that does into all of these projects. Since Dale got started on this path I haven't really been too involved. I know that in the near future that will have to change. The business will grow and there will be lots of work to go around. The classes that I am really enjoying here are the ones that are motivational. Motivation is something that I really need in life. I suppose we all need motivation in one area or another. Today we heard that persistence + failure= success !! Wow!!! That really hit me..I even sent Aaron a text message telling him that. I'm going to focus on that for myself, my family, and my kids. Maybe someone else will read this and be able to run with it too!!

Aaric lost his first tooth!!!

Aaric lost his first tooth last night. He was pretty excited about the tooth fairy coming to visit. She brought him 4 quarters !! Unfortunately, he misplaced them very shortly after he awoke this morning. It'll be ok because he has another loose tooth..The tooth fairy is going to be broke!!!

Weight Watchers Anyone?

This somehow feels like a classified add but I'll give it a shot anyway. I have been working out with a personal trainer 3 days a week for the past couple of months. Darren (my trainer) is a great trainer but he is pretty tough. It's one of those weird love/hate relationships. I love working out with him but some days I hate him while I'm there. I think you all know what I'm trying to say. I am feeling stronger and I am losing some inches but I am certainly not losing any weight. I am very committed to my 5 days a week at the gym but I haven't been very committed to eating well. I'm good for a few days and then it all goes out the window. The other day Darren had the talk with me about eating better. He's right!! His personal opinion is that strict diets don't work. So I have done the Weight Watcher thing before and have been successful. It's just hard for me to do it alone. It's hard to make to those meetings without any accountability. Here comes my classified add. Is anyone interested in joining Weight Watchers with me? I'm pretty flexible about dates and times. There are meetings every day of the week. I'll take 1 person, 2 people, or 20 people. The more the merrier. So if anyone wants to do this with me let me know.

A Weekend to Remember

We spent this past weekend in Sacramento at a marriage seminar called Weekend to Remember. What an awesome experience that I would recommend to every married or engaged couple. Your relationship can benefit from this, even if it is not troubled.
I haven't blogged in a very long time. It wasn't that I lost interest, it was that I haven't had time. I haven't even had the time to peek at anyone else's thoughts on thier blogs. One thing that I really took away from this weekend is that I need to make the time for my God, my husband, and my kids. I find that even though I don't have a job to go to everyday, I manage to stay very busy all day long. By making my family the priority my house may not be as clean, I may not be able to help others as much, and I may not be able to take on so many projects. But I guess I've realized (FINALLY) that's OK!! What other's think about my performance doesn't matter. What matters is that I have a great relationship with Jesus and that I have a great relationship with my husband and kids. Those things need to come first and not when I have the time. I don't need to wear myself out with other things so that I am short and grouchy to those I live with.
I just want you all to know that I have missed reading your thoughts and sharing mine. I'm going to put the blogging higher on my list too. I love you all!!

God brought me a soccer mom

I've been having a hard time posting to my blog for the past week or so. I sit there and can't even think of anything worthy to share. It was a hard week while Dale was gone and thing have gotten back to normal over the past few days. Actually things have just been getting better and better over the past 2 days. Last night Dale and I spent some time with an old co worker of his that he hasn't seen in over 10 years. You can read more about that on Dale's blog. The subject of my blog today is about a new friend of mine. It all started about a month ago when Aaric started soccer. We had a parent meeting and I met this man named Paul and his son Gabriel. We just started talking on the way to the parking lot after the meeting. The following Thursday we had our first practice. The woman walked up to me and said " Hi my name is Cynthia. I hope this is the right team, I wasn't at the meeting but my son said he recognized you." I told her that I had met her husband and her son at the meeting. We've been talking at practice each Thursday and then at our first game last weekend. She told me that she has a house cleaning business. My mother in law and I have had this woman cleaning our homes for quite a while but lately the work hasn't been so great. We talked about finding someone else and I told her I would ask Cynthia if she could come and give us an estimate. So here comes the great part. Today she came over to our houses to look around and let us know what she could do and what it would cost. I was super happy with what she had to offer but that's not even the best part. Once we got down the street to MaryAnn's house she started to mention things that let us know she was a Christian. She started telling us about being in homes and praying over these homes and families. You could really see the love of Jesus in her. She told us a few stories of praying for people and finding out later how much they really needed that. One man has cancer and another elderly woman is estranged from her son. She has been able to touch these people's lives in more than just cleaning their houses. I already really liked her just meeting her at the soccer field but today I got to know her in a different way and felt a real connection to her. She gave me a big hug before she left. So right now I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I have a super great new cleaning person and a great new Christian friend. It's amazing what God will give you even when you don't ask for it!! There are some of you who will read this that I already have a great relationship with. I appreciate and love you more than you know. But there are more of you that I want to get to know better, and build a great relationship with too. I love you all !!!

