Warning: These are the ramblings of my mind when my husband is gone and my children are in bed. I have no idea where this post may go. Or, if it will have any point.
I initially got on to post about my Grandma Taylor. I've been meaning to for quite sometime. I started a post about a couple weeks ago and I was going to finish it. But, I lost my notebook that had all my notes about her. Well, I'm pretty sure it's misplaced. It's misplaced because I shoved it somewhere so I could say my room was clean. My husband and I still fight about things like that. I leave things out. He puts them away. He doesn't like when I leave things out. We usually end up fighting about it. Not really "fighting," but we get completely annoyed with each other because it is a part of our lives where we are so different. And neither one of us has any intention of changing about it. So, I stuff things away so they are out of sight, and I end up losing them. Yeah. Maybe I should work on that a bit.
I can't believe another summer has come and gone. They seem to go by faster and faster. My mom says it is a sign of the times. I remember reading something about it. I'm sure she's right. My mom is pretty smart about things like that. It makes me really sad though. My kids are getting way too big! Ryan started his junior year, Aaron is now a freshman, Grace started Jr high, Kate is 5th grade, and Rebecca is in 3rd!
(That is a ton of kids!)
We did some pretty fun things this summer. We went to Family Education week, Lagoon, we hiked Mount Timpanogas. I don't have many pictures because I have become a really lame mom. I don't mean to be, but it is happening.
Anyway, our big family vacation this summer was trip up to BYU-Idaho. We attended their Family Education Week. We went with our neighbors the Andersons. We had a real enjoyable time. I would recommend it to anyone! The kids loved it and we are planning on going next year as well.
One of my favorite classes was about celebrating our victories. The man teaching the class was a recovering pornography addict. He was a young guy, but very insightful. He talked of how we, as a Mormon culture, remain silent about our struggles/weaknesses. It's taboo to talk about- I would completely agree with him on this. We like to talk about all that is pretty and perfect and because of this, a lot of things go left un-talked about. He gave the example of his own struggle with pornography. Once he opened up about it, he couldn't believe how many people were like, "Oh, I completely understand. I was there once." Even his own father made a similar comment. He was thinking he could never approach his father about his situation. But in reality, his father told him he wished he had known sooner. He gave everyone a fun, little pin to put on their shirt, or purse, or scripture case. It read, "Victory." It was to show others that you have overcome something hard. That you know what it's like to be in the trenches of life. That if they needed someone to understand, you did. After we got our pins, we signed his banner. His banner was full of names of those who have struggled. It was nice to feel part of a group where all have felt heartbreak in some way. Because that's really what we are. We are a group of people who are on this earth all experiencing different heartbreaks, different challenges, but in the end we were put on this earth to help lift and encourage one another. I left that class so motivated to be better and to be willing to share the not-so-pretty parts of my life.
Mount Timpanogas was fun! We went with the Andersons as well. They are a fun family and our kids are the some ages. I really enjoyed the hike. It was about 1.5 miles. it was pretty steep in some parts, but still doable. The caves were awesome! I couldn't believe the difference in temperature. Out side was high 70s and inside was mid 40s. After our hike, we ate lunch up the canyon. It was nice to be in the outdoors!
It was nice to spend time as a family! I was nice to have the kids' attention. We have gotten way too wrapped up in screen time. I mentioned to Dustin about doing a screen fast. he kind of chuckled. I could go without for quite a while, but the rest of the Merritt bunch...they're all pretty attached to electronics. We will be working on it.
So much to be working on!! But, I'd rather be moving forward and being better than sitting still, or even worse, going backward! I hope to be a little more real this coming year. Not necessarily on the blog, or social media in general, but just in life. I think we could use more of it. Struggles make us better. We should be willing to embrace those who are in need, letting them know we understand. We need to let them know we have been where they are, or if we haven't, we are willing to go with them.
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