The prayers of a child

Yesterday afternoon I was driving down Alamo Drive. I had my 4 year old son Aaric in the car with me. As we were driving, two fire trucks passed by us in a hurry, with the sirens blaring. Aaric said "Mom, we need to pray" and I asked why. He said "someone needs help." I can't even tell you how many times I've been in that situation and it never occurred to me to pray for some unknown person that needed help. It was just so obvious to him. He started his intended prayer and then continued on to pray for his soccer practice and his family. God blesses all of us with different gifts. Even at the young age of 4 I can tell that Aaric has been blessed with a kind heart and the awesome gift of prayer. He is always the first one to suggest prayer. God has blessed our family with Aaric because he has so much to teach us. The next time I see an ambulance or a fire truck I will remember to pray for someone else who needs help. Maybe the next time you see a fire truck you'll remember to pray too.

What is your power color?

Your Power Color Is Lime Green

At Your Highest: You are adventurous, witty, and a visionary. At Your Lowest: You feel misunderstood, like you don't fit in. In Love: You have a tough exterior, but can be very dedicated. How You're Attractive: Your self-awareness and confidence lights up a room. Your Eternal Question: "What else do I need in my life?"

What's" Your Power Color?

Am I aging as fast as they are?

Tommorow is the end of an era for my 2 boys. It will be Aaron's last day of elementary school at Foxboro and Aaric's last day of preschool at VCS. They are both really excited to be moving on to the next stage in thier lives and I am nervous about sending my babies to "bigger" schools. Next week we get to go to middle school orientation and kindergarden orientation all in one day. How did this all happen so fast? It seems like just yesterday that I enrolled Aaron at Foxboro. He was the giant kid in the class. Now there are lots of kids that are his size. So I wonder how he will feel being a small fish in a big pond. I know I'm scared!! So now Aaric gets to be the giant kid in kindergarden. I'm less afraid of that because he is going to the same teacher Aaron and Amanda had. She is an awesome teacher. I'm looking forward to helping in class and going on the fun fieldtrips. I just am having a hard time watching my baby boy go off to a big elementary school. How did he grow up so fast? I certainly don't want to forget Amanda. She's going to be in the 6th grade. So for at least one more year she's a big fish. No matter how old they are they will always be my babies.

Sunset

Over the past 2 weekends I have had the opportunity to watch the sunset over the ocean. The first time was in half moon bay with my husband and some special friends of ours. The second time was in Marina Del Ray during a worship gathering. The sun sets every night and I never pay any attention to it. On both of these occasions I was moved by it's beauty. This got me to thinking yesterday about all the other beautiful things in life that I just don't notice. I am always so busy doing things that I think are important, but really just don't matter in the big picture. I often think of friends that I want to call or e mail and I'll get to it later, but never do. My standard answer to my kids it just a minute I'm busy. I'm thinking that I was given those 2 awesome experiences as a wake up call. Hello...it's time to savor God, life, friends and family!!! It's time to appreciate all the little things! It's time to just slow down and watch the sunset !!!!

Hmmm..what's this all about?

I created this today so that I could comment on Dale's post from yesterday. I've really shied away from the blog thing because it is hard for me to be so open and honest. That's where the name Striving for Transparancey came in. This is going to be a real slow process for me. I have been reading the blogs of others for the past month or so. I am very much in awe of how transparent you all are. So please pray for me and bear with me as I start this slow journey. Now that I'm here I'll let you all know when I am reading your thoughts.